So, one day you look down and see your feet in shoes you don't recognize. Maybe you like them, maybe you don't. This is where life begins. Welcome to WSATA, where the Goddess returns.
This could be a horrible thing. This post may be the proverbial train wreck the curious must watch--an opinionated heterosexual writing about a controversial topic deemed "queer," as it relates to the sensibilities and politics of the gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender communities. But I'm writing about it because, well, it's a train wreck with cars twisted and toppled, hanging precariously over cliffs, heavy with philosophies about the right to privacy, journalistic integrity, the sanctity of 12 step programs, and the circumstances under which homosexual politicians or pastors should be outed.
But I can write this, I tell myself, because straight or gay, humans generally don't care for hypocrisy and that is what this story is really about: hypocrisy, which probably began when humans first preached moral laws. There's no need, however, to go back that far. Our story can start with ... Please continue reading at at BlogHer.com.
What I feared has come upon me; what I dreaded has happened to me. ~~ Book of Job, 3:25
As I see Alex turn into the first hurricane of the season while oil still kills fish and wildlife in the Gulf of Mexico, I think of Job, and hope we aren't tried as he was.
As we on the Gulf Coast brace for potential hurricanes this summer, which means we're praying major storm systems go away from the Gulf Coast completely while we load up on water, food, and batteries, we still watch the oil spill crisis with all its players and pitfalls. Right now we're keeping an eye on Hurricane Alex, which may or may not be out to get us. I wish all the storms vanished because not only do I think about us here but also the people of Haiti.
In the video you'll see that Alex is already causing trouble for clean-up workers. One of the challenges of this hurricane season will be how to evacuate people from the Gulf who are busy with remediation if a bad storm enters.
We hope that people who want to volunteer to clean oil off of beaches, save the wetlands, and protect our brown pelicans don't have to also see New Orleans and surrounding areas sitting in an oily lake between now and late November. With those concerns in mind, I am participating in the Bloggers Unite initiative today, June 30, that asks bloggers to post information about how to help the Gulf of Mexico. Organizers recommend the concerned sign this petition asking Congress to shift its focus from old energy models to renewable energy and to steer the nation away from dependence on fossil fuels.
I urge you to sign it, but I also caution you to read it before you sign it. Remember Van Jones, the former Green Czar who was hounded out of his White House position in part based on a petition he signed that he did not read carefully. This petition, however, is nothing like the one he did not read.
Furthermore, if you don't intend to run for office or anticipate you'll be appointed to the White House, then you have no need to worry about signing a petition that tells Congress "enough is enough." Buck up for the Gulf and for your children. Remember fossil fuels won't last forever. It's common sense to find an alternative. Oil may run out in your children's lifetime or the lifetimes of your nieces and nephews. If you're young, maybe in yours.
As for my post on how to help, I've been doing my part by writing consistently about this disaster, but there's more to be done than to offer words. Still, the right words help too, which is why I like this other project from Deb on the Rocks.
She launched the Love the Gulf blogging meme back in May. If all you can do is write a post about any good memories you associate with the Gulf of Mexico and coastal culture, then that love would be appreciated.
What I can add to that list of Love the Gulf posts is memories of growing up and visiting Waveland, Miss., a standard vacation with my family at one point in my life. I grew up in New Orleans, aware of both nearby coastal beauty and summer concern for storms swirling in the warm sea.
But you can't ignore coastal beauty. Even today, when I want to escape, I sometimes hop in my car and drive down Highway 90 to Bay St. Louis and Gulfport, Miss. just to remind myself that I am that close to the Gulf of Mexico, and prior to the spill, I wanted to visit Grand Isle, La., for a day trip. I may still do that, but I don't want to drive down only to be told turn back by BP security or state police.
In addition, I spent many days of my youth sitting on the shores of Lake Pontchartrain, a large body of water that could be contaminated by oil from the Gulf if it spreads more inland. I've always preferred living near water.
More tangible ways to help
At BlogHer.com, a CE tells about the Hands Across the Sand event. Is it possible you could organize a similar event?
She's also been, according to comments at Island Mix, a backup singer for Prince for years, and at CD Baby it says she's sung backup for Santana and Larry Graham. The Prince.org post has a story about her shopping at a boutique with Prince.
In the video in this post, she is singing the Roberta Flack and Donny Hathaway version of "I Who Have Nothing" with Martin Luther.
The alleged spies, according to a Foreign Policy Magazine email, were supposed to "embed themselves in the fabric of American life, establishing careers and raising families in the United States. The FBI had been surveilling the ring for at least seven years."
Writing at the magazine's website, David W. Drezner calls this case the "lamest espionage conspiracy ever" and likens it to the film No Way Out.
The New York Times article says they were supposed to "penetrate American “policy making circles.” From the NYT:
Criminal complaints filed in Federal District Court in Manhattan on Monday read like an old-fashioned cold war thriller: Spies swapping identical orange bags as they brushed past each other in a train station stairway. An identity borrowed from a dead Canadian, forged passports, messages sent by shortwave burst transmission or in invisible ink. A money cache buried for years in a field in upstate New York.
