• Menu
  • Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

Before Header

  • About Us
  • Lexicon
  • Contact Us
  • Our Store
  • ↑
  • ↓
  • ←
  • →

Balloon Juice

Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Republicans seem to think life begins at the candlelight dinner the night before.

Baby steps, because the Republican Party is full of angry babies.

This fight is for everything.

Not all heroes wear capes.

If you don’t believe freedom is for everybody, then the thing you love isn’t freedom, it is privilege.

Hi god, it’s us. Thanks a heap, you’re having a great week and it’s only Thursday!

Jesus watching the most hateful people claiming to be his followers

Fuck these fucking interesting times.

Everything is totally normal and fine!!!

We can’t confuse what’s necessary to win elections with the policies that we want to implement when we do.

Balloon Juice, where there is always someone who will say you’re doing it wrong.

American history and black history cannot be separated.

Reality always lies in wait for … Democrats.

The press swings at every pitch, we don’t have to.

President Musk and Trump are both poorly raised, coddled 8 year old boys.

You don’t get rid of your umbrella while it’s still raining.

Republican speaker of the house Mike Johnson is the bland and smiling face of evil.

Trump’s cabinet: like a magic 8 ball that only gives wrong answers.

Republican also-rans: four mules fighting over a turnip.

The low info voters probably won’t even notice or remember by their next lap around the goldfish bowl.

The poor and middle-class pay taxes, the rich pay accountants, the wealthy pay politicians.

It’s all just conspiracy shit beamed down from the mothership.

In my day, never was longer.

“In the future, this lab will be a museum. do not touch it.”

Mobile Menu

  • 4 Directions VA 2025 Raffle
  • 2025 Activism
  • Donate with Venmo, Zelle & PayPal
  • Site Feedback
  • War in Ukraine
  • Submit Photos to On the Road
  • Politics
  • On The Road
  • Open Threads
  • Topics
  • Authors
  • About Us
  • Contact Us
  • Lexicon
  • Our Store
  • Politics
  • Open Threads
  • 2025 Activism
  • Garden Chats
  • On The Road
  • Targeted Fundraising!
You are here: Home / Science & Technology / Spill Coverage

Spill Coverage

by @heymistermix.com|  May 27, 20107:28 am| 106 Comments

This post is in: Science & Technology

FacebookTweetEmail

Here’s the best page I’ve found with spill coverage, from the Houston Chronicle. According to that page, Obama will announce a 6 month drilling moratorium today, pending the outcome of a report from a Presidential commission.

The Chron commits a lot of journalism, such as this piece on the well design:

Given the complexity of the reservoir being drilled, the design chosen by BP and approved by federal regulators should have been changed, other observers say.

“The entire well construction, in my view, was cavalier,” said an engineer and industry consultant who asked not to be named. “They were putting a lot of faith in their calculations that things would not go wrong.”

That piece is from their energy beat reporter, Tom Fowler, who also has a blog on the site. With our focus on crummy DC reporting, it’s easy to forget that there are a lot of great beat reporters in Real America.

FacebookTweetEmail
Previous Post: « Open Thread
Next Post: Love’s Labor Lost »

Reader Interactions

106Comments

  1. 1.

    WereBear

    May 27, 2010 at 7:33 am

    I hear guarded reports of good signs.

  2. 2.

    Jenny

    May 27, 2010 at 7:36 am

    Even Emptywheel at FDL says

    as much as I hate it, Salazar is right. Everything IS being done. After reading studies last night, realize not much CAN be done.

  3. 3.

    kay

    May 27, 2010 at 7:46 am

    To date, more than 26,000 claims have already been submitted. This has resulted in BP already paying more than $36 million.

    I’ve been following this, because I thought they might stiff individual people on the claims.
    They’re appointing a mediator, which makes me a little nervous, but the Oil Pollution Act directs them to pay a submitted claim in 90 days, or the claimant can file suit, so maybe BP can’t game it with a big business-friendly mediator.
    I hope the feds choose the mediator. I can’t tell who is doing the hiring.

  4. 4.

    PurpleGirl

    May 27, 2010 at 8:07 am

    “They were putting a lot of faith in their calculations that things would not go wrong.”

    Obviously “they” (whoever they are) are not followers of Murphy. You remember Murphy — the great one who proclaims that anything that can go wrong, will go wrong and will go wrong at the worst possible time to go wrong.

    We ignore Murphy at our perile.

  5. 5.

    cleek

    May 27, 2010 at 8:08 am

    Obviously “they” (whoever they are) are not followers of Murphy.

    if you do not follow Murphy, Murphy follows you.

  6. 6.

    rickstersherpa

    May 27, 2010 at 8:09 am

    Oh my gosh, actually informing the reader of the who, what, where, when, why, and how. Amazing stuff.

    Apparently, the WaPo, NYTimes, and cable talking heads are above this and prefer speculating about why the President does not put on Superman’s cape and fix the thing and suck all the oil out of the Gulf and the Louisiana marshes right NOW!

  7. 7.

    Perfect Tommy

    May 27, 2010 at 8:18 am

    With our focus on crummy DC reporting, it’s easy to forget that there are a lot of great beat reporters in Real America.

