'Obama's Katrina': an Illustrated Timeline

No prob!

Last Friday, April 30, 2010 Rush gave a time line which was an inspiration for the pictorial timeline shown as the subject of this thread.

Here is an excerpt of his commentary on Friday:

Obama Pays Oil Slick Lip Service; He’s Interested in His Agenda, Not His Job
April 30, 2010
http://www.rushlimbaugh.com/home/daily/site_043010/content/01125106.member.html

BEGIN TRANSCRIPT
RUSH: What a teachable moment! Obama had a press conference today, the original purpose of the press conference — not a press conference, he had a ceremony outside the Oval Office in the Rose []Garden — and the purpose of it was to tout a nonexisting economic growth rate. The actual growth rate’s about 1.6%. I’ll explain how that happens in mere moments. But something got in the way of this. That damn oil slick. Obama’s Katrina. That damn oil slick just got in the way so he had to give some lip service to the oil slick, (imitating Obama) “It’s all British Petroleum’s fault, they gotta clean it up, I’m sending some czars down there. Now let me tell you what I really came out here for,” and look at these people, and he had seven or eight props up there disguised as human beings to tout new jobs in the so-called clean energy sector and so forth.

It is clear this guy does not really want to be president. He doesn’t want to deal with the country’s problems. He does not have any desire to manage. He can’t be bothered with the responsibilities of his office. He simply is wanting and is imposing his ideology without distraction. He wants to make sure that he gets this transformation of the country done. That’s what he’s doing. He’s getting even with his country for all of its transgressions in the past. So we got an oil slick, added benefit, now he can cancel offshore drilling. It’s an amazing thing to watch. The amount of time he spent on the oil slick today versus the amount of time he spent on those props disguised as human beings and their jobs was fascinating. So there you have it.

[...]

RUSH: You know, wouldn’t now — well, too late now, sadly too late now — but wouldn’t this week have been a good time for Obama to lower the seas, or at least the Gulf of Mexico? .... It’s too late now, of course, but it would help preserve the coastline as it exists today. First Obama would just lower the sea level. Next, after all the oil soaks into the newly exposed area of the shore, we simply scoop out the mess and then Obama raises the sea level back to where the tide normally meets the shore and presto chango, we have a completely clean Gulf of Mexico with no oil slick coming ashore. But Obama couldn’t be bothered to get to this this week. He is so busy race-baiting, preaching redistribution of wealth, grabbing power, he can’t actually do the job that he was elected to do, coal mines included. I mean look at him today, poised to take credit for moderate economic growth that he not only had nothing to do with, but which he has stymied. “A White House advisor tells ABC News no new offshore drilling unit until complete review of —” big surprise there, no more offshore drilling. And, by the way, I don’t want to get conspiratorial here, but it looks like the blame for this explosion on the rig out there is being placed on the safety shut down valve not working because of the way the cement was poured at the base of the well.

Now, guess who the company is that would have done this? Halliburton. Halliburton is an oil services company. They’re not in the oil business, but they help build derricks, rigs, wells, this kind of thing. Halliburton poured the cement for the rig and the well cap, and they provided a lot of other services for British Petroleum on that well. Halliburton stock is taking a little bit of a beating today. It wouldn’t surprise me if eventually Halliburton is hauled up before Congress for show trials, which of course is something the Democrats have always wanted. Remember all the beating up of Halliburton during the Iraq war. ..... Obama gets up and says, (imitating) “Ah, BP will fix this, BP’s gonna clean it up, it’s their responsibility, I want you to see all the people I got jobs for.” It’s essentially how his press conference went today.

And now they’ve shut down all the drilling out there. When we have car accidents, do we close down highways for months? We might close it down for hours to clean it up and let the forensics guys go in there and gather evidence. When we have industrial accidents of any kind, do we shut down for months? The problem here is that Obama didn’t jump on this ASAP. He waited eight days, folks. There is no excuse for this, none. Obama does not like the hard job of actually running the bureaucracy. He just likes to grab as much power as he can in every direction he can grab it. “On Thursday, President Barack Obama set in motion a larger federal mobilization, pledging to deploy ‘every single available resource’ to the area and ordering his disaster and environmental leaders to get down there in person. Only a few days after the Coast Guard assured the country there was ‘ample time’ to protect the coast if oil came ashore, warnings from the government were newly alarming.” And the people in Louisiana and Mississippi once again think the government has failed to come in and protect ‘em. Just like the people of Arizona think the same thing.

RUSH: Here, let me go through the timeline very quickly on this whole oil spill thing. This has been his focus since the oil rig explosion.

The rig exploded on April 21st. There was a massive explosion of an oil rig in the Gulf. The White House was strangely silent about the environmental disaster just ‘til a few days ago. Obama’s focus has largely been on politics, not containing the environmental disaster in the Gulf. Here is some of what the president has been doing since the explosion, most of which involves bashing Wall Street and Arizona. Thursday, April 22nd, Obama went to Wall Street to push his takeover of the country’s financial sector, offering no reform of Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac, which caused a financial meltdown two years ago. Oh, and he gave an Earth Day speech, by the way, folks. Instead of doing something that might actually help the environment, the president took time out to speak about 40 years of Earth Day, a bright moment in our nation’s history and a milestone in the ongoing fight to protect our environment.

[]Meanwhile, the oil continued to leak into the Gulf. On Friday, April 23rd, Obama blasted the Arizona governor, state legislators, policemen, and residents for making an attempt to deal with the violence of chaos caused by illegal aliens, and still the oil flowed into the Gulf. On Saturday, April 24th, the president gave his weekly radio address. The topic was not the oil spill in the Gulf. It wasn’t about capping the red ink spill in Washington. It was to bash Wall Street again and to rally his original supporters, African-Americans, Latinos, Hispanics, and women. And still, the oil flowed into the Gulf. On Monday, April 26th, the president appeared in a video which was a rather stunning racist appeal to blacks and Latinos for their votes this November. On Tuesday, April 27th, while the oil continued to flow, Obama continued his bashing of Arizona, calling their immigration law, which mirrors federal law, saying it was poorly conceived. On Wednesday, April 28th, as the oil continued to flow, and we were told that it was twice as bad as we thought it was, Obama bashed judges that followed the Constitution.

“President Barack Obama, preparing to make his second nominee to the Supreme Court, warned Wednesday of a ‘conservative’ brand of judicial activism in which the courts are often not showing appropriate deference to the decision of lawmakers.” And still the oil flowed. On Thursday, April 29th, Obama attended a DNC fundraising dinner closed to the press after he had told everybody he was going to send SWAT teams and Janet Napolitano to the Gulf to see what’s going on out there. Is the oil causing the sea level to rise? No. As I said earlier, Obama should have gone in and lowered the sea level right after the spill, and then that oil that spilled would have come ashore much lower on the shoreline than it would have otherwise because he’s lowered the sea level. After the oil’s come in lower you go scoop the goo out, take it wherever, and then you raise the sea level back up where it normally was and bammo, you’ve got no oil slick. But Obama was too busy bashing Wall Street to lower the seas. He was too busy bashing judges to lower the seas. He was too busy bashing Arizona, its governor, its people, its laws, and its lawmakers to lower the seas in the Gulf of Mexico. Today we had the most lengthy statement on this since it happened on April 21st.

