The Cover-up Is Worse Than The Slick

The Times tells us that British Petroleum and the Obama Administration are limiting media access to the Gulf oil spill.  Hard to believe Team Obama is that dumb - do they really want the media to segue from "Obama Inept" to "Obama Dishonest"?

Here is an example of the Feds in action:

Journalists struggling to document the impact of the oil rig explosion have repeatedly found themselves turned away from public areas affected by the spill, and not only by BP and its contractors, but by local law enforcement, the Coast Guard and government officials.

...

Last week, Senator Bill Nelson, Democrat of Florida, tried to bring a small group of journalists with him on a trip he was taking through the gulf on a Coast Guard vessel. Mr. Nelson’s office said the Coast Guard agreed to accommodate the reporters and camera operators. But at about 10 p.m. on the evening before the trip, someone from the Department of Homeland Security’s legislative affairs office called the senator’s office to tell them that no journalists would be allowed.

“They said it was the Department of Homeland Security’s response-wide policy not to allow elected officials and media on the same ‘federal asset,’ ” said Bryan Gulley, a spokesman for the senator. “No further elaboration” was given, Mr. Gulley added.

Mr. Nelson has asked the Homeland Security secretary, Janet Napolitano, for an official explanation, the senator’s office said.

And some BP-bashing:

A pilot wanted to take a photographer from The Times-Picayune of New Orleans to snap photographs of the oil slicks blackening the water. The response from a BP contractor who answered the phone late last month at the command center was swift and absolute: Permission denied.

“We were questioned extensively. Who was on the aircraft? Who did they work for?” recalled Rhonda Panepinto, who owns Southern Seaplane with her husband, Lyle. “The minute we mentioned media, the answer was: ‘Not allowed.’ ”

The Times also mentions a cover-up on the scientific side; Tim Dickinson in the Rolling Stone had more on that, including this:

From the start, the administration has seemed intent on allowing BP to operate in near-total secrecy. Much of what the public knows about the crisis it owes to Rep. Ed Markey, who chairs the House Subcommittee on Energy and the Environment. Under pressure from Markey, BP was forced to release footage of the gusher, admit that its early estimates put the leak as high as 14,000 barrels a day and post a live feed of its undersea operations on the Internet – video that administration officials had possessed from the earliest days of the disaster. "We cannot trust BP," Markey said. "It's clear they have been hiding the actual consequences of this spill."

But rather than applying such skepticism to BP's math, the Obama administration has instead attacked scientists who released independent estimates of the spill. When one scientist funded by NOAA released a figure much higher than the government's estimate, he found himself being pressured to retract it by officials at the agency. "Are you sure you want to keep saying this?" they badgered him. Lubchenco, the head of NOAA, even denounced as "misleading" and "premature" reports that scientists aboard the research vessel Pelican had discovered a massive subsea oil plume. Speaking to PBS, she offered a bizarre denial of the obvious. "It's clear that there is something at depth," she said, "but we don't even know that it's oil yet."

Scientists were stunned that NOAA, an agency widely respected for its scientific integrity, appeared to have been co-opted by the White House spin machine. "NOAA has actively pushed back on every fact that has ever come out," says one ocean scientist who works with the agency. "They're denying until the facts are so overwhelming, they finally come out and issue an admittance." Others are furious at the agency for criticizing the work of scientists studying the oil plumes rather than leading them. "Why they didn't have vessels there right then and start to gather the scientific data on oil and what the impacts are to different organisms is inexcusable," says a former government marine biologist. "They should have been right on top of that." Only six weeks into the disaster did the agency finally deploy its own research vessel to investigate the plumes.

They told me if I voted for McCain that the scientific process would be politicized...

Comments

[EnerGeoPolitics]

seems pretty clear now the the link is at least 28000 barrels per day, and probably more.

http://energeopolitics.com/2010/06/09/so-how-much-oil-is-flowing-from-dwh/

[EnerGeoPolitics]

er, make that "the leak"

[Danube of Thought]

I invite TM and everyone here--hell, everyone in the world--to consider what RobertGibbs had to say about corporate governance, and in particular about the responsibilities and authorities of CEO's and boards of directors. It seemed appalling to me. Will it escape media attention and discussion?

