July 2010 Archives

"The easiest thing in the world for a politician to do is tell you exactly what you want to hear."--Senator Barack Obama during the 2008 presidential campaign when the other candidates were calling for a gasoline tax holiday in the face of soaring oil prices. It's time for President Obama to take some advice from Senator Obama and not from his political advisers in the White House, like David Axelrod and Rahm Emanuel, who are...

I was on MSNBC's Countdown last night, talking with Keith Olbermann about oil getting into Lake Pontchartrain, and BP's rejection of virtually every idea for cleaning up the oil spill.  Have a look:Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy ...

We knew this would happen, but who knows how to stop it. When I was driving home from Louisiana this weekend I saw the following billboard:Reagan BillboardWe all saw Sen. Graham's comments earlier and that alone was a cup of cold water to the face. The Republicans have held the White House for 20 of the past 30 years. Many think Bill Clinton was more pro-business than most Democrats, so if you include him you...

Over the last 78 days since the blowout of BP's Mississippi Canyon Block 252 well, I have been primarily focused on the technical aspects of the disaster, the mechanics of the well itself, the relief efforts, and issues surrounding BP's decisions before and after the incident.  I've felt from the beginning that the blowout was certainly preventable and was caused by BP's deafness while the well was screaming at them it was going to get...

We can't afford to extend unemployment benefits, but:"...an examination of the American tax code indicates that oil production is among the most heavily subsidized businesses, with tax breaks available at virtually every stage of the exploration and extraction process."Take, for instance, two of the major players in the Gulf oil spill--Transocean and BP:"When the Deepwater Horizon drilling platform set off the worst oil spill at sea in American history, it was flying the flag of...

The late, great George Carlin on the real owners of the country. From Down With Tyranny (profanity warning):<br /> ...

View image  This morning, BP announced that their first relief well is at 17,725' and that they have completed their sixth ranging run.  They are well into the precision phase of the relief effort, using magnetic ranging to give direction to steer the drill bit towards the blowout well bore.  Reports are that they are within 15 feet laterally from the well with less than 600 feet to drill as they angle towards their target,...

From businessinsider.com:   The chart speaks for itself.  Happy Fourth!...

At this point in our weekend forecast, even the waterfowl have to be saying ENOUGH with all the rain we've had for the past several days, and it's supposed to continue!If you were lucky enough to be able to leave work early yesterday for the start of the holiday weekend, you probably experienced the flash flooding and poor visibility in various parts of the city. You may have driven by the bayous and seen for...

Free marketers and Libertarians always decry any government involvement in business, bemoaning "interference", "government takeovers", "socialism", and "tyranny" whenever the administration or Congress enacts legislation or regulation to stabilize markets or make them more fair.  Their prescription for all ails is tax cutting and unrestrained free trade where the "market" will self regulate and benefit all who can afford to play.  They advocate wholesale elimination of the EPA, Department of Education, Department of Health, dismantling...