To say the clean up and revitalization of the fisheries of Louisiana is important is an understatement. The chemical dispersant needs to be monitored for its dilution with ocean waters and how it is going to be removed.
Options For High-Speed Rail Discussed Again
Officials Envision Train Between B.R., N.O., Beyond
POSTED: 12:21 pm CDT July 16, 2010
UPDATED: 12:43 pm CDT July 16, 2010
NEW ORLEANS -- With the south Louisiana economy taking one hit after another, an economic engine could be on the horizon, in the form a high-speed rail line along the Gulf Coast.
Some of the best railroad minds in America are in New Orleans this week talking about high-speed rail, because they believe it will work here. A high-speed train between Baton Rouge and New Orleans has been discussed for decades, but now there is a sense of urgency to see it become a reality.
"It depends on us. I think we can see more progress in the near future with the mayors of the two cities coming together," said state Rep. Michael Jackson of Baton Rouge.
It could be just what the Crescent City needs, proponents say.
"We stand to gain a huge economic development project. We stand to gain a transportation-oriented development along the corridor between Baton Rouge and New Orleans," Jackson said.
Funding for the project has always been the biggest stumbling block....
Saturday, July 17, 2010
Bring the troops home.
The U.S. Army has released new statistics indicating a record number of suicides occurred in the month of June. (click title to entry - thank you)
C0IN is not a legitimate strategy to any war. It causes conflict within the soldier. Any soldier should have a 'clear strategy' and that is not happening. I am not blaming anyone in the military, not even the Secretary of Defense. COIN was a 'last chance effort' for a failed war strategy to allow a President to stay in office. It was a 'think tank' answer, not one centered on the mental health of soldiers. The military has simply been doing its job. It is time to speak truth to power. The soldiers need to come home.
...NATO says five of its troops have been killed in improvised-bomb attacks in southern and eastern Afghanistan.
Three soldiers died in separate attacks Saturday, and NATO officials said a single explosion killed two others on Friday.
Two of the casualties were British troops fighting in Helmand province; two others were identified as Americans, and NATO did not disclose the nationality of the person killed in the third fatal bombing on Saturday.
Roadside bombs, also known as improvised explosive devices (or IEDs), are a major cause of troop deaths in Afghanistan....
http://www1.voanews.com/english/news/Four-NATO-Troops-Killed-in-Afghanistan-98662424.html
...U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton leaves Washington Saturday on a week-long, four-nation, trip to South and East Asia. She will attend the Kabul conference aimed at shoring up the Afghan government of President Hamid Karzai.
Clinton will join foreign ministers from dozens of countries from around the world including neighboring Iran at the Kabul conference.
It is the largest international meeting in Afghanistan since the 1970's and is intended to generate support for Mr. Karzai's plans to build security and good governance, and reintegrate reconcilable elements of the Taliban into government security forces.
The United States has supported the Afghan leader's effort to try to draw from the battlefield Taliban members who renounce violence and pledge allegiance to the government, but it has been less enthusiastic about efforts at talks with senior Taliban leaders....
http://www1.voanews.com/english/news/asia/Clinton-Beginning-Trip-to-South-and-East-Asia-98634329.html
The Obstructionist Republicans. Our troops are just part of the 'NO Agenda' for the RNC.
...If Congress doesn’t act on the fiscal 2010 request for supplemental war funding, Defense Department employees may not get paid, Morrell said during a news conference.
Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates is disappointed that Congress did not pass the supplemental spending bill before its Fourth of July break, Morrell told reporters.
“He’s very concerned about the predicament that puts us in,” he said. “And in order to assure that war operations are not interrupted, the services will now have to begin cash-flowing operating costs for war activities using their base budgets.” This means that the services will begin borrowing money from fourth-quarter accounts to pay for current obligations, but even that won’t be enough, he added.
“We project that certain Army and Marine Corps accounts will run dry in August,” Morrell said. “So we urgently need Congress to pass the supplemental before members leave town for the next break in August.”
In the meantime, he added, the department is obligated to begin planning what to do if Congress does not pass the spending measure. “Needless to say, all of this is extraordinarily disruptive to the department,” he said....
http://www.defense.gov/news/newsarticle.aspx?id=60024
Earth's delicate atmospheres.
