Displaying 0 To 0 Of 0 Comments It is bestowed on Kalima by everyone at The Planet including you! BTW, are you getting my emails? Haven’t heard back from you. » Posted By AdLib On May 27, 2010 @ 3:50 pm Please let Mr. Fluffy Wuvers know he is missed and he still owes me ten bucks. » Posted By AdLib On May 27, 2010 @ 3:40 pm Yes you certainly do! Here you are: » Posted By AdLib On May 27, 2010 @ 3:36 pm Agreed. I would feel hypocritical to be as blind a follower of Obama as the Repubs were of Bush. There are things Obama does or doesn’t do that I disagree with and I will honestly express that. However, just because I feel honesty is the best policy, it doesn’t mean I don’t respect Obama or not appreciate having him as our president at this incredibly difficult time in our nation’s history. I remember Bush predicting that his presidency would be judged far better in the future. Heh! However, as much as people may be frustrated with Obama’s imperfections right now, I think that many years down the line, he will be seen as one of our most remarkable and capable presidents. What other president has had to deal with so many crises in such a short span of time and in the midst of such terrible partisanship, racism and hatred? Imagine if Obama had only come into office with 52 Dem Senators, how paralyzed our government would have been in the face of so many disasters? Or, if we had a President McCain and Vice President Palin in charge of the BP oil spill? Seriously, we’ve all seen how being president ages and stresses people. Would McCain really have lasted 4 years? I think the only way he could is by taking plenty of time off along the way so he wasn’t stressed into a heart attack. And Palin would probably have stepped up then. So, in the end, how lucky are we to have President Obama right now instead of more Bush, Romney, Palin or McCain. It really could have been a nail in the coffin for the U.S. We are fortunate to be able to be complaining about President Obama. » Posted By AdLib On May 27, 2010 @ 11:31 am As a whole, I appreciated much of what Obama said about his Admin’s response to the spill. He confessed regrets at the speed of their reactions, at their trusting BP on the amount of the flow, on other aspects as well. He did describe that a scientific board was assembled to consider and review things, which I had hoped would be the case and did assert that his admin is ultimately in charge. Still, the impression was left with me that BP is not really so subservient, Obama had difficulty answering why equipment from other companies and countries, such as the tankers in Saudi Arabia that sucked up an oiol spill in their waters, are not being brought in to limit the damage. Obama explained that BP and the other oil companies have the best technology to stop this spill…which appears to be mud. At the same time, I did appreciate Obama saying that BP shares the interest of the public on stopping the well but may not share their interests in being truthful about the facts and damages caused by the spill. The impression was also left with me that BP may be advising the Obama Admin to keep other companies and equipment out of the gulf so it doesn’t interfere with their operations, the real motive may be more to BP’s benefit than the public’s if, for example, another company’s tankers suck up (and retain) a lot of oil, making them look good and BP look less capable. I don’t know but I can’t think of one good reason why such a tanker is not in the gulf right now. Lastly, the MMS needs to be fully overhauled, there should be an orderly but swift replacement of personnel there because the agency appears too corrupt to function. Corruption may be a natural progression of any regulatory agency (see SEC) but when you have a presidency like the Bush Admin, that wants to derail all regulation by government and accomplishes this by putting industry personnel in charge of “regulating” industry, such a collapse of government protection is inevitable and planned. » Posted By AdLib On May 27, 2010 @ 11:18 am That was Major Garrett from Fox News, you hit the nail right on the head. These frauds sat by, covered up and ignored all of the far worse scandals of the Bush Admin but now feign moral outrage at Obama for far more minimal things. Whatever happened with the Sestak thing, I hope Obama has learned well from Clinton’s presidency that when there’s no harm done by something that could be blown up into having a “gate” added at the end, provide an answer to the questions once than walk away. » Posted By AdLib On May 27, 2010 @ 11:04 am I love Helen Thomas and remember how Bush blacklisted her and others for years, never calling on them for questions. I don’t think, however, that Obama’s response was very good. Still, Obama does not similarly hide from the tough questions and questioners as the coward Bush did. Obama calls on Fox News and many other conservative and propagandist reporters. He is not afraid of being questioned. Remember Bush calling on all the plants in the “reporter” pool, some starting out with, “I know you are doing the work of Jesus…” and “President Bush, may I begin by expressing how much Americans appreciate your leadership at this time?” Seriously, wasn’t the vastness and degree of propaganda in the Bush Admin competitive with the worst of all governments in the last 100 years? » Posted By AdLib On May 27, 2010 @ 10:59 am Thanks Lise! As you can see, I’m very upset and frustrated too. It almost feels like being held hostage by BP. They caused this disaster out of greed and are being treated as the only experts in the world who can staunch this. I just don’t buy it. There are many other oil drilling companies and other entities experienced