Incredible Views Of Sandy

Unbelievable satellite image of Hurricane Sandy!  I am not sure I have ever seen such a large mass as this.

There are more pictures and incredible videos here and here.

Surprise? Coral Reefs Dying Off Gulf Of Mexico

Photo by Associated Press - Dying coral with attached brittle starfish photographed this week near the capped gulf oil well.

Well, well, well. Seems that the oil that "disappeared" from the Gulf spill has settled on the bottom, and is killing off coral reefs.

Drill, baby, drill, because, of course, Americans know there is no impact to the environment. Yeah, that's the ticket!

So, Who Actually Buys The Government's Statement That 75% Of The Gulf Spill Is Gone?

I'm really having a difficult time understanding the Obama administration's position with regard to the BP oil spill. At each and every step in what should have been a government controlled investigation, the Obama administration sidestepped the issue and allowed BP to call all the shots.

Now, the government is saying that "all is good," that 75% of the oil has been cleaned up, and in proving that the water is safe, Obama even orchestrated a photo op with his daughter and him in the water off the coast of Florida!

What part of all of the above reminds you of Bush, his "good work, Brownie" comment, and his planned photo op with firemen in NOLA after Katrina?

Yep, all of the above, gosh darn it! No one has been allowed to investigate, tabulate, videotape, explore, examine, view, work at, work with, work for, or even fucking view the spill site unless you either "work" for BP (wherein you signed a document that says you'll be fired if you so much as sigh in the direction of media, and probably contains a lot worse, but I can't say for sure right now, except I would not put it past BP to have a "we'll sue you" clause in it as well), or your are controlled by our corporate government, which of course, means again, you work for BP and not the American people.

Just like the Bush administration refused to let reporters into the really bad areas of NOLA, how they controlled the "reports" of the levees being fixed, and withheld pertinent information about the trailers they tried to herd NOLA residents in (especially those from the Ninth Ward), and basically ignored anyone's opinion about the conditions that didn't work for the inner circle of the Bushies. It was all about "the right party" during that era, and making sure that all the public agencies were staffed by those that bought the party agenda, and regurgitated it verbatim.

Now, with our new and viewer friendly president, whom we expected "change" in how government was going to be run, is pulling the same shit as the Bush administration did! No transparency, no cracking down on the parties responsible, no real investigation, and whooooaaaa nellie, the unbelievable cover-up of the depth of the disaster such that Obama was willing to put his own daughter at risk by actually getting into that seriously infested water. That's a mind blower to me.

Is our president really that beholding to major, non-American corporations, and to the bloody oil money, that he'd put the entire American population at risk just so that BP can "save some money?" This doesn't just impact the gulf area, we are talking about saying it is ok to fish and SELL the fucking fish and EAT the fucking fish (and shellfish) that are in these waters, when they don't even have a test to determine the toxicity of the Corexit used to disperse the oil? They are relying on SMELLING THE FISH? You have got to be kidding me.

You put tainted fish into the open markets across America, and you have no clue the level of contamination contained, and that's ok with you as POTUS? Wow ...

I realize that Obama hasn't lived up to his various promises such as comprehensive health care reform, repealing DADT, rejecting DOMA, closing Gitmo, having an open and transparent government, etc. But to literally put the entire American population at risk by falsely claiming that 75% of the oil has been cleaned up from the Gulf is not about not living up to any promise, but is a clear and deliberate act to expose the American people to real danger at the expense of allowing a corporation to skate through. That's pretty darn bad.

When it is factually provable that Alaska has not fully recovered from the Exxon Valdez oil spill many moons ago, it is not believable that a spill that was so much larger and dangerous by the tenfold than Exxon Valdez, magically in a few months, has just cleaned itself up! This is horse pucky as my grandfather would say. I am just amazed that these statements can come from the Obama administration, and that they don't feel any sense of duty to humanity to double down on the safety factor. No, it's business as usual. Drill some more, it's ok, there's no oil here ...

We should start a campaign to send Obama and his family fish caught from the Gulf waters on a daily basis and see just how much of it he eats, or he allows his family to eat. Any takers? Any guesses as to whether or not he'll actually eat anything caught in those still contaminated waters?

Uh huh. I thought so.

Right Wingers Open To Lifting Cap For Liability To BP? Hold On There, Buddy ...

