The Stupid… It Burns
The Pensacola News Journal reports on three Senators and a Representative in Mobile at a news conference:
“We have some good news: The leak is being restrained,” said U.S. Senator George Lemieux, R. Fla. “BP thinks they are reducing the flow, so we very hopeful about that. But I can’t say enough about what a huge threat this is to our way of life in Florida.”
But late Monday BP issued a news release contradicting Lemieux’s assertion.
…Lemieux joined Alabama senators Richard Shelby and Jeff Sessions and U.S. Representative Jeff Miller at a 2 p.m. press conference at Mobile Regional Airport.
…Sessions was asked about the extent of BP’s liability and their promise to pay for all economic and environmental damages. The Alabama senator said the federal Oil Pollution Act of 1990 provides claims for environmental damages, real and personal property damages, loss of profit, loss of government revenue and cancellation of hotel and rentals. Sessions said there is a strict liability for BP to pay for all clean-up costs. In addition, they are subject to fines of up to $75 million.
[FYI: all Southern Republican politician who use “Jeff” are actually “Jefferson Beauregard” on their birth certificates, as in Jefferson Beauregard “Jeff” Sessions, and Jefferson Beauregard “Jeff” Miller.]
Obviously someone attempted to explain to Senator Lemieux [R-Kelly Services] how the blow out preventer worked, and he assumed that BP had used it to crimp the pipe and slow the flow, not understanding that, in fact, the BOP hadn’t worked. [You just can’t get good temps anymore.]
No, Senator Jefferson Beauregard “Jeff” Sessions, there is no $75 million fine in that law, that is the limit on BP’s liability for anything other than the actual clean-up. I realize that you might think that making a corporation pay anything for the damage they cause is a fine, but that isn’t the way it works.
10 comments
I take it Senator Le Meow isn’t the brightest kibble in the bag…
– Badtux the “Better idiots, please?” Penguin
.-= last blog ..Faded =-.
He has been Charlie Crist’s gofor for years. He was sent to DC to keep the seat warm, not make decisions. He should never speak without a script.
“He should never speak without a script.”
Someone teaches them to read? I’m amazed, really! 🙄
Ya learn something every day. Still… I’m not certain that ‘See spot run!” type classics are really what Rhodes Scholars would consider ‘The Classics’, or enough of a grasp of English to be an effective Politician… Oh, right! Duh! Of course, anything more than single syllable words would make their heads explode. Not a bad thing IMNSHO. 😈
I guess that’s why most of them have to invent words that have never been within a planetary diameter of any official Dictionary (in any language). I’m certain that that’s about the limit of any form of creativity they have.
US Politicians are the penultimate proof of the GIGO principal. 😛
Bryan,
It’s worth recalling that the four senators and one idiot congressmen (this last, unhappily, being our own Jeff Miller from Northwest Florida) who held the press conference you mention had just spent several hours seeing, and being briefed in detail about, the undersea oil gusher. If you have the stomach to listen to them (available at http://www.fox10tv.com/dpp/news/gulf_oil_spill/us-lawmakers-react-to-gulf-oil-spill ) you will hear Sen. Richard Shelby say (starting roughly at 12:25), “If this well is not capped in 60 to 90 days, we… we… we’ve got a [sic] unprecedented disaster on our hands. And in this area we’ve never dealt with anything like that.”
Even Shelby’s owner, British Petroleum, has acknowledged that it’s already an ‘unprecedented disaster.’ Even if the wellhead is capped in 60 to 90 days, tens of millions more barrels of oil in the Gulf will have flowed directly into the Gulf than in any previous Gulf oil boat or platform leak. You would think a senator who spent half the day being educated about the dimensions of this catastrophe would understand at least that much.
There were a number of other idiotic remarks by each of these dopes. It is painful to hear the whole thing — never mind watching them preen before the cameras like narcissistic peacocks. But it is instructive on just how very stupid are some of the people we Americans send to Washington.
But John, that makes our politicians different from the average American… how? Remember, for five years after the invasion of Iraq, the average American was absolutely convinced that Saddam Hussein was Osama bin Laden’s best buddy and pal and had a part in the 9/11 plot… a notion which even a quick glance at the facts (hmm, Stalinist atheist socialist vs. religious zealot?) would have quickly figured out was ludicrous. But that assumes that a) they’re capable of glancing at the facts, and b) capable of understanding what they’re looking at. Which, for the typical American — and the typical American legislator — clearly isn’t the case.
– Badtux the Cynical American Penguin
.-= last blog ..Faded =-.
Kryten, Lemieux was Charlie’s gofor [dogsbody, bat man, valet] so he had to be able to read so Charlie would know who sent the checks, and where the “VIP” entrance was. He was only supposed to be there until Charlie was officially elected this November. Of course, reading and comprehension are two different things, and no one said he had to actually know what he was reading meant. 😉
I noticed, John, that the politicians are more protective of BP than BP’s own spokesweasels, who have to continually issue statements backing off from what the Congresscritters are saying. I assume that BP’s legal department has had a stern talk with them about over-promising, and telling out-right lies. Of course, politicians have no such constraints. It sounded like all of them were sucking up for “campaign contributions”.
To quote Paul Simon: “Still a man hears what he wants to hear
And disregards the rest”. Fox News depends on that, Badtux. Most of the people will never attempt to look behind the curtain, or seek the truth.
Americans “believe” things and make no effort to “know” them.
LOL Yeah… I never mentioned ‘comprehension’, we all know that’s not even worth a mention in the context of politics (the same here BTW). I was just amazed a Politician could actually *learn* to read. They don’t seem to be able to learn anything that requires any form of thought process. Maybe they use cattle prod’s or something? 😉 Oh! I know! They dangle an AmEx gold card and tell them they can’t have it until they finish the page, and stop drooling! 😆
Americans “believe” things and make no effort to “know” them.
Sad to say, that seems to be something of a global constant these days. *sigh* We just had our Federal and State budgets, and it’s really amazing how many people just look at the icing and think the whole cake is great! Thankfully, a few in the media here have asked questions and actually taken the top off and discovered they are not as good as they seem. The Gov has decided on a 4% tax on high earnings on resource companies, which is a good thing IMHO. But they didn’t think it through and put necessary controls etc in place, so the next day, gas/oil/electricity companies announced that if the tax goes ahead, they will raise domestic prices. Seems companies are better at politics than Politicians.
“… and disregards the rest,” indeed, but the most applicable line from that song is the nonsense refrain: “Lie la lie / Lie la lie lie, lie la lie, / Lie la lie…” I always said that was the perfect Republican song, because at least every other word was [a] lie.
.-= last blog ..Confronting Old Age =-.
In the US we called it a windfall profits tax and applied it to oil companies who started making money hand-over-fist during the Arab Oil Embargo. The point was made that it was a tax on excess profits, not the normal profits a business could have expected. Then they published the data on the profits of the companies. The case was made that it wasn’t about normal business activities, it was about greed, and the government was taxing the greed. If the companies eased off on the greed, they didn’t have to pay the tax.
It is all about framing, and, given the current conditions, I don’t think greed will go over with voters, if it is explained.
Naturally, to explain the concept, you have to understand it, i.e. you actually have to believe that greed is bad.
Actually Steve, to be a liar requires knowing that there is truth, a major hurdle for most politicians.