Crucifixion was not only one of the most disgraceful forms of death, it was one of the most dreaded methods of execution in the ancient world. Accounts of crucifixions are recorded among early civilizations, most likely originating with the Persians and then spreading to the Assyrians, Scythians, Carthaginians, Germans, Celts and Britons. This type of capitol punishment was primarily reserved for traitors, captive armies, slaves and the worst of criminals.  (source)

We bandy about words to the point where they lose all meaning. One good example would be ‘racism’, a word so overused, and misapplied, it has lost much of it’s impact. For the Obama administration to use the word crucify in relation to energy, particularly the gas and oil industry, is totally mind boggling.

Obama’s Crucifixion of “Big Oil”
The Foundry

If it ever was a secret, it’s not a secret any longer: The Obama Administration is on a vindictive campaign to injure America’s oil and gas industry. The proof materialized last week when video of an Environmental Protection Agency official revealed the White House’s vicious attitude toward the very industries that supply the American people a reliable, affordable energy source. Yesterday, that official fell on his sword and resigned to spare the president any further embarrassment from the truth he disclosed.

Last week, Heritage’s Lachlan Markay reported on a video showing EPA Region VI Administrator Al Armendariz describe his agency’s “philosophy of enforcement” with respect to the regulation of oil and gas companies — likening it to brutal tactics employed by the ancient Roman army to intimidate its foes into submission. With a wry smile, Armendariz detailed the joy with which the EPA inflicts punishment on the disfavored industries:

It was kind of like how the Romans used to, you know, conquer the villages in the Mediterranean. They’d go into a little Turkish town somewhere and they’d find the first five guys they saw and they’d crucify them. And then, you know, that town was really easy to manage for the next few years.

Lest there be any doubt, it’s worth reiterating the point — according to Armendariz, the EPA views its enforcement efforts as a violent crucifixion used to strong arm companies into submission. The Constitution bars cruel and unusual punishment, but evidently that doesn’t apply to the axe-wielding EPA when it comes to enforcing regulations.

None of this, though, should be a surprise coming from what very well may be the most anti-energy administration in history. For the president and his cadre of bureaucrats, “Big Oil” is the enemy that deserves to be beaten into submission.

Exhibit A: The president’s unremitting crusade to raise taxes on the oil industry by denying it access to tax credits available to other industries. This, of course, is a game of semantics and populist rhetoric. In his appeal to the American people, the president is claiming that oil and gas companies enjoy special loopholes and subsidies that need to be eliminated. In reality, they get the same tax treatment enjoyed by producers of clothing, roads, electricity, water, and many other goods manufactured in the United States. Actually, oil companies receive less of a tax break than those manufacturers. (Oil companies receive a six percent reduction while all other manufacturers receive a nine percent reduction.) Yet the president wants to impose a higher targeted tax hike and take the tax break away completely.

When President Obama lashes out at “Big Oil,” guess who’s going to pay the price? You. First, raising taxes on any company means that the costs will be passed on to consumers. If you’re tired of paying high gas prices, you would pay even more if the president levies new costs on the industry that is supplying your fuel.

Second, when the president talks about “Big Oil,” keep in mind who “Big Oil” is — it could very well be you. Thirty-one percent of U.S. oil and natural gas shares are owned by public or private pension plans. On top of that, individual retirement accounts hold 18 percent of shares, individual investors have 21 percent, and asset management companies including mutual funds account for 21 percent — comprising more than 90 percent of oil and gas stocks in 2011. That means when those companies profit, there’s a good chance you profit. And when those companies suffer, there’s a good chance that you suffer, too.

That doesn’t matter, though, to an Administration that is in an unyielding pursuit of a singular “green” agenda. Billions in taxpayer dollars are spent to fund solar companies that go bankrupt and to give tax credits to wealthy Americans so they can buy a handful of electric vehicles. Meanwhile, the president’s Secretary of Energy, Steven Chu, gives himself an “A” for his work in lowering gas prices, despite their reaching all-time highs under his watch. And all the while, the president is saying “NO” to domestic energy exploration, including his decision to block the Keystone XL pipeline.

