42 replies to this topic

[Gomer Pyle]

If I lived closer to the region I'd head down there as well and check it out before its a dead zone. I haven't been there since I was seven. You live in an area that may still feel the effects of this. Pretty scary. Technically we're all gonna feel it when the region goes belly up economically, but you're near ground zero where the environmental impact could wreak havoc.

[Mr. Roboto]

Property values too...as if Florida needs anything else to pummel them further.

[Mr. Roboto]

Twice last week, Bill O'Reilly booked conservative Republican stars on his show -- Sarah Palin and Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.) -- and came at them from the unexpected stance of defending President Obama. With Palin, he defended Obama's handling of the BP spill. With Bachmann, he disagreed with her criticism of how the BP escrow fund was set-up.

Here's a relevant segment from O'Reilly's interview with Bachmann, in which he gets her to basically support the idea of the fund -- Levin, reflecting a good amount of opinion out there, is so angry about the process that he sees O'Reilly as a useful idiot for even asking this.

MR. O'REILLY: I also want to know, and Congressman Barton from Texas, using words like shakedown and extortion and all of that, I'm not agreeing with that. I think Obama
did absolutely the right thing by putting maximum amount of pressure on these weasels. You saw this Hayward yesterday, is this the biggest weasel in the world, this guy? Is there a bigger weasel on the planet than him? All right, you trust in him to do anything? You got to force these people to do it.

Then they got the Swedish guy talking about the little people, the small people. Come on! I'd go in there with a machine gun if I were president and say, hey, you put the money in here or you're not getting out of the room. So, I mean, I'm okay with it. I think this is the best thing Obama did in the whole mess? Do you agree with that, getting the $20 billion?

REP. BACHMANN: No one is saying that this fund shouldn't be set up. The question is, who administers it, but here is the other part. There is also a point of investigating what was it with responsibility from the administration? Remember, the administration signed off on the inspection. The administration said everything was fine going on in the deepwater rig --

MR. O'REILLY: All of that is fine. I mean, you want to have that investigation --

REP. BACHMANN: We haven't had that investigation yet. That's important. It's two sides here.

MR. O'REILLY: We should have it all. We should have a criminal investigation on BP.

REP. BACHMANN: Pardon?

MR. O'REILLY: We should have a congressional investigation --

REP. BACHMANN: Absolutely.

MR. O'REILLY: -- on MMS and the Department of the Interior.

REP. BACHMANN: We should, but part of the problem is you are asking for a Democrat Congress to investigate the Democrat administration. All I am saying is, let's make sure that they do.

MR. O'REILLY: Okay, but you are dodging my question about extortion and about a shakedown. Do you think Obama shook down BP?

REP. BACHMANN: I think they put pressure on them. Remember, he previously said that he wanted a criminal investigation. People who were around that table were thinking they might end up in the slammer.

MR. O'REILLY: Is that wrong?

REP. BACHMANN: So they could end up in the slammer.

MR. O'REILLY: Is that wrong? Is that wrong to put that kind of pressure on them? I think you'd do it, wouldn't you do it?

REP. BACHMANN: Well, you think about it. Here you have the president of the United States threatening criminal action, they could end up in the slammer, so are thy going to take money from the shareholders to give to the president maybe to keep themselves out of jail?

MR. O'REILLY: I hope so.

REP. BACHMANN: I'm just asking.

MR. O'REILLY: But I'm okay with it.

REP. BACHMANN: I'm just asking.

MR. O'REILLY: Are you okay with it? I'm okay with it. I don't think he is going to bag --

REP. BACHMANN: We need to have a victim's comp fund, that's a good thing, victim's comp fund, absolutely. But no American taxpayer should pay a dime of any compensation --

MR. O'REILLY: That's right. But Ms. Bachmann, you saw them --

REP. BACHMANN: The process does matter.

MR. O'REILLY: Okay, the process does matter and I am with you on that --

REP. BACHMANN: Process matters.

MR. O'REILLY: The only thing we are disagreeing about here, today is that I don't mind Obama looking at these guys saying you better do the right thing or we are coming after you with everything we have. I want him to do that. I will give you the last word.

REP. BACHMANN: There is nothing wrong with the president saying that. The point is, is he putting pressure on with the threat of a criminal trial, which is the force of government so that they will give him money?

MR. O'REILLY: I hope so.

REP. BACHMANN: That's crossing lines that we have to be very careful about.

MR. O'REILLY: All right, if he bags the criminal investigation because they did put up the $20 billion, then I'm with you. We are not trading here, we are doing both.