OBAMA: I have dispatched the secretaries of Interior and Homeland Security, as well as the administrator of the EPA, my assistant for energy and climate change policy, and the NOAA administrator to the Gulf coast to ensure that we continue to do everything necessary to respond to this event.

RUSH: Which is nothing.

OBAMA: I have ordered Secretary Salazar to conduct a thorough review of this incident and report back to me in 30 days on what, if any, additional precautions and technologies should be required to prevent accidents like this from happening again.

RUSH: Okay, so he basically blows it off, he’s dispatched underlings, including global warming people to get down there, and report back in 30 days. Meanwhile, in 30 days how many pelicans are gonna die and other migratory birds? When he finished saying that — and I don’t have time to play them now, we’ve got basically three minutes of Obama doing a ceremonial show with a bunch of props on how great the economy is, after his 31-second explanation of what they’re doing to deal with the oil slick. He never once, not once made an effort to go down there and lower the sea level in the Gulf which coulda handled this. If he had done that, we wouldn’t even be here today talking about it.

BREAK TRANSCRIPT

RUSH: Somebody asked me if Obama flew over the oil slick, saw the damage. No, Obama didn’t fly over it. Well, I might fly over it just to go get a personal look at it. I could fly out over the weekend, do a little buzz, go down and get my bird’s-eye view myself. At least Bush flew over Katrina. Obama will probably be playing golf this weekend.

Starting on the phones in Houston, this is Gabrielle, great to have you on the program. Hello.

CALLER: Hello. How are you?

RUSH: Very well. Thank you.

CALLER: Good. Don’t believe that Obama isn’t jumping for joy over this.

RUSH: You’re right.

CALLER: My husband’s a petroleum engineer. We talked about it last night. He may be acting indifferent but they’re jumping up and down.

RUSH: I’m sure.

CALLER: I mean that’s the reason why they haven’t done anything to help. They want the damage to be so extensive that it’s gonna — I won’t be surprised after all this if they actually shut down the Gulf, the drilling completely. It’s the only area which can be drilled in the US, and they’re going to put an end to it.

RUSH: Is that what your husband thinks, too?

CALLER: Yep.

RUSH: So this just came along at an opportune time, Obama doesn’t like oil to begin with, he doesn’t like our dependence on it.

CALLER: That’s exactly right.

RUSH: By the way, if you’re right, what faster way is there to get the price of gasoline up to four bucks?

CALLER: Well, he’s been chipping away at it oil and gas industry for I would say long before he even became the president.

RUSH: Right. And don’t forget the coal industry. He promised to put them out of business.

CALLER: When you had brought up the fact that the layoffs really started right after Obama’s election, that is the truth. My husband’s company laid off 5,000 people, not all of them, but mostly before and during and right after his inauguration.

RUSH: Your husband works for Big Oil?

CALLER: He works for a service company that they do completion drilling.

RUSH: A-ha.

CALLER: Now, they don’t do offshore drilling.

RUSH: Right.

CALLER: But, you know, this rig that was out there, it was a massive state-of-the-art rig. It’s unprecedented. I mean they still don’t know what happened. I don’t believe that it’s any kind of sabotage. But I mean if you can imagine this rig, you know, it was actually using GPS positioning right over the hole, it’s not anchored, it’s 5,000 feet from just the rig just to the sea floor. And they were cementing 18,000 feet down.

RUSH: Yeah. Well, it looks, like I said earlier, that the blame is being placed on that safety shutdown valve not working because of the way the cement was poured, and Halliburton poured the cement.

CALLER: Huh?

RUSH: Halliburton poured the cement. You wait, Halliburton’s going to be brought up to Washington for show trials. Democrats have wanted that since the Iraq war. If they can blame this on Halliburton — (laughing) — and say that Cheney somehow approved the project, even as an ex-CEO, oh-ho-ho, they may not even need Khalid Sheikh Mohammed.

BREAK TRANSCRIPT

RUSH: Okay. So the regime has shut down drilling in the Gulf. But you know who hasn’t shut down drilling? The Russians are drilling in a deal with the Cubans in the Gulf. The Vietnamese and Angola are drilling for oil in the Gulf in deals with the Cubans. And of course the Mexicans have this giant new find that they’re getting ready to go get. There’s no mention of the Louisiana oil spill on FEMA’s website. Which tells me, you know, I think Obama must really have it in for wildlife down there, ‘cause these are the first victims, and who knew that he had this kind of animus for animals out there?

END TRANSCRIPT

Read the Background Material...
• CBS: Oil Spill Reaches Mississippi River
• American Thinker: A Stranger in Our Midst - Robert Weissberg

Now They Tell Us: Post-Katrina, Nagin To Blame
http://www.riehlworldview.com/carnivorous_conservative/2010/05/now-they-tell-us-postkatrina-nagin-to-blame.html

Everything was Bush’s fault when he was in the WH. Now, when it comes to FEMA, it’s just the bureaucracy, stupid. But with the New Orlean’s recovery still failing, someone has to get the blame. And it won’t be the Obama administration. Besides, he’s leaving office. So, Ray Nagin has out-lived his useful uselessness.

Data show New Orleans recovery stalled under Nagin

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — As Mayor Ray Nagin leaves office, hundreds of damaged city buildings including police stations and fire houses sit unrepaired more than four years after Hurricane Katrina, stark reminders of how the recovery has floundered.

Only seven percent of 283 city-owned structures slated to be rebuilt have been completed or are under construction, according to an analysis by The Associated Press. Those figures back up an impression many residents have had for more than a year - the Nagin administration has failed to renew much of New Orleans.

“New Orleans has struggled with a vision from the very beginning of the disaster,” said Drew Sachs, vice president of James Lee Witt Associates, a consulting firm that has worked extensively on Louisiana’s hurricane recovery.

Besides missteps by the Nagin administration, rebuilding has been complicated because of the extent of damage, FEMA’s paralyzing bureaucracy as well as loss of population, which has hurt revenues and made it hard for city officials to determine where to put its limited resources.

The city lags both urban and rural neighbors hit hard by the catastrophic 2005 storm, according to rebuilding figures provided by the Federal Emergency Management Agency. For instance, 87 percent of St. Bernard Parish’s government buildings are under construction or have been reopened and 55 percent of Plaquemines Parish’s government buildings are rebuilt or are at least close to being finished.

h/t Freeper sono

Remember the other day when Obama advised people to read the Huffing ‘n Pissed for balance (to Fox News, talk radio, and conservative web sites.)?

That may backfire.

On his radio show today, Rush talked about seeing pictures of the dead sea turtles washing ashore due to the oil spill. Rush says that this will change everything for the Bamster when the public sees these pictures.

The pictures are posted on Huffington Post. :)

Institute of Marine Mammal Sciences researchers gather data before collecting a dead sea turtle on the beach in Pass Christian, Miss., Sunday, May 2, 2010. At rear are researchers (L-R) Kelly Folkedahl, Justin Main and Meagan Broadway. The researchers were collecting dead turtles and will examine them to determine the cause of death. (AP Photo/Dave Martin) HuffingtonPost

No doubt that BP jumped on the green frog. Their stupid commercials caused me to quit buying their gas several years ago. Its not easy being green.

