BartBlog

Author’s note: Less than a week ago I said this would be upped again. Looks like that may be the case.

Excerpt:
According to an undated internal BP document obtained by congressman Ed Markey (D-MA), the estimate of oil leaking into the Gulf of Mexico may need to be increased again – for the fifth time.

According to the Telegraph UK, the BP document released on Sunday showed that the company has estimated that oil could pour from its broken well in the Gulf of Mexico at the rate of 100,000 barrels (4.2 million gallons) per day, nearly double the current reckoning by the US government.

The estimate is consistent with a report in which CNN quotes the lead government official responding to the spill, the commandant of the Coast Guard, Admiral Thad Allen, as stating, “if we lost a total well head, it could be 100,000 barrels or more a day.”

The document is also consistent with an exploration plan and environmental impact analysis filed with the federal government in February 2009. According to the Houston Chronicle, BP said then that it had the capability to handle a “worst-case scenario” at the Deepwater Horizon site, which the document described as a leak of 162,000 barrels per day from an uncontrolled blowout – 6.8 million gallons each day.

What may be even more troubling is this report from the AP:

The oil emanating from the seafloor contains about 40 percent methane, compared with about 5 percent found in typical oil deposits, said John Kessler, a Texas A&M University oceanographer who is studying the impact of methane from the spill. That means huge quantities of methane have entered the Gulf, scientists say, potentially suffocating marine life and creating ‘dead zones’ where oxygen is so depleted that nothing lives. ‘This is the most vigorous methane eruption in modern human history,’ Kessler said.

Given the continual incremental increases of the oil leak as well as the failure to mention the amount of methane gas escaping in to the Gulf, it does suggest that at best, this is a result of utter incompetence or outright lies. It is not beyond the realm of possibility that the American people have been willfully mislead by BP, the corporate media and the US government in order to gradually condition them to accept the enormity of this disaster.

It is also possible that the environmental damage will not be able to be reversed – at least in our lifetimes. Some of the oil may be able to be cleaned up, but it is impossible to clean up methane. No matter which sources one chooses to believe, the estimates of the enormity of the disaster in the Gulf have continually escalated since it began on April 20.

Read more, get links and video here: Orlando Independent Examiner – BP internal document suggests estimate of Gulf oil leak may be increased again

Author’s note: With all the things going on with the Gulf, economy, etc., it’s easy to forget there are still two wars going on. But the wars are very real for these 17 families. This one was difficult to write, because I looked into each and every name on the June list of war casualties. Links to each are provided on my Examiner page.

Excerpt:

Another 17 families spent their first Father’s day without a father, or a son. The pentagon has released the names of 17 service members killed in Iraq and Afghanistan thus far in June, bringing the total to 214 for 2010.

The members of the armed services who put their lives on the line and make the ultimate sacrifice seem to be getting less and less attention.

According to the Sydney Morning Herald, the death of 10 NATO troops on Monday June 7, including five Americans was recorded on page 10 of The Washington Post. And although it published a photograph on its front page, The New York Times coverage was confined mostly to a bottom corner of page 12.

It is a safe assumption that most Americans who have been paying attention to the news in the corporate media do not how many service members died in June, and even fewer know their names. To whom it may concern, here are their names and some details about each one of them:

US Army SPC Christian M. Adams, 26, Sierra Vista, AZ. Adams left behind a wife, Donna, and a 2-year-old daughter, Faith. He was described by his stepfather as a religious man who loved his family and the military.

US Army SPC Brian M. Anderson, 24, Harrisonburg, VA. Anderson, killed by an improvised explosive device (IED) in Afghanistan, is survived by his father, mother, brother and sister.

US Marines LCpl Michael C. Bailey, 29, Park Hills, MO. Bailey was killed by small arms fire in Afghanistan on June 16. His high school principal said, “he was always there for everybody else. He was always willing to help. And one of the things I will never forget about Mike was that he always had a smile on his face.”

US Army Capt. Michael P. Cassidy, 41, Simpsonville, SC. Cassidy was killed in Mosul, Iraq on June 17. After serving in the National Guard for years, Cassidy volunteered for active duty shortly after Sep. 11, 2001. He is survived by his wife and two daughters.

US Army SPC Matthew R. Catlett, 23, Houston, TX. After serving three years in Iraq, Catlett headed to Afghanistan where he was killed by an IED on June 7 along with four other soldiers from the 101st Airborne. He is survived by his ex-wife and two daughters.

And the list goes on and on…(all 17 are covered in the main article).

There is a bigger picture here. 17 may not sound like a large number when given a 30-second sound byte or a few sentences, but it is very large when ones looks into the lives that each and every one of these individuals could have had. Besides honoring each and every one of these young men, fathers, husbands, sons by at least mentioning their names and telling a little about them or how they died, there is more that Americans can do. Americans could start by demanding an end to these wars.

