Winger Texas Congressman Joe Barton apologized to BP this morning for the “shakedown” aka the compensation escrow account.The GOP leadership is shitting itself, Barton has apologized for the apology and Robert Gibbs jumped down Barton’s throat and punched his tonsils. Fun times in our nation’s capital: Continue reading Lone Star State Dumbassery
Watch/listen on C-Span 3, unless they shunt it over to the mothership for, you know, America. Posts in the van belong to their posters. First Draft is not responsible for any possessions left behind in the van after the ride has stopped. Pet the ferrets and maybe they’ll let you live. Update: Van closed. Thank you all for yelling at Hayward, Barton, Blackburn and the other morons with me. A. Continue reading Crack Van vs. Hayward Now LIVE!
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/32545640 Visit msnbc.com forbreaking news, world news, andnews about the economy Continue reading Sadly not real
Crack van kicks off tomorrow at 9 a.m. Central, 10 a.m. Eastern for the expectedgrilling of Tony “I want my life back” Hayward.C-Span claims it’ll be on C-Span 3, which can be viewedhere. I’m rooting for Dingell, Waxman and Schakowsky to pimp-slap him live on camera. A. —– Continue reading Don’t Forget The Crack, Kidlets
My house member, the accidental Congressman Joseph Cao clearly understands that he won’t be re-elected. The vultures are circling, ready to feast on the carrion of his brief political ascent: the NOLA Democratic establishment seems to be coalescing around a candidate, State Rep Cedric Richmond. Richmond ran in 2008 but didn’t make the run-off wherein he would have kicked then Congressman Dollar Bill Jefferson’s ass. Instead through abizarre set of circumstances, we ended up with Mr. Cao in one of the bluest districts in the South. Hell, even in the country: Democratic Presidential nominees usually get 70% plus of the … Continue reading A Samurai From New Orleans East?
What His Rudeness said: Rep. Charlie Melancon, whose chances at taking BP abettor and Pampers enthusiast David Vitter’s seat have increased exponentially, saidyesterday, “I don’t care if it’s a dictator, a king, a democracy, I can’t imagine [another country] allowing any oil company to go out and do wily-nilly what was done in the Gulf of Mexico and is being done to the United States and this state.” And, in a line that should be the retort to any member of Congress who says a raised or eliminated liability cap will drive small oil companies out of the deep water … Continue reading Make It Right
Obama, tonight: As the clean up continues, we will offer whatever additional resources and assistance our coastal states may need. Now, a mobilization of this speed and magnitude will never be perfect, and new challenges will always arise. I saw and heard evidence of that during this trip. So if something isn’t working, we want to hear about it. If there are problems in the operation, we will fix them. p>But we have to recognize that despite our best efforts, oil has already caused damage to our coastline and its wildlife. And sadly, no matter how effective our response becomes, … Continue reading ‘BP Will Pay’
I know it comes as no surprise to First Drafters (ites?) but Rachel Maddow has done some of the best teevee reporting on the oiltastastrophe. This segment, I Am The Walrus, is particularly good as she dishes BP and uses a big old map of the US and A to show where oil dun spilled in recent years. Dun spilled? Uh oh, I seem to be channeling Plaquemines Parish President and current media love object Billy Nungesser: p align=”center” class=”asset asset-video” style=”display: block; margin: 0pt auto;”>http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/32545640 Visit msnbc.com forbreaking news, world news, andnews about the economy Continue reading Goo Goo Ga Joob
Recent Democratic Presidents have appointed Western politicians to be Interior Secretary. It worked out quite well with Stewart Udall, Cecil Andrus and Bruce Babbitt. Barack Obama followed the same pattern when he selected then Colorado Senator Ken Salazar. It hasn’t worked out that well. Why? The aforementioned Western pols were all conservationists whereas Salazar dances to the beat of a different drummer. I was unaware of that until I readTim Dickinson’s recent article in Rolling Stone. Here’s the money quote about Mr. Salazar: Salazar did little to tamp down on the lawlessness at MMS, beyond referring a few employees for … Continue reading Salazar Fail
God, Mom, I’m bored. There’s nothing todooooooooooooo: Coverage of the BP oil spill has certainly reached marathon status, the kind of thing still likely to lead on the evening newscasts — so likely that the networks risk evoking “oh not that again” reactions from viewers. It’s an unhappy fact of TV news life: the bigger the story’s significance, the longer it rules the newscasts — and the greater the danger the public will tune out. [snip] One of the unkinder peripheral ironies of a calamity like this one: The longer it goes on, the more likely public outrage will turn … Continue reading Tom Shales: News is HAAAAAAAARD
What Fishgrease said: These elite make the decisions. ALL the decisions. Do we still have to wonder at their response to the problems affecting Gulf Shore communities? YES! President Obama!TAKE their money! Don’t ask for it.TAKE IT!. Give it to the Podunks. But there’s nothing in The Constitution that allows that, Fishgrease! Fuck you! These assholes have destroyed the Gulf of Mexico and are in the process of destroying hundreds of communities, large and small along the Gulf Shore. You want to tell me we can’t make them pay for it? I won’t listen. The citizens of Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama … Continue reading What They Said, Oil Spill Edition
