A fool and his country are soon parted

Do you like to be treated like a fool? Do you know how often valid concerns are turned into invalid opinion? Perhaps the biggest "corruption in politics" isn't about the corruption most of us think about; bribes, lobbyists, back room deals but the corruption that allows black to become white and pink becomes purple. It's a tool used effectively today in politics called the "directed survey." It's usually built on unsubstantiated statements, insinuation, false premise and inflated priority.

Those who use this tool are after one thing, creating a false and misleading impression and a survey that is skewed.

Perfect example of a directed survey with a strong anti-Obama bias is this conservative survey.

1)	What is your opinion of President Obama?
	Favorable Unfavorable This is a perfectly fair opinion question.
2)	Do you believe President Obama was right in letting BP manage the oil spill disaster?
	Right Not right This is an example of a directed question where the question. "Letting BP Manage the disaster" assumes the Obama Administration did nothing and sat on their thumbs allowing the disaster to get out of control. The fact is, once the disaster began, it was beyond the control of anyone. It also assumes the management of the disaster overshadows the cause giving the survey taker President Obama somehow was involved in the cause, was responsible for the the immediate response to the blowout, and the plan of action to stop the leak. You do realize, of course, this comes from the same people who whine about government interference and regulation and - God Forbid - takeover of business.
3)	How would you rate President Obama's handling of the disaster?
	Excellent Good Fair Poor Did President Obama twiddle his thumbs? An industrial disaster happens and who is responsible?
4)	Do you believe BP's political donations to the Obama campaign have been a factor in how the President handled the matter?
	Yes, it played a role. No, it didn't play a role. I doubt it but do you think the fact that more in contributions went to Republicans like Joe Barton who apologized to BP for Barack pushing hard on BP to set up an escrow. So who's contribution looks like it was a bribe?
5)	Have the media been much more lenient on President Obama than on President Bush with the Katrina disaster?
	Yes, more lenient on Obama. No, it's been about the same. Actually I think harder in many ways. A lot of sludge washed up on Obama that was not deserved and he acted immediately to determine the severity.
6)	In the 2008 election between McCain-Palin and Obama-Biden, whom did you vote for?
	McCain-Palin Obama-Biden Other So what do you think they want to know this? To see if the Oil spill had an effect on Obama's popularity. Why ? So they would know whether to drive this message harder or back off. If you want to know more about the government response and The President's Actions read several sources and don't be led like sheep to the "Greener Pastures" of "Trickle Down economic robbery"

My Mass E-mail from President Obama

I know a lot of what any politician says is orchestrated and while I realize this probably is not much different, it seems a lot different because rather than putting a glossy face on the tragedy President Obama gave me, at least, a more specific look at how devastating the Deep Water Horizon crisis really is for all of us and those on the coast in particular. To call this unprecedented disaster an "oil spill" really has softened the truth into a lie.

I wanted to pass on these comments from President Obama:

"Paul,

Yesterday, I visited Caminada Bay in Grand Isle, Louisiana -- one of the first places to feel the devastation wrought by the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. While I was here, at Camerdelle's Live Bait shop, I met with a group of local residents and small business owners.

Folks like Floyd Lasseigne, a fourth-generation oyster fisherman. This is the time of year when he ordinarily earns a lot of his income. But his oyster bed has likely been destroyed by the spill.

Terry Vegas had a similar story. He quit the 8th grade to become a shrimper with his grandfather. Ever since, he's earned his living during shrimping season -- working long, grueling days so that he could earn enough money to support himself year-round. But today, the waters where he has worked are closed. And every day, as the spill worsens, he loses hope that he will be able to return to the life he built.

Here, this spill has not just damaged livelihoods. It has upended whole communities. And the fury people feel is not just about the money they have lost. It is about the wrenching recognition that this time their lives may never be the same.

These people work hard. They meet their responsibilities. But now because of a manmade catastrophe -- one that is not their fault and beyond their control -- their lives have been thrown into turmoil. It is brutally unfair. And what I told these men and women is that I will stand with the people of the Gulf Coast until they are again made whole.

That is why, from the beginning, we have worked to deploy every tool at our disposal to respond to this crisis. Today, there are more than 20,000 people working around the clock to contain and clean up this spill. I have authorized 17,500 National Guard troops to participate in the response. More than 1,900 vessels are aiding in the containment and cleanup effort. We have convened hundreds of top scientists and engineers from around the world. This is the largest response to an environmental disaster of this kind in the history of our country.

We have also ordered BP to pay economic injury claims, and this week, the federal government sent BP a preliminary bill for $69 million to pay back American taxpayers for some of the costs of the response so far. In addition, after an emergency safety review, we are putting in place aggressive new operating standards for offshore drilling. And I have appointed a bipartisan commission to look into the causes of this spill. If laws are inadequate, they will be changed. If oversight was lacking, it will be strengthened. And if laws were broken, those responsible will be brought to justice.