[Ignatz]

--Will it escape media attention and discussion?--

Almost undoubtedly.

[narciso]

Is the Pope German, DoT, well I may be too jaundiced on the matter, but Sgt Schul. .
Gibbs, one of the four senior advisors according to FT, facepalm all around

[dk70]

President Obama doesn't need to talk to the CEO. He's taken responsibility.

[jimmyk]

Will it escape media attention and discussion?

I doubt there are many in the White House press corps(e) who know much more than Barry and Robert about private corporations.

[Sara (Pal2Pal)]

I want an explanation as to why there are millions of feet of boom sitting in a warehouse in Maine that has been offered and it is being ignored. And... why the offer of boats that are designed to remove oil slicks and even more boom and sandbar building equipment from the Netherlands got a "thanks but no thanks" response?

Bobby Jindal has been begging for sand burm equipment and booms since the first week. It is almost as if Obama and his sicko minions wanted this to turn into an ecological disaster, only they were too incompetent to think beyond their political goal to the actual reality of the spill and the consequences.

I hold BP responsible for the accident and the initial disaster, but I hold the government responsible for the ecological mess. Let BP concentrate on how to stop the spilling oil while others work on the ecology. In other words, I think each entity should have been working on the WHOLE problem. Let BP handle what they know best and the local, state, and feds handle their end. I think BP has been doing their best at trying to cap the leak, I think the locals and the states have been doing their best, but they are as stymied by the feds as BP probably is.

The a$$ that needs kicking is the ass that made the decision not to go get all those millions of feet of boom or take the Netherlands up on their offer. Probably some dumb fed reg.

[Porchlight]

It is almost as if Obama and his sicko minions wanted this to turn into an ecological disaster, only they were too incompetent to think beyond their political goal to the actual reality of the spill and the consequences.

Remove "It is almost as if" and I think you've summed it up perfectly, Sara.

[Porchlight]

Will it escape media attention and discussion?

Allahpundit was on it, for what it's worth. Probably the rest of the media will continue to ignore it.

Re: the sand berms, WSJ has this article suggesting they won't work. Although a timeline is given, there is no explanation of why there was a month's delay in granting Jindal's request. However, it's clear from the report that the government response to the spill is totally chaotic on all levels.

[bunkerbuster]

Sara opines: ``I want an explanation as to why there are millions of feet of boom sitting in a warehouse in Maine that has been offered and it is being ignored.''

It is not being ignored. BP made an inspection of the goods and decided to pass. maybe you should read a newspaper now and then...

from Pajamas media:
``Packgen, the company that made the Maine oil booms, says BP controls who the boom suppliers are going to be — and they have yet to approve Packgen’s design.''

Alas, Pajamas is utterly unprofessional, so they don't bother to get BP's side of the story. Somehow I doubt that will make any difference to Sara...

[Extraneus]

It is almost as if Obama and his sicko minions wanted this to turn into an ecological disaster, only they were too incompetent to think beyond their political goal to the actual reality of the spill and the consequences.

Good summary, Sara.

[daddy]

I personally hope Obama's crusade against BP causes massive heartburn in Britain.

I am sick of their media guys painting American's as stupid etc and lauding us for electing this socialist retard. If he destroys their BP pensions, tough s#$%! Deal with it. Get your heads out of your arse and see what your Euro scorn and biased, sophisticated BBC's have helped get elected in this country. T'is a bitch to see that your vaunted yearning for a 1 world government actually has real negative consequences for yourselves.

I am tired of going overseas and being hated for a decent American named George Bush who definitely didn't deserve it, and will now be happy to go over there and be hated for our embarrassment of a Nobel Prize President who most assuredly does deserve it. Bring on the hatred Limey's, I'm looking forward to it.

[BobS]

Doesn't it seem that blaming BP is really the ONLY and PRIMARY policy of the Obami? As they are so wedded to further big government regulation as it is, their own philosophy dictates their current posture - one of inaction.

[Captain Hate]

daddy, I thought some of the UK press (*not* the Beeb) were much more skeptical about the jugeared dunce's purported awesomeness during the campaign than our domestic shills.

[They've been fooled worse than we.]

