My pix from Grand Isle Louisiana

[Laura PourMeADrink]

Grand Isle,Louisiana...June 2010



The berm - we were told if we stepped beyond it to the water we would be arrested
in order for them to decontaminate us. Cleanup on the distant horizon...





A local "graveyard"




Loving BP

[mzmolly]

1. One wonders how the federal governement is one in the same with BP

in terms of contributing to loss?

Thanks for the pics. K and R

[1776Forever]

2. I agree but I think if they had said "VP Cheney" it would have hit the nail on the head! n/t

Check this out:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=389&topic_id=8589609&mesg_id=8590448

[burnsei sensei]

3. The people who make up

the upper level managing class and investor classes are interchangeable with those in government.
To govern is not to manage.
It is to lead, to demand the best, even of those who fancy themselves more powerful than you by way of money.
Because the government refused to take a leadership role in its relationship with the rich and corporate, we all pay this horrid price.

[Laura PourMeADrink]

4. I like to think this means, "Thanks BushCo for deregulating" but I

know it has a lot to do with resentment over all the promises to fix everything after K

I really wish O would come down here and be present for a memorial for the 1200 people who got
washed out to sea.

[K8-EEE]

7. What, they didn't mention "Drill Baby" Jindal in the graveyard?

He who sponsored the bill to open up this kind of drilling there in the first place? That's bullshit....

[mzmolly]

21. Nope, no mention of Jindal.

:hi:

[eowyn_of_rohan]

29. Looks as if they have graves for all the things they MISS

[Poboy]

9. I'll be blunt.

The people feel abandoned in terms of mitigation/containment. We have neither the resources or materials, nor command and control, but we are doing all we can with what we can aquire.
IT IS NOT ENOUGH. The oil is 20 miles in, continues, and people are getting fatigued. This needs massive military coordination.

[dgibby]

19. The response to this by both BP and the Govt is criminal.

For the life of me, I cannot understand why there is not better command and control. I thought the response to Katrina was indefensible, but this is even worse because we should have learned something the first time.

The disconnect between local officials and BP/G is glaring, and it seems to be related to a different set of goals and objectives.

Locals want to prevent the oil from ever getting into the wetlands and estuaries in the first place. This requires immediate, decisive action.

BP wants to cap the gusher/destroy the evidence/hide the damage. This requires the perception that action is being taken, ergo, anything for a photo op.

The Govt's goals are anybody's guess, but they're so tied up in bureaucratic red tape, as to be not only infective, but obstructive.

Rules are rules,and bureaucracies are notorious for their inability to adapt.

This was quite evident with the kerfuffle re: the deployment of barges this week. Yes, the CG did need to inspect them. No, it did not require taking them off line for 24hrs to accomplish that task, NOR should it have required a phone call from Pres. Obama to rectify the situation.

The mismanagement is mind boggling, and infuriating.

[Poboy]

20. You are correct and accurate.

Those barges could have been inspected on site. Its a freakin emergency!


Barges Protect Jefferson Parish Coastline
Vacuum Pumps, Oil Tankers To Protect Marshland
POSTED: 4:20 pm CDT June 18, 2010
JEFFERSON PARISH, La. -- Dozens of barges loaded with vacuum pumps and oil tankers are making their way to Pass Abel and Four Bayous Pass in Jefferson Parish.
It is the latest effort designed to protect the delicate marshland currently exposed to the growing oil spill.
When lined up back to back, the 120-foot-long barges will create giant funnels between both passes. At the end of the funnels, vacuum pumps will collect and remove the oil.
Officials say that if the barge strategy works, it will be expanded to three other passes between Plaquemines and Lafourche parishes. When that happens, all five gaps between Plaquemines and Lafourche parishes will be temporarily protected.
But, weather activity in the Gulf of Mexico could force officials to remove the barges from their defensive position and the marsh would again be exposed.
Local leaders say that building rock jetties between the five exposed gaps across three parish lines is the permanent fix to the problem. The jetties permit has been filed but approval is still pending.

http://www.wdsu.com/news/23956226/detail.html

[mzmolly]

23. Given the federal government was told that the amount was about 1000

barrels daily vs. 50K, I'm not sure they knew what to prepare for. I am glad to see more accurate analysis and more help, at present however.

[mzmolly]

22. Has your Governor asked for military control of the spill?

:shrug:

[Alcibiades]

27. They should let the private sector take care of it

I'm sorry, but lots of folks in the deep south, to include the Gulf Coast, have, since Reagan, claimed that the federal government cannot do anything right. These same folks have claimed state's rights and state's sovereignty since John C. Calhoun's time. Now they're blaming the federal government, when it was the same Republicans that they elected for 40 years who have been in cahoots with the oil industry to secure a a light regulatory regime.

In this case, BP's fuckup is so bad that no one in the world has the resources to contain the spill. Maybe the military could have done something, once upon a time, but the same GOP officials the electorate of these states have voted for for 40 years have kept them so busy in the Middle East, also at the behest of oil companies such as BP, that they have no time for anything else.

