THE SPILL IS BEING WONKED TO DEATH!!

Obama's Circumlocution Commission; the Itty-Bitty Whitewash Committee, the Compost Consortium, the ...you get the drill.

Writing the last missive about the "Woopsie Daisy Commission" compelled me to actually read the charter of the group looking into the Gulf oil spill. Found at this hyperlink, gang! Use 'em if you got em!

The first thing that jumps at me is how sparingly the charter uses the word "investigation". Once! In that case it refers to their promise not to go off Helter Skelter interfering with REAL investigations currently underway by actual government agencies and law enforcement. Translation: THIS HERE ain't no INVESTIGATION!

No, this is an "advisory committee", submitting toothless "recommendations" after "findings of fact." With all the non-judgmental warmth and love of The Litte Red School House in Manhattan. Not that there's anything wrong with nurturing CHILDREN WHO HAVE DONE NO EVIL!!; as in caused the death of coworkers, destruction of ecosystems, and damaged thousands of businesses, careers, and families.

..........But I digress.

The committee will submit a report to His Tone-Deafness, His World Traipsing Majesty, the President of the United States Barack Obama, in January. And sixty days later the group will disperse.

Second thing that caught my eyes is the price tag: $15 million smackeroos! Third thing, is that the group is only required to meet once a week. Fourth thing that jumped out, is it engages no less than 35 full-time employees each drawing a government salary. (Yee Haw!) I can only imagine what G-level their average pay-grade is. There are seven committee members and subcommittees appointed ad hoc, in other words, no vote.

What I know about government service, having worked two years overseas, one year here in the U.S. boils down to this: a government worker, or official, will do the bare minimum amount of work mandated, for the total maximum price permitted.

If the minimum effort required is once a week, he will do that thing, once a week, and only once a week! To do otherwise invites hatred and ostracism from his chain of command. If he is given leave to hire, or appropriate 35 FTE's to do that one thing, he will ask for 35 and one more, pretty please, oh please, oh please, oh please!

The group will all work on the wasteful, unverifiable Flex-Time sheets, consume as much per diem as is permitted, exploit every last coffee break, lunch break and water break for the computation of hours. And they will stay in THE VERY BEST hotels, and then some, hoping their credit card expenses are given the blind-eye glance for propriety. They usually are rewarded for their largess.

Now, (sound of crinkling chart paper, accompanied by the hiss of hotel ballroom air-conditioners) the group, like Project Blue Book, like the Warren Commission is likely armed with "guidelines" sent down from on high. In this case, since it was chartered under Executive Order 13543 the "Decider" of those guidelines is the most powerful public official on planet earth, the President.

The go-to guy, is the Secretary of Energy, Dr. Steven Chu. Where have I heard that name? Oh yeah! Here, CLICK THIS LINK and scroll down the page, please! Dr. Chu accepted a $500 million grant from BP, on behalf of Berkeley Labs, in 2007 BEFORE he was appointed Energy Sec.

............Yeah...........that'll work.

Dr. Chu can appoint ad hoc ( no vote) the subcommittee members. The subcommittee members can be department of energy employees.

............Yeah...........that'll work.

What you are seeing here of course is the gentle, slow wonkification of this issue. They are taking any potential blame, liability, not to mention the truth, out behind the barn, and slitting its collective throat with a dull blade of government wonkery. And they are charging you $15 million dollars to do it.

Next we'll explore some of their most bizarre positions, as highlighted in their preliminary findings.

The Woopsie Daisy Commission

The last post highlights the ever-changing narrative; the bumbling, about-face, mushy, non-findings of President Barack Obama's Woopsie Daisy Oil Spill Commission.

The commission also goes by the misnomer "The National Commission on the BP Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill and Offshore Drilling." I say misnomer because nowhere in this title can be found the word 'investigation' which is something the commission have led us to believe was a function, when it has outed itself as yet another government funded "Ponies and Balloons" program.

At the end of the day (because wonks always use that phrase), when they are cornered with their own bullshit, they admit they have needed subpoena power all along. This, in spite of British tonnes of evidence already in the public record that BP CUT CORNERS, IN CRIMINAL FASHION and something was FLAWED WITH HALLIBURTON CEMENT!

