Barack Obama: Once In A Lifetime

By Gary P Jackson

Same as it ever was.

Barack Obama, George Soros, Petrobas, And The Real Reason Why Obama Is Trying To Halt American Oil Production: A Crime Inc. Update

By Gary P Jackson

We first reported on the fact that Barack Obama and his boss George Soros teamed up to make billions of dollars in the oil business, the day the $10 billion dollar gift to Brazil was announced almost a year ago. Sadly, outside of the blogs, no one has reported on this major scandal at all, except Glenn Beck, who has recently taken notice.

I mean how hard is this one to put together? You’ve got Nazi sympathizer George Soros, the self proclaimed “owner of the democrat party” purchasing controlling interest in Brazilian oil giant Petrobas, then just a couple of days later, Barack Obama “loans” the country of Brazil $10 billion, which is then given to …. wait for it …. Petrobas. Glenn keeps saying it’s $2 billion, but the commitment is for $10 billion.

You can read our most previous offerings on this incredible corruption here and here.

It’s simply incredible that no one is screaming for Obama and Soros’ arrest here. This is obvious corruption on an industrial scale. This is Obama “never letting a crisis go to waste.”

Now I’m not going to suggest that Obama or Soros, or anyone else had anything to do with the BP oil spill in the Gulf. It was a tragic accident, brought on by massive incompetence from all involved, including the government inspectors. With that said, this plays right into the Obama regime’s hands.

Obama, in an effort to help his boss Soros make billions, was already looking at ways to shut down oil production nationwide. This oil spill just made it easy as pie.

Glenn Beck has done a great job of exposing all of the criminals, radicals, and nerdowells, that make up the Obama regime, and the hangers on who look to make huge profits with Obama’s Crime Inc. On Monday, Glenn did a magnificent job of laying out the case against Obama and Soros:

Again, one must ask, why isn’t someone looking to perp walk Obama across the White House lawn on this deal? It’s incredibly obvious what this set up is. Soros is incredibly powerful, and funds hundreds of groups that spend their days trying to undermine the American way, but even so, this is pretty simple to figure out, and you’d think someone would have the guts to go after this bunch, and seek criminal indictments.

Of course, Obama is a multi-tasker, so not only is he using the BP oil spill to help Soros make billions, he’s also using it to try and pass massive “climate change” legislation, that will include a draconian cap and tax scheme, which will, as Obama has often said, make our energy prices “necessarily skyrocket.”

Part of the cap and tax scenario includes a “carbon credit” trading scheme. In essence, folks will be arbitrarily given so many “carbon credits” but if they exceed the imaginary (and arbitrary) limits of allowed “pollution” they will have to either shut their activities down, or purchase “carbon credits” from those who haven’t reached their limits.

This is where Obama and Crime Inc. really look to clean up. (pardon the pun) The Chicago Climate Exchange, where all of these “carbon credits” will be traded, was funded by Obama, during his time on the board of a far left Joyce Foundation. The Chicago Climate Exchange will make money off of each transaction.

This is the Greatest Swindle In Human History © and those involved stand to make, not billions, but TENS of TRILLIONS of DOLLARS from this scam. And indeed, it’s nothing but a scam. This, BTW, is WHY your energy bills will “necessarily skyrocket.” All of this carbon trading will add incredible costs to every single product you buy, or activity you engage in, but energy, which is a particularly dirty business, will be hit hard, and have to purchase insane amounts of these credits. They will pass the costs on to the consumer.

Carbon dioxide is not a pollutant. Every time you exhale, you emit carbon dioxide. Plants can’t live without it. In fact, through photosynthesis, plants take CO2 and use it to create oxygen.

This is simply a manufactured crisis that Obama and the likes of Al Gore, Maurice Strong, and others are using in an attempt to become wealthy beyond anyone’s wildest dreams. All of them are owners, along with Goldman Sachs, of the Chicago Climate Exchange. You can read a lot more here and here.

Oh, and it gets better. As Stacy Drake points out here, BP is very much involved with Obama and the entire “climate change” agenda. BP wants to get it’s share of those TRILLIONS of dollars too!

