The Whole Delivery

What is wrong with this country ? A federal judge in New Orleans on Tuesday sided with the oil industry , striking down the temporary moratorium on new offshore exploration and deepwater drilling the Obama administration imposed last month. That judge, it turns out, has in recent years had interests in Transocean—the world's largest offshore drilling company and the owner of the Deepwater Horizon rig—as well as other energy companies engaged in offshore oil extraction. According to the most recently available financial disclosure form for US District Court Judge Martin Feldman, he had holdings of up to $15,000 in Transocean in 2008. He has also recently owned stock in offshore drilling or oilfield service providers Halliburton, Prospect Energy, Hercules Offshore, Parker Drilling Co., and ATP Oil & Gas. Feldman was appointed by President Ronald Reagan in 1983. So this Reagan appointee with ties (at least old ties, at the very least) to the oil industry, rules in favor for ...

That was the key quote, but still a lot of questions. And was really up with that excuse of approving drilling? Anyway, the full text of the speech . The full speech.

After all of that talk and hype, it will have to wait another day : Ugh : HOUSTON — BP had to halt its ambitious effort to plug its stricken oil well in the Gulf of Mexico on Thursday afternoon when engineers saw that too much of the drilling fluid they were injecting into the well was escaping along with the leaking crude oil. A technician at the BP command center said that pumping of the fluid had to be stopped temporarily while engineers were revising their plans, and that the company hoped to resume pumping by midnight, if federal officials approved. The technician, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to brief reporters, said the problem was not seen as serious. "We’re still quite optimistic," he said, but cautioned: "It is not assured and its not a done deal yet. All of this will require some time." Midnight they say is when it will continue.....we shall see.

Photo from the Associated Press To put their workers in such danger, leading to their death, is already enough of a case for these monsters to be incarcerated now. But added intentional negligence on their part adds to the punishment they should have already received . A shocking memo has revealed that British Petroleum admitted to congressional investigators that their decision to ignore warning signs hours before an oil rig exploded led to the disaster in the Gulf of Mexico. Tests indicted that something was wrong on the Deepwater Horizon, yet BP made a "fundamental mistake" in continuing operations, according to the memo released by Rep. Henry A. Waxman (D-Calif.) and Rep. Bart Stupak (D-Mich.). Two hours afterwards, the rig exploded, ultimately killing 11 workers. "The data suggests that the crew may have attempted mechanical interventions," the memo said. "But soon after, the flow out and pressure increased dramatically and the explosion took place....

First, the tweet of the day from yesterday. It is from the invaluable Marcy Wheeler : And from the Philadelphia urban hellhole legend that is Duncan Black : More than that, someone needs to get on the teevee and point out that no, it is not ok for any actor - state, big corporation, or terrorist - to destroy the coastlines and economies of several states. You don't just get to say 'woopsy' and move on. Gigantic fuckups need to have consequences for the perpetrators, even though these days that seems like an amusing notion. Oh so easy, but oh so hard for common sense to be implemented.

Bring in..... Luda De La Soul.... And Obama weekly message.....one month after BP Still though, despite everything, he is still giving the usual centrist stubborn crap : President Barack Obama said on Saturday that offshore oil drilling could only go forward if there were assurances that a disaster like the massive Gulf of Mexico oil spill would not happen again. With frustration growing and political risks looming over the spill, Obama announced former Democratic Senator Bob Graham and former Environmental Protection Agency chief William Reilly would co-chair the bipartisan panel with six months to report back to him. "The purpose of this commission is to consider both the root causes of the disaster and offer options on what safety and environmental precautions we need to take to prevent a similar disaster from happening again," Obama said in his weekly radio and Internet address.

Their favorite phrase they don't even want to embrace anymore : So funny how ridiculous and insane events change an insane party's audacity.

And another one : The U.S. Coast Guard said Friday that a drilling ring has overturned in the Charenton navigational canal near Morgan City, Louisiana. The rig has a 20,000-gallon diesel fuel capacity, and Coast Guard pollution investigators have determined that the rig is not leaking fuel at this time, officials said. As a precaution, 500 feet of containment boom has been deployed around the rig. The Coast Guard has established a safety zone 1,000 yards on either side of the incident. Who needs the real "Black Sea" over in Europe when you can make your own one at home. Touching stuff.

This early in this month from our current President, as reminded to us by Mr. Moulitsas : Ooops. I guess he forgot to say "except when BP conducts them." Let this whole week forever be a reminder with how unnecessarily stupid an idea that Obama Administration made by trying to be centrist by opening up the option to expand offshore drilling. This is what happens when being centrist can cause bad ideas instead of doing the obvious common sensical right thing. Now David Axelrod (Obama's advisor for those who still somehow don't know) said this morning that BP won't be drilling anymore until they know more about the spill. So despite all of this, BP may drill yet again? If that's the case, then may I recommend the Mississippi River for you BP! I might as well recommend that since you somehow haven't been banned from ever drilling again despite ruining numbers of lives along with the environment because of your wonderful spill. Now can you ...