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Republicans Twist Arms to Benefit Oil Companies

By TChris, Section Other Politics
Posted on Fri Oct 07, 2005 at 04:01:37 PM EST
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by TChris

It is increasingly uncomfortable for Republics to act like, well, Republicans. House Republicans today narrowly passed the kind of bill that, in better times, would have easily prevailed. Clouded in the political cover provided by Hurricane Katrina, Republicans claim the bill will encourage oil companies to build new refineries. Among other obnoxious provisions, it requires citizen's groups that challenge new refineries to pay the refinery's hefty legal bills, win or lose.

Ignoring the rules once again, Republicans held open the vote until they could lobby enough party members to change their votes. Democrats, finally showing signs of life, chanted "shame, shame" as Republicans rejected demands to close the vote. Democrats held together, unanimously opposing the bill.

Finally, long after the vote had been scheduled to close, two GOP votes switched, providing the Republican victory.

Final vote to provide outrageous giveaways to Republican-friendly oil companies: 212-210.

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    Republicans Twist Arms to Benefit Oil Companies | 19 comments (19 topical)
    Re: Republicans Twist Arms to Benefit Oil Companie (none / 0) (#1)
    by scarshapedstar on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:04:47 PM EST
    Jefferson must be real proud, yessir.

    Re: Republicans Twist Arms to Benefit Oil Companie (none / 0) (#2)
    by kipling on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:04:47 PM EST
    This kind of behaviour can inspire only confidence that this administration will act promptly and appropriately in the case of the most important issue facing the planet right now. Thank God. Heckuva job, Georgie!

    Re: Republicans Twist Arms to Benefit Oil Companie (none / 0) (#3)
    by john horse on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:04:47 PM EST
    TL, Talking Points Memo has the link to the video from thinkprogress. Everyone should watch this. One thing that a democracy needs is a sense of comity, that is, you don't run roughshod over the opposition when you achieve power. The GOP now controls all branches of government and has become arrogant and corrupted by power.

    Re: Republicans Twist Arms to Benefit Oil Companie (none / 0) (#4)
    by The Heretik on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:04:47 PM EST
    Among other obnoxious provisions, it requires citizen's groups that challenge new refineries to pay the refinery's hefty legal bills, win or lose. Unbelievable!

    Re: Republicans Twist Arms to Benefit Oil Companie (none / 0) (#5)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:04:47 PM EST
    As they sow, so shall we weep. The country we grew up in is gone, folks. Not to mention the world. Ain't never gonna be the same. NOLA's such a powerful image now in part because the hard right is turning government itself into the political equivalent of the Ninth Ward. Easier to bulldoze and construct a new polity than to chase the rot, neutralize the poisons, painstakingly rebuild in the ruins. We must know the ship of state cannot right itself. It will take a whirlwind to break their power, generations to rebuild from the wreckage the building storm will leave. And like kipling points out, they picked a fine time to wreck everything. Pandemic seems a damn sight more likely endgame than political renewal. I mean, I'm still praying for a velvet revolution, but the voices whisper that hope's vanishing like the arctic ice.

    Re: Republicans Twist Arms to Benefit Oil Companie (none / 0) (#6)
    by scarshapedstar on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:04:47 PM EST
    How come no Republicans are defending this?

    Re: Republicans Twist Arms to Benefit Oil Companie (none / 0) (#7)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:04:47 PM EST
    Posted by ghost dawg: "As they sow, so shall we weep. The country we grew up in is gone, folks. Not to mention the world. Ain't never gonna be the same." Well, that's flatly ridiculous. Your defeatism? No thanks. Why don't you have a drink or a dose of Prozac. I grew up in a country ripped to shreds by the genocidal militarism of Vietnam, and the streetfight for civil rights. THIS is nothing more than a continuation of that fight. Your catatrophism would be HILARIOUS to the survivors of Stalin's USSR. You ain't seen nothing compared to those people, so quit your whining and get to work saving your country. Bush Must Resign.

    Re: Republicans Twist Arms to Benefit Oil Companie (none / 0) (#9)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:04:49 PM EST
    Posted by ghost dawg: "permanent R majority or no, our opponents have so transformed the context of our struggle that institutional safety mechanisms no longer function." That's called a coup -- they can happen to any country. There are reconciliation governments that are formed by democracies to heal the country after such a takeover. Plenty of countries have gone through such experiences and extracted themselves, and continued just fine. "There's no "normal" state of politics when one side's bent on the other's extinction, or even just theocracy." That stuff stops when Bush and the R leadership is removed from power -- by the Republicans. And that day will come. Stay a student of Abraham Lincoln. Stay a student of Martin Luther King Jr., who said, "The arc of history is long, but it bends toward justice." Hopelessness is not a reality-based appraisal. It's an emotion. The states still stand. America is not so easily taken over. California for one just removed a big chunk of the Diebolding of America, and if we get our voting rights back, these guys are toast.

    Re: Republicans Twist Arms to Benefit Oil Companie (none / 0) (#10)
    by jimakaPPJ on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:04:50 PM EST
    In case you haven't caught on, we need new oil refineries. The oil companies, not being stupid, aren't willing to build them under the current rules. Haven't been for thrity years. Now since the government can't build'em, then we have a problem. Cut'em some slack, or run out of energy. Congress finally figured out what they needed to do. BTW - Who do you think is hurt by $3.00 gas? Repeat after me. "The poor and the middle class. Not the rich."

