Free Republic

By Kevin McCullough While defending his own policies President Obama has routinely been rude and sarcastic to his predecessor, George W. Bush. Yet Obama appears to be making the resident of the previous White House look like a genius compared to his own serious missteps in office. Case in point – Interior Secretary Ken Salazar's performance and the communication of priorities on the issue of oil rig safety in the Gulf of Mexico. It seems incomprehensible that the president and other members of the administration still have jobs when it is now being reported that the federal government was apprised...

It seems incomprehensible that the president and other members of the administration still have jobs when it is now being reported that the federal government was apprised by BP on February 13 that the Deepwater Horizon oil rig was leaking oil and natural gas into the ocean floor.

I guess it depends upon your definition of the word rest. Oops, the speechwriter reused the exact same talking points.

Could the reason for the 'hide behind the Jones Act' strategy of Duh Won be not one of Union appeasement (hardline adherence to the the Jones Act--waived by GWB in Katrina) or not even Greenie homage...could it be that the lack of media access, the stoppage of all flyovers, be due to the Horizon Deep Water leak being much, much more profound than originally reported? The Boyz at HillBuzz pose the question, via an article posted by The Oil Drum (link to TOD also attached).

It goes without saying that most people no longer believe what British Petroleum is saying publicly about the amount of oil leaking into the Gulf and the condition of the well structure. The reality is much more frightening... In a few crevices in Cyberspace, experts in the industry are whispering what they think is really going on..."OK let's get real about the Gulf of Mexico oil flow. There doesn't really seem to be much info on TOD [The Oil Drum - an online site where oil industry people congregate] that furthers more complete understanding of what's really happening in...

Tomorrow morning (Wednesday, June 9th) I intend to ask the U.S. federal government, this question:How many oil plumes are there in the Gulf of Mexico - how many leaks?I ask you to do the same. I will report my results. Please report yours, in the comments to this post. This is not about how many plumes that private sources have found. It is about how many leaks does the United States government know exist. They have had since April 20, to discover this. They should be able to tell us, should they not? And if they can tell us that,...

Riser Has Been Ripped Open By The Sheers -- Dramatic Step Coming Within Hours Gus Lubin Jun. 3, 2010, 10:54 AM BP has managed to cut through the riser pipe and will proceed with the Lower Marine Riser Package later today. Coast Guard Admiral Thad Allen called this "good news" and a "significant step" in the Deepwater Disaster. But here's the bad news. Precise cuts with a diamond saw proved impossible. BP was forced to use giant scissors to cut through the pipe, leaving a large and jagged gap. We think that's what you see in this picture. Installing a...

Oil, gas from Chevron refinery in Burnaby has been flowing for weeks METRO VANCOUVER -- Chevron Corporation has been trying for weeks to locate the source of a "historic" leak from its Burnaby oil and gas refinery -- a leak that has been seeping still-unknown amounts of oil, gas and diesel fuel into the Burrard Inlet since at least April 21. Ray Lord, a spokesman for the multinational oil and gas company, said he has no idea how long the seepage from the nearly 70-year-old plant has been happening, but that Chevron first alerted the authorities about the leak on...

'Top kill' planned to stop oil leakBy the CNN Wire Staff May 21, 2010 11:20 p.m. EDT Washington (CNN) -- A "top kill" method intended to stop the runaway flow of oil in the Gulf of Mexico will likely be tried early next week, BP Chief Operating Officer Doug Suttles said Friday. In the procedure, thick, viscous fluid twice the density of water will be pumped at a high rate into the site of the leak to stop the flow so that it can then be sealed with cement, Suttles said. "Our best estimate is probably Tuesday," he said, noting...

By Jim Polson May 20 (Bloomberg) -- BP Plc is capturing 5,000 barrels of oil a day from its leaking well in the Gulf of Mexico. The company couldn’t say whether that was all of the crude from the well, which has been estimated to be leaking at that rate.

