Still Spewing

According to NOAA, here is the latest trajectory map for the BP oil spill.   Obviously this is just catastrophic for the entire Gulf.

Oh, did you hear?  The Obamas had a picnic last night on the White House lawn with a guest list of some 2,000 congressional members and family members.

Meanwhile, one Louisiana company has filed a challenge to the federal government moratorium on deep water drilling. Via NOLA, Hornbeck Offshore Petroleum says the Interior Department recommended the moratorium without any legal justification.  The Interior Department, for their part, just wants time to do studies, they say.

While they're doing their studies, the Louisiana economy is tanking.  Tom Bonnette of The Franklin Sun is not impressed with Obama's response.  James Carville is still angry.

In Lafourche Parish nine local fisherman have gotten sick by, they believe, the fumes.  Consumer advocate Erin Brockovich has come down to meet with them and provide assistance and advice to locals on protecting themselves against chemical contamination.  Unable to fish the oil polluted waters, the fisherman have begun working in the cleanup efforts but the air quality is so poor it's leading to more problems.

South Louisiana newspaper Teche Today reports

There might be other problems, says chemist and environmentalist Wilma Subra of New Iberia. On Monday in Chalmette, Subra, representing the Louisiana Environmental Action Network (LEAN) and Lower Mississippi Riverkeeper, told the Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations of the House Energy and Commerce Committee that fumes from the BP gusher have been affecting fishermen hired by BP contractors to pick up the crude oil. The workers are already reporting headaches, nausea and respiratory problems, she said. Long-term effects can be the development of cancer, heart and lung problems, Subra said.

Twenty-five days ago, Obama formed his commission to investigate the spill, but so far, nothing.  The commission isn't even filled out yet.  The commission is charged with investigating the cause of the spill and determining future safety protocols for new rigs.  But the commission isn't even engaged.

Not much has happened except for a few Obama photo ops.

Has Obama spoken with Tony Hayward of BP yet?  In this interview with Matt Lauer, Obama explains he hasn't spoken with Hayward yet because "he's gonna say all the right things to me.  I'm not interested in words.  I'm interested in action."  Really?  Seriously?  Is poking your finger in the sand on a sanitized beach "action"? 

Frustration mounts.

And what of the miles of oil boom sitting in that Maine warehouse?  Why hasn't Team Obama taken charge and picked that up?  Jindal has been screaming for it for weeks.

Epic failure.

(H/T:  The Dead Pelican)

I Can't Eat Crab Claws This Weekend! I've Got to Bankrupt the Country!

Via The Dead Pelican, Harry Reid, master of diplomacy, has canceled his New Orleans "Saturday brunch" fundraiser scheduled for this weekend.

Somehow, that made me giggle. Harry "nothing-can-be-more-important-than-passing-health-care-legislation" Reid backs out of his fundraiser with James Carville and Mary Landrieu which has been scheduled for weeks. Reid was all set to call a weekend recess until the Republicans called him out on his hypocrisy.

According to The Hill, Reid at first whined a little bit about people "trying to denigrate" him, but then:

"Reid said he would never admonish a fellow senator for holding a fundraiser. 'I would never, ever intentionally come to the floor and try to talk to somebody about having had a fundraiser and that's why they’re trying to get out of here,' he said. About taking the weekend off, Reid added, 'I thought it would be appropriate because we've worked pretty hard here to have a day or two off.'"

So I guess if John Boehner or Mitch McConnell had wanted to take the weekend off to go to a fundraiser, ahem, I mean, because they'd "been working so hard", it would have been cool with Reid? Would he have called a weekend recess for them?

Who is Reid fooling, anyway? He wanted a weekend off because they've "worked pretty hard"? Seriously? It had nothing to do with his scheduled fundraiser? Uh, okay.

But it's crazy because, my goodness, you know, from an organizers standpoint, I'm thinking of all the planning and preparation down the tubes! If I'm planning a big-shot brunch in New Orleans, I've ordered seafood, got a nice chef lined up, ordered flowers, caterers, decorators, valets, and other assorted staff.

Hold the phone! We've got to bankrupt the country this weekend! I can't go to any brunch! I've got to pass a bill that cuts Medicare and kills jobs! I've got to pass a mandate for every person in the country to purchase health insurance or else they face jail time! I can't be bothered with eating marinated crab claws right now!

This was a lose/lose call for Reid. But he ought to be accustomed to that.

Ah, the audacity of Harry Reid. He could almost teach Obama a thing or two.

Your Daily Affirmation From James Carville

Via The Washington Examiner, James Carville thinks I'm an oddball:

"The self-identifying conservative Republicans who make up the base of the Republican Party stand a world apart from the rest of America," write Carville and Greenberg. Conservative Republicans, according to the Democracy Corps research, don't trust Barack Obama; are scared by the speed with which the president and Democrats in Congress are attempting to enact new programs; don't like government takeovers of business; and believe that many of their fellow Americans don't fully appreciate the threat posed by the Democratic agenda."

According to Carville, this makes me out of step with the rest of the country. So be it.

These are the conclusions of a report entitled "The Very Separate World of Conservative Republicans," a new report by Democracy Corps, the political research firm run by Democratic operatives James Carville and Stanley Greenberg.

The report also concludes that Republicans don't have a very high opinion of their own party. I'd say there is some accuracy in that as well; as long as the national Republican leadership puts candidates like Dede Scozzafava or Charlie Crist out there, who are really liberals with "R"s after their names, you bet that the conservative base is going to be unhappy.

Dede Scozzafava, for example, had the police respond to one of her meetings last night because reporter John McCormack made her "uncomfortable" when he asked her about card check, higher taxes, and abortion funding in Obamacare. McCormack's questions exposed her liberal bias, and I'm guessing THAT is what made her uncomfortable; not much the cops can do for her there.

One good bit of news in the Carville report, though. Republicans aren't racist:

After Republican Rep. Joe Wilson's famous "You lie!" outburst during Obama's address to Congress, commentators all over the media accused conservatives of outright racism. The Democracy Corps focus groups were conducted not long after the Wilson matter, and Carville and Greenberg were specifically looking for signs of racial animus. "We gave these groups of older, white Republican base voters in Georgia full opportunity to bring race into their discussion, but it did not ever become a central element, and indeed, was almost beside the point," Carville and Greenberg write. Race, they conclude, was "certainly not what was bothering them about President Obama."

Nope, it's just his policies we're concerned about. We could have told you that without a report from James Carville.

More on the Scozzafava story at Memeorandum, or McCormack's account here.

Was I Just Insulted?

I think James Carville just called me "an old crank" but senility is setting in and I'm not sure.

Watch this and let me know if I need to go get some Geritol or something.



Is he even relevant anymore?