    Meanwhile it took the AP a month to connect the dots between BP’s role as the majority stakeholder in Alyeska and their lack of preparation for the Exxon Valdez grounding in 1989 and the current mess in the Gulf.

    slightly OT rant:
    Newspapers are crying about declining circulation and their response is to eliminate in-house reporters and rely on AP type wire stories. Google searches show hundreds of hits for the same AP story with the same headline across the news media. They can’t even be bothered to edit the headline.

  8. 8.

    Glenn Beck's Chalkboard

    May 27, 2010 at 8:20 am

    Fowler’s blog has been excellent on this subject — updated multiple times per day.

  9. 9.

    Glenn Beck's Chalkboard

    May 27, 2010 at 8:23 am

    @Jenny:

    as much as I hate it, Salazar is right. Everything IS being done. After reading studies last night, realize not much CAN be done.

    Yes, and having Obama traipsing all over south Louisiana, pointing and shouting orders and “getting angry” won’t help. I’m afraid the previous administration fairly well established the notion that huffing and puffing and dick-waving counts as actually doing something constructive. It doesn’t.

  10. 10.

    Comrade Javamanphil

    May 27, 2010 at 8:27 am

    @rickstersherpa:

    Oh my gosh, actually informing the reader of the who, what, where, when, why, and how. Amazing stuff.

    Some people say that this is not how journalism should be practiced and that what readers really want are vague, unprovable assertions that make both sides seem suspect. We’ll be asking David Gregory to fact check this statement.

  11. 11.

    Jenny

    May 27, 2010 at 8:28 am

    @Glenn Beck’s Chalkboard: Yes, but for all their claims of rationality and intellect and maturation, a significant portion of the base craves red meat.

  12. 12.

    kay

    May 27, 2010 at 8:32 am

    @Comrade Javamanphil:

    Some people say that this is not how journalism should be practiced and that what readers really want are vague, unprovable assertions

    It’s infuriating and frustrating when you’re looking for something specific. A reporter asked a good question days ago “are other oil companies involved?”
    It’s a good question because that would be a check on BP’s assertions that they’re doing their best.
    The WH said they are, but I wasn’t able to verify that, until I went to the Houston Chronicle by way of…..Talking Points memo. Exxon have been involved from the outset.
    When they ask a good question they don’t even answer that question.

  13. 13.

    John S.

    May 27, 2010 at 8:35 am

    @Jenny:

    Because they were looking for bizarro Bush, and all they got was this lousy Obama.

  14. 14.

    Comrade Javamanphil

    May 27, 2010 at 8:45 am

    @kay: Most national level journalists seem to think their job is to ask questions and it ends there. They do not seem to care much about the answers (unless a Clenis is involved.) I go back and forth about whether the banksters or the DC press corps should be up against the wall first when the revolution comes.

  15. 15.

    Anya

    May 27, 2010 at 8:46 am

    @John S.: “Why can’t he be bizarro Bush” or something similar should be another tag

  16. 16.

    Punchy

    May 27, 2010 at 8:52 am

    Anyone know if they went for the top kill, ended up with a junk shot, then tipped their top hat?

  17. 17.

    Jenny

    May 27, 2010 at 8:58 am

    According to The Oil Drum things look good and the well may be sealed by tomorrow.

    I believe that the injection pressure of mud into the well has dropped, indicating that BP have filled the well, and are now holding pressure to see if there are any problems. I would assume, if none develop, that they will inject cement to seal the top of the well, sometime today.

    http://www.theoildrum.com/node/6515

  18. 18.

    Allison W.

    May 27, 2010 at 9:00 am

    Did you guys see this from a reader at TPM?

  19. 19.

    someguy

    May 27, 2010 at 9:01 am

    Heaven forbid, but the WSJ has a good article on what happened immediately before the blast. It looks like BP had a heated argument with the drilling services company about what method to use to cap the well, and the drilling technicians eventually knuckled under (the client is always right) to BP demands to use a faster, cheaper method of capping the well, making the sarcastic comment that the blowout preventers were for situations like the one BP was creating.

    So much for the fraud BP has been marketing itself with, as a green company. The only green those fuckers are interested in has pictures of dead preznits on it. I wonder how many other ‘green’ companies are equally fraudulent.

  20. 20.

    cleek

    May 27, 2010 at 9:05 am

    BP has gotten much more open and forthcoming as well.

    lots and lots of info on that site. maps, too!

  21. 21.

    Chyron HR

    May 27, 2010 at 9:08 am

    @Punchy:

    Anyone know if they went for the top kill, ended up with a junk shot, then tipped their top hat?

    Yes, but then the Squid totally beefed it.

  22. 22.

    El Cid

    May 27, 2010 at 9:11 am

    Remember,

    The entire well construction, in my view, was cavalier

    If he wasn’t so anti-capitalist and anti-Freedom and anti-American, in his view it would have been bold, courageous, manly, you know, this is Sparta, etc.

  23. 23.

    geg6

    May 27, 2010 at 9:16 am

    I am just so out of my depth with this disaster. Never even took a geology class, let alone even have a clue as to the engineering issues involved. My thought the other day was that since I work at a university with a reputation for engineering, I’d talk to our engineering faculty on campus and our CEO who was originally an engineer to see if they could give me any sort of understanding. The mechanical guy gave me some small and elementary insight into some of the technology but we don’t have any E&MS faculty on my campus (those majors transfer to main campus after two years). I need a mini-seminar for non-engineering types.

