jeez louise do these fools have to be literally knee deep in oil before they recognize it is a disaster…

The unfolding disaster has dramatically reduced support for offshore drilling among Democrats

except, of course, for Obama. his administration has given out 27 permits for offshore drilling since the explosion and gushing of oil began. he says that new leases are on hold (not a moratorium), but he’s still giving out permits.

Hmm – looks to me that Neanderthal gene is showing itself in that poll…

Holy crap! Wouldn’t you believe it; this link via digby –

Just as Louisiana politicians are about to get an up-close-and-personal look at the BP oil spill (it is approaching the shores an hour’s drive from Baton Rouge, the state capital), they are considering a bill to “kneecap” all university environmental-law clinics in the state, which have led the way in challenging the historically cozy relationship between state politicians and the petrochemical industry.

Senate Bill 549 would prohibit clinics that receive any government funding from suing state agencies, companies, or individuals for failing to comply with state or federal laws or for damages (unless the legislature granted an exemption). So “while the Gulf churns with oil and the state mourns the deaths of 11 oil rig workers, the Louisiana legislature is being asked to serve up a favor to the state’s petrochemical industry,” leaders of the Clinical Legal Education Association (the country’s largest association of law teachers) warn in a letter obtained by NEWSWEEK and hand-delivered this morning to Sen. Ann Duplessis, chair of the committee that will hold hearings on the bill next week, May 19. A denial of state funding to a university would essentially cripple it, leaving a school no choice but to close or severely curtail its environmental-law clinic.

They’ve got nothing on the former governor who dithered with Bush while NO drowned and now, as a senator can only wave the “jobs” flag.
Where DO these creatures come from?

F*ck! What part of “YOU LIVE THERE” do they not understand?

Neanderthals were MUCH smarter than Homo sapiens sapiens (us). We are just more violent than they were

Please they wish they were Common Men I think the Jabba the Hut Gene is the Male GOP smart, power gene Karl Rove, Newt etc, smart is relative none of their ideas work.
The Bush/Dan Quayle gene is simple but *cough* relatively good looking. No I would not drink a beer with them.
Sarah Palin, Malkin, Ann thats the Meth head or Crazy GOP female gene, I can’t decide what sparks their rage.

Very good catch the lawyers here should weigh in and front page it. What ever happened to freedom of speech?
If anything we need more lawsuits against BP.

As oil continues to gush in the Gulf of Mexico, 55 percent of Americans think it is a major disaster and 37 percent believe it is a serious problem but not a disaster, according to a new Pew poll. Only four percent believe it is not serious.

How do the 37% define disaster are they waiting for bodies?

Self-identified independents are actually more likely than Republicans and even Democrats to see the spill as a disaster. A full 60 percent of independents think it is a major disaster while only 55 percent of Democrats and 46 percent of Republicans agree.

So this poll is funny or are we to believe that Moderate Voters are Greener than us? Either way I like the results but Moderates more Green than us?

The oil spill is hitting Red States I would expect the GOP numbers to have dropped more. Maybe once oil hits the beach.

How do the 37% define disaster are they waiting for bodies?

Gas shortage.

Its obvious what was I thinking:)

Of course, NEWSWEEK was, WEEK. The article doesn’t tell you the who and the how of that LA Senate bill.

But Mother Jones does:

Tomorrow, the Louisiana State Legislature is scheduled to hold a hearing on Senate Bill 549, the baby of Sen. Robert Adley (R-Benton), who wants to stymie the work of university law clinics that represent low-income clients while providing hands-on training for future lawyers. Under the measure, the clinics would be barred from filing suits against government agencies, suits seeking monetary damages, or suits that raise state constitutional challenges. Adley has admitted that a key target of the bill is the Tulane Environmental Law Clinic (TELC), whose students and attorneys have successfully litigated dozens of suits against industrial polluters and other environmental offenders on behalf of Louisiana citizens.

The timing couldn’t be more crucial—or absurd. In fact, the hearing on SB 549 was originally scheduled for last Wednesday, but was postponed while the state government was busy trying to figure out how to deal with the disaster. When I asked Stephen Griffin, the interim dean of Tulane Law School, if TELC might play some role in post-spill litigation, he said it’s definitely a possibility. “Suppose local citizens got upset about their beach being fouled, or their shrimp grounds being destroyed, the shrimpers getting upset.” Suppose they did.

Possibly. I know when I encounter the phrase “major disaster”, current or future casualties are generally part of the image that’s conjured.