Hess seems to have the best gas prices. Not sure why that’s so as I haven’t taken time to research it.

My recollection of Katrina was that Bush had FEMA stage emergency equipment and supplies outside of the imminent storm zone so that the supplies would be ready to move once the storm passed.

Remember, Katrina had already crossed Florida and was heading into the Gulf, so FEMA had plenty advance warning that the storm was coming in order to prepare.

The delay in getting suppies into New Orleans was the fault of Blanco, who needed to coordinate every move with Howard Dean at the DNC for political implications, and Nagin, who failed to exercise his own emergency plan.

-PJ

Yep!

See post 83:

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/bloggers/2505164/posts?page=83#83

ROFLOL! Nice tie in!
~~~~~~~~~~~

OBAMA’s May 2, 2010 Oil Spill Speech

“this leak is unique and unprecedented, it could take many days to stop.”

May 3, 2010 — Admiral Thad Allen, Commandant of the United States Coast Guard and now National Incident Commander of the Gulf Coast oil spill:

“It will take at least three months to effectively stop the flow of oil.”
~~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~~

OBAMA’s May 2, 2010 Oil Spill Speech - full text

Good afternoon, everybody. First let me say a few words about the incident in New York City. I want to commend the work of the NYPD, the New York Fire Department, and the FBI, which responded swiftly and aggressively to a dangerous situation. And I also want to commend the vigilant citizens who noticed this suspicious activity and reported it to the authorities.

I just got off the phone on the way down here with Mayor Bloomberg to make sure that state and federal officials are coordinating effectively. Since last night my national security team has been taking every step necessary to ensure that our state and local partners have the full support and cooperation of the federal government. We’re going to do what’s necessary to protect the American people, to determine who is behind this potentially deadly act, and to see that justice is done. And I’m going to continue to monitor the situation closely and do what it takes at home and abroad to safeguard the security of the American people.

Now, we just finished a meeting with Admiral Thad Allen, our National Incident Commander for this spill, as well as Coast Guard personnel who are leading the response to this crisis. And they gave me an update on our efforts to stop the BP oil spill and mitigate the damage.
Story continues below

By the way, I just want to point out, I was told there was drizzling out here — (laughter) — is this Louisiana drizzle right here? (Laughter.)

They gave me a sense of how this spill is moving. It is now about nine miles off the coast of southeastern Louisiana. And by the way, we had the Governor of Louisiana, Bobby Jindal, as well as parish presidents who were taking part in this meeting, because we want to emphasize the importance of coordinating between local, state, and federal officials throughout this process.

Now, I think the American people are now aware, certainly the folks down in the Gulf are aware, that we’re dealing with a massive and potentially unprecedented environmental disaster. The oil that is still leaking from the well could seriously damage the economy and the environment of our Gulf states and it could extend for a long time. It could jeopardize the livelihoods of thousands of Americans who call this place home.

And that’s why the federal government has launched and coordinated an all-hands-on-deck, relentless response to this crisis from day one. After the explosion on the drilling rig, it began with an aggressive search-and-rescue effort to evacuate 115 people, including three badly injured. And my thoughts and prayers go out to the family of the 11 workers who have not yet — who have not been found.

When the drill unit sank on Thursday, we immediately and intensely investigated by remotely operated vehicles the entire 5,000 feet of pipe that’s on the floor of the ocean. In that process, three leaks were identified, the most recent coming just last Wednesday evening. As Admiral Allen and Secretary Napolitano have made clear, we’ve made preparations from day one to stage equipment for a worse-case scenario. We immediately set up command center operations here in the Gulf and coordinated with all state and local governments. And the third breach was discovered on Wednesday.

We already had by that time in position more than 70 vessels and hundreds of thousands of feet of boom. And I dispatched the Secretaries of the Interior and Homeland Security; the Administrator of the EPA, Lisa Jackson, who is here; my Assistant for Energy and Climate Change Policy; and the Administrator of NOAA to the Gulf Coast to ensure that we are doing whatever is required to respond to this event.

So I want to emphasize, from day one we have prepared and planned for the worst, even as we hoped for the best. And while we have prepared and reacted aggressively, I’m not going to rest — and none of the gentlemen and women who are here are going to rest — or be satisfied until the leak is stopped at the source, the oil on the Gulf is contained and cleaned up, and the people of this region are able to go back to their lives and their livelihoods.

Currently, the most advanced technology available is being used to try and stop a leak that is more than 5,000 feet under the surface. Because this leak is unique and unprecedented, it could take many days to stop. That’s why we’re also using every resource available to stop the oil from coming ashore and mitigating the damage it could cause. And much of the discussion here at the center was focused on if we, and when we have to deal with these mitigation efforts.

Thus far, as you can tell, the weather has not been as cooperative as we’d like on this front. But we’re going to continue to push forward.

I also want to stress that we are working closely with the Gulf states and local communities to help every American affected by this crisis. Let me be clear: BP is responsible for this leak; BP will be paying the bill. But as President of the United States, I’m going to spare no effort to respond to this crisis for as long as it continues. And we will spare no resource to clean up whatever damage is caused. And while there will be time to fully investigate what happened on that rig and hold responsible parties accountable, our focus now is on a fully coordinated, relentless response effort to stop the leak and prevent more damage to the Gulf.

I want to thank the thousands of Americans who’ve been working around the clock to stop this crisis — whether it’s the brave men and women of our military, or the local officials who call the Gulf home. They are doing everything in their power to mitigate this disaster, prevent damage to our environment, and help our fellow citizens.

During this visit, I am hoping to have the opportunity to speak with some of the individuals who are directly affected by the disaster. I’ve heard already that people are, understandably, frustrated and frightened, especially because the people of this region have been through worse disasters than anybody should have to bear.

But every American affected by this spill should know this: Your government will do whatever it takes, for as long as it takes, to stop this crisis.

This is one of the richest and most beautiful ecosystems on the planet, and for centuries its residents have enjoyed and made a living off the fish that swim in these waters and the wildlife that inhabit these shores. This is also the heartbeat of the region’s economic life. And we’re going to do everything in our power to protect our natural resources, compensate those who have been harmed, rebuild what has been damaged, and help this region persevere like it has done so many times before.

That’s a commitment I’m making as President of the United States, and I know that everybody who works for the federal government feels the exact same way.

Thank you very much, everybody.
~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~

May 3, 2010 — Admiral Thad Allen, Commandant of the United States Coast Guard and now National Incident Commander of the Gulf Coast oil spill:

“It will take at least three months to effectively stop the flow of oil.”

Allen: At Least 90 Days to Stop Oil Spill
May 3, 2010 - 11:07 AM | by: Lee Ross