The Brits are catching on, daddy; no need to add insult to injury. They are badly damaged by the 'Common Market' and by the greens. Peter would be heartbroken and angry and in his necessary mode.
=================

[No wonder she hangs on. God, how tragic for her.]

Note Dhimmi Prince Charles latest madness.
=================

[Janet]

All the left has is blame and hate. No answers, just blame and hate.
Drudge has up that a BP gas station had it's windows shot out.
So BP is hated and bankrupted...but there sits the mess, not cleaned up.
The successful are hated and stolen from...but there sits the poor, no better off.
The left thrives off chaos and hatred. Taking power while groups hate and fight one another.

[Jack is Back!]

Well, they may have found the source of the leak and tried to do something about it. Can't say the same for the water main break in Mass earlier this spring. Who will The Won blame there - Menino? Yazstremski? Bobby Orr?

And who the hell is to blame for Nashville's floods? Glenn (even though he lives in Knoxville)? Dolly Parton? Al Gore?

Then you have Arkansas and Blanche Lincoln winning against all odds and $10 million in union dues. Who to blame there? The tea party? Bill Clinton? Sam Walton?

How about Barbara Boxer's hair? Who the hell can we blame there? Mr. Blackwell? Harvey Mudd? Arnold?

The list goes on and on. Somedays it just makes my brain hurt.

[Pilatory Inferno.]

Yep, it's enough to make sad sad.
================

[How's her family?]

Whoa, how soon we forget. I meant it's enough to make bad sad. My excuse? Hmmmm. So sue me.
===============

[Janet]

LUN is the Facebook tribute page for bad. Some new pictures are up.

[Enter the Maelstrom. More after I fasten in to the lifeboat.]

I suspect, as Mel suspects, that there is dirty work afoot at the crossroads. I think Beyond Petroleum was supposed to be a big partner with this administration and the UN in the so-called green energy future. The vagaries of climate have revealed the paucity of truth behind the whole AGW and carbon encumbering paradigm and politicians will be scrambling for several years. Look at Lindsey Graham and Kevin Rudd.

Fact is(don't you love that one), no one knows what's going on.
=======================

[The ironies confuse me. Please, wipe the glass. More vision, more vision.]

And Omigod, if BP gets taken out, what an object lesson for the British and the rest of the world, for belief in that failing paradigm.
=========================

[narciso]

It's like Sam Rothstein (Frank Rosenthal) in Casino, Harrison (Reid) had taken his money
and stayed at his club, but when it came right
down to it, he pretended not to know him when
the license renewal came up

[daddy]

You guys are correct. I am painting the Brits with too broad a brush. In action I hope and believe that I am a better ambassador for America than I let on here.

Something I notice is that I never and almost never does my crew go out overseas and vociferously state our views about this or that Leader or policy etc. But overseas I constantly find that Europeans feel completely free, once they figure out I'm a Yank, to come up and immediately tell me what a dunce Bush was and what a moron Palin is, and what a genius Barack is, etc. And generally I'm in Cambridge or Paris, so hearing that tripe there makes sense. That is generally about the level of their knowledge of America, but those are the talking points they have absorbed and thats what they spout. It's peculiar in that I never feel or have never felt a need to pontificate on my opinions of their leaders to them at all, whereas I suppose from a generation of CNN International and BBC they feel it is their snotty obligation to repeat the conventional left wing wisdom to me, their long lost unsophisticated American cousin. In previous years I generally rolled with it, but in my old age I now take it as an opportunity to go to town. So thats what my point was. That the more Barack and his annihilation of British Petroleum continue, and the more these guys feel the consequences of Barack in their wallets, the better it is for my opportunity to re-educate them.

In my opinion there are Tea Party'ers all over Britain---they just don't know it yet. But Obama is slowly helping them community organize, and I'm glad to contribute to that process on a barstool in Cambridge or Frankfurt or Paris.

[squaredance]

Of course they want this to turn in the largest disaster possible.

They can sandbag "drill baby drill", punish a GOP voting south, and drum up enough "public support" to set back energy development for at least a decade. They may even manage to get cap and trade through om this

The GOP and the right should have stood up to this nonsense weeks ago (and here is a perfect entry point for Jindal, BTW).

A sober dose of the fact and a clear slicing and dicing of the real agenda of the Democrats is called for. We have already missed the window for that.