As we point out here, the idea of America getting off of oil within our lifetimes (or our kids, or their kid’s) is highly unlikely, considering that we’ve spent the better part of a century, and untold billions, trying, with few positive results.

In fact, everything you have been told by the left about our energy reserves is a lie. Chad Stafko over at the American Thinker points out that America has over three centuries (300 years) of recoverable oil reserves.

According to a June 2008 article in Kiplinger Magazine, the United States has enough oil reserves to power the nation for upwards of three centuries. That’s three hundred years, Mr. President. We are not running out of oil reserves — it’s just that those oil reserves have been declared off-limits due to decades of environmental lobbying of our politicians, especially those on the Left. This lobbying has driven the likes of BP and others out deep into the Gulf of Mexico to extract the nation’s needed oil.

Note the following statement from the article:

… untapped reserves are estimated at about 2.3 trillion barrels, nearly three times more than the reserves held by Organization of Petroleum Exporting Counties (OPEC) and sufficient to meet 300 years of demand-at today’s levels-for auto, aircraft, heating and industrial fuel, without importing a single barrel of oil.

You can read more here.

What Obama, Soros, Gore, and the rest of Crime Inc. are up to is not only criminal, it’s immoral. Oil is the lifeblood of any economy. Remember, petroleum is used in more than just motor fuels and lubricants. Petroleum is used to manufacture plastics, medicines, literally thousands of products.

It’s also an issue of national security. We send somewhere between $700 billion and $1 trillion out of the country annually to buy crude oil. A good amount of that money goes to countries that hate us, and use this money to actively work against us. It’s insane.

Sarah Palin wrote about this recently, which we talk about here.

To sum this up, Barack Obama, George Soros, and others look to get incredibly rich off of these two schemes, and as a bonus, they get to completely and totally destroy the United States economy, in hopes of rebuilding America as a communist utopia.

These people are evil, pure and simple. Sadly, nothing will happen until the American people demand it, and demand it vigorously. If you are one of those who just sit on the couch and complain, it’s time to get up and get involved. We must stop all of this, and send these people, all of these people, to prison, where they belong.

Video courtesy of The Right Scoop

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Sarah Palin Calls On Obama To Focus, Get Control Of Schizophrenic Agenda, Stop Exploiting Gulf Tragedy For Political Gain

By Gary P Jackson

Today Sarah Palin, via Twitter, has called out Barack Once again on his demonstrable inability to lead, and the total lack of focus from the Oval Office on what is important.

Sarah also takes Obama to task for exploiting the oil spill in the Gulf to try and shove cap and tax down our throats.

As Sarah points out, Obama is always claiming he is focused “like a laser” on jobs. Of course when normal people say things like this, you think they mean they are focused on actually creating jobs. With Obama it’s just the opposite. Between the moratorium on drilling, which will destroy hundreds of thousands of jobs, and the up coming cap and tax legislation, that will destroy entire industries, and millions of jobs, it would seem folks would be wrong.

It seems that Barack Obama is only about destruction, and not rebuilding the nation’s economy, “plugging the damned hole”, or cleaning up the Gulf..

Of course, we all know what is really going on with Obama and BP, and where the focus really is. Lots of money changing hands. We’ve talked about that here, here, and here. Stacy Drake has written an excellent piece on the kabuki theater being performed by both Obama and BP and the upcoming cap and tax scam, which you can read here.

We are just glad that someone in this country is focused like a laser on Obama, and doing her best to hold him accountable to the American people. Sarah Palin is looking and sounding more presidential every day. She is certainly showing more leadership than anyone else out there. 

Obama Asks: “If We Can Put A Man On The Moon, Why Can’t We Give Up Oil?” Here’s Why It’s Impossible

By Gary P Jackson

Although we know Obama’s real agenda has nothing to do with so called “green energy” and every thing to do with greenbacks, you gotta give the guy credit for the dog and pony show he’s putting on for the American people.

It’s all kabuki theater though. 

Behind the scenes, Obama has engineered a “carbon credit” trading scheme and helped create the Chicago Climate Exchange in order to launder the money in an incredible scam that would make Bernie Madoff blush.

