GOP Blocks Oil Spill Liability Bill

[Murky]

From Scott Adams (Dilbert)

I'm fascinated by BP's attempts to stop the oil leak, especially today with the Top Kill operation underway. I've had multiple nerdgasms following the story. I mean, seriously, I'm sitting in my home office in California and watching an oil leak a mile below the surface, on a live submarine cam, as scientists try to save the Gulf from destruction. You know this will someday be a movie, and I'll watch it again.

As I mentioned in an earlier blog, I bought some BP stock recently because I liked the odds that the top engineers and scientists in the solar system, with unlimited funding, presumably somewhat freed from management meddling, could plug a hole. And yes, I averaged down.

I also assumed that the liberal media's coverage of the oil damage would depress the stock more than necessary. It's a catastrophe, no doubt, but even catastrophes have levels. I'm betting the financial damage will be very, very, very bad and not very, very, very, very bad.

This is also a test of my theory that you should buy stocks in the companies that you hate the most. In general, you hate the companies that have the most power. And BP is the frickin' Death Star of companies. They're in the process of destroying an entire region of the world and there's still no talk of cutting their next dividend. I admire them in the same way I admire the work ethic of serial killers. There's an undeniable awesomeness about BP. I hate BP, but I still want to have their baby.

Note: Do not take stock advice from cartoonists who want to have babies with oil companies.

http://dilbert.com/blog/entry/betting_on_the_engineers/

 

[Truthbuster]

The coverage below tells you the deep and active involvement of the Republican party with the oil industry and explains why GOP, because of the Gulf Spill, is trying to deflect attention and promote the idea that it's really the Democrats that "are in bed" with Big Oil.



Koch Industries Funds Far-Reaching Climate Denial Machine

The story sounds familiar: a huge US company dominated by oil and chemical interests is "plowing millions of dollars into campaigns to discredit climate science and clean energy policies." But if you thought ExxonMobil was bad, you haven't seen anything yet.

Koch Industries, the second-largest privately owned company in the United States, is one of the largest financial backers of the climate change denial industry. According to a new report by Greenpeace, the "biggest company you've never heard of" has funneled nearly $50 million since 1997 to groups like the Heritage Foundation and CATO Institute to fund misinformation campaigns about climate science.

The Koch brothers' deep pockets have far-reaching beneficiaries. Over five million dollars went to the group Americans for Prosperity, "which is campaigning to block the Environmental Protection Agency from regulating greenhouse gases." Another foundation established by Charles Koch funded a (now debunked) report that polar bears were not threatened by climate change.

Koch's PAC has also donated to some of the biggest Congressional names working to block limits on global warming pollution: "Dirty Air Act" author Lisa Murkowski (R-ALASKA), fellow "Dirty Air Act" supporter Blanche Lincoln (D-AK), and climate-denial poster-boy James Inhofe (OK). According to the report:

http://www.reallyseriously.org/2010/03/koch-industries-funds-far-reaching.html

SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE

"Think of climate denial in terms of obstructionist lawmakers and you'll quickly spot Koch money in their coffers. The brothers gave more than $10,000 each to James Inhofe (R-Ok.), Lisa Murkowski (R-Ak.), Blanche Lincoln (D-Ark.), Jim DeMint(R-S.C.), Saxby Chambliss (R-Ga.), David Vitter (R-La.), John Boehner (R-Oh.), Eric Cantor (R-Vir.), and Joe Barton (R-Tex.)."

Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/blogs/green/category?blogid=49&cat=3070#ixzz0p9ibS339

GRIST.ORG

Big Oil's Friends on Capital Hill Block Liability Increase

'The Senate, fossil-fuel fans James Inhofe (R-Okla.) and Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) have managed to grab hold of an issue that shows oil execs that they've still got their backs: liability.

Senate Democrats Robert Menendez and Frank Lautenberg of New Jersey and Bill Nelson of Florida are pushing a proposal to raise the liability cap on oil spills from its current paltry level of $75 million to a more realistic $10 billion. Last week, Murkowski blocked it. Yesterday, Inhofe did....hat, of course, didn't play very well with a lot of Democrats, starting with Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.), who earlier in the day had said the cap should be eliminated altogether so companies responsible for spills would face unlimited liability."
http://www.grist.org/article/2010-0...itol-hill-block-oil-spill-liability-increase/

 

[Truthbuster]

I love 'ya Dilbert...but perhaps you should get some advice before you invest in more stocks??!