These are hard times in Louisiana and across the Gulf Coast, an area that has already seen more than its fair share of troubles. The people of this region have met this terrible catastrophe with seemingly boundless strength and character in defense of their way of life. What we owe them is a commitment by our nation to match the resilience they have shown. That is our mission. And it is one we will fulfill.

Thank you,

President Barack Obama"

(fill in the blank) baby (fill in the blank)

Drill baby Drill
Barack Obama gave in a little to the howls of Sarah Palin's self-aggrandizing Drill baby Drill and ended up drilled by the Spill baby Spill. While some say it is his Katrina event I believe the public knows who caused the spill, who has the equipment to fix the spill, and who has the means and can clean it up. Now we need Seal baby Seal

On April 20, 2010, an explosion on the rig left eleven crewmen dead. The resulting fire could not be extinguished, and on April 22, 2010, the rig sank, leaving the well gushing, causing an oil spill that has been considered to be the largest ever in the U.S.

On April 30, 2010 Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano announced that Admiral Thad Allen would serve as the National Incident Commander for the federal government's response to the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.

[Drill baby Drill] The issue saw increased coverage as president George W. Bush in July 2008 lifted a 1990 executive order by George H.W. Bush banning offshore drilling, while at the same time calling for drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.

As of August 2008, a 1981 federal ban is still in place, making Bush's action a symbolic gesture. The issue of offshore drilling became central in the 2008 presidential election, not least because of the oil price increases since 2003. It is also being debated in terms of both environmental issues and U.S. energy independence. As of September 2008, President Barack Obama is for limited offshore drilling as part of an extensive energy independence overhaul.

Steal baby Steal

Wall Street, Madoff, Enron, and the beat goes on...

Kill baby Kill & Bill baby Bill

We are still in Iraq a totally senseless waste of lives based in lies and fear. At the same time Blackwater, Halliburton, KBR and others soaked the taxpayers for billions.

NO baby NO

The Republican't Party has become dead weight dragging down the government as much as possible perhaps Barack and We the People can leap tall buildings if he can get the Nay baby Nay party off of his back.

I guess the thing that bothers me is that catchy slogans are not what we need in government or our lives. We all need to think baby think with our own brains and not the words of hate-mongers, Radio & TV street corner preachers, viral e-mail false messages and even some of our friends. There is no excuse for shirking the responsibility we all have for having an open mind.

Meanwhile spring is here and grab some grub and your favorite tea, soda, beer or wine set up the BBQ and Grill baby Grill

I'm don't mean Enhanced Interrogation when I say Grill baby Grill

Get that President a Wetsuit

Lets reduce the size of government and hold them responsible for poor decisions made by private corporations while at the same time reducing the government's ability to regulate.

I don't care who is responsible for the oil spill but I do care that it gets cleaned up and that this kind of disaster never occurs again.

Bill Nelson when asked about the cozy relationship between Minerals Management Service and Oil companies responded by saying the relationship was "incestuous". Then went on to talk about "breaking up" the agency. The question seems a bit obvious to me me but is anyone talking about criminal prosecution of the Oil companies for offering the bribes and influencing the MMS decisions. Why is it the focus is on government only when there is a crime instigated by the corporations who bribe the government people. Tough enforcement of this type of crime never seems to be an option. Why is it destroying the lives of millions of people and killing some creates less of an outrage against theses criminals that a shoplifter of a pack of twinkies?

I don't like the finger pointing even when it's at George Bush I do care about solutions. Who is responsible. All of us, for allowing our government and business leaders to drag their feet in working toward alternate solutions to oil.

Who is best equipped to solve the current problem? Where was the industry-wide response. Where was Shell, Mobile, and all the other offshore oil companies; where was T. Boone Pickens?

So the way some people talk we should send Barack Obama down with a wetsuit to fix it and have Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reed cleaning the shore with scouring pads. Isn't it ironic that the Republican outrage is focused on the government when it is their own pet industry is the problem.

Meanwhile let's all grab a dish towel and head for the Gulf of Mexico or better yet start planning better and reduce our oil consumption. Perhaps we can get some Crayfish and Crude Etouffee.

Tea Party Logic Fails

They scream they want smaller government yet with the BP oil spill they rant about how the government is doing nothing (not true). So do they want less government or more? Do they want more regulation or less? The Bush era loaded the government with "hands off" managers and regulators who allowed the decimation of the forests and now the destruction of the gulf.

The tea Party and Republicans are blaming the Obama Administration for their failures to protect the environment. It appears as if they never understood "the Environment" meant the fishing industry and coastal tourism. Did they think all the energy in the world would make up for the loss of income for all those on the coast?