"It could be that we're underestimating the effects [of carbon dioxide] somehow. It could be because there were some physics that we're missing in the region of the atmosphere below the thermosphere, which quickly affects the thermosphere," he said.
The researchers say they will continue to monitor the upper atmosphere, which is already rebounding.
"So we're probably going to work in the next couple of years to try and unravel this," Emmert said.
Earth has limits. A near collapse of an atmospheric layer is not a minor issue. No one listens.
$550 million is no joke, but, to realize it could be a drop in the bucket to a group of banks that disregard ethics and morality; it is a little scary.
Protestors jeer Goldman Sachs chairman Lloyd Blankfein as he prepares to face US Senators over the banking crisis. Photograph: Jim Young/REUTERS
For those seeking greater satisfaction out of the loss of homes and the exploitation of The American Dream, look to Europe.
.. .Last Thursday, Goldman agreed to pay a $550m fine to settle US regulators' claims that the bank misled investors in (click title to entry - thank you) a mortgage-backed security. Goldman admitted that its marketing materials were incomplete, because they failed to state that the same third party that helped choose the assets had taken a bet against them.
But governments have also been shocked at the emergence of past transactions between Goldman and Greece and Italy, where products the bank helped to sell aided both in hiding government debt. Greece, which used Goldman in a bond sale this year, is practically at war with the bank. A sharp contrast with the situation months before, when Goldman bankers dined with the prime minister in a private meeting overlooking the Acropolis. The relationship broke down, though, after news leaked earlier this year that Goldman was about to strike a bond sale deal with China's sovereign fund – which never materialised....
Something tells me it is going to be a while before Goldman and its cohorts are going to be out of trouble. Don't blame the falling DOW completely on the USA Economy. The picture of 'insecurity' is much bigger than that. And much to the lying Republicans chagrin, the cause is not about socialism either, but, more about exploitive capitalism.
He has't been the same since he directed god. George Burns never had this issue.
Even reruns of interviews with Larry King isn't going to help.
According to the 'tapes' of Mel's Ex-girlfriend, he is an Anti-Semite turned woman beater.
What else is new? However, I remind, there was once a lady named Nicole Brown Simpson who no one believed either.
The T.P.M. is a group of P.A.C.s - At the very least. What is this about no organization? Liars.
This isn't racist? In who's book? Nice try. To demand the USA government return to the "Original" Constitution and Bill of Rights negates any and all the Civil Rights Movements. The Civil Rights Movement wasn't a PAC either. Take a look into the archives of Martin Luther King and try and find the PAC he organized. I dare you.
No joke. Shut up. The Tea Party are a bunch of hard nose greed merchants that have no respect for anyone except their bankers.
See effigies mean something. If you don't think so ask the CEO's of BOA and Goldman Sachs and JP Morgan how it felt to have their images marched in a parade against their exploitation of Americans?
Apologies count, too. The Tea Party needs to apologize.
Tea party PAC endorses Barela
By Matthew Reichbach
6/17/10 12:01 AM
The FreedomWorks PAC, the campaign arm of the group that has mentored the tea party movement, has endorsed Jon Barela in the New Mexico 1st Congressional District race. The group, chaired by former U.S. House Majority Leader Dick Armey, called Barela a “fiscal hero” in its endorsement.
“A vote for Jon Barela would clearly be a vote for individual liberty and economic prosperity,” Armey said in a statement.
The group endorsed Barela because they say he believes in lowering taxes and accused incumbent Democrat Martin Heinrich of being a “big-spender.”
FreedomWorks said it will fund get-out-the-vote efforts, including direct mailings, yard sign distribution, volunteer phone banks and neighborhood literature drops in support of Barela.
Armey recently pooh-poohed the idea that he’s the leader of the tea party movement, saying Freedom Works is only a “mentoring” organization. FreedomWorks launched a nationwide tea party tour last year.
http://newmexicoindependent.com/57559/tea-party-pac-endorses-barela
I think it is bizarre to ask the NAACP to have town meetings next to the Tea Party. The Tea Party absolutely hates President Obama. I don't see that as a resolution. Lacks respect for the President in an attempt to try to divide people rather than unite them. Besides, it could result in violence. I don't believe it is a good idea.
Confront racism, don’t deny it (click title to entry - thank you)
Since when has it become racist to point out racism in America? That’s where this country finds itself, as many purporting to want a color-blind nation refuse to admit that not everyone shares their dream.
