BartBlog

Author’s note: I posted this short article with a you tube video embedded. It clearly shows the shooting of an unarmed civilian in Iraq. Within three hours, You Tube removed the video citing a “terms of service violation.” The only thing I heard in the video that may have called for that was one or two f-bombs, but we hear those on paid-for cable TV every day. The thing that we are not supposed to see is in the video.

I was able to get another version of it, thanks to Michael Rivero at WhatReallyHappened.com. Check out the article and hit the link below the embedded video.

Excerpt:
With all of the time and effort spent on covering the Gulf oil disaster, let’s not forget there are two ongoing wars.

Here is the latest video circulating on the internet from the other two disasters in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Perhaps if taxpayers were not compelled to spend billions per year for this, there would be a little more resources to invest in mitigating the disaster on our own shores.

I’ll let the video clip speak for itself:

<embedded> —->censored

You can view it here: http://www.examiner.com/x-38220-Orlando-Independent-Examiner~y2010m5d21-Oh-and-by-the-waywere-still-at-war

Click on the “here” link in the article for a look at the reality of the war in Iraq.

Author’s note: Yeah yeah yeah…another one on this. But I feel like sayin’ to the dumbass corporate media, “I told you so.” This is bad, really bad… I’ll post a sat image.

Excerpt:
Now that BP, the federal government and the corporate propaganda networks known as ABCBSCNNBCFOX have finally conceded that oil is gushing into the Gulf at a far higher rate than the public has been told for the past month, will a real disaster response be initiated, or will there just be more cover ups and more finger-pointing at who may be to blame?

“Officials” have finally admitted that the volcano of oil erupting from the seabed of the Gulf is probably gushing closer to a rate of about 95,000 barrels per day, instead of the 5000 barrels that has been incessantly repeated for the past month. Many people have been saying that for weeks. How does it feel to be scooped by a bunch of shrimp-huggers, scientists who can take one look at it and tell it is worse than official reports, and even a lowly Examiner? I don’t think you care because, after all, you get paid more to lie for your corporate masters than scientists and fisherman on the Gulf earn who really work for a living.

As heavy crude washed onto the beaches of Louisiana earlier this week, unlike the oily sheen that touched shore earlier this month, BP had a great public relations announcement. The oil giant proudly proclaimed that a 4-inch in diameter, mile-long insertion tube was extracting 5000 barrels per day into a tanker on the surface. The only problem with that – 5000 barrels per day was the official estimate until now, and oil is still gushing into the water. Videos clearly show that the tube is catching only a fraction of the oil. Guess it was finally time to ‘fess up, huh boys? Even the feds got tired of covering up your bovine excrement.

So now what? Is it it time for finger-pointing, as scientists blame the White House and BP for stifling the flow of information and not allowing experts in the field to have access to the site in which this could have been properly assessed almost from day one? Or is it time to start cleaning up the mess? It may be too late. The time for the disaster response was four weeks ago, not now. The damage has already been done.

BP, meanwhile, seems to remain in CYA mode. Coast Guard officials, along with BP contractors threatened CBS reporters with arrest for photographing oil-slicked beaches in Louisiana. McClatchy news reports that the “low estimate of [the] oil spill’s size could save BP millions in court.”

It’s perfectly fitting that BP and the federal government are not as adept at restraining the flow of oil as they are the flow of information. Unfortunately, the truth will wash up on our beaches…soon. And there are going to be a lot of angry people when that happens. Apparently we can finance and fight wars halfway across the globe, but when a real problem arises on our own shores, no one has a clue as to what to do about it.

Read more, get links here: http://www.examiner.com/x-38220-Orlando-Independent-Examiner~y2010m5d21-BP-feds-forced-to-admit-oil-gusher-is-larger-than-estimated-now-what

Author’s note: I know I have been beating this one to death, but that’s because I think this is the most significant event of our times. I have been writing for weeks that this is WAY worse than we are being told by BP, the media and the feds. I also predicted it would hit the Loop Current. The catastrophic results are going to be beyond comprehension and people are about to start smelling, seeing and feeling it. This disaster is also a good example of how both parties are in bed with corporations at the expense of the American people. I hope this one wakes people up and becomes a catalyst for change, because that would be the only good that can come from it.