in deep sea exploration and operations. BP is not trustworthy, they want to preserve the well to pay for the damages they’ll owe and as BT mentioned below, if crimping the pipe was possible but killed the well, they simply wouldn’t do it. Still, I do hope this Top Kill succeeds. I’m tired of being held hostage. » Posted By AdLib On May 26, 2010 @ 5:50 pm Absolutely! During elections we here politicians about “Americans have a can-do spirit!” but when something like this happens, it’s “Can’t” and “Don’t”. My earlier point was, what if we knew an asteroid would hit the Earth in a year? Would our government just ask Haliburton to figure it out and hope for the best? How did we get “the bomb”? Go to the moon? Commitment and bringing the best minds together under the administration of our government. Imagine if a corporation was put in charge of developing the A-bomb or going to the moon? The A-Bomb would have probably landed on and blown up the moon! » Posted By AdLib On May 26, 2010 @ 5:33 pm “Hello Oily Pelican. Welcome to Walmart. We have baby wipes on sale.” » Posted By AdLib On May 26, 2010 @ 5:28 pm Well, I don’t find that so conspiratorial. BP has had a number of disasters at its refineries and rigs because of their greed in not spending money on safety and inspections. They are soulless creatures of greed, many people who loyally worked for them have died, been murdered in truth, due to BP’s valuing money over life. They do not deserve trust or respect and I don’t doubt what depths they could sink to in order to feed their greed. » Posted By AdLib On May 26, 2010 @ 5:26 pm Thanks for the link, KQ! It is kind of an oily silver lining that this disaster has convinced a majority of what many of us already knew, greed is not good. Putting the planet in danger that we all live on just for the hope that the price of gas goes down is naturally short sighted. Americans in general don’t think long term. They seem more like children who want something today without regard for what the impact could be tomorrow. And they’re so fickle. Now there’s an oil spill crisis and they favor the environment. If half a year from now there’s a spike in gas prices, they’ll all stamped for “Drill, Baby, Drill!” I wish they could teach “vision” or “long term thinking” in schools. We would be such an advanced nation if most people thought that way. » Posted By AdLib On May 26, 2010 @ 5:21 pm KQ, you miss my point. Check out my comment at the top, quoting the AP news story. BP is an adversary of what’s best for the planet and the nation, they are only on the side of their profit ledger. The people who intentionally flouted safety to save money, creating this preventable disaster due to greed, should not be expected to act any differently and should not be in charge of a national crisis. This leopard is not going to change its spots, it’s just making more of them throughout the Gulf. » Posted By AdLib On May 26, 2010 @ 10:42 am Why BP can’t be trusted to solve the disaster they caused and should not be in charge of these operations: Coast Guard OKs ‘top kill’ plan to stop oil geyser By GREG BLUESTEIN and MIKE BAKER, Associated Press Writer Greg Bluestein And Mike Baker, Associated Press Writer » Posted By AdLib On May 26, 2010 @ 10:33 am How can you tell when Li’l Kim is jumping up and down? The toddlers stop stepping on him. » Posted By AdLib On May 25, 2010 @ 10:20 pm What it reveals is that they have not developed any procedures or technology to address such eventualities. Actually, I don’t have much confidence in BP’s creativity in coming up with a timely and viable solution to this problem, five weeks after it began, we’re still at square one. Maybe my allegory was not ideal but my point is, just because BP is expert at drilling for oil, does not mean they are experts at stopping a disaster in progress at a well. As I mentioned, the attempts that failed don’t exemplify any deep understanding of what will or won’t work to accomplish the task of capping a deep sea well. Look, I desperately hope their latest “Top Kill” attempt works. I just want this crisis to stop growing. At the same time, I don’t know that the people at BP aren’t at the same starting line that other scientists would be at to figure this out. » Posted By AdLib On May 25, 2010 @ 10:08 pm Yep, I didn’t mean Obama was sitting back as in doing nothing but sitting back in terms of letting BP be our leader in this crisis right now. There is almost always a solution to a physical proposition. What would be at a minimum a good exercise, would be to convene a panel of sharp scientific minds and bat around outside-the-box concepts on how they might be able to stop this well. As I mentioned to Choicelady, gives me little confidence that if an impending disaster like an asteroid heading towards the Earth was to occur, our nation could respond in a profound and inventive way to avoid disaster. » Posted By AdLib On May 25, 2010 @ 9:59 pm Maybe North Korea could have a sub shoot a missile at it and collapse the hole? I can only imagine how frustrated Obama is. Can you believe everything that he has had to deal with in his presidency…and it’s only been a year and a half?! » Posted By AdLib On May 25, 2010 @ 9:53 pm Hey Choicelady!!! Makes you wonder, what if an asteroid was headed for the Earth, would we turn to Haliburton to stop it then sit on the edge of our seats as corporations tried and failed? This is a national disaster and unfortunately, like Katrina, our government seems helpless to do anything. I appreciate my good buddy KQ’s reasonable position, BP are experts at oil drilling and the Feds aren’t. Still, I think Obama should step up as the big picture guy on this, let BP do what they think