Case in point, the beat-down the NAACP has been receiving for having the audacity to point out the obvious: that racists have been infiltrating tea-party gatherings because any criticism of America’s first black president gives them a buzz.
A resolution passed by the NAACP didn’t say being a tea-party member was equivalent to being a racist. It asked the movement to condemn the extremists too frequently seen at its meetings. If the tea-partiers truly want to change America for the better, they will act on the NAACP’s charge and work harder to make sure that no one — regardless of skin color, religion, or country of origin — would feel unwelcome.
Philadelphia Inquirer editorial
I tell you what. Why doesn't the Tea Party simply apologize for their insulting manners and 'Let's Move' for the First Lady and advocate for taxes on soft drinks and fruit drinks that add calories to a child's diet.
Sound fair? I would be an extention of 'good will' between everyone.
Money, money and mo' money
Sarah Palin has a PAC that banks millions on a regular basis. She acts as a catalyst to the GOP Base to attempt to get out the vote in November.
Britol has her own non-profit of which she earns plenty of money to act as a 'celebrity' that carries the message.
And boyfriend has been making the rounds to all kinds of appearances, with and without cloths.
Then the insult of all insults, Levi would have to part with thousands upon thousands in order to support his son.
"Oh, no !"
Better to marry the heifer and keep the money in the family than to hand it over to Bristol and the potential of another man.
Nothing new here.
Go ahead, tell me the photo on the cover of "US" was a volunteer effort.
As the Diva was taking a sip of her freshly ground gourmet coffee (click title to entry - thank you) earlier this week, she heard something so shocking, she sprayed java onto her polished marble countertop. No, it wasn't the news that BP had successfully capped the ruptured oil well. Bristol Palin was back in the arms of baby daddy Levi Johnston, the hockey stud from Wasilla, Alaska, with the good looks of a privileged jock in a John Huhgesian teen romp and, if interviews are any indication, the brains to match....
http://www.cleveland.com/people/index.ssf/2010/07/lebron_james_bristol_palin_and.html
Darth Vadar gets a mechanical heart
Basically, Dick Cheney now has an artificial heart. The "Left Ventricular Assist" is what has resulted instead of an artificial heart.
He is probably on a transplant waiting list, however, for the majority populous of the USA, transplants are
'off the table' if a person is over sixty years old.
The former Veep is very ill. No one should understate that for the purpose political manipulation. At this point, I would hope there is a bipartisan concern for the life of Mr. Cheney.
All that 'fuch you' meanness did it, Dick. "Ah, only if he could take it all back now."
I wonder which insurance policy is paying for all this? Halliburton or the USA or both. What's fair is fair. This is an example of how the wealthy recieve every advantage by a lopsided heatlh care system while others are only spectators to others good luck.
And there are no antibiotics in Haiti. Oh, well. Who ever said life is fair? Be well, Dick.
CNN's Gupta, "...unnecessary lose of life and suffering..." - Sean Penn "...no antibiotics...need a planned tent camp...lights help with security..."
The World Bank official said the rest of the donations pledged in March were coming in on a bilateral basis between Haiti and the donor countries.
Some 250,000 people were killed and 1.5 million left homeless when the earth shook on January 12, unleashing a trail of destruction on the capital, Port-au-Prince.
Haitians on Monday marked the first six-months after the disaster with growing impatience at the slow trickle of aid and the crawling pace of reconstruction, with experts predicting it could take 20 years just to clear the rubble from the streets.
According to the United Nations office in Haiti, nearly 4,000 small homes have been built in a project that anticipates building some 10,000 houses.
Cox admitted "the pace of reconstruction has not been as rapid as we would have hoped."...
http://www.caribbeannetnews.com/news-23958--2-2--.html
Why does this process of providing International Aid have to take so long and why is there loss of progress only to cost more later to restart the effort all over again?
...The United States Congress and many parliaments have made clear that funds given to Haiti should be managed in the most efficient way and to the highest governance standards. Speed is of the essence, but so are controls to ensure that funds are not misspent. That means we need to know who will get the money and how it will be spent. Projects must truly benefit the poor. The record of aid to Haiti over the last 20 years demands nothing less.
