"Volcano Monitors". Funny, huh?

[RandySF]

Volcano monitors. Sounds goofy, huh? If you live in Louisiana, or Iowa or anywhere in “The Heartland” that Republicans talk about, you may have chuckled along with it. But if you live in Sarah Palin’s Alaska, it’s no joking matter. If you live in Hawaii, it can be deadly serious. If you lived in the Pacific Northwest in 1980, it was just DEADLY. If Bobby Jidhal knows his geography (and I am sure he does), he know that the Pacific Rim is riddled with volcanoes, especially the American West Coast. But wait, I forgot. We’re not REAL Americans. Even Cokie Roberts called Hawaii an “exotic destination”. I admit that it was a throwaway line, but it epitomizes the problem with the Republican Party. It’s become no narrowly focused both ideologically and geographically. And while the remark won’t hurt his party, the general strategy of driving the country apart will only keep them in the minority for the foreseeable future.

[Believing Is Art]

1. Ooh ooh, can this be Jindal v. Palin?

With Redoubt being such a cranky bitch, I can't imagine Palin would come out against volcano monitoring. I want a Palin-Jindal death match!

[Blue_In_AK]

2. I'm still just amazed that he would say something so stupid

when Mt. Redoubt just across Cook Inlet from Anchorage has been on orange alert for the past several weeks and could blow at any time.

[Bobbieo]

10. What was the statement? I Missed the whole thing.

[Blue_In_AK]

12. Here's the quote.

"But Democratic leaders in Congress -- they rejected this approach. Instead of trusting us to make wise decisions with our own money, they passed the largest government spending bill in history, with a price tag of more than $1 trillion with interest. While some of the projects in the bill make sense, their legislation is larded with wasteful spending. It includes $300 million to buy new cars for the government, $8 billion for high-speed rail projects, such as a "magnetic levitation" line from Las Vegas to Disneyland, and $140 million for something called "volcano monitoring." Instead of monitoring volcanoes, what Congress should be monitoring is the eruption of spending in Washington, D.C."

[MiniMe]

25. Let's see, spending money on new government cars helps Detroit

And the government gets something of value instead of just handing over money. Sounds like a good idea to me. The Las Vegas to Disneyland thing has been debunked to death, and the person who would decide is the Transportation Secretary, Republican Ray Lahood. And not monitoring volcanoes would be equivalent to not spending money to track hurricanes, not smart for somebody from Lousiana.

Epic Fail just in that statement.

[EFerrari]

27. And funding the census is tens of thousands of jobs.

It's just Republican stupid @ssed cheap shots that make no sense as soon as you think about them.

[MrScorpio]

3. How about Yellowstone?

Our very own supervolcano


Really, what the fuck do Republicans have against science?

[wickerwoman]

18. 150,000 people live in the path of an eruption of Mt. Ranier

"Emergency professionals like Puyallup, Washington, fire chief Merle Frank know that getting people to safety under short notice would be a daunting challenge.

"We have…an hour and probably fifteen, twenty minutes to evacuate 35,000 people," he told Ultimate Explorer."

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2003/09/0924_030925_mtrainiereruption_2.html

How much does it cost to monitor the damn things and how many hundreds of thousands of lives would be saved by an extra day of warning? The same kind of warning that people in Louisiana enjoy when a hurricane is bearing down on their house.

[EastTennesseeDem]

22. Seriously, do Republicans understand the financial impact of such an event?

Of course, human life trumps everything else, but criticizing it on the basis of money is as stupid as criticizing it on the basis of human life is heartless.

[sutz12]

31. Read "The Shock Doctrine"....

Those hurricanes and volcanoes are convenient disasters where billions of bux can be made. Mitigating their effects would eliminate vast revenue streams for the vultures.

[NMDemDist2]

4. don't forget that Yellowstone was rumbling bigtime just last month

if there is a big one in Yellowstone it could take out 1/3 the country.

I vote AYE for volcano monitors....

[hlthe2b]

5. Yellowstone is an increasingly active SUPER Volcano

Even here in Denver, we might be "history" from the extended gaseous effects if ancient history repeats itself...

What a friggin moron.

[havocmom]

32. The American grain belt could be taken out when Yellowstone blows big

Those GOP NIMBYs will be in for some serious schooling.