So when Armendariz spoke of “crucifying” oil and gas companies, it was not a surprise. His crime was saying what the rest of the Obama Administration — including the president — have been thinking and doing all along. Last week, Armendariz apologized and called his comments ”an offensive and inaccurate way to portray our efforts to address potential violations of our nation’s environmental laws.” In fact, though his words were vivid, they were all too accurate. The Obama Administration has an obvious political agenda that is not focused on enforcing rules, but on vindictively assaulting an industry that doesn’t comport with its green agenda — even though Americans depend on oil and gas companies each and every day.

President Obama has said he favors an “all of the above” strategy when it comes to energy policy. “All of the above” apparently means taking no prisoners as he marches toward a “greener” future, regardless of what it costs the American people.

Connecting this, with the gas and oil companies, to further their agenda in destroying America?

Britain is facing a “massive” rise in antibiotic-resistant blood poisoning caused by the bacterium E.coli – bringing closer the spectre of diseases that are impossible to treat.

Experts say the growth of antibiotic resistance now poses as great a threat to global health as the emergence of new diseases such as Aids and pandemic flu.

Professor Peter Hawkey, a clinical microbiologist and chair of the Government’s antibiotic-resistance working group, said that antibiotic resistance had become medicine’s equivalent of climate change.

The “slow but insidious growth” of resistant organisms was threatening to turn common infections into untreatable diseases, he said. Already, an estimated 25,000 people die each year in the European Union from antibiotic-resistant bacterial infections.

Ok, I gotta put my nickel’s worth in here. Do you know WHY there are antibiotic resistant bugs flourishing? It’s because people have gotten so damn germaphobic, our bodies can’t build up any resistance naturally.  We are given antibiotics for every little thing, and then can’t understand why we still get sick.  Our kids are no longer allowed to actually go outside, play and get dirty.  Heaven forbid they would get a cut or scratch!  We’ve had antibacterial cleaning products pushed on us, so our homes will be so clean, even one little germ can’t flourish.  Pfft!  We NEED germs!  We NEED to become resistant by exposure to germs.  All you people who are so dadburn obsessed with taking your kid to the doctor and pumping them full of antibiotics for a viral cold have turned your kids into a bunch of freakin’ wusses!

Are these dipwads really comparing this problem to ‘climate change’?  Seriously?  Hey….SFBs…the climate changes, on a regular basis.  THIS problem, however, really IS manmade!  Or mother made.  Or sissy made.  Or any other way you want to describe it!  The more you obsess about germs in your home, the more you shove antibiotics down your and your kids throat, the more resistant you are going to be to any bug that comes along.

YEP!  This is truly a man made issue!  Now…what are we going to do about it?  First, knock of the germaphobia  in your own home.  Let your kids get dirty.  And for the love of all that’s holy, stop with the antibiotics for colds.  They do not work on colds! Your common everyday cold is caused by a virus, and antibiotics do not work on virus’.   So, knock it off!  We have to build up our immunity and stop whining!  People are dying because of this crap.

H/T: Mimosa

President Obama’s re-elect team defended White House energy policy on Sunday as gas prices shoot toward the $4 mark and beyond, a level that could devastate voters’ pocketbooks as well as Obama’s chances for a second term.

Nationally, gas prices are $3.53 a gallon, up 25 cents since Jan. 1, and likely headed to $4.25 a gallon by late April. Republicans have demanded more oil production at home, as well as building the Keystone XL pipeline across the middle of the U.S. to allow oil from Canada to reach Texas refineries.

Let’s see…when he took office 3 LOOOOOOONG years ago, gas was what….a buck 81, or at least in that vicinity.  So, instead of  using the resources we have right here, for AMERICANS, D’Bama makes it damn near impossible for U.S. companies to drill and refine, yet hands over billions, of OUR money, to companies that go bankrupt in a matter of months.  Not to mention letting the Chinese drill in the gulf off OUR shores, and investing in a freakin’ Brazilian company, so we can BUY oil from another foreign source.  Excuse me, but where is the logic in all this?  Oh, that’s right….THERE IS NONE!

