As the government deals with what may prove the worst oil disaster in the history of the country in the Gulf of Mexico, oceanographer and chemical engineer Rush Limbaugh has gone public with his theory that “enviornmental wackos” may be responsible and that pouring oil into the ocean is something that the ocean can handle naturally with intervention by the government. He also insisted that oil spills are natural and should not cause undo concern.
Limbaugh noted “The carbon tax bill, cap and trade, that was scheduled to be announced on Earth Day” and “hardcore environmentalist wackos” were looking for ways to oppose Obama’s plans for more nuclear power and offshore drilling: “What better way to head off more oil drilling, nuclear plants, than by blowing up a rig? I’m just, I’m just noting the timing here.” So here is a glimpse into the mind of Rush Limbaugh: environmentalists fear an oil spill on the coast so, to avoid such spills, they blow up a rig to cause a spill on the coast.
Limbaugh also encouraged the public to stop fearing oil spills and learn to embrace them as natural as the ocean water they pollute: “The ocean will take care of this on its own if it was left alone and left out there. It’s natural. It’s as natural as the ocean water is.”
Presumably, Limbaugh made these statements from Costa Rica where he promised to go if the health care bill was passed, here.
In the meantime, Bill Kristol told Fox News that the problem is that we are not drilling close enough to shore, here.
For the full story, click here.
I just read this interesting article this morning:
NOAA Warned Interior It Was Underestimating Threat Of Serious Spill
by Dan Froomkin (Huffington Post, 5/3/2010)
Excerpt:
National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration officials last fall warned the Department of Interior, which regulates offshore oil drilling, that it was dramatically underestimating the frequency of offshore oil spills and was dangerously understating the risk and impacts a major spill would have on coastal residents.
NOAA is the nation’s lead ocean resource agency, and the warnings came in its response to a draft of the Obama Administration’s offshore oil drilling plans. The comments were Web-published in October by the whistle-blowing group, Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER).
But NOAA’s views were largely brushed aside as Obama went ahead and announced on March 31 that he would open vast swaths of American coastal waters to offshore drilling — a plan now very much in doubt as a blown-out BP well in the Gulf of Mexico spews out an estimated 200,000 gallons of oil daily, for the 13th straight day.
The memo, which NOAA Administrator Jane Lubchenco wrote was based on the agency’s “extensive science, management and stewardship expertise related to oceans, coasts and marine ecosystem” recommended that Interior conduct “a more complete analysis of the potential human dimensions of offshore production.”
NOAA complained that the draft report overstated the safety of offshore oil production by using information on frequency of spills from 1973 to 2004. NOAA pointed out there was a “substantial increase in spill volume in 2005, primarily due to spills associated with Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. Some of the damaged rigs and pipelines damaged during the 2004 and 2005 hurricane seasons continue to have episodic releases, and repairs have not been fully completed.”
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/05/03/noaa-warned-interior-was_n_561615.html
Some things never change!
Shazam
Shahzad, 30, was due to appear in federal court later on Tuesday to face charges of “driving a car bomb into Times Square on the evening of May 1,” officials said. Had the bomb detonated, many people could have died, experts said.
“He’s admitted to buying the truck, putting the devices together, putting them in the truck, leaving the truck there and leaving the scene,” the law enforcement source told Reuters, speaking on condition of anonymity.
“He’s claimed to have acted alone. He did admit to all the charges, so to speak,” the source said, adding that investigators were still looking into his activities during a recent trip to Pakistan.
http://uk.reuters.com/article/idUKTRE6410CK20100504
Whoops yet again. You would think at some point they would get tired of being wrong.
It’s PSA
Time Square Bomber a Tea Party Member?
Mayor Bloomberg, Bomber Was Mad About ObamaCare.
New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg agreed the Times Square car bombing was likely “homegrown”. In an interview excerpt run on Monday’s CBS Evening News, to speculate it could have been placed by “somebody with a political agenda who doesn’t like the health care bill or something. It could be anything.”
Buddha:
I dont think he is fear mongering, more like public service announcement.
You don’t seem to be scared, not one of your traits. I know your type, if your scared you’ll say your scared. 🙂
My but you are a fear mongering lil’ troll today.
Speaking in Pashto, but with English subtitles, Mehsud assures viewers he was not killed in a missile strike or any other way, referring to specific reports of his death as lies and propaganda.
“(Praised be to God), on the 4th day of April 2010, I give good news to the Muslim (world) about being alive and healthy,” Mehsud says in the nearly nine-minute clip.
The second clip is two minutes, 19 seconds long, and has a still picture of Mehsud next to a map of the U.S. showing explosions in three cities coast to coast, according to IntelCenter, a U.S.-based militant media monitor.
The map is not detailed enough to identify which cities.
A voice that sounds like Mehsud’s says the tape was recorded on April 19. Speaking Urdu, he says the group’s main targets from now on are U.S. cities, and that “good news will be heard within some days or weeks.’
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/worldnews/article-1271225/Pakistan-Taliban-leader-alive.html
If they were willing to fly planes into buildings don’t think they wouldn’t be willing to blow up an oil rig.
