Begich and Murkowski Erupt Over Jindal Gaffe.
26 02 2009
Mt. Redoubt, Photo by J. Warren, April 1990
Remember when Sarah Palin simultaneously proclaimed herself to be an advocate for children with autism, and mocked fruitfly research at the same time? A quick Google search will reveal that fruit fly research has been, and continues to be important in trying to understand….autism. So why did Palin attack that science?
a) She didn’t bother to do any research on it.
b) It sounds funny.
c) Both a and b.
If you picked “c”, you are correct.
Now let’s play again with the NEXT next golden child of the Republican Party – Louisiana Governor, Bobby Jindal.
In his grand debut last night, in front of the nation, as the governor of a state that has suffered mightily from lack of preparedness in the face of natural disaster, and while several hundred thousand Americans (of which I am one) are currently living within sight of a volcano that is “code orange” and has at its base, a Chevron tank farm sitting at its base, right next to Cook Inlet, what does he do?
He mocks government spending on volcano monitoring. Excuse me…he mocks government spending on ”something called ‘volcano monitoring’”. Once again, a quick Google search will reveal what this strange and mysterious ritual that some call “volcano monitoring” is all about. I’m sure the folks at the Alaska Volcano Observatory will be happy to enlighten Governor Jindal. So, why did Jindal attack this science?
a) He didn’t bother to do any research on it.
b) It sounds funny.
c) Both a and b.
Once again, if you answered “c”, you are correct.
Let’s hear what Alaska’s Senators have to say about Jindal’s comments. Hint: They’re gonnan blow!!
First, a letter from Senator Mark Begich (D):
Dear Governor Jindal:
I write to take issue with your comments on national television last night following President Obama’s speech regarding federal spending on volcano monitoring.
Specifically, you listed “volcano monitoring” in a series of projects you consider ”wasteful spending.” Volcano monitoring is a matter of life and death in Alaska. The science of volcano monitoring and the money needed to fund it is incredibly important in our state and could affect the economic well-being of other states and countries because of Alaska’s key role in international commerce.
In December 1989, Alaska’s Mount Redoubt had a serious eruption that caused a Boeing 747 to lose power in all four engines with hundreds of passengers on board. Fortunately, the aircraft was able to restart and land safely, but damage to the airliner exceeded $80 million. Obviously, had the aircraft not been able to restart its engines, the result would have been catastrophic.
Alaska’s largest international airport in Anchorage is one of the world’s busiest cargo airports, with more than 600 wide-body cargo jets delivering millions of dollars of goods between Asia, North America and Europe each week. Any interruption of that traffic by a volcanic eruption could be felt in Tokyo, New York or even Baton Rouge.
Currently, the Alaska Volcano Observatory monitors 31 active Alaskan volcanoes and works closely with other federal , state and municipal agencies to ensure public safety and minimize disruptions. Eruptions often spew curtains of ash miles into the air that impact communities hundreds of miles downwind, causing severe health consequences for our citizens. When there is a significant eruption, those with respiratory challenges must stay indoors.
For Alaska and our country, monitoring volcanoes is important business. The more we know about what might happen, the better our citizens and industries can plan for the potential hazard. Feel free to contact my office so we can provide you with further information regarding this important subject.
Sincerely,
Mark Begich
U.S. Senator
Even fellow Republican Lisa Murkowski jumped on Jindal’s comments:
“It is absolutely appropriate for our federal government to spend money on volcano monitoring. A current example is Mount Redoubt. This active volcano, which is on the flight path into Anchorage International Airport, the third busiest cargo airport in the world, and Elmendorf Air Force Base, has been smoldering since the end of January. The Alaska Volcano Observatory has been on 24 hour watch since then.
A volcanic eruption at Mount Redoubt has the potential to bring down a jumbo aircraft flying over Southcentral Alaska. Alaskans vividly remember that volcanic ash from an eruption of Mount Redoubt nearly brought down a KLM Boeing 747 as it was completing its flight from Amsterdam to Anchorage in December 1989. The volcanic ash caused the failure of all four engines on the jumbo jet.
And it’s not just Alaska that’s fuming (pardon the pun). The folks who live in the shadow of Mt. St. Helen’s are not amused.
“Does the governor have a volcano in his backyard?” Royce Pollard, the mayor of Vancouver, Washington, said on Wednesday. “We have one that’s very active, and it still rumbles and spits and coughs very frequently.”
Pollard, a former Army officer who has served as Vancouver’s mayor for 14 years, said USGS equipment used to keep tabs on volcanoes is frequently damaged or destroyed. He said he wasn’t sure how many jobs the money could produce, but, “For us and the people who live closer to it than Vancouver, it’s important.”
“We lost lives the last time, and we could lose them again,” he said.
