I Call Bullshit

The oil is "gone"?

The “vast majority” of crude from BP Plc’s damaged Gulf of Mexico well is gone and the rest is being broken down by waves and bacteria, reducing the threat of further pollution from the largest maritime oil spill, White House energy adviser Carol Browner said.

“The vast majority of the oil has been contained, it’s been burned, it’s been cleaned,” Browner said on CBS’s “Early Show” today. The remaining oil “will weather, it will break down naturally. Mother Nature will do her part.”

Where did it "go"?

Sorry, but there is no possible way that 75% of the oil has been cleaned up, evaporated or broken down especially when the estimate was reassessed just this past Monday to 170 million gallons of oil. How could all that oil be cleaned up when President Obama has been refusing international help because of the Jones Act? Oh, right, that was bullshit too.

And even if we were to take the oil is 75% "gone" talking point at face value, at 170 million gallons spilled, that still leaves 42.5 million gallons out there. As Bob Cesca points out, that's still nearly five times the amount of the Exxon Valdez spill. And you can still find oil there just by turning over a rock. And this doesn't even begin to address the unknown environmental consequences of the possibly millions of gallons of dispersant they used to break up the oil.

Lazy Journalism

You know, I don't envy journalists. If you do your job properly, it can be a difficult task between fact checking and research, multiple sources and looking for the scoop. So imagine my surprise when I saw this from the LA Times:
Mississippi officials blast BP, U.S. government as oil hits coast -
Gov. Haley Barbour condemns a lack of resources; Rep. Gene Taylor is 'dumbfounded' by 'wasted effort, wasted money and stupidity.'

Yes, Heehaw reject Haley Barbour is pointing fingers at the federal government for the lack of response and failure to capture the oil offshore before hitting Mississippi's shores. Rep. Gene Taylor, whom I've written about before regarding the BP disaster, was equally outraged:

At a news conference Monday, Barbour said that "the plan we agreed to with the unified command and BP wasn't being given the resources to be totally effective." As a result, he said, "there continues to be more oil in the [Mississippi] Sound than we have the capacity to deal with, unless we get lucky."

Speaking at the same event, Rep. Gene Taylor (D-Miss.), whose district lies on the coast, said he flew over the spill Saturday and "was dumbfounded by the amount of wasted effort, wasted money and stupidity that I saw."

I scanned the rest of the article for mention of Barbour's dismissal of the oil spill, tar balls and it's non-toxicity. I looked for quotes from Gene Taylor saying the oil would evaporate within a week. But I saw nothing. The two actors were being reported on, were shaking their fists at the evil government, but there was no perspective. There was no ironic twist being that said actors shrugged their shoulders two months ago, with Barbour especially whining about the media making such a big deal about the spill it would hurt his state's tourism.

So I e-mailed Molly Hennessy-Fiske and Richard Fausset, the authors of the article.

Subject: Re: Mississippi officials blast BP, U.S. government as oil hits coast

From: [Broadway Carl]

Date: June 29, 2010 10:31:39 AM EDT

To: richard.fausset@latimes.com, molly.hennessy-fiske@latimes.com

Dear Mrs. Hennessy-Fiske and Mr. Fausset,

Perhaps a little perspective on Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour and Rep. Gene Taylor would have behooved your article of June 29th, "Mississippi officials blast BP, U.S. government as oil hits coast," such as the fact that for weeks, Barbour has been downplaying the oil spill in an attempt to get tourists to go to the beaches, or that he's had 6,000 National Guard troops at his disposal to prepare for the oncoming oil slick and has only deployed 58. Or that's he's called the oil not unlike a food mousse and not poisonous. Now he's singing a different tune that the oil has reached his shores.

Or Rep. Gene Taylor, who said the oil would evaporate within a week during the first few days of the disaster, also calling it chocolate mousse in consistency.

For these men to dismiss this catastrophe weeks ago when it first began and now turn their flippancy to blaming and finger pointing is absolutely disgusting and should be called out.

[Broadway Carl]

Mr. Fausset was kind enough to respond:

From: Fausset, Richard 

Subject: RE: Mississippi officials blast BP, U.S. government as oil hits coast

Date: June 29, 2010 4:54:12 PM EDT

To: [Broadway Carl]

Mr. [Broadway Carl]:

Hi there. I agree that I should have mentioned Barber's earlier downplaying of the spill. My bad.

Richard Fausset

LA Times Atlanta bureau

That's it. No update on the web article. Sigh. At least he answered his e-mail.

Time For Jindal to Shut His Cakehole

So we've been hearing Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal whine and moan about the federal response to the oil spill crisis in the Gulf. But what has Bobby been doing?

Gov. Bobby Jindal's message has been loud and clear, using language such as "We will only be winning this war when we're actually deploying every resource," "They (the federal government) can provide more resources" and "It's clear the resources needed to protect our coast are still not here."