    Re: Republicans Twist Arms to Benefit Oil Companie (none / 0) (#12)
    by Johnny on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:04:50 PM EST
    Repeat after me: The oil will run out. It is not renewable. It is dirty. It is inefficient. We do not need more, we need to reduce consumption. Get rid of your SUV. Turn your themostat down. Cook with charcoal. Use ethanol. $3.00 gas only hurts people who use large amounts. Reduce reduce reduce. Walk, don't drive. Drive, don't fly.

    Re: Republicans Twist Arms to Benefit Oil Companie (none / 0) (#13)
    by jimakaPPJ on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:04:50 PM EST
    Johnny writes:
    Walk, don't drive.
    Okay. All you folks who live three miles from the nearest grocery store... Hut 1, hut 2....forward march... cadence count... DA - So the answer is to rely on more foregin production? Can I quote you? We all need a laugh.

    Re: Republicans Twist Arms to Benefit Oil Companie (none / 0) (#14)
    by jimakaPPJ on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:04:50 PM EST
    DA writes :
    Sorry PPJ...... (and then closes by writing..) TTFN, Whizzy.
    Okay, guess you won't mind if I make-up a name for you? Cause if you do it again, I will and you will have no room to complain.

    Re: Republicans Twist Arms to Benefit Oil Companie (none / 0) (#15)
    by Johnny on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:04:50 PM EST
    Okay. All you folks who live three miles from the nearest grocery store... Hut 1, hut 2....forward march... cadence count...
    Jim, are you being deliberately obtuse? Or is it (as I suspect)a natural thing? Buy a bike then, if walking is too much work.

    Re: Republicans Twist Arms to Benefit Oil Companie (none / 0) (#17)
    by Edger on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:04:50 PM EST
    Once Dorothy and the gang had encountered the mighty [Whizzy] of Oz, they initially fell for the illusion. But with Toto’s aid in pulling back the curtain, they quickly realized the Wizard was nothing more than a con man.
    TTFN, Whizzy.

    Re: Republicans Twist Arms to Benefit Oil Companie (none / 0) (#18)
    by jimakaPPJ on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:04:50 PM EST
    Dearest Edgey and Darkly.. As FDR said, "If it's war they want, it is war they will get." Kindly remember who fired the first shot. ;-) BTW, Edgey. I am aware of the deconstruction. That some people are allowed to study such things is a strong statement about the sense of humor, and tolerance, of the american tax paying supporter of higher eeducation. Or as many English Majors put it, "You want to biggie size that?"

    Re: Republicans Twist Arms to Benefit Oil Companie (none / 0) (#19)
    by Edger on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:04:50 PM EST
    Whizzy: Kindly remember who fired the first shot. Oh yeah, Iraq did , right? Whatever you say... Thanks for reminding me, Whizzy! Deconstructingly yours, Egdey

    Re: Republicans Twist Arms to Benefit Oil Companie (none / 0) (#21)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:04:50 PM EST
    LOVE the catfight, Jim, when you lose the argument because your LIES fall apart.

    Re: Republicans Twist Arms to Benefit Oil Companie (none / 0) (#22)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:04:50 PM EST
    whazzup w/ the gas-huffer upthread? he usually like that? (I read TL, seldom have time for comments) PiLA - sounds like we'd have a good time pounding on the bar. You keep whalin' on me for my alleged hopelessness -- I think what I lack, rather, is the sense to write a clearer final sentence in my first post. I meant "that hope", ie the hope of political renewal, is vanishing, not "hope", Pandora's wretched gift. For the record, I do have hope — I hope I'm wrong. Seriously, though. All the eggs I care about are in the basket that only the system - the govt - can save. What I'm trying to express is my sense that there's no going back, only an uncertain but urgent forward. And for all that I wax bleak (and, yeah, I cop to a case of everyday apocalypticism - it's the occupational hazard of the working environmentalist), the idea that big things gonna have to change does, in fact, give me some real hope. More, anyway, than certain Central Valley D's. But holding out for the thinking Republicans to rescue us? That's not hope, that's a second cup of Kool-aid. Besides, I think they're both real busy with their portfolios.

    Re: Republicans Twist Arms to Benefit Oil Companie (none / 0) (#23)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:04:50 PM EST
    ghost, we are all suffering, but do what I remind people to do at protest after protest: Keep your telescope pointed in the right direction. If you don't understand that the Chinese had 3,000 YEARS of tyranny, that when the American revolution took place the world was full of autocratic kings, that women didn't have the right to vote until 1925, that 110 million people died from war in the last century-- then you will be looking at your telescope through the wrong end. At which point it looks like we're going to hell in a handbasket. Not that we can't be destroyed, our country destroyed, by these treasons. But the point is that these treasons are nothing at all new. We have been pulling ourselves out of these autocratic piles of injustice for a long, long time, and the way out is up. Don't just sit there steaming in the dung pile, ghost. Rise up!

    Republicans Twist Arms to Benefit Oil Companies | 19 comments (19 topical)