~ my 2cents ...

Thursday thoughts …&some News


It’s day 52 of the BP oil disaster and though the reports state BP will start to expedite the payments, everyone needs to keep monitoring the effort so that they keep promises to the people.   Today, the President will have families from the Gulf Coast oil disaster come to the White House and while it is a moment to give condolences to this families lets hope they take and record info to use later; hopefully BP will be held accountable sooner than later because the buzz going on is that BP will go bankrupt possibly stall paying the insurance claims and then leave… that’s a rumor but it can be a completely avoided reality if someone can get a hold of funds faster than we all are hearing on the airwaves …We all have seen those commercials that BP conjured up and you have to wonder who in their right mind would say oh yeah that makes sense… spend millions to say i’m sorry when you haven’t organized payments to the people whose living you have destroyed yet …oh but making BP look good is more important –it’s offensive and any station playing those commercials should stop and give that money to the victims of the Gulf Coast instead of being so self-serving… it just seems wrong to play those disparate attempts to make BP/Halliburton/TransOcean look better… it ain’t working.

In this great mess of oil; the push and pull of who did what to whom and why is so grade school.  The part that is  such an incredible disappointment to see politics get pushed into the fight.  I wonder how the 1st nation peoples feel; and standing corrected the area is of diverse culture; i have relative there i know the Creole Cajuns, French, Spanish all have and still inhabit the area… and they didn’t own the land they used it and they kept it safe &healthy; their knowledge of how to use the Gulf not abuse it was a lesson current stewards didn’t learn or care to.   We all know back in the day the Gulf Coast lands were pristine then were taken by folks who saw the money, the profit and have abused it and now have caused irreparable damage to a whole way of life started out by 1st nation peoples now almost everyone depends on the Gulf bed, the fishing industry,  tourism and everything that makes money off them… people of the Gulf Coast will need to find other ways of making a living.  The healing of the Marshes, the Wetlands and Estuaries will take years; hopefully the people there know they won’t be able to just get back out there and fish and or take shrimp and oysters from the Gulf and expect everything to be ok… there is a good possibility the food source will need to go through months or years of healing before humans can fish, trap and or net fresh without it being toxic.


Other News …

Earlier this week, President Obama told NBC that he had not yet talked to BP CEO Tony Hayward. ABC’s Jake Tapper reports that will change next week. White House officials say Obama is planning to say “a few words” to Hayward when he visits Washington, D.C. next week.

Following a meeting with Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas yesterday, President Obama called “for sharply limiting Israel’s blockade of the Gaza Strip” and “announced a $400 million aid package for the West Bank and Gaza Strip.” “The key here is making sure that Israel’s security needs are met but that the needs of people in Gaza are also met,” said Obama.

“One day after the Security Council approved new sanctions against them,” Iranian authorities threatened “to revise their relationship with the United Nations’ nuclear watchdog, using familiar language that has in the past presaged moves to limit global oversight of Iran’s nuclear program.” Iranian leaders also lashed out at China’s support for the sanctions, saying it would “affect its standing in the Muslim world.”

C-SPAN …

Conferees Begin Negotiations Toward a Final financial regulation bill

The House-Senate conference on financial regulation legislation formally meets today. Committee Chairman Rep. Barney Frank (D-MA), along with other lawmakers, Read More »are tasked with reconciling the competing versions of the financial bills that passed each chamber. The committee plans to work for the next few weeks, with the hope that it will conclude by the time President Obama leaves for the G20 summit later this month.

Mayors in affected areas describe oil spill impact

Local mayors are testifying in front of the Senate Homeland Security Committee to describe the extent of the damage and the challenges their communities are facing due to the Gulf oil spill. The committee aims to explore the planning that took place prior to the spill and the coordinated response efforts between federal, state and local governments. Congress is holding four hearings today on the oil spill to discuss a range of topics, including safety management, short and long term effects and potential environmental harm to humans. In his daily update, Adm. Thad Allen announced that yesterday BP collected 15,800 barrels of oil which he said continues a trend of capturing more oil each day.

Senate reviews deputy FBI director as head of TSA

The Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee held a hearing to review Pres. Obama’s third nominee for the head of TSA, John Pistole, a deputy FBI director. Pistole faced questions on airport security, intelligence coordination and terrorism. Another major issue of discussion was his views regarding collective bargaining rights for transportation security officers. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-TX), the top Republican on the committee, said “allowing screeners to collectively bargain could have dire consequences on the agency’s fundamental security mission.” Obama’s first nominee, Errol Southers of the FBI, withdrew in January, blaming critics motivated by “political ideology” for the troubles surrounding his nomination. The second nominee, Maj. Gen. Robert Harding, withdrew in March, citing “distractions caused by my work as a defense contractor would not be good for this Administration nor the Department of Homeland Security.”