NW Progressive - "Will Bobby Jindal please make up his mind?"

[TomCADem]

It is just amazing how hard it is to find any news stories mentioning that Bobby Jindal sponsored the Deep Ocean Energy Resources Act (H.R. 4761) to eliminate the moratorium on offshore oil and gas drilling. There are an infinite number of stories blaiming President Obama for the spill, saying its his Hurricane Katrina, and celebrating the actions of Bobby Jindal. Yet, there is a complete mainstream media blackout on Jindal's past as one of the biggest champions of the oil industry. Maybe it just does not fit into the corporate media approved narrative of knocking down Democrats and propping up Republicans. Still, you would expect at least some mention of Jindal's signature piece of legislation.

http://www.nwprogressive.org/weblog/2010/05/will-bobby-jindal-please-make-up-his_07.html

In the end, it comes down to an honest and fundamental disagreement about the proper role of government. We oppose the national Democratic view that says the way to strengthen our country is to increase dependence on government. We believe the way to strengthen our country is to restrain spending in Washington, to empower individuals and small businesses to grow our economy and create jobs.

Those are the words of Louisiana governor Bobby Jindal — not today, of course, but during his debut on the national stage in 2009, delivering the Republican response to President Obama's address to Congress on February 24th, 2009.

Today, of course, he’s singing a different tune — along with all of the other “small government” conservatives on the Gulf Coast.

* * *

Now he’s again a hypocrite of the first order: a small-government Republican who sponsored the Deep Ocean Energy Resources Act (H.R. 4761) to eliminate the moratorium on offshore oil and gas drilling, but now wants taxpayer-funded government resources like the National Guard to respond to a disaster created by exactly the kind of lax oversight and insufficient regulation he championed.

Jindal was one of many southern Republican governors who didn’t want to accept stimulus funding to help the unemployed, but now he wants federal assistance for workers in the Louisiana seafood industry whose livelihoods will suffer because of lax oversight and insufficient regulation of big business.

And make no mistake: Bobby Jindal isn’t a political anomaly. He’s the norm for conservatives who want less government… except when they want more.

[Mimosa]

1. Trashing Jindal won't help. This national disaster is BP (Beyond Politics)

People living in the coastal states are suffering. At least 1/4 maybe even 1/2 of the whole Gulf of mexico may become a dead zone for decades.

I watched Spike Lee on Anderson Cooper 360 tonight. HE understands the big issues as if he were a local. And he stood with Jindal and Nungesser and didn't play party politics because he has a thorough compassionate grasp of the larger issue.

BUILD THE BERMS! NOW!

http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1993051,00.html

[ProSense]

2. Jindal is

posturing.

[704wipes]

3. What the hell business is it of Spike Lee ??

Who gives a fuck what he thinks about an oil spill.
Shouldn't he be looking all goofy at an NBA game?

[Feron]

5. Anyone who cares is good in my book.

Unfortunately America cares about celebrity more than anything else and the more celebs that draw attention to what is and isn't going on down here the better.

Plus Lee announced a followup to the "When the Levees Broke" documentary a few months ago and this is likely going to be part of it.

[TomCADem]

7. Will Spike Lee Or Anyone Please Ask Jindal About The Deep Ocean Energy Resources Act! Censorship!

This should be a no-brainer. The Deep Ocean Energy Resources Act is former congressman Bobby Jindal's signature piece of legislation. Yet, no one asks him about this bill. It is absolutely uncanny. Can you imagine not asking Ted Kennedy about a health care reform bill? Or, not asking Dick Luger about a non-proliferation treaty?

It is a bald effort to give Republicans a free pass.

[Mimosa]

6. Right. Forget Spike's Katrina documentary while you're at it. n/t

[TomCADem]

4. Its Only Beyond Politics When You Criticize A Republican, Jindal Is A Liar!

Bobby Jindal is perhaps the biggest oil industry apologist in politics, yet the major media and some on DU continue to buy into this narrative of Jindal getting things done. Lousiana's coast is about to become an environmental wasteland and it is due to the policies that he himself championed. Deregulation. Expanded offshore oil drilling. In addition to the 2006 bill that he sponsored, here is Bobby Jindal as governor continuing to lie about the safety of offshore oil drilling.

Bobby Jindal Claims Katrina Caused No Oil Spills

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b12iyoB3mmo

Beyond Politics? Sorry, this is about accountability. Jindal suddenly taking on the oil industry is like believing that James Dobson will defend reproductive rights. For some reason, it is only okay to criticize the Obama administration, but ignore the truth about Jindal's long history cheerleading for the oil industry. Worse, Jindal has the chutzpah to complain about oil industry influence? Did Jindal review that bill that he sponsored and forget that he was the author? Amazing.

As for the berms, this is just an attempt grab headlines. Even local officials discuss a project that would take several months, and not occur overnight. Yet, this does not stop Jindal from suddenly playing the role of victim, rather than co-conspirator.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/22/us/22berms.html

Experts Express Doubts on Sand-Berm Proposal

VENICE, La. — State officials here are imploring the federal government and BP to build 80 miles of sand berms and plug holes in barrier islands in a desperate effort to stop oil from the Deepwater Horizon spill from destroying marshes, sounds and bayous.

But many experts say it is not at all clear whether dredging companies could build up the barrier islands quickly enough to save the marshes. They are also concerned that the kind of sand berms envisioned in the plan might wash away quickly after a couple of storms, wasting scarce sand in the region.

Still, Gov. Bobby Jindal and local officials say the berms represent the state’s best hope of protecting the fragile Mississippi Delta and its fisheries. The officials are frustrated with what they see as bureaucratic inaction. “They haven’t given us any reason for the delay,” Mr. Jindal said Wednesday.

