…Steven Rattner.

A couple of weeks ago, I wrote a piece outlining five steps a House GOP majority should undertake to change the game in Washington and govern in spite of President Obama. In that piece, the first step I outlined was The Inquisition, a flurry of investigations into the misdeeds of the Pelosi Congress and the Obama administration. While that’s an impolitic and sure-to-be-villified activity the left-wing media will have a field day with, if it’s done correctly it will have the effect of burning down the public’s tolerance for Democrats in any elected branch of government.

Rattner, a hedge-fund scumbag and Democrat fundraiser who was rewarded for his service with a gig as Obama’s car czar, is out with a new book which contains some pretty strong stuff casting the administration in a toxic light. The Huffington Post got hold of a copy and throws out the following tidbits…

-When Obama was told of the plan to pay GM CEO Rick Wagoner a $7.1 million severance package after Obama ordered that he be sacked, Rattner writes: “Suddenly I felt that I was indeed in the presence of a community organizer…”

-Rattner describes presidential political adviser David Axelrod coming to car meetings armed with poll data to support the takeover and Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel identify Congressmen in whose districts large Chrysler facilities were located.

-”[Obama's economic team] veered dangerously close to having the government take control of the two most troubled banks, Bank of America and Citigroup.”

-”If his team had linked arms with the outgoing administration, as President Bush’s advisers had proposed, billions of dollars could well have been saved.”

-Rattner says Chief of Staff Rahm Emanual dictated Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner’s schedule, public appearances and staff selections.

-He says Obama economic advisers Larry Summers and Austan Goolsbee and FDIC Chair Sheila Bair as (sic)enemies who slowed down decision making with infighting

-Rattner said Obama was frustrated with the auto companies from the start: “Why can’t they make a Corolla?” he has Obama asking.

If these snippets are an indication of what’s in that book, Rattner needs to be sworn in and grilled – immediately following the GOP’s House takeover if it happens.

Perhaps no illegal activity could be proven with a House GOP investigation into the auto bailouts and takeovers engineered by the Obama administration last year, but certainly given the secretive and extralegal way those policies were enacted it’s well worth delving into the president’s use of TARP funds for purposes not intended in the legislation.

It’s politically risky to commence investigations of the other side, but sunlight is the best disinfectant. And given the multiplicity of smelly practices we’ve seen from the Obama administration and its Congressional allies – with the auto bailouts prominent among them – a GOP House engaged in trench warfare with the president and his veto pen would be doing a public service by setting the record straight about exactly what has been emanating from the White House.

Now more than ever, EAT LOUISIANA SEAFOOD!! It is delicious, healthy, and the best in the world. Test after test has shown conclusively that our seafood on the market is not tainted in any way by the oil spill or the dispersants used to break down the oil. The vast majority of Louisiana’s coastal waters have been reopened to recreational and commercial fishing. Take advantage of the replenished stocks of game fish by taking out a fishing charter out and catching your limit. When you go out to eat, make sure you let the restaurant know that you DEMAND Louisiana seafood! Our seafood industry is critical to our economy, and supporting it begins at home….

Go vote! Who you vote for is your personal choice, but Louisiana can definitely do better than the 10 percent of registered voters who participated in the election on August 28. The next round of balloting is on October 2, followed by the general election on November 2. We will elect members of Congress and a new lieutenant governor in those elections. They are important. Go vote!

In President Obama’s address to the nation from the Oval Office on August 31, he touched briefly on the economy after declaring the combat phase of our military operations in Iraq over. In his remarks, he stated the need for the U.S. to “end its dependence on foreign oil.” Unfortunately, that comment flies in the face of his moratorium on drilling in the Gulf of Mexico. Approximately 30 percent of our domestic crude oil supplies come from the Gulf. Policies that reduce or eliminate the flow of energy to the mainland will absolutely make us MORE dependent on foreign oil. Regulations that unnecessarily inhibit exploration and production of oil and gas in the Gulf waters will kill jobs, harm the economy, and fatten the coffers of unstable and oppressive regimes that are no friends of America….

