We Got Us Oil On the Way, And The US Coast Guard Shuts Down The Cleanup

Either the Coast Guard is run by morons, or they're out to embarrass Governor Jindal for publicly criticizing The One?

What'cha wanna bet it's the latter scenario?

This, in a normal sane country, would be hard to believe. Here in Hopey-Changey-Land, we've come to expect it.

From ABC News:

Eight days ago, Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal ordered barges to begin vacuuming crude oil out of his state's oil-soaked waters. Today, against the governor's wishes, those barges sat idle, even as more oil flowed toward the Louisiana shore.
Louisiana Governor Jindal frustrated over decision-making red tape.

"It's the most frustrating thing," the Republican governor said today in Buras, La. "Literally, yesterday morning we found out that they were halting all of these barges."

Sixteen barges sat stationary today, although they were sucking up thousands of gallons of BP's oil as recently as Tuesday. Workers in hazmat suits and gas masks pumped the oil out of the Louisiana waters and into steel tanks. It was a homegrown idea that seemed to be effective at collecting the thick gunk.

"These barges work. You've seen them work. You've seen them suck oil out of the water," said Jindal.

That's precisely the problem, Guv'nah. They work! We ain't got no interest in no solution, Missah Jindal, yew jes' don't git it yet! We wantz the problem! We needz us a biiiiig crisis, 'cuz we be bleedin' BP friggin dry!

But OS digresses:

"The Coast Guard came and shut them down," Jindal said. "You got men on the barges in the oil, and they have been told by the Coast Guard, 'Cease and desist. Stop sucking up that oil.'"

A Coast Guard representative told ABC News today that it shares the same goal as the governor.

"We are all in this together. The enemy is the oil," said Coast Guard Lt. Cmdr. Dan Lauer.

But the Coast Guard ordered the stoppage because of reasons that Jindal found frustrating. The Coast Guard needed to confirm that there were fire extinguishers and life vests on board, and then it had trouble contacting the people who built the barges.

Fire extinguishers and life vests??? Howz about this, Coast Guard Lt. Cmdr. Dan Lauer: If you think there might be a question, go requisition some from your base, pull up alongside, and hand them over to the boats! How stinking hard is that?

Remember when The One looked at the camera and said: 'If there's a problem, we want to know about it!', in his best faux-authoritative voice?

Governor Jindal took him at his word, and called The One's minions at the White House. Let's see how that worked out:

The governor said he didn't have the authority to overrule the Coast Guard's decision, though he said he tried to reach the White House to raise his concerns.

"They promised us they were going to get it done as quickly as possible," he said. But "every time you talk to someone different at the Coast Guard, you get a different answer."

After Jindal strenuously made his case, the barges finally got the go-ahead today to return to the Gulf and get back to work, after more than 24 hours of sitting idle.

Fifty-nine days into the crisis, it still can be tough to figure out who is in charge in Louisiana, and the problem appears to be the same in other Gulf Coast states.

Fifty-nine days into this mess, and The Winner of The 2010 Nobel Peace Prize either obviously does not know his ass from his elbow...

Or, more likely, he is helping to fuel the confusion, to create a real crisis--you know, the kind He never lets go to waste. Riots in NawLeenz and Mobile, people moving north en masse. Real crisis, calling for real intervention, and real expansion of power.

Sort of like, well, GM--which he allowed to bleed white, encouraged lunatic militarism by the UAW, before stepping in and turning bankruptcy law on its head. Maybe that was just a warm-up.

Makes the Coast Guard's behavior make sense, doesn't it?

Otherwise, the explanation is that we are in the hands of blithering idiots.

Ya' buyz yer tikit, ya' takes yer choice!

Alabama's Gov. Riley Has Reason To Steam: The Case Of The Purloined Oil Boom, And The Polluted Bay

The term 'moral bankruptcy' floats to mind.

From The Wall Street Journal:

Last month, as oil began spreading eastward from Louisiana, Alabama Gov. Bob Riley made it a top priority to stop oil infiltrating the scenic Perdido Pass, a waterway near the Florida border that leads into Perdido Bay, one of the centerpieces of the fishing and tourism industry for both Alabama and Florida.

In mid-May, Riley and Coast Guard officials worked out a plan to hold the oil back, using a reverse funnel design to deflect the currents. Alabama authorities scoured the globe looking for the thick, heavy ocean boom to make the funnel, said Todd Stacy, a spokesman for the governor.

In the third week of May, they finally found it in Bahrain, and had it flown from the Persian Gulf to a staging area on the Alabama coast. Then, in the last week of May, just before Obama’s second trip to the region, the Coast Guard took the boom from Alabama and gave it to Louisiana, Alabama and Coast Guard officials acknowledge.

Tony Russell, a spokesman for U.S. Coast Guard Admiral Thad Allen, the leader of the federal oil spill response, said today the boom was rushed to Louisiana’s Terrebonne Parish to protect Terrebonne Bay from oil in Barataria Bay, adjacent to it.

Riley was furious. At a June 4 meeting with the president and Allen, the governor sat seething as the admiral went over the materials that had been deployed throughout the Gulf, including Alabama. He told Allen he knew full well the ocean boom had been taken from his state, according to officials at the meeting.

“It was pretty testy,” said Charlotte Randolph, president of Louisiana’s LaFourche Parish.

In its stead, the Coast Guard and Alabama authorities deployed 18-inch boom, far more flimsy, into the configuration worked out. They then waited and hoped.

On Wednesday, June 10, oil breached Perdido Bay.

Well, it's all ok, 'cuz after all, The One got his photo op in Louisiana. That's what matters most, ya'll.

This is not an urban legend cooked up by some nutter. It' a documented series of events, recounted in the Wall Street Journal.

OldSouth has one purpose in recounting this tale. He gets visits from folks in Alabama, and hopes they'll pass this post along, far and wide, to every neighbor, family member, church member and friend.

Betcha' if it circulates enough between now and November, Alabama voters will figure out what kind of message to send Mr. Obama's direction.