Excerpt:
NASA satellite imagery on Monday shows that the rapidly expanding oil slick in the Gulf of Mexico has entered a powerful current known as the Loop Current, which flows through the straits of Florida and along the eastern seaboard as far north as North Carolina before heading out into the Atlantic. The entrance of the oil slick into the Gulf Loop Current is what officials fear will be a catastrophic event.

The pollution could endanger Florida’s shoreline mangroves, sea grass beds and the third-longest barrier reef in the world, the 221-mile-long Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary. Millions of snorkelers, fishermen and other tourists are drawn to the Keys each year, whose dollars are vital to the state’s economy.

This is bad news for Florida residents. Once the oil is in the loop, it could reach the Keys in as few as 10 days. “It’s only a question of when,” said Peter Ortner, a University of Miami oceanographer. The Sun-Sentinel reported that the oil slick not only poses a danger to the Florida Keys, but also to the southeast coast from Miami to West Palm Beach and as far north as coastal North Carolina.

“When” could be sooner rather than later, as the Coast Guard reported today that tar balls have already been found on the beach at Fort Zachary Taylor State Park in Key West on Monday. Park rangers conducted a shoreline survey of the beach and the adjacent Navy beach at Truman Annex and recovered the tar balls at a rate of nearly three tar balls an hour throughout the day, with the heaviest concentration found at high tide, around 12:30 p.m.

According to the satellite imagery, the oil slick on the surface of the water has rapidly increased in size. SkyTruth, an independent research organization, states that “the total area covered by slick and sheen, at 10,170 square miles…is nearly double what it appeared to be on the May 14 radar satellite image, and is bigger than the state of Maryland.”

The general consensus among scientists is that the leak is anywhere between four and 15 times greater than the official estimate. These reports indicate that the majority of the oil in the Gulf is located below the surface of the waves.

Read more, see the satellite imagery and get links here: http://www.examiner.com/examiner/x-38220-Orlando-Independent-Examiner~y2010m5d18-Oil-slick-enters-Gulf-loop-current-tar-balls-found-in-Florida-Keys

Author’s note: It is becoming clear to even the mainstream media that BP and the U.S. government are lying about the severity of this disaster.

Excerpt:
A review of widely varying estimates of the amount of oil leaking into the Gulf of Mexico showed huge discrepancies between the “official” government and BP estimate and those of various scientists.

The discovery of huge underwater plumes of oil by University of Georgia researchers suggests that scientists may be correct and that BP and the U.S. government have grossly underestimated the amount of oil gushing into the waters of the Gulf.

The New York Times reported yesterday that “scientists are finding enormous oil plumes in the deep waters of the Gulf of Mexico, including one as large as 10 miles long, 3 miles wide and 300 feet thick. The discovery is fresh evidence that the leak from the broken undersea well could be substantially worse than estimates that the government and BP have given.”

Some analysts have reported that as much as 80% of the oil is not rising to the surface. If one considers that the oil slick on the surface already covers more area than Puerto Rico, then the magnitude of this disaster can begin to be put into perspective. According to scientists at the universities of Georgia and Mississippi, the real disaster may be lurking beneath the waves of the Gulf.

All reports indicate that the situation in the Gulf is going from bad to worse, and that the severity of it has been either grossly underestimated, or hidden from the public by BP and the U.S. government. Unfortunately, the truth will inevitably hit the beaches and the economy of the Gulf states.

Read more, get links here: http://www.examiner.com/x-38220-Orlando-Independent-Examiner~y2010m5d16-Giant-underwater-plumes-of-oil-discovered-suggesting-official-estimate-of-leak-may-be-incorrect

Author’s note: Just trying to be objective in the article, but I think someone is lying their ass off about this one.

Excerpt:
After BP released underwater video footage of the oil gushing into the Gulf of Mexico, conflicting estimates of the amount of oil leaking raise many questions.

What is the rate of flow? How much oil is already in the water? Is there any way to make an accurate assessment? When will it hit shore? What will be the economic and environmental impact? Does anyone really know the answers, and if so, who is telling the truth?

The current reports on the rate of flow range from a minimal estimate of about 210,000 gallons per day to an extreme of 8.4 million gallons per day. That means that since April 20, anywhere between 5.04 million and 201.6 million have been released into the water. Keep in mind that it takes only one quart of oil to poison 250,000 gallons of seawater for all marine life.

It is becoming clear that no one knows exactly how much oil has leaked into the Gulf of Mexico, but a review of the conflicting reports and their sources can give one a general idea of the magnitude of this disaster.

