We’ve always known that America’s reign as the world’s greatest nation would eventually end. But most of us imagined that our downfall, when it came, would be something grand and tragic.
What we’re getting instead is less a tragedy than a deadly farce. Instead of fraying under the strain of imperial overstretch, we’re paralyzed by procedure. Instead of re-enacting the decline and fall of Rome, we’re re-enacting the dissolution of 18th-century Poland.
A brief history lesson: In the 17th and 18th centuries, the Polish legislature, the Sejm, operated on the unanimity principle: any member could nullify legislation by shouting “I do not allow!” This made the nation largely ungovernable, and neighboring regimes began hacking off pieces of its territory. By 1795 Poland had disappeared, not to re-emerge for more than a century.
Today, the U.S. Senate seems determined to make the Sejm look good by comparison.
Last week, after nine months, the Senate finally approved Martha Johnson to head the General Services Administration, which runs government buildings and purchases supplies. It’s an essentially nonpolitical position, and nobody questioned Ms. Johnson’s qualifications: she was approved by a vote of 94 to 2. But Senator Christopher Bond, Republican of Missouri, had put a “hold” on her appointment to pressure the government into approving a building project in Kansas City.
This dubious achievement may have inspired Senator Richard Shelby, Republican of Alabama. In any case, Mr. Shelby has now placed a hold on all outstanding Obama administration nominations — about 70 high-level government positions — until his state gets a tanker contract and a counterterrorism center.
What gives individual senators this kind of power? Much of the Senate’s business relies on unanimous consent: it’s difficult to get anything done unless everyone agrees on procedure. And a tradition has grown up under which senators, in return for not gumming up everything, get the right to block nominees they don’t like.
In the past, holds were used sparingly. That’s because, as a Congressional Research Service report on the practice says, the Senate used to be ruled by “traditions of comity, courtesy, reciprocity, and accommodation.” But that was then. Rules that used to be workable have become crippling now that one of the nation’s major political parties has descended into nihilism, seeing no harm — in fact, political dividends — in making the nation ungovernable.
How bad is it? It’s so bad that I miss Newt Gingrich.
Readers may recall that in 1995 Mr. Gingrich, then speaker of the House, cut off the federal government’s funding and forced a temporary government shutdown. It was ugly and extreme, but at least Mr. Gingrich had specific demands: he wanted Bill Clinton to agree to sharp cuts in Medicare.
Today, by contrast, the Republican leaders refuse to offer any specific proposals. They inveigh against the deficit — and last month their senators voted in lockstep against any increase in the federal debt limit, a move that would have precipitated another government shutdown if Democrats hadn’t had 60 votes. But they also denounce anything that might actually reduce the deficit, including, ironically, any effort to spend Medicare funds more wisely.
And with the national G.O.P. having abdicated any responsibility for making things work, it’s only natural that individual senators should feel free to take the nation hostage until they get their pet projects funded.
The truth is that given the state of American politics, the way the Senate works is no longer consistent with a functioning government. Senators themselves should recognize this fact and push through changes in those rules, including eliminating or at least limiting the filibuster. This is something they could and should do, by majority vote, on the first day of the next Senate session.
Don’t hold your breath. As it is, Democrats don’t even seem able to score political points by highlighting their opponents’ obstructionism.
It should be a simple message (and it should have been the central message in Massachusetts): a vote for a Republican, no matter what you think of him as a person, is a vote for paralysis. But by now, we know how the Obama administration deals with those who would destroy it: it goes straight for the capillaries. Sure enough, Robert Gibbs, the White House press secretary, accused Mr. Shelby of “silliness.” Yep, that will really resonate with voters.
After the dissolution of Poland, a Polish officer serving under Napoleon penned a song that eventually — after the country’s post-World War I resurrection — became the country’s national anthem. It begins, “Poland is not yet lost.”
Well, America is not yet lost. But the Senate is working on it.
Joined: 13 Nov 2006 Posts: 2540 Location: THE OUTER REACH OF YOUR MIND
Posted: Sat May 08, 2010 3:11 pm Post subject:
OBAMA PENTAGON GIVES $500M 'NO BID' CONTRACT TO HALLIBURTON...
May 6 (Bloomberg) -- KBR Inc. was selected for a no-bid contract worth as much as $568 million through 2011 for military support services in Iraq, the Army said.
The Army announced its decision yesterday only hours after the Justice Department said it will pursue a lawsuit accusing the Houston-based company of taking kickbacks from two subcontractors on Iraq-related work. The Army also awarded the work to KBR over objections from members of Congress, who have pushed the Pentagon to seek bids for further logistics contracts.
Going back into the Sludge toilet to deal with floaters like you is no longer a valuable use of my time. Your negative agenda is clear - I'll no longer be a part of it.
