The liberal line that the Bush administration serves at the pleasure of Big Oil surely gets fuel from this bit of post-Katrina news: On the evening of Aug. 30 and morning of Aug. 31, officials in Vice President Dick Cheney’s office and the Energy Department made multiple phone calls ordering that electricity be restored to a south Mississippi pipeline that sends fuel to the Northeast. Never mind that powering up the pipeline left hospitals, city water systems and everything else powerless for 24 hours longer than they might have otherwise been.
“I considered it a presidential directive to get those pipelines operating,” one power company manager told the Hattiesburg (Miss.) American. “I reluctantly agreed to pull half our transmission line crews off other projects and made getting the transmission lines to the Collins substations a priority.”
Another entry on the long Katrina-related list headed: What were they thinking?
Posted by Rhonda Holman
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43 Comments
They were thinking this disaster can hurt my pocketbook.
Has anyone else noticed the Iraq sistuation’s eerily resemblance to the disaster relief? The difference being the disaster happened on our soil. When we were told everything was going great, we could see it wasn’t. When we were told there were no problems, instead of accepting the answers, we argued, people were getting no help.We can’t see what’s happening in Iraq. We’re told over and over again everything is getting better. More than 200 people died this week alone in Iraq.Once the leadership was changed in the relief efforts we immediately noticed a difference. Is this what we need for Iraq? The Generals who were dismissed for being honest with their assessments put back in charge?Another glaring item to tie to Iraq. The first ministry to be secured after the initial war was the Oil of Ministry. The first power to be restored after Katrina, the power to the oil pipelines.
Does this really surprise anyone?What did you think they meant by compasionate conservativism? They didn’t know there was a human crisis building in NO, but they knew the second the oil stopped flowing.
What business were the president and vice president in before they got into government?
Profits not people are the rule in this administration. After all people are expendable, especially if they are poor, black, and nonregistered voters.
But if the pipelines weren’t working, the gas prices on the East coast would have soared even higher. So which is it? Does Busco want higher or lower prices? You libs are hysterical.
I’m going to use a word here that may be difficult for some of you lefties here to relate to.
LEADERSHIP!
Sometimes it means making tough decisions that may be very unpopular with folks who don’t understand the big picture. First note the ‘MAY HAVE’ in the money sentence.
Suppose this had not been done. Suppose there had been some spot gasoline shortages in the northeast as there were in the south. Suppose this spurred a panic that then created a widespread regional shortage in the whole northeast that lasted several days. Shipping by truck grinds to a halt for several days, airline traffic grinds to a halt for several days, private and business travel grinds to a halt for several days.
You have a bad situation in the Gulf Coast region which sparks fuel shortages in the Northeast which creates even more economic havic in the Northeast, and who knows perhaps sparks nationwide panic which creates even more shortages. And leftwing moonbats everywhere blame Bushitler.
A LEADER makes a tough decision that prevents national chaos, and since the chaos didn’t happen no one realizes what a wise decision it was and the leftwing moonbats everywhere say Bushitler did it for the oil companies.
‘I see stupid people, they’re everywhere. They walk around like everyone else, they don’t even know that they’re stupid’.
Heckler–
Thanks for saying what no liberal would have been believed for saying–that you conservatives care more about money than you do about human life.
What you are saying is that people on heart lung machines and respirators should die, so that businesses in other parts of the country aren’t inconvenienced.
Nice priorities, but hey, they’re conservative priorities, so why should we be surprised.
Galahad
My last little quote applies well to you.
If a hopital didn’t have electricity when the utility crews were diverted HOW COULD ANYONE BE ON A HEART LUNG MACHINE ANYWAY???
Did it ever occur to you that had there been widespread fuel shortages in the northeast that people having heart attacks or strokes might not be able to be transported to a hospital for lifesaving surgery?
WHATEVER! You believe what you want.
What I see going on is a repeat of history. The extreme conservatism of the 1950’s followed by the turmoil of the 1960’s and 70’s.