Obama rejected the plan, but one of his spokesmen, Robert Gibbs, said the president is looking to increase domestic energy production.

He’s got a damn funny way of showing it!  10 to 20 thousand jobs.  Jobs that are desperately needed, and he suck ups to a bunch of yahoos who don’t have enough sense to piss out of a boot with the instructions on the heel. Give me a freakin’ break!

“Just on Friday, the Department of Interior issued permits that will expand our exploration in the Arctic. The president has increased our fuel efficiency and energy efficiency standards so we do use less energy, which will help drive down the price,” Gibbs said. “Our domestic oil production is at an eight-year high, and our use of foreign oil is at a 16-year low. So we’re making progress.”

Golly gee, the moron at the Department of Interior issued permits?  To whom?  How many?  And when will those rigs that haven’t left the gulf going to be able to start pumping?  Or have they all already left.  Don’t hear much about that anymore.  The EPA is running and ruining this country.  The green tin foil hatters have more power over our energy production than a parent does over what the kid has for lunch.  Does anyone else see a major problem here?  We have gone through the rabbit hole and can’t find our way out!  I vote we shoot the rabbits, have one huge BBQ and get on with living our own lives, and keeping the government OUT of EVERYTHING!

But John Hofmeister, former CEO of Shell Oil and founder of Citizens for Affordable Energy, told Fox News that oil production today is only 7 million barrels per day when it used to be 10 million per day.

KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK!! Anybody home? Naw….they’re all out pushing for windmills that kills eagles, and solar panels that take up so much space, even that Boxer broad doesn’t want ‘em in her state! While Obama is shoveling OUR money to companies that have no hope of succeeding, investing in the future is what I think he called it, our present needs for energy is being totally ignored.

What happens when there is no oil/gas/energy? Well, the price of EVERYTHING goes up! It takes money to get products from point A, the factory that needs energy to run, to point B, where the consumer pays much higher prices because the company has to charge more to make up the difference in the cost of manufacturing and shipping! Now, if I, an lil’ ol’ broad in Podunk TN can figure this out….why can’t all those so called ‘intellectuals’ that the faker in chief has surrounding him get the BIG picture? Why? Because they don’t want to! They WANT to bankrupt the country! They WANT a completely different country, run totally by those who think they know what is best for everyone, and can run your life MUCH better than you can. And how are they doing that? Why, by crippling the entire country, of course!  The more it costs to produce and distribute, the fewer jobs there are available.  HELLOOOOOOO??!?!?!?  Jack wagons!

Oh yeah…and Happy freakin’ Monday!

H/T: Tena

Since its creation in 1970, the Environmental Protection Agency has done more harm than good. EPA regulations cost more than 5 percent of our annual gross domestic product – the equivalent of the costs of defense and homeland security combined. Since EPA regulations have expanded, unemployment in America has increased by 33 percent. This abuse of power by the implementation of regulations infringes upon our basic constitutional rights.

There have been too frequent reports of individual rights being violated by abusive and power-hungry EPA bureaucrats. These regulations have hampered landowners’ ability to manage their private property as they please and have impaired job creation. Americans are suffering from the overreach of regulatory agencies such as the EPA.

In Pennsylvania, take the story of John Pozsgai, an immigrant from Hungary, who worked as a mechanic and eventually saved enough money to purchase the land bordering his home in Morrisville, Pa. This land was an old auto junkyard, and Mr. Pozsgai, taking pride in his home, proceeded to clean up this landfill by removing 7,000 old tires and rusted-out automobiles. However, the EPA did not view this effort as a clean-up but rather a violation of the Clean Water Act. You see, Mr. Pozsgai’s property was a wetland, ambiguously defined by the EPA as any property that has some sort of connection to a wetland. That connection to a wetland was a small drainage ditch located on the edge of his property.

