[r0ckstarr]

[YT]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uXsmLMV1CrM[/YT]

2nd link just in case the first gets pulled from Youtube.

[pxpaulx]

Gee, thanks for keeping me safe federal government. unbelievable.

[MRRiley]

And what if a journalist is sitting well off from a cleanup vessel and then that vessel moves to close the distance? This is freakin' ridiculous. Time to bring out the BIGMAs boys! Wish I was down there to document this.

[johnmflores]

Where is the ACLU? They should be all over this. They should be all over all of these photography issues.

[JeffJS]

Of all the things to keep the press away from.. Oil Soaked Sky Rats.

Here's to our gutless government.

[Phil1]

On a side bar I heard on the radio this AM that the big new oil skimming boat, after finally getting Obama approval to come to the US and do some good (It took 71 days for preliminary approval) has now run into another gov't road block. It seems that the surface polluted water it skims in not quite free of 100% pollutants. It may eject water with 1% oil contamination while doing it's filtering of the surface oil. That would mean it should be able to remove a very high percentage of the oil but it apparantly is not good enough so they may let it all wash ashore. What a country!

[Ratmagiclady]

And what if a journalist is sitting well off from a cleanup vessel and then that vessel moves to close the distance? This is freakin' ridiculous. Time to bring out the BIGMAs boys! Wish I was down there to document this.

Cover me with those: give me a bus ticket, wardrobe that blends, maybe an LX3, a big hat, and a briefing.

Subterfuge, lads. Greyfaces lack imagination. Don't do the expected.

And, you in particular, MR. You have no idea how far you could probably get with a hard hat and a random nylon windbreaker. Old workboots. Squint a lot. Act tired and impatient.

---

Last edited by Ratmagiclady; 07-05-2010 at 03:06 PM.

[GingeM]

Cover me with those: give me a bus ticket, wardrobe that blends, maybe an LX3, a big hat, and a briefing.

Sorry love...

You just demonstrated of the Obama way:

"Give me everything and I'll try to do some meaningful work".

[Ratmagiclady]

Where is the ACLU? They should be all over this. They should be all over all of these photography issues.

The ACLU are *laywers.* Lawyers can't do much *after* Bush made this *legal* for these oil companies.

---------- Post added 07-05-10 at 06:09 PM ----------

Sorry love...

You just demonstrated of the Obama way:

"Give me everything and I'll try to do some meaningful work".

You just demonstrated the Rove way: Assuming things and attacking character to divert from what's really going on.

That was a rhetorical 'Give me.'

If someone could 'give me' a convincing local accent, I could do it with an AE-1.

Fact is, you know damn well that if I *was* a lens on the ground there, you'd be going after my personal life to say any photos I got were lies.

[MRRiley]

and, you in particular, MR. You have no idea how far you could probably get with a hard hat and a random nylon windbreaker. Old workboots. Squint a lot. Act tired and impatient.

ROTFLMAO rml!!!

[Ratmagiclady]

ROTFLMAO rml!!!

Heehee. See. the trick to looking like you're supposed to be where you don't in fact belong, is to in fact act like not only do you belong there, but you have been there too long already, thought it was a bad idea in the first place, and just want to leave.

[MRRiley]

I think you just called me a "scruffy nerf herder" to paraphrase Princess Leia... LOL...

But I know what you mean, look and act like you belong and you can get in pretty far. Trouble is there is usually someone who actually knows who is supposed to be there and getting caught to the tune of $40K is farther than I want to go.

[jeffkrol]

On a side bar I heard on the radio this AM that the big new oil skimming boat, after finally getting Obama approval to come to the US and do some good (It took 71 days for preliminary approval) has now run into another gov't road block. It seems that the surface polluted water it skims in not quite free of 100% pollutants. It may eject water with 1% oil contamination while doing it's filtering of the surface oil. That would mean it should be able to remove a very high percentage of the oil but it apparently is not good enough so they may let it all wash ashore. What a country!

Hard to launch a skimmer that wasn't assembled till June........
Can you show the story on the 71 day approval? Was this proven tech to throw a bunch of money at (BP's or mine )

The 10-story-tall A Whale, a former iron ore carrier converted over a 10-day period in June to an oil-slurping behemoth by Taiwanese shipping mogul Nobu Su

A Whale to the rescue: Can super-skimmer turn tide of Gulf oil spill? - CSMonitor.com

The world’s largest oil skimmer vessel arrived in the Gulf and has docked in Louisiana since June 30 awaiting U.S. official review and approval.

