“Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” – George Santayana

Someone needs to get through to the White House and convince them to read Bob Somerby’s Daily Howler articles on what happened to Bill Clinton, because it is starting again.

I’m afraid that Shirley Sherrod is not going to be allowed to put this behind her, because they have her in their sights and have already started the second line of attack – Pigford vs Vilsack.

If you want the gory details you can check out the Office of the Monitor for the consent decree in the case [actually two related class-action law suits that were settled under the same consent decree].

I assume that the claims will be something along the lines that Mrs Sherrod’s appointment was part of the pay-off in the settlement of the case, which was filed in 1997 over practices of the Department of Agriculture under Ronald Reagan regarding Black farmers.

The first attack was designed to fail, which would be embarrassing in its own right, and now the second is launched to show that the White House apology as also rushed.

These attacks aren’t designed to show anything, or prove anything, just to tie things up and make the White House appear weak.

The Los Angeles Times reports on the on-going Coast Guard/MMS hearings on the sinking of the Deepwater Horizon: Officials knew of key safety problem on rig

Reporting from Kenner, La. — BP officials knew about a problem on a crucial well safety device at least three months before the catastrophic April 20 explosion in the Gulf of Mexico but failed to repair it, according to testimony Tuesday from the company’s well manager.

Ronald Sepulvado testified that he was aware of a leak on a control pod atop the well’s blowout preventer and notified his supervisor in Houston about the problem, which Sepulvado didn’t consider crucial. The 450-ton hydraulic device, designed to prevent gas or oil from blasting out of the drill hole, failed during the disaster, which killed 11 men on the Deepwater Horizon rig and set off the worst offshore oil spill in U.S. history.

The other two BP employees on the rig did not testify, one had a sick note, and the other has invoked his rights under the Fifth Amendment. The three constituted all of the actual BP employees normally on the rig.

The Pensacola News Journal tells us that the seeping oil is from another well:

The seepage detected from the sea floor briefly raised fears that the well was in danger. But [Admiral Thad] Allen said another well is to blame. The seepage is closer to the older well than to the one that blew out, Allen said. Also, he said, “it’s not unusual to have seepage around the old wells.”

There are two wells within two miles of BP’s blowout off the Louisiana coast in the Gulf of Mexico. One has been abandoned and another is not in production. Around 27,000 abandoned wells in the Gulf aren’t checked for leaks, an Associated Press investigation showed this month.

I see, no need to worry about the seepage because it is from a different leaking well that no one is watching on the Internet, so that’s OK.

Meanwhile, the Local Puppy Trainer is agreeing with me again: EDITORIAL: Florida legislators’ slick trick. I would be worried about their agreement, but the Republican action was so egregious that even libertarians noticed and were annoyed.