There are now 4407 military personnel who have died in Iraq and 1124 who have died in Afghanistan, each with their their own story, and a life and loved ones they have left behind. 5531 families without fathers or sons this past Father’s day, not to mention the tens of thousands that have been horribly wounded in these wars. With all the other problems that this nation faces today, is it not about time to end this insanity?

A lot of Americans voted for a leader that promised to bring an end to the wars, yet nothing substantive has been done toward that end. Meanwhile, the corporate media buries news about the wars, leaving these brave young men and women to die with a hardly a mention to their names. They deserve more. We as a nation deserve more.

Our young people are not fighting a foreign enemy bent on invading our homeland, they are occupying the homeland of other nations and are paying for that with their lives. Meanwhile our homeland and our economy is being destroyed by the very corporations that reap the profits from these wars and from the reckless spending of our tax dollars that finance the wars.

Perhaps the best way to support our troops is to bring them home. And the best way to protect America may be to protect our borders, our shorelines and our economy by focusing our resources on solutions to the problems that we have here, not rebuilding other nations halfway across the globe.

Read more and get links here: Orlando Independent Examiner, 17 service members die in June, 17 more families without fathers or sons on Father’s day

Author’s note: Has your bovine excrement meter maxed out yet?

Excerpt:
President Obama’s “feel-good” speech, raised a few questions about the Gulf oil disaster. Upon further review of information, there are many more.

It is becoming clear that this is a national nightmare without end. Some are calling it “America’s Chernobyl.” Every day new details are “officially” released, but none of those should come as a surprise to anyone who has been following the analysis of scientists over the past few weeks.

The truth is that no matter what President Obama or BP execs say, life in the Gulf region will never be the same…at least not in our lifetimes. No one is really in charge, because no one seems to know how to stop this leak. So far the only solution has been to dump millions of gallons of toxic dispersants on the oil gushing out, so that most of it doesn’t surface into public view. But that doesn’t make it go away. Oil, as well as toxic gases will soon be pouring ashore in unprecedented levels.

1. The dispersants known as Corexit 9500 and 9527, are identified as a “moderate” human health hazards that can cause eye, skin or respiratory irritation with prolonged exposure, according to safety data documents. The chemicals break apart the oil and keep it from reaching the surface. It has been banned from use in the U.K. So why is it allowed to be used by BP in the Gulf?
2. It is being reported that 2.61 parts per million of Corexit 9500 (mixed with oil at a ratio of 1:10) is lethal to 50% of marine life exposed to it within 96 hours. That means that 1 gallon of Corexit 9500/oil mixture is capable of rendering 383,141 gallons of water highly toxic to fish. So why was BP allowed to dump 1,021,000 gallons of Corexit 9500 and Corexit 9527 into the Gulf of Mexico, and why aren’t they being stopped from dumping another 805,000 gallons of these dispersants that they have on order into the Gulf?
3. If these dispersants are so incredibly toxic to fish, what are they going to do to the land and crops when they get rained on us?  What are they going to do to people?
4. Why are scientists finding concentrations of methane at up to 10,000 times normal background levels in Gulf waters?
5. At some testing stations in the Gulf of Mexico, levels of benzene have been detected at over 3000 parts per billion, and levels of hydrogen sulfide have been detected as high as 1192 parts per billion.  Considering that these levels are highly toxic to humans, why haven’t people been warned?
6. Why are so many Gulf oil spill disaster workers showing up at local hospitals complaining of a “mysterious illness“?
7. If the smell of the oil on some Gulf beaches is already so strong that it burns the nostrils of cleanup workers, then what is this oil doing to wildlife that have to swim in it?
8. Why has the FAA shut down the airspace above the Gulf of Mexico oil spill?  What don’t they want the American people to see?
9. Is it a bad sign that birds from the Gulf region are flocking north by the thousands?
10.  Why is BP being allowed to use private security contractors to keep the American people away from the oil cleanup sites?
11.  Why is BP openly attempting to manipulate the search results on sites like Google and Yahoo?
12.  Senator Bill Nelson of Florida says that there are reports that there are additional ruptures in the sea floor from which oil is leaking (see video below).  If there are quite a few of these additional ruptures, then how in the world does BP expect to completely stop this oil leak?
13.  If “70% or 80%” of the protective booms are doing absolutely nothing at all to stop the oil, then what is going to stop the millions of gallons of oil in the Gulf from eventually reaching shore?
14.  It is being reported that the deep sea oil plumes are creating huge “dead zones” where all creatures are dying as they are deprived of oxygen.  If this oil spill continues to grow could the vast majority of the Gulf of Mexico become one gigantic “dead zone”?
15.  President Obama announced that the Gulf will be restored to 90% normal by the end of summer, but that we should also “pray.” Which is it?

It’s about time the American people, especially Gulf residents, get some answers…and the truth.

Read more, get a video and links here: Orlando Independent Examiner: More questions about the Gulf oil disaster.