I Pledge Allegiance: BP Oil Spill 9July10

by FishOutofWater

I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

As a writer and photographer covering the oil spill in the Gulf, I've been frustrated by the well-documented efforts by BP and the U.S. Government to limit media access to the damage. The restrictions tightened last week, when the Coast Guard announced rules that prevent the public--including news photographers and reporters--from coming within 20 meters (about 65 feet) of any response vessels or booms on the water or beaches. Violate the "safety zone" rule and you can be slapped with a $40,000 fine and prosecuted under a Class D felony.

Coast Guard Admiral Thad Allen defended the buffer, saying it is "not unusual" to enact measures for "marine events" or "fireworks demonstrations."

continued at Daily Kos....

BP goon or Macho cop? Bullying just the same.

by Vetwife

Well, they are really serious about not wanting videos or camera shots of what is happening down in the Gulf.
Now the little lady in the video, the one referred to I am sure as the small people by BP, held her ground quiet well
as the Big old Bad Law enforcement officer tried to make her leave.  Of course, there were no laws being broken.
I find it quite amusing that he walked away when she told him that she was going to call his supervisor.

This is absolutely outrageous that a 6'4" so called cop
tries to intimidate a young lady trying to find out what
was happening with the clean up workers, which required
an ambulance.  Well, actually two were called.
I am sure it won't be long before beachgoers and tourists
will be asked to remove all cameras and recording devices from the beach areas.  

I do not work for any company that supplies those little spy pens but every person needs to invest when they can, I am for sure, in one of those little ink pens that are DVR.
They come in keychains and pens and sunglasses, and it is

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far frigging out friday earthship

by eKos

Welcome to the eKos Earthship, your one-stop-shop for green diaries and series.

Beneath the fold you will find news and notes, community announcements, and our eco-diary roundup.

Peruse the eKos Library to find previously listed diaries. You can also follow eKos on Twitter.

Tonight's editor: boatsie

All views expressed by today's editor do not necessarily represent those of eKos or eKos listed diarists.

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Weekend at Bernie's: Reading Tea Leaves on an Ex-Climate Bill

by RLMiller

After the euphoria of a couple of weeks ago, in which Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid announced a high-risk "Go Big or Go Home" strategy of attaching a climate bill to a politically popular spill bill (e.g., S.3516), sober reality set in as the Senators realized they didn't have 60 votes for any climate bill to attach to the spill bill. Whoops.

Democratic Senators on recess: They're still bickering, they're still dithering about getting to 60 votes, they're running out of time, and they're preparing to go medium rather than go big.  One major player is  missing in action, and another has his own personal enthusiasm gap.  And it's becoming increasingly likely that whatever will be put forth can't be labeled a climate bill. "The climate debate is like Weekend at Bernie's: the enviros are walking around like this thing is still alive, but we can all see it’s dead," says a lobbyist.

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Ashley Judd is Doing the Right Thing

by Bruce Nilles

My colleague, Sierra Club Conservation Director Sarah Hodgdon, just wrote this excellent piece on Ashley Judd and I wanted to share it here:

Actress Ashley Judd has recently been the target of some very harsh criticism and language from the coal industry in Appalachia. This is not surprising behavior from the coal industry, since Big Coal often resorts to personal attacks when they feel like their dirty, dangerous, expensive way of life is threatened.

This harsh language and attacks are coming in response to Judd's June speech at the National Press Club where she railed against mountaintop removal coal mining as "the rape of Appalachia." (We blogged about that speech right here). I was at that speech and found it very compelling - Judd has been a longtime critic of mountaintop removal coal mining.

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Preventive vs Reactive: A dysfunctional society?

by A Siegel

Perhaps it is simply human nature or perhaps driven by the skewed nature of early 21st century capitalism or perhaps simply an oddity of American society, but there is a fundamental societal challenge that undermines our ability to pursue sensible policy objectives: the often huge hurdles to investing just a little bit today to avoid higher (often catastrophically higher) costs tomorrow.

We have, in the United States, a system that thrives on reactive responses to repair the situation as opposed to the less exciting but far more effective proactive (preventive) response to invest to avoid the problem and prevent (or, at least, reduce) having to rush to 'repair' the situation.

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We are ALL pelicans: The harsh consequences of environmental pollution

by Jane Stillwater

Last night I dreamed that I was interviewing Oscar the Grouch. But when I woke up, I discovered that it was only a leg cramp that had caused the dream. Do you know how to cure leg cramps? Here's how. Use an exercise that physical therapists call "The clam shell".

Assuming that this evil cramp is in your right leg, then lie down on your left side, thrust your right hip as far to the left as you can go, bend your right leg half-way, and then move your right knee up to the ceiling and down to the bed or floor a few times -- like a clam shell opening and closing. Voila. End of cramp.

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Edward James Olmos on the Definition of "Insanity"

by Heather TaylorMiesle NRDC Action Fund

Yesterday, the NRDC Action Fund launched a campaign featuring a powerful new ad by renowned environmental activist and celebrated actor, Edward James Olmos.  In the video, which you can view here, Olmos explains what makes people - himself included - "locos" when it comes to U.S. energy and environmental policy. Now, as the Senate moves towards a possible debate on energy and climate legislation, we need to let everyone hear Olmos' message.

