This is the anniversary of her death and the pain is very real which is why I waited until the end of the day to post this. In spite of a lot of time, effort, and money by a lot of progressives, liberals, and generally sane people, there has been no improvement in the conditions in this country.

When do things start to improve?

Well, after the comments of BP Chairman Carl-Henric Svanberg I believe that any hard feelings toward Britain have been re-routed to Sweden. I certainly hope there are no plans for him to come down to the Gulf Coast.

Of course there are politicians down here who would be happy to see him: Coastal legislators seek end to drilling ban

More than a dozen lawmakers from Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas said at a press conference the ban could cost the region thousands of jobs. They plan to meet with Interior Secretary Ken Salazar on Wednesday to discuss the issue.

But the prize has to go to the governor of Mississippi, Haley Barbour, who believes that instead of putting $20 billion in a fund to reimburse those who have been injured by the spill, the money would be better used to drill more wells.

So the other big oil corporations went to Congress to explain why they are so much more trustworthy than BP, and those nasty Congresscritters ask hard questions: BP rivals struggle to explain why plans look so similar.

They look similar because they reference an expert who has been dead for several years and they want to protect the non-existent walruses in the Gulf of Mexico.

Let’s start with the Pensacola News Journal story: Getting oil spill cash easier said than done

First, the State of Florida was to reimburse counties for oil-spill expenses, drawing from the $50 million BP sent the state.

Then the rules changed, and counties were told to file directly with BP.

Initially, the counties were told to include cities within their boundaries. Later that same day, they were told not to.

For a while, the state was going to pay for protective boom. Then it wasn’t. Now it is.

Then from the Local Puppy Trainer: today on the barrier island

OKALOOSA ISLAND — Lifeguards have cordoned off a 100-yard stretch of Okaloosa Island so teams can assess and clean up a concentration of tar balls that have washed up there.

“We’ve got some product the size of golf balls, half dollars, very weathered oil,” said Okaloosa County Public Safety Director Dino Villani, who was called to the beach early Wednesday morning.

The from the AP via nola.com: the barriers to news coverage. They were told to stop it, but the media is still being systematically denied access to areas where the oil has come ashore, and the FAA is blocking low-level flying over the area.

Rick Outzen reports on Obama’s speech: How It Played in the Gulf. Bottom line, the only people who liked were hardcore Obama supporters. Generally when it was obvious that it wasn’t really about the spill, people tuned out.

McClatchy has a Miami Herald piece up, Tired of waiting for BP, Florida towns plan to fight oil alone. The reason I went with this link is the picture. It isn’t because it’s a blond in a bikini, it’s that she has a glob of oil on her right side. The caption talks about the shop rag in her hand, but that oily smear is the last thing tourist officials want to see on visitors to the beach.

The article is a nice overview of what we are dealing with along the Panhandle. At this point everyone who is supposed to be helping us above the county level, is just getting in the way of our efforts to protect the coastline.

The Bavaria Brewery of the Netherlands have done it again: Two women in court over World Cup Dutch ‘beer stunt’.

This was a much better looking, from my point of view, than the 2006 stunt. Orange mini-dresses on 30 young women is certainly preferable to orange lederhosen with lion tails.

Why American Budweiser is allowed to be the official “brew” of the World Cup, is beyond me. It’s not like many of the people who would watch the World Cup would actually drink it, even if it were free. FIFA is all about money.

At least they haven’t banned the vuvuzelas. A B♭ plastic trumpet isn’t everyone’s idea of fun, but at least they drown out the commentators so you can watch the game. They at least switched to plastic from the original metal versions, which has reduced medical costs, as well as the cost of the horns.

Group H:

Honduras 0-1 Chile
Spain 0-1 Switzerland

Spain dominated the pitch with the exception of the net. Switzerland took advantage of one of the few times they managed to get in range, while Spain never converted any of their opportunities into a netted ball.

The first round of Group play is over.

In Group A second round: South Africa 0-3 Uruguay

Team	Group	Points	Matches				Goals
			Played	Won	Tied	Lost	For	Against	Difference
	C	1	1	0	1	0	1	1	0
	C	1	1	0	1	0	1	1	0
	D	3	1	1	0	0	4	0	4
	D	0	1	0	0	1	0	4	-4
	E	3	1	1	0	0	2	0	2
	H	3	1	1	0	0	1	0	1

Mustang Bobby covers our Orange-American governor being stupid: Come On Down. Bobby is absolutely correct that tourists come for the beaches more than any other reason. If there is oil on beaches they are not going to come. Hell, the oil is hitting beaches on the western end of the Panhandle and people are canceling vacations in South Florida, because geography is not an American strong suit.

Someone needs to hit Charlie up side the head and explain that if you keep the oil off the beaches, it can’t get to the wet lands. Charlie apparently doesn’t understand that the wetlands are behind the beaches. We don’t care how “easy” some people seem to think cleaning beaches is – WE DON’T WANT OUR BEACHES POLLUTED!!!

Juan Cole takes off his Mideast expert hat and responds to a common charge of corporate supporters: Big Oil’s Predations are not Your Fault.

I voted for Jimmy Carter, not Ronald Reagan. There were things I didn’t like about Jimmy, but he understood the root of the 1973 oil crisis, and knew the best way of dealing with it.

I have a bicycle and use it around town, mostly because it is faster than driving, but still… I fill the car with under 10 gallons of gas every two months. I would use public transportation, but we don’t have it. I have been using CFLs since they cost $10 apiece, and used small circular florescent bulbs in screw in adapters before CFLs. I have had a low-flow shower head and low-capacity toilet since the ones that actually work came out. When appliances break, I replace them with energy efficient models. I am not “saving the earth”, I am saving my money. Conservation is cheaper than wasting resources. The “return on investment” for “green” appliances in this area is quite short because of the utility rates.

The money that corporations are going to lose if we get serious about conservation and global climate change is our money that we aren’t going to be giving to them because what they want us to buy isn’t efficient. Corporations would rather spend billions to convince people that they need what the corporations are selling, rather than spending it on the resources to build what people want.