[valerief]

6. Monitor volcanoes, shore up levees? Cah-razy libburl talk. nt

[jpak]

7. Lower 9th Ward Levees - funny, huh

Jindal is an ass

[csziggy]

8. I refused to watch Jindal but turned over to MSNBC in time to hear Tweety disecting his speech

But if Jindal is ridiculing volcano monitors, maybe Palin should fight federal funding of the National Hurricane Center or emergency help for Northern states after blizzards.

Obviously Jindal is for the every man for himself philosophy.

[neverforget]

9. The problem here is your lack of faith in tax cuts. They solve everything

including the clap.

In all seriousness, this was the biggest WTF moment of the night. There is so much wrong with that volcano statement that I am at a loss for words.

[ThoughtCriminal]

11. Why not just offer the Volcano a Virgin or two?

Just to prove abstinence works. If that doesn't work, offer it a tax cut - that should persuade it not to erupt.

[Horse with no Name]

13. You'd have to beat the republican child molesters to them first n/t

[Politicalboi]

24. We'll just fill the crater

With money. LOL! That should stop it.

[Feron]

14. When he said it..

I told my mom that this was his fruit fly moment.

Moron.

[4lbs]

17. Just like that $300K for an overhead projector for a planetarium.

Why would we want to spend money on that?!?!?!?

Probably because a planetarium is useless without one.

[fortyfeetunder]

15. I need to send Bobby an e-mail

Anyone got a link to the houses destroyed from volcanoes on Hawaii??? Volcanoes are Hawaii's "Katrina", in addition to the activity in Alaska and Washington State.

[wickerwoman]

19. The aftermath of Mt. St. Helens

[fortyfeetunder]

26. Thanks for the pictures

I will paste them in a letter!

[EmilyAnne]

16. Well, I think his point is that since Americans shouldn't receive help from the government during

disasters (such as Katrina), there really isn't any reason to study potential disasters (such as volcanos).
Why monitor volcanos?
Its not like the government will use the information to help anybody out of a dangerous situation.

[Jack Sprat]

20. Volcanoes sound too environmental for Bobby

and the Repubs. Anything having to do with earth, wind, and water seems frivolous to the average Repub. Even clean air seems to restrictive. It sounds so regulatory to them. You know...like it's mandated and governmental.

[Parker CA]

21. You totally missed the point. He's right, he doesn't need volcano monitors because

he can climb up on any given volcano and perform an exorcism which will actually temper all potential lethal activity from that volcano and send the fire directly back into the depths of hell. Mr. Jindal has many talents of which we are unaware. Why spend $8bln. when he can just go speak in tongues to the volcano and get rid of the lava? God will probably tell him before volcanoes will erupt too, so he can be sure to get there in time to intervene before disaster strikes, but if not, it's just God's will, right?

Makes sense to me. ;)

[Politicalboi]

23. If Yellowstone erupts

Bobby will have a differnt tune.

[Warren DeMontague]

28. It's like Global Warming. The Earth belongs to Jesus, so the only thing you can do

to try to prevent natural disasters and/or environmental catastrophe is pray, and make sure Teh GAY don't get married.

[wickerwoman]

29. And cash in on reconstruction

;-)

Just like Jesus would.

[SidDithers]

30. The $140 million is for a variety of USGS projects...

Typical republican trying to score points with dishonest quotes.

http://scienceblogs.com/authority/2009/02/fact_checking_the_republican_r.php

US Geological Survey

For an additional amount for ''Surveys, Investigations, and Research'', $140,000,000, for repair, construction and restoration of facilities; equipment replacement and upgrades including stream gages, and seismic and volcano monitoring systems; national map activities; and other critical deferred maintenance and improvement projects.

Idiot.


Sid

[Hello_Kitty]

33. It's like Sarah Palin and her asinine comment about fruitflies

Which as it turns out, are very useful in medical research.

[miyazaki]

34. stop monitoring hurricanes too then. we don't need the science.

I cannot believe this pinhead fuck. Actually, I can.

[sutz12]

35. Yeah, and all that useless tracking of water levels on the Mississippi, too.

It's not like Louisiana has any problems with old Mother Nature, eh?