It will take at least three months to effectively stop the flow of oil rushing through a damaged well that is leaking oil into the Gulf of Mexico, Admiral Thad Allen, Commandant of the United States Coast Guard, and now National Incident Commander of the Gulf Coast oil spill said Monday morning.

The spill started last month when the rig attached to the oil well exploded and continues to spew thousands of barrels of oil into the Gulf and threatens the sensitive Louisiana coastline and shipping channels.

Allen says the three-month window is the best case scenario for drilling a new well into the reservoir of oil that’s 23,000 feet below the water’s surface. He says that is the only way to stop the flow of oil at the source.

In the meantime, Allen spoke approvingly of various ongoing efforts to contain the spill. These include the use of chemical dispersants on the surface and under water to help degrade the oil. He said it will take another week to build cofferdams around the spill.

At the moment Allen says the slick of oil remains nine miles off the Louisiana coastline. He attributes this stationary position to an eddy flow from the mouth of the Mississippi River. He also says shipping channels or “fairways” remain open but the situation remains tenuous.

“Some things are inartful,” was Allen’s brusque assessment of how the emergency developed. He was clearly irritated by criticism directed to the response and claims that officials were slow to recognize the extent of the problem.

Allen said the collapse of the underwater well system that followed the initial explosion is the cause of the current problem. Underwater cameras were used to help understand the spill and that over time three leaks were discovered. “That’s the way the situation unfolded,” he said.

He also defended the work of the Defense Department and wanted to “debunk” any suggestion that the Pentagon was less than responsive in helping with the disaster.

“The Joint Chiefs have been totally responsive,” Allen said before adding, “there is nothing inhibiting our ability to ask for resources we need.”

http://liveshots.blogs.foxnews.com/2010/05/03/allen-at-least-90-days-to-stop-oil-spill/?test=latestnews

bttt

May 2, 2010 DEVASTATING: Video Shows Feds Knew Of Potential Ecological Disaster Immediately After Rig Explosion
This is devastating. Federal officials knew of the potential ecological disaster after the oil rig explosion on April 20th.

Video from NOAA site shows officials knew quickly of potential for massive oil flow

A National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration video, shot as officials coordinated response to the Deepwater Horizon disaster, shows that federal officials almost immediately worried that the oil well could leak up to 110,000 barrels per day, or 4.6 million gallons.

The video appears on a federal Web site.

It was filmed in Seattle, at NOAA’s Western Regional Center, as scientists and federal officials in Seattle, Houston and New Orleans engaged in telephone conferences, according to a companion document on the Web site.

See video and links at GatewayPundit

Thread for Article

Remember how the lame stream media and the rats screamed when President Bush didn’t fly to New Orleans while Katrina was still over Louisiana?

Bttt

As promised, here’s the main transcript from yesterday’s RL show. There’s lots more on this subject at the web site from yesterday’s show and there will be more I’ll add to this thread from today’s show, too after he updates the site:

Obama __Poses__ as Chief Executive; Regime Fails to Act on Oil Disaster
May 3, 2010
http://www.rushlimbaugh.com/home/daily/site_050310/content/01125106.member.html

BEGIN TRANSCRIPT
RUSH: Oh, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. It’s all posing. They’re not getting anything done here. They’re just hopscotching from event to event to event saying, “Look what we’re saying about it. We’re going to go to New Orleans.” Yeah, 12 days after the spill happened. “Oh, yeah, and we care, we really care.” Meanwhile, Robert Gibbs is out there saying about British Petroleum, “We’re gonna keep the boot on their throat.”

So BP is an adversary. No crisis is too good to waste. A crisis is the playground of a tyrant. [....]

Saying something is how he got elected. But it’s all brainwashing, it’s all storyline, working day and night on the problem, will not rest, justice will be done. Meanwhile, nothing is being done about this. You just go from one bogeyman to the next: The banks, Wall Street, the insurance companies. Now the oil companies. And then doctors. Repeat. The banks, insurance companies, Wall Street, the oil companies, doctors. Repeat. The banks, insurance companies, the oil companies. Don’t do anything. Don’t solve anything. Say you’re going to. Blame everybody else for the problems going on and then try to get credit here for caring so greatly and so deeply about all of this

I went back, I wanted to find something — because I remembered a debate that Obama had during the campaign, it was with Tim Russert. It was Rodham Clinton, John Edwards, and Barack Obama. It was in Las Vegas and some very revealing answers that Obama gave. Here’s the question. “Senator Obama, you gave an interview to the Reno Gazette-Journal, and you said that we all have strengths and weaknesses. You said one of your weaknesses is, quote, ‘I’m not an operating officer,’ unquote. Do the American people want someone in the Oval Office who is an operating officer?” Now, I made this point, which is why I remembered this and I went back and looked at this. Because I remember him saying he’s not a chief executive and he doesn’t want to be. While all this is going on he’s still implementing his transformational agenda of redistribution, destruction of the private sector and every crisis that pops up is an opportunity. I think it’s James Madison who said it, let me paraphrase the quote, but a crisis is the playground of the tyrant. And we’re seeing it here.
So here’s Obama’s answer to Tim Russert. “Well, I think what I was describing, Tim, was how I view the presidency. Now, being president is not making sure that schedules are being run properly or the paperwork is being shuffled effectively. It involves having a vision for where the country needs to go. It involves having the capacity to bring together the best people, being able to spark the kind of debate about how we’re gonna solve health care, how we’re gonna solve energy, how we’re going to deliver good jobs with good wages, how we’re going to keep people in their homes here in Nevada and then being able to mobilize and inspire the American people to get behind that agenda for change. That’s the kind of leadership that I’ve shown in the past. That’s the kind of leadership that I intend to show as president.” He wants to spark debate. He doesn’t know how to do anything. He admits here he’s not a chief executive, so something like the oil spill comes up or this bomb scare in Times Square and Pittsburgh, notice how the regime and its media are just excited as they can be that somebody in a surveillance video is a middle-aged white guy changing shirts, looking furtive in an alley? You know what furtive means? And every media outlet is using it, furtive means trying to hide what you’re doing. He’s not been named a suspect, yet all the news agencies say he’s a suspect. Law enforcement authorities say he’s a person of interest.

So here we have a potential horrible disaster in Times Square, and the media and the regime are focusing, “How can we blame this on the tea party?” When the fact is the regime’s security apparatus failed to prevent the SUV from getting into New York in the first place. This is what I mean by posing and talking and trying to score a political point out of every event that happens. Well, the Taliban’s taken credit for it, but — (interruption) yeah, I know, because we want the tea party to be responsible for it. Biden went out there, Taliban leader killed by drone surfaces on the Internet. We had to kill the Taliban leader. But Biden announced that he was dead, that we got the guy. The Taliban desperately wants to claim credit for it, and we’re saying no, we’re not going to give it to you, we’re going to give it to the tea party.

