With oil still gushing beneath the Gulf waters, can someone give a rational explanation for what's contained in this article in the New York Times?
Can somone solve the following mystery: Whom did we elect to govern in the best interests of America and its people? To keep the country secure from enemies without and within?
Clues to this mystery's solution below.
New York Times, May 23, 2010
WASHINGTON — In the days since President Obama announced a moratorium on permits for drilling new offshore oil wells and a halt to a controversial type of environmental waiver that was given to the Deepwater Horizon rig, at least seven new permits for various types of drilling and five environmental waivers have been granted, according to records.
Is the Obama administration aware of this? (And if not, why not?) Is the administration ignoring this challenge to its authority? Cowering in fear of corporate power? Out to lunch?
...since the April 20 explosion on the rig, federal regulators have granted at least 19 environmental waivers for gulf drilling projects and at least 17 drilling permits, most of which were for types of work like that on the Deepwater Horizon shortly before it exploded, pouring a ceaseless current of oil into the Gulf of Mexico
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Does the administration understand what is happening in the Gulf? (And if not, why not?)
The answer to my above question can apparently be found in the following:
At least six of the drilling projects that have been given waivers in the past four weeks are for waters that are deeper — and therefore more difficult and dangerous — than where Deepwater Horizon was operating. While that rig, which was drilling at a depth just shy of 5,000 feet, was classified as a deep-water operation, many of the wells in the six projects are classified as "ultra" deep water, including four new wells at over 9,100 feet.
Today we've had the spectacle of all manner of cabinet heads and senators descending on the oil-mired marshes of Louisiana with many assurances of "We're doing this and we're doing that." (Bobby Jindal subtlely disputes that all is well with what's being done.) The oil is still gushing apace, the actual amount of it still just speculation, but the administration is issuing waivers to allow even deeper drilling...long before this catastrophe is under control and the consequences of it fully known.
Questions: Is there any reason to hold elections when the true governing bodies in America are unelected corporations?
Does Ken Salazar's presence in the Gulf today provide comfort to pelicans and shrimp fisherman?
Does this catastrophe, and the administration's response to it, give reassurance about its potential response to the next calamity that will occur on its watch?