Correction:
If they were CAPABLE of flying planes into buildings don’t think they couldn’t be capable of organizing to blow up a ship. They already hijack them in large numbers.
It’s estimated that if the bomb went off in time square approximately 4 to 500 people could have been killed or maimed.
It’s also estimated that if the Fort Hood Shooter could have got just one more shot off, he could have killed one more person.
If they were willing to fly planes into buildings don’t think they wouldn’t be willing to blow up an oil rig.
or what, you think 9-11 was a one time event?
This guy could have had something to do with it.
http://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2010/05/03/video_shows_pakistani_taliban_leader_hakimullah_mehsud_alive_threatening_attacks_against_us.html
Seems our officials who claim to be intelligent and work for that office are not so intelligent. They claimed to have killed him in a drone attack several months ago but this new video has surfaced and he’s alive and kickin.
In it Mehsud threatened to retaliate against the United States within a month for the killing of Islamist militant leaders by drones according to a transcript of the video.
Speaking of drone attacks, we all know that the administration has no problem in the use of drone attacks against American citizens who may happen to be of Pakistani decent hanging out with other Pakistani’s.
There’s a new Poll out
Obama drone joke: Was it offensive?
“You have to wonder why in the world the president’s speech writers would think it was a good idea to throw a joke about predator drones into the president’s speech during the White House Correspondent’s Dinner, given that an estimated one-third of drone casualties, or between 289 and 378, have been civilians,” wrote Adam Serwer at the American Prospect.
Voting is still open
http://voices.washingtonpost.com/44/2010/05/obama-drone-joke-was-it-offens.html?hpid=artslot
Maybe it was the Tooth Fairy too, badtroll.
I’ll say this once in simple language since you cannot grasp the concept: Terrorism depends upon ease of access to a target. A wellhead on the sea floor has lots of one thing: lack of easy access.
The likely cause here is still component failure and/or negligence no matter how paranoid you wish to spin it.
Unless your theoretical Paki is also Aquaman.
“Honestly though, I kind of think the oil company did this themselves”
Maybe it was a friend of this guys. Pakistani’s work in the Oil feilds too. 🙂
U.S. citizen from Pakistan arrested in Times Square bomb case
By Anne E. Kornblut, Jerry Markon and Spencer S. Hsu
Tuesday, May 4, 2010; 8:22 AM
“and then nail”
Byron,
Who “enabled” them via graft?
Vicious meet circle.
What you fail to grasp Byron in you analysis of the corporatist/graft/politician loop is causation and the proper relationship between business and government.
The causation is corporate funded lobbyists. The causation is politicians being compliant. But what are the root causes of those behaviors? Simple greed. When the causation is human nature you structure your systems to compensate for weaknesses in human nature – like greed. Otherwise, why bother. You mistake my placing prime causal blame in this loop on the corporations for letting the pols have a walk on their bad behavior. The reason the pols come in second is they are trapped in a system that has been long broken by the corporate funded lobbyists to guarantee they stay attached to the corporate teat. There is a reason people say PAC means “Purchase A Candidate”.
As corporations are creatures of the state, they are subject to regulation by the state no matter how much you protest. Without government, corporations are nothing more than a gang with letterhead. And now that they’ve declawed the regulatory and criminal punishment systems (via lobbyist graft lest you take your eye off the ball again) meant to keep the corporate criminals in check you see an climate in which Exxon (and Goldman and AIG and BP and blah corporatist shitheels blah) commit crimes or create great damage to the public through their negligence and malfeasance and go unpunished.
That is injustice of the highest order.
Methinks you protest too much, Mr. Vested Interest, and your cries of “oh the poor beleaguered corporations!” grows tiresome in the never-ending flow of news of corporate bad action after bad action. The “right to make money” doesn’t trump the right to good governance and many a revolution was started by some nitwit making the mistake that the “right to make money” was prime to society when it was only prime to him. It’s a behavior called greed enhanced with narcissism. It’s sacrificing the world on the alter of ego worship.
We don’t need just more regulation of the offending industries. We need enforcement and we need stiff criminal penalties for bad acting corporate officers to be served in prisons that are anything but of the country club variety. That way when we find the BP or Halliburton weasel who wanted to save a dime so badly they compromised on safety and nail them to the wall, VP, CFO or other alphabet soup not withstanding.
We consumers are the ones who are going to pay for it. Gas prices are going to be outrageous this summer.
Personally, when I heard about it, the first thought that came to mind was that probably someone who worked for the oil company did it as reason to raise prices.
Any way the oil companies can find to raise prices, they will.
Why wouldn’t an environmentalist do it? Lots of those tree huggers want us all to drive little golf cart sized electric cars! They could use this as an example to say, “see, this is why we all need to drive cars made out of aluminum that are the size of golf carts and run on rechargeable Energizer batteries”.
Honestly though, I kind of think the oil company did this themselves. They can write off the lost oil as a business loss and still raise the price of oil for us consumers. Summer’s coming and the timing is just right to raise prices. It’s all about money.
Carlyle:
who let them do that?