Meanwhile, in Los Angeles, we had riots and in Santa Cruz we had riots over the weekend. Santa Cruz is as progressive, liberal as you want, and I’m thinking, where’s the tea party? Bill Clinton and Obama warn us that the next example of civil disobedience will come from the tea parties. They’re engaging in all of this rhetoric, anti-government rhetoric, and yet every time one of these protests happens, the destruction comes from people on the left. And these protests, it doesn’t matter, they’re animal rights wackos to environmentalist wackos to anti-globalist wackos, anti-NAFTA, whatever the left has to protest, it’s a smorgasbord, they all show up and have their own pet causes. Well, the Grecian protesters, too. But that’s even asked for a bailout. The Grecian protesters are setting things on fire over there. They even got bailed out and I don’t think any tea party people were cited in Greece. Nobody said that they saw anybody over there in Greece.

But this quote from Gibbs on Air Force One on the way back from Louisiana on Obama’s approach to British Petroleum, I point you to what Interior Secretary Salazar said, I think the phrase was, at least the phrase I heard earlier in the week was to “Keep the boot on their throat.” So I think that kind of sums it up in that western Colorado way what we are trying to convey. See, business clearly isn’t to be seen as a partner in solving a big problem, especially a crisis, they are an adversary. There is something ironic. You have to laugh at this. There was an awards ceremony scheduled today — honest to God, in Washington, I think it was in Washington — an awards ceremony for the companies that have done the best to promote cleanliness, anti-pollution and so forth in the Gulf, and British Petroleum was going to win an award. They’ve canceled it. They were a finalist. Yeah, the results hadn’t been announced but the Obama administration canceled the thing. (laughing)

Anyway, I’m up against here. I gotta take a quick time-out here, folks, but you get the drift of where we’re headed today. Obama: “I’m not an executive, no, no, I’m here to move an agenda, I’m here to transform the country, I’m here to promote change.” By the way, I have an idea. They’re looking for experts to try to find out what happened here with this bomb. Bill Ayers. Obama knows somebody with actual experience in blowing things up in this country, Bill Ayers. If they’re gonna appoint a blue ribbon commission, Bill Ayers ought to be the left-wing cohead of the commission.

BREAK TRANSCRIPT

RUSH: You know, I’ve got a little monologue coming up here, folks, in due course over the real problem that the State-Controlled Media finds themselves in, reporting on this oil slick and Obama and reporting on the bomber in Times Square. They’ve got a problem. It’d be easy if Bush were in the White House. It would be easy. But he’s not. Obama is in there. And it is really fascinating to look at how they were dancing around the edges of this to avoid mentioning his name. The French News Agency, however, seems to have no problem. Headline: “Obama Talks as Oil Laps at Gulf of Mexico Shore.” Obama talks. Exactly right. And then repeats the talking: Posing, accomplishing nothing. So Obama pledges a “relentless effort” to clean up the slick. Now, experience, ladies and gentlemen, tells us that this is a worthless pledge.

“What do you mean, Rush? How can you say that about the president?”

Very easy, folks: Experience. If President Obama is as successful controlling the oil slick as he has been with creating jobs, the Gulf of Mexico is screwed. It’s just that simple. Did not Obama pledge a “laser-like focus” creating jobs? Yes, he did. (You don’t need to answer. I just did it for you.) Did he say that with the Porkulus money, that unemployment would never get up to 8%? Yes, he did. All right. Here’s what he said about the slick after it was too late to do anything meaningful about it. “President Obama warned Sunday that the vast oil spill nearing the Gulf coastline is a ‘potentially unprecedented’ disaster,” an opportunity for him, “as he and other top administration officials defended their response and pledged a ‘relentless’ government effort to clean up the slick.” That is not, folks, a comforting thought considering what Obama has pledged in the past that has not happened.

He said on February 11th of this year, “Until jobs are being created to replace those that we’ve lost, until America is back to work, my administration will not rest and this recovery will not be finished.” Well, he’s resting. He’s playing golf. He waited 12 days to head down to Louisiana. I don’t know how many rounds of golf, how many pickup basketball games he’s played since then. Do we have an EPA? We do. It’s the Environmental Protection Agency. I’ve looked into what the director, the administrator has been doing during these 12 days, and the answer is “not much,” I mean to do with the slick. I’ll just ask you point-blank: What has the EPA been doing after a BP rig exploded in the Gulf of Mexico? What have they been doing? What has the EPA done? What have they done? I’ll tell you what the mission of the Environmental Protection Agency is.

From their own website: To protect human health and the environment. The budgets and its purpose. “The fiscal year 2011 budget request supports the administration’s commitment to ensure that all Americans are protected from significant risks to human health and the environment where they live, learn, and work. This mission is being achieved through collaboration with states and tribes,” tribes, “to implement air, water, waste and chemical programs. The EPA will carry out its mission based on the core values of science, transparency, and the rule of law to address the complex interrelated, multidisciplinary challenges to environmental protection today. The EPA fiscal year 2011 budget requests $10.02 billion in discretionary budget authority. This request will support EPA’s efforts to focus on developing commonsense steps toward clean air, addressing climate change, protecting our nation’s waters, cleaning up communities and ecosystems, and strengthening EPA’s scientific and enforcement capabilities.

“This budget also includes actions to improve EPA’s internal operations to deliver environmental results for the American people.” Okay, so that’s the mission statement. Lisa P. Jackson is the administrator. She “leads EPA’s efforts to protect the health and environment for all Americans. She and the staff of more than 17,000 professionals are working across the nation to usher in a green economy, address health threats from toxins and pollution, and renew public trust in EPA’s work,” as though it was destroyed under the Bush administration. Okay, that’s just a little from the website. That’s their “commitment,” and the amount of money plus 17,000 staffers to do it. Now I happen to have her schedule. April 22nd, this is a day after the rig blew up: From 11 to 11:45 a.m., Earth Day 2010 event with Green for All, Riverside Valley Community Garden, West Harlem, New York.” Four to 5:30 p.m., April 22nd,” the day after the rig blew up, “David Letterman show taping, Letterman studios, New York, New York. Closed press.”

So on April 22nd, not one word from the EPA administrator about the Gulf oil rig explosion. She’s out bragging about Earth Day, EPA, super funds, climate change, the coal mine disaster. Nothing about the Gulf. “April 23rd, 1:30 to two p.m. Meet and greet with winners of the Goldman environmental prize, EPA headquarters.” This is day two after the rig blew up. “3:15 to four o’clock, meeting with Norwegian Minister of the Environment Erik Solheim, EPA headquarters, closed press.” April 24th... Still not a word from Lisa Jackson on the oil rig three days after the rig blew. “12:15, 12 o’clock, remarks to Earth Day attendees National Mall EPA tent between 4th and 7th Street Northwest, Washington, DC. 12:30 to one p.m., meeting with Marina Silva, former environmental secretary of Brazil, National Mall, Washington, DC.”

Three days, not one mention. April 25th, four days after the rig blew: “Five to six p.m., remarks at an Earth Day concert. National Mall Earth Day, network stage, 8th Street Northwest between Independence and Constitution Avenue.” April 26th, five days after the rig: Lisa Jackson’s schedule, 9 to 9:45 a.m., “EPA NASA MOU signing, Howard University Middle School of Mathematics and Science, Washington, DC. Five to seven p.m., Daily Show taping, Daily Show studios, New York, New York.” There is a YouTube video available of her performance on The Daily Show. Not one word was mentioned about the environmental disaster that was going on in the Gulf, but she had a great time yukking it up about Earth Day and other things with Jon Stewart. That’s April 26th, five days after the rig.

