27,000 ACCIDENTS WAITING TO HAPPEN

In the early days of the Deepwater Horizon disaster, I was puzzled by an observation that received little attention at the time. When a few tar balls were found on the Florida coast, an official said that these were probably not from the Deepwater well and would have to be tested to determine origin. At the time I thought, “How odd; if not from Deepwater, where else would tar balls be coming from?”
Today I found a possible answer in THIS ARTICLE.

There are now more than 27,000 abandoned oil and gas wells JUST IN THE GULF! This has been on going since the 1940s with little if any regulation and virtually no oversight or monitoring of the well heads. One can only imagine what might be happening to concrete that has been exposed to sea water and ocean floor disturbances.
If a well is only temporarily abandoned, the requirements for sealing them are less stringent. The company with drilling rights is supposed to either reopen the well or close it off permanently within a year but this rarely happens. I suspect that many wells are “temporarily” closed simply to save money with no intentions of reopening them.

Capped wells on land and under water can repressurize and those capped on land frequently leak. Not much is known about how many wells are now leaking in the Gulf because no one is monitoring them.

The US Mineral Management Service, now the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement, which is supposed to oversee the operation and condition of these wells has done little more over the decades than shuffle paper.

“In the end, the Coast Guard's Marine Safety Laboratory handles little more than 200 cases of oil pollution each year.
And manager Wayne Gronlund says it's often impossible to tell leaking wells from natural seeps, where untold thousands of barrels of oil and untold millions of cubic feet of gas escape annually through cracks that permeate the sea floor.”

The Deepwater Horizon leak is just the tip of the iceberg. The Gulf could easily become our Chernobyl.

(Octopus addition: Rachel Maddow recalls 

earlier oil spills... now conveniently forgotten):

Suing Arizona

Years ago, returning from a visit to El Paso, we were booming along a lonely Texas road in my old Corvette, enjoying the breathtaking desert scenery on the way to Carlesbad, New Mexico. Seeing something on the side of the road a long way ahead, I backed off on the throttle and coasted down to something resembling the speed limit. "Damn" I said to myself as I saw a uniformed officer getting out of his car to flag me down. I thought perhaps I'd been snagged by an airplane and was going to get a ticket, but no, the very polite officer simply asked me where I was going and where I'd come from. "And you ma'am?" he said to my uncustomarily silent wife. "He wants to hear your accent, dear. Say something."

It was really no surprise. Returning from a number of trips abroad, someone from the government hanging around the baggage claim always has managed to inquire as to where she was born or something like that -- just to hear her speak. I'm used to being embarrassed by and for my country and its undying suspicion of non-European genetics. Now of course, in Arizona, the State we usually passed through on the way to visit her brother, a retired US Army Colonel, she would be required to furnish proof of citizenship to any officer who used any pretext to stop us. My home state is hell bent to emulate them.

That's not the sad or the unexpected part of the story. That would be the fact that a CNN/Opinion Research Corp. national poll conducted a month ago showed 57 percent of Americans support Arizona's unconstitutional power grab, an attempt that if it had been backed by Democrats would surely be compared with Adolph Hitler, Josef Stalin and Ted Nugent's favorite, Mao Zedong. Perhaps we can blame a lack of respect for citizens of foreign birth or for citizens with certain ethnic backgrounds or the appearance of it. Perhaps we can blame the smug attitude that "I'm blond, so what do I care?" Instead they're already trashing Obama for what they would have trashed him for had he supported it.

"The American people must wonder whether the Obama administration is really committed to securing the border when it sues a state that is simply trying to protect its people by enforcing immigration law,"

said Senators Jon Kyl and John McCain in a joint statement as though any bad and illegal measure was justified by a legitimate problem. Representative Lamar Smith, Representative Ann Kirkpatrick, and Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer (Republicans all) Piled on with the same arguments and attacks on Obama with all the enthusiasm of an 8th grade football team in response to the Justice Department's decision to sue.