How George Bush, Joe Barton, Dick Cheney and Tom DeLay Caused the Gulf Oil Spill and Made Sure BP Will Never Be Held Accountable
By karoli Monday Jun 07, 2010 2:00pm
Does everyone remember Dick Cheney's "National Energy Task Force"? The one where meetings were held in secret, and energy policy was set by the foxes in charge of the henhouse? Yeah, I figured you might.
The Center for American Progress has connected the dots between this task force, the Bush Administration energy policies, and Tom DeLay's leadership in the House of Representatives to paint a straight line right back to Cheney & Co. I don't agree with the conclusion of "Cheney's Katrina", so how about we call it "Cheney's Oil Apocalypse" instead?
Setting the stage - May, 2001
Cheney's secret task force releases a 170-page harbinger of death under the title "National Energy Policy" (PDF). One of the pillars of their report is California's supposed energy crisis, helped along by the likes of Enron.
In Chapter Five, several recommendations for increasing domestic energy supplies are made, including:
* The NEPD Group recommends that the President direct the Secretary of the Interior to consider economic incentives for environmentally sound offshore oil and gas development where warranted by specific circumstances: explore opportunities for royalty reductions, consistent with ensuring a fair return to the public where warranted for enhanced oil and gas recovery; for reduction of risk associated with production in frontier areas or deep gas formations; and for development of small fields that would otherwise be uneconomic.
* The NEPD Group recommends that the President direct the Secretaries of Commerce and Interior to re-examine the current federal legal and policy regime (statutes, regulations, and Executive Orders) to determine if changes are needed regarding energy-related activi- ties and the siting of energy facilities in the coastal zone and on the Outer Continental Shelf (OCS).
* The NEPD Group recommends that the President direct the Secretary of the Interior continue OCS oil and gas leasing and approval of exploration and development plans on predictable schedules.
Act One - The Administration complies
First, the SAFE Act is introduced in the House in 2001. It provides for the following (quotes from CAP post):
* Taxpayer funds to reimburse oil companies for the costs of complying with the National Environmental Policy Act (Sec. 6234)
* A suspension of royalties on tens of millions of barrels of oil produced in the Gulf of Mexico—especially from deepwater wells like the one now spewing into the gulf (Sec. 6202)
* Opening the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to drilling—with expedited leasing, limited judicial review, and lip service to environmental concerns (Div. F, Title V)
Check off one set of recommendations, though it took Cheney and big Oil until 2003 to get it to a conference committee. Just after the midterms, Republicans guided the bill through the House, with DeLay twisting arms as needed. With Democrats safely in the minority, the conference committee was able to exempt all oil and gas construction activities from the Clean Water Act, force BLM lease approvals within 10 days, grant unprecedented authority to the Department of Interior to fast-track permits, and allocate $2 billion for oil companies to drill in ultra deepwater areas.
A filibuster in the Senate stopped it from becoming law. Then.
Act Two - If at first you don't succeed, try, try again...
In 2004 a second legislative assault on our coastlines was mounted. This time Rep. Joe Barton (R-TX) worked with DeLay to get a bill through the House with the assistance of oilman-turned-lobbyist Andrew Lundquist and Abramoff crony Stephen Griles.
CAP reports:
One of the worst elements of what has come to be known as the “Dick Cheney energy bill” had a direct role in eliminating the kind of regulatory oversight that may have prevented the blowout of BP’s Mississippi Canyon 252 well on April 20 of this year. Section 390 of the legislation dramatically expanded the circumstance under which drilling operations could forego environmental reviews and be approved almost immediately under so-called “categorical exclusions” from the National Environmental Policy Act.
There you go. Fast-track approvals by waiving environmental reviews and granting "categorical exclusions". In other words, tell the oil companies like BP that it's totally okay to ride their iron horses out to the wild coastal frontier without regard for safety or environmental damage.
Worth noting: BP liked those categorical exclusions so much they were lobbying as late as April of this year for more of them.
Other gifts to the oil industry included in the Cheney Energy Bill:
* Permanent permit exemptions granted to all oil and gas construction activities for roads, drill pads, pipeline corridors, refineries and compressor stations required under the Clean Water Act.
* Exempted oil companies from paying royalties on oil produced from deepwater wells.
* Created a special exception to the Safe Drinking Water Act for the "hydraulic fracturing process". As CAP notes, this process was invented by Halliburton.
* Mandated a federally-funded study to identify ways that legislation, regulations and local zoning laws impeded development of existing leases and unexplored oil reserves.
* Limited states' voice with regard to projects affecting their coastlines. This also included limiting court action with respect to offshore oil development.
* Reinstated lapsed leases due to nonpayment of royalties and rents.
