Just in time for Sarah Palin's sympathy note to the Gulf Coast about that Deepwater Horizon thing, a second, smaller, oil rig has collapsed in Louisiana. The Coast Guard describes this one as a "mobile inland drilling unit" in the Charenton navigational canal in Morgan City. It's got a capacity of 20,000 gallons of diesel fuel, and doesn't appear to be leaking.
See there? Perfectly safe, you betcha.
This morning, "Drill, baby, drill" Palin had tweeted her hugs to the Gulf Coast for the harm to humans (and maybe nature?) from BP's Deepwater Horizon:
Having worked/lived thru Exxon oil spill,my family&I understand Gulf residents' fears.Our prayers r w/u.All industry efforts must b employed
Maybe Palin should have just left it at 140 characters or less. Minutes before news broke of the new rig collapse, she released the Facebook mega-version, in which she remembers the heartbreak of the Exxon-Valdez in, you know, more detail. For the record, the current uncapped well from the collapsed Deepwater Horizon is pouring so much oil into the water unabated that it threatens to eclipse the Valdez disaster and then keep growing. But take it away, Sarah:
All responsible energy development must be accompanied by strict oversight, but even with the strictest oversight in the world, accidents still happen. No human endeavor is ever without risk – whether it's sending a man to the moon or extracting the necessary resources to fuel our civilization. I repeat the slogan "drill here, drill now" not out of naiveté or disregard for the tragic consequences of oil spills – my family and my state and I know firsthand those consequences. How could I still believe in drilling America's domestic supply of energy after having seen the devastation of the Exxon-Valdez spill? I continue to believe in it because increased domestic oil production will make us a more secure, prosperous, and peaceful nation.
Full Facebook, after the jump:
We've all been shocked and saddened by the tragic events in the Gulf of Mexico. My heart breaks for coastal residents who are facing fears of the unknown impacts of the oil spill.
As an Alaskan, I can speak from the heart about the tragedy of an oil spill. For as long as I live, I will never forget the day the Exxon-Valdez ran aground on Bligh Reef and millions of gallons of North Slope crude poured into the waters of our beautiful Prince William Sound. The spill was devastating to so many Alaskans who, like my own family, make their living on the water from our commercial fishing industry. "Heartbreaking" was the word my husband Todd, an Alaska Native and trained oil spill responder, used to describe the scene as we watched it unfold on land and water that we feel is sacred.
Alaskans understand the tragedy of an oil spill, and we've taken steps to do all we can to prevent another Exxon tragedy, but we are still pro-development. We still believe in responsible development, which includes drilling to extract energy sources, because we know that there is an inherent link between energy and security, energy and prosperity, and energy and freedom. Production of our own resources means security for America and opportunities for American workers. We need oil, and if we don't drill for it here, we have to purchase it from countries that not only do not like America and can use energy purchases as a weapon against us, but also do not have the oversight that America has.
In the coming days, there will be hearings to discover the cause of the explosion and the subsequent leak. Actions will be taken to increase oversight to prevent future accidents. Government can and must play an appropriate role here. If a company was lax in its prevention practices, it must be held accountable. It is inexcusable for any oil company to not invest in preventative measures. They must be held accountable or the public will forever distrust the industry.
This was the position I took as an oil and gas regulator and as Governor of Alaska when my administration ramped up oversight of the oil industry and created a petroleum-systems-integrity office to monitor our oil and gas infrastructure for potential environmental risks. I took a lot of heat for the stand I took "against the oil industry" (which is how political adversaries labeled my actions). But we took tough action because there was proof of some improper maintenance of oil infrastructure which I believed was unacceptable. We instituted new oversight and held British Petroleum (BP) financially accountable for poor maintenance practices. We also filed a Friend-of-the-Court brief against Exxon's interests for its decades-old responsibility to compensate Alaskans affected by the Valdez spill, and I took other actions "against" the industry which ultimately helped hold it accountable.
All responsible energy development must be accompanied by strict oversight, but even with the strictest oversight in the world, accidents still happen. No human endeavor is ever without risk – whether it's sending a man to the moon or extracting the necessary resources to fuel our civilization. I repeat the slogan "drill here, drill now" not out of naiveté or disregard for the tragic consequences of oil spills – my family and my state and I know firsthand those consequences. How could I still believe in drilling America's domestic supply of energy after having seen the devastation of the Exxon-Valdez spill? I continue to believe in it because increased domestic oil production will make us a more secure, prosperous, and peaceful nation.