Mr. Pozsgai did not need a permit to dump topsoil on an isolated wetland. However, the Army Corps of Engineers insisted he apply for one. Next, the EPA set up surveillance cameras to capture Mr. Pozsgai filling his land with topsoil. EPA agents then arrested him for “discharging pollutants into waters of the United States.” These “pollutants” consisted of earth, topsoil and sand. The EPA openly admits that no hazardous wastes were involved in the case, yet Mr. Pozsgai was found guilty and sentenced to three years in prison and fined $202,000. Mr. Pozsgai spent 1 1/2 years in prison, 1 1/2 in a halfway house, and was under supervised probation for five years. His family went bankrupt and was unable to pay its property taxes on the land.

A similar breach of power can be studied in the case of John Rapanos. Federal officials prosecuted Mr. Rapanos for shoveling dirt around on his property in Bay County, Mich. The EPA and Army Corps of Engineers filed charges against Mr. Rapanos for “polluting” the wetlands by leveling the soil on his property. Under the “migratory molecule” rule, the Army Corps claims that any isolated wetland can fall under federal jurisdiction because there is a speculative possibility that a water molecule from one wetland may reach another navigable waterway. In Mr. Rapanos‘ case, the nearest navigable water is roughly 20 miles from his property.

The federal officials had little evidence and U.S. District Judge Lawrence Zatkoff threw out the conviction and refused to follow the unjust federal guidelines enforced by the EPA. Unfortunately, Judge Zatkoff was overruled by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 6th Circuit. Mr. Rapanos later appealed his conviction to the U.S. Supreme Court, yet the court refused to hear his case. He now faces possible jail time.

Mr. and Mrs. Michael Sackett, of Priest Lake, Idaho, also have fallen victim to the EPA’s abusive and overbearing practices. The Sackett family sought to build a house on its half-acre of land, yet after construction broke ground, the EPA interfered, claiming the family violated the Clean Water Act by placing fill materials into “wetlands.” Their property was designated as a wetland, yet their neighbors have built houses on either side of their lot and their lot already has established sewage lines. Their lot does not harbor a lake, pond or stream, yet the EPA is requiring them to obtain a building permit that would cost more than the value of their land. The Sacketts proceeded by filing suit, but the request was dismissed by a federal judge. The Supreme Court is now considering these violations.

The repeated abuse of power by the EPA has been noted across the country, infringing on the lives of all Americans. Property rights were once regarded as fundamental to the protection of liberty, and it is time that legislators restore the value of personal property and do something about governmental overreach.

On Feb. 7, I introduced the REINS Act (Regulations from the Executive in Need of Scrutiny Act). This act is designed to increase accountability in the federal regulatory process. By opening the regulatory process to public scrutiny, government agencies will be held accountable by all American citizens. This is a common-sense reform that will increase congressional liability, improve the regulatory process and protect citizens from restrictions being placed on their economic and private practices. The REINS Act ensures that federal agencies cannot destroy jobs, our economy or our way of life by implementing unnecessary regulations. Harmful and abusive regulations must be put to rest.

Seventy-five percent of Americans believe that the size of the federal government must be reduced and with the imposition of such regulatory abuse, it is no wonder why. Americans are being treated as subjects of an administrative state rather than citizens of a free nation. I am certain that the REINS Act will reduce the power of regulatory bureaucrats and place the power in the hands of the people, allowing them to act and operate as they please.

Unpaved rural roads are a source of pollution. Erosion of unpaved roadways occurs when soil particles are loosened and carried away from the roadway base, ditch, or road bank by water, wind, traffic, or other transport means. Exposed soils, high runoff velocities and volumes, sandy or silty soil types, and poor compaction increase the potential for erosion.

Loosened soil particles are carried from the road bed and into the roadway drainage system. Particles most often settle out where they diminish the carrying capacity of the ditch, and in turn cause roadway flooding, which subsequently leads to more roadway erosion. Most of the eroded soil, however, ultimately ends up in streams and rivers where it diminishes channel capacity, causing more frequent and severe flooding; destroys aquatic and riparian habitat; and has other adverse effects on water quality and water-related activities.