Oh, now he’s all in favor, the douchemook: House Minority Leader John Boehner onThis Week todaysaid he’s now in favor of lifting the cap on BP’s liability in the Gulf oil spill. Though currently law makes BP responsible for cleaning up the actual oil, it limits its liability to $75 million. Senate Democrats have pushed to raise the cap to $10 billion or get rid of the cap entirely. Boehner now seems to be suggesting he’s on board with the latter option but only in the case of BP and this spill, not in general going forward. Right. Because it’s … Continue reading Boehner Hears Angry Mob, Smells Burning Torches, Changes Tune
London Mayor Boris Johnson (on the left above with David Cameron) is a throwback. He’s a bona fide, genuine toff with all the proper upper class credentials: Eton, Oxford, yadda, yadda, yadda. I can never quite decide whether Boris is a dimmer version of Evelyn Waugh or a brighter Bertie Wooster. It’s quite easy to picture Boris and his old school chum and fellow posh boy Prime Minister David (Call me Dave) Cameron toddling off to the Drones club for a G and T with Bingo Little and Gussie Fink-Nottle. What ho, Boris. What ho, Dave. Besides wearing an old … Continue reading Malaka Of The Week: Boris Johnson
Sorry, Mom. I know you don’t like it when I say fuck so much buthonestly, tell me a better word: In layman’s jargon, the ‘clean up’ may sound like it applies to everything but it doesn’t. There’s the physical removal of the oil and then there’s liability for the damages the spill created — like destroying property, killing certain fisheries, closing a port, etc. As you’d expect, there’s probably an order of magnitude difference between the price tag for the first and the second. And that’s what this all comes down to. No one disagrees that BP is on the … Continue reading Let Me Be Blunt, Boehner (R-BP): FUCK THAT NOISE
Mousse: Tarballs and crude oil “mousse” entered into Perdido Bay in northwest Florida on the border with Alabama late on Wednesday, prompting state and local officials to step up skimming operations before the gooey mess taints delicate spawning areas. A variety of fish spawn there, including red snapper, grouper and speckled trout, and Alabama’s primary oyster beds are in the same area as well. Mike Sole, secretary of the FloridaDepartmentofEnvironmentalProtection, said the heavier concentrations — in an area just west of the Florida tourist haven of Pensacola — should continue over the next several days. “We’re going to continue to … Continue reading Getting Worse
Jesus Christ: In a story datelined, “UNDER THE MURKY DEPTHS OF THE GULF OF MEXICO,” Matthewswrites, “Some 40 miles out into the Gulf Of Mexico, I jump off the boat into the thickest patch of red oil I’ve ever seen. I open my eyes and realize my mask is already smeared. I can’t see anything and we’re just five seconds into the dive. “Dropping beneath the surface the only thing I see is oil. To the left, right, up and down – it sits on top of the water in giant pools, and hangs suspended fifteen feet beneath the surface … Continue reading ‘Something of a Publicity Stunt’
We’ll crank up the catbus for this, bitches. A. Continue reading Crack Van Material
President Obama is under fierce pressure from Louisiana pols to lift the deep water drilling moratorium. There’s fresh evidence that the moratorium is needed.That’s right, there’s another leaky rig: The Deepwater Horizon is not the only well leaking oil into the Gulf of Mexico for the last month. A nearby drilling rig, the Ocean Saratoga, has been leaking since at least April 30, according to a federal document. While the leak is decidedly smaller than the Deepwater Horizon spill, a 10-mile-long slick emanating from the Ocean Saratoga is visible from space in multiple images gathered by Skytruth.org, which monitors environmental … Continue reading Another Day, Another Leak
Fuckers. Fuckers fuckers fuckers. This suggestion, from the comments, has some merit: Although the Boston Globe once again proves how awesome they are this just points out one of the many travesties of this disaster. But hey if it works print it. Print them and paste them at gas stations. Hand them out at the office. Put them on your neighbors windows. A billboard behind every BP station. For the next ten years. With the picture of that pelican. A. —– Continue reading May BP’s Executives Rot In Hell
BP is up to its neck in oil and lies. Not only does BP CEO Tony Hayward lie incessantly he does so in a manner that suggests he believes he can spin his way out of trouble. It’s all bad PR as far he’s concerned. Here are two more examples of BP spin about the oiltastrophe: Wayward Hayward claims that spill workers who were recently hospitalized weren’t made ill by the vile chemical dispersant, Corexit, but by <get ready> food poisoning. I suspect that the so called food poisoning wasn’t caused by raw oysters since we’re nearly out of those … Continue reading Stupid BP Tricks
Drum roll please … tonight a little more than $1,200 was sent to theInternational Bird Rescue Center, courtesy ofyou fine people. And the request was made for the following pelican names: Scout FYYFF UncleSamRocks Ashley Albert Lambreaux LaDonna (There was a tie at press time between Maddow and LaDonna and I figuredafter the week our girl had last week on Treme, she needed the Pelican more.) I really can’t emphasize enough how hard you all rocked this project. Usually when we do something like this I try to send everybody who donated an e-mail. This time, around the second day … Continue reading Blog for Birds Results: Pelicans Adopted, Named!