World’s largest skimmer finally arrives in Gulf, but still needs federal approval | The Daily Caller - Breaking News, Opinion, Research, and Entertainment

The vessel will need a contract with BP before it begins working. If the federal on scene coordinator determines the A Whale would be useful, contract negotiations will begin, subject to the coordinator’s approval of funding, according to the Coast Guard.

does the gov HAVE to pay for everything?...
do they have the right to make BP pay for hit or miss new tech?..
The skimmer wants PROFIT.. btw.. this isn't charity... it's business.
OK a bit more clarity............

Today is Day 75 of the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. Docked now in the Mississippi River, the world’s largest oil skimmer, the “A Whale”, is beginning to undergo EPA testing before it is permitted to assist in the BP oil spill. Under EPA guidelines, any water discharged back into the sea must only contain 15 parts per million of oil. If the “A Whale” does not pass this requirement, the owners may still apply for a waiver.

The oil skimmer “A Whale” is a converted cargo container vessel. It’s hull is 1,000 feet in length and the ship is nearly ten stories tall. She can process 500,000 barrels of oily water per day, nearly equal in capability to the entire 550 ship fleet of oil skimmers currently deployed in the Gulf! The ship was recently in Norfolk, Virginia, awaiting permission to sail to the oil spill scene.

The Jones Act of 1920 was one of the issues preventing the “A Whale” from participating sooner. The Act only allows American flagged ships with American crews to conduct commercial operations from one U.S. port to another U.S. port. Once the ship passes the EPA test, or gets a waiver from it as well, the Taiwanese flagged “A Whale” must also get an exemption from the Jones Act.

TMT, the company which owns the “A Whale”, ordered the vessel to Portugal the very day of the Deepwater Horizon explosion and fire. Engineers from Hyundai developed the plan to convert the cargo ship into an oil skimmer by the time it arrived at the shipyard in Portugal. Should the “A Whale” pass it’s tests and proves effective in helping to clean up the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, TMT will convert two more ships into oil skimmers, the “B Whale” and “C Whale”.

http://www.rightpundits.com/?p=6550
My take: If they did it "for free" the Jones Act wouldn't apply. Technically the Jones Act doesn't apply in an oil spill either.
If anything Obama is guilty of playing to big business and profits... isn't that funny.

Gulf Oil Spill Day 76: A Whale Awaits EPA And Jones Waiver | Daily Markets

[YT]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uXsmLMV1CrM[/YT]

2nd link just in case the first gets pulled from Youtube.

The "skirmish line" is a bit annoying.

News photographers and reporters are no longer allowed to come within 65 feet of any response vessel or booms on the water or on beaches. As CNN's Anderson Cooper reported on his Thursday evening broadcast, "[I]n order to get closer, you have to get direct permission from the Coast Guard captain of the Port of New Orleans. You have to call up the guy. What this means is that oil-soaked birds on islands surrounded by boom, you can't get close enough to take that picture."

Cooper, hardly a voice of the right, was visibly perturbed by the restrictions, repeating several times during the program, "We are not the enemy here." A video clip from the program follows. In it, National Incident Commander Thad Allen offers up an explanation—to wit, security perimeters have been set up to ensure the safety of news crews. But Anderson, as you can see, isn't having any of it.

Readers are urged to arrive at their own conclusions, but it would be remiss of this writer not to point out the lack of response of any kind from other mainstream media outlets. The same journalists who were eager to film coffins containing the remains of American military personnel returning from the battlefields in Iraq have been curiously silent regarding this prohibition.

White House suspends First Amendment rights in coverage of oil spill damage
My personal take...... since day 1 there was not a power or organization, or enough cash to keep this from becoming a HUGE cluster fruck..... Regardless of left, right, center....... the coast was screwed period.. deny all you like but it was inevitable..

[Ratmagiclady]

I think you just called me a "scruffy nerf herder" to paraphrase Princess Leia... LOL...

I resemble that remark! But I'm taken.

But I know what you mean, look and act like you belong and you can get in pretty far. Trouble is there is usually someone who actually knows who is supposed to be there and getting caught to the tune of $40K is farther than I want to go.

When I have 40K to lose, I'll shiver. Or something. Though I do suppose aforementioned not-being-on-my-own means some 'keepin out of trouble' like the corporations say would be in order. 'You gotta catch me first' is something that may be a check the body can't cash at this point, but who gets caught? Much?

Still, for all the cons here want to defend this corporate lockdown on information so they can blame Obama, while screaming 'Stop Spending!' and not say a thing when *their* guys once again voted through 38 billion in corporate welfare to Big Oil... They seem to live in a world of more feer than we do.

BP's renta-cops aren't Gods, ...they're schlubs. This isn't a reductionist argument, it's getting the shot. As we so amply say about people looking for the big whackin' cameras, you can go James Bond with a cell phone, these days. Seeing airtime, *that's* the hard part.

[Parallax]

The Constitution has been in jeopardy for several years.
It's been on life support since January 20, 2009. Recovery is doubtful.