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.

To My 'Extra Daughter', On Her Wedding Day

Who-cooda-node, suspected, foretold
What a decade would do to transform you.
It makes me feel old, respected, and bold
to speak frankly while marriage is new.

Ten years is a third of your earthly tenure,
It takes nerve to stay single til thirty;
While siblings and friends are all settled in, you're
postponing the time to be flirty.

(talk about forced rhyme!)

The day did arrive, that magical day
When diploma and cheers did reward you.
The goal was achieved, none stood in the way
of the walk down the aisle, 'xept a groom!

(arrgh! that one hurt!)

Ambitious girl, you conquered your world,
With pluck and high spirits you 'showed it'
With heart undemurred, you declared undeterred:
'Mr. Right's out there, I just know it!'

And so, today, I had the great pleasure
To see you sail down center aisle;
A moment in time, forever to treasure:
Your dress, your veil, your smile.

And, he is 'Mr. Right', in spite of my rants
'bout 'Old Whats-Hiz-Name, I seem to forget'.
So ignore my poor grumbles, get on with the dance
Of love, 'cuz you ain't seen nothin' yet.

*******

And, on a more sober note:

I'm so incredibly proud of you, and of Mrs. OS as well. I was dubious of your prospects, and Mrs. OS just hung in with you, taking you from where you were to where she thought you could be--and you're still on that journey. It's been amazing to watch you make fifteen years of progress in ten, get an education, build a business, and not succumb to almost overwhelming social pressure to give up and settle for less.

I have to sound the obligatory cautionary note. It's my job:

Failure is a possibility. That's why love and marriage are risky. I arrived home tonight, and amongst my emails is one from a friend in another corner of the world, detailing the dark and absurd journey through his divorce. Quite a contrast from yesterday's celebrations. Having once participated in the failure of a marriage, I hope you never even come within a mile of that tragedy. But, failure is a possibility. Life is weird and unpredictable.

So, continue to show the pluck, courage, good cheer and kind heart that led you to yesterday. If 'Old Whats-Hiz-Name' does likewise, and I think he will, you're in for some happy times.

Enjoy the honeymoon. See you in two weeks.

OS

Home Again, Sunday Evening: Road Trip To Indianapolis

As always, so very glad to be home, in the OldSouth ComfyChair, the dogs happily dozing at our feet, a summer thunderstorm blowing through as so often happens this time of the year in the South.

Indianapolis is not unfamiliar to OS, at least goodly parts of it. This trip was for a wedding of a dear friend (more about that in another post).

Downtown was impressive, not a doubt about it. Goods and services, hotels, shopping, restaurants, excellent. And, there seemed to be a lively amount of activity, considering these are hot midsummer days. Downtown hotel was lovely (the staff was equally lovely) but irritatingly insisted on the 'nickel-and-dime-the-guest' approach, $32 per night to park, charging for internet service in rooms, over-priced restaurants, eye-wateringly over-priced bar. The bar remained a ghost town for the duration of our stay. OS broke down and treated himself to a congratulatory Jack Daniels on the rocks after the wedding, but only one, since that one set him back more than he is willing to admit in print. Puhleeze!

A few blocks from downtown was impressive as well, differently. A number of blocks with most of the businesses boarded up. Apartments with plenty of vacancies, and 'for sale' signs blooming in the front yards of the houses. A few houses boarded up as well. It's as if someone let the air out of once-great neighborhoods. Most of the structures are solid, brick-and-mortar pre-1930 creations, built to last, but no one seems to have an idea of what to do with them, or is willing to incur any risk in that location. A few blocks further out, conditions improve again. Hard to pinpoint why this seems to have happened, just that there is a swath of the city that just seems to have rolled over and died. OS suspects that the culture of drug use and the chaos and despair it creates has much to do with this. Again, it's that 'culture thang'...the economic malaise is symptomatic of the cultural unwinding.

The trip home also had its contrasts. A visit to the outlet mall in Edinburgh, IN was surprising. Shoppers were out in force, and they were buying, not aggressively as in years past, but they were spending money on deeply-discounted brand-name merch.
Coldwater Creek's store was brimming with inventory, all 40% off, and a further discount at the register because Mrs. OS is a regular online customer. It was almost embarrassing to carry off that much stuff for that small a cash outlay. Other stores with banners of up to 70% off, etc. Every store space was occupied, however. A few miles down the road, at the next outlet mall, it looked like half the space was empty. OS has no explanation...

