Showing posts with label Louisiana. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Louisiana. Show all posts
Tuesday, April 19, 2011
BP Oil Spill Disaster: One Year Later Economy Slammed, Recovered At 30 Percent
Photo: Golden Meadow, Louisiana, 13 April 2011, photo by Dave Martin
From Denny: Thousands of marine animals have died, about 7,000. There are probably three times that but because of BP preventing any news crews out in the disaster area in the early weeks of the oil spill. It could not be properly documented.
Photo: Dead dolphin found at Fourchon Beach, Port Fourchon, Louisiana, 13 April 2011
What is most worrisome are all the millions of gallons of cancer-causing dispersant used in the Gulf against the will of the Louisiana and Gulf residents. That's what is killing the baby dolphins and other marine animals now one year later.
Thursday, March 3, 2011
Do You Know Your Governors Donor List?
From Denny: Check it out and then you know who to blame - personally. :) These are the Republican donors to Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal who paid more than $5,000 to his reelection campaign between 1 Jan 2010 and 31 Dec 2010.
If you don't know who Gov. Jindal is, he's the guy labeled as the weird "Mr. Rogers" who failed in a Republican Response attempt to one of President Obama's speeches. He has been traveling all over America before that bomb of an appearance and since, chasing campaign monies to run for the 2012 presidential campaign. Even the Republican voters here in Louisiana are unhappy with him. Why don't they recall him? It's about time the voters across the nation get serious and recall and replace corrupt greedy politicians with people who will do the job for which they were elected - not run for the next campaign to improve their resume.
I have a great idea. How about we publicize ALL the donors that contribute to lobbyist government across America?
I have a better idea. How about we publish the names, home and business addresses of all the Washington lobbyists? That could take a while as there are at least 300 lobbyists to each federal politician. That does not begin to address all the state, county and city lobbyists.
If you are a blogger then I challenge you to put up your governor's donor list and that belonging to other representatives. It's time these people quit enjoying the quiet cover of anonymity.
Note: "Donors are listed by cities in alphabetical order according to the city - not the donor's last name." What can I say? Only in Louisiana do you find a file like this. And check out how many are from out of state. You can see who is benefiting from state no-bid contracts whether in construction, roads, oil, health or insurance industries and attorney lobbyists.
Jindal Campaign spending 2010
The Jindal campaign spent $1.4 million in 2010.
Thursday, September 23, 2010
Is BP Fund Czar Feinberg in BPs Pocket?
The lies and promises unfulfilled keep coming from BP and Feinberg, the BP Fund Claims Czar.
From Denny: Something is terribly fishy here with Kenneth Feinberg. One minute he promises to make the Gulf Coast whole after the BP Oil Spill disaster and the next he is denying legitimate claims all over the place. Ridiculous conditions for receiving payments shift and change with the tides.
BP continues to run insulting ads claiming how great they are, how much they have spent on "clean up" and what great care they are taking for the residents on the Gulf Coast. Nothing could be farther from the truth.
BP and Feinberg have been playing games with the claimants for five months now. BP thinks because they threw in an American as CEO to sell the same stink it would work. Right now Louisiana is so fed up with British Petroleum that we say, "Go home across The Pond and take your lying idiot American CEO with you!"
The latest insult is BP deducting what they have already paid for clean up from the $5 billion they are supposed to pay out this year to Gulf Coast residents. BP has devastated the Louisiana seafood industry to the tune of being off by 70 percent.
Then the oil moratorium had a ripple effect throughout the state while the President tries to get BP and other oil companies to actually get safety inspections. All the state's economy has been down dramatically since April and this moratorium continues to keep a choke hold on the local economy. Home foreclosures are exceptionally high now in south Louisiana because of this two-fist punch: the oil spill and now the oil moratorium that sees no end in sight.
To date Feinberg and BP have really been playing a waiting game to see if they can delay payments long enough that the small businesses and individuals declare bankruptcy, falling off their books of claims. Talk about a Vulture Culture attitude.