As usual, the GOP lacks all manhood. They let the MSM set the agenda and the narrative.

They would rather see the country destroyed than have to bear being lambasted by the media.

[Melinda Romanoff]

daddy-

I always ask two questions when confronted with that tripe, when I'm overseas. (And has spouse looking for the nearest exit, expecting a fight.)

If you could start your dream business due to unlimited demand from your customers, who would you have to pay to do it? And, how much would it cost you?

Stops them every time, because, at that moment, they realize they aren't free at all.

[Pagar]

"who know much more than Barry and Robert about private corporations."

IMO, the entire leftist regime couldn't run a lemonmade stand. We're told that the Obama administration has taken control of the oil spill situation and yet we are told that BP controls who provides the boom material. Obviously, the leftists/Obama have not taken control and don't give a hoot about what happens to America.

[daddy]

Good points Melinda,

I'll absorb those.

What I've found is that in the US, when I now get hit with some guy with a clipboard asking me to add my signature to this or that proposition or amendment etc, I now ask immediately and loudly, "Will this increase the size of Government, or will it decrease the size of Government." And I keep pushing it loudly until I get an answer. Then I ask for particulars. And I have noticed that when I ask it that way, people around me take notice of the answer. We are frequently gullible for this or that nice sounding cause, but when it gets broken down into the different but more important question of whether it will increase the size of government, suddenly the niceties carry less sway.

When I collected Tax cap signatures last year I was happy to announce that it would reduce the size of government right up front. That was basically my overall argument. Decrease the size of Government.

[Janet]

As usual, the GOP lacks all manhood. They let the MSM set the agenda and the narrative.

They would rather see the country destroyed than have to bear being lambasted by the media.

I really agree with this. That is why Palin, Christie, Brewer, Bachmann,...are so refreshing. That is why I loved Cheney and Rumsfeld. These people didn't care what the MSM thought or did. The MSM could go to hell, and they forged ahead with their ideas...I am starved for that kind of leadership.

[Pofarmer]

This won't hurt a bit.

BP eyes showdown with US govt on liability-BP source
LONDON
Wed Jun 9, 2010 5:28pm EDT
Stocks

BP Plc
BP.L
372.60p
-18.95-4.84%
6:01am CDT

LONDON June 9 (Reuters) - Oil major BP (BP.L) believes it may be heading for a showdown with the White House over ever- increasing demands that it cover costs related to the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, a BP source said on Wednesday.

Stocks | Global Markets

"At some point a line has to be drawn," the source said.

Earlier on Wednesday, U.S. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar told a Senate hearing he would ask BP to repay the salaries of any workers laid off because of the six-month moratorium on deepwater exploratory drilling imposed by the U.S. government after the spill.

BP has said it will pay for the clean-up and direct damages to those affected by the spill, such as fisherman. But the source said the moratorium was a government decision, and so the costs related to it were a different matter.

The company declined comment.

Salazar's comments helped push BP's New York-listed American Depositary Receipts down 15 percent on Wednesday. [ID:nN08105101]

[daddy]

Janet,

Don't leave out this girl, ">http://www.kristiforcongress.com/meet-kristi"> Kristi Noem.

Another great looking, very smart Republican lady, who just won her Primary in South dakota and who needs our publicity and support.

Chris Christie for President!

[Now I'm torn between getting in the lifeboat and tilling the garden.]

Big day today, the Senate votes on Murkowski's cap on the EPA. That's some pretty ugly stuff PoF.
=================

[Melinda Romanoff]

Po-

That's partly why I was writing that bit last night.

[Pofarmer]

That's partly why I was writing that bit last night.

Can't. Keep. Up.

[Jack is Back!]

daddy,

Take it from me, do not feel you have to shy away from standing up for your own principles be they moral, ethical or political when overseas. When it comes to Bush, I tell my French, Belgian and English relatives, my Italian and Scottish friends and my Arab ex-associates that as far as I am concerned the only thing a President is really responsible for is to protect our country. Bush did that, period. End of story.

Also, the Brits aren't as bad as BBC makes them out to be in terms of Anti-Americanism. The Telly, The Times, Daily Mail and News of the World are basically conservative and have the largest circulation. Sky is becoming more and more the channel more and more Brits turn to as they become digital. The BBC is an anachronism as is The Guardian and Independent. They are floundering just like WAPO and the Slimes.