Our hearts go out to all Americans along the coast affected by this recent tragedy, especially those who lost family members in the rig explosion, and our prayers go up for a successful recovery. May spill responders be safe.
- Sarah Palin
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This woman is an Idiot. To her credit, while she proves it over and over again, she is consistent.
"idiot" is the word all right. it would seem she's taken a break from bashing the government to make sure the "government can and must play an appropriate role". but i'm sure 'drill baby drill' palin's "prayers" will be all the comfort anyone needs. awe, we're not worthy sarah.
Anybody notice the PBL (Palin-Beck-Limpballs) inspired terrorist bomb plot in Times Square? When do we take them off of our Federal airwaves??? From now on its called the "PBL" or Army of Incompetent Liberators. There is a little green worm inside their heads and if you shut off the lights you can see them glow. Thats probably radiation/drug or ego poisoning in bloom. Fix news will probably not want The Office of Homeland Security to call it Home grown terrorism....because they planted the seeds, piled on the manure and water it with lies every night! When do we wake up and throw Roger Ailes in the Boston Harbor.
Public Dunking was a penalty back then for liars and thieves. This would be approprate for Palin,Beck and Limpballs as well !
George Washington would have done it. He said it is the law of the land and marched the Militia to put them down at the start of any insurrection....we have the precedent!
Who writes for her?
I wonder the same thing. Whoever it is, they need more active verbs!
Two of her facebook writers are Rebecca Mansour and Joseph Russo.
http://www.themudflats.net/2010/02/01/the-many-faces-of-palins-facebook/
see also http://www.thepoliticalcarnival.net/2010/02/report-sarah-palins-facebook-ghost.html
I was going to give them a thumbs up for spelling "naivete" correctly, but they lost it when they blew "preventive". Apparently no one's running these through the SpellCheck before posting on FB.
You have to wonder why she has writers - doesn't she flatter herself constantly about how her Palin-bots just love all her folksy, backwoodsy wit and wisdom? Why post in such a different tone than she speaks?
Because "accidents will happen", this being one, is the precise reason why more offshore drilling should not be done. Even if the chances are remote, when it happens it's an f'ing disaster with economic and environmental repercussions for years to come. It's just not worth it. The effort and money spent towards more offshore drilling would be better spent researching and coming up with alternatives to oil. We still don't know what the magnitude of this will be because oil is still spewing like crazy with no end in sight. Our reliance on oil should not have such dire consequences, and since it such consequences are happening as we speak, it's time to start figuring out a game plan to lessen our reliance.
They are still cleaning up from Exxon Valdez. Hundreds of thousands of birds and tens of thousands of seaotters DEAD! That's what I call economic and environmental repercussions.
AND Exxon was able to weasel out of most of the restitution they were supposed to pay to Alaska. They were able to get a fine of $5 Billion reduced to only $500 million. That's 10%, isn't it?
At least she's consistent. Consistently stupid, but consistent nonetheless.
I am forever grateful for this woman. She is a litmus test to weed out people in my life whose opinions I should never listen to about politics or policy.
"Government can and must play an appropriate role here".
How exactly does Mizzz "Small Government" get away with admitting here that government "can and must play an appropriate role", while spending all of her time and energy elsewhere criticizing President Obama and the purported tyrannical reach of the government under his Administration?
And why the hell do her teabagger buddies let her get away with having everything she says ghostwritten?!
You got this exactly right. For thirty years we've had to listen to the nonsense that government is the problem. No one that I know of ever said government has all the answers. Obama has said he hopes to turn around that bit of Reagan's extremist legacy and restore government's proper role.
There are reports that BP fought against stricter regulation. Here we have Palin admitting "All responsible energy development must be accompanied by strict oversight". I hope the administration takes this opportunity that has been handed to it to make the case forcefully and counter the anti-government rhetoric. Some hardball politics is in order.
In Norway and the UK, it's illegal to have rigs without the off-site kill switch to prevent "accidents" exactly like this one. And if the rig had been unionized, safety would have been higher and Halliburton's and BP's priority list guaranteed.
Palin is a corporate spokesmodel with big money behind her, and lots of think tank-y focus group-tested sound bites to make her sound like she has knowledge or even interest in a given subject. That's why I find the Palin machine so cynical and dangerous.