When the storm of criticism gets too loud to ignore, suddenly Feinberg acts like he's going to suddenly do the right thing - and then it's business as usual. He ends up insulting the claimants by giving them 10 percent of what they are owed.
Here we go again with the promises from Feinberg that never happen: "Over the past few weeks, I have heard from the people of the Gulf, elected officials, and others that payments remain too slow and not generous enough. I am implementing new procedures that will make this program more efficient, more accelerated and more generous."
Feinberg claims he is just now getting around to sorting the claims by industry? "Claims from now on also will be sorted by industry to allow those reviewing the claims to apply a more specific, uniform set of standards when deciding how much a person or business will be paid." And why did he not do that months ago? "Claims still will be reviewed individually but they will be clustered so they are easier to compare," he said.
To date Feinberg and BP claim they have paid out $400 million to 30,000 claimants. Show me the books. Let's see some transparency here. I guarantee you will find plenty of examples of $500,000 claims where they only paid out a mere $5,000.
Feinberg keeps throwing up obstacles. First it's the documentation to prove a claim is legitimate. People comply. One guy complied with 1,500 pages of documentation. So, Feinberg said that was too much documentation and so his claim was denied. It's a sick joke how they are treating these people.
Another outrageous condition was that only if you live within one mile of the shore and work on the water for a living will you be eligible for a claim. Clearly, Feinberg over promised and is not serving the President well at all. His promises keep changing, his conditions keep shifting and the claims keep getting denied.
The latest insult of new conditions was that wages earned by spill cleanup workers would be subtracted from their claims of lost revenue. Now, after the furor, Feinberg is publicly claiming he will waive that condition. What happens when the news crews go home? What will happen in private? More new conditions?
When I say that something smells fishy here it's because it does. BP has a habit of bribing people with promises of throwing business their way after the situation subsides. Feinberg sure changed his tune quickly once he started interacting a lot with BP. He can claim all he wants that he has not been turned by the glitter of the huge money from the multi-national giant but it sure looks like he has fallen into the integrity abyss.
Mr. President, you would do well to hire someone like Mike Papantonio, a liberal talk show host in Texas who is also a lawyer. This man has taken BP to court numerous times and knows how they roll in the business world. Papantonio might be a wise idea to look over the should of Feinberg to keep him and his firm honest. Otherwise, you will continue to hear howling from the Gulf Coast for years to come. Wouldn't it be easier to either replace Feinberg - or have someone else checking on him?
*** THANKS for visiting, feel welcome to drop a comment or opinion, enjoy bookmarking this post on your favorite social site, a big shout out to awesome current subscribers – and if you are new to this blog, please subscribe in a reader or by email updates!
*** Come by for a visit and check out my other blogs:
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Best Spiritual Posts
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Dennys People Watching - people in the news
Dennys Food and Recipes
Dennys Funny Quotes - humor
From Denny: Something is terribly fishy here with Kenneth Feinberg. One minute he promises to make the Gulf Coast whole after the BP Oil Spill disaster and the next he is denying legitimate claims all over the place. Ridiculous conditions for receiving payments shift and change with the tides.
BP continues to run insulting ads claiming how great they are, how much they have spent on "clean up" and what great care they are taking for the residents on the Gulf Coast. Nothing could be farther from the truth.
BP and Feinberg have been playing games with the claimants for five months now. BP thinks because they threw in an American as CEO to sell the same stink it would work. Right now Louisiana is so fed up with British Petroleum that we say, "Go home across The Pond and take your lying idiot American CEO with you!"
The latest insult is BP deducting what they have already paid for clean up from the $5 billion they are supposed to pay out this year to Gulf Coast residents. BP has devastated the Louisiana seafood industry to the tune of being off by 70 percent.
