Bobby's berms already washing away

by Jed Lewison

Via AMERICAblog, these images of Bobby Jindal's idiotic sand berm proposal getting washed away are proof beyond any shadow of doubt that Louisiana's governor is a volcano of hot air and stupid ideas.

According to Len Bahr, a former LSU faculty member who posted these photos, they were all taken from roughly the same location and altitude in the Chandeleur Islands. As most experts (including Bahr) predicted, the sand berms couldn't withstand stormy weather and have simply been blown away.

June 25

July 2

July 7

That this would happen was obvious to anyone with half a brain who was paying even a small amount of attention to Jindal's proposal. There's nothing fun at all about watching such an obvious waste of effort go down the drain, but it is captivating to see right-wing talking points literally disintegrate before your very eyes.

Meanwhile, it's worth noting that the contract to build Bobby's berms was awarded by Jindal to the number three contributor to his congressional campaigns.

continued at Daily Kos....

Waritorium: The Deep Water Moratorium Threatens Two Louisiana Republican Oligarchs

by Mike Stagg

The original version of this (with graphics) was posted here.

Any chance for good cooperation between the federal government and the state of Louisiana in the response to the BP Gulf Gusher died on May 30 when the U.S. Department of the Interior declared a six-month moratorium on deep water drilling in the Gulf of Mexico in the wake of the then month-old disaster.

Although the New York Times reported that Governor Bobby Jindal's personal dissatisfaction with the federal response to the disaster had gone public by May 3, the moratorium ratcheted up the pressure in the already tense situation by threatening losses in the industry that had caused the disaster.

continued at Daily Kos....

Bobby Jindal seals all state records related to oil spill

by Jed Lewison

This is the third major revelation in the last week to undermine Bobby Jindal's claim to have effectively managed Louisiana's response to BP's oil spill:

Louisiana Governor Seals Oil-Spill Records

For more than two months, Gov. Bobby Jindal of Louisiana has made it clear that he considers the response of the federal government and BP to the gulf oil leak a failure on many fronts.

But elected officials in Louisiana and members of the public seeking details on how Mr. Jindal and his administration fared in their own response to the disaster are out of luck: late last week the governor vetoed an amendment to a state bill that would have made public all records from his office related to the oil spill.

The measure was proposed by Senator Robert Adley, a Republican, and easily passed the Democrat-controlled Legislature. He told the Associated Press that the veto was a “black eye” on the state. “This governor has opposed transparency for the three years he’s been in office,” he said.

According to the New York Times, Jindal claims he vetoed the measure to strengthen the state's position if it pursues legal action against BP. But given that the documents Jindal has now sealed to the public would be discoverable in any such case, his argument is transparently bunk.

Last week, CBS revealed that despite Jindal's attacks on the Obama administration for not delivering enough resources, Jindal was holding up the deployment of 5,000 National Guard troops authorized by the Obama administration. Over the weekend, the New York Times reported that experts at the state and federal level had panned Jindal's response, saying the state was ill-prepared for the spill and that Jindal's attacks on the Federal response smacked of political calculation designed to distract attention from his own failures.

continued at Daily Kos....

Mr. Sandman

by Crashing Vor

Boatloads of thanks to Prof. Robert Young for his continued vocal--and credible--opposition to Bobby Jindal's beloved berms, taken today to the editorial pages of the New York Times.

continued at Daily Kos....

GOP celebrates Gulf disaster

by Joan McCarter

The gods of sloppy e-mailing smiled upon HuffPo today, when GOP communication strategists accidentally included the outlet in a series of e-mails crowing about the fantastic PR that Bobby Jindal got today. The specific news report that had party operatives celebrating was a local Fox Channel 8 report on an event held by Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal calling on President Obama to lift the moratorium on offshore drilling. "Watch the video -- you can't beg for a better package than that," writes a top Louisiana GOP spokesman to a communications staffer at the Republican National Committee. "Good perspective on moratorium from the gov and locals." The package is, to be sure, a PR coup. Jindal, local officials and workers worried about the effect of the moratorium rip into Obama, pleading with him to reconsider. Peter Duet, in a thick Louisiana accent, tells the assembled crowd that he is a single father and that his daughter recently asked him why he works so much at Port Fourchon. "Baby, so daddy can take you to Wal-Mart and buy you toys," he says, explaining that he won't be able to buy his daughter toys -- or food, for that matter -- if Obama doesn't reverse his decision. "This is literally all that is being talked about in the Gulf -- gives good perspective," writes the RNC official, looping in a number of other RNC operatives, along with HuffPost. In every crisis is an opportunity, but only Republicans could be making political hay out of the destruction of the Gulf Coast ecosystem and the way of life of fishermen, oystermen, shrimpers, tour-boat operators, restauranteurs, and many more by attacking Obama. There's no question that the oil industry has been important to the region's economy. There's also little question that the oil industry is now in the process of destroying a huge chunk the Gulf economy. You could also conclude that the GOP communication strategists might as well be Big Oil communication strategists. These e-mails show that the Republican National Committee certainly shares the goals of Big Oil--lifting the moratorium and damn the Gulf Coast and all of its people.

continued at Daily Kos....

Drill, Bobby, Drill!

by Crashing Vor

I've been thinking about Bobby Jindal. Not just because I had to detour by the shuttered Charity Hospital today, either. Bobby's been doing his best to make sure we're thinking about him every day. Wading in oily marshes, poised before national microphones or valiantly defending his mighty sand berms like Jean Valjean on the freaking barricades, our governor is about the lens time now, canceling his book tour and punching the disaster response clock. Heck, New Republic even proclaimed that Kenneth the Page is all growed up now.

continued at Daily Kos....

UPDATE - Building the Berms Isn't As Easy As It Sounds - BP CEO Would Like his Life Back!

by Ellinorianne

I heard about that tweet that Sarah sent out recently to Governor Jindal regarding the fight to build the berms to protect the marshes of Lousiana.  Those are important ecological areas for more than just his State, I get that and I think it's important that everyone care about finding a way to protect them.  But we most certainly can't do it in a way that might actually do MORE harm to the environment. If you missed the tweet, someone here was kind enough to write a diary about it.  It seems Sarah was just as concerned as the rest of us and the fragile marshes being "ravished" by the oil. But the berms are not as simple as it sounds, Sarah, and I will let you know why.

continued at Daily Kos....