... Jessie Gugig, 15, said she could not believe the charges, especially against Mrs. Murphy.
“They couldn’t have been spies,” she said jokingly. “Look what she did with the hydrangeas.”
Miss Gugig's statement cracks me up. The NYT piece says Moscow officials feared some of the agents may have "gone native." If you saw Avatar, you know what that phrase means.
And now I can't help but remember my classy, great Russian neighbors in New Jersey. The husband was Russian, the wife was from Lithuania, and they did not hide that so I think they were what they said they were. The wife did invite me to head into New York with her, suggesting I could learn how to tango and meet a millionaire.
The corner store sold Kefir and other Russian food items or treats from Slavic and Baltic countries. And next to that store was an Exxon run by Arabs. Oh, and now I'm remembering the Russian guy who moved my furniture who had Arab guys working for him. He offered to be my "special friend" because he was impressed I recognized Arabic when I heard it. (Recognized it, but I didn't understand what they were saying.) My writer's mind is whirling now. Intrigue everywhere.
I wrote years ago that Americans focus so much on brown-faced terrorists that we overlook the white-faced threats. The kicker is "The FBI said that the deep cover agents were called "Illegals" by Moscow," per the Guardian piece.
This dust-up with Russian espionage isn't the only news bit lately that makes me feel I'm watching a rerun. In the first day of confirmation hearings for Elena Kagan, Republicans invoked Thurgood Marhsall's name so much I expected him to walk in and sit down next to the SCOTUS hopeful.
I saw the remake of The Karate Kid starring Jaden Smith and Jackie Chan yesterday. Some critics have been hard on the movie, but I liked it. Anyway, early in the movie, while Dre, Jaden's character, is looking for Mr. Han, Jackie's character, the Gorillaz-Dirty Harry (Schtung Chinese New Year Remix) is playing, which made me remember the original song, also called "I need a gun," which used to be played in my house a lot in 2005 and 2006. (I guess the song fit in the remake of the movie because Dre, just like the character in the first movie starring Ralph Macchio, eventually needed a weapon to fight bullies; however, the weapon was his body.)
So, I went to YouTube and watched the original again and read the lyrics and thought that this song is still relevant now, from the war in Afghanistan to the streets of Chicago, where 54 people were shot in one weekend recently, and New Orleans, steadily trying to hold on to its old Death City label.
I need a gun to keep myself from harm The poor people are burning in the sun But they ain't got a chance They ain't got a chance I need a gun 'Cos all I do is dance 'Cos all I do is dance
I need a gun to keep myself from harm The poor people are burning in the sun No, they ain't got a chance They ain't got a chance I need a gun 'Cos all I do is dance 'Cos all I do is dance
In my backpack I got my act Right, case you act quite difficult And yo its gon' weaken with anger and discontent Some are seeking it, searchin like me, moi I'm a peace loving decoy ready for retaliation I change the whole occasion To a pine box 6 under Impulsive, don't ask wild wonder Orders give to me are strike and I'm thunder With lightning fast reflexes On constant alert from the constant hurt That seems limitless with no drop in pressure Seems like everybody's out to test ya Till they see you break You can't conceal the hate that consumes ya I'm the reason why you fill up your Isuzu Chill with your old lady at the tilt I got a ninety day extension And I'm filled with guilt From the things that I've seen Your water's from a bottle Mine's from a canteen At night I hear the shots ring so I'm a light sleeper Cost of life seems to get cheaper Out in the desert with my street sweeper "The war is over" So said the speaker With the flight suit on Maybe to him I'm just a pawn So he can advance Remember when we used to dance (Man...) All I wanna do is dance
So far in Elena Kagan's confirmation hearings, it seems the GOP knows it won't block her appointment to the Supreme Court, but it will still put on a good show. According to the Huffington Post, Republican leaders surmise Kagan will be an activist judge because she admired her mentor, Thurgood Marshall, the first African-American appointed to the high court.
Republican Senators are emphasizing Marhsall as "activist" judge" or "results oriented" because it implies the justice placed the law beneath him and ruled according to ideology. What actually is going on is that many white and status-quo-minded conservatives don't like court rulings that fall within the spirit of freedom and equality for all because those rulings usually diminish their power, which in many instances is the power of white male privilege. As Obama appoints SCOTUS justices, he chips away at what conservative presidents have done in the last 30 years to tip the court in favor of conservative ideology.
As I wrote during Justice Sonia Sotomayor's hearings, Thurgood Marshall was accused during his confirmation hearings of being "anti-white." Salon has a piece on Marshall's confirmation in historical context, concluding opposition to his appointment was mostly about race. It seems Senator Orin Hatch's reluctance to say he would vote for Marshall if his confirmation were in this century prompted the Salon piece, and so its article reminds readers of the kind of men who voted against Marshall and highlights their reasons for not doing so.
Here's a quick look at the 11 white southerners who voted against Marshall in 1967. Most of them were signatories of the notorious "Southern Manifesto," the 1956 document drafted by Strom Thurmond and Richard Russell that blasted the Brown v. Board Education decision as a "clear abuse of judicial power."
