Tweet
I just came from a press conference held on the beach of Grand Isle, Louisiana. It was a joint briefing by representatives of BP and the Coast Guard. When questioned about which entity was in charge of the operation, there was clear confusion about how to answer the question. In fact, no one was in charge of how to answer that question.
We drove up the beach to a media staging area with satellite trucks. We counted about 24 workers half-wearing their plastic suits digging up debris and sand from the beach and putting it into plastic bags. As the media drove down the sand, Sheriff’s deputies on four wheelers sent most of the workers to tents further down the beach, while several stayed to pick up sticks and sand.
The press briefing focused on cleanup operations in Grand Isle. BP says that they have "everyone they need" and "all the resources" required to clean up Grand Isle, Port Fourchon, and other localities around us – no more boats, no more men – BP’s rep was very certain of that. Even the Fox reporter rolled his eyes at that.
The final question of the conference asked who was in charge – BP or the Coast Guard. The Coast Guard’s spokeswoman said that while BP was the "responsible party," the Coast Guard was "overseeing" BP’s operations. When pressed on what that meant, BP said they work "in tandem" on all decisions. "Coast Guard is in every meeting," he said. The Coast Guard then stepped in and said that wasn’t quite correct, as the CG oversees what BP does – it doesn’t make decisions with them. But they step in"when something’s not going right."
When pressed for what hasn’t gone "right," Coast Guard reps closed down the press conference. Later, I overheard the spokeswoman saying one of the things that CG stopped was rescue workers from smoking while cleaning up.
From what I can tell down here, it’s clear BP is fully in charge, and Coast Guard is sitting on the sidelines.
UPDATE: I added video of the relevant section of the press conference and realized I missed a key statement. BP says that the Coast Guard is "embedded in our organization." Huh? How is that "overseeing?"
138 Comments
Thank you. Your first hand report is very enlightening.
Michael , thanks for your efforts; how about a book review of this since you’re in it?
Further confirmation that we’re now living in a Fascist nation.
I don’t imagine the sheriff is making many friends amongst the locals. This could get ugly.
But, but… Thad Cochran was just telling Tweety that he ‘was in charge’…! ;-)
Yeah. I’m beginning to get a little bit riled that BP is controlling my coast, our Coast Guard, and my fellow citizens.
This cant’ end good . . . and that might not be a bad thing anymore, considering that laying down is not gonna help anyone.
Odd, isn’t it…?
Michael’s description of facts on the ground doesn’t seem to match President Obama’s assertion today that he and the federal government have been on top of every facet of dealing with this catastrophe from day one.
It more closely resembles the description of the relief effort provided by local officials.
We’re watching this cuz there’s a chance we may have to clean our beaches. Don’t think we’ll allow BP and the heat to interfere with that.
Of course this contradicts Team Obama saying they have been on this since Day One. Nothing surprising in that little revelation. According to NYT, the famous Top Kill is not a done deal so maybe we go back to finger pointing again. The picture of the bosses is a bit of hoot.
I thought President Obama said he was in charge.
Oh, well.
A little premature about success of the Top Kill.
Got a gusher again.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/28/us/28spill.html?hp
OT: Over at Balloon Juice they’re saying that if the Pukes get control of Congress they’ll impeach Obama and that FDL would support them:
http://www.balloon-juice.com/2010/05/27/feel-the-impeachmentum/
Douchebag centrists.
Michael, yet another outrage that this presser photo op was apparently staged to the hilt, there’s NO evidence of a full scale defensive effort to protect the coast, or clear or clean it and the marshes and the waters.
This is a fucking travesty.
What does it take to piss off we the people, if this one don’t?
What will happen if you press questions such as “Why Does The US Coast Guard allow BP to assume control?”
“Why are LA Sherrif’s acting under BP orders, as is plainly obvious?”
“Why aren’t BP efforts more plainly seen in terms of defending the shore and marshes>”
Course, there’s all them questions about dumped booms and such.
Why aren’t those questions being asked at these pseudo pressers?