But Jindal’s office stands firm with their assessment of volcano monitoring calling it “just one example of wasteful spending” in the stimulus bill. His original comments stated that ”Instead of monitoring volcanoes, what Congress should be monitoring is the eruption of spending in Washington.” Like the people who govern in states that actually HAVE volcanoes indicated – not funny. Perhaps Jindal would like to consider cutting all that wasteful spending on hurricane monitoring instead?
Of course not. That’s in his back yard. He’d much rather cut volcano monitoring. All I can say is, “Way to tick off the entire pacific Northwest, and Hawaii, Republicans!” May I suggest for your next trick, you mock corn, tornadoes, sweet tea, fishing, snow, dry heat, golf, the military and orphans? I think that covers everybody.
February 26th, 2009 at 6:15 PM
MarnieNo Gravatar (17:59:38) :
Just becasue I can’t stand being serious. If Palin and Jindal were taken up the volcano wiih their Bibles and slapped the volcano and whooped and hollered to drive the demon of the volcano out – since God is in all things and all things are of God – wouldn’t that mean that they would be slapping God on the butt and yelling at him? Shoot, I’d rumble, pass gas, and spit if somebody did that to me.
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Marnie, good point, I say we just do what the Incas/Aztecs did and sacrifice both of their “servants hearts” to the volcano’s…
February 26th, 2009 at 6:18 PM
LaineyNo Gravatar (18:01:59) :
OT…if anybody already mentioned this, I apologize.
Did you catch Janeane Garofalo on KO tonight? She said Limbaugh was narcissistic AND self-loathing…also that those who gravitate towards this conservative, republican party are those with human frailities (she was being polite)…totally makes sense to me. Compare ALL the repugs you know…there’s something deeply wrong with each one.
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Lainey, oh LOL! I caught that, that was so kewl….but I keep waiting for someone to bring up Rush’s recent drug confiscation at the airport….na, not oxy….lol….a bunch of “little blue pills”….pity he didn’t get charged.
:-l
February 26th, 2009 at 6:18 PM
Oh – OT a bit here – but my S.O. gave me a Vermont Co Teddy Bear on Valentine’s day. Knowing my penchant for Alaskan politics and bears, he chose the Grizzly bear (with proceeds going to WWF) . . .said Bear is now known as “Walt” in honor of Walt Monegan. In turn, I sent my wundermom a “You Barack My World” Bear for her 89th birthday. okay, back to your regular programming.
February 26th, 2009 at 6:20 PM
@ Greytdog ?
Please don’t stay away so long next time and how DARE you get sick on us?
Your snark was excellent – no one does it better! We have been a little whiny over here – mixed in with great discussion – we can always use your cool scholarly humor anytime you feel like dropping in.
February 26th, 2009 at 6:21 PM
Greytdog ?- I gave my BF a wolf from DoW for valentines day…but he hasn’t named him/her yet???
Cute you named yours Walt!
February 26th, 2009 at 6:21 PM
UK lady
“So if I understand this parental consent thing clearly, GINO is trying to take away teenagers rights to make their own decision on whether to carry on with a pregnancy or not, regardless of the circumstances.
Isn’t this the same woman who said that it was Bristol’s OWN choice to carry on with HER pregnancy?.”
It was McCain the anitabortion man who, possibly in the 2000 in the primaries was asked by a journalist what he would do if he found out his daughter were pregnant would he oppose her decision to have an abortion. He said it would be the family’s decision of whether to have an abortion or not.
Funny how much difference there is between what’s right for me and and want’s right for thee.
February 26th, 2009 at 6:27 PM
Dr. Patois @ 17:56
Thank you! Will send emails and I will spread the word in my world. From the heart, I really appreciate all your good work.
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Marnie @ 17:59
LOL…Last time one of the spiritual warfare warriors climbed a mountain to run off demons so the prayers can reach heaven, the person claimed her actions probably killed Sister Theresa. Yep…yep, that’s what I read.
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Lainey 18:01
Saw her, enjoyed that interview.
February 26th, 2009 at 6:30 PM
@crystalwolf aka caligrl
could be viagra….ewwww. who would want him?!?
of course, Janeane said that he would attract women who like prisoners, etc.
priceless
February 26th, 2009 at 6:32 PM
Marnie @ 17:59
LOL…Last time one of the spiritual warfare warriors climbed a mountain to run off demons so the prayers can reach heaven, the person claimed her actions probably killed Sister Theresa. Yep…yep, that’s what I read.
“““““
And Princess Di!
February 26th, 2009 at 6:33 PM
@Greydog
Vermont Teddy Bear Co is cool as hell. They are one of those liberal, and highly successful, companies that actually give back. Hmm…maybe JTP can learn something and WORK for a living instead of hitching his 15-minutes of fame wagon to the idiotic mooch parade.
Happy birthday to your mom!
February 26th, 2009 at 6:34 PM
About the only thing he didn’t do was make fun of hurricane preparedness and his own sorry state.
He was creepy to watch!