REP. BACHMANN: That's all I'm worried about, that's what I'm worried about.

http://voices.washin...ony_populi.html

[Gomer Pyle]

SLC, you live anywhere near this area? PENSACOLA, Fla. – This morning residents and tourists in Pensacola Beach awoke to the day they long feared. The high tide, plus southeast winds overnight, brought globs of oil onto the pristine white sand beaches here. The oil is now fouling those beaches for as one official said, "as far as the eye can see." All along the water line this morning, tar has been washing ashore. You can see it in the surf – it is all over the beach. It is sticky, brown and running in lines all along the waterline, in front of the hotels and near Pensacola’s famous fishing pier. This morning, there were a few people out on the beaches, walking, looking at the oil and shaking their heads, but no one is going in the water. Clean-up crews are here and starting to work on the beaches. Some skimmer boats could be seen off in the horizon, trying to catch the oil as it comes ashore. ------- Anyone in that region cutting down on eating seafood as a precaution?

[Mr. Roboto]

No, but I will be soon. Fuckers.

Pensacola at the top, Tampa/St. Pete in the other circle.

[Gomer Pyle]

USF official: Traces of oil within few miles of Jacksonville



Traces of oil from the gusher in the Gulf of Mexico have traveled all the way to within a few miles of the Jacksonville and Cuba coastlines, a University of South Florida official said this morning.

"Some of the tar balls may start showing up on the east coast as far as Jacksonville,'' Bill Hogarth, dean of the College of Marine Science at USF, told members of the Florida Restaurant and Lodging Association in a telephone conference call.

Satellite imagery interpreted by researchers at USF shows that the oil continues to be a part of the loop current, the conveyor belt of water that dips from the Gulf and into the Florida Straits before traveling up the east coast as part of the Gulf Stream.

As the oil continues to spew a mile underwater and the calendar gets deeper into hurricane season, the cause for concern about potential impact on Florida grows, Hogarth said.

"We're getting more nervous,'' the dean said. "Things are getting very delicate right now.''
That goes for the tourism industry as well.

"July is in limbo,'' said Mike Chouri, general manager of the Hilton Sandestin Beach Golf Resort and Spa. "We have no idea what July is going to be.''

The Panhandle hotel is getting a "massive number of calls'' every day related to the oil catastrophe.
"People are not making a lot of future reservations,'' Chouri said.

Those who are making plans to stay at the waterfront Destin hotel are only planning trips two or three days out, he added.

Workers at the hotel have used six bulldozers to build two berms on the beach in an effort to keep any oil that might wash ashore at bay.

"No one stopped us,'' Chouri said. "We had to do it. We have to protect our beach.''

Paul Wohlford, vice president of marketing and sales at the Edgewater Beach Resort in Panama City, also lamented about next month being a big question mark.

"July is an absolute unknown for us and that is our biggest month,'' he said.


http://www2.tbo.com/.../news-breaking/

-----------------------------------

This is starting to spread awfully quickly. Makes me wonder if all that oil that was previously just languishing on the ocean floor is now starting to move on to greener pastures.

[Mr. Roboto]

I gotta be honest, I find the caviler attitude about this spill by some of the posters on your forum to be infuriating. This has the potential to turn our gulf states into a fucking toxic waste dump, pulverize their economies and beat the properties values down even further than they already are. It's a disaster on so many different levels, and to read some guy essentially say "Eh, who cares" is amazing to me.

USF official: Traces of oil within few miles of Jacksonville



Traces of oil from the gusher in the Gulf of Mexico have traveled all the way to within a few miles of the Jacksonville and Cuba coastlines, a University of South Florida official said this morning.

****

This is starting to spread awfully quickly. Makes me wonder if all that oil that was previously just languishing on the ocean floor is now starting to move on to greener pastures.

Jax is on the other side of the state! It's the Atlantic side, which is what I was afraid of, although I'm shocked it's over there already. This is going to fuck up the Keys, the reefs, the entire state.

[Gomer Pyle]

I gotta be honest, I find the caviler attitude about this spill by some of the posters on your forum to be infuriating. This has the potential to turn our gulf states into a fucking toxic waste dump, pulverize their economies and beat the properties values down even further than they already are. It's a disaster on so many different levels, and to read some guy essentially say "Eh, who cares" is amazing to me.

I agree that has gotten way out of hand although I personally take some of the blame for that. While I do blame Obama for his handling of the crisis, many others are to blame as well but people zeroed in on that. I do agree that people not caring one way or the other about the spill itself is really out of touch with reality regardless of what side of the political fence they reside on. Main reason I've been avoiding that particular thread lately.

The types who don't care are the ones who quickly care once it starts hurting them personally.

Jax is on the other side of the state! It's the Atlantic side, which is what I was afraid of, although I'm shocked it's over there already. This is going to fuck up the Keys, the reefs, the entire state.