Sri Mulyani Indrawati
Managing Director, The World Bank
Washington, July 15, 2010
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/16/opinion/l16haiti.html
...Lobbying for change
The US Congress is considering a proposal by the Barack Obama administration for $2.8 billion in aid for Haiti, and Watkins and the representatives of 33 development, human rights and faith-based organizations were lobbying to change the way the government delivered it. Nearly all US food aid is produced by American agribusinesses. In a letter to congressional leaders on 12 April the lobby group asked for "greater flexibility in how we deliver food aid, by permitting local or regional purchase of emergency food aid for Haiti, and the use of emergency non-food assistance, including vouchers, cash transfers, or safety-net programmes."
There are signs that US policy may be shifting. Watkins noted a small pilot programme in the 2007 Farm Bill that earmarked funds for the local and regional purchase of emergency food aid, and to a provision in a 2008 appropriations bill that allowed for similar procurements. "Both of these actions are precedent-setting," he said.
All this is in keeping with the wishes of the Haitian government; President Rene Preval expressed the hope that emergency food aid from abroad would soon come to a halt, saying: "If food and water continues to be sent from abroad, that will undermine Haitian national production and Haitian trade."...
http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=88857
The FDA Advisory Panels need to be reviewed for competency. Secretary Sebilius has a responsiblity to make safety a priority.
The FDA Panels have become political activists that act as a buffer for the plutocracy while being willing to place the 'consumer' in the middle of decisions that easily can be out of their reach to understand.
The 'generation' of pharmaceuticals that attack 'the necessary fat' around the heart, such as Avandia and Zioxx are very dangerous. There is no need for them. There are very good alternatives and the risks DO NOT outweigh the benefits. Such 'generation of dangerous drugs' should only be considered in conditions where the prognosis of the patient is poor and there is a benefit to perscribe.
The FDA Panels are expensive and add to the burden of our health care system. Secretary Sebelius needs to re-examine the necessity of the FDA Panels and ANY benefit to their existance.
The FDA has to start taking a hardline against these pharmaceuticals. They are metabolized with body fat that is vital to its survival and not 'spare or obese fat.' This is ridiculous and there are better options then these drugs. This is a no brainer. PULL AVANDIA and review the 'integrity' of the "Panel Process."
FDA Panels Votes to Keep Avandia
Matthew Perrone
Drug Discovery & Development - July 15, 2010
WASHINGTON (AP) - GlaxoSmithKline's drug Avandia should stay on the market, federal health experts voted, but the controversial diabetes pill should be subject to new restrictions due to risky heart side effects.
A panel of Food and Drug Administration advisers voted 20-12 to keep the once blockbuster pill available for diabetics. But 10 panelists also called for limiting who can receive and prescribe the much-debated medication.
The vote marks a tough win for British drugmaker Glaxo, which is facing thousands of lawsuits from patients who say Avandia caused their heart attacks or strokes. While the company may fare better in court due to the panel ruling, sales of Avandia are likely to shrink to minuscule levels.
The FDA is not required to follow the advice of its panelists, though it usually does. FDA officials said they would review the recommendations and make a decision on Avandia as soon as possible....
http://dddmag.com/news-FDA-Panels-Votes-to-Keep-Avandia-71510.aspx
The troubling move toward theology on these Panels during the Bush/Cheney Administration is more then troubling. It is time to 'weed out' the process and how it was effected by these bozos.
...''The pattern of actions we are watching is troubling,'' Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton, Democrat of New York, said in an interview. ''It's one thing to have a political perspective, which all of us do. But we are going to be in trouble in this country if we start moving toward theology-based science or ideological research.''
Mr. Thompson and his aides have defended their selections. In a letter this week to Senator Clinton and Senator Edward M. Kennedy, Democrat of Massachusetts, Mr. Thompson denied that the administration uses a litmus test and said, ''We will continue to recruit the best scientific minds to serve.''
The issue also came up on Monday at the Senate confirmation hearing of Dr. Mark B. McClellan, President Bush's nominee for commissioner of food and drugs.
''Expertise and objectivity are important criteria for selection,'' Dr. McClellan told the committee, in response to a question from Senator Kennedy. But, he added, so is ''diversity of viewpoints.''
The committee changes come at a time when Mr. Thompson is restructuring the health and human services advisory system, which consists of 258 outside boards and panels. In any given year, Mr. Thompson said in his letter, his office can appoint roughly 450 people....
http://www.nytimes.com/2002/10/10/us/bush-s-science-advisers-drawing-criticism.html
The National Debt needs to be addressed. These panels are unnecessary as they divide their loyality between patients and Wall Street. Cut the budget and reduce the panels; dismiss their participants.