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De Facto Stay of Offshore Drilling

by rebb

Yesterday, the 5th Circuit dealt the government a swift rejection in Hornbeck v. Salazar, the case over the offshore drilling moratorium.

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Heat Waves: Stanford Study Says Many More Coming

by nirbama

Remember last winter when blizzards hit Washington D.C. and the East Coast?  Climate change deniers had a field day asking, "What global warming?"  Now, in the midst of a 100 year heat wave on the East Coast, Stanford University researchers have published a new study concluding that such heat waves in both the Eastern and the Western U.S. will be frighteningly commonplace in future decades -- as much as four to five times more prevalent than in the past.  

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FEMA Trailers Still Making the Rounds (with updates)

by Miep

Banned Trailers Return for Latest Gulf Disaster

NYT, June 30

VENICE, La. — In the wake of Hurricane Katrina, they became a symbol of the government’s inept response to that disaster: the 120,000 or so trailers provided by the Federal Emergency Management Agency to people who had lost their homes.

The trailers were discovered to have such high levels of formaldehyde that the government banned them from ever being used for long-term housing again.

Some of the trailers, though, are getting a second life amid the latest disaster here — as living quarters for workers involved with the cleanup of the oil spill.

Cross-posted from Right of Assembly

h/t to RV Home Yet? for the links.

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BP's airborne pollutant levels dramatically increase in Florida

by 8ackgr0und N015e

Pensacola Bay, in the panhandle of Florida, is about 115 nautical miles from the site of the BP disaster.  Nautical miles are slightly larger than statute miles, or the miles you are used to measuring on land.  

On land, 115 nautical miles would be the same as 132 statute miles. In a car, it takes more than two hours to cover that distance.  That's the distance from Washington, DC to Philadelphia.  Toledo is closer than that to Cleveland.   Sacramento is closer than that to San Francisco.  

If something was burning in Cleveland, the folks in Toledo would be surprised to see it show up in their city.  If something was spilled in Philly, you wouldn't expect to smell it in Washington.  If something fouled the air in San Francisco, you wouldn't expect it to hurt people in Sacramento.

I make the point because our friends at the EPA have been measuring the levels of benzene, toluene, and xylene in the air along the shore of the Witch's Brew formerly known as the Gulf of Mexico.  If you look at their numbers for the area around Pensacola Bay it is clear the concentrations of these compounds in the air have increased substantially over the last few weeks.

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Is BP Trying to Cover Up Its Mess on Alabama Beaches?

by RogerShuler

Cross Posted at Legal Schnauzer

Multiple reports are surfacing of BP and law-enforcement officials restricting access of the press to Alabama beaches.

One report involves Alabama conservationist John Wathen, who has shot perhaps the two most dramatic videos of the Gulf oil disaster and recently was featured on Countdown With Keith Olbermann.

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Creating Food Sovereignty for Small-Scale Farmers

by BorderJumpers

This interview with Raj Patel, award-winning writer, activist and academic, was originally featured as a two part series on Nourishing the Planet.

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BP Catastrophe Liveblog Mothership: 45

by Gulf Watchers

The current ROV DIARY:Daily Kos Gulf Watchers ROV #187 - Darryl House
Rules of the Road

• We take volunteers for subsequent diaries in the sub diaries or ROV's as we have playfully coined them.
• Please rec this mothership diary, not the ROVs.
• Please be kind to fellow kossacks who may have limited bandwidth and refrain from posting images or videos.

PLEASE visit Crashing Vor and Pam LaPier's diaries to find out how you can help the Gulf now and in the future. We don't have to be idle! And thanks to Crashing Vor and Pam LaPier for working on this!

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Underwater Hawai'i - A Photo Diary with a Booby

by Haole in Hawaii

Aloha! This is another in a series of diaries meant to provide a brief respite from the struggles of the day and you remind you landlubbers out there that we share this planet with some amazing creatures. I really hope you enjoy your visit here this evening.

After Sunset

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Throwing the Baby Out with the Bathwater: The Serpentine Issue in California

by Geotripper

The California legislature is about to strike an unfortunate blow at education, and apparently not one of the legislators, Democratic or Republican, seems aware of it. Senate Bill 624 would remove serpentine as the state rock of California, and furthermore would declare the rock to be dangerous to the health of state residents.

The bill, short as it is, contains several factual errors, and instead of being "uncontroversial" as one assemblyperson put it, may open up the state and residents to litigation. Serpentine is not a toxic rock. It sometimes contains the fibrous mineral chrysotile asbestos, but chrysotile asbestos is not the form of asbestos that is proven to cause mesothelioma and lung cancer.

Serpentine (or more properly, serpentinite) was a great choice for the state rock, although the backers of the choice back in 1965 were almost surely unaware of its real value at the time...they wanted to promote asbestos mining, and serpentine sometimes hosts one of the six varieties of asbestos. The fascination with the rock as an educational tool runs deep. Deep, as in the earth's mantle...

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