Oil drilling can be secured to prevent or overcome the kind of accidents that happen in the Mexican Gulf, but it in deepwater it is very expensive. Concern of the oil company is its profit and the very expensive safety measures are not mandatory by law, not yet. So, the far more expensive losses are the concern of us all.
Imagine in this case the only one outlet of the well is 3-4 inches wide at a mile-depth under the surface. Only robots can do the work that has to be done when the valves fail. The first thing that has to be done is release the pressure on the failing outlet and in the next 90 days that will become established by the of making more outlets. But that provision should have been already in place before the well becomes operational. In that case the leak should have been under control within an hour or so.
A leaking well is extremely dangerous because with the oil coming up under extreme pressure you will also get from time to time a huge outburst of explosive gases, an invisible cloud that suddenly comes over the whole platform. If it happens as it happened in this case all hands on the deck of the platform are lost.
This is obviously not concerning Sarah Palin. She wrote:
and there is not a word in it about the necessity of regulating mandatory prevention measures. Also she does not understand what happened, first there was a leak and subsequently came that explosion. The explosion did not cause the leak, but that aside, of course the public will for a certain time (some weeks or months) distrust the industry and forget it again.
The oil that comes from drilling in deepwater is a tiny spot on the chart of America's daily necessities. It can't solve the needs at any time in the future, even not if all the oil there is comes available what will be very unlikely to happen. But exaggerating the amount of reserves creates the false illusion that drill baby drill is the best chance for a better future.
This is why these companies should shift their capital towards the development of sustainable energy. Instead, they just want the mighty dollar! That's right. It's all about the benji's. F the people and the beaches. Why aren't they still screaming drill baby drill, now? WTF.
I was watching the ABC Evening News and there was Gov. Bobby Jindel proclaiming this a disaster area and seeking fed. assistance. And also, a fishman hoping that the Fed. government will do something in time. I think this is a major, major disaster but, cynically, gee, now they want the Fed. government to do something! Big government is always a problem until something happens in your backyard and then it's not big enough! I think it is time to call BS on these people and any one else (AZ) that pulls this sort of thing.
Hey, that Bobby Jindal was the same Republican who answered Obama's first State of the Union 2009 and proposed to cut spending by stopping to fund the monitoring of volcano's (40 million dollars). I can't forget that! And when now the oil comes up from the depth he wants that big government to spend more?
Why not ask the oil industry?
yup, let's pull the plug on all off shore drilling. they are all just accidents waiting to happen. that'll ween us off oil that more quickly and move us to alternate energy sources.
BP the Massey Mining of the Gulf. Palin's pandering for $$$ is pathetic. Zero tolerance for safety needs to be the order of day not tomorrow but today.
Amazing to hear Sarah discuss her family's dependence on commercial fishing. I know one can make a great deal of money in Alaska fishing, but 12 million for hooking suckers is outrageous.
For as long as I live, I will never forget the day the Exxon-Valdez ran aground on Bligh Reef and millions of gallons of North Slope crude poured into the waters of our beautiful Prince William Sound.
Simple Sarah says she will never forget when the Exxon-Valdez spill however it was a different story when Katie Couric asked her if there were any other Supreme Court decisions she disagreed with. Because the former half-term governor of Alaska couldn't remember Exxon Shipping Co. V. Baker which lowered the punitive damages from the Valdez oil spill from $2.5 billion to $500 million. And you would think she would remember it considering the decision was handed down just 3 months before the interview. She also talked about it on the news for about 2 minutes right after this decision. Link to this interview on KTVA11 Anchraoge:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=5H-26MOxH34
Just learned that while Europe requires automatic shutoffs at the base of their offshore wells, in the US oil companies lobbied against it and won. So, who ( Senators and Congressmen) voted against these obvious safety features? If they hadnt caved to Petrlium Inst lobbiests, we wouldnt have this mess now. Rachel, there's a story here!
Oligarchies Fail
Corporate structure is fundamentally undemocratic. Corporations are managed by small power elite chambers. Corporate structure is classic oligarchy. A CEO and governing board is classic oligarchy. “You’re fired!” is classic oligarchy.
Oligarchy systems fail. Witness Enron, AIG, Massey, Energy, BP, and on and on. The bureaucrats and government agencies in charge of these businesses are oligarchies. Unions are an elected oligarchy. Often all three systems fail and there is massive bailout or collateral damage. This pattern repeats itself again and again. No particular industry is immune.