You city folk sure are funny!

American farmers have been ridiculing a proposal by U.S. regulators to reduce the amount of dust floating in rural air.

“If there’s ever been rural America, that’s what rural America is,” said Nebraska hog farmer Danny Kluthe. “You know? It’s dirt out here, and with dirt you’ve got dust.”

The Environmental Protection Agency is looking to tighten standards for the amount of harmful particles in the air, facing opposition from U.S. farming groups who call it an unrealistic attempt to regulate dust.

I’m sorry, but you just don’t control dust!  Well, unless you want to make it mud, and then it’s not dust anymore.   The complete lack of common sense within the EPA is nothing new, but I think even they have go completely over the deep end.  You have farms.  You have farm roads.  You have dirt.  Without dirt, you don’t have farms.  With no farms, there would be no need for a farm road, but you’d get mighty damn hungry!

If Congress is serious about cutting spending, the EPA should be one the first to go!  If you ever wonder why we never make any serious progress, on ANYTHING, you might want to take a real good look at the idiots who actually believe you can control DUST!

Gotta love this:

Environmental groups say these tiny elements could be harmful if not deadly for people, causing cardiovascular or respiratory problems.

More ignorant city folk! I wonder if they realize there has been dust ever since God separated the water from the dry land and called Earth! (Genesis 1:9-10)

But technically, EPA can’t use common sense if it clashes with science, as their assessments are required to be purely scientific and mindless of ramifications, said John Walke, clean air director at the National Resources Defense Council.

Well, technically, the EPA is full of idiots! Who truly believes you can’t mix science and common sense? Evidently, the environazis!

Tasers. Brand-new SUVs. A top-of-the-line iPad. A fully loaded laptop. In the year since the Gulf oil spill, officials along the coast have gone on a spending spree with BP money, dropping tens of millions of dollars on gadgets and other gear — much of which had little to do with the cleanup, an Associated Press investigation shows.

Hey…as long as it’s not their money, politicians don’t give a flip, and just LOVE to spend. The problem is….how does an iPad help clean up the mess? Can SUVs provide jobs for Gulf Coast residents?  Did they have to taze oil covered birds to get the cleaned off?

In sleepy Ocean Springs, Miss., reserve police officers got Tasers. The sewer department in nearby Gulfport bought a $300,000 vacuum truck that never sucked up a drop of oil. Biloxi, Miss., bought 14 SUVs. A parish president in Louisiana got herself a deluxe iPad, her spokesman a $3,100 laptop. And a county in Florida spent $560,000 on rock concerts to promote its oil-free beaches.

There was, and is, a lot of inefficiency going on down there. Instead rock concerts, don’t they think that $560K could have put a lot of kids to work cleaning up the beaches? Maybe it’s just me, but I’ve of the mind that these communities that wasted money on so much BS needs to give it back. Not to BP, obviously, but put it back into a fund that actually is being used for clean up, helping those who have been affected by the spill, and apologize to the public at large for being such self serving assholes!

Some officials also lavished lucrative contracts on campaign donors and others. A Florida county commissioner’s girlfriend, for instance, opened up a public relations firm a few weeks after the spill and soon landed more than $14,000 of the tiny county’s $236,000 cut of BP cash for a month’s work.

Waste and fraud. A politician’s life blood! Is it any wonder that people are totally disgusted by ALL OF THEM?

At issue is the EPA‘s designation of “greenhouse gases,” e.g., carbon dioxide, as pollutants subject to EPA regulation in accordance with the Clean Air Act. The EPA ploy is the Obama administration‘s response to Congress‘ failure to pass a broad climate bill that would include provisions such as “cap-and-trade” to reduce carbon-dioxide emissions.

Has our public school system gotten so ineffective that so many aren’t aware that BREATHING is the #1 cause of carbon dioxide?  Do they not teach that plants use carbon dioxide, and expel oxygen?  Human inhale the ‘waste product’ of the plants.  We have a symbiotic relationship.

