Friday, May 28, 2010

Friday Mashup (5/28/10)

The "pre-holiday, extra-turbo version," if you will...

  • Ladies and gentlemen, I give you Huckleberry Graham (here)…

    “I don’t think I can get what I wanted as part of the deal (on comprehensive energy and climate change legislation),” said Graham, in reference to the drilling provisions. “It’s no fault to Kerry and Lieberman. Harry Reid didn’t create this problem. This problem was created by BP (re: the Deepwater Horizon catastrophe and the pollution in the Gulf, of course).”
    In spite of that, though, Graham blames Obama for potentially “killing” the legislation if 44 cracks down on offshore drilling? After public opinion has now moved solidly against drilling since BP decided to turn the Gulf into a toxic waste dump? And after Graham “refused to join Kerry and Lieberman when they rolled out the 1,000-page bill earlier (in May), in protest of a decision by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) to also move comprehensive immigration reform this summer”?

    As I’ve said a few times already by now, yes, Ken Salazar should have ordered a top-to-bottom review of how the Minerals Management Service awards its contracts for drilling in the Gulf, and how the oil companies receiving the awards manage their subcontractors, as well as (obvious by now) documented contingency plans for what to do in case Biblical amounts of oil are released into the Gulf, and mixing it with chemical dispersants turns everything into goo.

    But that’s the fault of Salazar and Elizabeth Birnbaum, who formerly ran the MMS (though, to be fair and as I’ve also already said, I don’t know how anyone could have been expected to clean up that utter mess of an agency after eight wretched years in about nine months).

    And somehow, as far as Graham is concerned, this is all Obama’s fault?

    There’s a reason why the Repugs are the minority party in Congress, and it is on full display here; this whole "Lucy pulling the football away from Charlie Brown at the last minute" act is waay beyond tiresome by now.


  • Also, I just wanted to highlight the following vote from last week’s Area Votes in Congress from the Inquirer here (not much else going on; Arlen Specter missed a couple of votes, though I guess he’s allowed now that the Dem primary is over and he's on the way out)…

    House

    Technology, science dispute. Voting 261-148, the House failed to reach a two-thirds majority needed to pass a bill (HR 5325) authorizing $48 billion over three years for a wide range of science and technology programs run by federal agencies, universities, and the private sector. Begun in 2007, the "America Competes" initiative seeks to maintain the country's global leadership in technology and innovation. The bill required a supermajority for passage because it was debated under a short-cut procedure that limited debate and barred amendments.

    A yes vote was to pass the bill.

    Voting yes: John Adler (D., N.J.), Robert E. Andrews (D., N.J.), Robert A. Brady (D., Pa.), Michael N. Castle (R., Del.), Charles W. Dent (R., Pa.), Chaka Fattah (D., Pa.), Jim Gerlach (R., Pa.), Patrick Murphy (D., Pa.), Allyson Y. Schwartz (D., Pa.), and Joe Sestak (D., Pa.).

    Voting no: Frank A. LoBiondo (R., N.J.), Joseph R. Pitts (R., Pa.), and Christopher H. Smith (R., N.J.).

    Not voting: Tim Holden (D., Pa.).
    As usual, the Repugs are trying to kill the best means our country has right now of developing the jobs that will rebuild our economy, and that is through seed money from the federal government such as the type allocated in this bill.

    LoBiondo is a member of the supposedly moderate “Republican Main Street Partnership,” so I’m a little surprised by his vote here, though I know his party believes the only way they can be elected to power once more is to oppose everything from the Dems, no matter how worthwhile. However, these votes are utterly unsurprising for Smith (to do something in response, click here) and Pancake Joe (to do something in response, click here), as we know.


  • Finally, I give you Michael Gerson from the WaPo here…

    ...after a brief bump, support for Democratic health reform has declined. A Kaiser Family Foundation health tracking poll shows erosion in the intensity of support. Last month, 23 percent of Americans held "very favorable" views of the law. This month, that figure is 14 percent, with most of the falloff coming among Democrats (Republicans and independents already being skeptical). Other polling reinforces these views.
    Uh, no – as noted here…

    Public support for President Obama's health care reforms has increased since they were signed into law in March, a new CBS News poll shows - 43 percent of Americans now support the measures, up from 32 percent.

    However, more Americans - 47 percent - still disapprove of the new laws, according to the poll, conducted May 20 - 24. That's down from March, when 53 percent disapproved of the changes.

    Approval of the bill has risen among Democrats, from 52 percent to 72 percent, as well as among independents, from 27 percent to 39 percent. Support among Republicans has stayed about the same at 14 percent.
    Why does Gerson still have a job?
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