President Obama Kicks Off Bipartisan Fiscal Commission
Now, I’ve said that it’s important that we not restrict the review or the recommendations that this commission comes up with in any way. Everything has to be on the table. And I just met briefly with the commission and said the same thing to them. Of course, this means that all of you, our friends in the media, will ask me and others once a week or once a day about what we’re willing to rule out or rule in when it comes to the recommendations of the commission. That’s an old Washington game and it’s one that has made it all but impossible in the past for people to sit down and have an honest discussion about putting our country on a more secure fiscal footing.
So I want to deliver this message today: We’re not playing that game. I’m not going to say what’s in. I’m not going to say what’s out. I want this commission to be free to do its work.
In theory, there are few issues on which there is more vigorous bipartisan agreement than fiscal responsibility. But in practice, this responsibility for the future is often overwhelmed by the politics of the moment. It falls prey to special interest pressures, to the pull of local concerns, and to the reality familiar to every single American — it’s a lot easier to spend a dollar than to save one. That’s what, at root, led to these exploding deficits. And that is what will lead to a day of reckoning.
But I believe, with the help of these gentlemen and this commission, we can begin to meet this challenge in a serious and thoughtful way. And I believe we must, for the future of our country.
Republican bloggers are racing to congratulate Governor Bob McDonnell for his role in “winning” Northrop Grumman new corporate headquarters and the 300 jobs that go with it for Northern Virginia. Not so fast.
There is still bad news coming from Louisiana. The oil rig that exploded, sank and presumed to have cost 11 lives is still leaking about 42,000 gallons of oil per day. The growing oil slick, currently the size of Hong Kong, is now 50 miles off the coast of Louisiana, potentially threatening fragile coastal wetlands, fisheries, shrimp nurseries and other marine life such as sea turtles. “This is a very serious spill, absolutely,” says the Coast Guard’s Rear Admiral Mary Landry.
The Federal Mineral Management Service (MMS) has proposed conducting seismic exploration in the Atlantic ocean. The environmental risks associated with seismic surveys and ultimately with drilling for oil and gas in the Atlantic vastly outweigh any potential benefits. Tell MMS to keep airguns out of sensitive areas to include the treasured landscapes existent off Virginia’s coast. 
Join Sierra Club & Surfrider Foundation for HANDS ACROSS THE SAND Saturday June 26, 2010 in Virginia Beach, VA. People of all walks of life are coming together to draw a human line in the sand, coming together to lock Hands Across the Sand in protest to offshore drilling. 
