Another Open Letter to Gov. Bobby Jindal

August 13, 2010

Dear Gov. Jindal:

I’m really starting to like getting your letters.

In today’s letter, for example, you mention that your state is at war.  Here’s an excerpt:

“Our state is in a war on many fronts today. Down on the coast, our communities are fighting to save their livelihoods because of the BP oil spill. Our people have also been impacted by the job-killing policies coming out of Washington, D.C., including the federal government’s arbitrary and capricious deepwater drilling moratorium. Of course these challenges are also coming on the heels of a national economic downturn…”

That’s pretty straight-forward, Governor: your state is in a war to save its jobs and its people’s livelihoods. Instead of being a help or at least a benign presence, the federal government is actually causing Louisiana harm. If I may take modest liberty with your words: Washington, D.C., is your adversary in the war you are fighting.

Well, you are not alone. Washington, D.C., is at war with a lot of people right now. Sometimes it seems like just about the entire human race.

Now, let’s talk just about the “national economic downturn” as you put it. Your words are very kind, but if I may, I would like to point out a few things about this national economic downturn:

  • There are now a record 40.8 million people on food stamps. That is the 18th consecutive month of record-setting increases. Approximately 1 of every 8 people in America depend on food stamps to live.
  • Millions of people are losing their homes in foreclosure and the rate is rapidly increasing.
  • The federal government spent trillions of taxpayer dollars buying toxic debt from private banks and Wall Street firms, but the unemployment rate continues to increase.

Where’s the recovery we are constantly told we are in? There is no recovery and there will be no recovery in the long term because for there to be a recovery, using the current economic formulas, it would mean that there are no laws or even rules of economics.

From BobbyJindal.com

Here’s another excerpt from your letter:

“The statistics show we have already made amazing progress but as I said at our kickoff yesterday–this isn’t just about numbers, it’s about changing people’s lives. We must build a better Louisiana for our children than the one we inherited. We cannot and will not be the first generation that leaves fewer opportunities than we had.”

Good luck with that, Governor, because you are going to need it. We’ve already mentioned some of the results of our economic troubles, but the causes we have not discussed.

The cause, of course, is massive debt that can never be paid. For the first time in American history, we have come to realize that our debt cannot be paid and  that fact will collapse our economy sooner or later. When the bond market understands that we cannot pay our debt, interest rates will have to rise, or  the Fed will have to start printing money to buy our own debt, which will be very inflationary.

But wait a minute, didn’t I read yesterday that the Fed announced that it will begin doing  just that? What that means is that a private banking cartel, with the license of the federal government, will create money, loan it to the federal government at low interest so the federal government can continue to spend money it doesn’t have, on things that aren’t necessary or even helpful, until it finally collapses under the weight of its own stupidity.

This is all complete madness isn’t it? The whole country has gone stark raving mad. That is the legacy that the neocons and progressives have left to our children.

How then, Governor, can our children have better lives than we’ve had? I ask you, how we can overcome what these lunatics have done to our children? Are we going to continue to reward them for that? I hope and pray that we don’t.

Good luck, Governor,

Darrell L. Castle

(To sign up for Gov. Jindal’s newsletter, visit BobbyJindal.com.)

Leave a Comment » | Economy, Federal Reserve, Governor | Tagged: , , , , , , , | Permalink
Posted by cptennesseedarrell

Unnatural Disaster in the Gulf

July 1, 2010

By now the entire world knows about the devastating oil spill that began April 20, 2010, in the Gulf of Mexico.

The magnitude and, more importantly, the potential magnitude, of what is happening there would be difficult to overstate. However, some people may not be aware of the amazing series of coincidences that happened prior to and after the spill. Let me give you just a few examples:

1. It  has been widely reported that the Deepwater Horizon exploded because Halliburton, a company once headed by Dick Cheney, did not properly cap, or cement, the well. Just eight days before the spill on April 12, 2010, Halliburton closed a deal to purchase Boots & Coots, the world’s largest oil spill cleanup organization, for $240.2 million. Now that is one lucky company.

2. The spill sent BP’s stock shares plummeting toward the bottom. But just before that happened, Goldman Sachs, despite giving BP a buy rating for Goldman clients, sold more than 40 percent of its BP shares for between $250 and $300 million.

BP’s former chairman, Peter Sutherland, is now chairman of Goldman Sachs International. In addition, Mr. Sutherland sits on the Trilateral Commission, is a former Chairman of the London School of Economics, is a UN Special Representative, was the founding director general of the World Trade Organization, and was previously director general of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade.

3. A few weeks before the disaster, Tony Hayward, the Chief Executive of BP, sold one third of his personal BP stock and used the money to pay off the mortgage on his mansion in Kent.