    And that seems to be the problem. Most people are like me, ignorant of the complexity of the problem but knowing it is a gigantic disaster and in need of reassurrance. I know Obama is doing whatever he can and I know photo ops of Obama getting angry and washing a seagull are simply show business, but I do think the PR has value if only for the politic optics.

  24. 24.

    PurpleGirl

    May 27, 2010 at 9:16 am

    @cleek: I like that. I’m adding to a list of Murphy statements.

  25. 25.

    Toni

    May 27, 2010 at 9:27 am

    Rachael had this segment on her show last night that compared the same type of spill from 1979 in the Gulf, she even showed clips from NBC reporting back then. What was so amazing is how 30+ years later, the methods to cleanup the oil and to try to close the leak are the same ones being used today. It seems like technological advancement in this area is at a stand-still. So very ironic given how much advances that have been made in other areas since 1979 which put an even greater demand on energy sources. TIn 1979 that accident was at 200ft, this one at 5000ft.

  26. 26.

    Nick

    May 27, 2010 at 9:28 am

    @Jenny: Burn her!

  27. 27.

    TA[X486

    May 27, 2010 at 9:29 am

    Somewhere in my dark heart I would like to see the oil up to Bobby Jindal’s lower lip. This is the guy that mocked volcano warning stations. This is the guy, along with his GOP brethern, who have pushed for states rights, well then why did he have the needed booms and skimmers on hand. Louisana has made millions in tax dollars off of the oil industry, maybe the state should have been better prepared. La. made a pack with the devil big oil and just like Faust, the devil has come to collect on the debt.

    For 30 years the gop has worshipped at the Ronald Reagan motto of ‘gov’t is the problem not the solution’ and the Grove Norquist dream of ‘strangling the federal gov’t in a bath tub’. Now they want the gov’t to repeal the laws of physics and solve this problem imediaetly, if not sooner.

    The leak is not a problem that gov’t can fix. Even if the regulators had been doing their jobs, rather than literally sleeping with the industry, these kinds of thing will happen. The expertise lies with the industry in question. But w/o oversight, idustry will do what it is primed to do – maximize profits and safety will take a back seat. BP, Massey coal, Crandall mine, Lehman Brothers, Enron, how many examplers do we need to prove that point.

    end of sermon

  28. 28.

    Jenny

    May 27, 2010 at 9:32 am

    @Nick: “how much is rahm paying you, Emtpywheel?!”

  29. 29.

    Paddy

    May 27, 2010 at 9:33 am

    Good news? Breaking: ‘Top kill’ effort succeeds in blocking oil leak, Coast Guard admiral says

  30. 30.

    Wilson Heath

    May 27, 2010 at 9:40 am

    The truly surprising thing is the Chronicle allowing reporting in any way negative of the industry. Total corporate house organ. It’s generally not good enough to be worthy of wrapping a fish.

  31. 31.

    Dork

    May 27, 2010 at 9:42 am

    I’m not sure I can trust anyone named “Thad”, but he claims that this mud stuff is working. Let the cleanup begin.

  32. 32.

    flukebucket

    May 27, 2010 at 9:42 am

    @Toni:

    Yeah. I saw that. It was great. Instead of “Top Hat” they called it “Sombrero” and they had another name for “Junk Shot” that I cannot remember but essentially everything that was done in 1979 is exactly what is being done today and in the same order.

    But it took damn near a year to close that leak. I am hoping for better results with this one. This post over at The Oil Drum makes me feel hopeful but I am not going to get too excited until they announce that the damn thing has been closed.

  33. 33.

    Bill H

    May 27, 2010 at 9:45 am

    Some people say that this is not how journalism should be practiced…

    The San Diego Union-Tribune would fall into that category. They are of the “tear the story off the AP wire” crowd, and when the writers do write their own stuff they look to AP to determine writing style.

    The U-T editors are big fans of the “cute” opening, such that three or four paragraphs into the story the reader still has no idea what the story is about. We just know that Sally has cute dimples and loves her fucking teddy bear.

    The U-T did have great sports writers, until the new editor took over, and this one is demanding that they also adopt the paper’s writing style. So now three paragraphs into a football story we don’t know which game they are even talking about, but we do know that as a kid Antonio Cromartie had cute dimples and loved his fucking teddy bear.

  34. 34.

    cat48

    May 27, 2010 at 9:48 am

    LAT article says Adm Allen said it worked; but the pressure is still dropping in the well and when pressure low they will cement the well. Hope pressure keeps dropping. Good news…..maybe O won’t have an early stroke.

  35. 35.

    artem1s

    May 27, 2010 at 9:51 am

    @rickstersherpa:

    Utility belt!

    CAPE?! No Cape!

    Edna Mode

  36. 36.

    Jenny

    May 27, 2010 at 9:52 am

    @cat48:

    maybe O won’t have an early stroke.

    Surely some one will stub their toe crossing the street next week and the media will call it Obama’s Katrina.

  37. 37.

    Dork

    May 27, 2010 at 9:52 am

    We just know that Sally has cute dimples and loves her fucking teddy bear.

    Whoa, I just misread the last half of that sentence, and now I feel really dirty.

  38. 38.

