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When I was a timber sale contract administrator, if I issued a contractor a stop order it was usually lifted before I could get back to the office from the field! Big bussiness is fast!
I wish Obama would stop "fraternizing with the enemy"Mitt was and I'm sure still is a job destroyer, and stop playing golf with John Boehner, that intoxicated fool will throw Obama under the bus for the likes of looking good for The Grover, Barrak !!STOP!!! playing nice with these bums, non of them are worth the the time of day !
The way the YES answer is worded convinces me that this answer is a spoof, Thom. I can't believe that anyone, even a hardcore Rethug, would ever choose it. I'd love to know what's going through the heads (if anything) of those who voted YES!
Howard
The Twain Report
All The News That Mark Twain Says He Would Report If He Was Alive Today
11-29-2012
It is not often that The Twain Report is surprised. But we are surprised. In fact, we are extremely surprised. We had thought- based on all available evidence- including the Report's Editor's own personal experience with the EPA- that the EPA was a wholely-owned subsidiary of BP and other corporations. Boy howdy, we can tell you some EPA employees who won't be getting $1 million/year jobs as consultants with BP when they retire from the EPA... (Hopefully, BP can make up the shortfall in consultants, by adding an equal percentage of retirees from other American agencies, as well as from congress and the president's staff.)
We just hope that poor Tony Hayward- BP's CEO- got his life back. Why, we remember feeling such deep pity for him when, after being at BP's helm when BP murdered those 11 Americans and uncounted millions of gallons of oil into the gulf and then dumped lots of incredibly toxic "dispersant" chemicals into the Gulf in a pretense of "cleaning up" their spill, Tony felt so concerned for his emotional welbeing that he got on his huge yacht and went sailing- a decision widely-approved by everyone.
But you know, given BP's entirely reliable assurance that the entire cleanup was completed within a few hours of the time their drilling rig exploded, we expected that Tony would go sailing in the gulf, to enjoy what BP called the "pristine" waters teeming with healthy fish and other wildlife, and to receive friendly invitations to dinner, or at least to wander into the local pubs to hoist a few pints and enjoy some friendly conversation with fishermen, waterfront hotel owners, and other members of the gulf's local business economy. But to our surprise, Tony went sailing somewhere far away from the gulf.
At any rate, it's been so long since we heard from Tony, that we feel concerned for his welfare. The Twain Report is taking up a collection: we ask that everyone who reads this post send a minimum of one oil-covered shorebird, five gallons of shrimp that have at least two heads, one dolphin that died from dispersant inhalation, and fifty gallons of crude oil mixed with sand, to:
Tony Hayward, C/O BP Corporation
I read the EPA News Release and there is nothing about lifting the whole ban if a Consent Agreement is signed, as LeMoyne suggested.
A "Consent Agreement" with an environmental agency is a legal document a violator signs to avoid the ongoing accumulation of fines and penalties. If what was signed was a Consent Agreement, that is BP's agreement to pay all fines and penalties owed for violations, agreement to complete whatever plan of mitigation was set forth by the EPA, and agreement to perform any further work in compliance with the law and standards.
Consent Agreements are drawn up under environmental attorney directions so that an Environmental agency will win a case in court. In the younger years of EPA, many violators chose to simply not pay their fines and move on. Thus, the "Consent Agreement" was conceived, to be an airtight contract which will cost the violator more fines and penalties for trying to later dispute the Agreement in court in a case they will not be able to win.
The Consent Agreement will allow the ongoing projects and contracts to be active. Unless it is signed, that condition will be removed. It also gives the EPA a chance to consolidate the files of all BP's ongoing work and comb them for unfulfilled permit requirements and violations.
Every project grandfathered-in must be done to the letter of the law, and if the people who are impacted by BP don't keep up with what their local agency has or has not permitted, there is no way to know other than sending an investigative reporter on a Gulf tour of environmental agencies to see whether permiting has been proper and fair to all companies.
There is no way for BP to meet re-establishment requirements in a matter of weeks. Firstly, a simple dredge-and-fill permit sits in a basket a matter of weeks before someone gets around to working on it. If the ban is lifted that quickly, it'll be time to take a closer look into the regulatory agency and what greased the wheels.
BP will be given a metropolitan phone book-sized list of rules and regulations of what needs to be done for new inspections, and completing any old unfulfilled permit requirements. The EPA has the right and ability to rake them over the coals of Bureaucratic Hell.
Although the threat of disguised subsidiaries has been mentioned, any new companies have to abide by the same rules and regulations attached to their permits. It is not hard to catch and identify a shell company. If BP gets caught trying to work under an alias before meeting the terms of the Consent Agreement it'll be curtains for Standard Oil and the Queen. I doubt they will try it.
Spiritual High class ? That great But this is hardball politics So much at stake We do not need to ' socialize, befriend our adversaries.
Hell NO Its bad enough Geitner is' handling' buget talks' NO rich Goldman Sachs suck up Wall Streeter will fight hard for the people !
I've got a vocabulary word for Thom: pleonexically ugly.
I want to return to the nomination of Susan Rice. I feel she is being unneccessarily hounded by the Repubs; that seems to be their only weapon as just about everything they do and say is not is our best interest. However I did run across some of her quotes re the Iraq war, which does make me not a supporter ... so if Tom could look into this I would be appreciative.
Thom: correction needed to your news segment. You're saying that the CBO did a report earlier this year that was muzzled by Republicans. It was actually the Congressional Research Service (CRS) that did that report.