As we talked about here and here, in the continuing series on Crime Inc., Obama has helped engineer this phony baloney Chicago Climate Exchange along with Al Gore, Maurice Strong, and elements from Goldman Sachs. This set-up is expected to generate TENS of TRILLIONS of DOLLARS for all of those involved.

We also know, as we have reported here and here, that Barack Obama is doing his level best to halt oil exploration in America to help his boss man, Nazi sympathizer George Soros out. Soros, the self proclaimed “owner of the democrat party” has benefitted greatly from a $10 billion “loan” Obama gave to Brazil last year so they could explore for oil off of their shores.

This $10 billion was then funneled into Brazilian oil giant, Petrobas. Why is this significant? Three days before Obama gave Brazil $10 billion of OUR hard earned dollars, Soros bought controlling interest in Petrobas. This is George Soros’ largest single holding.

Now that this Gulf disaster is in full swing, Petrobas is looking to capitalize, and is ramping up it’s efforts to drill offshore at a frantic pace. Petrobas has announced the second largest stock sale in history, in an effort to raise capital for this monumental effort. Again, you can read more here and here.

Now that we have established that Obama is a crook and a phony, lets get into why, even for those who are serious about developing clean, renewable energy, it’s an unrealistic idea to think we can ever replace oil, natural gas, and coal as our primary sources of energy, with wind or solar.

Robert Bryce, writing for Forbes magazine gives us all a serious dose of reality:

The Real Problem With Renewables

The growing oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico has, predictably, resulted in a new chorus of voices calling for increased use of renewable energy sources. But over the past five decades renewables have actually been losing market share.

In 1949 nearly 91% of America’s total primary energy came from coal, oil, and natural gas. The balance came from renewables, with hydropower being a dominant contributor. By 2008 the market share for coal, oil and natural gas, along with nuclear, had grown to 92.5% of total primary energy in the U.S. with the remainder coming from renewables.

Given the raging hype over renewable energy sources, those numbers, which are readily available from the Energy Information Administration, are remarkable. Over the past six decades tens of billions of dollars have been spent on renewable and alternative energy schemes such as wind energy, solar energy, corn and other biofuels, and electric cars. All have aimed at cutting our hydrocarbon use. And yet only nuclear power, which went from zero to about 8.5% of the U.S. primary energy over that time frame, has managed to steal significant market share from coal, oil and natural gas.

In other words, despite these huge investments, renewables’ share of the energy market has been shrinking. What’s happening? While conspiracy theorists may want to believe that Big Oil, Big Coal and Big Nuclear are stifling the growth of renewables, the simple truth is that coal, oil, natural gas and nuclear can satisfy the Four Imperatives: power density, energy density, cost and scale.

The Four Imperatives provide a simplified way to analyze the physics and math that rule our energy and its delivery, the latter better known as power. Before going further we must differentiate between energy and power. If you recall your high school physics, the definitions are straightforward: Energy is the ability to do work; power is the rate at which work gets done. Put another way, energy is an amount; power is a rate. And rates are more telling than amounts.

The first of the Four Imperatives, power density, is the most telling of the rates. Power density refers to the energy flow that can be harnessed from a given unit of volume, area or mass. Common metrics of power density include: horsepower per cubic inch, watts per square meter and watts per kilogram. And given the current infatuation with renewable energy sources like wind and solar, the essential metric for power density is watts per square meter (W/m2), which shows how much power can be derived from a given piece of real estate. It is also the metric that exposes the inherent weakness of sources like corn ethanol, wind energy and solar energy. If a source has low power density, then it will likely require too much real estate, material or space to provide the power that we demand at prices we can afford or in the vast quantities that the world needs.

The production of corn ethanol is a loser for many reasons. Just a quick glance at corn ethanol’s power density–just 0.05 W/m2–shows why the fuel makes no sense from a physics standpoint. Corn ethanol’s low power density is inherent in all biomass, which leads us to the second of the Four Imperatives. Energy density refers to the quantity of energy that can be contained in a given unit of volume, area, or mass. And the low energy density of biomass–corn, switchgrass, wood, etc.–makes it difficult to produce sufficient amounts of energy without occupying huge swaths of land.

