Midway through a volatile primary season that has seen the electorate move right and a spate of incumbents knocked out, Republican voters are placing a clear bet that a roster of outspoken, anti-government candidates, many new to the national stage, can ride the country's anti-Washington mood to victory.
Anti-government candidates seeking to enter government, running as Washington outsiders to go to Washington and be inside the government. There's logic there somewhere, but it escapes me.
Friday, June 11, 2010
Wednesday, June 9, 2010
Ankle-deep oil
Mousse-like oil on beach at Alabama-Florida line
By MELISSA NELSON
Associated Press Writer
PENSACOLA, Fla. -- Emergency officials on the western Florida Panhandle went into battle mode late Wednesday as heavier oil washed on shore at the Alabama state line and threatened inland bayous and estuaries in both states. Escambia County officials said the substance was ankle deep Wednesday on the beach outside the landmark FloraBama Lounge, on the Florida side of the line on Perdido Key. Signs were posted Wednesday on Perdido Key warning people to stay out of the water, but the beaches there remain open.
County Commissioner Gene Valentino said booms that the county had placed along its inland estuaries and waterways were being locked into place late Tuesday and would be monitored overnight. "Through the weekend, significant portions of the plume will be pushed into the Panhandle," County Commissioner Gene Valentino said.
Coin-sized tar balls began washing up along the shoreline from Perdido Key through Pensacola Beach and the Gulf Islands Seashore National Park seven days ago. On Wednesday, thicker oil was first reported near the state line and health warnings were posted on six miles of Florida beaches. Valentino said the county would do everything to protect the beaches and inland waters and deal with reimbursement from the federal government and BP later. "We will be deploying all of our resources," he said.
Earlier Wednesday, Greg Hall had watched dolphins off Pensacola Beach as he took his daily walk. The lifelong resident of the area is monitoring the beach for county officials. He was among the spotters who reported the first tar balls Friday. "Those guys are too close to shore, I haven't seen them that close in before. The water is pretty shallow there," he said as watched the dolphins. Moments later, the dolphins turned toward deeper water. Hall was relieved. "I snorkel a lot and I know there is so much more to this," he said. "How does BP compensate for an entire ecosystem?"
Florida officials were angry at officials in Alabama for giving late word on the heavy oil breaching booms designed to protect inland waterways on that side of the state line. John Temperilli, a contractor with the Washington-based James Lee Witt Group for crisis management, said the Coast Guard failed to relay the message. "No one bothered to notify us when they first intercepted the oil coming through the pass. Perdido Pass is our back door," he said.
By MELISSA NELSON
Associated Press Writer
PENSACOLA, Fla. -- Emergency officials on the western Florida Panhandle went into battle mode late Wednesday as heavier oil washed on shore at the Alabama state line and threatened inland bayous and estuaries in both states. Escambia County officials said the substance was ankle deep Wednesday on the beach outside the landmark FloraBama Lounge, on the Florida side of the line on Perdido Key. Signs were posted Wednesday on Perdido Key warning people to stay out of the water, but the beaches there remain open.
County Commissioner Gene Valentino said booms that the county had placed along its inland estuaries and waterways were being locked into place late Tuesday and would be monitored overnight. "Through the weekend, significant portions of the plume will be pushed into the Panhandle," County Commissioner Gene Valentino said.
Coin-sized tar balls began washing up along the shoreline from Perdido Key through Pensacola Beach and the Gulf Islands Seashore National Park seven days ago. On Wednesday, thicker oil was first reported near the state line and health warnings were posted on six miles of Florida beaches. Valentino said the county would do everything to protect the beaches and inland waters and deal with reimbursement from the federal government and BP later. "We will be deploying all of our resources," he said.
Earlier Wednesday, Greg Hall had watched dolphins off Pensacola Beach as he took his daily walk. The lifelong resident of the area is monitoring the beach for county officials. He was among the spotters who reported the first tar balls Friday. "Those guys are too close to shore, I haven't seen them that close in before. The water is pretty shallow there," he said as watched the dolphins. Moments later, the dolphins turned toward deeper water. Hall was relieved. "I snorkel a lot and I know there is so much more to this," he said. "How does BP compensate for an entire ecosystem?"
Florida officials were angry at officials in Alabama for giving late word on the heavy oil breaching booms designed to protect inland waterways on that side of the state line. John Temperilli, a contractor with the Washington-based James Lee Witt Group for crisis management, said the Coast Guard failed to relay the message. "No one bothered to notify us when they first intercepted the oil coming through the pass. Perdido Pass is our back door," he said.
Monday, June 7, 2010
Spill Shows a Profit
After reading article by Curtis C. Ebbesmeyer by last week in Journal, I took out and have started reading his book, Flotsametrics and the floating world
Saturday, June 5, 2010
Under seige
Within five minutes I took calls for these two books; if they are to be believed, we are in deep trouble. Deep doo-doo.