But nearly two months after the governor requested - and the Department of Defense approved the use of 6,000 Louisiana National Guard troops - only a fraction - 1,053 - have actually been deployed by Jindal to fight the spill.

Governor Skippy really needs to work on governing more and accusing less. Soooo not ready for prime time.

UPDATE (10:10pm): Well now we know why Jindal has only deployed one sixth of National Guard troops available to him for help with the Gulf clean up. He was too busy authoring and declaring a Statewide Day of Prayer.

JINDAL 2012!

I ♥ Joe Biden

He may stick his foot in his mouth on a regular basis, but this response is a big, fucking deal. And I can't imagine that most of the country doesn't feel the same way.



There's something about Joe Biden that makes me feel he's more than just a politician. He gaffes because he cares. He wears his heart on his sleeve and comes across as a regular guy.

(H/T Bob Cesca)

Bachmann In Headlights in the No Spin Zone

Kudos to Bill O'Reilly for truly having a "No Spin Zone" moment with Michele "Crazy Eyes" Bachmann and taking her to task for her idiotic remarks in categorizing President Obama's set up of the BP $20 billion escrow account to help with claims of Gulf coast victims as a"shakedown" and "extortion."



Bachmann keeps repeating that she is worried about who will administer this account. By now, we all know that Ken Feinberg has been chosen for the job, the same Feinberg that took care of payouts for the 9/11 victims. Perhaps Bachmann was too busy mudslinging to hear that bit of information. But if Feinberg was okay with Bachmann previously, why is she worried about it now? Oh, right. We have a Democrat in the White House now. And a Democratic majority in Congress. And in her twisted, feeble thing in her head that constitutes a brain, it's okay if you are a Republican.

Oh, and Michele? It's the "Democratic" Party, and the "Democratic" president, not "Democrat" you twit.

GOP Defends BP! WTF? Rep. Joe Barton Apologizes To Hayward

I was out for most of the day today came back to watch Tweety in an understandable lather over Rep. "Texas" Joe Barton, ranking member of the Energy and Commerce Committee actually apologizing to BP CEO Tony Hayward, saying he was embarrassed by the "shakedown" those poor multi-millionaire criminals had to endure at the White House yesterday.

No, really. He apologized. He said he was "ashamed."

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

What is with this knee-jerk reaction of the Republican Party to steer 180° in the opposite direction of anything, ANYTHING this administration does as an automatic reaction? And to defend one of the most vile, corrupt oil companies in the process as these hearings continue to reveal!  Does Barton and his ilk think it's actually a good idea to try and win votes purely on Obama hate regardless of the issue? Calling BP's $20 billion escrow account for claims by thousands who've lost their livelihood due to the disaster a "shakedown"? Michele "Crazy Eyes" Bachmann calling it a "redistribution of wealth"?

Keep it up, Republicans.

Tragic

From The Guardian:

Thoughts On The First Oval Office Address

After watching the President's address on the Gulf disaster, I was a little surprised to hear the disappointed reaction and frustration of the talking heads. And I don't mean Fox News; they will do whatever it takes to tamp down anything positive about Obama. I mean the supposed Obama Channel, MSNBC.

While this disaster could have been capitalized into a JKF style, mission to the moon moment in terms of turning our country towards clean energy, a moment that in my opinion was disappointingly missed, I realized half way through the speech, that what I was hearing wasn't directed at me. It wasn't directed at the political junkies and cable news addicts of our country. It was directed at the other 300 million people of this country. People who's sole interaction with news is about 30 minutes of a local newscast, perhaps two or three of those minutes directed at the Gulf crisis. And in that sense, I feel it was a "damned if you do, damned if you don't" situation for the President.

MSNBC talking heads Chris Matthews and Keith Olbermann ripped into President Obama for not being more specific in his "battle plan" for the Gulf. But if he had gone into greater detail, my guess would be that the criticism would have been that he's too professorial or too wonky. Had he revealed a plan to take BP into temporary receivership, as former Secretary of Labor Robert Reich has recently suggested, cries of "SOCIALISM!" would have drowned out all other points of his speech.

But what did we really want him to say? That BP is going to pay for everything? He said that.

...But make no mistake: we will fight this spill with everything we’ve got for as long it takes. We will make BP pay for the damage their company has caused. And we will do whatever’s necessary to help the Gulf Coast and its people recover from this tragedy.

Did we need him to mention something about prosecutions for possible crimes? Attorney General Eric Holder's already on it. Do we want a tough talker to make us feel better and then moan when he promises something that he knows (and we know) can't be delivered? Or do we want a smart pragmatist  who doesn't always shoot from the hip and later regret it?

He spoke to us like adults and didn't sugar coat the current situation.

...Because there has never been a leak of this size at this depth, stopping it has tested the limits of human technology. 