Witness:

1. Here's the word coming out on the commission's findings on November 3. To wit: Halliburton Cement = Bad.

But now? Woopsie daisy!! Not so much. 'No no, children. No smoking gun here'.

How are these two accounts so divergent in just six days time? In what universe are they even remotely congruous? Did an alternate reality superimpose itself on the previous? Was there some time warp paradox? Or - just spit-balling here - do they truly believe WE ARE THAT FUCKING STUPID?

2. And how about the numerous new stories including video testimony of survivors that BP was attempting the old, "wham bam, thank you ma'am" early withdrawal method from operations, to save time and money. This included the fatal removal of the drilling muds and replacement with lighter seawater BEFORE the well was entirely capped with failing cement!

BTW Did you hear the Doug Suttles quote mentioned? "let the investigation" find out what happened. Sure he's all for that. Because what he is talking about is the current, flaccid 'investigation'.

The investigation that, Woopsie-daisy!! Really needs subpoena power to actually do its job. Oh, boo-hoo. Included in the limp requests for more power, they (and it must be said) fully intend not to use, is the implied excuse and caveat "Well, we did as much as we could." (palms turned upward, shoulders shrugged here)

3. Even NYT had this information, way early in the game; that several people attempted to warn managers about safety issues and were unheeded or ignored. Mostly in the interest of time and money.

But now? Woopsie daisy!! Not so much. No. You must have heard wrong. " 'BP took no shortcut! What shortcut?'" And anyway, shortcutting was standard operating procedure so, technically there's nothing out of the ordinary going on. You see, that makes it okay, right? If everyone is doing it in the industry, even though it's unsafe, and like, BP have been doing it this way all along even though it defies even the notion of safety, then it's fair game, all good, end of story.

4. Oh be sure to check out the 'preliminary findings' from the commission.

Funny how a trial balloon works. If you go for it and salute, why, that old trial balloon because stone-carved history. Anyway, you'll see it down there at the very bottom of the page:

"BP's temporary abandonment procedures introduced additional risk."

Wow, searing! Scathing! Ouch! Blistering! Yikes! You can bet they won't do that again!

Imagine post-Auschwitz, a similar investigation into prisoner treatment; "The use of this material can be toxic at these quantities." Or how about after 9-11, "Training procedures for pilots from Middle Eastern nations need to be modified to ensure proper control techniques."

Can you feel the urgency of this commission as it does its job! Just click on the videos. Why, they've dedicated a whole 30 minutes to public commentary!

The truth is, this commission is a white-wash. They float turds of do-nothing, and when they come to conclusions that enrage people still watching, they cry weakly that they can't get subpoena power.

Have they been fighting for it? Have they demanded it? No. They asked for it once, that request went nowhere, in fact was blocked by a group of senators including Jim DeMint and John Boehner.

The House of Representatives has passed a motion to give that power to the commission, but with any luck at all, it will hit the senate floor just as the new crop of lunatics hits their seats and the do-nothing Woopsie Daisy Commission has muddled to an early demise like a bad round of golf.

The president, already having cut massive deals to make the whole mess go away, simply flies to India, Indonesia, Korea, wherever to distance himself physically on the polar opposite side of the planet while this clunking, sputtering, wonky little group of disgraceful do-nothings and say-nothings, continues to shuffle papers, go to break, grab some coffee, maybe head to the can, then come back and mumble sweet, impotent nothings into their microphones.

Be sure to tell them how you feel via their email. And you can be sure they'll read each and every one. But heck, it might feel better for you to stuff their mail box chock full.

BPDeepwaterHorizonCommission@hq.doe.gov.

OH REALLY? BP DID NOT SACRIFICE SAFETY?

His Majesty Barack Obama's "do nothing and see if that shit flies" commission looking into the Deepwater Horizon oil disaster is in a bit of a bind.

Two days ago the commission, chaired, disgracefully by Senator from Florida Bob Graham, attempted to float the turd of "BP did not sacrifice safety" in spilling 205 million gallons of oil into the Gulf of Mexico, and that the commission agreed with 90 percent of what a BP inquiry into the matter had discovered; that being "ooops, it happened" and sometimes things do and BP weren't especially cutting corners or doing a rush job on sealing the well.