It’s so clear that we as a country are repeating mistakes from our past.
“I see stupid people, they’re everwhere. They walk around like everyone else, they don’t even know that they’re stupid.” Is they only line in your blog that makes sense. Stupid people-some are on this blog, and yet others have high ranking government jobs.
Heckler sez:
“If a hopital didn’t have electricity when the utility crews were diverted HOW COULD ANYONE BE ON A HEART LUNG MACHINE ANYWAY???”
Jesus, that’s stupid. It doesn’t even dignify answering. Maybe you can figure it out with a slide rule or something in your spare time.
Heckler,
Don’t bother trying to convince this group. Their mind is made up and closed to any logic or other ideas. Bush is bad, conservatives are bad and unless you agree with them you also are bad.
Hey Heckle,”If a hopital didn’t have electricity when the utility crews were diverted HOW COULD ANYONE BE ON A HEART LUNG MACHINE ANYWAY???”
Most hospitals have emergency generators that run on gasoline or other fuel. These are large generators and there isn’t enough fuel on premises to run them for the days at a time this crisis demanded.The electrical power was diverted from the hospitals to the pipeline. The pipeline carried needed fuel AWAY from New Orleans to the markets where there was money to be made, leaving area hospitals with an excess of patients and no power to run all that high-tech equipment that kept those patients alive.Now, is that simple enough? Unfortunately, there’s no provision on this blog to draw pictures for you!
“Bush is bad, conservatives are bad and unless you agree with them you also are bad.’
Except for you, Darrell.
You’re stupid.
Jed
Let me draw a picture for YOU.
Major highways washed out or flooded under 6-8 feet of water. How you gonna get that fuel to the hospitals in N.O. anyway?
Most of the power distribution system within the city was down from flooding, and can’t be fixed until the floodwater subsides.
Cant get fuel to the generators until the flooding goes down. Can’t fix the power system leading to the hospital until the flooding goes down. 2weeks to 2 months?
You get the pipeline going in under 24 hrs.
Pretty simple.
Heckle,So what you’re saying is that those patients are goners anyway, so be sure to fill up my SUV?
See my point no amount of logic will convince. It does not matter that the hospitals have been evacuated and restoring power is not saving lives, it was directed by the President and therefore must be wrong.
I hate BushiesOh, yes I doand if you like ‘emthen I hate you, too
I calls ‘em stupid,I calls ‘em bad,I cuss an’ sputter,an’ I gets real mad.
I don’t know nothin’but that don’t matter.Gets my ideasfrom looney blather.
Sure gets deepin the fever swamp,but we loves to hateand shout and stomp.
We hate Bushthat’s all we knowCan’t make no senseso we stoop real low.
We’re Chicken LittlesWe lie and curse.We love bad newsand we paint it worse.
“The sky is falling”It’s Bush’s faultWe just repeatour void assault.
Bitchin’s easy,and we are goodat throwin’ rocksin the neighborhood.
Breakin’ glassand makin’ a messWe got no classand know even less.
I’m on a rollbut gotta go.Blogs are funbut don’t make dough.
I think it is interesting that as Iraq tries to get write a constitution, and they have tribal diffrences that complicate this, our government says this is just them going through the pains of democracy. Over here, diffrences of opinion are percieved by those in power as whiners, and unpatriotic. If there is a shift in power after the mid-terms next November, it will be interesting to see how well the shoe fits on the other foot. Stranger things could happen.
NEWSBREAK!
Oil is our nations economic blood.
Big surprise that getting it flowing is a big priority.
Oil is what allows those delivery trucks of yours at the Eagle to continue distributing what you call a Newspaper.
Get some perspective people.
Puny is back–sort of. Frankly, after all the good postings over the last few days, I had expected more of him/her/it. But instead, all we got was Puny’s Greatest Hits–or, Puny Redux.
I am a bit underwhelmed, Puny, by how puny you are at the moment. The incredible, shrinking Puny. C’mon, Puny, you can do it! Show us what you’ve got! C’mon Puny! C’MON, PUNY!