    PanAmerican

    May 27, 2010 at 9:52 am

    @Jenny:

    Fucking oil wells, How do they work?

  39. 39.

    someguy

    May 27, 2010 at 9:54 am

    @geg6:

    I am just so out of my depth with this disaster. Never even took a geology class, let alone even have a clue as to the engineering issues involved.

    Since when did that preclude commenting on, and arguing with complete moral certainty, on teh innertubes? Cripes… the village combined probably knows less about oil drilling than you, and yet that’s who the politicians listen to. You and I ranting on the web is the least of our problems, so don’t sweat it. I’m full of shit on most subjects but I don’t take offense if you point it out. Our country, and most of the west, is rapidly becoming boobocracy – when the AG didn’t read the law, the regulators didn’t think that we needed different safeguards drilling at 5k feet versus 45 feet, when Treasury thought it’d be a great idea to let the market bundle up a mixed bag of good and fraudulent mortgages and sell them as “AAA” bonds… Nobody gives a fuck any more. Who cares what you know? As Jeff Lebowski said, “that’s just, you know, your opinion, man.” There are days when this wooly headed leftist thinks he has more in common with the paleo right, with all its anal retentive old school attitudes, than with most of the people in the mushy headed middle. You want to know why Asia is kicking our ass in industry? Because they study math and science and engineering, fields where you actually have to know WTF you’re talking about. We don’t study or value that stuff any more, and the loss of emphasis on “hard” knowledge is biting us in the ass. The president of BP is clearly one of these B-school guys who knows fuck all about engineering, but man, when it comes making money or to spewing a set of talking points, he’s a whiz. Unfortunately, sometimes in life, you have to know what you’re talking about because reality doesn’t conform itself to your whims. He doesn’t appear to know what he’s talking about, nor do most of our business and political and media leaders, and worse yet, they don’t have the modesty to admit they just don’t know and to seek expert help – help that’s usually laboring away in the trades, in a factory or design shop somewhere, or in an unobtrusive unglamorous niche in academia. Most of us know our lane and make a good living because we know and do shit; our elites make a good living selling bullshit to each other and pedaling it to us. They’re like email spam marketers; they don’t do much for us but at a tenth of a cent per interaction with the public, they get fantastically rich selling their own brand of penis enlargement or diet pill. I’m tired of it.

  40. 40.

    Punchy

    May 27, 2010 at 9:55 am

    @Jenny: BTW, just how dead is that name, “Katrina”, now? WTF would name their kid Katrina anymore? Synonomous with all things wet, deadly, horribly catastrophic, and windy.

  41. 41.

    Pococurante

    May 27, 2010 at 9:57 am

    @rickstersherpa:

    Apparently, the WaPo, NYTimes, and cable talking heads are above this and prefer speculating about why the President does not put on Superman’s cape and fix the thing and suck all the oil out of the Gulf and the Louisiana marshes right NOW!

    Everyone knows you don’t tug on Superman’s cape.

  42. 42.

    Pococurante

    May 27, 2010 at 9:59 am

    @Punchy: They’ll find a novel way to re-package it.

    Like KatrinaGate.

  43. 43.

    cleek

    May 27, 2010 at 10:23 am

    @Dork:
    same thing happened to me.

  44. 44.

    thomas

    May 27, 2010 at 10:25 am

    I don’t know if this is up-thread but, have you noticed that outside of Carville, those sdreaming the loudest about how the gvt should step-in and take charge from BP are the same crew that insists he gvt can’t do anything right and everything should be done by private industry.
    Just saying!

  45. 45.

    cat48

    May 27, 2010 at 10:27 am

    Fired, Elizabeth Birnbaum, Head, MMS Breaking

  46. 46.

    Jenny

    May 27, 2010 at 10:29 am

    @thomas: moreover Louisiana and Jindal in particular are part of the 10th amendment wingnuts.

  47. 47.

    Jenny

    May 27, 2010 at 10:31 am

    @cat48: but obama didn’t do it loud enough or fast enough, so it doesn’t count.

    /naderite.

  48. 48.

    catclub

    May 27, 2010 at 10:33 am

    @PurpleGirl:
    Actually, the law as first expressed by Murphy is that anything that can happen, will happen.

    No particular good or bad involved.

    The point being that designers need to make it so that the bad thing CANNOT happen.

  49. 49.

    thomas

    May 27, 2010 at 10:35 am

    @thomas:
    oops, that’s ‘screaming the loudest’

  50. 50.

    The Moar You Know

    May 27, 2010 at 10:37 am

    Last night BP just shut down their the main refinery in Southern California for “technical trouble”. Gas has gone up 10 cents a gallon overnight here with more to come.

    Looks like the taxpayers are going to be paying for this spill one way or another.

  51. 51.

    Ed Drone

    May 27, 2010 at 10:38 am

    @Bill H:

    …we do know that as a kid Antonio Cromartie had cute dimples and loved his fucking his teddy bear.

    Fixed

    ED

  52. 52.

    Pococurante

    May 27, 2010 at 10:38 am

    @catclub:

    The point being that designers need to make it so that the bad thing CANNOT happen.

    Speaking as an engineer I can confirm that perfection is not a design goal. We speak in terms of margin of error. The level of effort to get to CANNOT is exponential, not linear.

  53. 53.

