President Barack Obama's Complete List Of Historic Firsts

President Barack Obama's Complete List of Historic Firsts

Doug Ross is a partisan, to be certain, but this list is factual, from publicly available sources. No tin-foil-hat stuff here.

Chevron CEO John Watson Cuts Through Obama's Crap: WSJ Weekend

The interview is here.

There is a set of unarguable verities shared by The Left. As soon as someone dares suggest those verities aren't, well, true, the serious name-calling begins.

One is: Israel Bad/Hamas Good

Then there's: There really is no problem with gubbermint borrowing 41 cents of every dollar we spend. There is an endless supply, obtained either by printing or taxation. To suggest spending even a nickel less is to advocate throwing Grandma and her walker under the bus.

And one of Himself's favorites: We gonnah' shut them big-bad ohl cumpaneez down, and run the kuntry on wind power, solar power and biofuels. We don't need no ohl, 'cuz it kills them cute liddle poler bearz.

Finally, a head of an oil company willing to push back, politely, with the truth.

There is no oil shortage in America. There is a shortage of brains and common sense among our political class, which regularly leads us back to $4 and $5 gasoline and diesel. Which, oddly enough, people like Obama and Reid think is somehow wonderful.

Enter the tall, bespectacled Mr. Watson, who a little more than a year ago stepped into the shoes of longtime CEO David O'Reilly. An economist by training, soft-spoken by nature, the 53-year-old Mr. Watson is hardly some swaggering wildcatter. Yet in a year of speeches, he has emerged as one of the industry's foremost energy realists. No "Beyond Petroleum" (BP) for him. On energy, he says, America "has a lot to learn."

Starting with the argument—so popular among greens and Democrats—that we are running out of oil. "Peak oil"—the theory that global oil production will soon hit maximum levels and begin to decline—is a favorite among this crowd, and it is one basis for their call for more biofuels and solar power. Mr. Watson doesn't dismiss the idea but explains why it remains largely irrelevant.

In theory, he says, "we've been running out of oil and gas for a long time," yet technology creates new opportunities. Mr. Watson cites a Chevron field long in decline down the road in Bakersfield—to the point that for every 100 barrels of oil "in place," the company was extracting only 10 or 20. But thanks to a new technology called steam flooding, Chevron is now getting 70 to 80 barrels. "Price creates incentive, and energy will be developed if there's demand for it at the price you can develop it," Mr. Watson says. In that sense, "oil and gas are plentiful."

Don't believe it? Over the past 30 years, even as "peak oil" was a trendy theme, the world's proven reserves of oil and natural gas increased 130%, to 2.5 trillion barrels.

And that little lie about 'alternative energy'? Well, it's...a lie.

Mr. Watson has little time for the Beltway fiction that America will soon be able to do without, or nearly without, fossil fuels. Yes, "we need all forms of energy." But the world consumes 250 million barrels of energy equivalent today, only a "tiny fraction of which" is wind and solar—and even those "are not affordable at scale," he says.

As for biofuels, "we would need to consume land the size of states" to hit the country's current ethanol targets. Chevron is investigating biofuels, but Mr. Watson says the "economics aren't there" yet. Unlike many CEOs, Mr. Watson insists on products that can prosper without federal subsidies, which he believes are costly and lacking in transparency when "consumer pockets are tight, government pockets are tight."

Bottom line: "We're going to need oil and gas and coal for a long time if America wants to keep the lights on."

Then there's deep-water drilling, the BoogeyMan of The Left:

But what about the BP Gulf spill? Mr. Watson blames the "cultural aspects and behavioral aspects" of the particular drilling rig that exploded. He roundly disagrees with the finding of Mr. Obama's spill commission that the "root causes" of the spill were "systemic" to the industry.

"There is no evidence to support that. I don't know how that conclusion was reached. I know the industry has drilled 14,000 deep water wells without having this sort of problem." As for the moratorium, "I can understand taking a pause. I can't understand shutting down a whole industry for a better part of a year."