American conspiracies : lies, lies, and more dirty lies that the government tells us / by Jesse Ventura, with Dick Russell.
Jesse Ventura takes a systematic look at the gap between what the American government knows and what it reveals to the American people. According to this former Navy SEAL, former pro wrestler, and former Minnesota governor, the media is complicit in these acts of deception. For too long, the mainstream press has refused to consider alternate possibilities and to ask the tough questions. In Ventura's eyes, the murder of Abraham Lincoln and the assassinations of the Kennedys and Martin Luther King, all need to be re-examined. Was the CIA involved in Watergate? Did the Republican Party set out to steal two elections on behalf of George W. Bush? Has all the evidence been presented about the 9/11 attacks? And finally, is the collapse of today's financial order and the bailout plan by the Federal Reserve the widest-reaching conspiracy ever perpetrated?
All the way back to Lincoln? Yop.
The first not-alone-nut: John Wilkes Booth -- The big-money plot to overthrow FDR -- The Kennedy assassination: biggest cover-up of my lifetime -- The assassination of Malcolm X -- The murder of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr -- The assassination of Robert Kennedy -- Watergate revisited: the CIA's war against Nixon -- The Jonestown Massacre -- "October surprise": the first stolen election -- Your government dealing drugs -- The stolen elections of 2000, 2004 (and almost 2008) -- What really happened on September 11? -- The Wall Street conspiracy -- The secret plans to end American democracy.
Booth was part of a conspiracy. What does that have to do with 9/11? One this for sure, the Guv'ner will make money from this book.
The grand Jihad : how Islam and the Left sabotage America.
A second patron just asked for it (3.15pm); I was writing this blog entry as he did.
Claims that the United States is under attack from Islamist forces that have united with the American Left, under the leadership of Barack Obama, to overthrow the Constitution and end democracy.
The writer is a former prosecutor, and he seems to have lost his marbles.
Jesse Ventura takes a systematic look at the gap between what the American government knows and what it reveals to the American people. According to this former Navy SEAL, former pro wrestler, and former Minnesota governor, the media is complicit in these acts of deception. For too long, the mainstream press has refused to consider alternate possibilities and to ask the tough questions. In Ventura's eyes, the murder of Abraham Lincoln and the assassinations of the Kennedys and Martin Luther King, all need to be re-examined. Was the CIA involved in Watergate? Did the Republican Party set out to steal two elections on behalf of George W. Bush? Has all the evidence been presented about the 9/11 attacks? And finally, is the collapse of today's financial order and the bailout plan by the Federal Reserve the widest-reaching conspiracy ever perpetrated?
All the way back to Lincoln? Yop.
The first not-alone-nut: John Wilkes Booth -- The big-money plot to overthrow FDR -- The Kennedy assassination: biggest cover-up of my lifetime -- The assassination of Malcolm X -- The murder of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr -- The assassination of Robert Kennedy -- Watergate revisited: the CIA's war against Nixon -- The Jonestown Massacre -- "October surprise": the first stolen election -- Your government dealing drugs -- The stolen elections of 2000, 2004 (and almost 2008) -- What really happened on September 11? -- The Wall Street conspiracy -- The secret plans to end American democracy.
Booth was part of a conspiracy. What does that have to do with 9/11? One this for sure, the Guv'ner will make money from this book.
A second patron just asked for it (3.15pm); I was writing this blog entry as he did.
Claims that the United States is under attack from Islamist forces that have united with the American Left, under the leadership of Barack Obama, to overthrow the Constitution and end democracy.
The writer is a former prosecutor, and he seems to have lost his marbles.
Not a spill, a gusher
In the early 1990s, thousands of desperate Cuban balseros cast themselves adrift on rafts, tires and any other makeshift craft that could float. They shoved off even from the island's far shore, entrusting their lives to the powerful Loop Current that pushes north from the Yucatán, rounds Cuba, rushes through the Florida Straits, and spills into the Atlantic, seeding the Gulf Stream. Many drowned or perished from thirst. But others survived to wash up on Florida's east coast.
Now the Loop Current is in the news once again. Oil from the Deepwater Horizon gusher—please don't call it a "spill"—has begun trickling into the current, prompting anxious speculation as to how much will be swept up and where it will be borne. Only a small quantity of surface oil has been seen entering the current, but much more swirls below. Given the complex natures of both petroleum and marine waters, these underwater plumes will be extremely difficult to measure and track.
Language used belies prejudices and lack of information. To call what is happening in the Gulf of Mexico a spill is erroneous. A spill is to cause or allow (a liquid substance) to run or flow from a container.The Exxon Valdez disaster was a spill, for petroleum spilled out of the ship. This current disaster is not a spill.