Well, never mind, Puny. It can ahppen to anyone.
Hey, liberals are whiners? What the hell were you Nazoconservatives hollering about from ‘92- 2000? Clinton only did it to Monica; this administration’s humping the whole country!
Hey, Redux, you’ve got the liberal shtick down pretty good. Hope to see more soon. Those guys make a pretty sorry noise, don’t they? They don’t even have a clue about anything real. Liberal is good / conservative is bad — booooring,
It is always fun to visit moveon.eagle to hear the liberal Idiocy. They bitch about the price of Gas then complain that the Fed make it a priority.
Ho, ho, ho.
Hey Arbrey, it’s OK.This bunch gets mud in their eyes toward the end of every string, then they can’t see or remember what the editor wrote about anyway.
This whole thing would be a lot easier if WE put a list of insults over at the side somewhere and then gave them icons so that they could be automatically inserted.Even better, they could be numbered.There could be whole strings without words, just numbers!
It could go like this:Hey Arbery-12!No Tracy – 8!Galahad…1 1 1!!!Jimmy you 4.
Well, you get the idea.
Darell what you dont’ get is that the hospitals weren’t evacuated. People and patients were there.
The gist is that gasoline is more important that a person’s life. Does that mean even your life, or only if it’s someone else?
Why does it have to always be liberals, democrats and republicans? I dont’ agree with any of our governmental divisions. They dont’ speak for me.
Think for yourself. This blog has more posts to attacking each other than discussion. Tracy has you pegged.
Puny, yer back and moronic as ever. How’s the room in your mom’s basement now that we had all that heavy rain?
What kills me about the way Republicans spin the most egregious lack of compassion (like diverting power to pipelines instead of hospitals) is how they assume that no Republicans are in the hospital dying.
They never think it’s going to be them hooked up to the heart lung machine when BushCo. throws the switch to keep the Humvees humming.
Brown, what was that about seeing stupid people? Conservatives keep getting hit over the head and they don’t even see who’s hitting them.
The hypothetical that those hospitals with someone on a machine would die if power was off for an extra day is interesting. How about the hypothetical that power coming on unexpectedly would cause a power spike that burns out the machine?Both hypotheticals are stupid.
Joe–
I don’t know what “hypothetical” you’re talking about. People DID DIE because the power was off in the hospitals.
That’s not a possibility–that’s a fact.
As for “needing the oil to keep the hospitals running elsewhere,” that’s what stupid. Electricity is produced mainly by coal and natural gas, some hydro-turbines, a few nuclear power plants and a bit of solar and wind.
I’ve never heard of electrical power plants running on oil or gas, although emergency generators do.
As for power “spikes,” I’m guessing when you’ve got a million dollar machine, you’ve got one of those 26 dollar radio shack surge suppressors too.
GalahadNoone has died lately because of no power, so the lack thereof for 24 more hours is irrevalent. So both hypotheticals are BS. The point is the price of gas is a disaster for the economy. It is logical to fix the problem ASAP.
Joe you’re spinning to yourself.
Bare to the bones, you’re saying a person’s life is not worth as much as the price of gasoline.
Exxon posted a 10 billion profit for ONE quarter.
Tell me again the price of gas is a disaster to the economy.
Let’s see…besides Monica, there was Gennifer Flowers, and who can forget… Dolly Kyle Browning; The lovely Kathleen Willey; O, yes,the vivacious Paula Jones; the forgettable Sally Perdue; and the “alleged” rape victim Juanita Broaddrick. Seems like the Billster was trying to POPULATE a country.Although I guess that’s better than killing a country.Anyway, oil will always come first, be it a democrat or republican led congress or presidency. The buck only stops there if it’s entering a politicians wallet.
I’m glad Rhonda brought that stroy to light to light.
Folks? FORGET reaching the bushinistas like Heckler and nathan……..er maybe it’s Natheckler.