Symbiosis is taken from the Greek words syn meaning ‘with’ and biosis that means ‘living’.

Without the carbon dioxide, there would be no plant life.  No plant life, no humans.  Or, is that their intention?  Totally depopulate the planet?

There are many reasons for Congress to resist this abomination. For one thing, the term “greenhouse gases” does not appear anywhere in the Clean Air Act, confirming that Congress never intended this legislation to be used to regulate carbon dioxide emissions and the like. Certainly, no previous administration has interpreted the Clean Air Act as a mandate to regulate such emissions. In any event, a constitutional perspective suggests that Congress, not unelected bureaucrats, should be setting U.S. policy.

The EPA has over reached it boundaries, pretty much since its inception. The original purpose was to reduce the U.S.’s dependence on foreign oil. Well, done such a peachy job of that, haven’t they. As a matter of fact, their actions have made us MORE dependent. They have prevented exploration, and innovation. They have stopped the building of nuclear power plants, that IS a clean alternative. The regulations that continuously put in place prevents our independence. Why should it take 20 years to get a freakin’ permit?

But the main reason to resist this EPA power grab is the adverse impact it will have on the U.S. economy. The new EPA regulations will raise energy costs for companies and create additional investment uncertainty, reducing their competitiveness in international markets and driving jobs overseas. They will also drive up prices for consumers. Meanwhile, there will be little if any reduction of global greenhouse gas emissions.

If you own a business, and want to expand, to provide jobs for Americans, promote economic health, would you want to do so in this climate?  Personally, I’d find a place that was more friendly to expansion.  Such regulations have sent many businesses overseas, with the aid of outrageous union demands.  Without companies, there are no jobs.  With no jobs, we become totally dependent on the government for our sustenance.  We, in effect, become slaves to the state.

The best alternative for Congress would be to deny the EPA the authority to enforce the new regulations at all. Unfortunately, such a proposal was defeated in the Senate in June. Under the circumstances, the next best approach is one that is favored by a number of Democrats, including Sen. John D. Rockefeller IV of West Virginia, Sen. Jim Webb of Virginia and Sen. Ben Nelson of Nebraska, to delay implementation of the new regulations for two years.

The absolute BEST alternative for Congress is to rid our nation of ALL the unelected agencies that have taken control, starting with the EPA!

Senate Democrats have finally smelled the coffee. The recent announcement that they will scrap the energy bill that was clogging up the end of this summer’s congressional session was a breath of clean air for all of us.

Much has been made of the ‘lame duck session’ that the majority of us is hoping will be coming this November. The problem with such a session is that I’ve no doubt that the Democrats will take full advantage while they still have the majority in both Houses of Congress to push through their agenda. What is their agenda? It appears to be the mass destruction of the economy.  This bill may have been put aside for the moment, but will the Democrats honor the wishes of Americans, and NOT force feed the people anymore such bills before Congress changes hands?

Environmentalists may bemoan the step but, in this case, lawmakers demonstrated their ability to see the big picture and abandon what was a poorly timed and misguided energy bill. With unemployment still over 9 percent and families hurting from the long recession, the focus needs to be on jobs and economic development — not a new tax plan for carbon emissions.

Personally, I happen to like the environment. That said, I do not believe a mosquito, or fruit fly, or tiny fish has priority over the human race, and our ability to grow economically, and feed our nation. There is preserving a safe environment, then there is pushing an anti human agenda. The crap and tax….er….Cap and Trade is nothing more than a scheme to destroy jobs and make those who push it, rich…or, as the case may be….richer! (I thought libs hated the wealthy? Oh yeah…only the wealthy that create jobs, not the ones who destroy them. Oooops!)

Unfortunately, the smell of coffee is not permeating the halls of the White House. President Obama is insisting on changing the tax laws so the IRS can collect double the income tax on energy producers. His budget plan, if approved, would essentially give foreign oil and natural gas companies – like BP – an advantage over domestic companies because they would pay less in income taxes. The administration is pushing to remove what’s known as the dual capacity energy tax – a section of the federal tax code that allows companies to deduct the income tax they pay to foreign countries when conducting business there. If the president has his way, oil companies would pay income tax to both the foreign entity and to Uncle Sam.