Another rebuttal to outright BS (since most of them get their news from tainted left-wing sources they don't question) is this "based on what facts?". Just challenge them politely. "I haven't seen that in our papers or TV". "Where did you hear or see that." It usually throws them for a loop.

[RightwingHippyChick]

For those who gloat at the Brits losing money:

Brits (mainly pension funds) hold 40%, the US hold 39% of the company.

Apart from the above, it really is unproductive to allow anyone to make a country vs. country issue out of this accident and 'Acts of Obama(tm)' when all that happens is that we're hurting our own interests and fellow citizens on either side.

Here's a video what we're doing to ourselves: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jZsG28JcRg8

[bgates]

The first line of that Reuters story is a very useful template:

____ believes it may be heading for a showdown with the White House over ever- increasing demands that it cover costs related to ____.

It has an interesting idea, too, though I would target it differently. I'd like to ask Ken Salazar to personally pay for the people laid off as a result of his decision. I'd like Henry Waxman to personally pay a stipend to anybody who's been laid off as a result of increasing fuel costs over the past 20 years. I hope somebody remembers to ask where all the bank accounts are before this gang of crooks gets strung up on the lampposts.

[High Crimes and Misdemeanours.]

PoF, there is a suspicion that the White House warned people to dump BP stock and bonds.
================

[Jane]

The MSM could go to hell

Don't you mean: The MSM should go to hell?

[Danube of Thought]

Minus 17 at Raz today.

Obama held hostage, Day 52.

[Melinda Romanoff]

kim-

It's not a suspicion.

[Sue]

When BP CEO Tony Hayward comes to Washington, DC, next week, he will almost certainly be summoned to meet with President Obama at the White House, sources tell ABC News.

I knew he read Sarah's facebook. He can't help himself. She is under his skin.

[First, inform all the lawyers; then kill them.]

Yeah, I know, Mel. Whadda we do about it?
=============

[Melinda Romanoff]

Somebody blabbing would make me feel better. If they go after a certain bank holding company again, it'll happen.

[bio mom]

I have heard from people who know more than I do about such things that the BP lawyers from day one have had a plan to split the company into two or three separate units, walling off most of the assets from the one they will continue to call BP and that will take the financial and legal hits that are coming. The other unit/s will be "taken over" by other oil giants and all will share in the eventual profits of the new larger oil companies. Something like that. I would have felt some resentment about this earlier in this saga but observing the overreaching and tyrannical behavior of this administration, I am no moving more and more to the B.P. side.

[Melinda Romanoff]

uh-oh. memeorandom link. DFTT, everyone.

[ROA]

Gibb’s understanding of corporate governance is consistent with Obama’s profits/earnings ratio.

[The Gulf of Mexico misses him. That's a yawning need.]

Part of the irony is that Bush/Cheney was an extremely effective CEO/COO affair. Too bad the megaphone shorted out.
=====================

[Thank you, Billy Boy, for Blanche.]

Heh, this cover-up's worse than Slick's.
=======================

[Fred Thompson]

Of course NOAA has been co-opted...it started back when they started flogging the weather data for NASA

[kg2v]

" Scientists were stunned that NOAA, an agency widely respected for its scientific integrity, appeared to have been co-opted by the White House spin machine. "NOAA has actively pushed back on every fact that has ever come out,"

Are we talking about Oil, or climate data here? Pretty much obvious that NOAA has been political for a decade or more

[Thomass]

"They told me if I voted for McCain that the scientific process would be politicized..."

Speaking of which, didn’t the government throw a guy off their panel of experts because he wrote some articles critical of 'diversity' admissions at colleges? I have not researched it / double checked it, but that was mentioned a couple weeks ago too.

[GRW3]

Who told them they could not fly over the spill? Unless they work for the FAA they can't say jack about where you can fly. Even the military goes through FAA to restrict airspace. BP contractors don't have that authority.

[Mustang0302]

How about Barbara Boxer's hair? Who the hell can we blame there?

The dead hoss that donated it?

[Mustang0302]

GRW3,

The FAA established a huge TFR over the gulf.