Are you or others in fear of something? So you get booted out of media access, we KNOW then the questions are valid and there’s shit goin on (hell, we know that now you got NOTHING to lose by playing rabble rouser question hardball wise).
Ask the hardball questions Michael, you got nothing to lose . . . you and Ivan.
It’s not LIKE asking questions is violating laws and conducting civil disobedience and risking jail time.
Ask. The Questions, Hoss, yer there, on the line.
Ask the questions, for those of us who aren’t there.
For we the people.
And make sure you take video of it . . . you DO have access to video cam, doncha?
If not, we gotta get you one. A loaner, they is cheap anymore . . .
I’m surprised you and Ivan have not been vidding your journey from day one . . .
Why not?
Obama tells Janet Napolitano and she tells Thad…! ;-)
Looks like somebody went out and got all the pooh bahs vests with their title on them. Every title should be prefaced with “Clueless,” as in
Clueless
Planning
Section Chief
Earlier today, Glenn linked to an article in Newsweek about how BP is limiting access to the Gulf of Mexico, and they seem to be targeting journalists, photographers, and scientists.
According to the article, BP now controls, and must approve, all flights over a sizable chunk of the Gulf of Mexico. WTF? The federal government, in it’s alleged “oversight” role, should still be controlling the airspace, not handing over control of the skies to BP.
Maybe in the end, the Obama administration will let BP decide how much oil spilled and how much they owe for the damage. BP could even fill out the paperwork certifying that they’ve done a great job cleaning everything up!
And then…
BP does whatever the hell they want?
I thought this comment best summed it up…
Hoss, I think there’s some serious shit goin on that even the FDL folks aren’t talking about, or this shit would have been captured on vid, be it in the open or by stealth.
By the time it hits you (soon, I think?) you’ll have PLENTY of experience to draw on in regards to how to put this shit to rest. BP don’t control our waters, or our coastlines, and there’s NO fucking excuse for our government and the Coast Guard and County Fuckin Sherrif’s to be telling citizens what to do or where they can go.
Not even for health and safety reasons, which so far have been debunked thoroughly, so THAT turd won’t fly, much less float.
I mean, if the Cajun’s haven’t stormed the beaches (you don’t FUCK with Cajun’s) then what the fuck is happening?
But of course…! ;-)
Everyone wants credit if things go wrong, but no one wants the blame if things go badly. It’s every bureaucrat and businessman’s nightmare: how close should I be if the spotlights come on, and it’s all well and good? While still maintaining enough distance to frown sternly at the miscreants if things go south.
The “vested interests” at the “table”?
DW
BP has stop the mud inflow and is evaluating – meaning because mud is expensive this is as good as any point to see if it is stable – or to see it blow.
I am sure Obama OK’ed the “evaluation pause”.
Yeah, and there was another comment saying they were addicted to FDL.
Remember a few years ago when someone, I think at Balloon Juice, wrote a post referring to “the Jane Hampshires of the left” and then told Jane he wasn’t talking about her? It was hilarious.
Huh, pressure below is greater than the pressure on the manifold leaks, or some BOP leaks.
I’ll bet it’s BOP leakage, and they won’t say so.
Cuz THAT will bring the hammer of doom on this shit, for sure.
Off to find some Oil Drum info about this NYT info, thanks Clem . . *G*
Yer doing great work, keep it up!
Haven’t read the linky, but I’m of a quickminded pissed off attitude of, WHY FUCKING NOT!!!!
Wanna add info to your linky?
Cleanup workers really need to be organized so they have some real whistleblower protection. Get on that.
Seriously tho, thanks for everything down there. It’s amazing the press allows them to be so marginalized.
“What does it take to piss off we the people, if this one don’t?”
What does it take? LEADERSHIP. That what it takes. Someone willing to stop being sheep and lead a movement.
I can’t. Got a long list of reasons that disqualify me with a recent Huntington’s Disease diagnosis beside that big huge 1 at the top of the list.
jeebus they are crazed over there, on the middle line right in the middle of the highway, like roadkill.