Now let’s consider the power density of wind energy, which is about 1.2 W/m2, and solar photovoltaic, which can produce about 6.7 W/m2. Both sources are superior to corn ethanol (nearly everything is), but they are incurably intermittent, which makes them of marginal value in a world that demands always-available power. Nor can they compare to the power density of sources like natural gas, oil and nuclear. For instance, a marginal natural gas well, producing 60,000 cubic feet per day, has a power density of about 28 W/m2. An oil well, producing 10 barrels per day, has a power density of about 27 W/m2. Meanwhile, a nuclear power plant like the South Texas Project–even if you include the entire 19 square-mile tract upon which the project is sited–produces about 56 W/m2.

Simple math shows that a marginal gas or oil well has a power density at least 22 times that of a wind turbine while a nuclear power plant has a power density that is more than 8 times that of a solar photovoltaic facility. Those numbers explain why power density matters so much: if you start with a source that has low power density, you have to compensate for that low density by utilizing more resources such as land, steel, and ultra-long transmission lines. Those additional inputs then reduce the project’s economic viability and its ability to scale.

That can be understood by comparing the land use needs of a nuclear plant with those of a wind energy project or a corn ethanol operation. The two reactors at the South Texas Project produce 2,700 megawatts of power. The plant covers about 19 square miles, an area slightly smaller than the island of Manhattan. To match that output using wind energy, you’d need a land area nearly the size of Rhode Island. Matching that power output with corn ethanol would require intensive farming on more than 21,000 square miles, an area nearly the size of West Virginia.

Environmental groups and many politicians in Washington insist that the U.S. must lead the effort to develop renewable energy sources, with wind, solar and biomass being the lead components. But doing so will mean replacing high-power-density sources that are reliable and low cost with low-power-density sources that are highly variable and high cost.

The ugly oil spill in the Gulf may continue growing in size. In response the Obama administration may approve more projects like Cape Wind, the controversial offshore wind energy project in Massachusetts. And Congress may pass another energy bill that gives yet more mandates and subsidies for renewables, but try as it might, Congress cannot repeal the laws of physics.

Robert Bryce is a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute. His newest book, Power Hungry: The Myths of “Green” Energy and the Real Fuels of the Future, was released last month.

Look, I’m an “all of the above” kind of guy on energy. I truly believe that we will always need oil and natural gas as our primary energy source. That’s why I support Sarah Palin and her efforts so vigorously. She understands that we need oil, natural gas, and coal, as well as nuclear energy and renewables.

It’s criminal that France gets over 75 percent of it’s electricity from nuclear powered generation plants, and we don’t. FRANCE!

From the World Nuclear Association:

France derives over 75% of its electricity from nuclear energy. This is due to a long-standing policy based on energy security.

France is the world’s largest net exporter of electricity due to its very low cost of generation, and gains over EUR 3 billion per year from this.

France has been very active in developing nuclear technology. Reactors and fuel products and services are a major export.

It is building its first Generation III reactor and planning a second.

You can read more about what can only be described as an incredible success story here.

Frankly, this is embarrassing to no end. How in the hell can America, the greatest nation the world has ever known, sit back and let FRANCE lead the world on nuclear energy production?!?

The environmental moon-bats go crazy when you mention nuclear as a source of energy, but America has had nuclear powered submarines for almost 60 years and nuclear powered aircraft carriers for almost 50 years without incident.

The United States launched the USS Nautilus, the first nuclear submarine, in 1954. Nautilus could circle the world underwater for up to four months without resurfacing.

USS Enterprise (CVN-65): 93,500-ton nuclear-powered supercarrier commissioned in 1961. First nuclear-powered aircraft carrier. Scheduled for decommissioning in 2013, may be extended to 2014-2015.

My thinking is a nuclear power plant on the ground is a heck of a lot safer than one in combat conditions, and yet, here we are.

Why aren’t we building nuclear plants at the rate Starbucks was throwing up coffee shops at one point?

Stupidity!

I think Cracked Magazine (of all places) got it absolutely right in this article:

The 5 Most Ridiculously Over-Hyped Health Scares of All Time

# 5 Three Mile Island

On March 28, 1979, what should have been a minor plumbing problem somehow escalated into a reactor fuel meltdown at the Three Mile Island Nuclear Station in Pennsylvania. Within five days, the Governor had ordered the evacuation of all children and pregnant women, within a five-mile radius of the area. Since that time, the name Three Mile Island has been synonymous with nuclear disaster. Hooters even named one of their hottest (and most delicious) wing sauces after it!