Oh: 1:40 to 2:30 p.m., meeting with Archer Daniels Midland chairman and CEO Pat Woertz, EPA headquarters. “ April 28th, seven days. Lisa Jackson of the EPA’s schedule: “9:30 to noon, House Energy and Commerce Committee, subcommittee on energy and environmental hearing.” Not a word about the rig. “Twelve to one p.m., Congressional Club First Ladies Luncheon, Hilton Washington hotel. 2:00 to 2:45 meeting with health organization leaders to discuss TSCA reform, EPA headquarters. Five to 6 p.m. meeting with members of the Connecticut delegation, Hart Office Building, closed press.” This is April the 28th, seven days after the rig blew, not yet a word from Lisa Jackson. April 29th: “8:45 to 11 a.m., memorial service, Dr. Dorothy Height, National Cathedral, Washington. Twelve to 12:45 White House press conference, the White House. Two to three, meeting with administration officials, the White House.” May 1st, Saturday: “White House Correspondents Dinner, 7 to 9:30 p.m.

May 1st: “Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lisa P. Jackson flew over the gulf oil spill Saturday, later telling people at a meeting in New Orleans that ‘it’s like all five of the Great Lakes and the Great Lakes are oil sheen.’ Jackson spent much of her time dealing with residents’ memories about Hurricane Katrina and the slow federal response to that disaster.” That’s what they say on their own website. So May 1st or 2nd. Today is the 3rd. May 1st or 2nd she flies over the oil slick, lands, and “spent much of her time dealing with residents’ memories about Hurricane Katrina and the slow federal response to that disaster.” A good nine days after the rig blew up. We have all kinds of stories in this stack here. “Video shows federal officials...” This is from a Mobile, bam, newspaper. “Video shows federal officials knew quickly of potential for massive oil flow in Gulf spill.” But, remember, my friends: A crisis is the rallying cry of the tyrant. From the Washington Examiner: “Former NOAA Oil Spill Clean Up Boss Says Obama Waited Too Long in Gulf Disaster.”

BREAK TRANSCRIPT
RUSH: AP one day ago: “US Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lisa Jackson says the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico has spawned a huge environmental challenge, but not yet a catastrophe. She told community leaders gathered at a New Orleans church Saturday that the spill is a challenge complicated by the well head being 5,000 feet below water.” So she’s meeting with community organizers in New Orleans. “Administrator Jackson Wraps Up Tour Of Areas Potentially Impacted By BP Spill — US Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lisa P. Jackson concluded her tour of areas that could be impacted by the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico today.” This story is from yesterday. “The administrator joined President Obama at a briefing with National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Administrator Jane Lubchenco and Coast Guard Commandant Thad Allen and also held a conference call with New Orleans officials to discuss the importance of coordinating response efforts,” while they all point fingers at British Petroleum. Pose, pose, pose, say, say, say, solve nothing. Make it look like you’re on the case.

Mark Tapscott, Washington Examiner: “Former NOAA Oil Spill Cleanup Boss Says Obama Waited Too Long in Gulf Disaster — Why didn’t federal officials implement an oil spill clean up plan they’ve had on the books since 1994 as soon as possible after crude began pumping into the Gulf of Mexico following the explosion and sinking of BP’s Deepwater Horizon drilling platform 53 miles south of Louisiana in the Gulf of Mexico? The Mobile Register reports that Ron Gouguet, who formerly managed the oil spill cleanup department of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, as well as a similar unit for the state of Louisiana, is criticizing the Obama White House’s failure to act according to existing government plans in the event of a spill in the area now being deluged with thousands of barrels of crude oil every day. Gouguet said when he was at NOAA, the agency created a plan that required burning off an oil spill in the region in its earliest stage, if the prevailing winds would not push the smoke and soot from the operation inland. The plan is still in effect, but was not activated last week by NOAA. ‘They had pre-approval. The whole reason the plan was created was so we could pull the trigger right away instead of waiting ten days to get permission,’ Gouguet told the Register.” Ten days waiting to get permission.

Earth Day mattered more because it’s not about managing America’s problems, not about being president, not about being executive, it’s about implementing an agenda, it’s about transforming the American way of life, the American culture, the American economy and anything that happens that helps us do that along the way, well, we’re going to take advantage of. The president’s spokesman said, yep, we got our boots on BP’s throat on this one. And the president says it’s BP’s fault, they’re going to pay for it, BP’s fault. Nevertheless, I have to do something about it, while he does nothing about it. Even the New York Times, even though they did it on a Saturday: “Unanswered Questions On The Spill — A White House as politically attuned as this one should have been conscious of two obvious historical lessons. One was the Exxon Valdez, where a late and lame response by both industry and the federal government all but destroyed one of the country’s richest fishing grounds and ended up costing billions of dollars. The other was President George W. Bush’s hapless response to Hurricane Katrina. Now we have another disaster in more or less the same neck of the woods, and it takes the administration more than a week to really get moving.” New York Times, although they buried it on a Saturday.

“The timetable is damning. The blowout occurred on April 20. In short order, fire broke out on the rig, taking 11 lives, the rig collapsed and oil began leaking at a rate of 40,000 gallons a day. BP tried but failed to plug the well. Even so, BP appears to have remained confident that it could handle the situation with private resources (as did the administration) until Wednesday night, when, at a hastily called news conference, the Coast Guard quintupled its estimate of the leak to 5,000 barrels, or more than 200,000 gallons a day. Only then did the administration move into high gear,” when they could blame BP. I added that. That’s not in the Times editorial. “In addition to a series of media events designed to convey urgency — including a Rose Garden appearance by the president — the administration ordered the Air Force to help with chemical spraying of the oil slick and the Navy to help lay down oil-resistant booms. ... What we do know is that we now face a huge disaster whose consequences might have been minimized with swifter action.” New York Times.

This is what I mean, they’re having trouble there at the Drive-By Media, State-Controlled Media, “How do we treat this very uncomfortable position that we find ourselves in here.” They are very uncomfortable. They’re twitchy, talking about the media here, but they are trying to smile while being totally uncomfortable because the poor babies are conflicted. See, it would be easy if a Republican were president. It would be easy. They have so much practice. They don’t even have to think much to do their jobs if a Republican is president. It was so easy for eight years just to blame everything on Bush. Everything from the delay in action to the actual explosion to attending the White House correspondents dinner all while poor sea animals are being marinated in oil, but not for dinner. Obama yukking it up — Oh, by the way, did you watch the White House Correspondents Dinner? He’s getting great reviews as a comedian, great reviews from the stand-up left, but a lot of veterans at the White House Correspondents Dinner are saying, “This is not what presidents do.” They make fun of themselves and they make fun of their own party. They try to promote unity and so forth. Obama just got a bunch of joke writers together from The Daily Show. Yep. Obama’s joke writers came from The Daily Show. They went out there and just attacked Republicans, because that’s what they’re all about. That’s why the left was cheering left and right in that place.