Do you think BP’s separate ‘Independent Contractors’ will allow their workers to organize…? Whatcha smoking…? ;-)
Yep, the pause is because plan A isn’t working. The BP folks hope to get permission for plan B by midnight according to the story. Now at this point a regular joe might wonder why they didn’t actually discuss all of the plans and their fall back scenarios before this but that is why we can assume that Team Obama has been so rigorously in charge.
Didn’t realize we had to protect our left flank.
“Firebaggers”…?
Sure, business as usual. We know that.
Where’s the public fucking outrage?
The MASS fucking outrage?
If this don’t spur mass action, likely nothing will . .
Those are OUR brothers and sisters and mothers and fathers and grand parents and children suffering down there.
That’s our government causing the suffering.
When will the masses realize, they have ALREAD come for us? No longer is it our neighbors?
I couldn’t resist. #150
More likely they are damned close out of all mud available.
At this point, cost of mud still don’t equal cost of lost oil, or even cloture of this gusher.
Cost of mud is a pittance.
Call me cynical, but I think they felt they were right on the verge of getting more oil than “mud” gushing out — right in the middle of Barry’s visit.
Yeah, evidently we don’t show proper fealty to his majesty King Obama.
Butt Plug BP and their enablers! Do a junk shot with a butt plug and place the Butt Plug so far up their corporate sphincters they might feel like, an American?
I don’t see a #150. I think they scrubbed it already.
I understand your particular . . . we didn’t need too much leadership (bless Mario Savio) back in the 60′s.
Shit went viral underground and the entire SF Bay Area was plugged into an info stream of sorts that mobilized mass demonstrations for civil rights, anti Viet War, etc.
So, for me, I don’t buy into the leadership thang, I question where the masses are.
I tend to the idea that the middle of the roaders see this as a team sport. If their side wins they get more corporate sponsors and the option to hire more flunkies. The centrists are simply wannabe flunkies in waiting.
Oh, you mean over there at Airbag Droolings, Teddy?
Some of “them” Doug it. But I did note some wee skepticism.
DW
So let’s see…these guys have got to burn thousands of gallons of petrol to get to the site and back, where they paw over thousands of square miles of shoreline to pick out tens of thousands of gallons of oil for the next how many decades and then…what do they do with it after collection? Refine it to get petrol to get to the site and back?
Seize BP! http://www.seizebp.org
It’s still there. I refreshed the link I had then revisited your link. It still says awaiting moderation so I’m guessing it won’t appear unless approved.
“Your comment is awaiting moderation.
DougJ
How come we don’t see ya at the Lake pimping your drivel?”
This regular joe wants to know why the mud didn’t fix it, so far, I’ve not heard THAT explanation.
I suspect the leaks are greater in number, and greater in volume per leak than reported.
I also suspect the BOP as well as the manifold and the lines themselves and their linkages/couplings are not up to the pressures involved coming up from below.
But I’m not a scientist or an oildrilln man.
I’ll check in with Oil Drum later to find out more . . . .
Apparently so…! SD can be rather verbose…! ;-)
Michael, be sure and ask the residents how they feel about voting for the free marketeers that felt health, safety and environmental regulations were devised by Satan. Do they still support the free marketeers, the Jindahls, the Barbours, the Landrieus, the Vitters, the Shelbys, the Cochrans etal? Questions most people, certainly not the corporate media, are unwilling to ask.
Nope, no scrubbing, not EPA approved.
They sunk it with Corexit 9527.
Good call, though. /s
Or they can simply use the Alaska cleanup as a model. Scrub a couple of rocks, wait for the rest to ooze down a coupe of inches and move on to the next task. Mission Accomplished redux.
Obama is really in a spot — of his own making. Either he says BP was in charge and made a series of very bad decisions — a lot of them, including underestimating the spill, failing to protect the shoreline, etc. Or he was in charge and is responsible for those decisions.
Heh, SD is the best person I’d wanna be in a foxhole with, outside of you and a few others . . ;-)
Aw, man, I been called lotsa things but verbose ain’t one of ‘em. *g*
NPR just reported that BP is now considering the “junk shot.” Anyone hear about this and if so any idea why. Based on reports the “top-kill” seemed to be working.
