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The GOP's Genetic Link to Big Oil
If scientists were to compare the DNA of Republican congress-critters and of oil corporations, I'll bet they'd find that they match perfectly. After all, the two species have identical political instincts and seem to have a natural affinity for each other — so I'm pretty sure they sprang from the same genetic pool.
How else can you explain the remarkable gusher of compassion that Republican lawmakers are presently directing toward Big Oil in general and BP in particular? For example, only hours after winning his party's nomination for a Kentucky Senate seat, GOP teabag darling Rand Paul was on national TV decrying Barack Obama as "un-American" for daring to demand that BP be held accountable for its human and ecological destruction in the Gulf of Mexico.
Next came Minnesota's Lioness of Loopiness, Michelle Bachmann, implying that the hard-hit people of the gulf are shiftless moochers who're using the oil disaster to grab corporate cash. Brimming with tears of compassion, the kooky congresswoman wailed that, "(BP) shouldn't have to be fleeced and made chumps to have to pay for perpetual unemployment and all the rest."
And who can ever forget the astonishing public apology to BP's CEO by the oil-soaked Texas Republican Joe Barton? After Obama had gotten agreement from BP to set aside $20 billion to cover some of the damages it has caused, Barton called Obama's actions a presidential "shakedown." He asserted that it made him "ashamed" to live in America, and he obsequiously begged forgiveness from the reckless CEO whose faulty wells killed 11 American workers and continues to do inestimable economic and ecological harm.
Speaking of ecological harm, nature needs us to focus. All of us who love polar bears, whales, seabirds and other wildlife should put our minds together to send an urgent telepathic message to the animals in the Beaufort Sea north of Alaska. Our message is blunt: Flee! Flee as fast as you can! Flee, because BP is coming!
While our public attention has been riveted on BP's disastrous blowout in the gulf, and the British oil giant has been quietly and quickly drilling another risky offshore well three miles off of Alaska's north coast.
Dubbed "Liberty," this project requires a technique called "extended reach," which is even more prone to explosions than the gulf process. First, BP is drilling down two miles under the Beaufort Sea, drilling sideways for up to eight miles to tap into one of our national oil reserves.
But wait — didn't Obama impose a moratorium on such offshore drilling? Yes ... BUT: When Liberty was planned in the George W. Bush years, it was magically declared by his Republican devil-may-care regulators to be an "onshore project." How can that be? Because the rig sits on a tiny artificial island that BP built, so — voila! — it's "onshore" even though it's three miles offshore.
Also, just as in the gulf, industry-cozy regulators let BP write its own environmental impact statements for Liberty. And — guess what? — BP's 2007 statement said BP would cause no environmental problems. A-OK, said the winking regulators, as they rubber-stamped the project. And what about a disaster response plan, just in case, you know, something bad does happen? Not to worry, BP assured everyone, because the likelihood of a blowout is very remote. Didn't we hear that about BP's Deepwater Horizon well, too?
Meanwhile, as another oil giant drills away in the Beaufort Sea, GOP lawmakers are dutifully working in Congress to limit the legal liability of BP and its partners to a paltry $75 million each. For Republicans to continue marching in lockstep with Big Oil, despite public outrage at BP's greed, makes no sense at all. But they can't help it — they're knee-jerk response is genetically programmed. They might even have oil in their DNA.
So, here we go again, putting Mother Nature at the mercy of insatiable oil profiteers. To learn more about BP's Liberty escapade, and to learn what you can do besides warning the sea animals to flee, call the Center for Biological Diversity in Alaska: (907) 274-1110.
30 Comments so far
Show AllNo surprise that there is a genetic connection between the oil moguls and the soci-path right-wing, who care not one iota for anything or anyone beyong their own miserable lifetimes.
It is sinister and odd how very little is said among the likes of "Dem-Friendly"--Nature Consevatory, Sierra Club, etc. Why the silence? The whole "eco-friendly"movement is a fallacy, if they can't go beyond a few sighs and regrets. What about a call to divest from oil? Where's the outrage about the fact this corporate monster is still involved in trying to "fix" the hole? I wonder where is the Navy, Marines, Coast Guard? Obviously, the problem is of monolithic proportions, and may be the reason why the media is slowly pulling away from this soon to be world wide disaster.
If you lived in Oregon or some other state that was raped of its' forests and fisheries for 100 years you would not think the " eco-friendly " movement was a fallacy, period. The U.S. military doesn't have any capacity at all to " fix the hole ". You and I saw to it, thru our unwillingness to take care of our country before allowing imperialistic adventures abroad, that this didn't happen. On almost every important issue now facing our country, environmentalists of all political philosophies, are fighting rearguard actions to stave off the worst consequences of our previous actions. Did you stop the trolley system from being destroyed in S. California to the the benefit of GM? I wasn't born then but, according to your logic, it is just window-dressing and a joke. Well, haha, haha, haha on you!
".....how very little is said among the likes of "Dem-Friendly"--Nature Consevatory, Sierra Club" You must not be getting the eMails from these groups.