* Transferred mineral rights of national seashores to private ownership or Texas state ownership in order to allow oil companies to drill under them.
Act Three - It is finished
On August 8, 2005, George W. Bush signed the Energy Policy Act of 2005 into law.
On October 22, 2007 Randall B. Luthi, Wyoming attorney, Cheney cohort and new director of MMS signed a "Finding of No New Significant Impact" (PDF) with regard to Lease Sale 206, also known as the Deepwater Horizon. This finding was the last barrier for BP to cross before plunging equipment 5000 feet under the ocean's surface, using Halliburton fracture techniques to open the well, and beginning the flow of oil which ends as an environmental and economic disaster to Gulf inhabitants. No significant impact, indeed.
Stay tuned for scenes from next year
It's unclear how the Cheney Energy Act will play out in the legal morass yet to come. What we should expect are many challenges by BP lawyers to any effort to claim damages under the Clean Water Act (given the exemptions) as well as challenges for liability beyond cleaning up the spill.
But whatever happens, dear viewers, know this: The responsible parties are George W. Bush, Dick Cheney, Joe Barton, and Tom DeLay.
Repeat. Lather. Rinse. Repeat. Get the word out. Put the spotlight on the real villains.
Going back into the Sludge toilet to deal with floaters like you is no longer a valuable use of my time. Your negative agenda is clear - I'll no longer be a part of it.
Going back into the Sludge toilet to deal with floaters like you is no longer a valuable use of my time. Your negative agenda is clear - I'll no longer be a part of it.
Joined: 13 Nov 2006 Posts: 2540 Location: THE OUTER REACH OF YOUR MIND
Posted: Tue Jun 29, 2010 9:54 pm Post subject:
Obama is the Patriot of the week! The President is handling this oil spill very well, he's once again made a hero out of himself. Thank God the cowboy from Texas is gone. God Bless America! _________________ http://www.myspace.com/speedymuffler
Itwalksamongus wrote:
Going back into the Sludge toilet to deal with floaters like you is no longer a valuable use of my time. Your negative agenda is clear - I'll no longer be a part of it.
Nah - Obama's getting on my nerves too now. I'd hardly vote for him for patriot of the week. Maybe they can find a spot for him on that Sludge losers site?
Joined: 13 Nov 2006 Posts: 2540 Location: THE OUTER REACH OF YOUR MIND
Posted: Sun Jul 04, 2010 6:54 pm Post subject:
Stick Trick wrote:
Nah - Obama's getting on my nerves too now. I'd hardly vote for him for patriot of the week. Maybe they can find a spot for him on that Sludge losers site?
Going back into the Sludge toilet to deal with floaters like you is no longer a valuable use of my time. Your negative agenda is clear - I'll no longer be a part of it.
Joined: 13 Nov 2006 Posts: 2540 Location: THE OUTER REACH OF YOUR MIND
Posted: Wed Jul 14, 2010 5:10 pm Post subject:
What do you mean its not coming out? It's just a matter of time after he's out of power. He's trying to incite a civil war, he's destroying the economy just to get even with the people who rejected him when he was young. Ill tell you Im happy not to be american, run for the hills and dont even look back! Aaaaaah is it paranoia or is the fear real??? _________________ http://www.myspace.com/speedymuffler
Itwalksamongus wrote:
Going back into the Sludge toilet to deal with floaters like you is no longer a valuable use of my time. Your negative agenda is clear - I'll no longer be a part of it.
It's done it's job already - doesn't need to come out per se. Besides, now you sound like Angry Again with the proud to not be American (with a capital A if you please...) schpiel. How are the hills where you live? No different yes?
Joined: 13 Nov 2006 Posts: 2540 Location: THE OUTER REACH OF YOUR MIND
Posted: Sat Jul 17, 2010 9:34 pm Post subject:
[size=18]I like America and consider myself 25% percent american, Im maybe french but I still care about the USA and hate to see retards like Bush and Obama destroying it. What country are you from?[/size]
Going back into the Sludge toilet to deal with floaters like you is no longer a valuable use of my time. Your negative agenda is clear - I'll no longer be a part of it.
Joined: 13 Nov 2006 Posts: 2540 Location: THE OUTER REACH OF YOUR MIND
Posted: Sat Jul 17, 2010 9:34 pm Post subject:
SPEEDYMUFFLER wrote:
I like America and consider myself 25% percent american, Im maybe french but I still care about the USA and hate to see retards like Bush and Obama destroying it. What country are you from?
Going back into the Sludge toilet to deal with floaters like you is no longer a valuable use of my time. Your negative agenda is clear - I'll no longer be a part of it.
btw ... anyone that believes desert is a "right" obviously hasn't flown 6 hours next to someone whose body circumference well exceeded their seat allocation. Just sayin.
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you knew I would be back for this one.