Kagan clerked under Marshall, but I feel that the GOP opposition harping on Marshall is just more of Republicans reaching out to their Limbaugh-loving base to say, "Under Obama the niggras and niggra lovers will take over." The undercurrent is "Dear conservative white people: think of all you've lost to progressives kowtowing to people of color. Remember Thurgood Marshall."
I hope they keep up this nonsense. Republicans consistently tapping the Southern Strategy gives credence to my first post about Michael Steele and his grand plan to draw black people to the GOP. It's smoke and mirrors, not to be taken seriously by anyone who knows the GOP's history.
Below, is a documentary about Marshall's life. The man died in 1993, but you'd think he was going to rise up and whisper treason in Kagan's ears the way the GOP went on about him. HuffPo says his name came up 35 times.
I enjoyed the BET Awards 2010 tribute to Prince. He received BET's lifetime achievement award. I wish this video included his thank you speech that followed, but still this is a great clip. Prince really seemed tickled by Alicia Keys's performance, and she is a well-known Prince admirer. Furthermore, he appeared mesmerized by Patti LaBelle.
Keys, who is pregnant, climbed on top the grand piano, going torch song on Prince's classic "Adore U." LaBelle sang "Purple Rain" and tossed her shoes off and Prince picked one up.
Janelle Monae performed as well, singing "Let's Go Crazy." She's quite the little spitfire. Esperanza Spalding also performed. She sang "If I Was Your Girlfriend" and played her bass. She has a beautiful voice as well.
The video in this post does not included the segment of Stevie Wonder reviewing the life of Prince Rogers Nelson, his royal purpleness.
I missed the first hour of the show, and so if BET had any serious controversy this year like it did last year with Lil Wayne, I missed it.
This WWL TV story says that so many fishermen are working for BP right now that areas where the fish are safe are not being fished. Officials propose that BP pays bonuses to get fishermen back to fishing in Louisiana waters and save the Louisiana seafood industry. A lack of fresh seafood hurts local restaurants as well. Talks with BP have stalled, reports WWL.
With all the concern about Gulf Coast seafood safety due to the BP Deepwater Horizon oil spill, even people who don't live in the area are concerned. The Inadvertent Gardener shares at BlogHer her memories of waiting for seafood deliveries from the Gulf when she lived in Iowa and blogger takes on the oil spill's impact on the food chain.
Bobby Jindal does his imitation of Moses at an oil clean-up photo op. Photo by Spencer Platt of Getty Images
As I wrote late last night in reference to a CBS report that our La. Gov. Bobby Jindal has not deployed fully the National Guard that President Barack Obama approved, "Finally, a major news outlet is not so impressed by Jindal's hot-faced 'passion' on camera that it won't scrutinize what he actually is doing or not doing."
Today I can also apply that "finally" to the New York Times. It's running the article, "Louisiana Wants U.S. Help, and Its Own Way." The article explores something the media should have examined long before now, that while he's ranting against BP and the federal government like Nagin blasted the feds from the Superdome during Hurricane Katrina, Jindal, sans Nagin's profanity, barks but doesn't know what he's doing either:
... a review of Louisiana’s prespill preparation suggests that the state may be open to the same criticisms that Mr. Jindal has leveled at BP and federal authorities.
Writing earlier this month about a speech Jindal gave to the Minerals Management Service in 2005, I discussed his declarations that Louisiana could balance oil drilling in the Gulf while balancing the threat to our wetlands and the hypocrisy of a Republican pushing states rights--declaring Louisiana could handle it all--while expecting the federal government to bear most of the responsibility for environmental protection. And I said then, June 2nd:
I'm fed up with Jindal scoring political points during this crisis given his pro-offshore oil drilling position and objection even to other regulations that protect the environment, such as global warming pollution regulations. While we watch him on the news daily, there's talk of his great crisis management skills and how presidential he looks, but let's not forget that Jindal is also shortsighted.
Gov. Jindal is a man consistently unable to see that deregulation and privatization is problematic. He may not be as dimwitted as Sarah Palin, but he is as myopic when it comes to drilling for oil.
... You see how promoting states rights works. ... If we're talking cleaning up the coast after state leaders lobby for offshore drilling, then it's states take the money, but let the feds take care of the mess while the states weep and kvetch. The same must go for being anti-anything-that-smacks-of-socialism but pro-federal-government-holding-businesses'-coats when disaster strikes.
In that post, I also said Jindal's sand berm plan was questionable. The New York Times article today looks askance at the sand berm solution also.
Please consider that Republicans and some progressive activists have criticized Obama for not knowing of the MMS's lax handing of BP's lease, the process for which began under George W. Bush before Obama took office, and concluded three months after he took the presidential oath and immediately took on the recession and health care reform. He's not been as successful with those problems as many had hoped. Nevertheless, these same people who blast the president have not critiqued Jindal's lack of preparedness for an oil spill when he is the governor of an oil state who's advocated deep water drilling and said Louisiana could balance the risks. So, where was his comprehensive plan for a crisis like the BP Deepwater Horizon rig blowing up in the Gulf of Mexico and devastating coastal life?