"Social Insecurity" by Citizen Fish
Growling as I stare at smiles from the other side of the street
is it the speed I'm walking at or the shoes upon my feet?
I couldn't afford the baseball boots that's not the game I play
and if you'd rather hang about I won't get in your way
if the words you backhand to your friend were meant for me to hear
I'll show you a better way to spend your time over a beer
or a coffee - come on mutant-head! let's drop the social games
call it a bluff call it enough quit calling each other names
there's hardly any difference in the nature of the threat
some like to be remembered by the reaction they can get
others need security in a certain social set
both are too aware of what they yet still have to get
is no one ever satisfied with being what they are?
if you show me all your barbed wire I'll only show you scars
but tell me where you got it from and what it costs in friends
and I'll start to get a picture of a person not a trend
ignorance and affinity to outside influence
rejects the inner feeling at anyone's expense
what provoked attack was the nature of defense
the weak are strong in knowing that such strength is all pretence
so while you're staring at me I'll be grinning back at you
at various intensities we'll both
know it's true
that what each other represents is an image we've been fed
If I'm a fucking waste of space than you're a mutant head
so let's discuss these attitudes and find some common ground
just doing that is ground enough to exorcise the sound of insults, sights of malice, inbred scorn and ignorance
once beyond the posing we can find the relevance
is it the speed I'm walking at or the shoes upon my feet?
I couldn't afford the baseball boots that's not the game I play
and if you'd rather hang about I won't get in your way
if the words you backhand to your friend were meant for me to hear
I'll show you a better way to spend your time over a beer
or a coffee - come on mutant-head! let's drop the social games
call it a bluff call it enough quit calling each other names
there's hardly any difference in the nature of the threat
some like to be remembered by the reaction they can get
others need security in a certain social set
both are too aware of what they yet still have to get
is no one ever satisfied with being what they are?
if you show me all your barbed wire I'll only show you scars
but tell me where you got it from and what it costs in friends
and I'll start to get a picture of a person not a trend
ignorance and affinity to outside influence
rejects the inner feeling at anyone's expense
what provoked attack was the nature of defense
the weak are strong in knowing that such strength is all pretence
so while you're staring at me I'll be grinning back at you
at various intensities we'll both
know it's true
that what each other represents is an image we've been fed
If I'm a fucking waste of space than you're a mutant head
so let's discuss these attitudes and find some common ground
just doing that is ground enough to exorcise the sound of insults, sights of malice, inbred scorn and ignorance
once beyond the posing we can find the relevance
Maintaining Internet Connections at the USA borders still isn't all that, UNLESS, one has Verizon.
There are regular patrols by the Border Patrol, too. The Border Patrol makes a difference. I have seen the Border Patrol shut down seasonal business that was opened by Canadian citizens without proper documents and taxation. The USA economy is definately served by the Border Patrol.
But, the only 'phone and internet' service that has been at all reliable has been Verizon.
Sorry. Simply the truth.
I'll do a review of the weeks events this evening.
Until later.
Thursday, July 15, 2010
Quid Pro Quo ? Maybe the USA should drop the investigation into the corruption regarding the 'Libya Affair' and magically the British Consulate will resolve the issues.
Percy Abrams, executive director of the Iroquois Nationals lacrosse team board of directors, shows his Iroquois Confederacy passport during a news conference in New York, 14 Jul 2010
VOA News
15 July 2010
The British government has refused to allow a Native American lacrosse team to enter Britain using passports issued by their tribal federation.
British officials said Wednesday that the Iroquois team would only be allowed into Britain with documents the government considers valid, including U.S. or Canadian passports.
In Washington Thursday, U.S. State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley said he was not surprised by the decision and that both the United States and Britain believe that the Iroquois must eventually have internationally recognized travel documents....
http://www1.voanews.com/english/news/usa/Britain-Refuses-to-Recognize-Teams-Iroquois-Passports-98531549.html
I mean after all, we are allies. Yes? Maybe Britain wants to fight the war again.
