JFKvsNixon Posted June 22, 2010 Share Posted June 22, 2010 You cannot compare the Queen with the President of the United States - the Queen is 'allowed to govern' (she has to rubber stamp what the Politicians tell her to - the Queen's speech is really the PM's speech). The President is elected to govern and so it is his Policies that are being questioned. You cannot compare the two systems so directly. swarfendor43 The point I was making is that as they're both head of state, they are both figureheads of the country that the military are prepared to lay their lives down protecting. I'm very sure that armed forces don't look at the PM in the same way, as he's just the head of government. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rupert_Baehr Posted June 22, 2010 Share Posted June 22, 2010 You cannot compare the Queen with the President of the United States - the Queen is 'allowed to govern' ... Indeed. She is also allowed to raise an Army, allowed to raise an Air Force and allowed to raise a Navy. (Parliament passes the Navy Act, The Army Act and the Air Force Act each year authorising the Monarch to raise and maintain Armed Forces.) Parliament does not have any Armed Forces (Somebody called 'Cromwell' might've had something to do with that ) The British Armed Forces are sometimes referred to as 'The Forces of the Crown' - never 'the Parliamentary Army'! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tony Posted June 22, 2010 Share Posted June 22, 2010 A judge has now overturned Obama's deep water drilling ban. I should have posted the story from the NYT http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/23/us/23drill.html?hp which oddly isn't mentioned on the White House website. Obama is appealing (oxymoron alert) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
poppins Posted June 22, 2010 Share Posted June 22, 2010 I should have posted the story from the NYT http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/23/us/23drill.html?hp which oddly isn't mentioned on the White House website. Obama is appealing (oxymoron alert) Oxymoron ? Obama I would imagine...not the Judge Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Harleyman Posted June 22, 2010 Share Posted June 22, 2010 The point I was making is that as they're both head of state, they are both figureheads of the country that the military are prepared to lay their lives down protecting. I'm very sure that armed forces don't look at the PM in the same way, as he's just the head of government. The president is not a figurehead by any means. He has many more powers than a queen who just says and does what parliament tells her to do Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
poppins Posted June 22, 2010 Share Posted June 22, 2010 The point I was making is that as they're both head of state, they are both figureheads of the country that the military are prepared to lay their lives down protecting. I'm very sure that armed forces don't look at the PM in the same way, as he's just the head of government. If Bush was a figurehead then why did he get blamed for everything. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Harleyman Posted June 22, 2010 Share Posted June 22, 2010 I don't begrudge him the boat trip and Tony is partly right in that BP is not solely responsible. They are however the largest owner of the Oil rig and Haliburton's role was a subcontracted one. They are the ones that have to take the blame now and to sort out later where the failures came from and the consequences of that. Saying it is not our fault it was the bolt manufacturer's fault or whatever is just plain stupid. What has compounded Hayward's problem is the insensitivity with which he had BP more generally have handled this. Spending £50 million on PR, whilst they are messing around the fisherman that have lost their livelihoods or his continuing evasiveness to Congress aout what happened. Is much better reason to condemn him than a boating trip. http://palingates.blogspot.com/2010/06/tony-hayward-gives-evasive-answers-to.html Incidentally how is it that the republicans aren' doing badly out of this? For every stupid thing Haywood has said they have been saying far worse. And what planet is Palin on? send in dutch dike builders to sort it out? The republicans have as you say been doing really well out of this. They've been blasting Hayward and also Obama for not "doing enough" I kinda suspect this is tit for tat in return for the heat the Dems put on Bush during Katrina. Oh woe! Such is politics. There was some insight into what one of the contributing factors was to cause the oil leak. Apparently there are things called Ram Shears below the pump mechanism. Normally there are two of these Ram Shears and what they are supposed to do if an oil rig blows up is to cut through the drill sever it and leave the severed end in the pipe which acts as a giant plug. From what they were saying on this particular rig there was only one Ram Shear and when it cut through the pipe it left sevral holes in the drill piece, Whether this is accurate in any way I cant tell. This piece of information was coming from an environmental specialist in oil drilling and not an engineer. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Harleyman Posted June 22, 2010 Share Posted June 22, 2010 If Bush was a figurehead then why did he get blamed for everything. It's Obama's turn now Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Harleyman Posted June 22, 2010 Share Posted June 22, 2010 Indeed. She is also allowed to raise an Army, allowed to raise an Air Force and allowed to raise a Navy. (Parliament passes the Navy Act, The Army Act and the Air Force Act each year authorising the Monarch to raise and maintain Armed Forces.) Parliament does not have any Armed Forces (Somebody called 'Cromwell' might've had something to do with that ) The British Armed Forces are sometimes referred to as 'The Forces of the Crown' - never 'the Parliamentary Army'! They are in name only. Parliament make all the decsions on military organisation, spending and where they should be deployed when necessary. The Queen gets to act as "military leader" once year during the Trooping of the Colors ceremony Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wildcat Posted June 22, 2010 Share Posted June 22, 2010 The republicans have as you say been doing really well out of this. They've been blasting Hayward and also Obama for not "doing enough" I kinda suspect this is tit for tat in return for the heat the Dems put on Bush during Katrina. Oh woe! Such is politics. They are also arguing he has bullied BP and has gone too far. There was some insight into what one of the contributing factors was to cause the oil leak. Apparently there are things called Ram Shears below the pump mechanism. Normally there are two of these Ram Shears and what they are supposed to do if an oil rig blows up is to cut through the drill sever it and leave the severed end in the pipe which acts as a giant plug. From what they were saying on this particular rig there was only one Ram Shear and when it cut through the pipe it left sevral holes in the drill piece, Whether this is accurate in any way I cant tell. This piece of information was coming from an environmental specialist in oil drilling and not an engineer. There were a lot of warning signs that stuff was going wrong in the hours preceding it and there were warnings a year previously from geologists that here was a large amount of unstable methane under the sea bed. This and the appearance of fissures has caused some speculation that the disaster may get an awful lot worse, indeed it may not even have started. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dk-matai/gulf-of-mexico-danger-of_b_619095.html This includes footage of fissures: http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=74f_1276484897 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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