...The millions of gallons of oil that have spilled into the Gulf of Mexico are more like an epidemic, one that we will be fighting for months and even years. 

...But we have to recognize that despite our best efforts, oil has already caused damage to our coastline and its wildlife. And sadly, no matter how effective our response becomes, there will be more oil and more damage before this siege is done.

It would have been a fist pumping moment for liberals and progressives to see a tough talking, no shit taking, mad as hell and not gonna take it anymore Barack Obama beating the crap out of BP, their CEO Tony Hayward, and small government hypocrites who are now crying the government isn't doing enough. But that's not who Barack Obama is, and I wonder why we keep getting surprised when he doesn't do something the way we'd like him to do it.  And when he does say something out of the ordinary in a rare display of frustration or anger, he's vilified for it as well.

But I am also tired of the impatience (I'm guilty of it myself sometimes) of expecting the last 8 years of a clusterfuck government and 30 years of deregulation and Reaganomics to be cleaned up in 18 months.

If Obama turns out to be a one term president, it will be because we have become a country of instant gratification and not figured out that that's not how the world works. You'd think that after the "wanted dead or alive" failed promises of the past decade, we'd know better.

Behold The Alternative!

The next time someone says how disappointed they are in President Obama for his "lack of leadership," I would suggest a little dose of reality and remind them of how things could have been...



... and then punch them in the throat.

Just Let Nature Take Care Of It

Here's a picture taken from a NASA satellite of the Gulf coast.  That bright sheen you see is the oil reflecting the sun back into space, as opposed to the waves diffusing the light as it does in the lower left corner of the photo.

Funny how I haven't heard the "let it biodegrade naturally" crowd lately. I suppose they've crawled back under their rocks.

President Obama's Weekly Address - June 5, 2010

Speaking from Louisiana on the Oil Spill

Hey, Rep. Gene Taylor! Hey, Brian Martin!

Just rainbows and chocolate milk, huh? This will all evaporate within a week, huh?



You guys have been awfully silent these last couple of weeks since those asinine statements. What say you now? You should resign from office just for being that fucking stupid.

(H/T Bob Cesca)

President Obama's Weekly Address - May 22, 2010

BP Oil Spill Independent Commission

Rainbows and Chocolate Milk, eh Rep. Taylor and Lackey Brian Martin?

Thick oil pools in the waters along Louisiana’s coast. Governor Bobby Jindal toured oil impacted marshlands by boat on May 19, 2010, near Pass a Loutre.



Eerily silent from the Taylor camp. Perhaps Brian Martin has seen the error of his ways. Still waiting for an apology.

Hey, Congressional Aide Brian Martin...

... where are your smart ass comments now?


Still defending Rep. Taylor's "rainbows and chocolate milk" bullshit, or have you decided that this is actually a serious disaster? Oh, but I forgot, you "know a lot more about what is going on in the Gulf than" I do.

Asshole.

Hey Rep. Taylor, How's That Evaporation Thing Workin' Out For Ya?

A novel but risky attempt to use a 100-ton steel-and-concrete box to cover a deepwater oil well gushing toxic crude into the Gulf of Mexico was aborted Saturday after ice crystals encased it, an ominous development as thick blobs of tar began washing up on Alabama's white sand beaches.

The setback left the mission to cap the ruptured well in doubt. It had taken about two weeks to build the box and three days to cart it 50 miles out then slowly lower it to the well a mile below the surface, but the frozen depths were too much for it to handle.

Last week, Rep. Gene Taylor (D-MS) had the bright idea of letting nature take its course. After all, he thought that if we left it alone, it would all naturally "evaporate within a week." Of course, Taylor ignored the fact that the BP spill wasn't over and still leaking 5,000 barrels of oil a day, but hey, leave it alone and all will be well, right? I even received comments from one Brian Martin (a Taylor aide who didn't disclose his affiliation with Taylor) who ridiculed me - called me a moron - and actually accused me of wanting this oil spill for political purposes because I said the issue wasn't over since the leak was and is still active.

"You are both morons... You should be mocking all the Chicken Littles who predicted that the coastal areas of 4 states would be covered with heavy crude by now... You... are cheering for the oil spill because you want this to end very badly for the coastal environment for political reasons."

Hey, Brian?  How's that evaporation thing workin' out for ya? You can contact Brian Martin at 202-225-5772 and ask him the same question.  Maybe he'll be a little more contrite, but I highly doubt it.

How Much Bullshit Do You Have To Spew For Fox News To Call You Out?

Karl Rove knows. Turdblossom, architect of the "Permanent Republican Majority" while "not laying the blame at the foot of the White House" for the BP spill, conveniently has a timeline showing their allegedly slow response. He doesn't want to call it "Obama's Katrina" but in essence is making a timeline comparison, with his cute little dry erase boards, to, oh I don't know, some other horrific disaster.