Oil is far from a homogenous substance, even before it gets emulsified by waves, currents and sun. It's a complex mixture of liquids, gases and waxy solids that vary widely in weight and solubility. Ocean waters are likewise not uniform; they are made up of distinct water slabs differentiated by temperature and salinity, and propelled by wind and currents. When I first began using monitoring equipment—newly available in 1967—I tracked these water bodies-within-bodies and dubbed them "snarks" because of their elusiveness.
Expertise has not been brought to bear; BP has been allowed to run the show. More than a month ago an academic ascertained that much more than 5,000 barrells a day were gushing out into the Gulf; no one made much of that. Even the media let it go, too busy with finding the sensational.
Some eddies veer west, bouncing along the continental shelf at about three miles per day toward Texas. By late last month, according to mapping by Mitchell A. Roffer's highly regarded ocean forecasting service, this process had already begun: Tentacles of oil were extending west past the Loop Current. One eddy appears to have broken off and begun crawling to Texas. It may entrain escaping oil deep underwater for several months, relieving the Florida, Alabama and Mississippi coasts and the upper water column where most marine life lies.
Now the Loop Current is in the news once again. Oil from the Deepwater Horizon gusher—please don't call it a "spill"—has begun trickling into the current, prompting anxious speculation as to how much will be swept up and where it will be borne. Only a small quantity of surface oil has been seen entering the current, but much more swirls below. Given the complex natures of both petroleum and marine waters, these underwater plumes will be extremely difficult to measure and track.
Language used belies prejudices and lack of information. To call what is happening in the Gulf of Mexico a spill is erroneous. A spill is to cause or allow (a liquid substance) to run or flow from a container.The Exxon Valdez disaster was a spill, for petroleum spilled out of the ship. This current disaster is not a spill.
Oil is far from a homogenous substance, even before it gets emulsified by waves, currents and sun. It's a complex mixture of liquids, gases and waxy solids that vary widely in weight and solubility. Ocean waters are likewise not uniform; they are made up of distinct water slabs differentiated by temperature and salinity, and propelled by wind and currents. When I first began using monitoring equipment—newly available in 1967—I tracked these water bodies-within-bodies and dubbed them "snarks" because of their elusiveness.
Expertise has not been brought to bear; BP has been allowed to run the show. More than a month ago an academic ascertained that much more than 5,000 barrells a day were gushing out into the Gulf; no one made much of that. Even the media let it go, too busy with finding the sensational.
Some eddies veer west, bouncing along the continental shelf at about three miles per day toward Texas. By late last month, according to mapping by Mitchell A. Roffer's highly regarded ocean forecasting service, this process had already begun: Tentacles of oil were extending west past the Loop Current. One eddy appears to have broken off and begun crawling to Texas. It may entrain escaping oil deep underwater for several months, relieving the Florida, Alabama and Mississippi coasts and the upper water column where most marine life lies.
“I simply misremembered it wrong”
It happened again. Another candidate for office is struggling to reconcile misleading statements he made about his record in the military. This time, it is Representative Mark Kirk, a Republican from Illinois running for the Senate, apologizing for misleading statements he made about, among other things, serving in the first Iraq war and in Kosovo.
“I simply misremembered it wrong,” he said, a remark that was blared across the front page of The Chicago Sun-Times on Friday. A few weeks ago, it was Richard Blumenthal, the Connecticut attorney general and Democratic candidate for Senate, trying to explain misstatements suggesting he had served in Vietnam.
“I simply misremembered it wrong,” he said, a remark that was blared across the front page of The Chicago Sun-Times on Friday. A few weeks ago, it was Richard Blumenthal, the Connecticut attorney general and Democratic candidate for Senate, trying to explain misstatements suggesting he had served in Vietnam.
Friday, June 4, 2010
Big guv'ment? Sure. Not then, but now.
In Criticizing Cleanup, Jindal Finds His Voice is the headline. And this is the picture the Journal runs with the story.
Getty Images - The governor's aggressive stance has helped ratchet up pressure on the federal government.
This is the same government Governor Jindal and other Republicans wanted out of their way so the states and the entrepreneurs they championed could get things done. Yet once BP's gusher sent tens of thousands of barrels of petroleum toward the Louisiana shoreline, the Governor started calling for the same government to come to his state's aid.
Now, Mr. Jindal, an ardent conservative who attacked big government in his rebuttal speech, is demanding greater federal aid.
That was then, this is now, and now is different. Now theorizing has given way to pragmatism.
Getty Images - The governor's aggressive stance has helped ratchet up pressure on the federal government.
This is the same government Governor Jindal and other Republicans wanted out of their way so the states and the entrepreneurs they championed could get things done. Yet once BP's gusher sent tens of thousands of barrels of petroleum toward the Louisiana shoreline, the Governor started calling for the same government to come to his state's aid.
Now, Mr. Jindal, an ardent conservative who attacked big government in his rebuttal speech, is demanding greater federal aid.
That was then, this is now, and now is different. Now theorizing has given way to pragmatism.
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