At birth Conservatives are hooked up to the mind machine that will supply their every thought, feeling and belief throughout their lives. They can't be swayed from the way they think because nothing else can get in.
Unfortunately the Democratic Party has been retrofitting mind machines on to Americans of all ages in hopes of getting enough votes to assure that corporations give them more money than they give to Republicans.
Not every conservative is a conservative at birth. A lot of otherwise liberals and progressives can become conservatives after feeling too down to continue. Likewise, not every conservative at birth stays conservative.
I would change your word 'Conservatives' to 'we'...
all of us are hooked to this mind machine. at birth...our parents help hook us in..
to break all the way free requires powering down the planet, freeing the land from the bankers, and returning to the folds of the wild...emotionally, physically...
some of the mind-loops are very difficult to counter, especially ones that have no physical element to invoke, yet use that negative as a positive, to support the difficulty of faith-based beliefs...like religion...that use the very absence of something as a test of the strength of 'faith', or 'belief', which they would translate, positively, to character...
troubling, this notion of it being admirable to believe in something one cannot verify...even worse, to believe one's calling to be to convince or force others to do so, as well...
a setup for manipulation and control...
the list is long: the very concepts of self and origin, societal mores and traditions, history, politics, economics, language, religion and philosophy, property ownership, planetary stewardship and industrialization...
The washing of brains starts early through tradition to condition the victims. The December christian holiday is a perfect example. Parents somehow think it is cute to get their kids to believe in santa clause. Great! Lie to your kids to teach them spirituality and the true meaning of materialism. Free useless stuff, praise god. The kids, upon finding out the lie are initially disappointed, but then accept it because they still get free useless stuff.
Then come spring, it's a chocolate rabbit that lays chocolate eggs to honor their savior.
The lying increases in time; school, television, social interactions, etc.
Western culture is is a giant web of lies.
It is disconcerting that so many accept the obvious lies and are content to be wrapped in silk.
It is curious that some of us break free of the web and appreciate dirt.
"(Joe Barton) asserted that it made him "ashamed" to live in America, and he obsequiously begged forgiveness from the reckless CEO whose faulty wells killed 11 American workers and continues to do inestimable economic and ecological harm."
These clowns have made me ashamed for years. If only they had as much compassion for the unemployed as they do for corporate "persons." They'll block the unemployment benefits extension, but there's not a hitch in the tax breaks and other corporate welfare given to the huge corporations that are busily at work wrecking our economy even further. And there's not even any debate about funding a war that's a lost cause.
These guys are a laugh riot!
Blame the GOP all you want (and sure, rightfully so) but the current government pandering to these criminals is a Democratic one with a leader elected on a platform of "Hope" and "Change".
Hope plus two bucks still buys a good cup of coffee in all but the high rent locations.
Change is what you put in the barista's tip jar in hope that the next cup tastes as good as this one.
I think the author has left the corporate friendly Democrats off the hook thereby inadvertently supporting the illusion of a "Two Party System". While the most outrageous comments do come from the 'Party of Mental Illness' (GOP), the Democrats have proven just as eager to please their corporate masters on K Street.
Doesn't Rush Limbaugh share his oxycontin with Michelle Bachmann ?
We are an oil-based economy and until we can move away from oil and onto more sustainable energy and an economy that actually makes things again, we will continue in our destruction of the eco-systems on this planet and the destruction of the working class in this country.
Oil is dirty - and has increased the amount of GREED that is prevailing in this nation by members of Congress and citizens of both political parties.
Oil is our reason for our unnecessary wars and the deficient spending that are attached to them. The monies from oil is what is driving our representatives and senators - and until that changes, we will not see the true change that is needed to sustain this nation.
Funny, he left out the Democrats who were tied to Big Oil. Is it possible that I missed it that all Democrats finally took some pledge to break free of Big Oil? Hey, they're the majority so should they then be reining in Big Oil by now? Ok I'm being facetious here. This article is just partisan drivel. Come on Jim, be honest now. We're all going to rape Mother Earth up to the last drop of oil and continue to be a nation of oil guzzling losers until there is no more oil left to do so, ok?
Let's not pretend this simply some GOP phenomenon. The Dems are every bit as bought off by Big Oil and Big Pharma and Big Money and Big War Machnie as the Dreaded Repubs.
I would say at this point any honest pundit needs to remove the very terms "Dems & Repubs" from their lexicon and use a single unifying term. To do otherwise is to perpetuate the illusion that there are two distinct bodies out there when there is only One Ruling Force.
The Dems and those 'progressives' who imply they can move the party to the left, or who invoke the 'lesser of two evils' mantra to get leftists to the voting booth are one of the biggest obstacles to left-ward change in this country. Keep everyone in line.
And that faction of people is so damn loud that I have to constantly remind myself that they don't really represent that many people, that nearly half the country sits out elections and we still call it a great shining example of democracy, and that 'other' disenfranchised' half of the population is who we gotta fight for.