They better use cement filled basketballs instead of golf balls. Looks like those holes are a lot bigger than golf balls or tire shreds.
Probably switched to this because they had more golf balls and old tires. Yeah, old tires should do the trick, they are all over the bottoms of most lakes, so it’s got history behind it.
NYT: “BP had to temporarily stop its effort to plug the well when engineers saw that too much of the fluid they were injecting into the well was escaping along with the leaking crude oil.”
The U.S. public would seem to have lost all sense of irony and actionable outrage. That could change in a heartbeat if the fabric of society begins to unravel and the “people” begin to establish tribunals to hold the corporatists and politicians accountable for their crimes against the planet.
If BP is an emoticon for the eyes shut and tongue hanging out, NPR is eyes crossed, tongue out and bib dripping.
And BHO?
I’m sure the CEO’s and Obama would be willing to donate their old Titleists to help with the effort. That’s the level of involvement they can live with, it’s bipartisan.
They shot the first ship load, two ships to go.
Oil Drum is saying the ‘junk shot’ is to plug the leaks from the BOP, and the tears in the 10,000 psi rated hoses that the mud is exacerbating…!
Comment at BallonDrivel approved. #152
Screw NPR, follow Oil Drum Dot Com . . look there for Headingout, one of the BEST author of postings and threads about this disaster I’ve seen yet.
Here’s his summary’s from previe days thru last night:
http://www.theoildrum.com/node/6505
http://www.theoildrum.com/node/6513#more
http://www.theoildrum.com/node/6511#more
Some serious summary of Top Kill I’ve seen, and it’s ongoing dialogue.
I got to catch up myself, for today, yet.
But FDL got me engaged. As always. ;-)
NPR has become a useless piece of shit end of my story.
Course, I DO like Amy Goodman, still . . . .
Hopefully your statement does not effect their delicate sensibilities. They do seem to have gotten a case of the vapors.
You , whomever government or corporation, fuck with the least, you are tempting us all to react.
No doubt they would love to impeach Mr. Bipartisan. It puts progressives in an interesting conundrum. At this point Biden would be refreshing.
Bingo, now we get the truth.
All the pressure is more than the technology they have, despite the INCREDIBLE work the ROV’s, their operators, and all folks involved are doing.
They can’t contain the pressures from below.
And I guess the pressures from above aren’t contained, either but I don’t that yet.
I’ll stick with, the pressures from below can’t be contained, and this proves it. For THIS gusher of a fuck up.
I’m not ready to say that deep water drilling can’t be done, but it sure can’t be done the way BP or any others are doing it.
Not if they fucking scrimp on real safety issues because of overrides or contractor costs if the job ain’t on schedule.
There ARE wells in deeper water, and at similar core depths (11K or more) that are actually EXTRUDING oil as we speak. With nary a hitch.
Hard to ‘splain that, ain’t it . . . ;-)
Not that I’m not outraged but all of this . . . I am. Thoroughly.
Don’t quite really understand yer reply.
Took awhile, but yeah, I see it now.
I’d hazard to say that vapors do constitute Balloon juice…! ;-)
Off to do tiger duties and see if the Rays have learned how to pitch and hit since yesterday.
When some of my rabid Republican acquaintances, in years go by, keep telling how much they enjoyed NPR I felt that my lack of interest in the station was well placed. The Kroc bequest of $200 million seemed like a watershed event.
Buxom twiggy with a nice booty?
Guy I was talking to today said the pumping machinery put out 30,000HP. Anybody else heard anything like that?
tbs was paraphrasing a certain religious figure and yerself, me thinks.
” As…the least among us …”
However, I’m merely suspeculating …
DW
Don’t you understand? Health, safety and environmental regulations are not the way the U.S. public wants to do business. It smacks of “socialism” and interference in the free market. Get with the program. Don’t believe me? Go to the the local watering hole and announce to the assembled revelers that what the country needs is more regulation and socialism. Say it when you’re standing by the door for a speedy exit.