Then the oil moratorium had a ripple effect throughout the state while the President tries to get BP and other oil companies to actually get safety inspections. All the state's economy has been down dramatically since April and this moratorium continues to keep a choke hold on the local economy. Home foreclosures are exceptionally high now in south Louisiana because of this two-fist punch: the oil spill and now the oil moratorium that sees no end in sight.
To date Feinberg and BP have really been playing a waiting game to see if they can delay payments long enough that the small businesses and individuals declare bankruptcy, falling off their books of claims. Talk about a Vulture Culture attitude.
When the storm of criticism gets too loud to ignore, suddenly Feinberg acts like he's going to suddenly do the right thing - and then it's business as usual. He ends up insulting the claimants by giving them 10 percent of what they are owed.
Here we go again with the promises from Feinberg that never happen: "Over the past few weeks, I have heard from the people of the Gulf, elected officials, and others that payments remain too slow and not generous enough. I am implementing new procedures that will make this program more efficient, more accelerated and more generous."
Feinberg claims he is just now getting around to sorting the claims by industry? "Claims from now on also will be sorted by industry to allow those reviewing the claims to apply a more specific, uniform set of standards when deciding how much a person or business will be paid." And why did he not do that months ago? "Claims still will be reviewed individually but they will be clustered so they are easier to compare," he said.
To date Feinberg and BP claim they have paid out $400 million to 30,000 claimants. Show me the books. Let's see some transparency here. I guarantee you will find plenty of examples of $500,000 claims where they only paid out a mere $5,000.
Feinberg keeps throwing up obstacles. First it's the documentation to prove a claim is legitimate. People comply. One guy complied with 1,500 pages of documentation. So, Feinberg said that was too much documentation and so his claim was denied. It's a sick joke how they are treating these people.
Another outrageous condition was that only if you live within one mile of the shore and work on the water for a living will you be eligible for a claim. Clearly, Feinberg over promised and is not serving the President well at all. His promises keep changing, his conditions keep shifting and the claims keep getting denied.
The latest insult of new conditions was that wages earned by spill cleanup workers would be subtracted from their claims of lost revenue. Now, after the furor, Feinberg is publicly claiming he will waive that condition. What happens when the news crews go home? What will happen in private? More new conditions?
When I say that something smells fishy here it's because it does. BP has a habit of bribing people with promises of throwing business their way after the situation subsides. Feinberg sure changed his tune quickly once he started interacting a lot with BP. He can claim all he wants that he has not been turned by the glitter of the huge money from the multi-national giant but it sure looks like he has fallen into the integrity abyss.
Mr. President, you would do well to hire someone like Mike Papantonio, a liberal talk show host in Texas who is also a lawyer. This man has taken BP to court numerous times and knows how they roll in the business world. Papantonio might be a wise idea to look over the should of Feinberg to keep him and his firm honest. Otherwise, you will continue to hear howling from the Gulf Coast for years to come. Wouldn't it be easier to either replace Feinberg - or have someone else checking on him?
*** THANKS for visiting, feel welcome to drop a comment or opinion, enjoy bookmarking this post on your favorite social site, a big shout out to awesome current subscribers – and if you are new to this blog, please subscribe in a reader or by email updates!