But unlike other nuclear disasters, Chernobyl for example, which caused at least 4,000 eventual deaths, Three Mile Island was responsible for a whopping zero fatalities. In fact, there weren’t even any injuries. Later tests revealed that the level of radiation people were exposed to in the five-mile radius was equivalent to the amount of radiation a person is exposed to while flying on a commercial airliner. In other words, the danger was nil.

So why all the ruckus? Much like that restraining order Catherine Zeta-Jones slapped us with a few years back, we blame Michael Douglas for this.

Just 12 days prior to the incident at TMI, The China Syndrome premiered. In the film, Michael Douglas plays a television news reporter who surreptitiously films a nuclear power plant crew as a near meltdown is taking place. As luck would have it, the events depicted in the movie almost perfectly mirrored what occurred at TMI. With the movie stirring public debate about the safety of nuclear power, there was no way the incident at TMI occurring just days later would do anything less than scare the ever-loving crap out of people. And that’s exactly what it did.

In 1979, Three Mile Island killed fewer people than ….

ROBOTS ATTACKS!

Ford factory worker Robert Williams was killed when a robot hit him in the head, thus outranking Three Mile Island’s death toll, 1-0.

This is a great piece on a lot of stupidity by politicians, environmentalists, and so on. You can read about all 5 here, though I must throw out a language warning for our more genteel readers.

Look, Obama is asking the wrong question. The question is not why we can’t get off of oil. Nope, the real question Obama and the nation should be asking is:

If we can put a man on the moon, why can’t we beat the French and get more than 75 percent of our electricity from nuclear?

Crime Inc.: Barack Obama and George Soros Seek To Use Gulf Oil Spill For Fun And Profit

By Gary P Jackson

At this point, it’s no secret that Barack Obama is not allowing the crisis in the Gulf of Mexico to “go to waste.” Obama and his cronies see this as an opportunity to seize more control over the American people, and fatten up their wallets considerably by passing a cap and tax scheme.

An operative of mine passed me an email that is being sent out by Obama’s permanent campaign website Organizing for America:

Friend —

The BP oil spill in the Gulf Coast is the worst environmental disaster of its kind in our nation’s history. I am returning to the region today to review our efforts and meet with families and business owners affected by the catastrophe.

We are working to hold BP accountable for the damage to the lands and the livelihoods of the Gulf Coast, and we are taking strong precautions to make certain a spill like this never happens again.

But our work will not end with this crisis. That’s one of the reasons why last week I invited lawmakers from both parties to join me at the White House to discuss what it will take to move forward on legislation to promote a new economy powered by green jobs, combat climate change, and end our dependence on foreign oil.

Today, we consume more than 20 percent of the world’s oil, but have less than two percent of the world’s oil reserves. Beyond the risks inherent in drilling four miles beneath the surface of the Earth, our dependence on oil means that we will continue to send billions of dollars of our hard-earned wealth to other countries every month — including many in dangerous and unstable regions.

In other words, our continued dependence on fossil fuels will jeopardize our national security. It will smother our planet. And it will continue to put our economy and our environment at risk. We cannot delay any longer, and that is why I am asking for your help.

Please stand with me today in backing clean energy. Adding your name will help Organizing for America create a powerful, public display of support for making this change happen

The time has come, once and for all, for this nation to fully embrace a new future. That means continuing our unprecedented effort to make everything — from our homes and businesses to our cars and trucks — more energy-efficient. It means rolling back billions of dollars of tax breaks to oil companies so we can prioritize investments in clean energy research and development.

Many businesses support this agenda because shifting to clean energy creates opportunities for entrepreneurship. This is how we will reinvent our economy — and create new companies and new jobs all across the country.

There will be transition costs and a time of adjustment. But if we refuse to heed the warnings from the disaster in the Gulf — we will have missed our best chance to seize the clean-energy future we know America needs to thrive in the years and decades to come.