OS can--Obama and company want to kill it off, and to punish the states that didn't knuckle under and vote for him last time. That one doesn't require an MIT degree to discern. But, then again, Mr. Watson is a gentleman, and isn't obligated to share the entire contents of his mind with an interviewer.

It's a refreshing read. It needs to be shared far and wide.

Louisiana Fish Kill

From the Solari Report:

This is a Louisiana waterway, in Plaquemines Parish, covered with all manner of dead sea life.

Unknown as yet whether this is related to the BP oil spill. But BP would be well served to get out ahead of this problem, and err on the side of taking on the remediation of this situation.

Again, the Gubbermint won't actually solve anything, and will do what it can to make things worse. This is another opportunity for BP to win the credibility competition, by lending its good offices toward determining the cause and working toward a solution.

MIT Rolls Out Oil-Eating Bots: A Good Knock-On Effect Of The BP Spill

No one is happy that the Deepwater Horizon disaster occurred.

But, America has this imaginative way of responding to challenges.

Let's hope this really works.

Let's also hope the White House Clown Show doesn't regulate them out of existence.

Because if they DO prove effective, a major hurdle in off-shore drilling can be cleared, e.g., What happens when things go awry?

This technology, therefore, will be targeted by ThePeopleInChargeOfMakingCertainTheEconomyFails.

It will allow energy production. Bad.

It will create jobs and private-sector wealth. Very bad.

It will, therefore, impinge upon the ability of the Environmental Left to shut down whole portions of the economy. Intolerable!

Three Cheers for MIT. Green Shoots Nominee.

Everyone Behaves Better When All Interests Align: BP's Recovery Fund

Details of the fund for Gulf Coast recovery now being released.

The money will come from BP's earnings from its Gulf of Mexico operations.

Appropriately so. And that arrangement will dissuade the more nutty types from attempting to destroy BP over this one incident. Which is what Himself had in mind all along.

All interests align, and everybody has to play by civilized rules.

Definitely, not the Chicago way. More the English way, actually.

BP really screwed the pooch in allowing the spill to happen, and in some of its subsequent responses. That does not give any US President or Congress the right to disembowel the entire enterprise.

Lessons From The BP Oil Spill: The Rickover Lesson, And The Pitino Lesson

Some reasoned thoughts on the BP spill, and what can be learned from the experience.

James Hamilton, UC San Diego, shares the thoughts of Steven R. Kopits, an oil industry specialist. One of the points (all are cogent) is most interesting:

Do Send Field Managers to the 'Rickover School'. In an aggressive corporate culture seen in many oil majors, the ability of field managers to push back is critical. In such a situation, the most dangerous manager is one trying to dutifully comply with the mandates passed down from above. All field managers in the oil business (frankly, in the energy business) responsible for major at-risk activities, for example, the management of a refinery or an offshore drilling rig, need to know how to push back against management. The best I have ever met in this respect have been alumna of the nuclear fleet under Admiral Hyman Rickover. Rickover, considered the father of the US nuclear navy, left a legacy of technical achievements including the United States Navy's continuing record of zero reactor accidents. A key component of this legacy was the empowerment of subordinate officers and enlisted personnel to resist the unreasonable requests of senior officers. I don't know if this program is available commercially, but it wouldn't be too difficult to set up a school. Attendance should be mandatory.

Another lesson that can be taken away could be summarized by a quote recently attributed to Rick Pitino of the University of Louisville: 'If you tell the truth, your problems will become a part of the past. If you lie, they are a part of your future.' Rick should know, as he sowed the wind and reaped the whirlwind in these past few years. Look it up, if you wish. Warning given, however: It is a seriously, seriously ugly and disturbing cautionary tale.

Kids, choose your heroes wisely. Rick shouldn't be on the list, at least not for a long time to come.

As ugly as it was, BP did the right thing by letting the world view that oil gushing from its well for all those weeks. It was bad news, but it was the truth. When they finally did cap it, after showing their failures in live video, there was no doubt in anyone's mind that they had achieved the goal, ahead of the stated time-line. And now, the press is covering the clean-up, not the cover-up.

