Jon Stewart on Obama's Broken Civil Liberties Promises

"Like I said before: I didn't expect the guy to walk on water, but I'd love it if he wouldn't wallow in shit."

Video embedded below. (via)

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BP Oil Spill is a Reverse Katrina

Over the past few weeks there have been a lot of people asking if the BP oil spill is 'Obama's Katrina'. They have it wrong; they have it reversed. This oil spill is not a Katrina repeat, it is the complete opposite.

People saw Katrina coming, and though people may not have known just how bad it would get the storm took no one paying attention by surprise. They knew they had to get out, evacuate, get to a safe place ... a decidedly local government issue. The local government is the first stop, if you are told to leave your home because a storm is coming no one should expect the president of the United States to be driving the bus. President of the PTA or some other local group, maybe. What happened in Katrina was a massive screw up on the local level. A screw up so monumental that the federal government had to step in. Despite the local screw up, and the federal save, it was President Bush that got most of the blame.

The BP oil spill is something that we may not have seen coming specifically, but something that there are plans for. More important for the comparison, this is decidedly a federal responsibility. What is happening now is that the federal response is so inept that the local and state governments are now stepping in. Despite the federal screw up, most of the blame has not been directed at Obama.

Just to recap:
Katrina -> Local problem/issue, local screw up, federal save, President gets blamed.
BP Oil Spill -> Federal problem/issue, federal screw up, locals stepping in, President not blamed.

State/Local Governments Taking Spill Clean up And Mitigation Into Their Own Hands

If the Federal government is not going to do what is necessary the State and Local governments are going to step in and do what they can.

http://abcnews.go.com/WN/article/bp-oil-spill-gov-bobby-jindal-orders-national/story?id=10914348

"Eight weeks into the oil spill disaster in the Gulf of the Mexico, Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal has told the National Guard that there's no time left to wait for BP, so they're taking matters into their own hands.

In Fort Jackson, La., Jindal has ordered the Guard to start building barrier walls right in the middle of the ocean. The barriers, built nine miles off shore, are intended to keep the oil from reaching the coast by filling the gaps between barrier islands."

http://www.thedestinlog.com/news/pass-30005-nwfdn-command-plans.html

"County commissioners voted unanimously to give their emergency management team the power to take whatever action it deems necessary to prevent oil from the Deepwater Horizon spill from entering Choctawhatchee Bay through the East Pass.

That means the team, led by Public Safety Director Dino Villani, can take whatever action it sees fit to protect the pass without having its plans approved by state or federal authorities."

Obama And BP Execs on Their Meeting

First Obama.

Video embedded below.



Now BP Execs.

Video embedded below.



The 'small people' line from the BP Exec during the questions may be a result of the language differences.

Cop Punches Non-Complying Teenager in The Face

Perhaps the better line would be solitary cop (as in did not have back up) used force against a teenager who had first used force against him. This was not excessive force, this is a cop acting to protect himself. The jaywalking stop may be a bit odd, but the proper venue to fight it is in court later if you can not respectfully convince the cop using just your words that the stop is inappropriate. Unless the cop is illegally using excessive force and you legitimately fear for your safety your best bet is to comply and fight it later.

Video embedded below.

Obama - 'Gulf Spill Echoes 9/11'

Swing and a miss...

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0610/38468.html

"Sounding reflective as he heads into a bruising electoral season, President Barack Obama told POLITICO columnist Roger Simon that the Gulf disaster “echoes 9/11” because it will change the nation’s psyche for years to come.
...
“In the same way that our view of our vulnerabilities and our foreign policy was shaped profoundly by 9/11,” the president said in an Oval Office interview on Friday, "I think this disaster is going to shape how we think about the environment and energy for many years to come.”"

Maine Boom Actually Above Grade?

The story about this boom sitting unused in warehouses takes another turn. After the story that it was deemed sub par a new person was called in to review it who said it actually exceeds the standards.

http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalpunch/2010/06/engineering-professor-gives-maine-boom-thumbs-up.html

""I have never directly looked at boom before," says Ian T. Durham of the Department of Physics and Cooperative Engineering at Saint Anselm College.

That said, Durham says, analyzing boom "is a fairly standard, pretty simple mechanical engineering problem."
...
He says Packgen's boom is superior to other boom. Its woven polypropelene is "practically indestructible," he says. "Packgen uses it to make toxic waste disposal containers."

Using woven polypropelene means the Packgen boom isn't "going to twist like the vinyl" boom. "And it's easier to deploy. It's nice and stiff and it floats really nicely."

Durham says he was hired to make sure that the Packgen boom met all of the ASTM standards, which he says it did. He "absolutely" believes the government should buy and deploy it. "I don’t work for Packgen, I have no loyalty to them," he says. "I think it certainly will work" in coastal areas, though he "wouldn't deploy it deepwater.""