Louisiana should plan for the future and get off the oil pipe. Oil is finite. Tell your friends to live by the oil pipe is shortsighted. Our politicians have done us a disservice by being too dependent on the oil industry and not diversifying the economy.
But I suppose, now that the Gulf is ruined and will take years to recover, and the fishermen won't have jobs anyway, and Bobby Jindal is cutting education budgets, oil is all some people will ever know. That's sad. I guess the logic is drill it until you kill it and everything else be damned.
Last night, June 25, MSNBC's Dateline aired an interview with the mother of Michael Jackson as news organizations, bloggers, and fans around the world commemorated the first anniversary of his death. Katherine Jackson, who is raising Michael's children--Michael Joseph Jackson, Jr. aka Prince; Paris Michael Katherine; and Prince Michael Jackson II aka "Blanket"--has written a coffee table book about her son, Never Can Say Goodbye, with the help of part-time journalist Sonia Lowe. ... Read more at the African-American Books Examiner.
At last some folks in the mainstream media seems willing to question how Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal is handling response to the oil spill. Finally, a major news outlet is not so impressed by Jindal's hot-faced "passion" on camera that it won't scrutinize what he actually is doing or not doing. For instance, Jindal is not using all the National Guards troops the federal government has approved him to use to fight the oil spill and keep oil from reaching the wetlands.
"Actually we asked the White House to approve the initial 6,000," Jindal said. "What they came back and said is the Coast Guard and BP had to authorize individual tasks."
But Coast Guard Adm. Thad Allen, the national incident commander in charge of the government's response to the spill, said Jindal is just flat wrong.
"There is nothing standing in the governor's way from utilizing more National Guard troops," Allen said.
When Gen. Colin Powell appeared in a TV interview weeks back and was asked why didn't President Barack Obama use the military, I wrote a post and made sure to include video about the National Guard being activated. With so many people asking why haven't we deployed the military, you'd think National Guard soldiers are nothing. I addressed that notion responding to a commenter.
CBS reports that despite his frequent on-camera lamentations that Obama is not providing the labor needed to fight the spill, Jindal has not deployed all the National Guard troops that he's been given permission to use.
As of today, the federal government has authorized a total of 17,500 National Guard troops across four Gulf states, all to be paid for by BP.
But CBS News has learned that in addition to Louisiana's 1,053 troops of 6,000, Alabama has deployed 432 troops of 3,000 available. Even fewer have been deployed in Florida - 97 troops out of 2,500 - and Mississippi - 58 troops out of 6,000.
Those figures prompted President Obama to weigh in.
"I urge the governors in the affected states to activate these troops as soon as possible," Mr. Obama said.
The governors of the states mentioned may fear a National Guard presence will keep tourists away, according to the CBS story, but the reporter also suggests politics may be at play.
You're damned skippy politics are at play! The governors of all those Gulf Coast states mentioned are Republicans, and as has been revealed by "leaked" GOP's emails, Republican strategists want to play this oil spill for every teardrop that may equal a GOP vote.
They want to make Obama look like he's insensitive to the people of the Gulf Coast, like he doesn't really want to clean up the oil. They want it to seem like "Obama's Katrina." (Hear that with a big boom mic and echo chamber.) And as you know, some Republican pundits have said blunty or by code that "Obama has a deep-seated hatred for white people." They started beating that drum long before the BP Deepwater Horizon explosion that killed 11 workers. But now, think Kanye West's outburst during the Hurricane Katrina telethon as Jindal parades mostly white "angry" oil drill workers out saying they can't feed their families due the moratorium. Republicans ans their tit for tat mentality is so middle school.
With the Oprah show coming to an end on network television because the talk-show tycoon has started her OWN network, I wonder about all the people who dreamed of being on her show who now won't get the chance. However, they have the chance for something bigger.
It's old news now that Oprah's having a contest for people to have their own show on her network. But I haven't paid close attention. So, that may be why I'm just remembering this now, but back when I used to do Confessions of a Jersey Goddess, I published a post on June 23, 2005 called "Hunt for the Next Hot Oprah," and here it is in its entirety, with the exception of its links:
All respect to Tom Clancy (Hunt for the Red October), but in my sleep-deprived stupor those words, "Hunt for the Next Hot Oprah" shimmied through my mind. I doubt The Queen plans to host her talk show forever. When she steps off to the land of TV specials and movie production, where will all those fans go?
Ms. Oprah would surely slay me to think such a thing, especially considering that I'm no fan of reality television. (How hypocritical of me, considering that blogging is just the Internet version of reality TV in many ways. Yes, dearies, come. Step into our lives. Learn our most intimate secrets.)
Imagine crazed women over-running a studio vying for their big break to prove that they have Oprah magic. Keep in mind that Oprah magic is not simply the ability to speak well and draw a crowd. Ms. Winfrey is a crowd all by herself. Oprah magic is the ability to walk with dignity, grace, and to build a dynasty openly, all eyes upon you, awaiting you to crash and burn. But, baby, you don't. You just don't because God's got his hand on you.
