Big oil met with Cheney task force
 

Industry officials denied meetings as recently as last week

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/10045043/

What are they hiding? Now I know why Ted Stevens was vehemently against them being under oath.

Sen. Stevens (R-Alaska): I shall not administer an oath today--

Sen. Cantwell (D-Washington): Mr. Chairman.

Stevens: --and we look forward to questions...Senator Cantwell?

Cantwell: Mr. Chairman, I did send you a letter signed by eight of my colleagues asking that the witnesses be placed under oath. This rare joint hearing--

Stevens: I did not yield for you to make a statement. We're ready to go. We have a statement process--

Cantwell: Mr. Chairman, I would like the committee to vote on whether we swear--

Stevens: There will be no vote. That's not in order at all. It's not part of the rules that any vote can be taken to administer an oath. It is the decision of the Chairman, and I have made that decision.

Cantwell: Mr. Chairman, I move that we swear in the witnesses.

Stevens: And I rule that out of order.

Sen. Boxer (D-California): I second the motion.

Stevens: Thank you very much. That's that last we're going to hear about that, because it's out of order.

Big oil met with Cheney task force
 

The reason he didn't put them under oath is because the mere act turns things into a circus. Remember the tobacco execs' oath? It's a photo-op for grandstanding. If they want a sworn statement, they can get that by ordering it. And false statements to Congress are still felonious.

As for their answers, the people who may have met with Cheney's task force are not these execs, but people below them. So you'd have to do a lot more digging to determine actual knowledge.

Big oil met with Cheney task force
 

Ah, I see.

Why wouldn't these guys meet with the task force?

Big oil met with Cheney task force
 

All part of their evil plan.

I frankly don't get the outrage here, and never did. The administration was formulating policy. One formulates policy in part by asking affected parties. Of course, it's generally wise to try to talk to all affected parties, but we all know that doesn't happen for both political and practical reasons.

But those who don't get talked to have 535 other people, or at least 245 or so, to talk to once a proposal is put up. And they have the talking point that they weren't consulted on forumlation of the initial policy.

I don't see anyone clamoring to open up to public scrutiny who's coming into the senators' and reps' offices to lobby from other angles.

eta: BTW, having the CEO go in probably isn't sensible when you're talking about specifics. The WH knows the big picture stuff, like open up ANWR--Lee Raymond doesn't need to tell them that. What they need info on is better presented by the hands-on guy who can talk about the costs of pollution control at refineries, or actual practical drilling opportunities and such.

Big oil met with Cheney task force
 

I agree with you. They SHOULD have met with the oil companies. They are an integral part of developing energy policy.

But why all of the secrecy?

Big oil met with Cheney task force
 

I think it's defending executive privilege to formulate policy as they see fit.

Say they take the other view--who they're talking to, who they're not. Talk about a constant, massive distraction. And it will stifle their ability to get views, because then companies won't want to come talk because people will complain about Exxon (or BP, or Microsoft) having back channels to the white house.

W. and HW not speaking
 

Somehow, I don't see Laura honking on Bobo on top of the Presidential Seal.

Now Harriet might have been willing . . .

S_A_M

Big oil met with Cheney task force
 

Isn't the open approach what most Presidents and Vice-Presidents have followed? It does mean that after meeting with Exxon, your scheduler has to make sure the Siera Club is also on your calendar, but I am not sure what is wrong with that.

I think you are right, and they are making a point about executive privilege. Now the question is, Why is Executive Privilege worth making a point about?

I am not a fan of executive privilege; in many cases, I would suggest that the best regulations have been ones that require disclosure, while regulations that also mandate specific actions often do more harm than good.

Big oil met with Cheney task force
 

Because there are 400 organizations that think of themselves as, or more, worthy than the Sierra Club.

As for other presidents' practice, I know there were a bunch of thin, hot chicks who resented not being invited to "deliver pizza" to the president.

Big oil met with Cheney task force
 

What does this have to do with anything Burger? Trying to get back on Penske's good side?

S_A_M

Big oil met with Cheney task force
 

apparently something, to get this response.

Should I have referenced the Lincoln Bedroom instead? All I'm saying is that visitors to the white house have never had their names immediately posted on whitehouse.gov

W. and HW not speaking
 

Ok. It is these sock exchanges I find rather creepy. They make me feel like a hologram on the holodeck who has just figured out he does not exist.

As far as I know I really exist. Of course how can one really ever know that they are just not the creation of someones imagination (or a replicant with imbedded memories) but as I have only been in the airport in Detroit, if I am the creation of someone's imagination, it is probably not Hank.

W. and HW not speaking
 

The spirit of democracy is really spreading in Egypt right now, huh?

Masturbation: looking better and better.
 

Oral sex linked to mouth cancer: Swedish study
Nov 16 4:38 PM US/Eastern
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Certain cases of mouth cancer appear to be caused by a virus that can be contracted during oral sex, media reported, quoting a new Swedish study.

People who contract a high-risk variety of the human papilloma virus, HPV, during oral sex are more likely to fall ill with mouth cancer, according to a study conducted at the Malmo University Faculty of Odontology in southern Sweden.

"You should avoid having oral sex," dentist and researcher Kerstin Rosenquist, who headed the study, told Swedish news agency TT.

HPV is a wart virus that causes many cervical cancers, including endometrial cancer (in the uterus).

Comparing 132 patients with mouth cancer with a control group of 320 healthy people, Rosenquist found that 36 percent of the cancer patients were carriers of HPV while only one percent of the control group had the virus.

The main factors that contribute to mouth cancer, most commonly contracted by middle aged and older men, are smoking and drinking alcohol, scientists agree.

"But in recent years the illness has been on the rise among young individuals and we don't know why. But one could speculate that this virus (HPV) is one of the factors," Rosenquist said.

Her findings confirm other international studies in recent years.

W. and HW not speaking
 

Now that you mention it: yes.