Now that we have recently moved past Katrina “plus five” (and will soon do the same with Rita), one has to wonder how much we have learned about disaster response in the U.S. in light of the ongoing experience with the BP spill. The tendency seems to be to add more bureaucracy every time a new disaster occurs. Stacking bureaucracies on top of each other makes matters worse, not better. Each agency has its own set of regulations and/or statutes that often slow down the response to a disaster. The interface between state and local governmental responsibilities needs to become more focused and less confusing. America has the best military in the world because sergeants and second lieutenants are allowed to make battlefield decisions instead of waiting for orders from central command. That is what obviously is lacking in disaster response. It needs to be fixed before the inevitable next disaster occurs….

Here is an early prediction about the budget that our state Legislature will fashion next spring: There might not be one when the legislative session ends in late June. The senate president has indicated support for higher taxes to close the substantial budget gap expected. Taxes must originate in the House where support for higher taxes is not strong. Governor Jindal has indicated that he is not for any tax increases. When these countervailing forces collide, there may not be a majority in each chamber necessary to pass a budget and send it to the governor.  If the governor has to call a special session to attempt to pass a budget, it would be right at the time legislators are qualifying for the elections. It could get very messy in the late summer of 2011….

Hi. Is it payday today? Get your taxes withheld from your check, didya?

Congratulations. Wanna see what you’re subsidizing?

The Life, that’s what. Here’s a look…

The folks in the video would like to wish you a Happy Labor Day. They aren’t big into labor, but they know you are. And they (kinda) appreciate that, particularly on the 1st and 15th.

“If we are unable to keep those fields going, that is going to have a substantial impact on our cash flow,” said David Nagle, BP’s executive vice president for BP America, in an interview. That, he added, “makes it harder for us to fund things, fund these programs.”

http://cajunconservatism.com/2010/09/03/bp-threatens-to-cut-off-spill-fund-if-congress-blocks-offshore-permits/

As the Times-Picayune’s David Hammer writes this morning, yesterday’s accident aboard Mariner Energy’s Vermilion 380 platform in the Gulf, which resulted in a fire it took several hours to put out, is being put forth as further evidence the offshore oil industry is out of control and needs to be curtailed if not ended.

And as Hammer notes, it takes some rather severe contortions to create equivalency between the Vermilion 380 accident and BP’s Deepwater Horizon nightmare. Contortions, it must be said, which only someone with a left-wing agenda would wish to practice.

Hammer’s piece notes that on the same day the Vermilion 380 fire started, Democrat congressmen and leftist environmental groups blasted out press releases assaulting the oil industry…

Still, that didn’t stop environmental groups and members of Congress from saying Thursday’s fire made their case for extending the drilling ban. Almost immediately, U.S. Rep. Raul Grijalva, D-Ariz., and the Sierra Club released statements calling for the moratorium to continue based on what Grijalva said was Thursday’s “starkest possible reminder that oil rigs in this country are not safe.”

But Grijalva, who last month demanded that oil companies waste money by removing abandoned rigs from the Gulf (an idea which is as much a shot at recreational fishermen as it is at the oil patch), went further than just the snippet Hammer used.

The money part of Grijalva’s release reads as follows:

The newly announced spill, Grijalva said, “is the starkest possible reminder that oil rigs in this country are not safe, have not been safe for years, and are not currently being inspected for safety. This is not a situation we could afford to ignore before the Deepwater catastrophe, let alone today. It seems that everyone is content to let another oil rig explode every few months rather than taking concrete steps to clean up the industry.”

Vermilion 380, owned by Mariner Energy based in Houston, had a 13-person crew. All have been accounted for, and one is reportedly injured. According to the company’s Web site, “About 85% of the company’s production comes from offshore, with a growing share of that coming from deepwater developments[.]”

Improving the industry’s safety record “can’t get bogged down in political quibbling, because it’s not a political issue,” Grijalva said. “People are dying, getting injured, losing their livelihoods and filling the Gulf with spilled oil while we continue to do nothing.”

Of course, Grijalva ended up with huevo on his face later in the afternoon when no one could find spilled oil in the vicinity of the Mariner platform – an indication that for all his bluster and rushing to conclusions he had little idea what the hell he was talking about.

Let’s remember what actually happened yesterday.

Vermilion 380 is a production platform, not a drilling rig. Ignoramuses like Grijalva might not recognize the difference, but for people of average intelligence it’s really not that complicated. Drilling rigs look for oil by means of making holes in the ground or seabed. When they find oil, production platforms then show up and gather what comes up and process it for transport to refineries. Those are two very different missions, and they involve different levels of risk.

