To get the bridge issue out of the way, the sound of flip-flops reverberate through the typical political windstream. There’s nothing new here since people in general, and politicians in particular, tend to correct their misbegotten actions with statements blatantly contradicting the facts of the matter. An individual’s posturing can assuage her devout followers but she may eventually find herself at the wrong end of the bridge to nowhere.
Of more importance are activities that found Walt Monegan, former Alaska Department of Public Safety Commissioner, getting the boot a for not bootin’ Mike Wooten, Alaska State Trooper and Palin’s brother in law. Sarah contends there was no involvement taken by her, her family or any member of her administration to prompt Monegan’s removal.
Palin had appointed Monegan Public Safety Commissioner as she was filling cabinet posts upon her taking office as Governor in January 2007, praising his public service record. According to Monegan, Palin’s hubby, Todd, met with Monegan shortly thereafter to present the family’s findings from a private investigation about incidents going as far back as 2003 when Wooten used a Taser on an 11-year old stepson and shot a moose without the appropriate hunting license.
Palin’s sister, Molly McCann, waited until 2005 to report the misconducts of Wooten - the same day she filed for divorce. According to Palin’s daughter, Bristol, the timing of the filing was ”because of the divorce”, although Wooten had already been cleared of any wrong-doing in a 2004 accusation of consuming alcohol while using a trooper vehicle while on duty, which he wasn’t. The ruling concluded with an internal investigation finding that the allegations were “Not Sustained” because the only witness was Palin’s father, Chuck Heath. Allegations continue to claim Wooten has made threats to Heath and other family members.
Speculation has been made that in the coming month McCain will be forced to replace Palin with an alternate choice, possibly Mitt Romney. Well, uh… that would make McCain inept at making responsible decisions as a presidential candidate and put the Republican Party in an embarrassing position. This is as likely to happen as Barrack Obama replacing Joe Biden with Hillary Clinton.
As McCain is viewed as a maverick among the Washington crowd, Palin seems to fit right in as she presented herself in the 2006 gubernatorial election in contention with the Alaskan Republican Party leaders. This is likely the reason that a 12-member bipartisan committee of the legislature voted unanimously to hire a private investigator to investigate Palin and her staff for abusing executive power. The inquiry was given a three-month contract to make a ruling by the end of October.
All of this brouhaha started because of the nasty divorce and custody battle of Sarah Palin’s sister Molly. Despite Monegan’s belief that he was offered a job as executive director of Alcoholic Beverage Control, which paid a salary $10,000 less, because he wouldn’t give in to pressure to fire Wooten, Palin stands by her statement that no pressure was put on Monegan to fire Wooten by staff members.
Palin’s judgment is put into question for replacing Monegan with Chuck Kopp, previously the police chief. Within days he was removed from the post because of a 2005 investigation of sexual harassment of an employee while he was Police Chief of Kenai. A replacement has yet to be made but Officer Wooten remains on the police force.
Will this be the scandal and catalyst to unseat John McCain from taking root in the White House? Not likely, because Palin and seven of her administration members are refusing to cooperate with the private investigative unit authorized by the Alaska Legislature. They site that the probe should be pursued by a state personnel board, whose three members were appointed by Governor Palin.
Showing posts with label John McCain. Show all posts
Showing posts with label John McCain. Show all posts
Thursday, September 18, 2008
Monday, June 30, 2008
Oil and Water Don't Mix
TARBALLS REPLACE BEACH BALLS ON NATURE COAST
CRIST GIVES UP FLIP-FLOPS FOR RUBBER BOOTS
These could very well be headlines in The Tribune if oil drilling in the Gulf of Mexico were allowed. Governor Charlie Crist might find himself wearing hip-hugger rubber boots instead of his flip-flops.
Speculation has rationalized that this blatant political position is more in tune with that of Senator John McCain, looking out for himself and other party advocates hoping to make a bit of history on Election Day 2008.
You can’t blame Charlie. It’s not much different than the actions of a corporate subordinate interested in advancement within the organization. Politics is more so.
It’s surprising that the Governor is promoting offshore drilling. This is in conflict with his concern for the affects on the fishing industry facing limited down-flow water reserves from Georgia. The Florida Department of Environmentalist is suing the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers for what would jeopardize sea life, namely sturgeon and a variety of mussels.
The economic impact of an oil spill would severely damage the $40M commercial fishing industry. The ecological impact of an oil spill is apparently less of a concern for the $65B revenue from tourism.
Scenarios can be manipulated to give the impression that the worst of possible disasters would not be as harmful as some believe. The problem is that the right conditions would create horrendous consequences to the State of Florida.
The EPA has stated there would be a 47% chance that an oil spill would reach the coast of Florida. Another forecast shows a decline of tourism revenue by 45% over a two-year period, not soon recovered. The risk factor is not on the right side of being earth-friendly or economic responsibility.
“Let gasoline hit $4 a gallon and the demand for more oil exploration is going to get pretty loud. Let gasoline hit $6 a gallon and I expect to see oilrigs going in within site of the expensive coastal houses owned by the rich – just like the oilrigs off Santa Barbara.”
This article in the Christian Science Monitor was followed with a statement that the platform lights are a spectacular sight in the dark of night. Romantic?
Just west of Pensacola, along the coasts of Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana and Texas only 3,842 out of 7,500 leased drill sites are active. Local economies have chosen the benefits of jobs (58,000 in Louisiana alone) over concern of the trash and tar along their shores.