The House of Representatives has already passed a comprehensive energy and climate bill, and there is currently a plan in the Senate — a plan that was developed with ideas from Democrats and Republicans — that would achieve the same goal. But this is an issue that Washington has long ignored in favor of protecting the status quo.

So I’m asking for your help today to show that the American people are ready for a clean-energy future.

Please add your name to mine:

http://my.barackobama.com/CleanEnergy

Thank you,

President Barack Obama

Of course this is all a load of bull. The massive, draconian legislation Obama and his Marxist controlled Congress are pushing, has absolutely nothing to do with clean energy, but every thing to do with grabbing more power, and implementing a cap and tax scheme that will make Obama, and his cronies, TENS of TRILLIONS of DOLLARS richer in the years to come.

BTW, just how creepy is it that Obama is running a permanent political campaign, and has a symbol for himself. Do I even need to remind people who the last person was that had such a thing, and how that turned out?

While Obama is singly handedly destroying the American oil industry, and placing moratoriums on any exploration, his puppet master, George Soros, is looking to make billions with his Brazilian oil company, Petrobas.

You can read Obama’s Boss George Soros Ready To Profit From Oil Disaster, A Crime Inc. Update, and learn the whole story here.

Glenn Beck devoted his program yesterday to discussing the way the Obama regime looks to use the gulf oil spill for it’s own benefit, and the further enslavement of the American people:

If you are not familiar with Crime Inc., Obama’s circle of crooks who look to become wealthy beyond all dreams, you can familiarize yourself by reading here and here.

We are up for the fight of our life. If the Obama regime somehow passes this “clean energy” legislation, it’s all over. This will destroy America’s economy, and the nation itself. Obama and his Congress must be stopped and must be stopped now.

Once stopped, The American people must demand that Obama, and all of the members of Crime Inc., be investigated, and the proper actions taken. Obama is a criminal, and a thug. This is a proven fact. He must be impeached, and upon conviction, sent to prison, along with other Crime Inc. members. Justice demands it.

Call you Senators and Congressmen NOW and demand this nonsense come to a halt immediately, and for investigations to start. These Chicago Gangland tactics must stop. This is America, not some banana republic

Video courtesy of The Right Scoop.

Fresh From Sarah Palin’s Latest Public Kickin’, Obama Looks To Meet With BP CEO, Tony Hayward

Well, well, well. Looks like once again, Sarah Palin tells Obama to jump, and he asks “how high?” Fresh off an epic online ass kicking, as only Sarah Palin can deliver, it looks like Barack Obama is going to take Sarah’s strongly worded advice, and talk to Tony Hayward, the CEO of British Petroleum.

Jake Tapper reports:

President Obama Likely to Meet with BP CEO Hayward Next Week

When BP CEO Tony Hayward comes to Washington, DC, next week, he will almost certainly be summoned to meet with President Obama at the White House, sources tell ABC News.

Though no final decision has been made, White House officials are planning to meet with Hayward, and the president will also likely have a few words to say to him.

Hayward is scheduled to appear on June 17 at a hearing of the House Energy and Commerce oversight and investigations subcommittee.

You can read more here.

Obviously, the Obama regime has to kinda downplay this, and do the maybe game. After all, it must be frustrating to know that once again, Sarah Palin was right, and has forced Obama to react to her, …. once again.

Bein’ President is hard and junk, huh?

Meanwhile, celebrated “Profile in Courage” Mitt Romney finally came out of his coma to announce that Barack Obama is no leader!

Thanks Mitt, you can go back to sleep now, we got this one.

Unbelievable.

Is the Gulf Oil Disaster Obama’s Katrina?

Anchor handling tugs battle the blazing remnants of the off shore oil rig Deepwater Horizon. A Coast Guard MH-65C dolphin rescue helicopter and crew document the fire aboard the mobile offshore drilling unit Deepwater Horizon, while searching for survivors. Multiple Coast Guard helicopters, planes and cutters responded to rescue the Deepwater Horizon’s 126 person crew.

By Stacy Drake

The left was quick to point their finger at George Bush following the devastation in Mississippi and Louisiana after Hurricane Katrina hit in 2005. Initially, I was reluctant to lay any blame on the Obama administration after the explosion on the Deepwater Horizon oil rig in the Gulf and the current oil leak situation they are dealing with even as I write this. I didn’t want to point my finger in the wrong direction and simply hadn’t had enough information to make any judgments. However, it’s starting to become apparent that the Obama Administration has been just as effective in dealing with this situation as they are maintaining good relations with our allies.

