Posts from — June 2010

The Pensacola Beach Blogger is short and direct: Oil Swamps Pensacola Beach, Island.

Troy Moon at the Pensacola News Journal expands on The day the oil came

The sign at Pensacola Beach Properties boasted “Always has been, always will be — the most beautiful beaches in the world.’’

The sign was a lie.

Because surely, there was a white sand beach somewhere in the world that didn’t look like it was vomited on by Big Oil.

Surely, there was a beach somewhere that people could swim in without getting slimed by sheets of oil washing ashore. There had to be a beach somewhere that wasn’t being patrolled by Hazmat teams and work crews shoveling gunk and oily grime from shore.

Surely there was a beach somewhere that smelled like sea salt and Coppertone and not like a dirty mechanic’s garage. There had to be a beach somewhere where dolphins frolicked offshore instead of beaching themselves onshore coated with oil to die.

And yet a Federal judge says a six-month moratorium is arbitrary and too long, as he collects the dividends from his energy investments and Congressmen apologize to oil companies.

It was a juvenile dolphin that died despite the efforts of volunteers.

The Miami Herald says that McChrystal out; Petraeus picked for Afghanistan.

I’ve seen a lot of people comparing this to the Truman/MacArthur episode, and they are wrong. Jim DeRosa correctly identifies this as President Obama’s ‘Lincoln /McClellan’ Moment.

MacArthur wasn’t simply bad-mouthing Harry Truman, he was actively working at cross-purposes to Truman’s policy. It was insubordination in its worse form.

Obama adopted McChrystal’s concept and was providing him with everything required to carry it out. Like Lincoln, Obama assumed that the general knew what he was doing and supported him. Like McClellan, when things didn’t succeed as anticipated, McChrystal began blaming everyone but himself.

If McChrystal bothered to read his plan he would have known that it requires coordination with all of the parties involved. Everyone else seemed to be attempting to keep McChrystal apprised of what they were doing, and were looking for feedback on how their activities were affecting the overall plan, while McChrystal acted like they were bothering him.

McChrystal’s plan required someone like Eisenhower, not Patton, and McChrystal wanted to be Patton.

In order to “maintain good order and discipline” and to preserve whatever hope of success there is for the McChrystal plan, McChrystal had to go. There was no other option. Even with his exit, there is no guarantee that NATO countries will be willing to remain in Afghanistan after reading the Rolling Stone article.

For people who have never been associated with the military, if a general’s staff is making stupid comments to outsiders, they are saying what the general says. That a general’s staff talks to outsiders is a very bad thing, in military terms. Now would be a very good time for McChrystal’s staff to apply for retirement, if they have their time in.

The Leak Meter just zipped by 80 million gallons [1.9 million barrels or more than a quarter million metric tons]. That is the amount of oil dumped in the Gulf, and doesn’t include what has been sucked up by various methods.

McClatchy explains the latest screw-up: BP oil leak setback: ‘Top hat’ removed, oil flow unhindered.

The short version – based on speculation by various sources, it is probable that one of the ROVs bumped the Top Hat and closed a shutter which increased the pressure. As a result, methane has started coming up the warm water line and filling the vessel.

Have none of these people heard of a “check valve”? Do they know any plumbers or pipefitters?

I have gone from believing they can’t trusted to change a faucet, to believing they can’t be trusted to change the toilet paper roll.

Doesn’t look like even a come from behind win by the Socceroos in the World Cup would be enough to save Kevin Rudd’s job in Australia. The ABC reports that Gillard poised to defeat Rudd

Kevin Rudd is spending one last long night as Prime Minister.

Shortly after 10:15pm yesteday he announced that he had acceded to a request from his deputy Julia Gillard to spill the leadership at a ballot to be held at 9:00am AEST today.

“It’s important I believe, in the interests of the Party and the Government, for these matters to be resolved as a matter of urgency,” he said.

His supporters say the party vote is evenly poised. The Gillard camp says she had the numbers before making a single call.

He is unlikely to survive the ballot, which should install Ms Gillard as Australia’s 27th prime minister and its first female leader.

This is what happens to leaders who disappoint their party base in a parliamentary system. Even a prime minister can be ousted without a general election.

Final Round

In Group C:

United States 1-0 Algeria
Slovenia 0-1 England

—

Looks like they finally figured out what they were supposed to be doing in South Africa, but I wouldn’t advise the US or England to send clothes to any cleaner that doesn’t offer one-day service.

In Group D:

Australia 2-1 Serbia
Ghana 0-1 Germany

—

The Australians needed 3 more goals, either in their game, or from Germany in their game, to get by Ghana. Nice come back beating the team that beat Germany.

It even annoys Dave Barry.

Every time I think I have seen the US system bottom out, something comes along to remind me, that we have yet to see the bottom layer. From McClatchy: Judge blocks deepwater drilling ban; Obama to appeal

WASHINGTON — A federal judge Tuesday struck down President Barack Obama’s six-month ban on new deepwater drilling, siding with oil companies that argued that it would harm their businesses, eliminate jobs and weaken the economies of Gulf Coast states.

While the White House said it would immediately appeal the decision, environmental groups launched a quicker salvo, publicizing financial disclosure forms that showed that the judge in the case, Martin Feldman of the U.S. District Court in New Orleans, owns or has owned shares in several oil and gas firms. According to Feldman’s 2008 disclosures, he held up to $15,000 in Transocean, the owner of the ill-fated rig at a BP well that’s pouring oil into the Gulf of Mexico.