Yes, "The Hunt for the Next Hot Oprah" would make Donald Trump's Apprentice look like C-SPAN.
I wouldn't be in the running for "Next Hot Oprah". Too old. But surely there's got to be some young unknown out there that America's ready to watch grow and is eager to love to the toenails.
On the other hand, let's remember, when it comes to Oprah, the woman's a phenomenon. Like The Highlander, "There can be only One."
Nordette/Jersey Goddess PS: If anyone out there has the resources to do this crazy show, remember, you heard it from me.
I've reopened that old blog site just so people can see I didn't make this up about pondering such a show in 2005. And I am not saying Oprah stole my idea because it's a logical idea that could have popped into the heads of anyone of her people without any help from me.
Nevertheless, I was amused to see this at her site, that she got the producer of Trump's Apprentice:
Oprah and reality TV super producer Mark Burnett (SurvivorTM & The ApprenticeTM) are joining forces in search of the next big TV star. Do you have a big personality and a big dream for yourself? This could be your BIG BREAK - the chance of a lifetime to host your own TALK show...on OWN. If you think you have "IT" - upload your video audition or go to an open casting call. You can also help decide who wins - keep coming back right here to view auditions and vote for your favorites.
The image of O Magazine is the exact same one I used in June 2005.
I've already done my Michael Jackson post commemorating the first anniversary of his passing last year, but had to add this video. I must have been taking care of my children and ex husband or something when he made this music video which features Chris Tucker and some other Hollywood faces because I don't recall it. It's another of MJ's mini musical movies.
And on Twitter, Holly Robinson Peete this link to a rare photo of her with Michael in 1972:
Me & Michael Jackson circa 1972 when J5 came 2 Philly i got 2 meet him couldn't even look at him so nervous!! ... http://twitpic.com/141nj7
William Allen Kruse, 55, a charter boat captain recently hired by BP as a vessel of opportunity out of Gulf Shores, Ala., died Wednesday morning before 7:30 a.m. of a gunshot to the head, likely self-inflicted, authorities said.
"He had been quite despondent about the oil crisis," said Stan Vinson, coroner for Baldwin County, which includes Gulf Shores.
The CBS video report says calls to suicide lines in Louisiana have jumped from 400 before the Gulf of Mexico crisis to 2,400 two months later, and its written story, creates a dismal scene of psychic decay related to the oil spill as some of the people affected have gone from nearly recovering from Hurricane Katrina to loss of income due to the oil leak:
"We're seeing already an increase in suspiciousness, arguing, domestic violence. . . . We're already having reports of increased drinking, anxiety, anger and avoidance," Howard J. Osofsky of the Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center in New Orleans said during a two-day hearing this week on the physical and emotional impact of the spill.
One social worker in the article compares the oil spill's toll on Gulf Coast residents to that of disease and says it's affecting people like "cancer or tumor." Similar issues arose during the Exxon Valdez crisis.
Today marks the first anniversary of the death of Michael Jackson, the King of Pop. I won't write much because I wrote about him often last year. Here's the link to the MJ posts here at this blog. From Examiner and BlogHer.com, I have the following posts from last year:
I think almost every major network is running a Michael Jackson special either today or at some other time over the weekend. Check your local listings.
I've decided to run two Michael Jackson videos to commemorate his passing, "Remember the Time" and "Earth Song," and thre of the flash mob dances done his honor in other countries. There are a lot of those online.
As stated by Wikipedia, "Remember the Time" is "set in ancient Egypt and features appearances by Eddie Murphy, Iman, The Pharcyde and Magic Johnson. The video was generally well received."
And here are some of the flash mob dance tributes, one from Bucharest, another from HongKong, and a third from Amsterdam, all done after his death.
And this unique tribute which is medley by Sam Tsui - Vocals Kurt Schneider - Arrangement, Production. Yes, it's all the same guy, Tsui, except the one on the side, who I guess must be Scheider.
Extra: Michael and Jermaine accapella, Stop, the Love You Save May Be Your Own
Is it raining oil in Louisiana? Worse, is it raining oil with Corexit in Louisiana? I don't know. As I start this post, I'm collecting some rain in Louisiana in a container outside where it's pouring. My location is about 34 miles from Bay St. Louis, Miss. and technically closer to the Gulf of Mexico than River Ridge, La., where a video producer says it's raining oil. So, I'm about halfway between River Ridge and the Bay St. Louis Bridge, another spot where the producer says he's seen oil.
The container collecting rain filled up pretty quickly before I finished this post, and I didn't smell anything nor did I see the tell-tale rainbow that usually shows up in oily water when light hits it. I also shot video of some puddles. No rainbows there either. The rainwater I collected was clear. Nevertheless, the only real way to tell is to have a chemist test it. Maybe someone with the money to hire a chemist will do that, someone objective with no ties to the oil industry, the Federal Government, or the environmentalist movement.