    FlipYrWhig

    May 27, 2010 at 10:43 am

    @Punchy:

    WTF would name their kid Katrina anymore? Synonomous with all things wet, deadly, horribly catastrophic, and windy.

    Well, _that’s_ been true since “Walking on Sunshine.”

  54. 54.

    ThatLeftTurnInABQ

    May 27, 2010 at 10:43 am

    @Toni:

    Rachael had this segment on her show last night

    The contrast between TRMS and Countdown was painful last night. Rachel had more factual and relevant information in the first 30 seconds of her show than Keith did in the first 30 minutes of his. She provided both information and context, he was about snarking and scoring political points, without bringing on guests who actually know anything to speak of about the subject.

  55. 55.

    ruemara

    May 27, 2010 at 10:43 am

    @catclub:

    There is no cannot. It’s called double redundant backup. Everything can & will fail. You just want to have multiple failure event back ups. BP had 1 and demanded the crew cut corners. They deserve criminal homicide charges.

  56. 56.

    cat48

    May 27, 2010 at 10:44 am

    @thomas:

    Yes I have noticed that. Gov. “Why use taxpayer money monitoring volcanoes” Jindal’s constant wanking on TV for a permit to create a berm to keep the oil out is especially annoying since I found out it would take the Corp 6 to 9 months to complete a friggin berm! CHrist on a Crutch!

  57. 57.

    Ed Drone

    May 27, 2010 at 10:45 am

    @catclub:

    Actually, the law as first expressed by Murphy is that anything that can happen, will happen.

    Actually, the law was first applied by Murphy himself:

    …The Law’s namesake was Capt. Ed Murphy, a development engineer from Wright Field Aircraft Lab. Frustration with a strap transducer which was malfunctioning due to an error in wiring the strain gauge bridges caused him to remark – “If there is any way to do it wrong, he will” – referring to the technician who had wired the bridges at the Lab.

    (From Wikipedia)

    So the nameless technician, not Murphy himself, is responsible for the creation of the law. The broader context is in general use, though: Whatever can go wrong will go wrong.

    Ed (not Murphy)

  58. 58.

    The Moar You Know

    May 27, 2010 at 10:46 am

    The San Diego Union-Tribune would fall into that category. They are of the “tear the story off the AP wire” crowd, and when the writers do write their own stuff they look to AP to determine writing style.
    __
    The U-T editors are big fans of the “cute” opening, such that three or four paragraphs into the story the reader still has no idea what the story is about. We just know that Sally has cute dimples and loves her fucking teddy bear.
    __
    The U-T did have great sports writers, until the new editor took over, and this one is demanding that they also adopt the paper’s writing style. So now three paragraphs into a football story we don’t know which game they are even talking about, but we do know that as a kid Antonio Cromartie had cute dimples and loved his fucking teddy bear.

    @Bill H: The UT is the shittiest, most dishonest paper in America with the worst writers and editors anywhere, bar none. If all they did was reprint the AP feed, it would be a vast improvement. But no.

    I’ve been reading newspapers in San Diego since 1975 (I was nine), and the only thing that improved local journalism here was when they closed one down and merged them, giving only one local shitty local paper instead of two.

    San Diego journalism can kiss my giant throbbing veiny dick. Even the weeklies, like the Reader and City Beat, are fucking bought and paid for by developers (and in the case of the Reader, the Catholic church as well). The TV stations are also all owned by developers, and the radio stations may as well be owned by the Klan. Fuck the UT and fuck San Diego journalists. With about two exceptions I can think of, they’re all whores.

  59. 59.

    les

    May 27, 2010 at 10:47 am

    @geg6:

    I’m with you; and this is not the basics, here. The posters at The Oil Drum have really given me info that helps–they post, and they answer a lot of questions in the comments.

  60. 60.

    me

    May 27, 2010 at 11:00 am

    Shorter Samuel Thernstrom, American Enterprise Institute

    Obama should quit being so mean to BP or else Republicans will walk away from any cooperation on energy legislation while chanting “Drill baby drill”. Also, he should get off his ass, put on some waders and clean some birds.

  61. 61.

    Allison W.

    May 27, 2010 at 11:00 am

    Dang IT! the link didn’t show. Did anyone here read this letter to TPM?

    http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/2010/05/critical_perspective.php?ref=fpblg

  62. 62.

    Comrade Javamanphil

    May 27, 2010 at 11:01 am

    @FlipYrWhig: Congrats on your having won an internets! Please enclosed a SESA to redeem your prize.

  63. 63.

    Comrade Javamanphil

    May 27, 2010 at 11:03 am

    That was supposed to be SASE, obviously. Need to cut down on the breakfast cocktails, apparently.

  64. 64.

    Mnemosyne

    May 27, 2010 at 11:07 am

    @cat48:

    Sec. Salazar testified yesterday that the agency will be shut down entirely and its functions will be distributed to three new agencies. That way, you don’t have the same people in charge of royalties and safety like we do now.

  65. 65.

    Mnemosyne

    May 27, 2010 at 11:10 am

    @The Moar You Know:

    Gas has gone up 10 cents a gallon overnight here with more to come.

    Okay, I guess I am riding my bike to work tomorrow. (I was planning to do it today, but I have to go between buildings that are 3 miles apart multiple times today, so it’s just not practical.)