Legal experts said the revelation of a potential conflict of interest would bolster the Obama administration’s case, but appealing the decision puts the president at odds with many Gulf Coast residents, who rely on the deepwater oil industry for tens of thousands of jobs.

We have a judge who is an investor in the oil industry making decisions about that industry without any apparent concern about what that says about him or the Federal bench. With what will probably be the worst environmental disaster in the United States taking place almost on his doorstep, he doesn’t understand why anyone would want to stop and make sure that we can prevent this from happening again, before we tempt Fate. It doesn’t bother the judge that all of the oil companies have admitted they don’t have a plan to deal with this situation. It doesn’t bother the judge that everything that is available is already in use, with nothing available if another well blows out.

This bit really ticks me off: “appealing the decision puts the president at odds with many Gulf Coast residents, who rely on the deepwater oil industry for tens of thousands of jobs.”

What about the hundreds of thousands of people who rely on a healthy and oil-free Gulf of Mexico for their jobs?

Final Round

Group A:

France 1-2 South Africa
Mexico 0-1 Uruguay

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Group B:

Greece 0-2 Argentina
Nigeria 2-2 Republic of Korea

—
Update: For those new to Football/Fußball/Fútbol here are the official FIFA Qualifying criteria.

If South Africa had scored more points against France, they would have gone through rather then Mexico.

In Group G:

Brazil 3-1 Côte d’Ivoire
Portugal 7-0 DPR Korea

In Group H:

Chile 1-0 Switzerland
Spain 2-0 Honduras

Portugal was just running up the score in the second half and it wasn’t necessary, even if you are playing against DPR Korea.

Chile managed a goal against a 10-man Swiss team. The Swiss had denied any goals for opponents for almost 500 minutes of World Cup playing time.

European champion Spain finally located the net.

Via Painted Jaguar in comments, something different .

Team	Group	Points	Matches				Goals
			Played	Won	Tied	Lost	For	Against	Difference
	C	2	2	0	2	0	3	3	0
	C	2	2	0	2	0	1	1	0
	D	3	2	1	0	1	4	1	3
	D	1	2	0	1	1	1	5	-4
	E	6	2	2	0	0	3	0	3
	H	3	2	1	0	1	1	1	0

Robert Peston, BBC business editor writes Hayward’s departure: ‘Not if, but when’.

Tony is toast, which is probably why he decided to see how his offshore racing yacht was doing. He paid the entry fees for the “JP Morgan Asset Management Round The Island Race” and Cork Week in Ireland, so he might as well see how his boat and his son do.

In discovering the Irish entry, I also discovered that most Farr 52 yachts have single syllable names beginning with “B” – it is apparently the “style”. Just because you paid over a quarter million dollars for a boat, you shouldn’t think that you have the right to name it anything you want.

The short version is that BP is keeping Tony around until this mess is resolved, so the board can blame him for everything and “fix it” by replacing him, just like they did with Lord Browne the last time BP got a lot of people killed and polluted a large area. It’s probably in their policies and procedures manual.

Oh, yes, Robert Peston is obviously anti-British. He refers to BP as a UK corporation in his article. He probably thinks he works for the British Broadcasting Corporation instead of the BBC, even though there is a BBC America and the BBC broadcasts in languages other than English. 😈

Today at 6:28AM [CDT] is the Summer Solstice, technically considered the “first day of Summer”, but the mid Summer by much of Europe.

Many Wiccans celebrate the day as Litha, while computer programmers honor their predecessors, the druids, who build the first solid-state computing devices, the megaliths, like Stonehenge.

The Slavs celebrate St. John’s Night, Иван Купала [Ivan Kupala], the battle between the White god [Белобог – Belobog] and the Black god [Чёрнобог – Chyornobog] for control of the Sun. The Black god always wins and the night begins to expand.

The sound track to the battle is Иванова Ночь на Лысой Горе [Night on Bald Mountain ] by Модест Петрович Мусоргский [Modest Petrovich Mussorgsky], which everyone should play very loudly.

Archæoastronomy tracks all of the important solar events, another of the many things I learned from Andante.

The Local Puppy Trainer has today’s report on the ever-growing cancer in the Gulf. It has spread further East over to Panama City, and is poised to poison the oyster beds near Apalachicola before continuing toward the western coast of the Florida Peninsula.

There had been discussion that the spill would be picked up by the Loop Current and bypass the west coast. While oil will certainly enter the current, there is also a large mass moving along the coast. BP has provided more than sufficient oil for both things to occur.

Via Pensacola Beach Blog I have added the ERMA Spill Map to the “Gulf Gusher” area of the sidebar. It is an overlayed mapping system that uses official data to show you what the effects of the spill are, and where they are occurring. Lots of information that takes some effort to figure out, but worth the effort.

Oh, if you are a father, or reasonable facsimile thereof, Happy Father’s Day.

Remember – they meant well.

In Group F:

Slovakia 0-2 Paraguay
Italy 1-1 New Zealand

In Group G:

Brazil 3-1 Côte d’Ivoire

The New Zealand “All Whites” game with the Italian Azzuri [Blues – both named for their uniform colors] was not the way things were supposed to go. A commentator noted that the Azzuri had 23 shots on goal compared to only 3 by the All Whites, and he acted like that was a good thing. Based on the score the Kiwis were almost 8 times more effective than the Italians.

At this point the only European teams looking good are the Netherlands, Switzerland, and Slovenia. It is looking like a very good year for South America.