My instinct says the reported oil could be from any number of sources, including leaky cars and trucks. I've seen rain puddles that glisten rainbows in New Jersey next to Watchung Reservation, and so rainbows in water puddles may mean nothing in terms of the BP oil spill.
I became curious about this topic because someone posted the story about oily rain on Facebook. A video circulating the Web shows what appears to be oil on the rain-soaked streets of River Ridge, La., and it's popped up on a site called PrisonPlanet, which is indeed an odd site, as the person on Facebook points out. The site article has another video with someone saying via cell phone it's raining oil in Texas too.
The guy on the cell phone in that second video, however, is an idiot since he's also spreading the misinformation that President Obama has strong finanical ties to BP, and that simply is not true.
Can Oil Evaporate?
That conversation on Facebook turned into a challenge of whether oil could evaporate. Someone said it could not, and so, there could be no oily rain. Another person said but hydrocarbons can evaporate and we should be concerned also about the Corexit dispersant, which has made oil spill workers ill, showing up in our rain cycle too. O.K. Scarier!
Then someone else came along and said, oil can indeed evaporate under specific circumstances and provided these two links:
Yesterday, June 23, Fast Company ran this story too early perhaps with the headline "Raining Oil in Louisiana? Not Likely," and said oil doesn't evaporate, and then later had to update acknowledging oil can evaporate, and so it's possible oil could enter the rain cycle. However, I agree with the writer at Bayou Buzz that we have enough problems down here from this oil spill, and so, we must be careful about creating hysteria. And there is hysteria to be had. Gena Haskett at BlogHer has a round-up of people fearing an apocalypse, in this case "the oilpocalypse," the doomers.
Another YouTube user charges the video was produced by someone he believes is a publicity hound, a man called Casey Nunez, who the user says is an unemployed actor. I don't know if that's true, but it could be. The speaker says, "It's raining oil, right here in River Ridge," which reminded me of the "Trouble in River City" line/song from The Music Man. A theater-addict would be familiar with that, but it could also be that people in River Ridge have adopted the saying because the word "river" is in the town name. Anyway, I don't think this video should be dismissed because people have a personal issue with its producer. The best way to quell hysteria is for someone to investigate and tell the truth.
Here's a video showing the narrator of the first video and it does appear to be Casey Nunez. I'm not sure why so many people on YouTube hate this guy, but it seems a lot do. What has he said in the past to rile people?
In other news from As the Oil Swirls, yesterday the cap on the BP Deepwater Horizon oil leak failed, scaring the bejezus out of folks, and that resulted in Fox 8 asking, "What happens if we can't ever plug the leak?" By evening the cap had been replaced.
As BP opens its checkbook to pay damages related to the Gulf of Mexico oil spill, it is beginning to do battle over a high-stakes question: Who else bears liability?
Some of the companies involved in the drilling operation are laying the groundwork to argue: not us.
In the fallout of Gen. Stanley McChrystal and his staff's impolitic comments published in a magazine article, President Barack Obama today accepted the general's resignation. He announced his decision from the White House Rose Garden as the media anticipated the general would be fired. The president said:
"... war is bigger than any one man or woman, whether a private, a general, or a president. And as difficult as it is to lose General McChrystal, I believe that it is the right decision for our national security.
... The conduct represented in the recently published article does not meet the standard that should be set by a commanding general. It undermines the civilian control of the military that is at the core of our democratic system. And it erodes the trust that’s necessary for our team to work together to achieve our objectives in Afghanistan.
Obama announcedGen. David Petraeus will replace McChrystal, pending results of confirmation hearings, which will be Tuesday, reports Stars and Stripes. Gen. Petraeus, who was the head of the United States Central Command, remained silent on McChyrstal's widely-discussed remarks.
McChrystal's statement in response to the president's announcement is available on Scribd:
This morning the President accepted my resignation as Commander of U.S. and NATO Coalition Forces in Afghanistan. I strongly support the President’s strategy in Afghanistan and am deeply committed to our coalition forces, our partner nations, and the Afghan people. It was out of respect for this commitment -- and a desire to see the mission succeed -- that I tendered my resignation. It has been my privilege and honor to lead our nation’s finest.
The Rolling Stone article by Michael Hastings that caused Obama to yank McChrystal from his post in Afghanistan is entitled "The Runaway General." It exploded on the Net and in mainstream media Monday and will be available on newstands June 25. Hastings takes readers behind the scenes with the general's senior aides in the Afghanistan War, and the magazine sums the lengthy piece up:
Stanley McChrystal, Obama's top commander in Afghanistan, has seized control of the war by never taking his eye off the real enemy: those whimps in the White House.
In it one of McChrystal's aides called the general's meeting with Obama early in his presidency after the general was assigned as commander in Afghanistan a "photo op," and he said the president didn't know anything about McChrystal. Other sources, said Hastings, described the general's impression of Obama in an earlier briefing as "'intimidated' by the roomful of military brass."
McChrystal and his staff disrespected Vice President Joe Biden:
"Are you asking about Vice President Biden?" McChrystal says with a laugh. "Who's that?"
