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02:00 AM - The hand that feeds me Finally, the House is finally getting around to the meat of the matter, the defense authorization bill itself. Rep. Tom Cole (R-OK) leads off with a little speech about the DoD (and its relationship to Mom and Apple Pie) and then goes into some of the mid-level overview of the appropriations bill. Oooh, this is going to be good. Rep. Louis Slaughter (D-NY) fires across the bow, blasting the lack of deliberation over the bill’s details and the excessive waiving of procedural rules (this is becoming a running theme tonight). She goes on to condemn torture and flaunt her ignorance of the American use of torture in previous global conflicts. Ah well… Rep. Michael Conaway (R-TX) speaks out in favor of drilling ANWR in an "environmental sensitive and responsible manner" for the sake of alleviating the trade deficit. He is probably not taking into account the fact that said reserves become more valuable every year as the more plentiful oilfields around the world are gradually drilled down. Rep. David Obey is going off on the extraneous (non-DoD) bits of the bill, including ANWR and pharm tort reform. He condemns the corruption of due deliberative process by “a couple of musclemen” in the Senate. Preach it, Dave. Rep. Ed Markey (D-MA) characterizes the provision for drilling in the “ahhhtic” nation wildlife refuge as a “can’t pass” measure added to a “must pass” measure, in order to provide an early Xmas gift to the GOP’s oil buddies. He goes on to make the inevitable “wars over oil” connection, which does not sound so silly in the midst of debating an oil drilling provision in a defense appropriations bill. Rep. Dan Burton (R-IN) roundly condemns the indemnification of pharmacuetical companies added to the bill at the 11th hour. Rep. Jim Morgan (D-VA) heatedly objects to the false dilemma “between supporting the troops and protecting the environment” and the 11th hour addition of the ANWR provision to the defense appropriations bill. Rep. Richard Pombo is showing off his shortsightedness regarding energy policy. He seems to think that we ought to drill our fields now so as to give oil-rich nations even economic more power over us in the long term. Go, go, GOP! The pattern is now set. The right side of the aisle defends the oil industry and the ANWR provision as a matter of national security, while the left side argues an abuse of process and the environment. I'm looking forward to hearing some new points. Technorati Tags: House of Represenatives, Department of Defense (
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