  66. 66.

    cleek

    May 27, 2010 at 11:23 am

    speaking of hurricanes and oil…

    anyone made any predictions about what a hurricane will do to the oil that’s now saturating the Gulf of BP ?

  67. 67.

    South of I-10

    May 27, 2010 at 11:30 am

    @cleek: Dr. Jeff Masters at Wunderground did a post on it yesterday

  68. 68.

    Toni

    May 27, 2010 at 11:33 am

    @cat48: But it sounds good on tv and makes Jindal seem competent even though the entire hurricane season would be over before these berms are even ready. The money and resources would seem to be better used on short-term solutions.

  69. 69.

    SiubhanDuinne

    May 27, 2010 at 11:34 am

    @cleek: There was an environmentalist/academic on the Today Show this morning (I think it was; might have been CNN, though) who said that a hurricane might actually be a good thing in that it would dilute and disperse the oil over a wide area. According to him, it’s the fact that the oil is so concentrated that accounts for much of the problem. Not that it still wouldn’t be very bad; it just wouldn’t be *AS* very bad. Sorry I didn’t catch the guy’s name. I was still mostly asleep, but I’m pretty confident that this was the gist of his comment.

    Just heard the Obama administration has fired Elizabeth Birnbaum as head of MMS. No big surprise but it seems to be official now.

  70. 70.

    rickstersherpa

    May 27, 2010 at 11:46 am

    Dan Froomkin, naturally, has a very good story and analysis on the spill and the things the Obama administration can’t do, failed to do, and could still do with lots of factual reporting from named experts. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/05/27/obamas-options-what-he-ca_n_590856.htm

    If you want fact based criticism of the Administration and its response, this is a good place to start.

  71. 71.

    cleek

    May 27, 2010 at 11:52 am

    @South of I-10:
    thanks for the tip!

  72. 72.

    danimal

    May 27, 2010 at 11:53 am

    I don’t often watch the cable networks, but I wanted to see how the oil spill is being covered so I watched Tweety last night. Two observations: First, Obama is in real trouble and needs to improve the PR aspects of the crisis ASAP. Second, Obama’s in trouble because folks like Tweety are absolutely, completely nucking futs. My God, Matthews was going on about how Obama needs to nationalize oil tankers, have them skim the Gulf of Mexico for oil and second term be damned.

    If Obama were listening to emo hysterics like Chris Matthews, he’d be impeached within a month. And rightfully so.

  73. 73.

    frankdawg

    May 27, 2010 at 12:00 pm

    possible good news?

    There are reports that the top kill has stopped the shit storm & the live feed seems to be just looking around at the equipment – probably checking for damage or small leaks.

    Its against my nature to hope that this works & we have stopped the increase in damage but damn its hard not to be hopeful at this moment.

  74. 74.

    Jim J

    May 27, 2010 at 12:02 pm

    Yawn. So tired of the ‘what do they expect poor Obama to do, put on a Superman cape’ strawman. Such a juvenile whine is especially jarring on a blog known for its otherwise well-informed commenters.

    Keep in mind this is a guy elected on pretty much nothing but optics. To see such a stunning incompetence now with regards to optics seems to me to be a pretty damning indictment. That was one thing, at least, he was known to be good at.

  75. 75.

    ET

    May 27, 2010 at 12:04 pm

    Yeah! Officially this spill is worse the Exxon Valdez.

    I don’t think my sarcasm option works well enough for this post.

  76. 76.

    liberal

    May 27, 2010 at 12:09 pm

    @frankdawg:
    Agreed.

    Only down note I saw on some recent news story was that they’d run out of drilling mud and a second ship was on the way. Not sure if that’s true or if it’s a big deal. Though I agreed with a commenter in the news section who asked, “_on the WAY_?”

  77. 77.

    liberal

    May 27, 2010 at 12:10 pm

    @Jim J:

    To see such a stunning incompetence now with regards to optics seems to me to be a pretty damning indictment.

    While I tangle with the O-bots here regularly, that’s not quite true. Just as campaigning is quite a bit different than governing, the workings of the optics aren’t exactly the same.

  78. 78.

    Corner Stone

    May 27, 2010 at 12:13 pm

    @SiubhanDuinne:

    Just heard the Obama administration has fired Elizabeth Birnbaum as head of MMS. No big surprise but it seems to be official now.

    Quick! Close those barn doors! Before…those..horses…

  79. 79.

    Jenny

    May 27, 2010 at 12:18 pm

    This is a major downer.

    I was prepared to spend a nice long holiday weekend with my family bashing obama (black jeorge bush).

    Fucking Obama. Why can’t he be knee deep in scandal like Clinton and Edwards or knee deep in evil like bush.

  80. 80.

    liberal

    May 27, 2010 at 12:21 pm

    /begin{O-bot bait}
    From GG’s blog: I’m still unconvinced that Obama has failed to do anything post-spill that he should have done (i.e., things he has the legal authority to do and that would have made a difference)…
    /end{O-bot bait}

  81. 81.

    Allison W.

    May 27, 2010 at 12:22 pm

    @Jim J:

    Interesting. Karl Rove was slammed for caring more about optics/pr during Katrina than the actual disaster.