I grew up believing that double taxation was illegal.  Of course, that hasn’t stopped the Federal Government.  Doesn’t allowing tax breaks for foreign oil companies seem a bit counter productive?  A LOT of products are made from oil.  I wonder if Mr Obama is aware: One 42-gallon barrel of oil creates 19.4 gallons of gasoline.

More than half of that barrel is used to make items like:

Golf Bags
Toilet Seats
Dresses
Sweaters
Shower Curtains
Telephones
Basketballs
Shoes
Sunglasses

And let’s not forget all the items used in the medical field, like:

Artificial Limbs
Anesthetics
Aspirin

Try to think of how many items are made from plastic. You do know that plastic comes from oil, right? If the administration wants to punish U.S. oil companies with ever increasing taxes, can you imagine just how much the cost of EVERYTHING is going to rise? From your kids toys, to the I.V. bag used to hopefully save your life…..EVERY SINGLE ITEM! Is there anything we use that doesn’t have some connection to oil?

Many people think that America’s largest oil and natural gas companies hold considerable sway in the global energy industry. But, that’s not the case at all. Compared to their foreign competitors, our “big three” rank 17th, 21st and 23rd worldwide. And, many of the most powerful and influential oil companies are state owned — adding to their market strength. Altering the tax laws to give these companies a market advantage means America will be forced to purchase more oil from unfriendly governments in order to ensure Americans have access to affordable supplies.

Serious question: When did Americans turn their future over to foreigners?  Many American jobs are related to the oil industry, not just in the Gulf region, but all across the country.

The environmental lobby reminds us that we need greater investment into renewable energy sources. That is true. But what is often overlooked is that oil and gas companies are making significant investment in that area as well. For renewable energy to really begin making a difference, more money needs to be allocated to research and development. Our nation’s energy needs are growing. By the year 2035, experts believe that energy usage will grow by 14 percent over current figures. Keeping the power flowing is the responsibility of our energy sector. It is not reasonable to demand they increase output, increase investment in research and development and keep energy prices affordable while also demanding they double-down on their income tax payments.

How will American oil companies be able to invest in renewable energies if the administration wants to destroy them in the meantime?

Can someone please turn on the coffee maker at the White House?

And while you’re at it, remind him that the coffee maker is ALSO made from oil products!

BP says oil has stopped leaking into the Gulf of Mexico for the first time since April, touting the success of its new cap on its broken well.

BP has been slowly dialing down the flow as part of a critical pressure test on its new cap, which it now believes is fully containing the oil for the first time since the crisis began nearly three months ago.

Gee, I wonder who is going to take the credit if this is a success?   We ALL know who will be blamed if it fails.

Now, if the Obama minions would just get the hell out of the way, let the clean up go forward, listen to those who KNOW what the hell they are doing, and STFU, perhaps we could all see mass improvements in the conditions on the Gulf.  Oh, and let the companies who do NOT have almost 600 safety violations continue their work, let the rigs get back to what rigs do!  Support the economy!

As for BP?  Well, no offense to the folks on that side of the pond, but personally, I don’t want them doing anymore drilling over here.  Ignoring safety is not a real good way to stay in business.

And, don’t forget to pray that this works!  NOT to ‘Mother Earth’!  To the ONE that created her!

And then we have a few reactions:

Obama’s Oil Spill Speech: What Was The Point?

Palin Reacts to Obama’s Oval Office Address on Gulf Disaster

Stuck on stupid: Obama’s czar fetish

Obama’s Oil Spill Speech: Running On Empty

Drunkblogging Obama’s Oval Office Address

Can The One Drop the Buzzer-Beating No. 23 Act?

MSNBC Trashes Obama’s Address this evening

Obama disappoints from the beginning of his speech

From the Oval Office

What we didn’t hear from Obama last night

Weak Speech from an Indecisive Obama

Obama Asks America to Commit Suicide

Obviously, there are SO many more, but hey, you can do your own work once in a while!