For the few people with a shred of rationality still sitting in the shrinking bush camp I offer this: Gas prices spiked 60 cents after the hurricane. Then they quickly came down. This is not because of diverting power prioity to the pipelines. This is because the price was artificially inflated in the first place. Seeing this, people stopped buying gas and even began to talk in loud voices about getting away from fossil fuels. Too, other countries stepped forward to help in supply.
That bush and cheney sought to restore power first to piplines carrying fuel that everyone KNEW would be selling at an inflated price is not surprising. That the few remaining bushies now defend this action was at the best interest of the country is also not surprsing. But it is shameful. How dare people like Natheckler presume that any American would watch people suffer and die with no power……just to keep that gas price down.
How must it be to be you bushies? Are you so into your own creature comforts at the expense of others that you assume everyone else is as well? You do that and you shame America. America is bigger and better than that than you and your failed president and all his excuses. Am I wrong? Read a poll.
Galahad:My sentiments exactly. They wouldn’t know they were getting their a$$ kicked, even if their own foot was doing the kicking.
FACTS:It was on day 3 when the hospital staff discovered their basement was half full of water. That’s where their electrical distribution center and emergency generators were. Electric power from the grid and more gasoline would have been useless to them.
When the hospital attempted to remove its patients, they were fired upon by snipers. Army units were called in and suppressed the sniper fire. Patient removal then continued. Everyone who could be saved was saved. Cheney’s efforts to keep the overall energy infrastructure available made no difference to the patients.
No one has provided an ounce of proof that the redistribution of electricity had any effect on the hospital, and it didn’t.
COMMENTARY:The Bush bashing crazies are so devoid of facts and technical knowledge that their mindless hatred is best summarized by Redux. How else to respond to them other than in the dismissive manner of Redux, who just puts their message in the proper light. I notice he drives them into hissy fits.
Still, Tracy has a good idea.
Gotta get the fuel north because that’s where the money is.
Okay, Sudden, you want facts–here’s one, but this one came from a national news media source instead of Rush “I Used Drugs, Lots and Lots of Drugs” Limbaugh–”when the power came back on for blocks on end. Kevin Tibbles was positively jubilant on the live update edition of Nightly News that we fed to the West Coast. The mini-mart, long ago cleaned out by looters, was nonetheless bathed in light, including the empty, roped-off gas pumps. The motorcade route through the district was partially lit no more than 30 minutes before POTUS drove through. And yet last night, no more than an hour after the President departed, the lights went out. The entire area was plunged into total darkness again, to audible groans. It’s enough to make some of the folks here who witnessed it… jump to certain conclusions.
You know the other thing that doesn’t make sense about this story–snipers.
In 1991, when I heard about Iraqi soldiers “throwing babies out of their incubators” after the invasion of Kuwait, I thought to myself, why does a soldier in a war-zone want incubators? Liquor, yes, women, yes, but incubators? Doesnt’ make sense–turns out the whole story was bogus, but that didn’t stop HW from repeating over and over.
Now we get reports of “snipers” pinning down hospital staff. Of what possible benefit is it to the snipers to do this? Why would one want to sit in a deserted, flooded town and shoot at the few remaining? To pick their dead pockets?
Of course, it is of great benefit to right-wing hate radio hosts because they can then portray “those people” as animals and worthy of whatever they get.
Right, galahad., Your admitted jump to a conclusion is your idea of a fact.
Suddenly Dense,Can you provide some proof of your story about snipers (besides Rush or some other right wing tinfoil hat link)? Sounds line the latest urban myth to me. As Galahad says, there isn’t any reason to shoot at a hospital, unless you think NO was taken over by anarchists. Obviously, there was some gunfire in NO. I doubt if it was snipers trying to take over. Just a story to keep the wingnuts stirred up.
I guess not XXX, since there still is no link.
Why does that not surprise me?
Google it yourself. The information was provided by a hospital intern in an interview by John Batchelor last week. You can buy the transcript. I just know you will, since you have such a burning desire for the truth.