Late lunch in Jeffersonville, across the river from Louisville. A little 1890's town that went through serious decline, and now seems on the way back up on an aggressive trajectory. Physically, about the same distance from Louisville as the ruined parts of Indy, and much the same architectural styles. Yet, it seems to thrive. No smell of despair here, clean streets, occupied retail, etc., a sense of itself. That culture thang....

There are real signs of life out there, along with evidence of doldrums. It will be a long crawl back for this part of the country, even if everything goes right for the next five years or so. The good news is that Midwesterners are a hardy, industrious breed, and tend to be pragmatic.

Pundit & Pundette On Life: A Good In And Of Itself

Pundit & Pundette: Angle's lemonade lend a good thought today.

The immediate discussion is about the abortion debate as it arises in the Nevada senatorial race. They share a poignant story with a most happy ending, and conclude with these good words:

Life is not a disposable commodity but rather a good in and of itself, worth going out on a limb for.

Good words. Good words.

OS is on the road this weekend, attending the wedding of his 'extra daughter'. He broke down and bought a new suit for the occasion yesterday, in violation of his vow to avoid wearing uncomfortable clothes. Oh well, in theory at least, this is a singular event. He'll survive it in a suit for one afternoon.

Ya'll stay safe out there, and hug your loved ones 'extry-good'.

Obama Loses Round Two In His Ongoing War Against The Gulf Coast

The appeals court just struck down the drilling ban--again.

Of course, Ken Salazar will attempt to re-write and reimpose the ban. Can't have all those thousands of people working, producing, making money and living their lives, you know. That's not the plan, since that does not create a crisis.

The Marine And The IED: The Marine Won

An inspiring story encountered on the way to other places.

Enjoy!

Bobby Jindal Finally Loses His Temper In Public: 'No Is Not A Plan'

Governor Jindal of Louisiana, and Plaquemines Parish President Billy Nungesser are reaching the end of their rope in dealing with a venal and incompetent bureaucracy, and a White House that desires a major disaster on the Gulf coast.

Via Planet Gore--the Times Picayune covered the event:

Surrounded by indignant local officials, Gov. Bobby Jindal on Tuesday once again lambasted the federal government's performance in fighting the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, not only because it has vetoed the state's proposals to combat it but also because, he said, Washington has not devised a strategy of its own.

"Whether it's Grand Isle or Barataria Bay or Lake Pontchartrain or Breton Sound, we need the federal government to have a greater sense of fighting this oil before it gets into our fragile estuaries," Jindal said at a news conference. "They need to fight it like the war that it is. We have told them that no is not an answer, no is not a plan, no is not acceptable."

A tremendous turn of phrase, which should be printed on shirts and hats for distribution across the South.

The problem is, Washington has devised a strategy: Frustrate every effort to combat the horrific consequences of the BP oil spill. Let Mother Nature do her thing via a hurricane or two, and then use the ensuing chaos to seize even more power. And, oh, by the way, strip the assets of great parts of the oil industry.

The Times-Picayune story also links to a profile of Plaquemines Parish President Billy Nungesser. Well worth reading!

Some sage noted that crisis does not so much develop character as reveal it, and Jindal and Nungesser are passing the test with flying colors. Obama and company have failed miserably, and the failure becomes more evident with each passing day.

Meantime, Back On Our Secure Southern Border...

Honest, The Winner Of The 2010 Nobel Peace Prize, His Attorney General, and His Secretary Of Homeland Security all assure us that all is well.

So, therefore it is, correct?

From El Diario de Chihuahua, yesterday.

OS can read enough Spanish to give you the gist (original text below, for reference):
[begin copy]
The discovery of two decapitated persons was reported just moments ago, the abandoned bodies found abandoned at Seventh Street and Guadalupe Victoria in the Villa Juarez neighborhood.

At the same time, police reported the discovery of two heads that appear to belong to the the bodies found in Villa Juarez, these being found along the road to Ciudad Delicias, near the Pemex (n.b.Mexico's nationalized oil company) facility.

The bodies were found near the intersection by neighbors who lived nearby, who called the police immediately, who then took charge of the cadavers.

