The Leak Meter, which only measures the oil dumped in the Gulf, not the oil that BP is recovering to sell, went over 84 million today. That is 2 million barrels or 272,740 metric tons of crude oil. Even at $50/barrel, which is a low price, that’s $100 million dollars wasted poisoning the Gulf.

McClatchy tells us what everyone who has ever been hurt by a corporation already knows: BP wasted no time preparing for oil spill lawsuits. Corporations have all the time in the world, so they will do their best to tie these cases up in court until the plaintiffs give up or die. Just ask the people who were wiped out by the Exxon Valdez oil spill, they’ll tell you.

Before they even considered what they were going to do about the oil erupting from the floor of the Gulf, they launched their legal defense campaign.

In Choctaw the name of my county, Okaloosa, means “black water”, although they put the adjectives after the nouns, so literally it’s “oka” water and “loosa” black. There is a Blackwater River with a sand bottom and the Blackwater River State Forest in Northern Okaloosa and Santa Rosa counties is Florida’s largest.

Of course, now “Okaloosa” has a different connotation.

The local officials are still playing town council of Amity with our problems. Rick Outzen provides a sample:

So here is the SRIA [Santa Rosa Island Authority] message: Come swim in the Gulf. Spend your money at our hotels and condos. Ignore the workers in Haz Mat suits, gloves and rubber boots that have been told to stay out of the water. If you get sick, it’s your fault that you aren’t like Gov. Crist.

This is insane. You can’t put icing on a brick and make it a cake.

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Morning:

Argentina [La Albiceleste] 0-4 Germany [Die Mannschaft]

“The Team” was ready to play, but the “The White and Sky-Blue” forgot why they were there. Argentina just couldn’t get anything together other than passing. The German defense worked, and Argentina didn’t have one.

Afternoon:

Paraguay [La Albirroja] 0-1 Spain [La Furia Roja]

“The White and Red” just couldn’t get a break, while “The Red Fury” found an opening late in the game and passed out the clock.

Semi-finals:

Uruguay [La Celeste] – Netherlands [Oranje] July 6^th

Germany [Die Mannschaft] – Spain [La Furia Roja] July 7^th