One of OS's acquaintances works in corporate PR. He's The Grim Reaper. If he shows up in your boardroom, your corporation is in very deep doo-doo. He gets called out 'when the knives are pulled', as he laconically says, with a quiet grin. OS calls upon his wisdom if he suspects things may go pear-shaped, before the knives come out.

Given what he's learned from The Grim Reaper over the years, BP made some very correct decisions in the midst of their deeply bone-headed ones.

The Oil Spill Cleanup: David Jones Of Daily Mail Visits The Gulf Coast

An extended article by David Jones of the Daily Mail, detailing his recent visit to the Gulf Coast to view the damage caused by the BP oil spill.

He makes two or three cogent points:

1. It could have been much much worse.

2. BP (and Heyward in particular) blundered at the beginning, and thus made themselves the target for Obama and company's cynical scapegoating.

3. Even at that, BP emerges with its reputation much more intact than Obama and company.

OS will keep repeating--BP has been around a lot longer than the clowns in the White House and Congress, and have been successful, if not saintly. They'll still be around long after this particular clown show leaves town.

And, for the record, OS is accumulating BP stock, while it is still cheap. Gonna make him some money, honey, on the back of The One's ignorant venality.

Static Kill Achieved: Louisiana Oil Spill

The Wall Street Journal reports that BP may have achieved a static kill of the well.

By GUY CHAZAN

LONDON—BP PLC said it has scored a "significant milestone" in its efforts to plug its blown-out Gulf of Mexico oil well as a procedure to subdue it with heavy drilling mud appeared to be working.

BP may now move to seal the well for good by cementing it shut, if it gets the go-ahead from government scientists and officials. But the company has stressed that the only permanent solution is a relief well, which will be completed by the middle of this month.

BP said that over the course of eight hours on Tuesday, its engineers pumped hundreds of barrels of heavy drilling mud into the runaway well from vessels on the surface, pushing the oil back into the reservoir.

And, interestingly, this bit ends the announcement:

BP last week posted a loss of $17.15 billion for the second quarter, stemming from a pretax charge of $32.2 billion to cover future and current costs from containment, cleanup, compensation and fines relating to the Gulf of Mexico oil spill.

In other words, BP has already taken its hit on its books, out front, unlike the creative accountants at firms like GM, Chrysler, most US banks, and the US Federal Government. Thirty-two large. And they're selling stuff off to raise money to pay for the mess they admit they created.

Unlike the creative types listed above--especially the last one on the list.

Blessedly, the damage, although bad, could have been much worse.

And, it is noted, there have been other bad oil spills, and the world did not come to an end.

OS has a prediction to make:
There is a competition underway to decide which party is competent to address this sort of disaster, repair the damage, and survive long into the future. Who will emerge from this piece of history with their credibility intact?

OS thinks BP, with all its many failings, will be around and thriving long after Obama and Company are out of office and public favor.

And justly so.

Update:

BP's press release regarding the static kill, dated 4 August.

BP's technical update, delivered by Ken Wells on 3 August.

The Well Is Holding: Keep A Good Thought

The BBC reports that the cap installed by BP is performing up to expectations.

The story also contains a slide show with diagrams of how the solution is supposed to work.

Keep a good thought, and let's all hope this works.

Assuming it does, the really hard part now begins: Rebuilding an economy and way of life battered on one side by BP's colossal blunder this spring, and the Obama administration's Machiavellian attempts to exploit the misfortune that followed.

OS intends to keep paying attention, and hopes you do as well. Engineers can cap wells, build berms, come up with solutions to clean up oil, etc. A well-run compensation fund can go a long way toward setting people and businesses back up on their feet. State and local authorities, if allowed, can do much to set things right locally.

The real problem is a federal government in the hands of nihilists, who have worked actively to impede progress toward any solution.

It sounds harsh to say such things, but until consistent evidence exists that the executive branch has changed its ways, it is the the only explanation that accounts for their behavior.

Now, about that ban on exploration and drilling, that is currently bankrupting the families, parishes, and State of Louisiana....

