Thursday, February 26, 2009
Jindal [versus] the Volcano
I realize that's not an original title, but we're still gonna go with it.
Fox News:Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal criticized government spending in the stimulus bill, citing examples including "$140 million for something called 'volcano monitoring.'"
Like Jindal's use of a chopped Obama quote to support a
straw man argument, his claim about "$140 million for volcano monitoring" is flat out FALSE.
The $140 million to which Jindal referred is actually for a number of projects conducted by the United States Geological Survey, including volcano monitoring.
Only about $14 million is going to volcano monitoring, and as
Gail Collins says, if
spending money to keep track of rumbling volcanoes (like
Mt. Redoubt) is one of the prime examples of waste in the bill, we should all feel comforted.
[Volcano] monitoring is aimed at helping geologists understand the inner workings of volcanoes as well as providing warnings of impending eruptions, in the United States and in active areas around the world where U.S. military bases are located.
Why does Bobby Jindal want molten rock and ash to rain down on our overseas military personnel? I don't understand.
And speaking of things I say I don't understand but really do, what is this "something" doing in Jindal's claim?
$140 million for something called 'volcano monitoring'".
Is the
"hall-monitoring, library-inhabiting, science-fair-winning class president" really befuddled by the strange concept of "volcano monitoring"? Did he not have time to look it up prior to including it in the biggest speech of his political life? Or was our Ivy League Rhodes Scholar Biology major whiz kid feigning ignorance to seem more "in touch" with the
hoi polloi? As I said before, I don't mind that Jindal is a geek, but I
do mind that the media and many of his supporters give him credit for smarts when it is clear that he has made a conscious decision to say and believe DUMB things for political gain.
While a mountain is rumbling in Alaska, Jindal mocks the scientific monitoring systems that can save lives from volcanic catastrophe, and he showcases this monitoring as a prime example of wasteful spending in Obama's stimulus bill. What if Gov. Palin mocked the improvement of hurricane monitoring systems as a wasteful government priority? How would Louisianans feel.
So what are
some of the other things, besides volcano monitoring, that the ultra-wasteful $140 million goes towards? "Upgrading U.S. Geological Survey facilities and equipment, including stream gages, seismic and volcano monitoring systems and national map activities.”
Sarah at
Corrente elaborates on the stream gages (or stream flow watch) part.
Stream flow? Yeah, you know -- surface water, in the United States -- and whether it's normal flow, low flow, rising or over flood stage. Now maybe Bobby Jindal doesn't care about flooding. After all, he's only the Republican governor of Louisiana, so maybe floods don't bother him.
On how many levels is this disingenuous or stupid? And how many times does Jindal get to do this phony shtick before he gets called on it? Jindal is an intelligent man who is either acting dumb, or who has decided to adopt dumb beliefs. (After assuming the former for many years, I now believe he has done the latter.)
Consider: Jindal grandly refuses 1% of Louisiana's share of the stimulus, when we are desperately needing more federal funds to rebuild our levees, our hospitals, and our wetlands. Jindal still enjoys his "whiz kid" credentials among the media while his insertion of creationist non-science into our schools is doing economic harm to the state. Now, on his biggest stage of all, he repeatedly lies and then mocks government funding of scientific technology to prevent massive catastrophe (funding which will also go towards flood monitoring technology, as well!) Then he invokes Katrina and lies about what the President said.
As his state recovers from catastrophe, Jindal decided to use his opportunity in front of a national audience to discuss why government should cut taxes and get out of the way, rather than attempt to prevent and respond to massive catastrophes.
Jindal's sing-songy delivery of his speech had “all the saccharine sincerity of a Disney tour guide”, according to
one pundit. But after a close reading, the content of Jindal's speech was equally insubstantial. Now Jindal is vacationing in Disney World as the negative media reaction to his speech reaches a fever pitch. (The shrewd move would be to go on Leno and make fun of himself.)
===
I'll get Jindal's stupid "Sheriff Harry Lee/Don't need no Gubmint help" example later. In the meantime read
Stephanie Grace and
City Journal.Labels: Jindal
23 Comments:
Which part of the 1% would go to help, "...rebuild levees, our hospitals & our wetlands," oyster?
Anyone? Anyone? Buehler?
GO: Nobody is saying that the 1% would go to rebuild levees, hospitals or wetlands.
From what I gather, Oyster was saying that Jindal should not be acting stubborn over the 1% of the stimulus funding that Louisiana is getting. INSTEAD Jindal should be out there requesting more money to make sure that we are protected in the future from large storms.
And I would add that instead of railing against the $140 million for monitoring of volcanoes and other natural phenomena, that Jindal should be out there requesting more for help with our natural phenomena.
Oyster: "And how many times does Jindal get to do this phony shtick before he gets called on it?"
I think he is getting called on it. The national media, unlike the Louisiana media, immediately started in on Jindal for what he said. And I believe, at least I hope, that they continue to dissect Jindal's stance on this and many issues in the future.
Rachel Madow, for example, brought up Bobby Jindal's anti-abortion with 0 exceptions stance the other night to highlight how extremely right winged Jindal is. That gives me faith that the national media is going to dig. (Though, I really wish there was a better way to directly contact MSNBC or other news channels to let them know where they are missing the boat).
Better title: "Jindal Versus The Volcano".
I'm sure if he jumped in at this point, it would spit him out.
"Better title: "Jindal Versus The Volcano"."