[JonBurrows]

The press takes it up the exit shute, and based on their non-complaints, must be liking it.

[mjn]

The TFR appears to only extend up to 3000 ft AGL (above ground level). I don't see anything to stop someone from flying above this level. Maybe I'm missing something in the details.

Need to be careful to watch out for political grandstanding.

http://tfr.faa.gov/tfr_map_ims/html/reg/scale3/tile_3_4.html

[Sara (Pal2Pal)]

It is not being ignored. BP made an inspection of the goods and decided to pass. maybe you should read a newspaper now and then...

Aaaah, so it is Sara's fault because bunkerbuster doesn't think she reads enough newspapers, because, of course, the MSM has some direct line to the Almighty.

The point BB is that doing nothing is why we are seeing the disaster unfold to unprecedent levels. Of course, laying blame and pointing fingers are the only solutions Obumbler and the dems understand. Actually getting down and doing something not so much.

Via Patterico:

What Obama should have done after the BP Oil Spill:

“Three days after the explosion of the Deepwater Horizon in the Gulf of Mexico, the Dutch government offered to help.

It was willing to provide ships outfitted with oil-skimming booms, and it proposed a plan for building sand barriers to protect sensitive marshlands.

The response from the Obama administration and BP, which are coordinating the cleanup: “The embassy got a nice letter from the administration that said, ‘Thanks, but no thanks,’” said Geert Visser, consul general for the Netherlands in Houston.

Now, almost seven weeks later, as the oil spewing from the battered well spreads across the Gulf and soils pristine beaches and coastline, BP and our government have reconsidered.

U.S. ships are being outfitted this week with four pairs of the skimming booms airlifted from the Netherlands and should be deployed within days. Each pair can process 5 million gallons of water a day, removing 20,000 tons of oil and sludge.

At that rate, how much more oil could have been removed from the Gulf during the past month?”

The Obama Administration also turned down Dutch plans and assistance to dredge sand bars to protect fragile coastlines, plans it is now trying to implement. And unlike the American government, the Dutch government actually has a plan:

“BP has been inundated with well-intentioned cleanup suggestions, but the Dutch offer was different. It came through official channels, from a government offering to share its demonstrated expertise.

Many in the U.S., including the president, have expressed frustration with the handling of the cleanup. In the Netherlands, the response would have been different, Visser said.

There, the government owns the cleanup equipment, including the skimmers now being deployed in the Gulf.

“If there’s a spill in the Netherlands, we give the oil companies 12 hours to react,” he said.

If the response is inadequate or the companies are unprepared, the government takes over and sends the companies the bill.”

[Rob Crawford]

The TFR appears to only extend up to 3000 ft AGL (above ground level). I don't see anything to stop someone from flying above this level. Maybe I'm missing something in the details.

Hard to get detailed photos from over a half mile in the air.

[Melinda Romanoff]

Sara-

Patterico is just getting around to Dian Chu's piece that was making the rounds yesterday, FYI.

Still a good pick up, but hers is the original source for the info.

[Melinda Romanoff]

Rob-

Can I borrow your SR-71?

Or the U-2?

Either will do, thank you.

[Sara (Pal2Pal)]

Melinda:

Thanks for the link to the Dian Chu piece. Everyone should read it.

[narciso]

The Aurora with the scramjet is what they are using now, I saw it on JAG it must be true

[Clarice]

Conrad Black has an interesting take on the consequences of Turkey's volte face .
http://article.nationalreview.com/print/?q=YTUwZTk2YzkyMWNiMzE1ZmUzZmNkMmM0NDY0ZTIwYTQ=>Big opening for Israel and the West

[Rob Crawford]

Conrad Black has an interesting take on the consequences of Turkey's volte face .

I saw the part about giving Russia half of the Ukraine in exchange for their "cooperation" and wondered what he was smoking, and how many rubles it cost his supplier. The Russians won't settle for half the Ukraine.

[Mustang0302]

The TFR appears to only extend up to 3000 ft AGL (above ground level).

Need to be careful to watch out for political grandstanding.

mjn,

I read it the same as you, but it was in fact the FAA and not BP that established the restriction (that was GRW3's question).

Grandstanding? Oh, yeah...unrestricted, from the surface to FL600+...