Seriously? The United States has fair or even poor business practices expectations? Where do I sign up? I have some terrific land purchase opportunities I'd be thrilled to tell you about! Literally. BTW did you know that many states still have criminal laws permitting the incarceration of business owners whose callous disregard for human life causes harm. Boy howdy, its true. The more things change the more they stay the same. Death Penalty? It used to be you had to prove good citizenship to even get a charter! In fact, most offshore corporate offices are box numbers at a Mailbox Etcetera, Inc. etc. Been there, done that.
Dear EPA thank you! I hope that BP will change its business philosophy so that profits and people are in the equation. It seems they have only been interested in profits up to now. They poisoned the Gulf of Mexico with a river of oil, the worst accident of an oil producer in American history. Under their operation eleven men died and dozens suffered terrible injuries in the fire and explosion. If it were your husband, brother, or father who died or was injured what would you think about BP? This is not merely an economic disaster for the region; lives were lost. Some of the injured will never recover fully. This was also a human tragedy. I hope that BP will be able to prove they have become responsible citizens in our community. However, until they prove their case, let them drill somewhere else. There are other more responsible oil explorers who will get it right. I will not be completely pleased until the men who caused the lack of integrity of the operation are sent to prison. Only prision terms will deter the operators that human lives mean something to Americans.
Absoletely not!
Hell no. Neobama already had Immelt as his outsourcing czar. Not to mention the small but important fact that Mitt is a fucking imbecile.
Since you brought up Iceland today....I am getting more confused about it. Info seems to becoming more fantastical. I do understand that the base of it is true. However, I have been seeing a lot of comments from Icelanders that say that the banks have been taken over by vultures and things are not as rosey as we hear. Any comments?
The President is a Spiritual man. That is why he offered such a thing. It's what he would have appreciated from Romney - had the situation been reversed. Of course, Mitt would have never offered such a thing. (Don't you think Mitt knows this?) See...thats the difference between a Spiritual person and a religious person. The Spiritual know how the universe works. What you resist - persists. Being fearless is not brave - it's smart.
namaste
And the EPA will submit a consent agreement to BP within a couple weeks. I understand that If BP signs it that lifts the suspension. This is a pro forma suspension required by the plea deal - I expect the suspension on new contracts to be brief although it may cause BP to miss an upcoming lease auction it does not touch any of BP's current lucrative government contracts.
i agree completely with PL
I heard that Deval Patrick would likely name himself to that Senate seat.
Personally, I think it's both. And sexist, as well.
Enemy of the state? My god, man! I think you just made a legal case to impeach every member of congress who signed Grover’s Pledge.
I think Richardson from New Mexico would be a good pick; it would throw the (R)s off their game because I agree - they want to see Kerry out of the Senate and into a different job so they can control Kerry's present spot. If President Obama nominates Richardson, it's someone with a good track record and experience, and leaves Kerry where he is until the midterms, at least. The best other selection would be to nominate Colin Powell... but I doubt he really is anxious to get back in the rat-races.
I just watched an interview of Julian Assange on the CNN Erin Burnett OutFront show. Erin Burnett was really trying to put Julian Assange in a very uncomfortable position when she kept hounding Assange with a question that could put him at odds with Assange's Ecudor Embassy host. I say GOOD FOR ASSANGE for not letting that #*$(@ get her way. I usually don't watch Erin Burnett because she sounds pretty right wing to me. She is always fawning over right wing guests and seems to attack liberals.
Assange has a new book out called..."Cypherpunks: Freedom and the Future of the Internet"
The CIA wasn't, by law, allowed to spy on Americans after the hearing in 1975 but they circumvented the law by using other countries to spy on Americans and the CIA and NSA would spy on other partner countries and then exchange data. UKUSA (UK-USA) was first established which morphed into ECHELON (encompassing 5 partner countries). The original intent was to spy on the Soviet Union but it grew into this spy trade information on each other's citizen's communications (phones--land and mobile, internet, radio, and any other form of communications).
But since 911...Homeland Security now has the mandate to spy on us outright and in our faces.
With all we now know about what the CIA has done over it's history....what are they now up to? I really don't want to know first hand...rather read about it.
If the Democrats compromise the social programs...even if they extend Medicare eligibility from 65 to 67 we will likely see a repeat of what happened during Obama's first term when he had some advantage but reneged on his pre-election bravado. Disappointed Democrat supporters stayed home. But if Obama holds his ground (after all did not the Republicans hold their ground..steadfastly refusing to compromise on anything) then Democrats will gain even more strength as people see Obama (and the Democrats) as true representatives of their best interests...and not just wimpy sell-outs to the wealthy ruling elite.
66% of the voters do not want their social programs to be compromised. How many of those voters will be willing to go to the polls in 2014 and vote for those Congressmen/women who compromised on their social programs? The Democrat shills would have to resort, yet again, to the scare tactic slogans of "don't let the Republicans gain advantage". If you don't want the Republicans to gain advantage....don't compromise away our social programs.
Of course, now, the Republicans are trying to compromise Obamacare...not that I am a big supporter of that farce to begin with. After all, Obamacare was originally a Republican plan and the healthScare and Drug industries got nearly everything they wanted anyway. Maybe Obama and the Democrats could junk Obamacare and make Single Payer Healthcare the law of the land. Now that would be fantastic!