But yesterday, Graham and others of the committee were on the record, walking back those words with a more stern finger wagging, "these firms need top to bottom reform."

.........And they'll get right on that.

The UK's Daily Mail has some interesting comments: I thought this one particularly apt:

"This sounds like American policitis at its best. Reilly and Graham are all backpeddaling from comments made yesterday by another of their peers because Obama and his henchman called them on the carpet for being positive about BP. Mr. Barlitt said yesterday that he and the rest of his colleagues agreed with 90% of what the BP report stated. For this "team" to come out singing a different toon today sounds alot like Obama policitics."

The commentator hits the nail squarely. Tried to get away with taking the fish entirely off the hook and setting it free, but now with the finger-wagging for the benefit of the media.

Top to bottom reform was what was promised us when BP killed several works in 2007 with shady practices in a Texas City Oil refinery.

Top to bottom reform was what new CEO Tony Hayward was all about, until the Macando well exploded and could not be contained for months.

Now again we get this soft cheese about the need for Top To Bottom reform. These are your hard earned tax dollars at work. This is what they have arrived at after a few weeks and a few million in funding for the committee, the need for "Top to Bottom Reform."

Be sure to tell the White House what you think of their lame-assed response.

Whore Judge Blocks Media from Hearing

U.S. District Court Judge Martin Feldman, the same judge who admitted to owning stocks in the oil companies, but who would not recuse himself from hearings on Big Oil in Louisiana, has blocked the media from a hearing concerning renewed drilling in the Gulf.

This is the same judge who ruled that July's moratorium on deep water drilling was too strict because the U.S. Department of Interior solicited no public comment, prior to implementing the drilling moratorium rules.

So which is it, Judge? Public oversight=good? Or public oversight=bad? Obviously, it depends on whether such oversight is good for big oil, or bad for big oil. And can you believe it? It seems the judge, in his honest pursuit of justice, rules in favor of big oil every single time!!

Wow! How did that happen?

Feldman as you may recall struck down the Interior Department's first moratorium in June. At that time, financial disclosure forms located in an Associated Press investigation showed that in 2008 the judge of the Eastern District of Louisiana owned $15,000 in stock from Transocean, owner of the Deepwater Horizon Oil Rig.

Many media outlets call $15,000 in stock a paltry sum, really nothing to worry about and certainly the judge felt this amount wouldn't in any way necessitate he recuse himself for involvement in this case. Likely because he dumped all the stock and collected all the cash. Payday? What payday? Just $15,000 cash. What?

Yet when you and I fill out our W2 forms, gosh golly, we would certainly have to declare $15,000 of assets in any form. Boy-o-boy, that paltry sum would be substantial enough for us to go to jail if we treated it as negligible. Wouldn't it?

Of course "how in hell is this guy still involved in ruling on this" bla bla bla...etc etc. ad nausea. Right? Of course.

But stop for one second. Breathe. And now consider it.

The guy is a federal judge. He hasn't recused himself from this case and no higher power has removed him. Obviously he has a conflict of interest. Now, he says the media has "no right" to hear decision-making about the re-opening of drilling in the Gulf of Mexico. His decision making!

Run the replay tape in your mind of everything we have been through with this, all of it. All the images of the dead sea life, all the oil, people with open sores on their bodies from the dispersant, Tony Hayward wanting his life back, the gut-wrenching terror at the thought this thing might NEVER be capped.

The media has "no right" to hear what goes on behind this closed door? And this is okay with everyone? And our absentee president is in India of course. Sure, that's okay too. Oh yeah.

And of course you've heard the latest atrocity; the latest coitus justicus interuptus from His Majesty's Presidential Do Nothing Commission, to the effect that "no one single cause," precipitated the Deepwater Horizon Oil spill. Right?

We were really getting somewhere with this business about the Halliburton cement mix, remember? All the nitrogen in the mix? How it was odd? How everyone knew it? And the well was acting up and bucking something fierce, and everyone knew something bad was about to happen but no one had the guts to say anything?

Now? Not so much, children. Shhhhh. Go back to sleep. How about some chocky milk? And blanky? You want I should sing you a song, or read a story?