[narciso]

They are kind of patient on that score, in the LUN, and this leaves off the acquisition of Khadjibey, Obessa, around the First Turkish war

[bhollis]

Isn't it obvious what's going on at the NOAA? Their leader, Lubchenco, is really this man!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trofim_Lysenko

[Mustang0302]

Rob,

Hard to get detailed photos from over a half mile in the air.

If the MFM really cared, they'd send out for the best...Photoshopped by Reuters!

[Threadkiller]

Obama’s last “ass kicking”

”But I don't want the folks who created the mess to do a lot of talking. I want them to get out of the way so we can clean up the mess. I don't mind cleaning up after them, but don't do a lot of talking”

That worked out well. Now he has a real mess.

[rse]

Apparently BP is being pressured to hire the homeless and currently unemployed so you have people sitting on pristine beaches in Fla with clear water and a pack of 12-15 very rough looking people shuffling along the shoreline.

Disconcerting doesn't begin to describe it.

Someone who had done the hazmat training said it wasn't my imagination.

I guess manipulating the emp numbers through the census is no longer enough.

[BR]

In case it hasn't been mentioned yet, "The chief executive of BP [Tony Hayward] sold £1.4 million of his shares in the fuel giant weeks before the Gulf of Mexico oil spill caused its value to collapse."
Telegraph 6/5/10.

[Melinda Romanoff]

BR-

I would imagine that would be the maximum fraction that he is allowed to sell for that time period. The FSA would have very strict rules on insider sales, and they would have to be alerted to and approve the sale.

And I do mean it's a fraction of what he most likely holds. And that would be only 700K worth after the pounding the stock has taken. His net worth is down by half, I would guess. That is taking a hit.

[jg]

This administration kept secret the potential for this environmental disaster by making an exemption from the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) which required that the public be informed before a drilling permit was issued.
It is now responding to this crisis just like it is creating new jobs during our economic crisis; by expending massive amounts of valuable resources in way that will not accomplish the goal in any significant way.
Oil containment relies upon the simple principal that oil floats. But oil introduced into the water as a high velocity jet one mile below the surface breaks up into very small globules. Big globules rise fast, but these small globules rise very very slowly allowing time for currents to carry it far from the source and spread it over a huge area. The public should have been informed of this possibility.
So this administration’s enormously expensive response will be ineffective and of little benefit.

[BR]

Hi Mel! Would a third of his holdings be normal? You're more expert on these things, so I value your info. Would he have sold on a US exchange or London, and would they have the same insider rules?

The article says:

"Tony Hayward cashed in about a third of his holding in the company one month before a well on the Deepwater Horizon rig burst, causing an environmental disaster."

"His decision, however, means he avoided losing more than £423,000 when BP’s share price plunged after the oil spill began six weeks ago."

"Since he disposed of 223,288 shares on March 17, the company’s share price has fallen by 30 per cent."

*****

The very concept of insider trading would have huge implications - that the oil spill was "rigged" so to speak.

[BR]

Ha, wonder if he shorted the other two-thirds.

[Clarice]

BRR, I think that's a silly suggestion and I rather suspect you do to.

[Danube of Thought]

What good would it do him to rig the spill?

Brian Wilson of Fox News has latched on to the Jones Act fiasco. Haven't started playing the tivo'd Bret Baier, so I don't know if he did anything on air yet.

[Ignatz]

--the Jones Act fiasco--

IMO this is the most outrageous act of this whole mess, including anything BP did.

[Danube of Thought]

this is the most outrageous act of this whole mess

If it's truly as described, I strongly agree--it seems as though it could be a tipping point in the public's assessment of the whole thing. But thus far I think we have only that one Coast Guard officer saying that the Jones Act was the reason the offers were turned down. I suppose these morons will be frantically trying to invent alternative reasons.

[bunkerbuster]

When indentity conservatives stop demanding more, faster Big Government to deal with the ecological disaster, will they go straight back to insisting on smaller government and the idea that government screws up everything it touches? lol...

[Ignatz]

---I suppose these morons will be frantically trying to invent alternative reasons.--

Admiral Sestak probably advised against it from his unpaid position on the Pres's board.