BP And Lockerbie, Blair and Ghadaffi

This broadcast on BBC on July 14.

It deserves a close listen.

If this is true, a lot of people in high places have a lot of blood on their hands.

This is very, very bad stuff. One can only hope it is not true.

Condolences to the families of the murdered, as they have to be dragged through their grief once more.

This is very, very bad stuff.

Live Feed From The BP Well: FYI

OS's computer just can't keep up with the multiple cameras BP has feeding into its site. Just found a live video feed link that appears to work well.

Hope this is informative for OS's readers.

Watch live streaming video from wkrg_oil_spill at livestream.com

Happiness Is An Oil Well That Doesn't Leak: So Far So Good On The Well Test

From the BP website, today at 6:00 pm. CDT

Subsea operational update:

* The well integrity test on the MC252 well commenced today; full closure of the choke valve occurred at approximately 2:25pm.
* Currently the well remains shut-in with no oil flowing into the Gulf; any significant change to this operation will be announced via a press release.
* For the first 12 hours on July 15 (midnight to noon), approximately 5,875 barrels of oil were collected and approximately 3,430 barrels of oil and 22.5 million cubic feet of natural gas were flared.
* For the last 12 hours on July 14 (noon to midnight), approximately 2,040 barrels of oil were collected and approximately 1,230 barrels of oil and 7.4 million cubic feet of natural gas were flared.
* We anticipate the next update will be provided at around 9:30am CDT on July 16, 2010.


OS was in the car and followed the announcement on NPR.
The gist of the news is: So far, so good. This is a test, one event on the way to getting this thing resolved, so don't get too excited yet. If it holds, we'll know in a few days. If it doesn't work perfectly, they can shunt oil from it to the surface ships. Of course, if they're doing that, and a hurricane occurs, we'll be back to the oil spill. In the meantime, progress is being made on the relief wells, with the final aim being to shut down this well permanently.

But again, this is a test, not the solution, yet.

*****

Yes, BP deserves its trip to the doghouse for getting complacent and allowing the tragedy to occur. And, they did not do a good job responding at first, and there are multitudinous problems still in getting things cleaned up, getting checks to people and businesses that have been totally upended by this colossal demonstration of Murphy's Law. It's a mess, and they created it, and its incumbent upon them to clean it up.

But they have every incentive to fix it, clean up the damage, and regain their reputation around the world. They have bondholders, and shareholders, employees and customers to answer to. Any and all of those people can turn on their heel and walk away on any given day, never to return. They, unlike the US federal government bureaucracy, and the White House that sits atop it, live in an atmosphere of accountability. Their shares trade daily. On the New York exchange, they traded at $60 before the spill, went to the high 20's a couple of weeks ago. They had to suspend the dividend to pay for the costs incurred, and will end up selling some profitable operations off. It will be some years before we see BP at 60 and a generous dividend.

Has it occurred to anyone that the contrast between BP and the Obama White House is growing? Who is a pro here, and who is an amateur?

Who was it that didn't even bother to pick up the phone to call BP for weeks after the oil spill began?

Who was it, when the meeting finally occurred (weeks overdue), that made the agenda essentially a Chicago-style 'This-is-a-nice-little-oil-company-you-got-here-so-hand-us-20-billion-or-else' event.

Who decided to shut down the entire economy of the Gulf Coast from the Panhandle all the way to Galveston, just to prove they could, even though the courts keep saying 'no', and the vast majority of the people in that part of the world are screaming 'no' at the top of their lungs?

Who has made it damned-near-impossible for the states and communities to protect themselves from the oil spill, citing 'environmental concerns'?

Who speaks in government-ease, and who communicates in straightforward English?

Who designed, built, and installed a 75 ton containment dome to cap the well in under eighty days? Who decided to delay the tests for two days, just 'cuz they could, only informing the engineers of their intentions after the well cap was installed?

Who installed cameras at the well head, and let the world watch oil spill into the Gulf from their well for some eighty-five days? Who is being informative, and who is using the occasion to shift blame and play to the cameras?

Who are the pros, and who are the amateurs? Where is the moral hazard? Who has a stake in success, and who has a stake in failure?