*heh* I did rather enjoy my BoSox sweep in Tampa…! ;-)
Might even get the same reaction in church?
;~DW
Baseball’s great. Have a minor league team here and it’s a blast.
Especially in church. Forget about the fact that Jesus was the first communist.
Jalopnik.com:
Man, you are just lookin’ fer trouble, ain’tcha? *g*
I love baseball.
I worked for NPR at a college station in the 70′s and early 80′s.
I watched and worked as Reagan deregulated media, eliminated fed funding, and as NPR and PBS both quit news gathering and information, consolidated, and banked on a few large stations to bring in fundraising.
It’s only gotten worse since then.
I concur with your posit and that funding effort.
It WAS a huge turn. But it came on the heels of deregulation, which Ronnie started, and fucking Bill Clinton finished.
Media deregulation that is.
Destroyed NPR, and PBS.
Sigh, those good times, when a KPFA or SF PBS CH 9 (or our own San Mateo NPR 91.1FM or PBS Ch. 6) were leaders for the communities they served.
Sigh. Damn them was dynamic times for a broadcaster wanna be.
Yeah me too. Haven’t been able to afford to go to the ballpark yet and see the local Lugnuts.
Thank you. Looks like their calculations about overcoming the oil pressure didn’t quite work out for ‘em.
Over at oil drum theey’re saying that in essence, BP just shot 20,000 gallons of mud into the Gulf.
These scum buckets must be stopped????????
Oil drum has NOT said much about HP pumping power, they pretty much use pressure variants and such to describe equipment and issues . . .
http://www.theoildrum.com/node/6505
http://www.theoildrum.com/node/6513#more
http://www.theoildrum.com/node/6511#more
A great triple read, hoss, if you’ve not seen them.
Lotta details involved, but ‘splained in laymans terms . . . Headingout is a major hoss.
Mission accomplished. The last thing Republicans wanted was for the public to know the truth. During the Nixon years NPR was stellar. Not even a mere shadow today.
Ok, thanks, and I’m still cornfuzzled . . .
;-)
Yes, I’ve been told it’s a chronic condition . . . ;-)
Gettin’ so a body can’t afford to go the ball park any more. I haven’t been in years plus I can’t stand indoor ball.
BT, you get to lecture me about fascism when . . .
You don’t.
You don’t get to tell me about fascism, and our bought off government top to bottom.
So, get with the program will ya?
Even your snark is weak if yer tellin me about the abuses of life that exist.
Please.
What’s a church?
*blinksnaively*
Speakin’ of locals gettin’ restless. Tigers is gettin’ vocal.
Namaste
Fortunately minor league games are still affordable. If you want to go to a Tigers game you need to take a small fortune. It’s no longer for families but a perk for corporate fat cats and aristocrats. Baseball has to be outdoors and not in a domed stadium, period. and what’s with the designated hitter?
We got the Sacto River Cats! GREAT ballpark, $13 tix for box seats up close!
On this one, as CT is wont to say, ‘ma deah’, we agree fully!
Who’s yer team . . . . . ours is Triple A, BTW . . . Oakland A’s farm.
Larue that wasn’t meant so much for you. Your cred here is impeccable. It was meant for “outsiders” that might be dropping by for a look see.
The first Top Kill effort failed.
Houston, we still have a problem.
The Lansing Lugnuts, single A. Toronto affiliate. Just a great way to spend an afternoon or evening. They have a nice stadium right in the heart of downtown.
Not sure what you mean but:
1) I believe they put more n that down there.
2) I believe the effort fucked up pressure points in equipment top to bottom.
3) I haven’t read Oil Drum today, so I don’t know what the present sitch is, although YOUR info and others I’ve read today seems to point to great failures all along the system BP is using, from the top, to the manifold, to the BOP.
As of this moment, I’m not fully Oil Drummed up to date . . .
Thanks for your comment, and all others, BTW.
We walk similar fears for all of this.