    Was it eleven people that died?, people lost or are losing their livelihood, sea creatures dying/dead, a complete environmental disaster and people seemed to be more concerned with optics. Demanding that Obama at least LOOK like he cares or LOOK like he is doing something. That will surely fix the leak and the destruction of the environment down there. yep.

    James Carville and the rest should be ashamed of themselves. Telling the president that this was a good political opportunity. I thought the Left hated stuff like that.

  82. 82.

    Jenny

    May 27, 2010 at 12:24 pm

    @liberal: I wonder how much rahm is paying glenn? or maybe glenn has temporary gone over to the other side due to the euphoria of the pending end of DADT.

  83. 83.

    Jim J

    May 27, 2010 at 12:25 pm

    Optics is part of the job, Allison. No way around it.

    Allowing Tony Heyward to be the public face of this disaster for a month was a major failure in any case. Care to argue with that? Be my guest, you’ll be in a small and shrinking minority.

  84. 84.

    Jenny

    May 27, 2010 at 12:32 pm

    @Allison W.: don’t bother. anyone who thinks obama won states no democrat had won since 1964 simply on optics has a mouth full of sour grapes.

  85. 85.

    trollhattan

    May 27, 2010 at 12:38 pm

    Perusing the “Chronicle” spill coverage I read this article.

    http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/business/7023372.html

    Ah hubris, thy name is “Exxon.”

    Exxon Mobil’s Rex W. Tillerson insisted that deep-water drilling is safe, and he warned against quick decisions to regulate the companies more closely.
    __
    Tillerson said he was surprised by the size of the disaster, which is expected to surpass the 1989 Exxon Valdez accident as the nation’s largest oil spill — if it hasn’t already.
    __
    Tillerson made the comments after Exxon Mobil’s annual meeting, at which shareholders brushed aside a series of environmental resolutions.
    __
    “The most difficult challenge confronting the whole industry at this point is regaining the confidence and trust of the public, the American people, and regaining the confidence and trust of government regulators,” Tillerson said.
    __
    Tillerson cautioned against new regulations or restrictions on offshore drilling until the cause of the BP disaster is known. Then he said the current regulations have been “very effective.”

    Yes, regulations have been “very effective” right up to when they were not. Wanker.

  86. 86.

    Jenny

    May 27, 2010 at 12:44 pm

    @trollhattan: Heh! Atleast he didn’t call for deregulation along with a side order of free market bromides.

  87. 87.

    Mike Kay

    May 27, 2010 at 12:59 pm

    @Jim J: Jim, you need to see a shrink. Really, it’s been nearly two years to the day since the primaries ended – Hillary lost, get over it. At some point, you’re gonna have to move on – Hillary did.

  88. 88.

    Corner Stone

    May 27, 2010 at 1:04 pm

    @Mike Kay:

    Jim, you need to see a shrink. Really, it’s been nearly two years to the day since the primaries ended – Hillary lost, get over it. At some point, you’re gonna have to move on

    {spit take}
    BWAH HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!

  89. 89.

    kay

    May 27, 2010 at 1:09 pm

    @Jim J:

    Allowing Tony Heyward to be the public face of this disaster for a month was a major failure in any case. Care to argue with that? Be my guest, you’ll be in a small and shrinking minority.

    I think they probably made a political calculation. He really couldn’t do more than he was doing, substantive effort was maxed, so he wasn’t going to address the specifics until the well was capped.

    The alternative was going out and saying “I can’t fix this”. Which was true.

    I don’t know if it was a smart political calculation, but I’d bet on Obama’s political judgment over Chris Matthews or James Carville’s or any number of Very Important Bloggers any day.

  90. 90.

    Mike Kay

    May 27, 2010 at 1:11 pm

    @Corner Stone: only a homophobe like yourself would laugh.

  91. 91.

    Mike Kay

    May 27, 2010 at 1:12 pm

    @kay:

    Very Important Bloggers any day.

    Who would that be? According to someone up thread, even glen is supporting Obama on this account.

  92. 92.

    IndieTarheel

    May 27, 2010 at 1:16 pm

    Well, the “Obama’s Katrina” thing came up (three guesses as to who floated THAT floater)…

  93. 93.

    kay

    May 27, 2010 at 1:25 pm

    @Mike Kay:

    Oh, I’m not picking on anyone. I was just referring to the commentors sort of ominous warning that there was “growing concern over optics”, or whatever.

    In my ideal orderly world, Mike Kay, there would be “political analysis” and “substantive analysis”.

    I don’t like all these fuzzy lines. The original critics seized on substance. When that turned out not to be true, they went to “optics”. That happens again and again. There’s a lot of latitude for bullshitting in that set-up.

    I see the possible sense in Obama not appearing constantly during the effort to kill the well. If he’s honest, he’d essentially have to announce he couldn’t do a thing about it. That’s probably never Presidential, right?

    So they took a risk in the other direction. That makes some sense to me.

  94. 94.

    Mike Kay

    May 27, 2010 at 1:40 pm

    @kay: oh, i was just asking, because I don’t read the VIP blogs because I don’t want to strangle someone. the new media was supposed to be better than the old media, not simply different.

  95. 95.

    Gravenstone

    May 27, 2010 at 1:43 pm

    It appears Top Kill is getting the upper hand (not yet conclusive, I know), and Obama is going to visit the region on Friday. With this in mind, I wish to posit a question for the masses – who will be the first fReichtard to complain that Obama is simply there to take a “victory lap” and that he couldn’t be bothered to actually show up when it mattered?