Corporations can reorganize using sortitioned leadership from investors or employees. This leadership is empowered and appointed by lottery. Sortition “reigns-in” oligarchy. Sortition guarantees common sense at the highest levels of management. Sortition is antithesis to oligarchy.
Corporations must govern themselves better. Sortitioned leadership is common sense at highest management levels. Common sense works and built America. The constitution is impressively short and common sense, 200 years later.
Corporations install a “second chamber” of governance, as a check and balance, on current management. A chamber of shareholders or employees is sortitioned. The chamber is empowered with half the governing influence of the enterprise. The original management chamber is left intact. A two chamber, two approval, congress-like governance is initiated. Of course, board and corporate officers are not part of the sortitioned chamber.
A sortitioned upper management chamber can stop the lengthening US tradition of oligarchy failure, pursuit of high risk ventures, political intrigue, and public endangerment.
Citizen is coach to team democracy. Coach is responsible for success. It’s your call, coach.
http://coach-1640280.newsvine.com/
It's going viral - LAKE PALIN - because she needs the cred.
stand by our president!
Side note the Fixed news just made a jaw drop gaffe "Okra Winfrey" round 12:30 ET saturday
Why is America turning its head and pretending this oil spill is not happening? Obviously, we are not technologically ready for this type of drilling. Why in the world don't we spend the money and create jobs using sustainable energy rather than constantly cleaning up after oil spills? Maybe when all our plant and wildlife is gone and colonizing the moon is our only answer will we start to see what is happening right in front of our eyes.
I was gratified to see that someone has actually tracked down the sources of Palin's prepared remarks and facebook entries; I have repeatedly found it hard to reconcile her inability to string more than 2 sentences together sensibly when she's talking about facts or policy (personal discussions are, apparently, an exception; I've heard her speak very well when she's not having to be responsible for facts or details, or really analyzing them) with the clarity of her prepared speeches and her facebook entries. Puzzle solved, I guess!
Until this happened I was in favor of the offshore drilling expansion as part of an overall energy independence program because I believed the oli companies when they said the new platforms had the technology to prevent and contain major spills. Since this was a new platform, it was put the lie to that claim. Either they don't don't have spill prevention technology or it's too expensive for common usage, which is the same as not having it. I'm converted - Windmills, tidal dams and solar power are the road to energy independence.
Keith had it right when he called it the "Palin oil slick".
For sociopaths such as Palin, there is never a worry about guilt over consequences. You urge regulation-free, instant "drill baby drill" and it destroys much of the world - oh well! Accidents happen! What are ya gonna do? Wink wink!
She'll never take responsibility, or offer to pay the trillions of dollars in damages - so at the very least, let's call it the "Palin oil slick".
Anybody notice the PBL (Palin-Beck-Limpballs) inspired terrorist bomb plot in Times Square? When do we take them off of our Federal airwaves??? From now on its called the "PBL" or Army of Incompetent Liberators. There is a little green worm inside their heads and if you shut off the lights you can see them glow. Thats probably radiation/drug or ego poisoning in bloom. Fix news will probably not want The Office of Homeland Security to call it Home grown terrorism....because they planted the seeds, piled on the manure and water it with lies every night! When do we wake up and throw Roger Ailes in the Boston Harbor.
Public Dunking was a penalty back then for liars and thieves. This would be approprate for Palin,Beck and Limpballs as well !
George Washington would have done it. He said it is the law of the land and marched the Militia to put them down at the start of any insurrection....we have the precedent!
Exxon Valdez, Katie Couric interview, Supreme Court decision, governor of Alaska... hmmm and this moron can't think of anything but Roe v Wade? Please. My family and I are 4th generation Alaskans and the loveliest gift that could possibly happen would be for this woman to take her nasty little family and go somewhere... anywhere but Alaska... and stop proclaiming Alaska as hers and herself as our spokesperson. It isn't and she isn't. Palin needs to stop aligning herself with Alaskans. She offends on so many levels. So, Sarah, PLEASE... put all the locations you attended college into a hat, pick one and move there. Go away.
I was so pleased to read these items by very informed posters. You folks know your Sary! Thanks for noting the Couric interview. More should be made of good ol' Sary's short memory. (Maybe it was because she didn't think it was that important?) The ghostwriters "thingy" is also something that should receive more attention. I would think one reading her postings would like to think these were her own words they were reading. However, just another medium for Sary's deceit and lies. Like to hear more from other "Real Alaskans". Sorry for your burden!