Slightly OT, the live feed hasn’t been showing the escaping mud/gas.
Sadly, on this one, we concur completel BT . . . thanks for your comment.
I have personal stake in it all being a journ/com studies kinda human.
Appreciate your feedback . . . lord I miss them days of great broadcasting, local and national.
The corporate media DOESN’T DO popluist demonstrations.
They are always ignored.
Remeber G2o in Pittsburgh? All the harassment and brutality, and enough armed forces on land and sea that it looked like D-Day.
I live in a major media market NYC area, and I didn’t hear a word.
That’s one.
But six unwitting corporate tool Teabaggers can stand in front of a 7/11 in Pissant, Iowa holding a few signs and they’re all over it.
My point is this. For all we know, millions of people from the Gulf States could be protesting in DC right this minute and nobody would tell us.
They’ve got the wrong message.
Read nprcheck.blogspot.com for a grand litany documenting the sins of NPR.
Throwing anything at the wall hoping something sticks.
So,now it’s time to try the junk shot. More BS stalling.
And no, Top Kill didn’t stop the gusher but the BP mouthpiece Adm. Allen
lied this morning so Obama could handle his presser and pretend it’s under control.
It’s got to appear to be “working” through Obama’s visit.
Ha, That was beautiful!
Outrageous how the gov’t finally admits the gusher is twice the prevailing estimate on the day that the mud-injecting operation “seems to be working”.
Sigh, there are a variety of live feeds, showing different things, including loops from a month ago for deception.
Could you PLEASE be more specific when you post live feed info, and may like, post the danged link to the feed yer viewing?
So we ALL can live on the same page as you are?
Sigh . . . . .
Kewl! I think of Bill Veeck whenever I think of minor league ball . . . a long time ago.
Veeck As In Wreck
Man he was brilliant, even when he got to the Major’s with Cleveland (brought Satchel Paige to MLB with the Indians).
*G*
I have no qualms about impeaching Obama. He’s begging for it.
And the Dems deserve a real smack down.
The whole thing appeals to me.
Bottom line is whoever follows will be nothing more than a change in rhetoric. The corporations and banks will still be in charge; we’ll still be in a multitude of wars, funding Wall St., drilling offshore, busting up unions, destroying public education and funding charter schools, and slashing entitlements.
So, what’s the downside of impeaching Obama?
I’m a media kinda person, college wise and experience wise.
I know how they are corrupted and ownd by corporate fasicts.
You get no arguement from me about their roles or behaviours.
;-)
Which means it’s probably at least double of what they’re telling us today.
*G*
Nice pick, hoss . . . ;-)
None, we awaken the populism of the masses and then we pray another Hitler don’t arise on it’s back from the right wing fundies of our nation.
I’m for it, but I’m afraid of it, myself.
We are ONE step from a leader that will have us under martial law 24/7, hunted, and rounded up and put into Blackwater Camps . . . and they’ll get us from the internets, they will.
And yes, I worry about these things . . . ;-)
OT: The “Firebag crowd” slur is the best he could do?
So, let’s put it to a vote. Shall we impeach in favor of Joe Biden? Or should both be impeached in favor of Speaker Pelosi?
Republican politicians are idiots, which helps them relate to their base.
Back on topic, the “junk shot” idea isn’t far fetched in that a similar method is used to temporarily seal automobile radiators with aluminum bits. However, auto radiators aren’t under 10,000+ PSI, and they’re not using metal – they’ve chosen petroleum products or rubber, apparently. If these do succeed in plugging the leaks, the pressure inside the damaged BOP and any ancillary pipes will rise, doubtless increasing the stress on already fatigued metal. I hope they’re fast with that cement…
Amen.
Oh, we’ve got cancer,
Right here in D.C. City,
With a capital “C”,
That rhymes with “Pee”,
That stands for Corporations.
More than 20,000 gallons? Oh, just what i want to hear.
I hate them.
Ditto on the media type person, so yeah, I know exactly what tools they are for their “sponsors” too.
That’s a very valid pants crapper.