You know, this isn’t a big blog. I don’t know how we’re measuring our e-penis in blogtopia lately because I don’t care about that shit, but by any standard you choose, this isn’t a big blog. We can’t change the course of history with just one post, or even with a whole bunch of posts, and the way I know that is that David Brooks is still employed.
However, what we do have is a bunch of people who put their time and money and voices and backs into stuff they care about. You’re not content just to complain about something. You want to fix it. You hear a tale of woe — about journalism, about soldiers, about the Gulf — and instead of spending three hours coming up with a way to shield your fragile sensibilities from giving a shit, you look around for something to DO.
People, in seven days we raised $1,200 for the International Bird Rescue Center. We raised enough money through the blog to adopt six pelicans, and readers told us they sent in enough money for another three. That’s money going to identify and rescue and clean pelicans and gannets and herons and whatever else that ends up stuck in the waste.
The need in the Gulf right now is enormous and what’s more, it’s going to be worse in the months to come. People who fished for a living are going to be out of work. People who ran hotels and restaurants are going to be out of work. The evidence of BP’s colossal disaster is going to be washing up on shore for a long damn time, and the fallout will last longer than that. I seriously doubt this is the only action we’ll be asking people to take.
But for this, for everything you’ve given over the last week for no other reason than that you needed to do something to help and this presented itself, for this thing right now, thank you all.
And now we have some pelicans to name!
Continue reading “Blog for Birds Conclusion: NINE Pelicans!”
As of last night, we had just more than $900 in the Paypalfor the International Bird Rescue Center. Yeah. NINE HUNDRED DOLLARS. A couple of you wrote in to say you’d sent checks directly to the bird rescue center, bringing our Pelican total to seven and a half! You guys are amazing. Thank you to everybody who’s contributed. If you haven’t yet kicked in, doooo eeet.And suggest names for our pelicans in the comments! A. Continue reading Blog for Birds Final Day: The Pelican-ing
Either the worst sitcom ever, I said in comments yesterday, or the best punk band. I keep settin’ the bar, and you guys keep clearing it.How many pelicans can we adopt? How about SEVEN? Keep the birds clean, people. Friday’s the last day. Then we shut this sucker down, pick names for these birdies, and send in our adoption fees. Reading the fine print, they do not actually send us the pelicans. Puck is relieved, but I think Riot’s a little disappointed.Hit the jar. A. Continue reading Blogs for Birds: Six and a Half Pelicans
There’s a lot of finger pointing going on over the BP Oil-tastrophe and most of the targets deserve to share in the blame. One name I haven’t heard mentioned very much is George W Bush. It was his people at the MMS who were in the pocket of big oil and got free LSU football tickets that should have gone to me. Not that I have anything to sell but who among us doesn’t like free tickets? In fact, the Obama administration should be mentioning the dread former President and his Veep more often on every subject. They drove the … Continue reading Blame It On Cain
Like this, but with oil instead of debris. So, it looks like the homeland is screwed. Again. That’s a picture of Biloxi, MS, after Katrina. The place was pretty much wiped out. And now they’ve got another disaster looming. We’ve all heard about the “spill” (which is kind of like calling a hydrogen bomb an explosive–technically true, but woefully understated). What I don’t get is certain people’s reactions. Of COURSE the Palinites are going to use this to call for more drilling and less regulation. That’s what they do. But there are some people, likeCole, who just don’t seem to … Continue reading Some Days, I Just Don’t Get It
So I thought we’d get one Pelican. $200. I mean, in case you haven’t noticed the country’s kind of caving in on itself and everybody can name six people off the top of their heads who are unemployed or broke or both. So $200 would be nice. Little thing for us all to feel good about. Reasonable expectation. As of today we have more than $800 in the Paypal account to send to the Center at week’s end. THAT’S FOUR PELICANS. That’s $800 to help the people who are cleaning up BP’s mess. Dare we try for five?Lookit this guy. … Continue reading EVERYBODY’S Heard About the Bird, Apparently: 4 Pelicans!
From the Balloon Juice comments: what exactly is the Obama administration supposed to do about the oil spill? How about we issue subpoenas against those responsible? How about finding what that big party on the rig was about before the explosion? How aboutNOT allowing BP to gather their own evidence in advance of them being a defendant in a future trial? How about taking action against the oil thugs that held survivors in captivity for 48 hours while their family members worried about them? How about taking action against the fatcat bubbas who tried to get residents to sign a … Continue reading What Are They Supposed To Do?
We in the United States of Amnesia have short memories: The exploratory oil well two miles below the surface of the Gulf of Mexico exploded in a ball of fire, spurting millions of gallons of crude into the sea. As weeks turned to months, oil executives grappled with capping the well. The growing slick turned into an immediate ecological nightmare. The year was 1979. The blowout of the Ixtoc I, drilled by the Mexican-run Pemex, retains the dubious record of causing the world’s largest accidental oil spill, dumping an estimated 138 million gallons over nine months. Eventually, Pemex cut off … Continue reading It Came From Mexico: The Ixtoc I Oil Spill