Gulf oil spill leak now pegged at 95,000 barrels a day Renee Schoof - McClatchy Newspapers WASHINGTON — The latest video footage of the leaking Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico show that oil is escaping at the rate of 95,000 barrels — 4 million gallons — a day, nearly 20 times greater than the 5,000 barrel a day estimate BP and government scientists have been citing for nearly three weeks, an engineering professor told a congressional hearing Wednesday. The figure of 5,000 barrels a day or 210,000 gallons that BP and the federal government have been...

"Researchers have found more underwater plumes of oil than they can count from the blown-out well, said Samantha Joye, a professor of marine sciences at the University of Georgia. She said careful measurements taken of one plume showed it stretching for 10 miles, with a 3-mile width." The Christian Science Monitor also reports now that as much as 3.4 million gallons of oil may be leaking into the Gulf every day! "The oil that can be seen from the surface is apparently just a fraction of the oil that has spilled into the Gulf of Mexico since April 20, according...

U.S. shuts down commercial and recreational fishing from Louisiana to FloridaSAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- The chairman of BP PLC's U.S. subsidiary on Sunday blamed failed equipment on a drilling rig for the oil-well blowout and subsequent huge leak into the Gulf of Mexico that now poses the threat of an unparalleled ecological disaster. The leak, which began April 20, is threatening the Louisiana shoreline and experts say it could endanger the coast from Louisiana to Florida. Some experts say the leak, the Gulf Stream and the approaching hurricane season could combine to send a slick down Florida's Gulf Coast, around...

On all offshore oil rigs, there is one main switch for cutting off the flow of oil by closing a valve located on the ocean floor. Many rigs also have automatic systems, such as a "dead man" switch as a backup that is supposed to close the valve if it senses a catastrophic failure aboard the rig. Much still isn't known about what caused the problems in Deepwater Horizon's well, nearly a mile beneath the surface of the Gulf of Mexico. It went out of control, sending oil surging through pipes to the surface and causing a fire that ultimately...

NEW ORLEANS (AP) - The Coast Guard discovered Saturday that oil is leaking from the damaged well that fed a massive rig that exploded this week off Louisiana's coast, while bad weather halted efforts to clean up the mess that threatens the area's fragile marine ecosystem. As recently as Friday, the Coast Guard said no oil appeared to escaping from the well head on the ocean floor. Rear Adm. Mary Landry said the leak was a new discovery but could have begun when the rig sank on Thursday, two days after the initial explosion. "This is a very serious spill,...

Was the Bush administration’s Terrorist Surveillance Program a violation of the 1978 Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA), which forbids domestic wiretapping without a warrant? And was the New York Times’s decision to reveal the existence of the highly classified program, against warnings that it would gravely damage national security, an act of journalistic heroism and a powerful blow on behalf of civil liberties? Affirmative answers to both questions have been the standard liberal line ever since the Times broke the story of the NSA wiretapping program in December 2005. With a verdict on March 31 in the al Haramain Islamic...

The UN Copenhagen climate talks are in disarray today after developing countries reacted furiously to leaked documents that show world leaders will next week be asked to sign an agreement that hands more power to rich countries and sidelines the UN's role in all future climate change negotiations.

WASHINGTON (AP) - Dozens of lawmakers have drawn scrutiny from their ethics monitor this year for everything from financial dealings to travel and campaign donations, according to a leaked account showing an active House panel secretly at work.

Bob Woodward’s Monday-morning exclusive on a 66-page report from Gen. Stanley McChrystal to President Barack Obama about Afghanistan policy was a rite of passage for the new administration: the first major national security leak and a sure sign that the celebrated Washington Post reporter has penetrated yet another administration. White House officials greeted the leak with a grimace, but none suggested they’d begin a witch hunt for the leaker. Woodward is famous for his access to the principals themselves — he recently traveled to Afghanistan with National Security Adviser James Jones — and leak hunters couldn’t expect with confidence that...

The Associated Press story about the leaked report on the legal defense fund complaint is a clear example of media malpractice. Rachel D’Oro erroneously reported that Gov. Palin was found in violation of the Ethics Act. That is completely false. The leaked document was a preliminary report -- the first part of a long process. Gov. Palin’s own attorney stated: “The resolution of the Trust Fund is not final. I have been working with the investigator regarding supplemental information. The matter is still pending. Whatever you have seen was released in violation of law. There has been no Board finding...