"Biden?" suggests a top adviser. "Did you say: Bite Me?"
As the article continues, it's clear disrespect from "Team McChrystal" extends to retired four-star general and veteran of the Cold War Jim Jones. An aide calls him "a 'clown' who remains "stuck in 1985." More insults flow as an aide shares how McChrystal likens Richard Holbrooke, a diplomat and special representative assigned to Afghanistan and Pakistan, "a wounded animal," who is "dangerous" because his job's in jeopardy.
Neither are Senators John McCain and John Kerry spared. Hastings writes, "Team McChrystal likes to talk shit about many of Obama's top people on the diplomatic side," and he says the only person not skewered is Secretary of State Hillary Clinton because she said the administration should give McChyrstal whatever he wants.
That's the big red flag waving in this article that marks the chasm between the military and diplomacy camps on what to do about Afghanistan. The greater concern is that this division undermines civilian chain of command and the morale of U.S. troops. Hence, it was at this point in addressing the McChrystal dismissal that the president delivered his strongest statements:
I welcome debate among my team, but I won’t tolerate division. All of us have personal interests; all of us have opinions. Our politics often fuels conflict, but we have to renew our sense of common purpose and meet our responsibilities to one another, and to our troops who are in harm’s way, and to our country.
We need to remember what this is all about. Our nation is at war. We face a very tough fight in Afghanistan. But Americans don’t flinch in the face of difficult truths or difficult tasks. We persist and we persevere. We will not tolerate a safe haven for terrorists who want to destroy Afghan security from within, and launch attacks against innocent men, women, and children in our country and around the world.
So make no mistake: We have a clear goal. We are going to break the Taliban’s momentum. We are going to build Afghan capacity. We are going to relentlessly apply pressure on al Qaeda and its leadership, strengthening the ability of both Afghanistan and Pakistan to do the same.
That’s the strategy that we agreed to last fall; that is the policy that we are carrying out, in Afghanistan and Pakistan.
According to blogs and mainstream media sources, as well as the Rolling Stone article, Obama is fighting this war based on a campaign promise. Furthermore, he's been sucked into using a military strategy he's never wholeheartedly supported, counterinsurgency also called COIN. Counterinsurgency is the strategy Petraeus used in Iraq, and it is the strategy McChrystal championed for Afghanistan. Obama's downfall, say analysts, may be that Afghanistan looks more like his Viet Nam each day.
Speculation on the General's Loose Lips
The Rolling Stone article tells readers that mouthing off and having Obama yank his chain is not new for McChrystal:
Last fall, during the question-and-answer session following a speech he gave in London, McChrystal dismissed the counterterrorism strategy being advocated by Vice President Joe Biden as "shortsighted," saying it would lead to a state of "Chaos-istan." The remarks earned him a smackdown from the president himself, who summoned the general to a terse private meeting aboard Air Force One. The message to McChrystal seemed clear: Shut the fuck up, and keep a lower profile.
The article also tells us that Obama, on the advice of the Pentagon and the Joint Chiefs of Staff, "fired Gen. David McKiernan – then the U.S. and NATO commander in Afghanistan" and then mentions the firing of Gen. Douglass MacArthur who President Harry Truman fired during the Korean War. Truman dismissed MacArthur because the popular general criticized his policy.
Before today's news, an editorial at the L.A. Times said the president should just slap McChrystal's wrist and send him back to Afgahistan because McChrystal is valuable and his remarks were not as bad as MacArthur's comments, says the editorial. But given that the Rolling Stone article itself reveals McChrystal's already had a wrist slapping, what else could Obama do that would not make him look like a weak Commander in Chief?
In an interview with Morning Joe on MSNBC, Eric Bates, executive editor of the Rolling Stone, said that McChrystal knew exactly what he was saying and his staff was saying. The general and his staff knew what was on the record and off, and the magazine honored those boundaries, having received open access to McChrystal and his men, according to Bates.
Hastings kept in touch with the editor, and it sounds like The Rolling Stone knew it was serving up a a hot course for dismissal with the Hasting's piece. The mention of MacArthur in the article itself seems more a foreshadowing of the president accepting McChrystal's resignation today as an astute writer perceived the significance of his scoop instead of simply a historical tidbit. The group discussing the story on Morning Joe speculates that perhaps McChrystal knew he had thrown down the proverbial gauntlet because he was tired and wanted out of an "unwinnable" war.
Harvard history professor Niall Ferguson marveled at McChrystal's naiveté and said:
But, you know, "Rolling Stone" has already made its reputation for practically blowing Goldman Sachs apart in the last year. So, you don't talk to "Rolling Stone" expecting a little bland piece about yourself. This is going to be a very calculated decision on McChrystal's part.
In the segment, however, Bates says he does not think the general and his staff's quips of insubordination that could lead to dismissal were intentional. He says over the course of the show's conversation:
Well, we got a really unprecedented access with him. We spent -- we reported this story over the course of several months. We were with him on a trip in Europe that wound up getting extended because of the volcano in Iceland. So, our reporter was kind of trapped with him for about two weeks in Paris and traveling from Paris to Berlin. They couldn't fly, so they had to take a bus. So, we really spent a lot of time with him ...