Clinton to look into senators' request on BP, Libya (click title to entry - thank you)
...According to media reports, London-based oil company BP lobbied the British government to support the prison transfer, which may have encouraged Libya to finalize an offshore drilling deal with BP.
Megrahi, convicted in connection with the 1988 bombing of a U.S. airliner over Lockerbie, Scotland that killed 270 people, was released last August on compassionate grounds after doctors said the 57-year-old convict was near death.Nearly a year later, Megrahi, an alleged Libyan intelligence officer, is still alive....
What is IT with Great Britain and Libya?
Mother of WPc Yvonne Fletcher fears Lockerbie bomber deal means she will never get justice
The mother of murdered WPc Yvonne Fletcher fears that the release of the Lockerbie bomber means she may never get justice for her daughter's killing by a Libyan gunman ...
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/africaandindianocean/libya/6073748/Mother-of-WPc-Yvonne-Fletcher-fears-Lockerbie-bomber-deal-means-she-will-never-get-justice.html
...The Libyan killer of a British policewoman will never be brought to justice in Britain after a secret deal approved by Jack Straw.
The Foreign Office bowed to Libyan pressure and agreed that Britain would abandon any attempt to try the murderer of WPC Yvonne Fletcher, shot outside the Libyan embassy in London 25 years ago.
Anthony Layden, Britain’s former ambassador to Libya, said this weekend he had signed the agreement with the Libyan government three years ago, when Straw was foreign secretary. At the time Britain was negotiating trade deals worth hundreds of millions of pounds with Libya.
The deal followed a visit by Tony Blair, then prime minister, to meet Colonel Gadaffi in March 2004 after Libya announced that it was ending its nuclear weapons programme....
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/politics/article6832361.ece
...Jack Straw was personally lobbied by BP over Britain’s prisoner transfer agreement with Libya just before he abandoned efforts to exclude the Lockerbie bomber from the deal.
The Times has learnt that the Justice Secretary took two telephone calls from Sir Mark Allen, a former M16 agent, who was by then working for BP as a consultant, on October 15 and November 9, 2007.
Having signed a $900 million oil exploration deal with Libya earlier that year, BP feared that its commercial interests could be damaged if Britain delayed the prisoner transfer agreement (PTA) through which the Gaddafi regime hoped to secure the return home of Abdul Baset Ali al-Megrahi.
For six months, talks with Libya were deadlocked as Britain — under pressure from the devolved Scottish government — vainly sought to ensure that the deal would not cover al-Megrahi....
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article6820931.ece
...The row over the release of the Lockerbie bomber was reignited last night when Jack Straw, the justice secretary, directly contradicted Gordon Brown by saying Britain had been partly motivated by the need to secure fresh oil contracts when ministers tried, in 2007, to make it easier to release Abdelbaset al-Megrahi....
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/sep/05/straw-admits-oil-role-megrahi-talks
Doing the impossible. Congratulations Dr.Chu and his team. It was a blessing to have Dr. Chu at the ready when this occurred.
...Oil stopped flowing into the Gulf of Mexico (Click title to entry - thank you) for the first time in nearly three months, as BP resumed a critical and repeatedly delayed integrity test Thursday of its well.
BP could not guarantee that no oil would be released throughout the duration of the test, which will continue for at least six hours and could last up to 48 hours.
"It felt very good not to see any oil go into the Gulf of Mexico," BP senior vice president Kent Wells told reporters during a Thursday afternoon technical update. "Clearly, I'm trying to maintain a strict focus but we are very encouraged."
Oil stopped gushing at 2:25 p.m., Wells said, when engineers closed the choke line.
Obama called the progress "a positive sign" when asked about the process during a news briefing Thursday on the passage of the financial overhaul bill....
This is ONLY A TEST. What does that mean?
It means there is a cap to the well head that is 'holding up' to the pressures of the oil and gas and subterranian dynamics. There is still a long road ahead, but, this cap should provide a method of 'control dynamic.'
The cap will be a permanent fixture even after the relief wells permanently close the hole.
Let's think of it this way. What if we could wave a wand and make time reverse and go back to the time when Earth was intact. Then slowing move the 'time machine' forward. What would occur is a tragedy. It would be a disaster that began with igorning things like broken seals.
The tragedy builds from there.
Now. Let's 'stop motion at the point when the explosion occurred, having killled 11 people and injuring 17 more.
That explosion may happen again. How?