My reaction after stooping to watch the video? “Whut?” Seriously? Is that the best he can do after this long? There are people seriously hurting, blocked from acting by government red tape, and what is his response? “Why yes, let’s destroy the economy even more with my irrational plan to raise everyone’s bills, that the country can NOT afford!” The man has been sitting on his thumb, spinning, for nearly two months now, and the only thing he can come up with is creating another government bureaucracy? Jeeeeez! Yeah….that’s really going to help the economic recovery. /snark

A side note: (and totally irrelevant) That teeth whistle drives me bugshit! Just sayin’.

Ooops! Almost forgot!

(source)

Nearly 31 years ago, on July 15, 1979, President Jimmy Carter told the American people from the Oval Office: “Energy will be the immediate test of our ability to unite this nation, and it can also be the standard around which we rally. On the battlefield of energy we can win for our nation a new confidence, and we can seize control again of our common destiny.” Last night the American people heard almost the exact same speech from President Barack Obama: “I’ve returned from a trip to the Gulf Coast to speak with you about the battle we’re waging against an oil spill that is assaulting our shores and our citizens. … The tragedy unfolding on our coast is the most painful and powerful reminder yet that the time to embrace a clean energy future is now. Now is the moment for this generation to embark on a national mission to unleash America’s innovation and seize control of our own destiny.”

White House spokesman Robert Gibbs billed the speech as an “inflection point,” where the President’s initial response would be replaced by more decisive action. But this is now day 57. Where has the decisive action been up to this point? The Obama administration has not been working in a coordinated fashion. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the Department of the Interior, the Department of Homeland Security, and the White House, as well as the Coast Guard, have been putting out confusing and contradictory statements since the disaster began.

Federal regulatory red tape has gotten in the way of the cleanup, including: 1) missed opportunities to burn off more of the oil because of overblown air pollution concerns; 2) holdups in the use of dispersants; 3) permit delays in allowing the state of Louisiana to create artificial barriers against the encroaching oil slick; 4) failure to waive reg­ulatory prohibitions against foreign assistance; and 5) failure to approve barges and booms in time to block oil from reaching Alabama’s Magnolia River.

Instead of providing leadership and properly coordinating the response, the Obama administration has chosen to shift blame and politicize the disaster, including: 1) “not-at-all veiled shot[s] at the Bush Administration” for the state of the Minerals and Management Service; 2) vague threats of criminal prosecution from Attorney General Eric Holder; 3) a moratorium on offshore oil drilling which could kill 120,000 jobs in the Gulf alone; and 4) pushing caps on carbon dioxide emissions which have no hope of cleaning up a single drop of oil spilled.

The President spoke of “political courage and candor” last night, yet both were missing from his speech. The President asserted: “Time and again, the path forward has been blocked … by oil industry lobbyists.” But the reality is that BP lobbyists have been pushing for the President’s energy agenda from the beginning. The President claimed: “Countries like China are investing in clean energy jobs and industries that should be right here in America.” But the reality is that China will account for nearly 45% of oil demand growth in the next five years, receives 70% of its energy from coal already, and is projected to nearly triple coal capacity by 2030.

In his 1979 “malaise” speech, President Carter told the American people: “I want to talk to you right now about a fundamental threat to American democracy. … The threat is nearly invisible in ordinary ways. It is a crisis of confidence.” Carter was wrong. America was not suffering from a crisis of confidence. As the election of President Ronald Reagan would show the next year, it was the Carter administration that was suffering … from a crisis of leadership.  Today, our country is in crisis again. The Obama administration’s constant blame shifting, politicization, and lack of organization demonstrate a crisis of competence. To restore America’s faith, the White House should drop irrelevant policy priorities, refrain from making the economic damage worse, end unnecessary bureaucratic delays, and restructure the response and recovery efforts. As MSNBC’s Keith Olbermann said following the address: “It was a great speech if you’ve been on another planet for the last 57 days.”