It is about time for these people to stop and think beyond their sound bites and come to grips with what small government really means - no protection for the common person in this country.

Can we afford to complain and not support our government? Are we becoming a bi-polar, short sighted group of malcontents? Chris Mathews can't understand why other oil companies are not asked to help out and I wonder if he knows that multi-national oil companies have zero allegiance to the US.

A strong country with the support of its people could cope with huge issues and yet the supposed "patriots" are ranting about "bringing down the government" or taking back "their country" as if two thirds of our citizens are the enemy. It is all male bovine waste and what they call common sense is really either hindsight or mimicked talking points espoused by the radical right who look at the common folk as surfs.

So, we have a problem created by corporate greed and these clowns blame Barack Obama and government as if he specifically told BP, Haliburton and Transocean LTD. to screw up and cause a spill.

Well I need to let my blood pressure get back to normal (JK) and close.

The answer is stronger regulation and a strong government that really gives a flying flip for the country's best interests.

Elena Kagan and the Keystone Republican't Cops

Does it bother anyone that President Obama can't talk without us hearing how the world will come to an end if anyone agrees with him? I suppose if you are sliding over a cliff you will grasp at anything initially and then claw at rock until your finger bleed as you are at the brink.

Senator Jeff Session, the ranking Republican on the committee, told George Stephanopoulos he wasn’t so sure; “This is a confirmation process not a coronation." S here we have one Senator insinuating what? Why the talk of Coronations and Czars coming from the party of wealth and power?

Frank Lutz is the savvy wordsmith of the darkside that got it right about what most Americans hate these days his only problem it happens to be the arrogant Republican't jerks he represents. So Frank designed a tapestry of oft repeated points for getting poor and middle income people to "Hate Government" it goes something like this.

Repeat early and often these sayings:

"Big Government" = to take your eye off the real bureaucracy "Big Business"
"Czar, Coronation..." = To make you think of government as a dictatorship
"Cram/Ram/Stuff down your throats" = Make majority opinion appear something akin to rape.
"Socialism, Fascism, any-ism" = Something other than Democracy
"The Democrat Party" = we can't have people confusing democracy with "Those People"
"The Elite/Intellectual" vs "Common Sense" = So you believe Democrats are aloof snobs while listening to Republican't aloof snobs tell you what to do.
"Tax & Spend Liberals" = So you can't see the Republican't party has been "Spend and Bankrupt the Country Conservatives"

Sure the country is upset, so much so, some people are preparing for the "End of Days" with great delight while stocking up on guns, food, gasoline and other supplies for some vague catastrophic event that will wipe out mankind. Why do you need all of this for the end of the world? Is it to kill everyone in sight while waiting to die?

But back to Kagen

Elena Kagan has a superb record of legal accomplishment yet the buzzards are out pecking. I don't mind intelligent comment and I do consider Jeff Sessions an intelligent person after listening to his questioning of Halliburton at the Senate hearing on the BP oil spill, but really what kind of logic can you credit him with after comparing Kagen to Abdul.

From Andy Borowitz ~ "Howling in protest over Obama Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan’s lack of judging experience, leading Republicans today urged the President to withdraw Kagan and instead nominate Paula Abdul.

“The American people have had years of watching Paula’s judging expertise, and they know that she is fair,” said Sen. Jeff Sessions (R., Ala.), top Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee."

I look at the legacy the Republicant's gave us with John Roberts, Clarence Thomas, Antonin Scalia, Sam Alito and see something other than justice something akin to the phrase "gimme, gimme, gimme" with no understanding of what it means struggle in life.

Thee used to be a value in apolitical thought that was more concerned with right thinking and not right leaning.

So far Barack Obama has nominated two people to the Supreme Court both are even handed and better represent moderate thought and both have been blasted by the Republican'ts as unqualified even though both are extremely qualified and highly intelligent.

I read the comment Jeff Sessions made and wondered if he is expressing thoughts better said about Clarence Thomas and never got a chance to say.

Late news - BP, Transocean and Halliburton in a Ménage à trois made in hell.

It has been a day of finger-pointing at the first Senate hearing on what caused the Deepwater Horizon oil rig explosion. None of the men representing the three companies — BP, Transocean, and Halliburton — have wanted to admit total responsibility for what caused the accident on April 20, which resulted in 11 deaths, and in 4,000 square miles of oil contaminated water in the Gulf of Mexico.

Ménage à trois ~ In contemporary usage, the meaning of the term has been extended to mean any living relationship between three people, whether or not sex is involved, but the term retains its suggestive quality.

