Sunday, April 17, 2011

Louisiana's Three Stooges In The U.S. Congress: David, Steve and Jeff

The original three stooges Moe, Larry and Curley were funny and did what they did best, make the people laugh. I still laugh when I watch their reruns. They were always faithful to their fans. The present republican three stooges that represent Louisiana in congress, David as in Vitter, Steve as in Scalise and Jeff as in Landry are not even funny. In fact their recent actions show their disdain for the people who elect them to office. All three show they are beholden to the oil industry and the oil lobby instead of the citizens who elect them to office. Vitter unveiled his republican energy plan that would give quicker approval of drilling in the gulf with limits on federal and judicial over sight. Just what the industry wants. He also laid out a rosy picture of new federal revenue, jobs and economic activity. Of course any one from Louisiana knows that prior to the BP spill the federal government's regulators were laxed. Vitter also knows that the offshore rig count for Louisiana dropped drastically on the watch of George W. Bush as reported here in politidose in several previous articles. Landry in a recent congressional hearing put on his oil industry hard hat and used harsh questions of BOEMRE director Michael Bromwich. Landry's own republican chairman of the committee, Doc Hastings had to put a stop to Landry's follow up questions they were so stupid and harsh. Landry also wants a speeded up permitted review and less regulation by the federal government which toe's the oil industry line. Scalise in a point of view editorial of 4/6 in the Times Picayune really showed his little boy "know nothing" mentality concerning a possible shut down of the federal government and cutting spending. He blames Senator Harry Reid and President Obama for not embracing the $100 billion cut in federal spending by the house even though Scalise knew the democrats would not accept that and leave trillions of dollars in tax exemptions for Corporate America untouched as Scalise supports. Now listen to this statement by Scalise, "It is clear that we have a major spending crisis on our hands." What Scalise failed to say was that crisis happened on George W. Bush's watch while the republicans controlled both houses of congress and also while Scalise was a member of the house. And Scalise and his republican little boy brothers were silent. Scalise failed to mention that the national debt more than doubled on Bush's watch. Scalise was silent about that also. He also leads the charge for the oil industry and wants to see less regulation. In fact the republican party has never seen a deficit they did not love. The three stooges owe their allegiance to corporate America and the oil industry. The are the ones who dole out millions every year to elected officials to get their way, especially for massive tax breaks and a lack of regulation. Scalise, Vitter and Landry have been silent all the years the oil industry has damaged our wetlands, marsh, coast and environment. That lack of action really tells their story. Those three stooges are not funny at all. The democrats need to slap their little boy faces and send them to the corner. Hopefully they can find a large enough dunce cap to fit on their swollen heads.