But, I know there are a lot of disgusted people in the trenches of the CIA the military, and even local police forces who are just hanging back at the moment.
“I’m here, I’m touching you, I’m telling you you’re dead,” was how he described the process of shutting it down. “You just don’t know it yet.”
- Pat Campbell, quoted in yesterday’s Independent. Looks like fish wrap today.
More n 20K gallons of what?
Corexit?
See Oil Drum for quantity of Corexit.
A fraction of what’s gushed I think.
If we accept 1 million gallons daily, them there’s 35 million gallons of oil loose (never mind the volume of methane and what that does).
I think the maximum amount of Corexit 9527 (or 9500 or 9100 and who’s fucking checking WHICH batches are being pumped by corrupted corps?) is under 500 hundred thousand gallons on HAND!
Oil Drum has the real numbers.
It’s a pea in an ocean of pesticide.
It’s killin life, of course . . . despite it’s ratio . . . . sigh.
They’re on the sides of we the people?
*blinks*
???????
I’ve never read such corporate bullshit profiteering jive in my life, unless I saw John Wayne spout it in a movie.
Pure rubbish, start to finish.
No,20,000 gallons of mud.
Last I heard Corexit is 800,000 galllons!
You know what haunts me are the photos of the dead animals.
One look at the expressions in their eyes and mouth, frozen in this horrible gasping expression, tells me they suffered a horrible death
Obama should be impeached for dumping nealy a million gallons of that poison into the water to help those skidmarks at BP in their PR battle.
It makes my blood boil.
Actually a different Michael Whitney! He goes by MIke and sometimes writes at opednews or smirking chimp.
It’s really shocking to watch innocent Americans being treated with such
contempt by the US government.
Michael, read something on NOLA that next door in MS, the Sea Bees are stationed there. Apparently they are trained to quickly build berms and dams in war zones. Is it too much for Obama to get them over to LA? Or are we completely under corporate control?
It’s just incredible. The state of LA is under the occupatiomn of a an oil company using US armed forces.
Clem @ 130:
Perfect definition of fascism.
Co-operation between Government, military, and corporations. Meet BP…the new Krupp and I.G. Farben. Of course there are a shitload more of them, too.
Every time Obama’s poll numbers drop (and they are dropping…) he moves an inch or two to the left…as in: Extending the moratorium on new offshore drilling by 6 months, and firing what’s-her-face for playing administration hooker to Big Oil.
Who knew?
The “progressive” so many of us voted for is a complete reactionary.
It is the perfect definition, isn’t it.
I hope with a burning passion that the people down there boo and heckle Benito Barack right out of his size 13 shoes.
DThe big question now, is this: are we going to have some INDEPENDENT scientific confirmation that the well is plugged?
And the attendant question is: is there already so much oil on the surface that it will be difficult or impossible to tell if it’s stopped by looking at what’s floating on the top of the Gulf?
It also exposes that he’s really a winger at heart.
He only does this stuff when he’s absolutely forced into it.
And it’s always a HALF ASSED temporary move.
Six months “partial” moratorium means anything they want it to mean.
Forget what he says. He’s a proven liar more times than I care to recall, but they could cancel one lease and say that’s what they meant by a partial moratorium.
The six months conveniently coincides with the midterms, so that’s no accident either.
It’s not plugged, and don’t get your hopes up. This baby is gonna blow for months now.
Any more sick sadistic remarks heard in the next 24 hours is PR so Obama can claim things are under control and take off for a nice Memorial weekend.
Clem; thanks. Just what I feared, and I have to say to Mike, that must have been one hell of a press conference.
The United States Coast Guard, and British Petroleum…whose dick was in which mouth?
Clem, I think you’re spot-on about the mid-term thing. That is going to come into play more and more. Of course, there are a lot of democrats up for re-election who are going to be looking at Mr. Centrist’s numbers and wondering what they can give him to keep him OUT of their states and districts while they campaign.
I agree with Mason completely. I think this is the 8 ball in the side pocket for his being a one-term preznint. Couldn’t happen to a nicer bipartisan pony rider.