General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsRick Perry regrets calling for elimination of the Energy Department now that he knows what it does
Rick Perry regrets calling for the elimination of the U.S. Department of Energy, which he has been chosen to lead, now that he understands what it does.
The former Texas governor infamously forgot to identify the department as one of three he wanted to cut along with Commerce and Education if elected president, during a 2011 Republican primary debate.
He also apparently misunderstood the Energy Departments role after Donald Trump nominated him to serve as its secretary.
Perry initially believed he would serve as a global ambassador for the American oil and gas industry a role he gladly embraced. But Perry soon learned that, if he was confirmed by the Senate, he would actually oversee a vast national security complex and nuclear arsenal he knew almost nothing about.
more
http://www.rawstory.com/2017/01/rick-perry-regrets-calling-for-elimination-of-the-energy-department-now-that-he-knows-what-it-does/
Yavin4
(35,445 posts)Dave Starsky
(5,914 posts)Are we really going to pretend that all of this is even approaching normal? That there's not something really, really fucked up about all this?
renate
(13,776 posts)The most powerful country in the world will suddenly have no grownups in charge.
Dave Starsky
(5,914 posts)Many people have pointed out similarities to the movie Idiocracy. But even in Idiocracy, the President might have been a buffoon, but at least he cared enough about his people to recognize the nation's problems and select the best people he could find to solve them. We don't even have that!
hamsterjill
(15,224 posts)It is QUITE clear to me that this truly is "really fucked up". There's just very little I can do about it except (like you) scream it at the top of my lungs to anyone who will listen.
Yes, I have been and continue to call my reps and I will be participating in the march on Saturday.
Dave Starsky
(5,914 posts)Because I just know that on Sunday, Chuck Todd is going to present this as some sort of masterful, unique strategy by Trump to change the dynamics of our nuclear stewardship. You and I both know it's just fucking crazy.
You're right. This is just preaching to the choir. Although I live in a pretty blue area, I have loved ones who are in solid Republican strongholds. I need to educate them and help them express their voice in stopping this crap.
PoindexterOglethorpe
(25,895 posts)the Department of Energy does, only in his case he won't ever learn any different.
NightWatcher
(39,343 posts)Is he still going to keep the job?
Kittycow
(2,396 posts)Maybe the denial stage wore off...just in time for Friday.
vlyons
(10,252 posts)Our current energy secretary is a distinguished theoretical and nuclear physicist and member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. The previous Energy secretary, Shephen Chu, was a distinguished physicist and Nobel laureate.
Rick Perry has a B.S. in animal husbandry from Texas A&M, and is reputed to have made Cs and Ds in his science classes. But he was also an Aggie yell leader at A&M football games.
That is Trump's version of giving us "the very best people" to Make America Great Again.
yellowcanine
(35,701 posts)BSdetect
(8,999 posts)Its too depressing to think about for more than a few minutes.
Incredible that they can probably now dumb America down further.
longship
(40,416 posts)Let alone understand anything about it.
The current and previous Energy Secretaries have PhDs in physics, the previous one with a Nobel Prize in physics.
Perry is uniquely unqualified for this post.
Initech
(100,102 posts)librechik
(30,676 posts)These are the people who try to control nukes, ours and theirs.
So good to have a smart guy like Perry in charge!
dalton99a
(81,570 posts)Wounded Bear
(58,706 posts)haele
(12,676 posts)While fossil fuel businesses might want to get rid of some of the science and regulatory policy work the DoE does, the Tech businesses love to leverage of the DoE R&D side, and still other businesses appreciate the standards and standardization work the DoE does for their commercial products - and for legal protections.
While the DoE will take an organizational hit, there are enough competing interests that may protect the majority of work it does.
It is far more profitable for Billionaire investment/trust fund/CEOs to have a robust DoE than it is for one or several of them to privatize most of the work the DoE does.
Haele
Wounded Bear
(58,706 posts)But Trump and House Gopers may have other ideas.
Orrex
(63,224 posts)Stranger than fiction, indeed.
hamsterjill
(15,224 posts)God, he is such a moron!