Come to present day and run a little bit forward to the point where one of the relief wells are 'coming' very close to the well. It will be a short time before the well casing and the opening of the well is made.
Okay?
Have the dynamics of the well changed?
No.
The high pressures and high methane content is still the same.
The reason the 'cap' is so important is because now when the relief wells are about to enter the well 'the pressure' within the well can be manipulated to prevent a rush of methane back to the oil rig.
This is going to sound odd, especially coming from me, but at this point it is better to have risers that go to surface ships to remove the oil until the relief wells are completed. The cap will control the oil from escaping into the Gulf Waters and hopefully when the tests are completed the cap will act as a secure way to 'abandon' the well site completely should there be a hurricane. Hurricanes have their own dynamics and we saw how the 'old cap' was literally bouncing with the increased wave activity during "Alex" and this is why this is a test.
This is super good news and for the most part the dangers surrounding this well have stopped. It needs to be monitored and it can't really be left alone. I am sure there will be some cameras and robots at the well site even during hurricanes to monitor the events surrounding the new well cap. I am sure there are many aspects of hurricanes that have gone into the design. I am feeling somewhat comfortable about this progress and am very hopeful this is the end of the pollution into the Gulf of Mexico.
The oil dispersant needs to stop being dumped into the waters, too.
Now, time and SAFETY are on our side.
I congratulate all those that have contributed to this outcome, including, the Obama White House and the USA Coast Guard. This was nothing short of heroic. We could not have had better people at the helm and I can't thank them enough. Everyone did a great job.
It is going to be some time before the Gulf Coast will be recovered, but, let it begin.
Thank you to the President and his White House staff and to Dr. Chu and his team for caring and supremely intolerant to this incident.
Wednesday, July 14, 2010
Retired Admiral Allen is a very wise man. By 'taking a time out' brings down the emotional levels surrounding the Gulf Crisis.
"We sat long and hard about this test," Thad W. Allen, the retired Coast Guard admiral who is the national incident commander, said in a news conference. "In the interest of the American people, and the safety of the environment, it was advisable to take a 24-hour break to make sure were getting it absolutely right." (Retired Admiral Thad Allen)
Emotions are not necessary during critical times. Steady hands and steady minds are paramount to 'steadying' the ship.
When one thinks about it, the last thing the American people needed was a 'rush' to close the well and test the new cap and experience yet another failure. The well head has a very high pressure and there are many, many things that can still cause failure of the new cap. No one wants that to happen. If going slow and 'securing' the new cap in a way so all the seals are intact and all the 'parts' become the 'whole' then it will be worth it.
I remind, this well head is highly unstable AND in testimony to the USA Legislature it was obvious one of the aspects of the well that failed were the 'seals.' We can't repeat that mistake. CAN'T.
Six hours is not so long to wait for the next 'stage.' We have gotten used to a 'countdown' for space ship liftoffs and this in many ways is no less critical. There are times NASA gets down ot 60 seconds and counting and the count is held. This might be the best way of looking at the closure of the well head.
I hope the methane explosion didn't do any damage to the well. Let's hope the explosion was all above sea level.
Thank you, Admiral Allen.
From The Washington Post:
...Much-hyped (by me, among others) (click title to entry - thank you) "integrity test" of the Macondo well has been delayed, pushing off what seemed to be a credible hope for shutting down the "nightmare well." Here's my story. Why'd they delay it? Don't know. They didn't say. I'll try to find out. Maybe nervous? The feds may think it's too dangerous. Might just be due dilgence or it could be a genuine philosophical schism betwixt feds and BP over the best way to proceed. Adm. Allen calls the shots but he's got a team of scientists in there who may want to ponder this before they pull the trigger....
Emotions are not necessary during critical times. Steady hands and steady minds are paramount to 'steadying' the ship.
When one thinks about it, the last thing the American people needed was a 'rush' to close the well and test the new cap and experience yet another failure. The well head has a very high pressure and there are many, many things that can still cause failure of the new cap. No one wants that to happen. If going slow and 'securing' the new cap in a way so all the seals are intact and all the 'parts' become the 'whole' then it will be worth it.
I remind, this well head is highly unstable AND in testimony to the USA Legislature it was obvious one of the aspects of the well that failed were the 'seals.' We can't repeat that mistake. CAN'T.