Hopefully you guys have a very inactive hurricane season because I cant even imagine what would happen if you started getting bombarded with hurricanes while that texas tea is drowning the gulf.

[freedom78]

I gotta be honest, I find the caviler attitude about this spill by some of the posters on your forum to be infuriating. This has the potential to turn our gulf states into a fucking toxic waste dump, pulverize their economies and beat the properties values down even further than they already are. It's a disaster on so many different levels, and to read some guy essentially say "Eh, who cares" is amazing to me.

You know what's fucked up? When I was down in Sanibel (aka "Ball Soup Island") last week, the Ft. Myers local news ran a story about how this spill has been GOOD for the local economy, because boats from Louisiana and Alabama got the fuck outta Dodge and moved South to avoid the spill. So, now there are additional docking fees, and gas revenue, etc. in that area.

My wife and I watched this story and literally thought "Who the fuck approved this?" I can't imagine taking a "at least it's benefited me" approach to something like this.

[Mr. Roboto]

Wonder what they will think when it's time for them to relocate?

[Gomer Pyle]

Hands all over the Eastern border
You know what? I think we're falling
From composure
Hands all over Western culture
Ruffling feathers and turning eagles into vultures

Got my arms around baby brother
Put your hands away
You're gonna kill your mother, kill your mother
And I love her

Hands all over the coastal waters
The crew men thank her
Then lay down their oily blanket
Hands all over the inland forest
In a striking motion trees fall down
Like dying soldiers

Hands all over the peasant's daughter
She's our bride
She'll never make it out alive
Hands all over the words I utter
Change them into what you want to
Like balls of clay
Put your hands away
You're gonna kill your mother
And I love her

[Macker]

It's a bad scene man...Just a bad deal all the way around....

[Mr. Roboto]

This pisses me off so much!!!

[freedom78]

Damn.

[Gomer Pyle]

PENSACOLA BEACH — The sugar-sand beach here appeared cleaner Thursday, after workers picked up tar balls overnight with shovels and nets. By noon they had collected 44,955 pounds of tar balls and oil material, according to the Escambia County Emergency Operations Center. But a University of South Florida geologist made a grim discovery Thursday morning, 24 hours after the worst oil onslaught in Florida so far. Ping Wang, 43, who has studied beaches for 20 years, dug a narrow trench perpendicular to the shoreline, about a foot deep and 5 feet long. A dark, contiguous vein of oil ran horizontally along the walls of the trench, about 6 inches beneath the surface of the sand. The sheet of oil which was deposited on the beach at high tide Wednesday and stretched some 8 miles was covered by as much as a foot of sand at high tide Thursday, Wang explained. "Beaches change very often," he said. Depending on tides and wave action, they constantly lose or accumulate sand. While picking up tar balls and oil patties from the surface is helpful, Wang's discovery suggests that type of cleaning will be inadequate. "This is going to be hard to clean up," he said. "It's going to need to be a much larger scale effort than what we're seeing." Wang, working with a team of geologists from USF, dug trenches at various spots along the beach on the Gulf Islands National Seashore and found the buried, unbroken vein each time. "It's a continuous layer until it pinches off right up here," he said, pointing to a trench near the maximum wave run-up, the point at which high-tide waves begin their retreat. "The problem is they're only cleaning up the top of the beach." The geologists worry that any violent water activity — like heavy waves created by a storm or frontal passage — will lift the buried oil sheet and cast it further up shore, onto clean sand. Coast Guard Lt. Cmdr. Natalie Murphy, a spokeswoman for the Unified Command in Mobile, said Wang's finding was not surprising. She said cleanup crews will go after subsurface oil later with machines that can scoop and separate deep oil and sand. "Overall, in the short-term plan, we're cleaning up what's exposed," she said. Wang said he wasn't surprised by the discovery. During a study for the National Science Foundation of oil-affected beaches in Alabama and northwest Florida, he found buried tar balls after cleanup crews had left. USF Coastal Research Lab geologist Rip Kirby raised another issue with the cleanup on a trip to the shore late Thursday night, when he shined an ultraviolet light on the sand. Flecks of orange — which Kirby identified as oil, or volatile organic compounds — were scattered across the beach. Some dime-sized flecks were spotted on the footpath leading over the dunes, 100 yards from the water — an indication that unregulated foot traffic was contaminating clean sand. Closer to the water, tiny specks of oil covered the sand. "It's the way they're cleaning it," he said. "They're scooping it up with nets and shaking it. Yes, they're removing the tar balls, but they're also coating clean sand with oil." Those tiny flecks can't be seen with the naked eye. "People need to know," Wang said. "The beach is not going to be the same for a long time."