Tests Underway On The BP Well

The Time-Picayune reports that tests are underway as of this morning.

Let's keep a good thought.

The next briefing from BP is at 2:30 pm CST.

Pressure Tests May Begin This Evening...

...unless the feds make up some other reason to grind things to a halt.

The BBC provides a good overview of what will be happening.

If the well can be safely capped, all the better. If not, they'll be able to harvest much more oil while the relief wells are completed.

Unless the feds make up some other reason to grind things to a halt...

In the meantime, an updated map of the oil spill:

Really, ya'll. What's the urgency? Ya'll in Washington just take yer sweeet time makin' up yoh minds. Mister Winner of the 2010 Nobel Peace Prize will just wait until thangs get real real bad. Then he'll walk on water, give a speech, and bid the oil spill cease. And it will, by golly. Just ask him.

Shoot--he's already fixed the economy, won two wars, secured our borders, and won the eternal love of the Muslim world for the United States.

After all, He's The One.

'Let's Wait Til They Build And Install The Well Cap Before We Tell Them They Can't Use It': Our Federal Government In Action

OS had a terrible premonition this would occur.

If the well is capped, then the White House will watch as the problem is solved, and the clean-up continues, and BP pays its claims, and life (in a few years) will begin to return to some sort of normal.

It's hard to expand your powers if there's no crisis. Harder to seize a corporation that is fulfilling its promises, however haltingly.

From the AP, just posted.

By TOM BREEN and HARRY R. WEBER, Associated Press Writers Tom Breen And Harry R. Weber, Associated Press Writers – 38 mins ago

NEW ORLEANS – BP's work to cap its Gulf of Mexico gusher was in limbo Wednesday after the federal government raised concerns the operation could put damaging pressure on the busted well and make the leak worse.

An administration official, who asked not to be identified because of the sensitivity of the talks with BP, said the government was acting out of an "abundance of caution" and didn't want potentially dangerous pressure tests on a tighter cap that has been placed over the well to go ahead until BP answers questions about possible risks.

A top BP executive said there was no guarantee the cap, a temporary measure, will be put to use. Chief Operating Officer Doug Suttles told The Associated Press in an interview that BP is trying to resolve the government's concerns.

"I don't know whether we will get that approval or not," Suttles said. "I hope we do."

At the same time, BP on its own temporarily halted the drilling of two relief wells that are designed to plug the gusher permanently from underground. That work was halted for up to 48 hours as a precaution because it's not yet clear what effect the testing of the new cap could have on it, the company said.

The delays were a stunning setback after the oil giant finally seemed to be on track following nearly three months of failed attempts to stop the spill, which has sullied beaches from Florida to Texas and decimated the multibillion dollar fishing industry.

BP had zipped through weekend preparations and gotten the 75-ton cap in place Monday atop the well. The plan was to stop the oil and pump excess to ships, raising hopes the gusher could be checked. BP was getting ready to test pressure on the well by closing valves in the cap when the government intervened late Tuesday.

Word of the delay broke as video showed BP's undersea robots busily swarming around the seafloor site.

Suttles said the government wants to verify that the casing, or the piping in the well, is intact and that the oil would stay contained if BP shuts the well in.

Suttles said the next step would depend on the outcome of a meeting of BP and government officials early Wednesday afternoon.

The administration official said Energy Secretary Steven Chu, U.S. Geological Survey chief Marcia McNutt and other government scientists met with BP Tuesday in Houston and had a number of questions about the plan to test the integrity of the well. Chu and other officials want to ensure that putting downward pressure on the well will not cause further leaks, the official said.

"Our basic position was, if you can give us the answers we need ... then go ahead," the official said. Until then, "they can't go forward."

The official said the government still hopes the cap can be closed to shut in the oil.

Oil continued to spew nearly unimpeded into the water, with no clear timeline on when it would stop. BP shares were down more than 2 percent in afternoon trading in London after recouping some of their oil spill losses earlier this week, when the cap project seemed to be moving ahead.

