In Brief - August 7th, 2006
Here is today's quick news digest:
- This has not been a good week so far for BP, which was forced to announce that it would have to shut down operations at its Prudhoe Bay oilfield in northern Alaska. The "green" image the company has tried to cultivate is now in jeopardy, analysts say. Of course, the Bush administration reacted by announcing its support for loaning oil from the U.S. Strategic Petroleum Reserve to West Coast referines to ease a supply shortage. How typical. Here's a novel idea: why not just ask Americans to conserve and use less instead? The solution must be to reduce usage and improve efficiency, not maintain the status quo. People seem to forget that oil is a finite resource. This incident also reinforces the case against Arctic Refuge drilling. With all the problems with the Alaskan Pipeline and Prudhoe Bay, how does the industry and its Republican allies expect us to believe that we can drill in the refuge without disturbing its fragile ecosystem?
- Justice Antonin Scalia has turned down, without comment, an appeal by Tom Delay's lawyers, who were hoping the U.S. Supreme Court might overturn a lower federal court decision prohibiting Republicans from replacing Tom Delay's name on the ballot in the Texas 22nd Congressional District.
- MyDD reports that House Democratic challengers are doing well across the country. Locally, Darcy Burner and Peter Goldmark come to mind.
- An Associated Press political writer concludes in an analysis that the Republicans are on the defensive heading into this fall's elections.
- Representative Bob Ney of Ohio has decided not to seek reelection after all. Ney, who is the incumbent in the 18th Congressional District, has been dogged by extensive links to disgraced former lobbyist Jack Abramoff. His Democratic challenger, Zack Space, remains upbeat about his chances of defeating his new Republican opponent, Joy Padgett, in November.