This while those involved slither away from potential litigation we suppose, while someone else gets their pockets lined. All deals made in the back rooms with the dirty little whores, and those infamously closed doors.

I think Boardwalk Empire's Nucky Thompson is more honest than Judge Feldman.

You want my honest opinion? I think Judge Martin Feldman is a dirty goddamn whore unworthy to even walk the boards in Atlantic City during Prohibition.

Telling him straight to his face would be the nicest thing I could do to him.

WAR IS NOT A JOBS PROGRAM

War isn't a morally-defensible jobs program.

But brace yourself, that's all you're going to get from the bright-idea, think-bank of the republican-controlled congress. Scrap alternative energy as means to get the economy moving, reduce oil spills, and reduce our need for foreign entanglements because they have demonized it with the catchy term "cap and trade."

Worse, so-called democrats have been feigning interest in alternative energy for years; all the while taking cash under the table continuing the mush-mouth, limpotent ruse that they actually give a damn.

Don't expect help from the right. They will continue to look into the camera and spew this gibbering canine excrement with total conviction: "cap and trade is a jobs killer!"

They got this phrase, for the most part, from foreign-run, enemy combatant counterintelligence shill and traitor to his adopted country, Rupert Murdoch; through his sniveling sock-puppet Glenn Beck.

Now class, does anyone know precisely what this phrase "cap and trade" means? Anyone? No, and what's more, neither do goddamn those who defecate this out of their mouths every time one itsy bitsy solar panel or wind turbine is ever mentioned, or even meekly pointed at, in a news item.

Cap and Trade, Cap and Trade, Cap and Trade, Cap and trade!

What is it?

Job Killer, Job Killer, Job Killer, Job Killer, Job Killer

See? I can do it too!

Never mind that war is an actual people killer, running a close second to famine.

The "Cap and Trade = Job Killer" saw reminds me of this little ditty from the movie Idiocracy.

Predictions: future talk about solar panels and wind turbines, tidal and geothermal will be sidelined. Though they may discuss the nuclear option because republicans have an affinity for anything that produces deadly toxins, or anything that kills human beings or the delicate creatures of the environment that sustain life.

They also like nuclear, much the way they like oil, because of the large initial investments required for start-up. This means construction contracts, massive outlays for materials, engineering. These kinds of projects have more sheer tonnage of bribe money and kick backs available for the taking.

Prediction: all the sudden, the word will get out that unless we do something about Iran, as in yesterday, the world is going to go to hell in a hand-basket. We will be ushered to massive warfare on a new front. If you throw up a hand in protest, you will be deemed unchristian, unpatriotic, all-together un. Again, nothing provides for kick-backs, thievery and bribes, like a little psuedo-christianity/patriotism and a whole whopping shitload of fear.

Look for pseudo-terrorism to be on the rise.

Florida Governor Rick Scott's First Interview

Fake Terrorism Again Rears its Pseudo Head

Just as news about Halliburton's faulty cement mix surfaces, we get more home-front pseudo terrorism in the form of "plots" that are "thwarted" along with undated media file footage, and stills of "terror devices," such as printer cartridges and electronic components.

Caption writers, if you still exist: what the hell are we looking at, please?

That's twice the news cycle was interrupted by incompetent "terrorists" uh-gin! sidetracking interest in Halliburton's participation in the BP oil disaster. This time it was a report by the National Oil Commission that the cement used in the Macondo well was unstable which preceded the terror plot by minutes. Halliburton is challenging the commission's findings of course .

Uh-Ghin! there is a Dubai connection, where Halliburton has its overseas nest of operations. In this case, the first package was actually discovered in Dubai on THURSDAY, same day as the cement story.

Still can't find out whether this is Halliburton's world headquarters. It is an established fact they have major international offices offices there for tax-free purposes.

Also, the American news media, especially CNN doesn't like to mention Dubai. They mention it once, as having something to do with the case, (WHERE THE FIRST FUCKING ALLEGED BOMB WAS FOUND, GUYS!) then promptly forget.

Dubai? What Dubai?

Thursday the special investigative committee looking into the BP oil spill released its findings that the nitrogen rich slurry down-hole in the Macondo well was likely unstable and that all aboard the vessel in both companies knew damned well this was the case.