The cap would be a stopgap until a permanent fix that requires plugging the broken well underground with cement and heavy drilling mud, a more stable seal than capping the well from the top. The timeline for the relief well and a backup one has always been hazy, with company and federal officials giving estimates ranging from the end of July to the middle of August before it can be completed.

Suttles urged Gulf residents is to be patient.

"We're going to get this thing stopped as fast as we can," he said. "If it is not in the next couple of days with the test, we'll do it with the relief wells."

On the Alabama coast, Joyce Nelson said every bit of news from the spill site increases her stress and sparks a new round of telephone calls between friends and relatives in Bayou La Batre, where the seafood industry is virtually shut down because of the spill. The slowdown at the rig site just made things worse.

"Everybody's calling everybody. It's hectic," said Nelson. "Everybody is worried about them blowing the whole thing out. If that happens, there's nothing they can do but let it drain out."

Roger N. Anderson, a marine geologist at Columbia University, said he believes BP and government scientists are just being very cautious and he's not worried.

Freezing work on the relief well may mean scientists are worried that clamping down the cap will push new pressure all the way down to the depths of the broken well, he said.

"So I wouldn't panic, is the answer. They're going to be very, very deliberate about this," Anderson said.

Assuming BP gets the green light to do the cap testing after the extra analysis is finished, engineers need to shut off lines already funneling some oil to ships to see how the cap handles the pressure of the crude coming up from the ground.

Finally, they would shut the openings in the 75-ton metal stack of pipes and valves gradually, one at a time, while watching pressure gauges to see if the cap would hold or if any new leaks erupted. The operation could last anywhere from six to 48 hours, once it gets started.

As of Wednesday, the 85th day of the disaster, between 92 million and 182 million gallons of oil had spewed into the Gulf since the Deepwater Horizon rig leased by BP exploded April 20, killing 11 workers.

Well, maybe it is an abundance of caution.

But, given the gubbermint's track record so far, this feels very creepy. The White House Moral Hazard Meter is pegged all the way into the red.

Jest sayin'...

85 days.

All work has come to a dead halt.

Nothing impedes the flow of oil into the Gulf of Mexico.

The Federal Slow-Walk Begins: No Testing Of The Well Containment System Allowed

Here we go...the Obama slow-walk is underway.

From the BP site:

Release date: 13 July 2010
Following a meeting with Secretary Chu and his team of scientific and industry experts, the National Incident Commander announced that additional analysis of the well testing procedure should be performed before starting the well integrity test. This analysis will be conducted tonight and into tomorrow. Consequently, the well integrity test did not start today.

Let's see if it is allowed to begin tomorrow...that 'analysis of the well testing procedure' could be very complex, you know. Several committees to form, regulators to consult, etc. It could take, well, days. Weeks even.

Smell the moral hazard yet?

The Gulf Coast Mayors Get To Tell Their Story: Oil Spill Commission Testimony

Just completed, the mayors from the small towns along the coast tell their story. Both Democrats and Republicans, they tell of the frustrations of dealing with the oil spill damage, an inept federal government, a clueless BP, hordes of outside contractors descending upon their towns (with no ties to the community, and no accountability). They remained remarkably calm, but it is easy to see how strained they are by the experience.

They ran for office to administrate small-town life--roads, sewers, police,parking, etc. None of them signed up for man-made disaster duty--hurricanes they handle, but this is another order of magnitude.

This isn't about politics. It's about life. The people who successfully navigate this particular vale of tears, in both the public and private arenas, will have much to offer the culture in the future.

The link is here. On lunch break at this hour, testimony resumes this afternoon.

Blessedly, the commission itself is under much scrutiny, as its composition appears to be a left-wing environmental 'hit-squad', an extension of 'The Chicago Way'. The Senate appears to have closed the checkbook on their demands for more money. Slowly, the reality of Obama's war upon the Gulf Coast is sinking in, and the push-back may finally be underway.

This from the Washington Post:

Several blog entries written by commission members before their appointments called for banning or delaying offshore-drilling proposals. Their comments have drawn criticism from the oil industry and some local officials worried about economic hardships caused by shutdowns.