An initial report by BP and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) shortly after the well erupted on April 20 put the rate of flow at 1000 barrels per day, which at 42 gallons per barrel, is 42,000 gallons per day. A report by the same sources on April 28 upped that to the 5000 barrels per day that has been accepted without question by most media outlets, until recently.

According to the New York Times, “The figure of 5,000 barrels a day was hastily produced by government scientists in Seattle. It appears to have been calculated using a method that is specifically not recommended for major oil spills.” It was calculated with a protocol known as the Bonn convention that calls for measuring the extent of an oil spill, using its color to judge the thickness of oil atop the water, and then multiplying.

Several scientists not affiliated with BP or the federal government have used other methods and calculated that the rate of oil flow is far higher than 5000 barrels per day.

Dr. Ian R. MacDonald, an oceanographer at Florida State University, who is an expert in the analysis of oil slicks, made his own calculations using satellite imagery. They suggested that the leak could “easily be four or five times” the government estimate, he said. Other scientists agree that the leak is much larger than BP and the federal government have revealed.

Steve Wereley, an associate professor at Purdue University, told NPR the actual spill rate of the BP oil disaster is about 3 million gallons a day – 15 times the official guess of BP and the federal government. Wereley analyzed videotape of the seafloor gusher using a technique called particle image velocimetry, which is accurate to a degree of plus or minus 20 percent.

According to NPR, another scientific expert, Eugene Chiang, a professor of astrophysics at the University of California-Berkeley, calculated the rate of flow to be between 840,000 and four million gallons a day. Without even having a sense of scale from the BP video, he deduced that the diameter of the pipe was about 20 inches. And though his calculation is less precise than Wereley’s, it is in the same ballpark. “I would peg it at around 20,000 to 100,000 barrels per day,” he said. Chiang called the current estimate of 5,000 barrels a day “almost certainly incorrect.”

Timothy Crone, an associate research scientist at the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, used another well-accepted method to calculate fluid flows. Crone arrived at a similar figure, but he said he’d like better video from BP before drawing a firm conclusion.

Paul Noel, a software engineer contractor working at the U.S. Army arsenal in Redstone, AL, who also has extensive experience in the oil and gas industry, puts the figure even higher – at 8.4 million gallons per day. Writing for Pure Energy Systems News, Noel bases his estimate on two additional factors, a process called Fractioning and his claim that the actual diameter of the source of the leak is five feet, not 21 inches as is commonly reported.

Rising through 5000 feet of water, the oil is going through a process…call[ed] Fractioning. Literally the tremendous pressure and temperature [cause]…the oil and Natural Gas [to] change on their way up. The very light, easy-to-evaporate parts are all that is rising to the surface. The heavy oil isn’t even getting to the top…the chemicals added at the well head to disburse the oil, speed this process up. Because of this fractioning, what you see from the air on the surface of the water represents maybe just 20% of the volume of the various types of oil in that area.

Furthermore:

The numbers on the Transocean rig are for the drill pipe size. The inside hole of the drill pipe is 18 inches and the outside is 21. The platform numbers are for a 60.5 inch drill platform opening. This is what fits the outer casing. It is used to torque the casing down into the well. The platform is used at the turntable to torque the well drill pipe. I have seen lots of these wells. They are really 5 feet in diameter.

So, at one extreme estimate, oil is erupting at a rate of 4 barrels per second through a five foot hole in the sea bed. At the other extreme, “only” about 5000 barrels per day are gushing through a 21 inch in diameter pipe. Most scientists put the number somewhere in between.

If Noel is correct that 80% of the oil is heavier than water and remains below the surface, then that explains why tar balls are washing up on the beaches of Louisiana, Alabama and Mississippi. If BP and the NOAA are correct, that still means the oil leak in on track to exceed the amount of oil that the Exxon Valdez spilled in 1989 by June 11. If the scientists with the mid-range estimates are correct, this already is the worst oil disaster in the history of the world.

Either estimate raises even more questions. The most pertinent to coastal residents of Louisiana, Alabama, Mississippi and Florida are: When will this oil slick hit the shores and what will the economic impact be? If no one knows how large this oil leak is, or if anyone does and are not revealing the truth, then it is impossible for Gulf residents to know what to prepare for.

Read more, get links and video here: http://www.examiner.com/x-38220-Orlando-Independent-Examiner~y2010m5d15-Widely-varying-estimates-about-severity-of-oil-leak-in-Gulf-raise-many-questions