Hillsborough County employs over 50,000 tourism related jobs with $847M in wages. Pinellas County - 82,000 with $2.5B in wages. Santa Rosa County - 1300 jobs worth $21M annual wages. These figures do not reflect tax revenues that add to local economies.
In 2005, Hurricane Katrina destroyed 115 oil platforms, ultimately spoiling the Gulf with more than 7M gallons of petroleum; the Exxon Valdez spilled 11M gallons. And yet the industry wants us to believe technology over the past three years has lessened the dangers of future spills.
On their own, birds can’t recover. Sea life has no chance of surviving. The same fate applies to all wildlife and vegetation along coastlines. Within a year of the Exxon Valdez, beaches were clean enough for humans to frequent but natural habitats will take up to 30 years to recover.
Offshore waters of Texas and Louisiana are already polluted with two decades of runoffs of farm fertilizers, originating as far north as the Minnesota River emptying in the Mississippi River, with every other tributary contributing to the pollution on its way to the Gulf.
This “dead zone” covers over 8,000 square miles, expected to grow to 10,000 in the next few years. No life can exist in these oxygen-depleted waters. Global warming will accelerate the expansion. The dead zone is forever.
Superimposed maps show that oilrig sites and the dead zone overlap. Congress is considering canceling nearly 4,000 tracts for resale to companies that will fulfill the purpose of the leases. Better there than along the Florida coast. There would be no significant change in the cost of petroleum products. Oil exploration would be nothing other than negative for Florida.
No, it’s not likely Gov. Crist will be wearing rubber boots. His popularity has a one-year approval adjustment from 73% to 59%. His pre-election promises may be left behind as he gains national prominence. In which case, he wouldn’t need rubber boots, as he would take his flip-flops along with his aspirations to Washington, wearing a pair of shoes made from the hides of alligators dead from tarballs floating in the Everglades.
CRIST GIVES UP FLIP-FLOPS FOR RUBBER BOOTS
These could very well be headlines in The Tribune if oil drilling in the Gulf of Mexico were allowed. Governor Charlie Crist might find himself wearing hip-hugger rubber boots instead of his flip-flops.
Speculation has rationalized that this blatant political position is more in tune with that of Senator John McCain, looking out for himself and other party advocates hoping to make a bit of history on Election Day 2008.
You can’t blame Charlie. It’s not much different than the actions of a corporate subordinate interested in advancement within the organization. Politics is more so.
It’s surprising that the Governor is promoting offshore drilling. This is in conflict with his concern for the affects on the fishing industry facing limited down-flow water reserves from Georgia. The Florida Department of Environmentalist is suing the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers for what would jeopardize sea life, namely sturgeon and a variety of mussels.
The economic impact of an oil spill would severely damage the $40M commercial fishing industry. The ecological impact of an oil spill is apparently less of a concern for the $65B revenue from tourism.
Scenarios can be manipulated to give the impression that the worst of possible disasters would not be as harmful as some believe. The problem is that the right conditions would create horrendous consequences to the State of Florida.
The EPA has stated there would be a 47% chance that an oil spill would reach the coast of Florida. Another forecast shows a decline of tourism revenue by 45% over a two-year period, not soon recovered. The risk factor is not on the right side of being earth-friendly or economic responsibility.
“Let gasoline hit $4 a gallon and the demand for more oil exploration is going to get pretty loud. Let gasoline hit $6 a gallon and I expect to see oilrigs going in within site of the expensive coastal houses owned by the rich – just like the oilrigs off Santa Barbara.”
This article in the Christian Science Monitor was followed with a statement that the platform lights are a spectacular sight in the dark of night. Romantic?
Just west of Pensacola, along the coasts of Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana and Texas only 3,842 out of 7,500 leased drill sites are active. Local economies have chosen the benefits of jobs (58,000 in Louisiana alone) over concern of the trash and tar along their shores.
Hillsborough County employs over 50,000 tourism related jobs with $847M in wages. Pinellas County - 82,000 with $2.5B in wages. Santa Rosa County - 1300 jobs worth $21M annual wages. These figures do not reflect tax revenues that add to local economies.
In 2005, Hurricane Katrina destroyed 115 oil platforms, ultimately spoiling the Gulf with more than 7M gallons of petroleum; the Exxon Valdez spilled 11M gallons. And yet the industry wants us to believe technology over the past three years has lessened the dangers of future spills.
On their own, birds can’t recover. Sea life has no chance of surviving. The same fate applies to all wildlife and vegetation along coastlines. Within a year of the Exxon Valdez, beaches were clean enough for humans to frequent but natural habitats will take up to 30 years to recover.
Offshore waters of Texas and Louisiana are already polluted with two decades of runoffs of farm fertilizers, originating as far north as the Minnesota River emptying in the Mississippi River, with every other tributary contributing to the pollution on its way to the Gulf.
This “dead zone” covers over 8,000 square miles, expected to grow to 10,000 in the next few years. No life can exist in these oxygen-depleted waters. Global warming will accelerate the expansion. The dead zone is forever.
Superimposed maps show that oilrig sites and the dead zone overlap. Congress is considering canceling nearly 4,000 tracts for resale to companies that will fulfill the purpose of the leases. Better there than along the Florida coast. There would be no significant change in the cost of petroleum products. Oil exploration would be nothing other than negative for Florida.
No, it’s not likely Gov. Crist will be wearing rubber boots. His popularity has a one-year approval adjustment from 73% to 59%. His pre-election promises may be left behind as he gains national prominence. In which case, he wouldn’t need rubber boots, as he would take his flip-flops along with his aspirations to Washington, wearing a pair of shoes made from the hides of alligators dead from tarballs floating in the Everglades.
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