There is No Comparison - At All

The Business Insider said,

"It's been argued that Hurricane Katrina was one of George W. Bush's biggest organizational failures, for the tragedy was allowed to fester on for way too long before his much-vaunted homeland security apparatus sprang into action.

Will the oil spill in the gulf -- which some suspect could be worse than Exxon Valdez -- be the equivalent for Barack Obama?"

How could anyone compare the two incidents in severity, loss of life, timeliness of the response?

While George Bush did not cause the storm or create the circumstances of Katrina his administration did have an awful lot to do with the response and lack thereof. How many days did we see people dying at the Superdome and not even get transportation to a safer place or food and assistance?

Then comes a great BP corporate disaster in lives and environmental/economic losses. And what has been the response? First I must say to those who keep harping on how terrible regulations are not just for off-shore drilling, finance and mining but a myriad of business ventures that perhaps a little more regulation would help rather than cripple business. Business men at the top of these organizations are powerful but they are no more competent than government in being effective.

"The Response To The Oil Spill So Far
Posted by Robert Gibbs on April 30, 2010 at 09:51 AM EDT
Ed. Note: This post was updated at 3:45PM.

The response to the BP Oil Spill began as an emergency search and rescue mission by the U.S. Coast Guard and other partners on April 20. Concurrently, command center operations were stood up immediately in the Gulf Coast to begin also addressing the environmental impact of the incident.

The morning after the explosion, Secretary Salazar deployed Deputy Secretary Hayes down to the gulf to assist with coordination and response to the incident.

The Administration immediately began holding regular calls with BP leadership and numerous senior-level meetings have been held between the administration and BP to discuss BP’s response effort and federal oversight and support.

The National Response Team (NRT), an organization of 16 federal departments and agencies responsible for coordinating emergency preparedness and response to oil and hazardous substance pollution incidents was quickly activated and a coordinated group of federal partners—including the United States Coast Guard, Departments of Homeland Security, Commerce, Interior and the Environmental Protection Agency—immediately began directing and overseeing BP’s response.

The President immediately began actively monitoring the incident and consulting on the response. The President has been in contact with all the governors of the states that may be affected and ordered that the administration use every single available resource at our disposal.

The Department of Defense is fully integrated into the DHS-led team and fully supportive of all response activities. Navy assets have been involved since day #1, and DOD continues to offer and prepare to offer what is needed as the situation develops.

The Secretary of Defense has approved a request for two C-130 aircraft with Modular Aerial Spray Systems (MASS), which are currently en route to the affected area. The Coast Guard has requested assistance from the Department of Defense for these aircraft.

These aircraft dispense the same dispersant chemical being used by BP and the federal responders. Each system is capable of covering up to 250 acres per flight with three flights per aircraft per day.

Additionally, in direct support of the Coast Guard under an existing pollution clean-up and salvage operations agreement, the Navy is providing a variety of oil pollution control equipment. The Navy has sent thousands of feet of inflatable oil boom with mooring equipment, several skimming systems, related support gear, and personnel to support oil spill response efforts. Naval Air Station Pensacola is serving as a staging facility for Coast Guard contractor-provided equipment.

Early on, the President directed responding agencies to not only devote every resource to respond to this incident but to also determine its cause. Earlier this week, Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano and Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar laid out the next steps for the investigation.

The President has also dispatched Secretary Napolitano, Secretary Salazar, EPA Administrator Jackson, Assistant to the President for Energy and Climate Change Policy Carol Browner and NOAA Administrator Jane Lubchenco to the Gulf Coast to ensure all is being done to respond to this oil spill.

DHS Secretary Napolitano announced that this incident is of national significance, the Department of Interior has announced that they will be sending SWAT teams to the Gulf to inspect all platforms and rigs and the EPA is conducting air monitoring activities to gather information on the impact of the controlled burn on air quality.

By the Numbers To Date:
Personnel were quickly deployed and 1,900 have been responding to protect the shoreline and wildlife—hundreds more than yesterday.
Approximately 75 response vessels have been responding on site, including skimmers, tugs, barges, and recovery vessels to assist in containment and cleanup efforts—in addition to dozens of aircraft, remotely operated vehicles, and multiple mobile offshore drilling units.
More than 217,000 feet of boom (barrier) have been deployed to contain the spill—an increase of more than 40,000 feet since yesterday. An additional 305,000 feet is available.
20,313 barrels (853,146 gallons) of an oil-water mix have been recovered—an increase of 90,000 gallons since yesterday.
139,459 gallons of dispersant have been deployed—an increase of more than 40,000 gallons since yesterday. An additional 51,000 gallons are available.
Six staging areas (Biloxi, Miss., Pensacola, Fla. Venice, La., Pascagoula, Miss. and Theodore, Ala., and Fourchon, La.) were set up to protect sensitive shorelines—an increase of 1 since yesterday. "