DAMMIT LEIGH! I was just about to post that!!!!!! GAGH! LOL :)
"Jindal grandly refuses 1% of Louisiana's share of the stimulus, when we are desperately needing more federal funds to rebuild our levees, our hospitals, & our wetlands."
I apologize for being so obtuse as to think he said exactly what he typed...
Oh, and by the way...Just because Mary Landrieu had Bobby Jindal's bill in the House killed so she could pass the oil royalty increase bill through the Senate first and take the credit for us getting 50% of the oil & gas royalties to be dedicated SOLELY to coastal erosion (Which its estimated even at current Oil & Gas price levels that those royalties will result in TEN BILLION DOLLARS for subsistence/coastal restoration/hurricane protection) doesn't mean she didn't sit there on her ARSE for two terms before Bobby did EXACTLY what you are castigating him over for NOT doing.
You guys will turn a blind eye in a minute, all in the name of partisanship...
It's disgusting. Entertaining, but disgusting.
I in no way claim to speak for Oyster. But what he typed is not how you interpreted it.
Jindal's bill was known outside of Louisiana as Pombo's bill and it had no chance of passing because it placed an undue burden on the states who wanted to avoid drilling off their coasts.
And then when the Senate bill is the bill that came out of committee, Jindal fought it TOOTH and NAIL until he won reelection in 2006.
But don't let the facts get in the way of your defense of Jindal.
Daniel,
I'd be interested if you shot me an e-mail regarding what you know regarding both bills, because I think I'm pretty close to someone who worked on both versions...
I'd be interested if you have insight, because I feel like I've got a pretty good idea about it...
Go, Daniel correctly interpreted what I was getting at. Sorry if it was unclear.
Jindal made a production of refusing a scant fraction of money headed towards our state when places like New Orleans will be scrambling to get funds for levees and federal hospitals that are crucial to our recovery.
And Jeemeneez Xmas Go!! We've been over this before. Landrieu didn't kill Bobby's bill! The Bush administration did!
The last time you brought this issue up you said that Pelosi "killed the bill" and I informed you that the GOP controlled the House in 2006 (and Bush controlled the GOP). Now you say that Mary "killed the bill" from the Senate. The bills were very different and the only one that had a chance in hell of passing and not being vetoed by Bush was Landrieu's bill.
Read this link for more, and note the reference to the USGS wetlands monitoring, which Bobby (presumably) regards as pork.
Go: I did plenty of research on the progress of both bills during the 2006 election as I was very involved in that election.
Oyster is spot on, 100%, about the two bills. Jindal's never had a shot at passing. Of course, Jindal kept saying how his bill still had a chance of passing even when it was obvious it wouldn't. Why? Because he couldn't admit to having 0 clout in Congress.
Oyster: Thanks for getting my back :)
No, thank you for interpreting my clumsy post in the way I meant it! I appreciate it. You made the point better than I did.
And thanks to you and Leigh for the "Joe versus the volcano" suggestion. I changed the title, and it's an improvement.
I've never doubted either of you.
I know a fella who knows a fella who robbed some fellas...But, Iz just heardz different from others.
Hey GO,
Your weblog is The Last Laugh Foundatio which is as aweful as Puyish's speach was. Go pracice your creative writing there and maybe Rush and Joe the Plumber will come to your rescue,
It's hard to get the last laugh when your arguments are so pityful that everybody is laughing at YOU. Mary Landrieu wouldn't fuck you with Mary Matlin's pussy.
Anonymous,
It was a beta attempt at an LSU sports related blog, and the Last Laugh Foundation stands for a fictional foundation set up by a fictional character based on Terrance McKenna by an author named Tom Robbins...
Thanks for your input.
Oh, and by the way. Re: Mary Landrieu...She was too busy banging James David Cain back in her state Legislator days when she was anything other than "slumpbuster" status, which she'd have to "aspire" to, these days.
I wasn't interested then, and I ain't now.
dang bi-vaulve you back on fiya.
thank you for writting posts that inspire so much feedback.
just not getting that kind of love / info anywhere else right now in the other medias.
Excellent post. Thanks! "Something called" volcano monitoring. HAHA!
Oh, and Bobby Jindal is apparently a liar, too:
http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/02/jindal_admits_katrina_story_was_false.php?ref=fp1
Smart? Not so much.
Dsb: I have been saying that Jindal is a liar for years.... AND YET for some reason I am still surprised that he lied about THAT!
Wow.
Per your request, Mr. Oyster:
Link
on an aside, found this little nugget buried inside this post
http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/02/jindals_katrina_story_a_tall_tale.php
"I have to wonder how far St. Reagan would have got in the era of the internet. Not far is my guess..."
no truer words have been written
"I have to wonder how far St. Reagan would have got in the era of the internet. Not far is my guess..."
Now that's a damn good point!
When thinking about who's bill had a legitimate chance at becoming law, let's not forget just how "influencial" Jindal was in his stint as a US Congressman...I'd taken to calling him "Mr. 392" (that's out of 435)for his position in the "Power Rankings" at non-partisan Congress.org near the end of his tenure. I suppose the pages had to pay attention to whatever he was saying, but I don't know that his collegues particularly cared. On the bright side for the Jindalistas, he WAS ranked a couple of spaces ahead of William Jefferson...who was under indictment at the time.
By the way, for those who are curious....currently, Sen. Landrieu, No. 29 out of 99 (still waiting to seat Sen. Franken); Sen. Vitter, No. 85. Out of 99.
Sounds like they're giving him the benefit of the doubt...