Whether these gentlefolk really are so concerned with a real, but already decreasing problem or whether as usual, they're just trying to sabotage the Democrats even if it sinks the ship of state is impossible to tell, but of course I suspect the latter.

I do have to ask whether 57% of Americans would support the Federal Government's efforts in other important respects by allowing small town police to stop anyone and demand tax returns of anyone who appears too wealthy? I have to ask why the Tea Bag twits get away with insisting we're losing our freedom while supporting the loss. I don't have to get an answer however and I'm sure I won't. I'm also sure that nothing will ever induce me to visit that state again.

UNTITLED

Credit:  Roman Kiko

I Never Get Tired Of...

baghead bashing!  It's been a while since I've posted one of these; I'd forgotten how it refreshes me.

There, my childen, didn't that just loose you right up and stimulate your individual fredom?

Have a little tea with Ted.

Ted Nugent; where do I begin? Where does it end?

Obama is not only spitting on the constitution, but the Ten Commandments and the Golden Rule, he says It's hard to see the evidence and it's hard to know why he was silent about the unprecedented abuses during the Bush administration, unless we conclude that he's either psychotic, or a lying son of a bitch. The former seems certain, but of course much of it could also be attributable to ignorance. That he believes all Americans are commanded to worship Yahweh alone and keep a Kosher household and that the government is remiss in not enforcing this, can only be attributed to insanity - if indeed he believes or is even aware of anything he says.

I confess that I can't find any way to fit that old Golden Rule thing into the equation but for the fact that he's treating our basic institutions with extreme contempt while asking for something different than a government of laws and not of mobs for himself and his fellow tea heads. He certainly can't be saying that we shouldn't invade other countries or bomb civilians or overthrow elected governments because we don't want it done to us, because his favorite presidents are as famous for it as he is in being silent about them. Again, only rank insanity balances that equation.

"With the Mao Zedong fan club in the White House, a clueless, rookie president hellbent on spending like a maniac as unprecedented debt piles up all around him, and every other imaginable indicator of an America turned upside-down, it comes as no surprise that this insane level of madness has metastasized into a Supreme Court wherethe Bill of Rights is being trashed by clueless, dangerously insulated old people intentionally disconnected from the real world"

he says to Insanity Hannity about the dissenting vote on the Chicago handgun ban. I suppose he thinks Obama appointed those judges and that this hasn't been a contentious issue for a lifetime or two. But who knows what he thinks or if he thinks when he wraps himself in the flag and spews his tea at us. Surely it isn't often or deeply since he claims that Martin Luther King is his mentor and yet he's fond of shooting machine guns in his back yard.

Certainly it's more than hyperbole and more than just ignorance to call the administration a Mao Zedong fan club, certainly it's more than mere hypocrisy to blame Obama for trying to do what FDR did to ease the Depression and to ignore the fact that each and every Republican administration, at least from Reagan onwards, has set new levels of government size, expense, corruption, spending and borrowing while the Democrats haven't. But this is Ted speaking: Ted the flag waving teabagger who claimed to have been clean and sober all his life when talking to the Fox mob but to have dodged the draft by smoking Meth when talking to Rolling Stone -- and then tells us that he was lying to them but telling us the truth.

This is Ted blaming Obama for going after his massive arsenal of weapons when he didn't and the Court for banning them when it didn't. This is Ted telling us he is the will of the people, free elections and a majority vote to the contrary. This is the devil in a cowboy hat. This is horseshit wrapped up in a flag like some foul taco. This is just the failure they warned our founding fathers about.

Indeed, where do we begin with the Ted Nugent story when Ted Nugent himself says he's a liar and an addict and doesn't know MLK from Chuck Manson or Mao Zedong from a wishy washy middle of the road conservative? I don't know. I don't know where the teabag story ends either but it certainly doesn't end in a free, democratic country.