*** Come by for a visit and check out my other blogs:
The Social Poets - news, politics
The Soul Calendar - science, astronomy, psychology
Visual Insights - photos, art, music
Beautiful Illustrated Quotations - spiritual quotes, philosophy
Best Spiritual Posts
Poems From A Spiritual Heart - poetry
The Healing Waters - health news
Dennys People Watching - people in the news
Dennys Food and Recipes
Dennys Funny Quotes - humor
Wednesday, May 26, 2010
BP Oil Spill Funny Quotes and Jokes: Cheeky Quote Day - 26 May 2010
And from a Louisiana blogger it has been decided the Bozo Sapien Award goes to first place clown BP for the environmental disaster of the millennium... Photo by I'm Fantastic @ flickr*** Collected here, from the past month since the oil spill began in April, are all the late night jokes about the BP oil spill, local Louisiana jokes and links to posts with funny videos and political cartoons scorching BP for this environmental mess.From Denny: And the Louisiana joke of the day is two pelicans, drenched in oil, are sitting in the shallow marshes having an early morning conversation. The local shrimpers, their boats chugging through the oil slick, said they overheard one bird say, "Look on the bright side of our environmental disaster. The way global warming is heating up it will eventually raise the sea level so high that it will cover up this whole mess." - riffed off cartoonist Bruce Beattie of the Daytona Beach News-Journal in FloridaAnd the other Louisiana joke of the day that comes to mind is a new Louisiana tourism sign on the Nightly News that reads: "Get free gas. Come to Louisiana. Park on shore. Wait for it. Wait for it. Dip your gas siphon into the next tide as the free oil rolls into shore. Have a great day and thank you for visiting Louisiana." - Denny LyonThese are also the latest political cartoons about the BP oil spill released this week from beloved cartoonists all over the world who are following this news. Thanks, guys!From Jay Leno:And because of that big oil rig fire down there in the Gulf of Mexico, it's now leaking oil into the gulf at a rate of 210,000 gallons of oil a day. That is the equivalent of 10 buckets of fried chicken.An oil slick the size of Rhode Island is making its way across the Gulf of Mexico. An oil slick the size of Rhode Island — isn't that called New Jersey?On Monday, British Petroleum promised to pay all necessary cleanup costs for this oil spill. And they said they will do it, no matter how much they have to raise gas prices.Well, here's something kind of embarrassing. The government has called off the Safety Awards for Excellence ceremony that was supposed to take place this week, in honor of outstanding safety and pollution prevention. And British Petroleum, the one that was responsible for the big oil spill in the Gulf, was one of the three finalists for the award. I believe the other two were China and the volcano in Iceland.And the oil from that oil rig that exploded in the Gulf of Mexico spewing five times as much oil as first was estimated. When former President George W. Bush heard about this, he said: 'Wait a minute. You mean we have oil here?'Today, British Petroleum said they're doing everything they can to control this leak. Really? Two hundred thousand gallons? That's a leak? The pipe under my bathroom. That's a leak, O.K.? This is a gusher.And the environmental impact from this is unbelievable. They say a lot of birds are trying to leave the area. And, today, Arizona issued a warning — any birds flying in from out of state will be stopped and arrested.According to the top people in the petroleum industry, the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico will not affect gas prices. They said, 'They were going up anyway.'According to a recent survey, one in eight people say they will not buy gas from BP anymore. Unless, of course, it's cheaper than the station across the street.Tar balls have started washing ashore in Louisiana. Meanwhile, the slime balls that started the whole thing are still in Washington.BP, Transocean and Halliburton are blaming each other for the Gulf of Mexico oil spill. They are all right.These people make Goldman Sachs look responsible, don't they?BP is going to try to stop the leak by pushing garbage into it. Oh, yeah, they haven't screwed up the gulf enough, let's fill it with garbage, too.Well, the latest plan was to cover the leak with another concrete dome, a smaller one called a top hat. Who came up with this idea, Mr. Moneybags, from the Monopoly game? What's next, the giant thimble?Hey, here's some good news. The price of oil has dropped by $12 a barrel. I mean, why buy it when you can just scoop it out of the water, huh?Oh, speaking of that. If anybody needs a 100-ton concrete containment