Payneful Moments

From No Payne – No Gain:

(1) “the ultra-sensitive ‘thinking class’ at the Journal editorial board”

(2) “But the Journal’s action brings to mind a line from Hamlet. To paraphrase, ‘The Biosphere doth protest to much, me thinks.'”

(3) “Thanks for saddling our children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren with your debt, Gordo!”

(1) I don’t know what the “thinking class” is, but it doesn’t sound bad, to me. Or does GP imply with his original quotes that they aren’t really the thinking class. By the way, I agree with GP that it was quite unusual for the Journal to respond to a letter to the editor.

(2) WTF? Paraphrasing usually makes a quote fit better, but not in this case.

(3) This one made me laugh out loud because “Gordo” isn’t Duhbya, who has saddled us with more debt than Raygun AND has only just begun. mjh

Dump Duhbya

Oil and Gas Contributes $179.7 million – 74 percent to Republicans

Fri 03/18/05 mjh

The Money Behind the Debate Over Drilling in ANWR

Oil companies are hoping their considerable political clout, built up over years of generous campaign giving and lobbying, will put drilling in ANWR over the top. The oil and gas industry has contributed $179.7 million since 1989 to federal candidates and political parties, 74 percent to Republicans. …

Exxon Mobil is a member of Arctic Power, which bills itself as a grassroots, non-profit organization endorsed by the Alaska legislature that has been at the forefront of the ANWR drilling issue since 1992. …

Oil and gas companies have contributed $368,000 in individual and PAC contributions to Stevens since 1989, more than any other industry.

Other Alaska officials have struck it big from the industry as well.

Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R), who won a tight election last year, raised $195,000 from the industry in the 2004 election cycle alone, enough for a No. 10 ranking among all federal candidates. Alaska’s lone representative in the House, Don Young (R), has raised $874,000 from oil and gas interests since 1989, more than from any other industry. Murkowski and Young both support ANWR drilling. …

[Arctic Power] contends on its Web site that drilling could create as many as 736,000 jobs. Artic Power has spent $1.7 million on federal lobbying since 1997. …

The promise of new job creation has brought the International Brotherhood of Teamsters into an unusual alliance with oil companies on the subject of ANWR. The Teamsters, which have openly opposed many of Bush’s policies, broke from the heavily Democratic labor movement to support drilling.

The Teamsters are among the nation’s largest campaign donors, having contributed $21.9 million since 1989 in individual, PAC and soft money donations, 93 percent to Democrats. The union has spent $7.7 million on lobbying since 1997.

Mike Mathis, director of government affairs for the Teamsters, said the union has sent representatives to lobby new GOP members and lawmakers from labor-heavy states such as Pennsylvania. He added that the union is working to “firm up as many Democrats as we can.”

Mathis said the Teamsters have been working with Sen. Ted Stevens, an Alaska Republican who has long supported drilling. Teamsters members in Alaska also have been coordinating with Arctic Power. The union has not contributed money to the group, as it did a few years ago, but it would do so if “there was a need,” Mathis said.

[mjh: Number junkies should follow this link] Industry Totals: Oil & Gas Long-Term Contribution Trends

Theirs

One Facet of Liberalism

Fri 03/18/05 mjh

Colorado Luis

[T]his compromise is a victory for liberalism, broadly defined as the belief that government is something more than just the enemy that steals your money through taxation. It’s just too bad it has taken a fiscal crisis to make that case for us in this state.

Mine

Another Crisis, this one in energy

Thu 03/17/05 mjh

Senate votes for Arctic drilling

“How high do gas prices have to get, and how over-a-barrel does OPEC have to get us, before we realize what the American people have realized a long time ago: that we have an energy crisis here in America today,” said Sen. John Thune, R-S.D.

Thune was one of four Republicans elected to the Senate in November who favor drilling in ANWR; each replaced a Democrat opposed to opening the refuge to exploration.

Do you know when the term “energy crises” was first used? It was in the early 1970’s when Dick Nixon honored the White House. OPEC tightened the spigot and prices skyrocketed above 50 cents (yes, .50!) for the first time in anyone’s lifetime (in the US — it was 4 times more expensive in Europe already). Dazed drivers waited in line for hours, oblivious to the irony of burning gas waiting to buy gas. Gas stations rationed gas, limiting you to so many gallons or dollars. You couldn’t buy gas every day — the last digit of your license determined which day you could buy. I’m not talking about the Great Depression or the Great War, kids — there was real panic in the air. It’s all true; I was there. So were Donald Rumsfeld and Dick Cheney; Duhbya was drunk (rude, I admit, but the truth).

We really learned nothing from that national shock 30+ years ago. OPEC learned to squeeze less harshly, fearing that if they turned the screws too tight we might eventually kick our jones (Opec considers second output hike). At least someone has faith in our intelligence.

