Saturday, May 22, 2010
President's Weekly Address makes me feel a little better. How about you?
Many of the things in this address are very comforting to hear, and I certainly hope they have some long range impact on offshore oil drilling (though anything less than forbidding it will probably not comfort me too much), but the fact remains that the oil in the Gulf has been gushing for a MONTH.
Yes I agree that this is BP's problem but so far their solutions, like injecting dispersant's into it so that it cannot be seen on the surface, do NOT seem to be addressing the crisis in a serious manner.
No I don't know what could be done differently at this point, I only wish I did. But I do have one suggestion.
When the President assembles his National Commission on the BP Horizon Deepwater Oil Spill I would like him to put Professor Rick Steiner on it. Rick has vast experience concerning oil spills and how oceans "recover" from them and he is well known for being outspoken and unafraid to tell the truth despite efforts by large corporations or Universities to shut him up. I think President Obama would be well served by somebody with Professor Steiner's integrity and passion.
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Just went to whitehouse.gov and sent an email to President Obama suggesting he put Rick Steiner on that Commission.
ReplyDeleteMaybe if enough of us do that, it will through to him. His staff monitor the emails.
since we're giving suggestions: I'd really like to see Elizabeth Warren head up the Consumer Protection agency.
ReplyDeleteit does bother me that POTUS often overlooks some of the best and brightest progressive minds available.
Let's flood the White House web site with requests for this....
ReplyDeletekellygirl, just went to whitehouse.gov again to add your suggestion about Elizabeth Warren. Thanks. I agree with your one hundred percent!
ReplyDelete-ks sunflower
The chance of Obama picking Rick Steiner or Riki Ott or any of the capable Alaskans who have been rightly and eloquently critical of the oil industry and their pathetic inability to clean their own messes is about one in a zillion.
ReplyDeleteThe chances of Sen. Begich recommending either Rick or Riki to the president for such a panel are about one in a zillion.
Dream on, Gryph.
It took him a month to say this, after we were first told no oil was leaking, then a little oil, on up to a friggin’ nightmare. Now that the environment has been destroyed he wants a commission? After he announced we would have more off shore drilling with full knowledge that the MMS was corrupt and controlled by the oil industry we are supposed to feel comfortable? He knew full well that MMS was and had been denying the scientists a voice and in fact lying about research. This is like closing the barn door after the cows get out. In the middle of this disaster he states we will not have more drilling for 30 WHOLE days pending a review, but he asserts we are going to continue with off shore drilling. That is how he sounds like he is making aggressive changes while not really doing so. It was clear he supported BP from the beginning of the disaster, but politically he has to posture as if he is going to make them do the right thing. There is no way they will pay for all of the clean up or compensate all those harmed. In fact this disaster harms every living creature on the planet. It will effect the quality of our food supply. It even effects the quality of our water supply inland, storms will move the oil from the ocean and deposit it in bodies of fresh water. NO, his words do not make me feel better because he actions speak louder to me than his words. I would support any input form Dr. Steiner and would also suggest that coastal geologist, Dr. Ivor van Heerden also be appointed because he has intimate knowledge of the devastation caused by the oil industires in that area and he cares about the environment and the people.
ReplyDeleteFirst the President needs to fire BP and have one of the other oil companies handle this spill at BP's expense. Second he needs to suspend all of BP's oil operations on US soil until the company physically prove it knows what it's doing. BP has caused way too much death and destruction in this country to be allowed to do business here anymore. Third he needs to hire people like Steiner and Warren to oversee the recovery of the Gulf.
ReplyDeleteCorporate PACs betting on Republicans to regain control of Congress
ReplyDeleteObama is a politician and as such is heavily influenced by political contributions and special interest lobbyists.
ReplyDeleteThough there is one other thing we should consider in his ability to respond to this disaster. A lot of Bush appointee's are still in their positions and are not being 100% responsive to Obama's orders.
The President made this statement on March 27 2010: "President Obama currently has a total of 217 nominees pending before the Senate."
http://www.presidential-appointments.org/Federal_Appointments/senate_confirmations_countdown.htm
Gryphen,( Email Letterman too )
ReplyDeleteI have another suggestion as well as it pertains to the oil spill situation. I was listening to Shannyns Show Thursday with AKM and they had Riki Ott on and being interviewed.Therefore Shannyn has Riki's phone number or can reach her. Afterwards I emailed Shannyn but my email could get buried with the amount of stuff that she gets. But Riki Ott is down there and getting first hand info and she has experiences she could share from the past as well. She is a wealth of knowledge as well as well as Mr. Steiner.
My Suggestion: Have Riki Ott call CBS/Letterman to get her booked on the Show. ( Letterman might book Mr. Steiner as well-either one or both )
For those that might not catch Dave regularly.... lately he has been making jokes about BP ( because it is the News ) and the spill but it is more that that. He really hates and DETESTS what BP is doing to the Gulf down there. HE goes on and on and he passionately cares about the damage they are doing. He HATES BP for this and he is really mad. He cares about this subject and he has had that guy on to talk about the ' floating trash island 'in the Pacific a few times.
Letterman might not know the background or the history of both Riki Ott or Rick Steiner. He would love to have a Guest on to talk about this though and he would book them in a minute. Either one of them. So Gryphen... get in touch with Shannyn and ask her to forward the message on to Riki Ott for her to call Letterman to be booked there. Like I said Letterman is passionate about this and is PISSED. Having someone on to explain the devastating results of what is happening... he would love it. Plus it was the CBS News people that were threatened by BP and the Coast Guard. A tie-in
Maybe you have a better contact link than this one. Put a CBS link as an Update in your story if you have one.
http://www.cbs.com/late_night/late_show/
Plus.... the NYT reported 2 days ago that the Kevin Costner invention was being tested by BP to see if it would work. Read the whole story for details. They buried it in the Green Section instead of Front Page.
http://green.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/05/19/if-you-build-it/?dbk
"On Wednesday, BP’s chief operating officer, Doug Suttles, said that the company had approved six of Ocean Therapy’s 32 machines for testing. All boast centrifuge processing technology — giant vacuum-like machines that suck oil from water, separate the oil, store it in a tanker and send the water, 99.9 percent purified, back into the gulf."
And of course the obvious point that I failed to mention in my last comment. If Rick Steiner or Riki Ott show up on Letterman...it gives them more credibility and name recognition with the WH. And just discussing the subject on Letterman puts pressure on the WH to do more and stop listening to BP. Either one of these guests will explain how BP lies. It's the oil industry Culture and attitude.
ReplyDeleteWhat's the point of appointing a Commission to do what a Special Prosecutor could do better? Does Obama have to start wearing corporate logo pins? Candidate Obama was just a stunt double for the one who's in the White House. Pres Obama is Evan Bayh with a tan - the consummate unprincipled corporatist who knows the money's in the middle. Commissions are what you appoint to kill investigations. The people Obama named up front are veteran bureaucrats, and anyone with credentials as an environmentalist will not serve Obama's purposes. This isn't about justice or uncovering the insane truths about the risks of offshore drilling or uncontained oil - this is about making it appear that all the problems can be fixed with a few regulations and maybe a couple scapegoats so we can get on with drilling and stop worrying about those 1000+ holes slated for drilling off our shores. Another "accident" like this won't happen. We'll fixed it so it can't happen again. Don't worry. Be happy. And practice up on your Drill, Baby, Drill chant - you'll need it at your next Obama rally.
ReplyDeleteObama only listens to dickheads and the only thing you will hear is from dickheadedness. You can forget about Ott and Steiner.
ReplyDelete