[lunasun]

38. I agree... can not have it both ways eom

[MadMaddie]

31. Our military is thin but we do have a massive available

unemployed citizens that could be trained to respond to this disaster.

Now I will fault the government for not using the available bodies to respond but they have been there from the beginning.

[Mimosa]

33. ^ Right! ^

Just as after Katrina, we know where our military resources are: in Afghanistan and Iraq.

[demosincebirth]

10. I was thinking the same thing.

[Lorien]

16. Deregulation, lack of re-regulation, leaving BP in charge

when they are clearly incompetent.

Funny how most (but not all) of what they seem to be mourning is food related. How about dolphins? Whales? Pelicans? Sandpipers? Laughing gulls?

[mzmolly]

26. I agree on the deregulation/lack of regulation point. However given BP lied about their ability

to deal with the aftermath, I'm not sure that would have been a perfect solution. I also think if we'd have taken over for BP that 20 billion "slush fund" would not exist and BP would have blamed us for making matters worse?

Yes, the mourning of food is strange. though I know it's a way of life and livelihood for people of that area. :hi:

[Mimosa]

34. Seafood is a HUGE industry

Many restaurants and seafood markets in the rest of the country have served shrimp,oysters,crab, flounder, snapper, trout and dozen of other species of fish from the Gulf.

A couple of hundred thousand jobs in Louisiana have depended directly on seafood, from fishing it, processing it, transport and all the support jobs.

[MadMaddie]

30. They are specifically blaming President Obama.

They are misguided in these feelings but anger needs a target.

No one talks about Cheney, why is that?

[lunasun]

40. Cuz he is not a black man in power so he is cool with them ! .....eom

[MadMaddie]

43. True Dat!!

Welcome to DU!

:hi:

[mzmolly]

44. Good question. Cheney is the appropriate face of this

disaster.

[Child_Of_Isis]

5. Notice the empty sky...no birds. n/t

[Laura PourMeADrink]

8. wow you are right! There was something just so unnatural there

So much more than no one being on the beach

[City Lights]

6. Thank you for sharing these.

Recommended.

[Catherina]

11. Pour me a stiff drink now Laura. I need it. Thank you. Rec'd n/t

[G_j]

12. thank you

K&R :cry:

[Liberal In Texas]

13. I'll rec this. A hundred times if I could. n/t

[Heidi]

14. Recommended.

:kick:

[DemoTex]

15. Excellent photos, Laura.

Thanks. I saw the "graveyard" photos on the national news. Where is that?

mac

K&R

[Laura PourMeADrink]

18. main beach road in Grand Isle

[Hissyspit]

17. That's the graveyard protest that Rachel Maddow featured on her show.

[AnArmyVeteran]

24. Outstanding images, but very sad. Thank you for posting them...

[Phentex]

25. Makes my heart hurt...

thank you for posting them. I think they are powerful.

[bigwillq]

28. K and R (nt)

[MellowDem]

32. I wonder how many of those mad as hell at BP and

the Federal government consistently vote for Republicans. Probably a lot. And that's the problem. That kind of ignorance makes ME angry. Those kind of people need to kick their own asses.

[Mimosa]

36. Democrats in Louisiana have been tied closely to oil for many decades

Before you recommend a lot of poor but used to be happy people in Louisiana 'kick their own asses' you might want to read up on the state's history.

Through the 20th century Louisiana was almost always Democratic. Every hear of the Long dynasty? Hale Boggs? Lindsey Boggs? Edwin Edwards? Harry Lee? J. Bennett Johnston? John Breaux? Even Mary Landrieu?

At the local level Democrats usually ran the parishes too. Republicans came in during the mid 80s, largely on reform tickets. Some were pretty good, such as Gov. Buddy Roehmer.

If you do some research you'll see that Democrats and Republicans at both state and national level have often been hand in glove with oil and gas interests. Even Senator Obama took contributions from BP.

I can't stand it when people who don't know what they're talking about put down working class people.

[MellowDem]

37. I can't stand it when people pretend they know what they're talking about....

For one thing, working class people who consistently vote against their own interests and then get mad at the other side when things are going to shit for them SHOULD be criticized. That's the kind of ignorance that is destroying this country.

I understand that Democrats and Republicans are in the hands of big oil in a state where it is such a big employer. But it is the Republican philosophy at large that is responsible for deregulation. I'm not saying that Democrats have not gone along with it, but I would consider them to be bad Democrats that don't represent the broader ideals of the party as much as the very localized interests of their state.

The politicians are playing politics though, so even though it is disgusting, it's understandable in that sense. The people who vote for the party of deregulation though and THEN get mad at others are pretty much just ignorant. And they're just as culpable in the oil spill.

So please don't make up or twist what I was saying into something it wasn't.

[JI7]

41. yup, and the fact that Democrats who are liberals wont get elected in that state

by the people.

they certainly didn't vote for Obama while a majority of the state supports more drilling still.

[Mimosa]

35. Thank you for the photos. n/t

[spanone]

39. thank you for sharing....sad, revealing pics...

r

[BrklynLiberal]

42. The graveyard is heartbreaking....