  96. 96.

    IndieTarheel

    May 27, 2010 at 1:46 pm

    I’ll take Limbaugh and the points.

  97. 97.

    frankdawg

    May 27, 2010 at 1:47 pm

    17:46:55 UTC 13:46 EDT
    Yeah – the image now is of mud spewing out. Not sure why, if it had stopped they needed to add more mud but I’ll pretend I believe they know what they are doing and it is the right way to do it.

  98. 98.

    IndieTarheel

    May 27, 2010 at 1:48 pm

    Annnnd, here comes the “boot on the neck of BP/Sestak job offer” doubleplay. What a douchebag.

  99. 99.

    frankdawg

    May 27, 2010 at 1:51 pm

    BTW – any chance we can get Obama to don a flight suit (with rolled up tube socks in the crotch), fly out to the rescue rigs and declare “Major leak stoppage operations are over” in front of a huge “Mission Accomplished banner?

    It would be worth it just to see Tweety in full orgasm again.

  100. 100.

    kay

    May 27, 2010 at 1:53 pm

    @Mike Kay:

    There seems to be some suspension of just usual common sense in the immediacy of “the reporting”.
    I was reading a little on dispersants, and that’s a trade-off.
    Any dispersant is a potential danger, but heavy oil on the water is definitely toxic. There’s an environmental benefit to dispersing oil. There’s also an environmental risk to dispersing oil.
    In other words, there are good reasons to disperse oil that have nothing to do with “hiding the damage”, or nefarious motives.
    That sort of nuance gets missed, in the rush to outrage.

  101. 101.

    Maude

    May 27, 2010 at 1:55 pm

    @kay:
    optics = flight suit on a flight deck

  102. 102.

    Derek

    May 27, 2010 at 2:00 pm

    FUCKING MORATORIUM ON THIS USAGE OF “OPTICS”

    SHUT UP UNLESS YOU ARE TALKING ABOUT BINOCULARS

    The word is “appearances”!

  103. 103.

    debbie

    May 27, 2010 at 2:07 pm

    Very telling that Fox didn’t broadcast the news conference.

  104. 104.

    Jim J

    May 27, 2010 at 3:17 pm

    @Mike Kay: I don’t recall mentioning Hillary. (Goes back to original post.) Nope, no mention of Hillary at all.

    Way to make things personal, though. Stay classy.

  105. 105.

    FreeAtLast

    May 27, 2010 at 3:27 pm

    @PurpleGirl:

    We ignore Murphy at our most puerile moments.

    Creative spell checker.

  106. 106.

    Mike Kay

    May 27, 2010 at 10:52 pm

    @Jim J: You’re the major league asshole/PUMA from the primaries. i couldn’t read a post on left-net without seeing your PUMA rants during the primary (which by the way, ENDED TWO FUCKING YEARS AGO, YOU FUCKING MORON – BUY A NEW FUCKING CALENDAR, SICKO!).

Comments are closed.

Primary Sidebar

On The Road - Albatrossity - Serengeti Day 3, Round 2 5
Image by Albatrossity (7/19/25)
Donate

Recent Comments

  • Jay on Excellent Read: ‘William F. Buckley’s Bill Never Came Due’ (Jul 19, 2025 @ 7:32pm)
  • Baud on Amy Sherald, Unabashed Black Artist (Jul 19, 2025 @ 7:30pm)
  • Torrey on Amy Sherald, Unabashed Black Artist (Jul 19, 2025 @ 7:17pm)
  • WaterGirl on Raffle Tickets for Four Directions in Virginia – Please Check This List (Jul 19, 2025 @ 7:17pm)
  • RevRick on Amy Sherald, Unabashed Black Artist (Jul 19, 2025 @ 7:15pm)

Balloon Juice Posts

View by Topic
View by Author
View by Month & Year
View by Past Author

Featuring

Medium Cool
Artists in Our Midst
Authors in Our Midst
No Kings Protests June 14 2025

🎈Keep Balloon Juice Ad Free

Become a Balloon Juice Patreon
Donate with Venmo, Zelle or PayPal

Calling All Jackals

Site Feedback
Nominate a Rotating Tag
Submit Photos to On the Road
Balloon Juice Anniversary (All Links)
Balloon Juice Anniversary (All Posts)
Fix Nyms with Apostrophes

Social Media

Balloon Juice
WaterGirl
TaMara
John Cole
DougJ (aka NYT Pitchbot)
Betty Cracker
Tom Levenson
David Anderson
Major Major Major Major
DougJ NYT Pitchbot
mistermix

Keeping Track

Legal Challenges (Lawfare)
Republicans Fleeing Town Halls (TPM)
21 Letters (to Borrow or Steal)
Search Donations from a Brand

Hands Off! – Denver, San Diego & Austin 1

Donate

Site Footer

Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

  • Facebook
  • RSS
  • Twitter
  • YouTube
  • Comment Policy
  • Our Authors
  • Blogroll
  • Our Artists
  • Privacy Policy

Copyright © 2025 Dev Balloon Juice · All Rights Reserved · Powered by BizBudding Inc

Share this ArticleLike this article? Email it to a friend!

Email sent!