The 'narco-tourism' continued as normal, and within minutes, dozens of persons coverged upon the scene and took pictures with their cell phones.
[end copy]

Actually, OS was looking through El Diario to verify a report of three beheaded corpses located in Sinaloa. He hasn't made it to the Sinaloa page yet, but in a macabre way, it doesn't much matter.

This is where the city of Chihuahua is located. A quick drive up the road to Juarez, and from there to Texas and New Mexico. No worries, ya'll. What could possibly go wrong?

OS, and many millions of other American citizens, would much prefer to not wake up to this sort of news taking place in Arizona, Texas, Oklahoma, or Tennessee. Apparently, Obama and Holder are much more sanguine about that prospect, and prefer to expend their energies in a lawsuit against the State of Arizona.


Chihuahua, Chih.- Hace un momento se reportó el hallazgo de dos personas decapitadas que fueron abandonadas en las calles séptima y Guadalupe Victoria de la Colonia Villa Juárez.

Luego de un momento la policía reportó el hallazgo de dos cabezas que al parecer son de las personas que fueron encontradas en Villa Juárez, estas últimas fueron encontradas a un costado de la carretera que conduce a ciudad Delicias, cerca de Pemex.

Los cuerpos fueron amontonados un poco antes de llegar a la intersección, por lo que los vecinos del lugar inmediatamente llamaron a las autoridades para que se hicieran cargo de los cadáveres.

El narcoturismo no se hizo esperar y en cosa de minutos, decenas de personas acudieron al lugar y tomaron fotos con sus celulares .

Green Shoots Award: 'The Choir' On BBC America

OS got the heads up from a good friend, headed for his remote, and spent the happiest hour of TV he had seen in many months.

'The Choir' has just made it to the US on BBC America.

He hates most 'reality' shows, but this is not about narcissists acting out their most evil instincts for the cameras. It's about a young musician, Gareth Malone, who takes on the project of taking a group of kids in a government school in the UK, turning them into a choir, and getting them ready for competition in the Choir Olympics in Beijing.

The first episode begins with the audition of some 140 kids, trying to find a couple of dozen who show enough promise. He doesn't even get that, but begins anyway. The episode ends with the kids recording their entry recording, four weeks later. The transformation of all the lives involved--choir, families, conductor, and school has begun.

This is what good music teaching does. It transforms lives, breeds discipline, esprit-de-corps, confidence, desire to excel. It breeds hope in lives that seem to have so little of it in their circumstances. 'If I can do this, perhaps there's a future for me out there in one of those other disciplines as well.'

It's not complicated, doesn't require some massive government program. Choral music education is the most cost-efficient of all, as the instruments come pre-installed in the students' bodies. Add one competent teacher with a lot of drive, a piano that is kept in tune, an accompanist, and a few bucks invested into the print music, and you've got the core of a potentially great program. It doesn't necessarily have to take place in a school--churches and community centers do just as well.

(And, unlike football or basketball, everyone graduates with their knees intact.)

OS hopes you enjoy this preview, and will tune in for the episodes.

James Taylor And Carol King Interview: Joy And Love

And, on a much much much happier note, today NPR broadcast a delightful interview with James Taylor and Carole King. Much too much to tell, and it would spoil the joy of listening to the conversation. Take the time to listen. You'll thank OldSouth for it later.

If you've been patient enough to put up with OS, you'll have read reference to his mis-spent youthful days in the record industry. It was the worst of times most of the time, with just enough absolutely wonderful stuff included to extend the torture.

OS's beef with it all was that he was working in a business that seemed hell-bent on kicking the legs out from under the culture, forever looking for some non-existent lowest common denominator of vulgarity where the real money could be made. He kept protesting that this was a prescription for industrial suicide, but found that talk like that only pissed people off. So he shut up, moved on, and stood by (well out of the path of the falling bricks) as the industry imploded. No great loss, probably a good thing on balance. He just wishes he had never spent a dime on his years of NARAS membership--the most useless organization on the planet, hands down.

Pop music does not have to corrode the culture. For many years, it contributed greatly to it. James Taylor and Carole King are living proof of that, and should be celebrated while they are still with us. Taylor is 62, King is 68, closing in on the final few years of their careers. OS hopes that the twenty-somethings who make up a goodly portion of their show audiences will catch the vision, and both demand and create pop music that doesn't rot the soul.

Again, OS hopes his readers will take the time to listen to this interview. If enough folks listen and take it to heart, maybe the culture will move an inch or two in the right direction.