Tulane has an action page here:

http://www2.tulane.edu/senatebill549.html

There are a number of interesting polls up today, including this one.

What the poll Walker puts up here really shows is the utter craziness of self-identified Republican voters:

Republicans are more likely than not to see the Horizon incident itself as not relevant.
Republicans, unlikely anyone else, after this incident, want more oil drilling, not less.

Common sense is common sense regardless of any political party, and most people have common sense. This includes people who continue to self-identify as Republicans even today. What we have to conclude is that Republican information management has really created an information or perception bubble that can contain an understanding of reality divorced from reason.

It’s logical if you think that the Horizon disaster is an isolated incident, not likely to occur again, and that the US needs oil, to conclude that offshore oil drilling should continue. Give this for the sake of argument, as obviously wrong in a bigger way as it is. But the self-identified Republican, according to this poll, now is thinks we need more drilling after the Horizon disaster, not the same amount of drilling, or less. This has to be because Republican information management has convinced their base that more offshore oil drilling is not an issue to be addressed pragmatically and logically, but instead it is a red-meat culture war issue now.

Crazy!

Certainly on a district by district basis, those numbers are going to come down. The so-called “Redneck Riviera” will probably not be a hotbed of support for expanded drilling anytime soon.

That’s a bit surprising, but not shocking. I liked Eli’s comment about the Republicans in this poll:

The only two explanations I can think of are:

1) “Fuck you, liberals! Anything that drives them this crazy must be a good thing.”

They definitely follow this sort of negative logic, as do more than a few Democratic voters. Of course, there are also a number of Republicans who think “Rush says it’s OK, so how bad can it be?” Substitute “Obama” for “Rush”, and you have described more than a few Democratic voters.

Independents tend to make up their own minds, I suspect. Plus, they tend to be the folks who place less faith in political institutions.

Eli is upstairs!
Stop Me If You’ve Heard This One Before

See, this is why I like Republicans, they try to do complicated things like drilling for oil a couple of miles down on the sea floor, all while believing that science is a waste of time.

Duhhhhh…

BP has announced that, if the “Top Hat” approach does not work, they’re pulling out all the stops and calling in Trojan to put a rubber on the Gulf. If that doesn’t work, they’re going to try to cram one of Lebron James’ tennis shoes down the pipe.

I don’t see the connection.

The spill is bad. Real bad. I don’t see that being denied.

But the vast majority of Americans keep using oil as before … they haven’t cut down on oil use because of the accident. And they’re not likely to until they must.

The hypocrite charge will too easy to apply to people saying to curtail drilling while they continue to consume oil at the same pace.

Also, if the USA doesn’t drill for oil, that won’t stop other countries from drilling and then selling it to us (so we can continue to use oil as before). Out of sight, out of mind.

Until we are serious about actually changing our energy consumption habits, drilling will continue in one way or another. We will only find convenient ways to tell ourselves we are not responsible for the consequences.

Offshore drilling is not a single monolithic enterprise. There is a world of difference between jack up rigs operating in a few hundred feet of water and deepwater operations like Horizon operating in 5000 feet of water.

There are over 600 production platforms in the Gulf with their feet on the floor, most of which have been in place for 20 or 30 years and survived numerous hurricanes without a major incident.

The difference in technology is like the diffeence between a piper cub and the space shuttle.

If the opposition to drilling is going to meet with any success, the need to recognize this distinction and act accordingly.

After putting some thought into this subject I can recall just 2 MAJOR oil spills. British Petroleum and Exxon. It seems to me that the root of the problem is the US NEED for oil. I mean MAJOR oil spills come from boats or oil rigs. Either way it has risks that we Americans have shown we are willing to take to feed our oil dependency.

With that in mind I think getting US oil from the US via oil rigs seems to be the best option. Not only does it create American jobs (for working the oil rig but also for regulating it) but we stop sending all the oil money to the middle east. What the countries in the middle east use that money for is up for debate however the simple fact is that our money is NOT going to our economy.

The reason only 46% of Republicans see this as a disaster is that the other 54% don’t get out much – bible study on Wednesday nights, church on Sunday, that’s pretty much it. It’s Rush on their radios and Fox on their TVs, so what’s to worry about?

I have not heard one single elected official suggest that we should try to use less oil in our everyday loves.

I am starting to believe that we deserved to go extinct, as is the present danger to 35% of the species present on the planet.