Vermilion 380 was also anchored in shallow water. As such, it has an apples-and-oranges relationship to the moratorium Grijalva touts – which is supposed to govern deepwater floating exploration rigs. 

The accident yesterday involved construction work on the Vermilion 380 platform – namely, welding, or sandblasting to knock off some rust. Assumedly a spark from that activity must have come in contact with a pocket of hydrocarbons, like natural gas in all likelihood. It’s been 15-20 years since something like this happened, but it’s not outside the realm of normal risk aboard an oil platform.

This is nothing like Deepwater Horizon, which was a poorly-designed well on a problematic, yet highly prolific, prospect in which a cascade of marginal decisions culminated in disaster.

The moratorium didn’t affect Vermilion 380, and it wouldn’t affect it. Vermilion 380 was an accident. No one died, and no environmental damage was done. As the “starkest possible reminder” that the oil industry is unsafe and the moratorium should continue, it’s not very persuasive – unless, of course, you’re already persuaded that destroying Gulf Coast jobs is a smart thing to do.

State Republican Party Chairman Roger Villere issued a statement urging voters in the 3rd District to support Landry, a New Iberia lawyer, in the Oct. 2 primary runoff. The statement doesn’t directly ask Downer to drop out, but says, “It is now time to unite behind Jeff Landry.”

http://cajunconservatism.com/2010/09/03/thetowntalk-state-gop-endorses-landry-in-3rd-district-race/

Currently, the deepwater drilling moratorium in the Gulf of Mexico (GOM) still remains in place. Many may not be aware that there also remains a de-facto moratorium on shallow water drilling in the GOM. While the Administration made it clear that only deepwater drilling would be affected, in the past four months, the federal government has granted only four permits for shallow water drilling.

An issue of great concern is the federal government’s ability to effectively implement new rules and regulations. One of the roadblocks to complying with the new regulations set by the BOEM (Bureau of Ocean Energy Management), formerly the MMS (Mineral Management Services), is the “worst case discharge” rule. Prior to the Deep Horizon blowout, a company requesting a permit to drill a well on the shelf (shallow water Gulf of Mexico) would have to provide proof that the company could respond to a worst-case scenario of 200%. In other words, to calculate this estimate a company must identify what would be the very most the well could blowout and then multiply that by 200%. The concluding estimate would then be what the company must be capable of responding to. The current rule is 200%, however, the BOEM’s new proposed rule for worst-case scenario response is 400%.

The 400% ruling is a deal killer for most all companies operating on the continental shelf. On a recent conference call the BOEM and a group of operators discussed the current issues concerning shallow water permitting. Specific to the conversation, operators asked the question to BOEM officials, “How did you come up with the number of 400%?” The BOEM official replied, “We did it internally. We got together and came up with 400%. We needed to do something and that’s what we did.”

It’s clear that the BOEM, in spite of what they say, are delaying and blocking the process. Michael Bromwich, Director of the BOEM, said in a recent hearing in New Orleans, “We have no desire and nobody has secretly instructed me to slow-walk these shallow-water drilling applications.” Bromwich continued by adding, “It’s in everyone’s interests to get these [permits] processed and approved and get those people back to work.” Although Bromwich’s words sound encouraging, the BOEM’s actions and implementation of new regulations prove differently.

Industry is working with the assistance of Lt. Governor Scott Angelle and others to collaborate and find common sense ways to move forward with permitting in the shallow waters of the Gulf. Unfortunately, the results of these efforts are not resonating with the feds. According to Angelle, “The talk of a federal government draft document that requires oil and gas companies to possibly have a oil spill response plan with a multiple of 400% greater than worst case discharge is another overreach and will surely end the role of the independent producer.”

There is no question that the oil & gas industry is being held to standards that other industries are not. The moratorium in the deepwaters and the subsequent de-facto moratorium on the continental shelf are keeping tens of thousands of hard-working Americans out of work. Companies and employees are waiting on the sidelines while their government decides whether they can get back to providing for their families. How could this possibly reflect the American Dream? It’s time the federal government gets out of the way and lets our people get back to work.

Don Briggs is President of the Louisiana Oil and Gas Association.