As president of the Natural Resources Defense Council, Frances G. Beinecke supported the Obama administration's moratorium on drilling in deep waters after the explosion and on May 27 blamed BP, inadequate government oversight and "America's addiction to oil" for the disaster. Beinecke halted her blog after joining the commission.

That type of commentary left industry analysts, including Robin West, leery. West, chairman of PFC Energy, said "people in the industry are quite prepared to get to the bottom of facts on what happened" and restore confidence in offshore operations. But, he said, "will the commission be objective and informed about a highly complex industry?"

Again, smell for the moral hazard. Who has a stake in success? who has a stake in failure, creating the opportunity for litigation, harvesting of wealth, and growth of the governmental vampire-squid?

Testing on the new cap begins today. Admiral Allen giving a briefing now. Everyone keep a good thought. If the engineering is well-done, the flow of oil may finally be greatly reduced.

If memory serves, this installation was not expected until the end of the month. If it works, this is hopeful news. Let's see if the federal government will allow it to succeed.

Keep a good thought.

Ineptitude. Incompetence. Inattention: The Obama Administration vs. The Oil Spill

Anybody notice that the Gulf oil spill seems to have taken back burner in the media and at the White House?

The Heritage Foundation noticed, and sent its own team to report on progress, or lack thereof.

They met a universal response of disgust with the behaviour of the federal government, beginning with the ban on oil exploration, twice struck down by the courts, and reimposed again today. The rigs are picking up and moving away, perhaps never to return. An entire industry knee-capped, businesses ruined, careers lost.

In other words, just what Obama intends. Never let a crisis go to waste, ya'll.

In the meantime, the New Orleans Times-Picayune just released a photo showing the new cap installed by BP, now beginning testing.

Did BP and its contractors create this mess? Yep. And, they are working to fix it. For all their many failings, amply discussed already, they have a huge stake in successfully capping the well, cleaning up the mess, and restoring credibility with the Gulf Coast. The existence of the firm is on the line, and potential criminal liability for many executives, if they fail.

Has the federal government worsened the damage? Definitely. And they are working to spread the pain far and wide. They have a stake in failure, as it creates chaos, and the opportunity to expand power. They need the crisis, and thus exacerbate it.

When all else fails, check for moral hazard. Insurance agents do. So should we.

In the meantime, a chart of the oil spill based on yesterday's overflights, provided by BP.

Driving Around With NPR On The Radio: Even They're Beginning To Question...

...how this BraveNewObamaWorld thing is working out.

Mr. and Mrs. OldSouth had a couple of errands to run--pick up Mrs. OS's car from the shop, purchase a tarp from the farm supply place, even got a lunch at the diner for all that driving around. Life is good today...

NPR was on the radio--always interested to hear what the nation's most enthusiastic Kool-Aid drinkers are up to. And, it is interesting, more interesting now than ever. It's dawning on a few of them that maybe (just maybe!) they've been had, and The One is actually doing more harm than good, and they are His useful idiots.

Since the early 70's, the NPR spiel has been predictable: There's this terrible situation involving (fill in the blank), caused by all those greedy WASP's determined to enslave and starve the victims of (fill in the blank). If only we had another government program, and raised taxes a teeny-weeny bit more, why this problem could be solved. OS used to be able to time the final thirty seconds or so of each presentation, because right after the erudite opinions of Professor (fill in the blank) of (fill in the blank) State U, came the inevitable assertion that more government and more spending were our only solution and salvation.

Today was different: The report on Obama's attempt to shut down the Gulf Coast oil industry points out in stark terms the massive (and permanent) dislocation that will result if Himself prevails (and sho'nuff, He's in court, tryin' to locate a judge who will collude with Him--do I smell an appointment to the appeals court quietly being proffered?)

It's not pretty--and pretty unflattering to The Winner of the 2010 Noble Peace Prize.