I wouldn’t be caught dead at that dinner. I don’t care what the circumstances. But anyway, now, now, it’s their beloved Obama who’s not doing anything, it’s their beloved Obama who sits and fiddles while oil slick expands and poses a risk that nobody can really get their arms around yet. The Obama media, “Yeah, we love the world, we love the earth, we love Earth Day, we love Dumbo, too,” meaning Obama. “But, gosh, you see the New York Times editorial, why did he wait 12 days? I mean rivulets of oil head toward the sacred fragile wetlands of Louisiana, the sugar white beaches of Alabama, Mississippi, and Florida, why did he wait, oh, please there must be an answer because he’s so much smarter than we are there must be an answer we don’t see. Why did he wait? If it were Bush — ha-ha-ha-ha-ha — they wouldn’t be waiting. They would already be firing up impeachment hearing demands. They’re asking themselves at all their editors meetings, “Should we comment on this? Kind of uncomfortable, I mean the guy didn’t do anything for 12 days, there’s gotta be a reason, oh, he’s so much smarter than we are, I mean he went to Harvard, Columbia, and so did we, but he’s gotta know more than we do, there’s gotta be a reason. Even the New York Times story does not mention Obama’s name. They have kept his name out of it. They just talk about the slow government response.

Newspaper rally, North Carolina, over the weekend a lead story’s headline: “Wetlands Survival Threatened.” Two years ago that headline would have been something like: “Bush Threatens Wetlands Survival.” But no mention of Obama. And that video that we talked about, it makes it even a little tougher for the ditzes in the Drive-By, there’s in a pesky little video from the NOAA office in Seattle. All over the blogs now that shows from day one the Feds knew precisely what this disaster was. It was biblical proportions, and yet the president diddled and fiddled. The EPA administrator went to Earth Day ceremonies. So all those reporters, editors, national desk editors, they’re in a real uncomfortable, itchy spot here because their eyes are not lyin’. Their president has done nothing. Zilch, zero, nada. Diddly-squat. Here’s making a lot of speeches. He’s ripping into BP. They love that. He’s gonna rip into pharmaceutical companies pretty soon, gonna rip into doctors for not being around to help the people who are affected, not enough veterinarians, whatever. He’ll rip everybody, the private sector for making this happen.

But the Drive-Bys are looking at this, and they’re saying, “Jeez, FEMA and Bush actually did more than what Obama’s done, what do we do, what do we do, what do we do?” They keep using the phrase Obama ordered this and Obama ordered that as though he’s leading a nonexistent effort. You go to the EPA website right this minute you’ll find no mention of the oil spill. There are 17,000 people that work there and not one mention of the oil spill on the EPA’s website. Not one mention of what to do if you’re about to be inundated with oil, not one mention. Yeah, it’s a challenge, not a catastrophe, that’s what Lisa Jackson said after flying over it after ten days of saying nothing about it. So the Drive-Bys and the editors, they send their photographers and their camera people down to the Gulf to highlight all of the grease — (interruption) oh, they have? This morning there was nothing on it. So now the EPA’s got something on their website, EPA responds to Gulf crisis 12 days after the fact.

Twelve days and maybe 30 minutes of a radio show on Monday, this one, top of the page. So, meanwhile, you got the Drive-Bys and their editors and they’re sending their photographers down there, still and video. “I want pictures,” the editors are saying. “Give me all the goo, give me the grease, give me the glop, I want the destruction, I want the mayhem, I want to see everything you’d show me if a Republican were in office. We just won’t mention Obama’s name. Focus on BP. Everything except Obama’s name, everything that you would rip Bush for, if you can find some rapes going on, even better, find some rapes going on, go to the Superdome, see what’s happening there. Who knows, maybe oil is in there, whatever, we gotta tie this to Bush somehow, we can’t tie it to our guy. How long can we keep going like this,” they’re asking themselves.

BREAK TRANSCRIPT
RUSH: Severna Park, Maryland, this is Ed. Thank you for calling, sir. Great to have you on the EIB Network.

CALLER: I’m glad to be on and I’m glad I got through, because from the day that oil well blew out I was wondering when EPA was going to send down their ocean survey vessel “Bold,” one of the best survey vessels in the country, in the world, and manned by super EPA environmental scientists, and not one word came out that the Bold was going down there to do that work.

RUSH: How do you know about the boat?

CALLER: Well, I was ship manager for EPA’s ocean survey Peter W. Anderson, and we sent that ship to Campeche when the Mexican oil rig blew up —

RUSH: Oh, yeah, the Bay of Campeche spill. I remember that one.

CALLER: Right. And the Anderson joined NOAA survey vessels and the aircraft to track the spill, and we did environmental assessments with it. We’ve got the best scientists to do it on that ship. And I sent that vessel right away, as soon as I could get it out of the survey it was doing. So I never heard anything about the Bold.

RUSH: This is the first I’ve heard of it.

CALLER: All right. Now, I called on the 29th of April to the administrator Lisa Jackson’s office to ask them if they were going to send the Bold or had they sent the Bold. I got blown off, and I was asked by the person that answered the phone to call the EPA probably division director, Carol McDonnell, about the Bold, because I couldn’t get anybody else.

RUSH: They blew you off?

CALLER: Yep.

RUSH: Just asking about whether or not this boat had been deployed? (sigh) You called on April — did he say 29th? They’re still doing Earth Day celebrations on April 29th or something. I have Lisa Jackson’s schedule. She hasn’t even mentioned the spill by then. Thanks for the call out there, Ed.

BREAK TRANSCRIPT

RUSH: Okay, I went out there and looked it up: “The Ocean Survey Vessel Bold (The Bold) is EPA’s only ocean and coastal monitoring vessel,” and they’ve got the schedule on the website. It was in Miami April 19th through the 23rd doing a dredged material dump site survey. They were surveying dredged material from probably the Intracoastal Waterway or inlets or whatever. Before that, April 10 to 16, it was in Miami at a coral reef study, the 19th-23rd. It’s not doing now. On May 9th it’s going to be Charleston, South Carolina.
BREAK TRANSCRIPT

RUSH: Here is Joan in Kingman, Arizona. Welcome to the EIB Network. Great to have you here.

CALLER: Thank you, Rush. Being from Arizona, I have to say, it’s an honor to be hated and despised by Obama and the Drive-By Media.

RUSH: Lord, thank you for my enemies.

CALLER: Yeah. Anyway, Reagan was the Great Communicator. Rush, you are the great validator. Anyway, I called about the AP report I read Saturday. Apparently Obama appointed Coast Guard Admiral Thad Allen to be the lead in the Oil Spill Response. He probably did that so he could put some blame on the military if something goes wrong. But anyway, this admiral said that no one could pinpoint how much is leaking from the ruptured well because of its depth, but the media has been reporting that it’s still growing at the rate of 5,000 barrels or 210,000 gallons a day, which I find curious, because you reported last week Dr. Roy Spencer said that that’s the amount that is the natural seepage from the Gulf. So I’m not sure what they’re trying to do here —

RUSH: Well, that’s from the whole floor. I mean the floor of the Gulf of Mexico is a large area —

CALLER: Right, but —

RUSH: And this oil seepage is drip, drip, drip, drip, drip throughout the Gulf, it’s not coming from another single source with that much concentrated oil in one dose. I just had sent to me, I just saw it, if this picture gets out it’s gonna change everything. It’s a close-up of a giant dead sea turtle on the beach smothered in oil. These are the kinds of things — we haven’t seen those pictures yet, and I haven’t seen this picture in the media. It was just sent to me. I think it’s a media picture. Remember, we went into Somalia because of a front page picture in the New York Times of a starving Somali boy with the insects flying over his head. So when this picture gets out, it is going to change the equation here for the Bamster.