February 26th, 2009 at 6:37 PM
Mud Flatters. This has be a great discussion, but I’m on EST and it’s past my bed time.
….later.
February 26th, 2009 at 6:39 PM
I lost my comment in cyberspace somewhere…so I’ll send again.
anyway, those little blue pills could be viagra, but who would want limbaugh?
eewwwwwwwwww
Janeane said he’s the type that women who are attracted to prisoners would like. it figures. i still say eewwwwwwwwww
February 26th, 2009 at 6:40 PM
New thread!
February 26th, 2009 at 6:43 PM
oh i just found out my comment was zapped because i spelled out the drug that helps ED for limbaugh ….sorry Mudflatters
February 26th, 2009 at 6:53 PM
Yeah, I sort of did a “holy sh….” over that one too. Mt. St Helens is spitting distance from here. Mt Hood, Mt Adams, The Sisters down in Bend……
What a knucklehead.
February 26th, 2009 at 7:38 PM
@ anon bloggerNo Gravatar (11:50:58) :
Don’t panic about some of the government action over on Talk2Action. One of them was me on a break, getting my Mudflats sanity-fix!
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eastcoastNo Gravatar (15:06:45) :
Don’t panic. Paula was being facetious. She’s definitely a thoughtful, well-informed, Gold-plated Mudpuppy of the First Magnitude.
Thanks to all of you Mudpuppies, I _do_ still have my sanity! Jindal, on the other hand, maybe not so much!
February 26th, 2009 at 9:58 PM
karen marie (14:47:23) :
OT but i thought you all would find this amusing
http://badattitudes.com/MT/archives/2009/02/secure_palinfre.html
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Thanks for the laugh…had tears rolling down my eyes and my stomach hurting…..lol
February 26th, 2009 at 10:37 PM
thanks, wayney!
“right” is a very loaded word and should not be used without great thought, especially when using it to describe a statement or action by a republican, conservative or fundagelical. they have difficulty understanding nuance. when someone says, “you got 1% of it right and 99% wrong,” all they hear is “you’re right about everything 4evah!!1!”
makes conversation tough.
February 26th, 2009 at 10:38 PM
glad you enjoyed it, edie. bad attitudes is a great blog.
February 26th, 2009 at 10:44 PM
QuetzalcoatlNo, indeed the current tracks are insufficient. not just in quality but quantity.
jindal and the republicans think a train from LA to LV is a joke but it’s actually not as stupid idea as you might think. if you look at a map, a line straight through might not be the thing to do but to go from LA to phoenix, arizona to LV might be.
one of these days i’m going to start a series of reviews of various rail lines in europe and the far east. if we heard more about the benefits, perhaps the whining from NIMBYs would get less attention.
February 27th, 2009 at 1:43 AM
Here’s Rep. Don Young’s response:
“Alaska is facing a very real threat from Mount Redoubt right now and will face more threats in the future. These warning programs help keep Alaskans safe, and that is hardly a waste. While I understand his concerns about including this spending in a stimulus bill and not an appropriations bill, Governor Jindal should have been more sensitive in his remarks.”
February 27th, 2009 at 2:26 AM
Lainey – Saw her on KO……..is she spot-on or what !? Funny how for such a big mouth , Rush won’t debate or have anyone on his show……….Janeane would certainly kick his bisquit butt.
February 27th, 2009 at 3:11 AM
[...] Persons who live with volcanos erupt. [...]
February 27th, 2009 at 6:26 PM
I read that only 10% of the amount cited is slated for Volcano Monitoring. The rest of the money is going to updating buildings and doing work on the government buildings in this agency… But who cares about the details? Begich needs to do a better job pointing this kind of thing out. Thanks for all he does anyway.
February 27th, 2009 at 9:26 PM
I am very late to this thread and had a couple of notes for a couple of people.
For the person who thought Sarah was right to criticize the ‘French” fruit fly study because it was for their olives:
Yes, olives are a very important crop here in the US as well. We are much newer at this and the particular research that was being done was on a variety of fruit fly and olive that have been in France for hundreds of years. We are now having the same problem. It makes sense to go to the source where they already have a lot of knowledge about a problem and do a collaborative effort (which this was) to learn how to control these particular flies so the crops in both countries do not get destroyed.
I noticed that Sarah didn’t complain about the ‘mating habits of crabs in Bristol Bay’.
About Jindal and curing cancer. Well, the gubmint doesn’t need to spend any money on that because he successfully cured his girlfriend’s cancer during the exorcism he performed on her. So as long as he is sure he won’t get hurt during the process, he’ll be happy to do the job for you. (Only if he’s sure he won’t get hurt)
Thanks for the updates on what is going on in the villages, and glad you are working on long-term solutions to the problems as well.
February 28th, 2009 at 4:44 PM
Something that nobody seems to be catching is the fact that Piyush “Bobby” Jindal is, by the GOP’s own definition, an anchor baby. How did he ever become a republican?