What an absolutely fantastic run of luck these folks had. That is simply amazing!

President Obama Being Briefed on Oil Spill

For three weeks after the spill, President Obama refused to do anything while millions of gallons of oil and toxic gases poured into the Gulf. The White House at first approved the use of the toxic dispersal agent Corexit, then, under pressure, ordered BP to stop using it. BP refused to do so and it is being sprayed by the millions of pounds from U.S. Air Force planes today.

For 70 days, President Obama refused all offers of international aid. The Dutch, a maritime people with the largest cleanup capacity in the world, offered the use of their ships and strategy without cost, but were refused. The Russians have experienced five major blowout spills and offered their help and expertise, but were refused.

What conclusions can we draw from all this? As we’ve seen, some corporations are very lucky. The military and private security have been used to suppress news of the magnitude of the damage. People have been arrested for taking pictures of the beaches. The president is using the spill for political purposes and so are Congressional Republicans.

Was this spill deliberately caused? I don’t know. I’m not a scientist. But in the comments to my letter to Governor Jindal about the spill,  it was suggested that I join the Green Party, and that I am comparable to Hugo Chavez.

My answers to those comments are that I would be a lot more comfortable in the Green Party than the Democrat or Republican Parties, and I would rather be compared to Hugo Chavez than one of the heartless, merciless corporations that we’ve been discussing.

Until next time, thanks for reading,

Darrell L. Castle

Leave a Comment » | Congress, Democratic Party, Environment, President Obama, Republican Party | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , | Permalink
Posted by cptennesseedarrell

An Open Letter to Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal

June 17, 2010

Dear Gov. Jindal:

Thank you for the remarkable degree of restraint and dignity you have exhibited in your efforts to protect the State of Louisiana from the catastrophe that is now upon it. I am not one of your constituents, but I am on your e-mail list and as such I receive periodic updates in the form of letters from you. It is to one such letter, which I received in my inbox this morning, that I now refer.

In the first paragraph of that letter you state, “Yesterday, I accompanied a team of elected officials to observe state-led dredging operations underway at the northern end of the Chandeleurs Island chain…We fought the red tape and bureaucracy for many weeks, but we prevailed in getting this segment and five others approved by the federal government and funded by BP.”

Thanks for your persistence, Governor, but I don’t understand why you felt it necessary to crawl on your knees to the federal government for permission to save your state. By your own admission you lost several valuable, unrecoverable weeks of work.

Why not just start dredging, and if BP does not agree to provide temporary funds, ask the court (where I would already have sued BP) for a temporary restraining order against use of their  world wide assets and operations until they at least fund the dredging operation. There are many fine law firms in Louisiana that would take that case on a contingent fee basis, but if none meet your specifications, I would be glad to do it.

In the second paragraph, you comment on the president’s speech and state that “speeches won’t stop the oil” and that “we need the federal government to understand we are in a war to protect our way of life and we want results.”

Well said Governor, but the federal government doesn’t care about your way of life, and that should be obvious. Get on with your own business and forget about Washington, and sue them, Governor – sue the federal government, too, as they are at least partially responsible due to their negligent delays.

In the third paragraph you state, “Unfortunately, President Obama did not announce an expedited process to end the drilling moratorium as we had hoped. We remain concerned that the administration does not fully understand the devastating impact an extended moratorium will have on our people.”

Governor, isn’t it obvious that this is a purely political decision on the part of the administration? You are the Governor of Louisiana, just drill and ask the federal government for nothing else. You must protect the people who trusted their state to your charge, Governor.

In your next to last paragraph you state, “On Monday, I joined fishermen, restaurant leaders, and seafood industry officials at the Acme Oyster House in New Orleans to call on President Obama to force BP to approve our state’s seafood safety plan.”

The Acme is a fine restaurant where I’ve enjoyed many meals. I’ll miss it if it is forced out of business.  Governor, why don’t you seize the assets of BP – every last one of them – within your jurisdiction? I’ll bet that would get their attention, and some action on your seafood safety plan as well.

Finally, Governor, you are a good man and obviously a very caring and intelligent one. I understand that you have a legitimate degree from Harvard. Sue them, Governor, and go after their world wide assets. I’m afraid the people of Louisiana are going to need them.

In my next letter I’d like to ask you where the Louisiana National Guard is and if you think they might be needed in Louisiana for this catastrophe. Maybe we could think of a Constitutional way for you to get them back.

Good day, Governor, and good luck,

Darrell L. Castle

1 Comment | Economy, Environment, Republican Party, States Rights | Tagged: , , , , , , | Permalink
Posted by cptennesseedarrell

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