END TRANSCRIPT
Read the Background Material...
• AP: Videos appear to show Pakistan Taliban chief alive
• AFP: Obama talks as oil laps at Gulf of Mexico shore
• The Australian: White male sought over NYC bomb
• Richmond Times-Dispatch: If Bush Had Done What Obama Is Doing . . .
• Human Events: Obama’s Border Breakdown
• CNN: In ironic twist, BP finalist for pollution prevention award
• RCP: Video Shows Hakimullah Mehsud Alive
• Reuters: Relief well for Gulf spill may take 90 days
• Reuters: Pakistan Taliban leader alive, threatens US attacks
• FOXNews.com: Obama Pledges ‘Relentless’ Oil Spill Cleanup
• Breitbart.TV: Mississippi Democrat Congressman Compares Oil Disaster to Spilt Milk
• National Service Center for Environmental Publications: FY 2011 EPA Budget in Brief
• NYDN: Is This the Man Who Left a Car Bomb in Times Square?
• NYDN: Rush Limbaugh calls Gulf Coast oil spill, ‘Obama’s Katrina’
• USA Today: Greece gets pledges for $145B of support
• WSJ: Getting Lucky in Times Square
• The Daily Show April 27, 2010: Lisa P. Jackson, EPA head
• OCR: Story: Gulf oil spill ‘Like the great lakes,’ EPA chief says
• Washington Examiner: Former NOAA oil spill cleanup boss says Obama waited too long in Gulf disaster
• Hot Air: Attempted car bomb in Times Square? Update: Taliban take credit? Update: Early lead on suspect; Update: Fertilizer non-explosive
• NFR: U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lisa Jackson says the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico has spawned a huge environmental challenge, but not yet a catastrophe.
• NYT: Unanswered Questions on the Oil Spill
• Full Video: Obama’s White House Correspondents Dinner Speech
• Baltimore Sun: Obama fails to act quick enough on greatest environmental disaster
• AL.com: Video shows federal officials knew quickly of potential for massive oil flow in Gulf spill
• AP: EPA Jackson holds community meeting in New Orleans
• Water Online: Administrator Jackson Wraps Up Tour Of Areas Potentially Impacted By BP Spill
• EPA.gov: About the OSV Bold | EPA’s Ocean Survey Vessel Bold
• NYT: U.S. Missed Chances to Act on Oil Spill
• NYT: Unanswered Questions on the Spill

“Remember how the lame stream media and the rats screamed when President Bush didn’t fly to New Orleans while Katrina was still over Louisiana?” ~ Kaslin

Who could forget! But they know that’s what works with weak-minded people who easily fall for “the con”.

In fact, look at how they describe the types of mentalities they’re planning on targeting for the ‘08 election. (Merely attempting to increase the numbers of the same sorts of numb-nutz who voted ‘RAT in ‘08):

These are the notes taken by a participant in a National Organizing for America Strategy Session that took place on Monday, May 3 in my area of Central Florida.

Attention: RE: Alan Grayson (D) Orlando, Fl.

May 3, 2010 OFA Strategy Call

Event format: David Plouffe, Mitch Stewart, and female commentator in w/ about 15 people in “studio” audience. Each state had an on-line chat with an OFA moderator to answer questions. Viewers could call, tweet, text questions. I was impressed with how easy it was to access this event and how every form of media was used. They even texted reminders 15 minutes before the session began.

2010 Mid-Term Election Strategy

1 Concentrate of First Time voters

2. Re-connect with First Time voters of 2008

Actions

1. Door knocking

2 Phone call

3. Peer-Peer discussions

4 Social networking (very important in reaching young voters)

*OFA will provide tool necessary for grassroots workers such as phone banks, talking points, printed material.

Two Immediate Requests of Campaign Workers:

1 Host a house party

2. June 5th National Day of Action (similar to â€œKnock for Changeâ€ in June of 2008)

Profile of First Time Voter

Likely gets news from social media outlets so your social networking circles are very important.

They don’t absorb in-depth political news, so talking points are important

They are cynical about whether their vote matters, so pledge cards are effective (have them sign an OFA card promising to vote)

They know very little about the political process (where to vote, deadlines to register, etc) so, provide this information.

ALL INFORMATION “must be easily accessible on-line requiring very few keystrokes. If they have to dig for it, they won’t.

Importance of the Message AND THE MESSENGER

The message is important but the messenger is very important. “Peer to Peer” means the messenger. Should share the “same experience” as the community. They emphasized the importance of “neighbor to neighbor” contact, as well.

They spoke about the need for the message to be beyond winning the election, it must be visionary. (Basically their message is help Obama complete his vision by voting for democrats. They realize that Obama is their best salesman and they will engage him as much as possible). They intend to use the message that Republicans put big biz, big insurance, big oil above families. Democrats support families thru expanding health care and college loans. Also, when the Republicans talk about spending , democrats intend to point out the Bush spending.

democrats intend to point out the Bush spending.

Yet the arrogant p o s outspend President Bush in his first six weeks with what he spend. And he outspend every US President in the American history

We need to put the ‘RATS on the defensive on this from the get-go. If any politician claiming to be “conservative” expects to get my vote, he/she had better be FEARLESS in saying what needs to be said, and going after _all_ ‘RAT jugulars ... not even caring if it costs him/her the election. That’s the only way we’ll KNOW whose for real and who isn’t.

We need street-smart people on our side who are fearless in taking it to the ‘RATS .... street-fighter mentalities all.

We will get nowhere with some of the panty-waist namby-pambys (claiming to be Reagan conservatives) running for office on our side. GAG!

“..whose = who’s..”

Sheesh!

Rough Seas for Obama
Rich Galen (Mulling.com)
Wednesday May 5, 2010

On March 31, President Obama announced a new policy toward offshore drilling off the Mid-Atlantic and Florida coastlines. Three weeks later the BP oil platform blew up and sank in the Gulf of Mexico and Obama had to reverse himself.

That wasn't Obama's fault, of course, but it is the kind of thing that happens when Administrations are looking a little shaky. The fact that the broken well is pouring some 5,000 barrels of oil per day into the Gulf isn't Obama's fault, either, but that means some 70,000 barrels of crude are fixing to begin washing up on someone's shore in the next couple of days.

The Administration's insistence that it has been involved in the oil spill "since day one" is coming under some scrutiny. According to the AP's Erica Werner, when Homeland Security Secretary, Janet Napolitano said on "Meet the Press" Sunday that,

"We had (Defense Department) resources there from Day One. This was a situation that was treated as a possible catastrophic failure from, from Day One,"

may have been a bit hyperbolic.

Three days earlier, according to Werner, Napolitano had specifically said that "the Defense Department was not yet involved in responding to the spill: 'If and when they have something to add, we'll certainly make that known,' she said."

White House Press Secretary, Robert Gibbs, appeared to be pretty sanguine about the whole situation three days after the spill (well beyond what most mathematicians would consider "Day One") when he "seemed to dismiss" suggestions the spill might "affect Obama's plans to open up new areas of the coast to offshore drilling," quoting Gibbs as saying:

"I don't honestly think it opens up a whole new series of questions, because, you know, in all honesty I doubt this is the first accident that has happened and I doubt it will be the last."

The Administration is not slick enough to cover its lack of concern at the front end of the BP oil leak.

With apologies to Oscar Hammerstein, "When do you spell an oil spill like 'Katrina?'"

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On the Secret Decoder Page:

In Old Town Alexandria, VA on Sunday. The guy caught me trying to peel the bottom one off his back bumper. ~ Rich

(((PING))) ~ See #98 above. :)

Wednesday May 05, 2010
San Antonio refinery on fire following explosion
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2507276/posts