Six hours is not so long to wait for the next 'stage.' We have gotten used to a 'countdown' for space ship liftoffs and this in many ways is no less critical. There are times NASA gets down ot 60 seconds and counting and the count is held. This might be the best way of looking at the closure of the well head.
I hope the methane explosion didn't do any damage to the well. Let's hope the explosion was all above sea level.
Thank you, Admiral Allen.
From The Washington Post:
...Much-hyped (by me, among others) (click title to entry - thank you) "integrity test" of the Macondo well has been delayed, pushing off what seemed to be a credible hope for shutting down the "nightmare well." Here's my story. Why'd they delay it? Don't know. They didn't say. I'll try to find out. Maybe nervous? The feds may think it's too dangerous. Might just be due dilgence or it could be a genuine philosophical schism betwixt feds and BP over the best way to proceed. Adm. Allen calls the shots but he's got a team of scientists in there who may want to ponder this before they pull the trigger....
Tuesday, July 13, 2010
The criticism of the Blue Ribbon Panel examing the disaster in the Gulf of Mexico is unfounded.
...Co-chairman of the seven-member panel charged with recommending ways to prevent future oil spills from offshore drilling. Graham recently finished a stint as chairman of the government's Commission on the Prevention of Weapons of Mass Destruction Proliferation and Terrorism. He's also a member of the federal Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission studying the global financial meltdown....
Mr. Graham has served the State of Florida for decades. He knows the economic stability of Florida, has experience examining the dynamics of the recent Financial Crisis, knows the Gulf of Mexico and knew it when it was healthy and a strategic part of the Florida economy.
He has had a long history of relationships with the Gulf States leadership. He knows the history of tragedies, natural and otherwise, including hurricanes. I do believe he left the Senate during the year of Katrina, 2005. I am quite confident he understands any and all of the dynamics regarding the issue of the current disaster.
If the Blue Ribbon Commission needs information about 'engineering' all they have to do is subpoena the records and/or witnesses of any and all the engineers involved in this crisis and the petroleum industry. Someone like Mr. Graham is able to discern the facts and ask for insight as it is required.
The criticism is completely unfounded. The people of the Gulf States and the nation have to begin to trust the people brought to help to protect the USA, its fisheries and its citizens.
I can't think of anyone whom can be trusted more than Mr. Graham.
The Commission is expected to render finding by January 2011. I would not expect any changes until after they have concluded their work.
No one wants this new cap by BP for their BOP rupture to stop the flow of oil more than me.
However, this new cap is completely experimental. It has never been in use before. The well is known to be very unstable with high pressures and high methane content.
There is a great deal riding on this new cap and the community I am a member is expecting this to work with so much damage occurring to the environment.
There is no way any of us are wishing 'bad luck' or 'poor design' on this new cap. We are expecting it to work.
This is a completely experiemental cap and is isolated from any other issue regarding this rupture INCLUDING the current moritorium to protect the National Security of the USA by protecting our economy and fisheries.
Not until this cap has significantly proven it works beyond any doubt for a reasonable length of time and well past the completion of the relief wells, can anyone say it is a way of stopping such an explosion from becoming a disaster.
Time will tell.
This new cap and the moritorium are two completely different issues. One has nothing to do with the other, EXCEPT, a 'rush to judgement' that the cap is a miracle.
The Iroquois Lacrosse Team is NOT an American team. They are representing 'THEIR NATION'' which exists within the borders of the USA.
Their nations exist within the borders of the USA, NO DIFFERENT, than the nation of Palestine exists within the borders of Israel.
If the British Consolate accepts the autonomy of Palestine, then, it is obvious the consulate is discriminating against the native American nation of Iroquois.
They cannot accept a USA Passport, it would be illegal.
The Secretary of State needs to advocate for their 'autonomous' recognition evidence by the treaties that have established these nations.
This is an outrage by the British. What is there problem?
Monday, July 12, 2010
Here is something even The Tea Party can 'bond' with after the deaths of eleven 'bread winners.: Social Security Survivor Benefits. (click title to entry - thank you)
Your unmarried children who are younger than age 18 (or up to age 19 if they are attending elementary or secondary school full time) also can receive benefits. Your children can get benefits at any age if they were disabled before age 22 and remain disabled. Under certain circumstances, benefits also can be paid to your stepchildren, grandchildren, stepgrandchildren or adopted children....
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