The second feature was an interesting conversation between BP's COO Doug Suttles and NPR's Melissa Block, who took the opportunity to really to skewer him. He took it in stride, and unlike The One, never lost his temper, or became petulant. Further, NPR knew how to locate BP's COO and actually have a conversation with him. Suttles was willing to endure a long interview with someone from an organization known for its hostility to the private sector. That's more than Obama ever bothered to do, on either count.

Suttles held his own, with uncomfortable questions peppered at him. On the whole, he displays a lot more qualities of leadership than The Beloved Leader. BP really screwed the pooch in the Gulf. He admits it, and talks in specifics about what is being done to remedy their screw-up. OS invites you to listen, and compare him to the Corp of Engineers and EPA dolts who are preventing Gulf Coast communities from saving themselves. OS was surprised to hear the interview aired, with no introductory or trailing vitriolic comments.

Remember, ya'll: BP has no upside in a huge disaster--they have to pay for it. Obama and company are presented with a huge opportunity to seize power and bleed BP dry if things truly come unwound. Where does the moral hazard lie?

Again, the signs are subtle, and there are more examples, but slowly slowly slowly, the doubts are beginning to surface, as NPR presenters talk with authors about the reality of evil, school board members in small towns about the impossibility of paying for compliance with Federal mandates while keeping the doors open, about pension funds that are eroding, violence on the border, unemployment as a way of life, businesses shuttering. After all those years of shilling for the Left, NPR is now stuck with reporting the results.

Their discomfort is becoming palpable.

OS just grins and drives.

'Chicken, meet roost'...

Possible Progress In The Gulf, In Spite Of The Federal Government

The Wall Street Journal reports that tests are being run on a giant oil skimmer,  a tanker retrofitted by it Japanese owners.

Now, compare and contrast.

This is the entrepreneurial approach:

The day the Deepwater Horizon exploded, TMT CEO Nobu Su ordered the A Whale, a brand-new $160 million cargo hauler, to start sailing west from China, while he commissioned Hyundai engineers to devise a plan to covert it into a skimmer. The plans were worked out by the time the ship made it to a Portugal shipyard, where it was modified.

After water is ingested through the ship's vents, it is pumped into a series of containers, where oil rises to the top of the water over several days. The oil is then siphoned into a separate container, before being transferred to a tanker. In Portugal, the ship tested its intake process on water sprayed with fire foam, since using oil was out of the question. It proved effective, the company said. TNT has two more ships, B Whale and C Whale, that are in the process of being turned into skimming vessels.

This, on the other hand, is the Obama Federal Government approach:

EPA guidelines require that the discharged water contain no more than 15 parts per million of oil—a difficult standard to meet, said Prof. Overton. The federal on-scene coordinator can exempt the discharge from the Clean Water Act standard.

In other words, the EPA has decided it would rather let 50k barrels of oil per day not be cleaned up, rather than have equipment in place that cleans up, say ninety percent of the problem. Does this make sense to any sane person that actually wants the problem solved?

But wait, there's more!

One deterrent to getting more skimmers to the Gulf is a federal requirement under the Oil Pollution Act of 1990 that both the U.S. Navy and state jurisdictions around the country had to have a certain number of skimmers on hand in the event of an oil spill.

Earlier this week, the Coast Guard and EPA issued a temporary rule relaxing the federal skimmer requirements through December, freeing up the number of skimmers available to be used in the Gulf. But some politicians still decried how long it took to get the change approved.

"The president and his administration need to be moving heaven and Earth to get those ships there tomorrow," Sen. George LeMieux (R., Fla.) said in an interview Friday. "In fact, they should have been there 50 days ago."

In other words, we've got lots of equipment on hand, but we're not going to use it, and we're not going to consider using obvious common sense. Let's fight a three-alarm blaze with a garden hose only--that pumper truck in the firehouse might be needed for fire hydrant maintenance and local parades.

Only two conclusions can be drawn: Either this Administration is completely inept, or...they don't want a solution, because they want to use this tragedy as a means to seize more power. Given the anecdotes of recent encounters between Obama and senators Kyl and Lamar Alexander, OldSouth suspects the latter scenario.

He truly, sincerely hopes he is mistaken.