You may heard about this clip of climate denier, oil errand boy and tobacco shill, “Smokey Joe” Barton thumping the Bible. If not, here it is.
Because I love the golden oldies, couldn’t resist Joe’s famous apology to BP for America’s arrogance in holding them responsible for the Gulf Oil spill.
Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal urged the Republican Party “stop being this stupid party”. Unfortunately the scientific brain trust of the Republican Party is primarily made up of young earth creationists. At least now he’s not denying that the climate is changing just ignoring scientific evidence in the next stage of denial. So apparently climate change is occurring because God is punishing us for some homophobic paranoid delusional causes that can be viewed on the 700 club or Fox news.
I believe that fossil fuels are not addictive 😉
This is our government today.
Joe Barton’s campaign funding comes primarily from the oil & gas industry:
http://www.opensecrets.org/politicians/summary.php?cid=N00005656
Joe Barton is the Chairman Emeritus of the House Committee on Energy and Commerce, which oversees a broad range of major issues (energy and environmental issues are just a part). The Chairman Emeritus is not the top position, but it’s the second highest position. The highest position on that committee belongs to Fred Upton.
Here’s just a little nugget from Barton’s past, via Wikipedia:
“Barton tried to block the bipartisan Combating Autism Act of 2006. He said that the money steered toward environmental causes of autism were not the reason he blocked passage of the bill.
The controversy stemmed from the conflict between two bills in the House and Senate. Barton introduced the National Institutes of Health Reform Act of 2006, while Senator Rick Santorum introduced the Autism bill. Santorum said in a CNN interview that the Senate bill was intended to be “fit into” Barton’s bill in the House bill. He stated that “I was in constant conversation with him [Barton] and many House members all last week in an attempt to help the NIH bill come through the Senate, as well as well as try to move the Combating Autism bill through the Senate.” Santorum stated that the Senate bill would investigate possible environmental causes, while the House bill would prevent that.
Barton let the bill die in committee, which upset many people who were vocal about saying Barton had sacrificed the interests of autistic children in the interests of the oil and gas companies that donate heavily to his campaign.”
A road trip through District 6 is illuminating….
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Texas%27s_6th_congressional_district
I actually live just outside his district. The sad truth here is that the Republican candidate basically has a lock on the end election. It’s really just a matter of who gets the Republican nomination. There were a number of Republican challengers to Barton in 2012, and one even called Barton “the most corrupt politician in Texas” (pretty high bar on that one, I’m afraid). But all the Republican challengers were massively underfunded. Money rules.
Here’s the thing with a guy like Barton – he can be the biggest moron in the world as long as he keeps praising God and bootlicking his corporate sponsors. If he just does that, and he keeps his nose relatively clean, he’s gold. The oil and gas industry knows this, and that’s why our government is the way it is.
Campaign funding is THE major political issue of our time (although environmental issues are certainly far more dangerous to humanity long-term), and no one talks about it. Solve it, and all the other issues (like AGW) can at least be examined.
Otherwise, we’ve got guys like Barton and Upton in charge of all major environmental and energy-related legislation in the United States.
Isn’t Barton a member of the party that’s always slamming Obama for making apologies?
And he does it willingly to a foreign corporation? Founded in the country that wanted to keep the lovers of freedom under the yoke of monarchy?
‘… a foreign corporation’
http://www.bp.com/sectiongenericarticle.do?categoryId=9014823&contentId=7027814
BP no longer means ‘British Petroleum’.
The sooner we all recognise that we share this planet and co-operate instead of pointing fingers at ‘foreigners’, the better. Sadly, like Douglas Adams’ six things before breakfast:
I know quite a bit about BP and I’ve had to deal with hundreds of their employees and contractors all over the world, from Alaska’s North Slope to the Gulf of Mexico, from their Westlake campus in Houston, to Baku and Tbilisi.
I lost count of the people from Veco, Amoco, Arco, Castrol, Halliburton, Kellogg-Brown-Root, etc I used to be in touch with.
Yes, they had a solar division – spoke to a bunch of people in Frederick, MD and a chap on some project in the Sahara.
And now their puny solar sideline is gone but the true focus was always about the oil and the show is run out of 1 Saint James Square, London.
So rebranding be damned – it’s still British and still all about Petroleum.
Yes, well… you ignore the fact that the globalisation that the free market fundamentalists foisted upon us means that a corporation can put its hat wherever it pleases. Just carry on blaming them damn’ furreners, and we’ll all go to hell in a handcart together, shall we?
In the original comment, I should have put “foreign” in quotes.
The point I was making was about GOP hypocrisy, not really slagging BP.
Had it been Obama making that same apology, the rightwing would have had a field day with “America apologizing” and I’m positive that you would, at least occasionally, have heard someone on Fox refer to them as “British” Petroleum.
Not me; the only ‘Fox News’ I get is the occasional Youtube clip on a blog. Fortunately for my sanity, those are usually the more hilarious examples of the lunacy.
And yes, hypocrisy sucks most places: doubly so when it’s exhibited by “public servants” who “represent their voters’ interests” (it would be funny, if it weren’t so sad).