will work for right now but meantime seek input and ideas from every possible source nationally and internationally. I would like Obama to be managing this, BP’s being the leader on this crisis is getting very distasteful. » Posted By AdLib On May 25, 2010 @ 9:51 pm Absolutely, the cleanup is going to be so critical. Unfortunately, word is that it will be near impossible to fully clean up and preserve the wetlands in LA. I mentioned in a reply to you below, I would suggest that BP is not an expert in stopping a deep sea well that’s spewing oil. They have consistently downplayed and neglected any preparation for this kind of situation. I see no evidence of any thoughtful plan existing prior to this event. I agree with you that throwing lots of people or lesser experienced people at this is not a good way to go. So, my proposal is that the Feds should take control and use BP as their logistics and operations team but shop around the country and the world for the best ideas on capping this well and order BP to figure out how to make it happen. » Posted By AdLib On May 25, 2010 @ 9:44 pm One can only hope that this disaster will make politicians and the public tune out industry assurances for a very long time. » Posted By AdLib On May 25, 2010 @ 9:38 pm I heard on NPR that the reason the US has called on BP to reduce the amount of dispersant is that they are using one that has been banned by other countries due to its dangerous contaminants. BP though would put their costs first and the costs to human and ocean life last. As for the proposition that BP is in the best position to solve this, I would ask you as a scientist, if the Feds held a summit with scientists and industry experts, might not a solution to cap this well be developed? None of BP’s plans are very sophisticated or beyond what a teenager could outline. Put a big cover on the well. Block it with mud and/or rocks. Drill other wells for the oil to be drained from this one. I’ll concede that the logistics on doing any of this are difficult but the concepts themselves don’t reflect any unique expertise. How long does Obama sit back and allow BP to be in charge of a national crisis? What if BP fails at everything for another month? I will be thrilled if the latest attempt from BP works to cap this well. I’m just concerned that if it doesn’t and they continue a string of failures month after month, we could have a far worse crisis because we were convinced by proven liars that they can stop this before new wells are drilled in three months…when maybe they can’t. » Posted By AdLib On May 25, 2010 @ 9:36 pm My conspiracy drill needs a new bit. » Posted By AdLib On May 25, 2010 @ 9:22 pm Especially in such a frustrating and helpless situation (what can we do to stop this well?), humor is a good path. I started my article out with some humor but as I drilled deeper into the issue, my humor was dispersed. As for “Top Kill”, sounds like a low budget Jean Claude Van Damme film to me. » Posted By AdLib On May 25, 2010 @ 9:21 pm My perception though is that BP is only expert at drilling, not at solving a deep sea spill. Their attempts to date seem to confirm that, one lame and failed attempt after another. Just because someone’s good at driving a car doesn’t mean they’re good at repairing it. » Posted By AdLib On May 25, 2010 @ 9:17 pm Thanks Kalima! Just shaking off the last remnants of jet lag! I agree 100%! Except for your ear infection, that was really Michelle Obama’s fault. » Posted By AdLib On May 25, 2010 @ 9:15 pm I heard the President of a Louisiana County or Parish say the very thing you did, that there are foreign tanker ships that can suck up oil and seawater and separate them. I didn’t know that some archaic law may prevent us from hiring them to do this work. So foreign companies like BP can drill deep sea wells but foreign companies aren’t permitted to bring in equipment to clean it up? If that is the case, I would hope Obama would issue an Executive Order waiving that during an emergency. And why wouldn’t BP have such a ship? Oh, that’s right, they wouldn’t want a fraction of the billions they make each year to be wasted on being prepared for an eventual accident. And as to expertise, I would suggest that all BP seems to be experienced in is drilling, not stopping an oil spill. The Feds would appear to be just as experienced in that case. And at least, the Feds would have BP’s “expertise” and the ideas of others in the energy and scientific community to develop solutions to this disaster. » Posted By AdLib On May 25, 2010 @ 9:12 pm Vox Populi is underway, please join us by clicking here: https://planetpov.com/live-events/vox-populi/ » Posted By AdLib On May 21, 2010 @ 7:33 pm The Power of Intermittent Fanning As I enjoyed your clever post! What I find most annoying about such things is that they turn something meaningful into something ultimately worthless but retain the facade of being meaningful. And people so easily conform and adopt the sensibility they’re given permission to have, “Oh! It’s okay to act like a kid and collect badges! That’s called political blogging too! Yay!!!” As for your salient point about HP, you are absolutely right, it is more tease than happy ending. The badges are the equivalent of going to the Champagne Room at a strip club. It feels like you’re getting something gratifying but you never really get anything…while putting more money in the stripper’s hand. Yuk! The image of Arianna as a stripper…one should get a badge just for enduring that. » Posted By AdLib On May 26, 2010 @ 5:44 pm Hotter! Now, it’s Kitty Carlisle’s turn! » Posted By AdLib On May 25, 2010 @ 10:16 pmComments Posted By AdLib
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