I read a "rumor" that the Republicans in Congress are now eager to back a raise on the cap of $75 million for the BP oil spill. The reasoning goes that if this does, in fact occur, BP will have no choice but to file for bankruptcy protection -- leaving the clean-up costs, and payouts for the Gulf Coast businesses to the American taxpayer. And, of course, just blowing off the ecological damage to the Gulf that America will probably never ever recover from.

Remember when the Exxon Valdez was given that hefty fine that was eventually reduced to pennies on the dollar after 20 years? Let that be a warning. Oil companies across the globe own America. Drill, baby, drill is not the mantra we should be spouting. Kill, baby, kill is more likely, as the damage done by this man made disaster (let's not get caught up in the right wing meme that this is a natural disaster), could have been prevented but for the bottom line (dollar) that these corporations are squeezing out for their base (shareholders and congresscritters).

And don't get be started on mountain top removal coal mining.

From Ashley Judd:

But the ache I feel for my mountain home is now more than a bittersweet nostalgia accrued through inimitable generations of belonging. There is a searing tear, a gaping wound in the fabric of my life and the lives of all Appalachians. And it gets bigger with every Appalachian mountaintop that is blown up, every holler that is filled, every stream that is buried, every wild thing that is wantonly and recklessly killed, every ecosystem that is diminished, every job that is lost to mechanization, every family that is pitted one against the other by the state-sanctioned, federal government-supported coal industry-operated rape of Appalachia: mountaintop removal coal mining.

H/T to Crooks and Liars.

The United States Of BP

I have absolutely no ability to comprehend what is wrong with our government regarding the BP oil problem. At first, when the right wing nutjobs were calling it "Obama's Katrina," I was like, ok, here goes the noise machine again.

But the total failure of Obama and his gang to do ANYTHING is just mind boggling.

A fisherman who was hospitalized after becoming ill while cleaning up oil in the Gulf of Mexico has filed a temporary restraining order in federal court against oil company BP.

[snip]

In his affidavit, Wunstell described his experience at the hospital.

"At West Jefferson, there were tents set up outside the hospital, where I was stripped of my clothing, washed with water and several showers, before I was allowed into the hospital," Wunstell said. "When I asked for my clothing, I was told that BP had confiscated all of my clothing and it would not be returned."

And doesn't this sound eerily familiar to this?“

But perhaps the greatest disappointment stands at the breached 17th Street levee. Touring this critical site yesterday with the President [Bush], I saw what I believed to be a real and significant effort to get a handle on a major cause of this catastrophe. Flying over this critical spot again this morning, less than 24 hours later, it became apparent that yesterday we witnessed a hastily prepared stage set for a Presidential photo opportunity; and the desperately needed resources we saw were this morning reduced to a single, lonely piece of equipment. The good and decent people of southeast Louisiana and the Gulf Coast — black and white, rich and poor, young and old — deserve far better from their national government.

-----

Increased national attention was on the Gulf Coast yesterday when President Obama made a visit to assess the oil spill response effort. An official in Jefferson Parish, Louisiana, is reporting that BP “bused 400 cleanup workers into Grand Isle” — at a rate of $12 an hour — to be there when Obama arrived.

I could go on and on with the comparisons, but we've been hearing and seeing the incompetency of both BP's and our government's reaction to this oil problem for more than a month now.

I'll just close with this from PBS, which is a pictorial of the damage to the wildlife in the region.

It's enough to break your heart.

Someone PLEASE Do Something About BP

According to two surviving crew members of the Deepwater Horizon, oil workers from the rig were held in seclusion on the open water for up to two days after the April 20 explosion, while attorneys attempted to convince them to sign legal documents stating that they were unharmed by the incident. The men claim that they were forbidden from having any contact with concerned loved ones during that time, and were told they would not be able to go home until they signed the documents they were presented with.

Unbelievable! And a double whammy on Americans if they are awake -- a corporation AND an oil drilling company. Spinning from the moment the disaster hit, and they haven't stopped.

In refusing to rely on BP's data on the toxicity of dispersants, Jackson said, "I'd rather have my own scientists do their own analysis."

Finally! The Obama administration has been so lame as to let the samples taken from the ocean to be analyzed for the extent of the oil in the sea, be sent to a facility that, um, shall we say, works for BP! At the time the original order went out, I believe only one city manager said he was sending it to his own lab and not BPs. Good for him. And it's taken the Obama administration what, over a month now, to actually start throwing temper tantrums because of the slow actions on the part of BP.

