The Jones Act Has Nothing to do With the BP Cleanup
Jul 31, 2010 13:17 Filed in: Politics Subjects Environment
Over the last couple of weeks I have been harangued by otherwise intelligent persons on the failure of Obama to waive the Jones Act so that foreign ships can assist in the cleanup. When I point out that there are plenty of foreign ships working on the spill and that the Jones Act doesn’t even apply beyond the 3-mile international limit, I am met by sneers and otherwise “more informed that you” looks that indicate minds that long ago snapped shut.
McClatchy sets out the facts
Text of The Jones Act
42 USC §55113 Use of foreign documented oil spill response vessels
The right-wingnut response to inconvenient facts, even among friends and loved ones, has always been extremely frustrating to me. The idea that if the facts contradict your beliefs then you ought to carefully examine those beliefs seems to be a completely alien concept to this type of person. It is always disheartening to contemplate that a substantial number of adults in the U.S. still believe that Saddam Hussein had something to do with the 9/11 attack on the WTC when even George Bush finally admitted that the government had no evidence to support Saddam’s involvement.
Here’s a partial explanation from the blog Stop the Spirit of Zossen 2.0:
Read the entire post: Rightist Collective Narcissism And Why Obama’s Own Fantasy Of Rational Dialogue Is Doomed
I felt from the beginning that Obama was in error, if not denial, in striving for a bipartisan approach. There is a certain strategic advantage to appearing reasonable when your opponent is determined to do anything in his power to make you fail, including causing a great deal of unnecessary suffering to the American People, but at some point it becomes imperative to be honest with everybody and state the unvarnished truth about your opponents, that they are scoundrels who would sacrifice this nation’s welfare in a Texas minute to regain political power.
It’s the right thing to do. Secondly, there is the 25-30 percent of the voters who will not change their minds if the Lord himself descended from heaven holding gold tablets with the truth written on them in 7th grade English, if the contents of the tablets contradicted their beliefs. The rest of the electorate expects Obama to do something more that he has done so far. Part of his failure must be attributed to his misguided attempt to appeal to the better natures of the Republicans in Congress. (His other major mistake is in listening to Summers, Geithner and Bernake, the gruesome threesome that played such a huge part in bringing about the current financial mess.) They have no better natures and will stop at nothing to defeat him. That’s a fact.
McClatchy sets out the facts
Text of The Jones Act
42 USC §55113 Use of foreign documented oil spill response vessels
The right-wingnut response to inconvenient facts, even among friends and loved ones, has always been extremely frustrating to me. The idea that if the facts contradict your beliefs then you ought to carefully examine those beliefs seems to be a completely alien concept to this type of person. It is always disheartening to contemplate that a substantial number of adults in the U.S. still believe that Saddam Hussein had something to do with the 9/11 attack on the WTC when even George Bush finally admitted that the government had no evidence to support Saddam’s involvement.
Here’s a partial explanation from the blog Stop the Spirit of Zossen 2.0:
Narrative radicalization and escalating vehemence through cant and acting out must — by internal logic — treble when fantasy can not surmount the limits imposed by Objective Reality (say Nov. 2008). Obama’s victory is a crisis threatening the ability to segregate their disassociated fantasized self-image with their often fragmented and undeveloped self. Why anyone remotely close to the Movement who said after defeat “now is the time for introspection” was doomed to be mau maued and kicked off the island. And Lord help you if there was a photo with you hugging Obama . . .
Read the entire post: Rightist Collective Narcissism And Why Obama’s Own Fantasy Of Rational Dialogue Is Doomed
I felt from the beginning that Obama was in error, if not denial, in striving for a bipartisan approach. There is a certain strategic advantage to appearing reasonable when your opponent is determined to do anything in his power to make you fail, including causing a great deal of unnecessary suffering to the American People, but at some point it becomes imperative to be honest with everybody and state the unvarnished truth about your opponents, that they are scoundrels who would sacrifice this nation’s welfare in a Texas minute to regain political power.
It’s the right thing to do. Secondly, there is the 25-30 percent of the voters who will not change their minds if the Lord himself descended from heaven holding gold tablets with the truth written on them in 7th grade English, if the contents of the tablets contradicted their beliefs. The rest of the electorate expects Obama to do something more that he has done so far. Part of his failure must be attributed to his misguided attempt to appeal to the better natures of the Republicans in Congress. (His other major mistake is in listening to Summers, Geithner and Bernake, the gruesome threesome that played such a huge part in bringing about the current financial mess.) They have no better natures and will stop at nothing to defeat him. That’s a fact.
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