Well, Fox News host Jane Skinner isn't buying it. Yes, a Fox News host. Watch Rove as he says he's not playing the blame game while playing the blame game. Unfortunately for Rove, Skinner has actual facts to rebut the bullshit.



Once again, Karl, under who's direction does the Coast Guard act? Uh, the US government? I love Rove's use of the phrase, "rewriting history." You'd think he'd get this right considering he's a master at rewriting history.

(H/T Think Progress)

Rep. Gene Taylor Aide Calls Concerned Citizens "Morons"

Earlier today, I blogged about Rep. Gene Taylor (R-MS), his comment about the BP oil spill looking like rainbows and chocolate milk and mocked it for it's flippancy. A silly thing to say because at the very least it sounds juvenile and dismisses the seriousness of the situation in the Gulf, and at worst it's a deliberate attempt to mislead his constituency and downplay the event. Frequent reader Wolfe Tone added that we were on the same wavelength in the comments section.

I soon thereafter received this comment:

Brian Martin said...

You are both morons. Rainbow sheen = broken down to the point of evaporation and degradation.

Chocolate milk = emulsified oil-water mix being broken down by waves and sun.

So those are useful descriptions from a 13-year Coast Guard veteran.

You should be mocking all the Chicken Littles who predicted that the coastal areas of 4 states would be covered with heavy crude by now.

Not thinking anything of it except that it was some random wingnut, I responded with the fact that he failed to address the spill being far from over with a conservative estimate of 200,000 gallons leaking per day, destruction of the local fishing industry, the wildlife and environmental repercussions, and other assorted things that right wingers don't care about. I also hoped he'd come back to apologize when the inevitable coastal areas actually would be "covered in crude."

My friend, Wolfe Tone however, was a little more curious and in a matter of a few mouse clicks was able to obtain a Washington DC internet service provider, Google the names and VOILÁ! Brian Martin works for Rep. Gene Taylor. And he called us morons because we understand the gravity of the situation, unlike his boss.

The next time Brian Martin decides to respond to blogs criticizing the Representative who employs him, he should have the sense to either A) use a pseudonym or B) have the professional courtesy of full disclosure. It kind of puts your credibility in question. ...Moron.

Obama's Katrina -UPDATED

The Rude Pundit is spot on.

Tell you what, motherfuckers, when dead people are left to rot in the sun because of the incompetence of the federal government, when corpses are floating in the streets, when the President passively ignores the pleas of the governors of Gulf Coast states, when entire neighborhoods have been physically destroyed, when the federal government strands tens of thousands of people without food or water, when the federal government starts to blame the local governments, when the President praises the work of a failed, incompetent bureaucrat while a major city rots, then you can say that this is Barack Obama's "Katrina."

It only took a couple of days before I started hearing the conservative pundits and assholes in general tried to dub the BP accident and subsequent oil spill clusterfuck "Obama's Katrina." Even Alex Witt-less on the "Obama News Network," also known as MSNBC, was asking if the federal response to the oil leak disaster was fast enough.

Question to Witt: Does the US Coast Guard work for British Petroleum or are they under the direction of the federal government and Commander in Chief, President Obama? Because the Coast Guard was there during the accident looking for survivors and leading in the rescue effort, you stupid twit. And coordinated efforts have been overseen by the government from the beginning. Yes, BP is in the middle of that, but are under government oversight to make sure the response has been cohesive.

I'm willing to bet that states' rights proponents were the first to run to the federal level for help or blame the feds for a lack of response, neither reaction being rational for their ideology. See Jindal, Bobby.

Adding... Stay tuned for the sabotage conspiracy to take wing, right wing that is. Of course, the President had said just recently that we need to expand oil drilling while we begin a transitional phase to other sources of energy in order to ween ourselves off of the Middle East teet, so why would this be sabotage? Wouldn't he have said the opposite so he can have an "I told you so" moment? Fucking wingnuts...

UPDATE (7:30pm): See what I mean? CONSPIRACY!!!



Great job, Neil Cavuto! But I wouldn't expect anything different. Seriously, does "Heckuva Job, Brownie" really have any credibility? It's not like we're talking about Arabian horses.

Rainbows and Chocolate Milk

Really, folks. What's the big deal? Doesn't everyone like pretty rainbows and yummy chocolate milk?

"This isn’t Katrina. It’s not Armageddon,” [Republican Missisippi Rep. Gene] Taylor said. “A lot of people are scared and I don’t think they should be."

He described the spill as a light, rainbow sheen with patches that look like chocolate milk.

Mmmm... chocolate milk. Delicious. And his remedy is to let nature take its course and let the oil "break up naturally." Trust Taylor. He said it'll "evaporate within a week."

This is an elected official, folks.

CORRECTION: Rep. Taylor is a Democrat. Sad, huh?