[Ignatz]

--When indentity conservatives, blah, blah, blah...."--

I wish you were just smart enough to realize what a moron you are.

[Rick Ballard]

Tie the Jones Act buffoonery in with the phony drilling moratorium (per Extraneous) in order to get the full scope of activity by BOzo's Crisis Creation Team.

Watcha trying to draw our attention from BOzo? The utter failure of your economic team? Your total incompetence as chief executive? Your banal corruption in trying to buy Senate seats?

C'mon, BOzo, you can tell us - which of your screw ups is this supposed to hide?

[Danube of Thought]

For my part, I'm not demanding more government at all. I'm just ridiculing the one we have--and having a high old time doing it. (The Jones Act, for example, is not what one would call a creature of the private sector.)

Colossal, high-profile failures of big government can be expected to serve a fine pedagogical purpose. But in the short term the comedic one will do just fine.

[daddy]

Ah, the wonders of Big Government.

I'll have to fact check but I believe Glenn Beck just said on his radio show that the advertising budget for the US Census just increased by 2 and a half times from its initial estimated budget.

Not certain, will try to track it down, but reading this Big Government story Runaway">http://biggovernment.com/gopelka/2010/06/05/runaway-census-cost-is-frightening-preview-of-true-obamacare-price-tag/">Runaway Census Cost Is Frightening Preview of True Obamacare Price Tag tends to give credibility to what I think I heard Beck report.

[Clarice]

Betcha those ad agencies will work for special prices for ACORN, Dem candidates and their friends.

[narciso]

This seems to be the right thread for this in the LUN

[glasater]

As an anecdote--my nephew's wife had been retired from census work and a day later rehired...

[Pagar]

Not only does Big Government report runaway
costs, but also serious problems with overcounts of the homeless.

IMO, no intelligent 5 yr old who has been homeschooled by conservative parents would hire any of those in charge of the US census to inventory the lemons in the youngster's lemonade stand. They simply cannot be trusted to produce accurate numbers.

Not a single number produced by the 2010 census will be believable. Those numbers will be some of the most expensive and useless numbers in the world.

,

[Clarice]

The police in Bogota are investigating the disappearance of two young women there at the time Joran was playing the casinos in Colombia.
http://www.rnw.nl/english/article/colombia-police-investigate-van-der-sloot-over-missing-girls>such a nice boy

[Danube of Thought]

The majestic wonders of big government have all been laid out plainly for us for a long time. F.A. Hayek, George Stigler, James M. Buchanan, Milton Friedman.

They were right; the government-loving dopes were wrong. And now as the sappy European model collapses right in front of us, the modern Democratic party rushes pell-mell into...the European model.

But what the hell--dopes provide us with much of the humor in life. It would require a heart of stone not to laugh at the hapless Obama squatting down on a beach to look at a tar ball. Oh, this is rich!

[Clarice]

Drudge reports Oman is going to meet with the CEO of BP after all. Someone must have reminded him he's not community organizing any more.

[Clarice]

NBC, msnbc.com and news services
updated 58 minutes ago
LIMA, Peru - As prosecutors in Peru prepared charges against Joran van der Sloot in the strangling death of a 21-year-old woman, police told NBC News on Thursday the Dutch man admits knowing the location of the remains of missing U.S. teen Natalee Holloway in Aruba.

Van der Sloot remains the lone suspect in Holloway’s disappearance — exactly five years to the day before Stephany Flores was killed in Peru.

Police sources told NBC News van der Sloot is now willing to tell authorities in Aruba where to find the Alabama teenager’s remains.

____

Then what will Greta do?

[Jane says obamasucks]

The man only reacts. The liberal media says "go to the gulf", he goes to the gulf. The liberal media says "be emotional", he talks about kicking ass. The media notes that he has never spoken with tony haywood, he decides to talk to him.

He's an idiot being led by the nose.

[Clarice]

Speaking of idiots, I'm thinking of writing something and want to credit the JOM'er who came up with "What would Ashton Kutcher say". Who was the wit who coined that please?

[Danube of Thought]

According to Obama his own bad self, shouldn't he be meeting with the chairman of the board. After all, the CEO doesn't really do anything, right?

Living in a dream world...

[Clarice]

Come noe, DoT, he's new diplomacy has brought the Iranians to their knees.