The Odd Couple

No, not Felix and Oscar, but Joe and John: Lieberman and McCain. Putative Democrat and the Republican quondam candidate. Often appearing to be on the same side, their opinions drive us to confusion and not to any conclusion.

The right wing outrage machine has been like a chorus of vuvuzelas, blaring accusations that the classified rules of engagement instituted by General McChrystal on his own initiative were in fact forced on him by president Obama and his opposition, despite his sworn public testimony to the contrary, was the reason he was relieved of command. I suspect Joe Lieberman agrees, although I know he knows better.

The policy of trying to reduce the heavy civilian casualties so as to give the US less of the appearance of an invading horde bent on its own objectives and with no concern for innocent life or limb, is misguided says Lieberman; as though to say we shouldn't be concerned to appear as liberators with the best interests of Afghanistan at heart. We shouldn't care that people whose children we've cavalierly blown to hell aren't going to try to make our efforts any easier and so he's advising General Petraeus to shoot first and ask questions later. It's hurting our morale, says he as though 9 years of getting nowhere can be blamed on being the kind of nation we're supposed to be and more importantly as though it were president Obama's fault for worrying too much about worthless Muslim lives.

Perhaps John McCain's statement that even another ten years of war may not be too much to ask of our country, fits with Lieberman's disinterest in having the country we tell ourselves we're helping on our side. Ten more years of shooting up innocent families at weddings, on the streets, in their cars and in their homes will likely draw us into many more decades of war, and that McCain thinks this war is self justifying if not actually morally or functionally satisfying is not beyond conjecture. Another ten years, another 3, 4, 5 trillion dollars and who knows how many more dead: economic and moral collapse -- that should make the country crazy and enough to elect another Republican.

Pretty clever, and to think I thought McCain was an idiot.

Something Bursts Forth

From Whiskey River via my friend John Simpson:

Cutting Loose

for James Dickey

Sometimes from sorrow, for no reason,
you sing. For no reason, you accept
the way of being lost, cutting loose
from all else and electing a world
where you go where you want to.

Arbitrary, a sound comes, a reminder
that a steady center is holding
all else. If you listen, that sound
will tell you where it is and you
can slide your way past trouble.

Certain twisted monsters
always bar the path — but that’s when
you get going best, glad to be lost,
learning how real it is
here on earth, again and again.

******************************

And, of course, I thought of all of us at The Swash Zone.  May we find the song.

Why I hate the World Cup

For the same reason I dislike the Olympics, of course and I dislike the Olympics for the same reasons I dislike McDonalds and Coca Cola and Nike and all the other rapacious multinational corporations that milk humanity like a herd of cattle while pretending it's a noble endeavour. Hosting this event costs huge amounts of money and it doesn't necessarily repay the investment, at least not to those out of whose hide it comes. With the hordes of foreign visitors being herded away from local vendors selling local food and African products; with long-time venues for those vendors being reserved for large, foreign sponsors, McDonalds and Coke will get the lion's share and the locals will have to forage like jackals for the leavings.

Will South Africa be a better place for South Africans after the noise stops and the clean-up begins? Does history hinge on whether or not a bunch of ball kickers from the Netherlands beat their counterparts from Uruguay and will international relations be more peaceful or tolerant because of anything that happens here? Will any of it matter ten minutes after it's all over? I have a hard time believing that the health or the wealth or the education of South Africans will see a benefit commensurate with all the noise and expense. Even the infernal Vuvuzelas are made in China.

It's true, I have little taste for watching men running around kicking things or for the feral screams of crazed viewers blowing into noisemakers as though anything happening in the arena was of any consequence whatever unless it was to the already huge profits of Nike or the sellers of beer and cigarettes -- or plastic horns. I have a greater distaste for the mass purveyors of opiates, even the real and quiet ones.

Panis et circenses, bread and circuses; it's a tried and true way to calm the animals in the feed lots and holding pens; to pacify the proletarii and the slaves while the emperors and the senators grew fatter. Gooooooooooooooal!