* * *

Billy Nungesser, the president of Plaquemines Parish, who has been pushing for the sand-berm project, said he hoped BP would pay the cost of building what amounts to a six-foot seawall over the next six months. The state’s earlier plan had called for the islands to be rebuilt to about 20 feet above sea level.

[Mimosa]

8. Your remedy? You care more than those who are in Louisiana, MS , AL and FL

Look, you want to fiddle politics while the marshes are being destroyed? Blame? maybe later. But you could be spending time alerting people to how much America depends on healthy wetlands.

I worked on environmental issues for 20 years. I'm sick about this. Seriously sick

This is America's wakeup call and partisan politics will play into the meme of divide and rule.

[TomCADem]

9. WSJ - "Can GOP Make Voters See Democrats as Big Oil Party?" Palin and Jindal At The Forefront

I am sorry, but I have some serious doubts about Bobby Jindal and Sarah Palin when it comes to viewing them as taking on Big Oil. By all means, support environmental groups who have a track record of supporting environmental causes. But Bobby Jindal? Seriously?

The nonpartisan League of Conservation Voters to rated him among the lowest in Congress in 2006 on environmental issues. So, my word of advice is not to buy into the corporate media hype of Bobby Jindal as a protector of the State Lousiana. He more than anyone has his hands drenched in oil.

http://blogs.wsj.com/capitaljournal/2010/05/26/can-gop-make-voters-see-democrats-as-big-oil-party/

Essentially, they are trying to convince voters that Obama & Co. sold out the public and the environment to cater to their oil industry friends. That’s the kind of argument environmentalists generally make about Republicans, not Democrats.

Sarah Palin, the GOP’s 2008 vice presidential nominee, and Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal, whose state is the most hurt by the spill, are leading the offensive.

“I don’t know why the question isn’t being asked by the mainstream media and by others if there is any connection with the contributions made to President Obama and his administration and the support by the oil companies of the administration,” Ms. Palin said on Sunday. She suggested the donations might be why Mr. Obama was “taking so doggone long to get in there, to dive in there, and grasp the complexity and the potential tragedy that we are seeing here in the Gulf of Mexico.”

Gov. Jindal told reporters he was “frustrated” by the federal government’s slow response to what could become the nation’s worst environmental disaster.

[Mimosa]

10. Tom it's not 2006. This is America's wakeup call. n/t

[ProSense]

11. What does this being a wakeup call have to do with Jindal's posturing?

He's engaging in distortions.

[Mimosa]

13. Right now he's trying to get some berms built.

When a horrible disaster happens which can turn much of the Gulf of Mexico into a dead zone and destroy the coastal wetlands trust me no governor is uncaring or stupid.

And with 20 years of environmental activism behind me I can see that going after Jindal is just plain counterproductive.He knows what's at risk if he didn't before. Even obama (who basically knew nothing of the Coastal South) did approve the offshore drilling.

The issue is larger. Recriminations aren't where to expend energy. More than a million jobs are related to the health of the Gulf Coast ecosystem. And there is the health and beauty of nature which might be destroyed.

Going backwards is stupid.

[TomCADem]

14. No governor is uncaring or stupid? Here's Miss Gov. Haley Barbour...

Well, according to Mississippi Governor Haley Barbour, it ain't that big of a deal:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/05/14/bobby-jindal-haley-barbou_n_576168.html?show_comment_id=47160335

In Mississippi, Barbour has been juggling oil-spill briefings with his response to two consecutive weekends of severe weather, starting with a deadly April 24 tornado that cut a 149-mile swath through his state.

He told The Associated Press the oil spill could be disastrous for Mississippi's coastal economy. Then he added: "But it's just as possible that what happens here will be manageable and of moderate and even minimal impact."

Oil has not started washing up on shore in any large quantities, and Barbour likened much of the spill to the gasoline sheen commonly found around ski boats.

"We don't wash our face in it, but it doesn't stop us from jumping off the boat to ski," Barbour said.

While Jindal was initially slow to criticize and publicly react to the Gulf oil well blowout, he quickly stepped up his rhetoric and toughened his response as the spill worsened and fears grew about the potential damage to fragile wetlands and coastal fishing industries.

[TomCADem]

12. Then Why Doesn't Someone Ask Jindal About His Bill And Whether He Has Woken Up?

Bobby Jindal was more than willing to jump on the offshore oil drilling bandwagon when it enjoyed 70 percent support. Heck, in all fairness to Jindal, he was on that bandwagon before anyone else.

The point of my posts is that the news media is still distorting the issues. The attacks on the federal response are designed to obscure the fact that existing law is woefully inadequate. BP was opposing efforts by the Obama administration to even milding increase these regulations.

The focus on the media should be on this long history of deregulation, including Jindal's role, and the need to increase regulations to prevent these disasters. Don't you agree? If we are going to have a wake up call, then we better wake up to the truth.

The truth is that we lack the technology to combat such oil leaks, and we lack the regulatory mechanisms to police offshore oil drilling. Thirty-day environmental review deadlines? That's bullshit. Plus, you have folks like Bobby Jindal who were pushing to rollback the weak regulations that were on the books.

The system was built to fail and it did. The focus should be on fixing the system that lead to this mess, and to do that we need to understand the role of major players like Bobby Jindal.

So, I absolutely agree that we need a wake-up call. This wake-up call should begin by understand who is really supporting you, and its not Jindal. He is just grabbing headlines, and the major media is giving him a free pass.