At least with the people who call themselves Repubs, you know what you are getting. The Dems call themselves the 'left', but that's only true in a very insubstantial relative way. Everything they do policy-wise is right wing. But it sure makes it tougher to talk about 'the left' in any meaningful way.
Frankly, it's Democrats who are the problem, not the fascists. The fascists are who they are. They're the right. They stand where they belong. The Democrats stand just a little to the left of them and posture as if they were "centrist" or even "leftist". This pushes the very meaning of those terms toward the right and ensures the right's victory.
In that sense, they are all to be seen as an "equal evil."
Other than the fact that you can find some "fascists" on the left and after this Congress, certainly among the democrats, well stated.
Jim is usually pretty good, but he missed on this one.
Lest we forget, nearly ALL political creatures are corporate whores of one sort or another. Republicans tend to be more on the utilities side, Democrats on the financial side. (check out how many of President Obama's support group are Wall Street lackeys). Though I certainly respect Jim Hightower's knowledge and presentation style, he often has a divisive effect.
Congress needs to pass an emergency bill that states that ALL governmental agencies, irrespective of how big or small, has as it's first priority the protection of the PEOPLE of these United States, and that corporations are NOT PEOPLE for this mandate. This should NOT be a "conservative" or "liberal" or "republican" or "democratic" issue, but an issue of "WE THE PEOPLE" vs corporate personhood issue.
The sad truth is, we all know what has to happen to set things straight, or at least take away most of the wrinkles, but nobody is going to act on it. Congress gets too much in bribes (campaing contributions) to change without 'extreme outside pressures' being asserted and the general public, is too easily led by the nose by corporate sponsored media. Even IF a new Constitutional Convention were to be called, those "elected" to represent the people would be the same old corporate shills, possibly handing us down a more fasciest form of government (IMHO).
Silly me. Taking his words literally, I expected Hightower to elaborate on the prominence of Rockefellers in the symbiotic evolution of the GOP and Big Oil. Woops!
I like Jim Hightower. He's a mensch. But does he REALLY think, at this late date, that there is ANY fundamental difference, AT ALL, between the GOP and the Dems? What GALAXY is he from? I hope that he enjoys his stay on our planet, and that he returns often, because I enjoy his writing. Mostly.
Day 70. Will O-rama allow assistance from other countries? Or was it the republicans who told him to sit on his thumbs for how many days is it now -- 70?
At the time of the raging fire inside the theatre and with no fire dept. to put it out thanks to the love of the marketplace and deregulation I want to be standing along side you so that I'll absorb your wisdom and avoid any consequences from the intense heat. The absence of lite will protect us both, too, I'm sure. There has been in the MSM for 65 days the very real possibility that the relief wells will not work, either. It was decribed by one expert as " hitting a soccer ball with a spear from 9 miles away " and that shows precisely what were up against. The damage is done and the focus should be on what to do with the thousands/ millions of humans who will be affected by this. If the focus is on shoulda, coulda, woulda nothing will be accomplished in this or other significant issues facing the human beings we call our fellow citizens. My vision of America going forward to meet its' immense challenges is not a Mr. Potter-like scold, peering over his glasses, saying " I told you so it's not my fault ". Neither is it to rely on the very people who caused the fire in the first place. Mr. Hightower merely wants to draw attention to what the arsonists are planning next. He does a good job of that here I think.
Yeah, it is so wonderful to have a D Congress and a D White House and not those bad ol Rs with Jr. and Dirty Dick.
They (Obama and the D Congress) are now proposing and passing unprecedented sweeping legislation to crack down on BigOil and the other families of the Corporate Mafia.
I am so relieved. Thanks Jim for reminding us how bad those Rs are.
Molly Ivins and Ann Richards(note spelling) were role models for Texas women for decades. That Texas had any progressive wing to its' politics at all is in large part due to them. There are worse things than substance abuse issues for picking on someone. Tee-totolers and Drug War enthusiasts have destroyed the lives of misdemeanor-committing minorities thru incarceration much more than martini drinking Texans ever could. They have created a whole industry around prison-building and rascist voter suppression. Please connect the dots before throwing out your uninformed and juvenile comments. I'll thank you in advance.
It doesn't take a much of a brain to realize that Rs don't care a bit about America. Their current effort is to get that black man out of the Whitehouse.
http://www.wsws.org/articles/2010/jun2010/obam-j29.shtml
(off topic), YES, those nasty old R's ALL, each and every one of them, voted AGAINST HR 3590. Thankfully, the D's had 219 votes to enact this fine piece of legislation (now law 111-148), at 10:49 at night on 3/21/2010. Starting with next year's income tax return, each individual's W-2 will reflect the amount of money paid by one's employer towards health insurance, and the individual will be taxed on this amount as if it was real income. Those nasty R's didn't want us to pay tax on fiat monies we didn't get to use as we chose. True to his word, this is NOT a new tax, it is just a redefinition of what 'wages' are....
Perhaps I should have said the bad ol Ds then. Not much difference really. The D/R Diarchy is form of tyranny - de-facto one-party rule.