OCTOPUS’ MOST AMAZING SEAFOOD CHOWDER (A SECRET RECIPE)

(Click on image to enlarge.)

Your faithful cephalopod should have posted this recipe a few days ago to give you ample time to shop for the holiday weekend.  Better late than never, as human folks say.  All told, this recipe is expensive and will set you back a few (s)quid but is well worth it. Why not enjoy a seafood feast now while supplies last (before BP and other slagging indicators deprive you of the pleasure).

Ingredients:

1/2 pound bacon
1/2 cup butter (or margarine)
2 cups chopped onions
2 cans chicken stock
2 cups chopped celery
2 medium carrots – chopped (alternate: red and yellow peppers)
3 medium potatoes – diced (or 2 cans of cooked potatoes that don’t mush like fresh potatoes)
3 teaspoons Old Bay Seafood seasoning
1/4 teaspoon fresh ground pepper
4 cups whole milk
2/3 cup all purpose flour
1/2 pound fresh cod or haddock – cut into bite size pieces
6 ounces (or more) fresh crabmeat
3 cans baby clams (if you don’t like clams, substitute with 16 ounces of crab chunks)
1 pound medium size shrimp
1 cup (8 ounces) lobster chunks

Method to my madness:

1 - Cut bacon into 3/8 pieces and slowly fry until crisp. Drain on paper and set aside.

2 – Melt butter in a large saucepan, add onions and celery (and chopped peppers), and cook over low heat until tender.

3 - Mix Old Bay spice and flour to about half the milk. Add to saucepan (above) and sauté.

3- Add chicken broth, carrots, and black pepper. Reduce heat and simmer uncovered for 5 to 6 minutes.

4 – Add diced potatoes and simmer until carrots and potatoes are tender.

5 – Add fish and simmer for a minute or two.

6 – Add crabmeat. Stir in the remaining milk and simmer until the mixture begins to thicken.

IF MAKING A DAY AHEAD OF TIME, STOP HERE AND REFRIGERATE OVERNIGHT.

7 – Reheat the previously prepared saucepan. Stir in the clams (if using), shrimp, and lobster. Taste and adjust seasoning.

8 – Ladle into cups or bowls and sprinkle with crisp bacon chips.

Notes: Overnight refrigeration lets the flavors blend. Honorary cephalopods never overcook the shrimp. When shopping, select only white crabmeat (and save the grey matter for blogging). If dietary restrictions apply, substitute margarine for butter and reduce the amount of salt. Serves 10 people or less (usually much less).

The Best News I've Had All Day

Patricia Murphy of The Capitolist, reports that Senator Lindsey Graham is the New Maverick in Congress.  The man's accent makes this S. Carolinian crazy and don't get me started on the haircut, but I'm really grateful that somebody in The Palmetto State occasionally backs the POTUS--it's a miracle, when it happens, but I'll take it!  Especially when he pronounces the demise of the Tea Party: "The problem with the Tea Party, I think it's just unsustainable because they can never come up with a coherent vision for governing the country. It will die out."  Lindsey, my main man!

Compared to most of the quotable moments that come out of the state, Graham will sometimes sound like an intelligent guy; so, how come on the gay subject he sounds as dumb as Jake Knotts?  

"I know it's really gonna upset a lot of gay men -- I'm sure hundreds of 'em are gonna be jumping off the Golden Gate Bridge -- but I ain't available. I ain't gay. Sorry."

I don't get it.  He knowed how to talk real good t'other day with Elena Kagan, and he dumbs down on affectional orientation.  It's not a new rumor, by the way; calling a politician gay is a frequently used ploy in SC--they're pretty sophomoric that way.  And Graham's response, in which he dignifies the accusation as only a South Carolinian can, indicates that he takes that old tactic way too seriously when it's applied to him.

Come on, Lindsey.  Be a real maverick and ignore stuff like this.