Now, people argue we can drill ourselves out of this crisis. We cannot and we will not. We’ll just keep paying the dealer until we’ve used up all the oil in the world. That should take 50 years. Worried about Social Security? Don’t be — you’ll be burning your check for heat. mjh

mjh’s Blog: The Short List of Noteworthy Senators

Theirs

QOTD

Thu 03/17/05 mjh

CEOs are fond of saying “Our employees are our most valuable asset,” and then they merrily go about announcing layoffs, which means they are giving away, for free, the company assets. You can tell a lot about an organization by how it treats people who are leaving, whether voluntarily or not.

Dale Dauten

Mine

Listen to Bloggers (Updated 3/19/05)

Wed 03/16/05 mjh

No, seriously, listen to four of us on Saturday, when “progressive” Republican, While the Radical Right Arrests Them Both” href=”http://www.edgewiseblog.com/mjh/000743.htm”>Jim Scarantino, launches his brand new local talk radio show by having as guests the outrageous Pika Brittlebush (yes, from the BK commercial!), the playful poet Johnny_Mango and the simply outraged Mark Justice Hinton (he’ll be the crazed-looking one). Four Bloggers in Search of a Playwright. We’ll talk a bit about blogging, including how-to’s, and how we all came to the blogosphere. We’ll be answering phone calls from listeners — please, please! Remember, it’s easier to write than to do, and easier to listen than to read. Take it easy with us. Come see if it only takes one “progressive” Republican to outwit 3 unrepentant liberals and save the Republic! All the fun of poking a caged bear with a sharp stick with none of the environmental impact. mjh

The Real Side
KAGM 106.3 FM
11am to 12 noon
Sat, 3/19/05

Registered liberal Martin Heinrich says of Jim Scarantino, fellow WWF fan, “he’ll tear anyone apart whose ideology is stronger than their ideas. In other words chuck the party line crap and intelligently defend what you believe in.” These guys eat at BK every week after their testosterone treatments.

Updated 3/18/05

rebecca blood :: weblogs: a history and perspective

In 1998 there were just a handful of sites of the type that are now identified as weblogs (so named by Jorn Barger in December 1997).

Update 3/19/05

mjh’s Blog: Radio Postscript

loco

The Short List of Noteworthy Senators (updated 3/19/05)

Wed 03/16/05 mjh

Arctic Senate Vote

Below is a list of U.S. Senators and their votes on the Cantwell amendment to keep Arctic Refuge drilling from the Senate Budget Resolution.

A “y” indicates the person voted for the Cantwell amendment and for Arctic Refuge protection.

A “n” indicates the person voted against the Cantwell amendement and against Arctic Refuge protection.

Please call your senators on Thursday, March 17, 2005, to tell them thank you or to express your outrage: 202-224-3121

[mjh: follow the link above for the full list; this abridged list includes the Republicans and Democrats that voted against their parties.]

State Party Senator Vote on Cantwell
AZ R McCain Y
ME R Collins Y
ME R Snowe Y
MN R Coleman Y
OH R DeWine Y
OR R Smith Y
RI R Chafee Y
VT I Jeffords Y
HI D Akaka n
HI D Inouye n
LA D Landrieu n

Update 3/17/05:
[mjh: As a native Hawai’ian, my heart breaks.]

Democratic Sens. Dan Inouye and Daniel Akaka were joined by Sen. Mary Landrieu, D-La., in the coalition with 48 Republicans to override an attempt by other Democrats and moderate Republicans to remove a provision in next year’s budget that would allow drilling in the refuge.

Inouye and Akaka said that they believe their votes represent the position of a majority of the native peoples in the region. Both senators have a history of voting to support the Inupiat Eskimos, some of whom want the refuge opened to oil and gas exploration and drilling, although environmental groups said that support has been waning.

Inouye has said that since Hawai’i is an oil-dependent state, it is imperative that new oil deposits be found and developed to ensure a steady access to meet the state’s energy needs.

Hawai’i senators help open Arctic to drilling

Update 3/18/05:
[mjh: follow the money]
Opensecrets.org–Money in politics data

Update 3/19/05:
[via The Daily Outrage]

The Nation | Blog | The Daily Outrage | Ari Berman

Democrats Daniel Akaka and Daniel Inouye of Hawaii and Mary Landrieu of Louisiana handed Bush a huge victory–and the environment a huge loss–this week by voting to open up Alaska’s Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) for oil drilling. The Hawaii delegation made a shrewd political compromise: they’d support the ANWR provision if Alaska’s Ted Stevens co-sponsored a bill recognizing Native Hawaiians as indigenous peoples. Mary Landrieu, on the other hand, is the darling of her state’s oil and gas interests, who contributed $303,000 to her 2002 campaign. Before the vote, a Kerry staffer told me that Landrieu would vote with her fellow Democrats. Apparently, there’s nothing quite like stabbing your own kind in the back.

mjh's blog