It’s comforting to know there are still some “honest” politicians in Washington [if your definition of “honest” is one that stays bought no matter what happens.] Pitch hitting for Mary Landrieu, the Senator for the Oil industry from Louisiana, is Lisa Murkowski, the Senator for the Oil industry from Alaska.

Lesley Clark of McClatchy reports that Alaska’s Murkowski blocks Senate on higher oil spill liability

WASHINGTON — Senate Democrats Thursday lost a bid to raise the liability cap for oil companies to $10 billion when Alaska Republican Lisa Murkowski raised objections. They vowed to try again.

Murkowski said she supports lifting the cap from $75 million, but contends the $10 billion figure would prevent smaller, independent companies from drilling along the Outer Continental Shelf.

The debate came as Transocean, the owner of the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig that caught fire and sank, touching off an oil leak that is still dumping 210,000 gallons of crude in the Gulf of Mexico daily, sought in federal court in Houston to use a 1851 maritime law to $27 million.

Referring to the Deepwater Horizon in the feminine, the petition said that because “she” was lost, her owners are responsible only for damages up to the rig’s salvage value, which they pegged at $26,764,083. The peititon describes the offshore rig as “having a burden of 32,588 gross tons” and at the time of her final “voyage” being “tight, staunch, strong, properly and sufficiently manned, supplied, equipped and furnished.”

Obviously Transocean is pining for the days of sail when the vessels with the most cannon usually won, however I doubt that anyone in 1851 would have considered the Deepwater Horizon a “vessel”.

I assume that these “smaller, independent” drilling companies exist on the same planet as the family farms that Republicans are always talking about. Corporations have killed off those entities on this planet with the help of the Republicans.

Meanwhile in Mississippi I read: Gov. Barbour seeks federal assistance for south Mississippi businesses affected by oil spill.

This would be the same Haley Barbour who “hates” the Federal government’s interference in people’s lives. The individual who is always screaming about Federal incompetence for running a deficit. The staunch defender of the “free market” who, as a US Senator voted for every deregulation bill and tax cut that was presented. He is the governor of a state that receives over $2 for every $1 its citizens pay in Federal taxes.

It is time for Mississippi to grow up and get to work, rather than going to the Federal government every time it is short of cash. The Federal government didn’t cause the leak, so why are you asking for Federal assistance? BP is the responsible party, so act like a real American and sue them. Oh, and you might want to consider extending your tax base beyond casinos. If you educated your children and built some infrastructure businesses might want to locate in the state. It’s time to get Mississippi off Federal welfare.

[My apologies to Mississippi liberals and progressives. I know what it’s like living in “enemy territory” watching the results of bad decisions on a daily basis while being powerless to change things. Keep the faith. Maybe one day reason will prevail.]

Oh, I’m sorry, it’s the governor of Florida: Florida tries get out message: No oil on our beaches

Officials in Florida would like the world to know that the state’s 663 beaches and the water that surrounds them are oil free.

A message that Florida Gov. Charlie Crist wants $34.75 million to spread. In a letter to BP, the company at the center of the oil spill problem in the Gulf of Mexico, Gov. Crist asks for the money to start a marketing campaign. This campaign would “counter the negative, widespread and false information potential visitors to Florida are receiving,” a statement from the Governor’s Press Office says.

There is no visible oil on Florida beaches yet, but we don’t know if there is oil in the water, because the state doesn’t want people testing the water. Like most corporatists, Charlie thinks that everything is a public relations problem that can be fixed by a media blitz.

The state is ready to ask for $34.75 million for TV ads, but has a hissy fit when local governments want money to protect beaches and inland waters: DEP questions Okaloosa’s ‘Cadillac’ boom plan. Yes, it could cost upwards of 8 million dollars to do everything the county wants, but the county is trying to protect the one resource that makes people put up with the hurricane season and pay obscene amounts of money for real estate.