“Well, we’re going to stay focused on Election Day. But I think before that, we’re going to continue to demand that this administration and this Congress make it clear that no American will see a tax increase in January of next year.

“So the first thing that we will do is try to preserve the tax relief of 2001 and 2003 for all Americans — for all small businesses and family farmers. But we also want to look at the kind of across-the-board tax relief, the kind of tax relief that will encourage capital formation, to get this economy moving again.”

- U.S. Rep. Mike Pence (R-IN), on the Republicans’ plans for the next election and beyond.

One of the more shocking things about this election cycle is the number of establishment GOP figures who have been upset by outsider, Tea Party candidates in party primaries, especially in U.S. Senate races.  Joe Miller’s win over Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski was preceded by Ken Buck’s win over Colorado Lt. Gov. Jane Norton, Sharron Angle’s win over state GOP Chairman Sue Lowden in Nevada, Rand Paul’s win over Kentucky Sec. of State Trey Grayson, Mike Lee’s win over Utah Sen. Bob Bennett, and Marco Rubio’s pushing Florida Governor Charlie Crist out of the GOP primary (because Crist knew that he would lose).

If you had wanted to bet me a year ago that the Tea Party outsider candidates would have won more than one of those races, I’d have glady taken that bet and wondered if you were drunk.

There have now also been three races where an establishment GOP candidate has prevailed over the Tea Party candidate.  In Indiana, Dan Coats had been a reliably conservative former senator, so he consolidated a lot of conservative support and prevented Marlin Stutzman from gaining enough momentum.  In Arizona, Sen. McCain easily defeated J. D. Hayworth after video emerged of Hayworth in infomercials pushing a scam system to get government money.  And in California, Chuck DeVore was largely seen as unelectable in a general election in such a blue state, and California Republicans thought that Carly Fiorina could win and was conservative enough.

In Delaware, we see two of those three situations above, and they indicate that Christine O’Donnell will not (and should not) upset Congressman Mike Castle for the GOP nomination.

Like Hayworth, O’Donnell has questionable baggage.  John McCormack of the Weekly Standard interviewed her, and she comes off as a complete nut, with wild claims that Castle’s people have broken into her home and stalked her for years.  She also admits to using campaign funds to pay her rent, which doesn’t look good, whether it’s legal or not.  She also flat-out lied in a radio interview recently in saying that she won two of Delaware’s three counties in her 2008 race against Joe Biden.

As in California, there are serious doubts whether someone as conservative as O’Donnell could win in a relaibly blue state like Delaware.  Allah and Ace expound on this at length today, and both are worth reading.  (You can read Dan Riehl if you want a contrary opinion.)

As a movement conservative, I want each House and Senate seat to be represented by as conservative a member as it can elect.  We live in a republic where citizens elect their representatives to reflect their own political views, and I have no problem with congressmen listening to the voters of their districts and voting in accordance with their wishes.  I therefore don’t believe in measuring congressmen by how ideologically pure their voting records are, but rather by how conservative they are compared to the electorates they represent.  We conservatives should be thrilled with Congressman Cao in New Orleans, as he is probably the single most valuable GOP member of Congress to the conservative cause, because his district went for Obama over McCain by a ridiculous 75% – 23% margin.  On the other hand, Sen. Hatch in Utah, Sen. Graham in South Carolina, and Sen. Lugar of Indiana should all face primary challenges in the future, because none of them are conservative compared to the very red states they represent.

In a state as liberal as Delaware, I am forced to conclude that a RINO like Mike Castle is a good value for the conservative cause, and Christine O’Donnell appears to be a poor candidate.  I believe that Mark Levin, Erick Erickson, the Family Research Council, and the Tea Party (which is planning to spend $600,000 on her campaign) are making a mistake in supporting O’Donnell.  I hope Castle wins.

UPDATE:  Jeffrey Lord in the American Spectator has a good piece defending O”Donnell and discussing the conservative movement’s tendency to beat ourselves up.  I don’t agree with it, but it’s worth reading.

Here’s another item worth reading: Jim Geraghty goes into more detail about why O’Donnell is a disaster.

It seems this James Jay Lee cat wasn’t exactly your typical “he was a quiet guy, never bothered anybody” wannabe murderer type. It seems he was more your run-of-the-mill left-wing nutbag.

And he fit right in at the anti-war rallies.