Ron Gouget, the former manager for Louisiana’s oil response team told a local Alabama news service that federal officials had missed “a narrow window of opportunity to gain control of the spill by burning last week, before the spill spread hundreds of miles across the Gulf, and before winds began blowing toward shore.” Gouget was a member of the group that created the plan in 1994 designed to ensure that federal responders can begin burning oil as soon as a major leak happens and without being slowed down by a bureaucratic approval process. He said:

“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. If you read the pre-approval plan, it speaks about Grand Isle, where the spill is. When the wind is blowing offshore out of the north, you have preapproval to burn in that region. If the wind is coming onshore, like it is now, you can’t burn at Grand Isle. They waited to do the test burn until the wind started coming onshore.”

When they asked Gouget why federal officials had waited a whole week before conducting a test burn, he said, “Good question. Maybe complacency was the biggest issue. They probably didn’t have the materials on hand to conduct the burn, which is unconscionable.”

He also points out that the Lousiana Unified Command Center “know how to respond to spills, and know burning should have started as soon as possible after the initial release was detected.” Gouget said “they may have been overruled.” He goes on:

“It may have been a political issue. The burn would make a big big plume and lots of soot. Like Valdez, the decisions to get the resources mobilized may not have occurred until it was too late. This whole thing has been a daily strip tease. At first they thought it was just the diesel, then they said the well wasn’t leaking. It’s unfortunate they didn’t get the burning going right away. They could have gotten 90 percent of the oil before it spread.”

[…]

“I keep reading that burning will only get a small portion of the oil. Not true. This one is a continuing release,” … “bright, fresh oil that should burn fairly easily.”

“The bottom line, the limiting factor on burning is can you get it to burn. If it gets too thin, like a sheen, it won’t burn because you don’t have a fuel,”

“Generally, it’s got to be thick enough, and it can’t be too weathered. This stuff is weathering immediately coming out of the pipe, losing the volatiles that burn most easily. They’ve got to get to it right away.”

So, according to Mr. Gouget it is very likely that officials who were trained and prepared to deal with this situation where probably overruled by others, no doubt focused on the political ramifications of taking drastic action to get this under control. As with most things the federal government gets involved with, it may have made a big mess, massive. Time will tell and I just hope any investigations into this disaster are done fairly and without providing cover for those who may have stepped in the way with detrimental results.

Meanwhile, the talking heads and chattering class are discussing oil drilling as an issue, some even calling it the “death knell” Of “drill baby drill.” I think that is a ridiculous, knee-jerk reaction to a horrible disaster. To steal a phrase from Obama, “like it or not” oil is the lifeblood of this country, as it is with any industrialized nation. Without it, we are a shell of what we are with it. As Governor Palin points out so often, oil is directly linked to so many important issues that directly effect all of us. It is tied to security and prosperity, in a way no other resource ever could be.

In the Facebook statement she posted on this matter last week, she continued to stand strong in support of domestic drilling. She said:

“No human endeavor is ever without risk – whether it’s sending a man to the moon or extracting the necessary resources to fuel our civilization. I repeat the slogan “drill here, drill now” not out of naiveté or disregard for the tragic consequences of oil spills – my family and my state and I know firsthand those consequences. How could I still believe in drilling America’s domestic supply of energy after having seen the devastation of the Exxon-Valdez spill? I continue to believe in it because increased domestic oil production will make us a more secure, prosperous, and peaceful nation.”

If we let this change our priorities and continue the cycle of foreign dependence, we will have have turned a terrible event into a long lasting tribute to bad decisions.

This disaster has been horrific to watch and I have a very bad feeling that things are going to get much worse before they get better. Nothing has been proven yet to implicate the Obama Administration actions directly effected the outcome of the series of events that followed the initial explosion on the rig. If Mr. Gouget is right, people must be held accountable and changes must be made to ensure that this never happens again. We will see how this all pans out, but this could very well be Obama’s own Katrina.