Actually, it seems more like Congress is waking up. Obama is still sleepwalking through this catastrophe.

Sad Saga Of The Drill, Baby, Drill Crowd

Crude oil sits on the surface of the water that has leaked from the Deepwater Horizon wellhead in the Gulf of Mexico near New Orleans, Louisiana. An estimated leak of 1,000 barrels of oil a day are still leaking into the gulf. (Photo by Chris Graythen/Getty Images)


Gulf oil spill begins to reach land
(Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images)

Scientists are finding enormous oil plumes in the deep waters of the Gulf of Mexico, including one as large as 10 miles long, 3 miles wide and 300 feet thick in spots. The discovery is fresh evidence that the leak from the broken undersea well could be substantially worse than estimates that the government and BP have given.

[snip]

The plumes are depleting the oxygen dissolved in the gulf, worrying scientists, who fear that the oxygen level could eventually fall so low as to kill off much of the sea life near the plumes.

[snip]

BP has resisted entreaties from scientists that they be allowed to use sophisticated instruments at the ocean floor that would give a far more accurate picture of how much oil is really gushing from the well.

“The answer is no to that,” a BP spokesman, Tom Mueller, said on Saturday. “We’re not going to take any extra efforts now to calculate flow there at this point. It’s not relevant to the response effort, and it might even detract from the response effort.”

That last part made me laugh. Of course, not in the funny, he ha, manner, but in the ironic chuckle, that head tilting sort of acknowledgment, that "duh" they are not going to let anyone near the spill that would reveal the truth of the matter! Read the full article.

Oh, and how's that oily, drilly thing working out for ya, baby?

The Fearful John Shimkus

According to The Wonk Room:

According to a new analysis by the Union of Concerned Scientists UCS), Americans can “significantly reduce carbon emissions and lower energy bills” by implementing green economy legislation. In a two-year study, UCS analyzed the economic, emissions, and energy effects of their recommendations for clean energy, clean vehicles, and global warming standards. The UCS approach of comprehensive energy, transportation, and cap policies is similar to that in the American Clean Energy Security Act, released in draft form earlier this month by Reps. Henry Waxman (D-CA) and Edward Markey (D-MA). The analysis finds that by 2030, net household savings will reach $900 a year, while oil use drops 6 million barrels a day and global warming pollution is cut in half.

(see graphic here).

However, one of our illustrious congresscritters has a problem with this, and said this about cap-and-trade programs to limit carbon emissions:

I think this is the largest assault on democracy and freedom in this country that I've ever experienced. I've lived through some tough times in Congress -- impeachment, two wars, terrorist attacks. I fear this more than all of the above activities that have happened.

So Rep. John Shimkus (R-IL) fears a greener planet more than 9/11, the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and the impeachment of Bill Clinton? Well, I did need a good laugh this morning, and now I got one.

Plastic Shopping Bags On The Decline

From Chris in Paris over at AMERICAblog:

Fortunately retailers joined the program and took action before the government was forced to step in. The reported 26% drop in plastic bags handed out is a move in the right direction. You see these hideous plastic bags scattered around the world in parks, in trees and bushes in the sea, under the sea, you name it.

I stopped using paper or plastic bags a while back, and bought four cloth shopping bags, which I keep in my rather large purse. I double them up, so in reality, it's like just two bags.

I am more European in my shopping habits. For instance, I never, or rarely, say I am going "grocery shopping." Instead, I refer to "going to the market." I also shop every day or every other day, preferring to purchase what I need for the day or two days, rather than shop once a week and load up on a shitload of stuff. I got into that habit about 15 years ago when I moved from central Hollywood to the Miracle Mile area, and parking was a bitch. Once I would get home from work and find a spot to park, that was it. I wasn't leaving the spot! So, I began walking the four blocks to the market (Ralphs, which was an Albertson's before it was a Ralphs -- everything here turned into a Ralphs -- there are at least three Ralphs markets within a two mile range of where I live). Even back then, I would request paper instead of plastic, unfortunately not for environmental purposes, but because paper was easier to carry than the lopsidedly loaded plastic bags. About a year ago, I stopped with the paper as well, and just bought the cloth bags that I "reuse" every time I shop, whether at a drug store, convenience store or the market. Some markets like Ralphs give you "green points" off of your bill if you bring in your own bags.

Now, if I could only find something for my trash containers that was biodegradable and not plastic.