This was immediately bumped off the front page Friday, as a terror alert was issued as traffic at McCarran Airport was stopped so that suspicious packages from Yemen could be searched.

And well they should be. Let's not take me wrong. Real terrorism exists, I just don't believe this last threat was a case of it.

But the new TerrorismLITE (TM) has a habit of following on the heels of any big news related to Halliburton, its cement mix and BP, GOSH GOLLY. This time, that heel-time was measured in minutes.

Someone in Saudi Arabia "tipped off" authorities that a flight from Yemen had the bad stuff aboard a UPS cargo plane. The run-down on who, what, why someone in Saudi Arabia, where the USGovCorp maintains much of its intelligence community for the middle east, is now water under the bridge and well downstream.

Curiously, CNN keeps running these images of alleged terror weapons but they never fuhhhhucking! tell you whether these devices pictured are the ones actually found on the recent "terror attack"! Nope. Not gonna do it. You are left sitting there asking "how did they get photos of the weapons so fast?"

I bet you think those devices are the ones they recently found, don't you?

Well if they are, the folks at CNN won't say so! They won't differentiate between the most recent developments and what is more likely file footage of other suspicious packages and devices.

"Here's a photo of something, it might well be the insides of a Hoover vacuum cleaner for all any of us know, but here it is! Whatever the hell it is, or isn't... and hey, we're the Most Trusted Name in NewsLite(TM)."

FORNICATE CNN. C'mon. Let's just render an opinion here: It gives the public hind-tit when it comes to the truth, and it does so intentionally.

President Obama called the threat "credible." More lip, mumble from The AdministrationLITE(tm)

This incident in part mirrors the last act of pseudo terrorism where a curiously photogenic man "left" all the makings of a "bomb" on a busy New York City Street, before boarding a flight to Pakistan with connection through Dubai. This dangerous man was knowingly permitted to board the flight, presumably putting all the lives of some two hundred passengers at risk. Another inconsistency in the story that is glazed over by the big media players in between commercials.

Was this even a credible threat?

The most recent activity, as Chris Mathews pointed out Friday - well, as much as corporate slave-masters permitted him to - has to be one of the most circumlocutious "attempts" at terrorism, ever. You put the devices inside UPS packages destined ultimately for a couple of synagogues in Chicago. That's the official story on this anyway.

Okay (shakes hands wobbles cheeks in disbelief) I'd be delighted to know what was printed on the label, right?

"To: Staff at the synagogue

From: Yemen, where all the terrorists live

Love, Bob"

Mathews said it best. Is someone inside the synagogue even going to open this?

Absurd.

Mathews also had the guts - likely had to fight for it with his producers at MSNBC - to put a "where's Dick Cheney/Halliburton" comment immediately following his take on the terror "plot."

The newest terror threat would accomplish three things in the agenda of someone working for Halliburton, or Dick Cheney, or anyone within that whole nest/cabal of fascist, scumbag traitors to their country.

1. Make-work for more for weapons' manufacture.

2. Fear at election time favoring GOP candidates.

3. Bump the old Halliburton cement story right the hell off the front page.

Here's the original post when Halliburton's involvement and the cement mix was discussed.

Or look at my post on Feisal Shahzad, back in May, when word about Halliburton's cement mix was bumped off the front page the first time by the psuedo-bomber. Please take time also to watch Iraq For Sale parts 1-8 on YouTube (hey it's free, folks!) which investigates accounts of Halliburton/KBR's massive over-bulling, and other criminal acts too numerous to be believed and yet have never been denied, and yet again, never prosecuted or even slowed down, certainly not by the current administration - meet the new boss, same as the old boss .

Also, be sure to check out this story on Halliburton/KBR's brutal rape and imprisonment of an American employee. Okay? They rape, torture their own female employee, and thirty senators like Jim DeMint R vote to try to keep everything all quite.

I like to call him "toilet" DeMint, or De "Toilet" Mint. He and his fellow conspirators in the senate also voted to BLOCK subpoena power from the congressional committee investigating the BP/Halliburton Oil Spill.

What are the odds these two votes are bought and paid for by Halliburton? Do reporters still investigate the finances of senators anymore? Or is dead from the neck up, spoon-fed, dogshit, pseudo-journalism now the order of the day.