dome, there's one on eBay for 75 bucks.Actually, you know, that stupid idea about using a giant concrete dome and putting it over the leak, well, that didn't work. In fact, experts are calling this the worst use of a concrete dome since they built that stadium for the Detroit Lions.Now they're talking about trying to clog the leak up with garbage, like tires and golf balls. You know, where are the OxiClean people? Why don't we bring them down? Why not use the miracle cleaning power of oranges? Where are those people? Let's get the experts in here.The three companies involved in the oil spill are Transocean, BP and Halliburton. They're all blaming the other guy. I was stunned. Oil company executives passing the buck. It was just shocking.Congress told BP they can't label this catastrophic failure as an unpredictable and unforeseeable occurrence. See, Congress used that excuse for not catching the financial meltdown, so now they have to come up with their own excuse.British Petroleum said today that if this spill gets worse, they may soon have to start drilling for water.I love this. On the news today, the CEO of British Petroleum says he believes the overall environmental impact of this oil spill will be very, very modest. Yeah. If you live in England!BP has inserted a siphon tube into the well to suck up all the oil from the spill. And they've had a lot of experience in this area, by the way. This is the same tube they've been using to suck the money out of our wallets for the past 50 years.Scientists say they have developed a car that can run on water. The only catch is, the water has to come from the Gulf of Mexico.British Petroleum is starting to get a little defensive. Have you heard their new slogan? 'Yeah, like you never spilled anything before.'Well, here's the latest on the Gulf of Mexico oil spill. The chief U.S. oversight official for offshore drilling has now resigned. Ironically — you know how the news got out? It leaked.Well, there's now concern that the oil in the Gulf could go to the Florida Keys and up the East Coast, which could be really dangerous. Scientists say the cast of 'The Jersey Shore' can only absorb so much oil. They can't get any slimier.From David Letterman:You folks been following the big British Petroleum oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico? I'm telling you, British Petroleum has put more birds in oil than Colonel Sanders.David Letterman's "Top Ten Things Overheard At BP Headquarters"10. 'Huh?' 9. 'Happy Cinco de Mayo. 'Nother margarita?' 8. 'We got a nice thank you note from the Toyota people' 7. 'Any way we can pin this on the Times Square bomber?' 6. 'We just got a nice thank you note from the Goldman Sachs people.' 5. 'I hope they get Robert Wagner to play me in the TV movie.' 4. 'One day, 10,000 years from now, we'll be able to look back on this and laugh.' 3. 'Let me tell you something, you can't buy this kind of publicity.' 2. 'Tell everybody it's our free oil giveaway bonanza.' 1. 'Everyone gets a bonus.'This bombing plot here in Times Square is upsetting. Are we more upset about that than the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico? Which do we hate worse? I think you've got to go with the oil spill. British petroleum, these boobs running this operation, they said: 'O.K., now wait a minute. It's just going to be a P.R. nightmare. What can we do? We'll give everybody a free tank of gas. All you have to do is drive your car right down next to the Gulf of Mexico.'But BP plans to pay for the cleanup. Then they're going to ask for the bailout.But they say the oil spill has the potential to kill more wildlife than a Sarah Palin hunting trip.So it's British Petroleum, or BP. BP, of course, as in broken pipe.Anybody from the Gulf of Mexico area? It's going to be the biggest ecological disaster on the history of the planet. And today, a tourist thought they saw a blowfish in the Gulf of Mexico. Turned out to be a flounder holding its breath.British Petroleum says that they have a plan now to clean up the vast oil spill. You know what it is? Hot tub time machine.How about that oil spill in the gulf? They were going to put down what they called a containment platform, and they were going to lower it into the gulf. But that didn't work. So now, British Petroleum wants to try something else. It's a smaller containment device called the top hat. They get the top hat on the well, and then they're going to get John Wilkes Booth to shoot at it.Let me tell you about 'The Late Show.' It's like a car bomb and an oil spill all in one.Earlier today, the British Petroleum oil executives — the guys responsible for the big oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico — they testified before Congress. This was great. They were criticized by the same guys who approved drilling in the gulf.But these British Petroleum executives are trying to spin this a little bit. I heard one guy say today that it's a good thing, actually, because now when you open a clam, the hinge doesn't squeak.This oil spill in the Gulf is affecting everybody. In fact, when I went to lunch this weekend and ordered the sea bass, they asked if I wanted it regular or unleaded.This is going to be the biggest environmental disaster ever. You know what that means? More bonuses.Everybody has a different solution for the Gulf oil spill. Why don't they just try jiggling the handle? I went to lunch and had crab cakes. The waiter came over and asked if I wanted leaded or unleaded. The tartar sauce was 80 percent tar.Have you been following the big oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico? Or as we call it now, the Dead Sea.There is so much oil now in the Gulf of Mexico, and you can thank the folks of British Petroleum for this, so much oil in the Gulf, you can now park on it.And tar is washing up onto the beaches — big globs of tar. And people are saying, 'Is that going to ruin our summer at the beach?' No, of course not. You take the big blobs of tar and you use them to hold down your blanket.Have you folks heard about the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico? Here's what they're doing now. They got a one-mile-long suction hose. It was flown down to the gulf on Friday by Superman.And what they're going to do is they're going to suck all of that oil that's leaking into the gulf and pump it up into a tanker. Now the bad news is the tanker is the Exxon Valdez.From Bill Maher:Good news in the oil situation. BP said they found a way to start breaking up their oil slick. The bad news is it involves a toxic chemical called Corexit 9527A. Apparently this is moving us further from a solution and closer to Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.Sunday, listen to this, they’re going to try something new. They're going to try what they call a 'top kill.' That's where they shove a fluid that looks a lot like mud down into the well. I hope this works because the next idea involves Bruce Willis and an asteroid.From Jimmy Kimmel:Oil is still leaking off the coast of Louisiana. Lots of oil. BP, the company responsible for it, has a very good plan. BP is hoping to create a giant vinegar spill to turn the Gulf of Mexico into a delicious salad dressing.Actually, what they're doing is spraying chemicals on the oil to try to disperse it. And some environmentalists say the chemicals pose their own dangers. But the company that makes them points out the active ingredient is the same thing they put in ice cream. BP is trying to get the spill reclassified from disaster to dessert.The BP oil spill turned a month old today. Unfortunately, it has not been potty trained yet.In Louisiana, BP claims that it's making progress with the leaking oil in the Gulf. They're working on a plan to heat the Gulf up to 600 degrees and use it to fry chicken.From Jimmy Fallon:It's rumored that six pages from the script of the 'Lost' series finale have leaked online. BP executives were like: 'Oh my God! That's definitely the worst leak of all time, right?'Well, scientists are predicting that the oil from the BP spill will eventually reach the shores of Florida. So if you hated visiting your grandparents before, wait until you're hosing down their oily bodies after a long day at the beach.Have you guys been following the whole oil disaster? Yesterday, President Obama said: 'Let me be clear. BP is responsible for this leak. BP will be paying the bill.' And BP was like: 'Ah, bailout? Right?'In a new interview, BP's CEO said that the Gulf Coast oil spill is relatively tiny compared to the 'very big ocean.' That's like telling someone who's just been shot not to worry about the bullet because they're really, really fat.Funny videos about the BP oil spill:Funny Video: Jon Stewart Sees BP Fixing Oil Spill with Stupid AnagramsFunny Video: Colbert On BP Oil Containment - No One Knows What The Flock They're Doing Funny Video: Stewart Slams Media, BP, And Hypocritical Politicians For Oil Spill ResponseVideo: Colbert on Gulf Coast oil spill by British PetroleumPolitical cartoons about the BP oil spill:Dark Humor: BP Oil Spill Cartoons - 22 May 2010BP Oil Spill Funny Political Cartoons - 15 May 2010Oil Spill Disaster Cartoons - Whats Happening This Week in America - 8 May 2010*** THANKS for visiting, feel welcome to drop a comment or opinion, enjoy bookmarking this post on your favorite social site, a big shout out to awesome current subscribers – and if you are new to this blog, please subscribe in a reader or by email updates!
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