I have to say, in the course of this story, I don't think we got the sense that it was intentional, either. I think we got a look behind the curtain. These are men at war, talking amongst themselves in that locker-room way. McChrystal is known for being very, very frank. It's one of the most appealing traits. Whether he used good judgment in saying this kind stuff in front of a reporter is another question.
Last year, following the release of the memo asking for 40,000 troops, McChrystal gave an inteview to CBS 60 Minutes where he spoke frankly about the war. On MSNBC, Joe Scarborough said he thought McChrystal showed poor judgement in some of his answers then as well. He thinks the general wasn't discreet enough about his communication or lack of communication with the president.
Last night, meaning a few hours ago because it's only 12:22 a.m. right now in the New Orleans area, I watched a PBS episode of NOVA that fascinated me about cuttlefish, Kings of Camouflage. You can watch the whole video online, I've learned. I highly recommend it.
The cuttlefish's ability to change the color and texture of its skin is amazing. Sometimes it appears to hypnotize its prey. And there's a provocative story in the Kings of Camouflage about how the small males disguise themselves as females so they can get past the bigger, macho male cuttlefish during the mating season to place their sperm sacks beneath the arms of females that decide later whether or not to accept them to fertilize eggs. In addition, cuttlefish can learn, according to the film.
Welcome back to Obama Wheel of Fortune! Here is where we spin to see whether Lady Luck is smiling on President Barack Obama, the first African-American President of the United States of America, or frowning sourly. So far the week doesn't look good for our cool Commander in Chief.
Sources such as the Huffington Post report he blew his stack. He was "furious" when he learned that Gen. Stanley McChrystal described him as unprepared for the Oval Office when they first met and that Obama looked intimidated by all the military men in that first briefing. McChyrstal and his staff gave Rolling Stonean open-access interview for the story entitled "The Runaway General" by Michael Hastings.
The magazine will deliver the issue to stands June 25 and sums up the McChrystal interview this way.
Stanley McChrystal, Obama's top commander in Afghanistan, has seized control of the war by never taking his eye off the real enemy: Those whimps in the White House
The interview reads like a verbal hit list with McChrystal's staff, with no objection from McChrystal, insulting everyone from Obama to Vice President Biden on down, and McChrystal with a few shots of his own.
President Obama subsequently yanked the general's chain, dragging him back to Washington D.C., where his job was said to hang in limbo. Eric Bates, the article's editor, says McChrystal knew what he was saying was on the record, that the Rolling Stone respected the boundaries of on and off-the-record comments. Bates appeared on MSNBC's Morning Joe today. So, we have to wonder what was not on the record because what was is pretty damning.
Even McChrystal's supporters have said the interview is grounds for his dismisal, and apparently understanding this the general has already offered an apology and his resignation, according to CNN and Time.
Gen. Stanley McChrystal has submitted his resignation, Time magazine's Joe Klein told CNN, citing an unnamed source. CNN is working to confirm Klein's information.
Per CNN, McChrystal calls the interview "a mistake" reflecting poor judgment, and he has fired some of his own staff as a result.
Yes, a military general openly criticizing the Commander in Chief is simply not done. I remember when Colin Powell appeared to disagree with former president George W. Bush based on body language, but he never came out and said Bush was wrong while he was serving that president. There's no official word yet on McChrystal's resignation, whether he really did submit and whether it was accepted.
The Washington Postasks whether the president can afford to lose McChrystal.
But relieving McChrystal of his command on the eve of a major offensive in Kandahar, which White House and Pentagon officials have said is the most critical of the war, would be a major blow to the war effort, said military experts.
We're supposed to be out of Afghanistan by July 2011.
McChrystal-gate isn't the only setback our lanky contestant faces today as a wildcard judge in Louisiana ruled against Obama's temporary drilling moratorium for the Gulf of Mexico. Amid calls from Louisiana business owners screaming foul on the ban and the state's governor Bobby Jindal railing against it beside frustrated oil workers on TV, Judge Martin Feldman took no chance that his oil investments could falter and said Obama's ban was hurting those poor people too darn much.
Finally, rumors rumble through the blogosphere and across the pond that Rahm Emmanuel has had enough of White House softees and will leave his position as Chief of Staff sometime after November elections. This news has spread via an anonymous source speaking to a British newspaper. The British are having an Obama hatefest of late in response to America lashing BP.
The AP reports and Nola.com and WWL TV repeat that U.S. District Court Judge Martin Feldman granted a preliminary injunction against the temporary deepwater drilling moratorium the federal government put in place since the BP Deepwater Horizon oil rig blew up and created the nation's worst environmental disaster ever. You may view Judge Feldman's ruling as a PDF here. The White House said it will immediately appeal the judge's ruling.
Per the AP story:
Press Secretary Robert Gibbs said President Barack Obama believes strongly that drilling at such depths does not make sense and puts the safety of workers "at a danger that the president does not believe we can afford."
Local businesses filed the lawsuit against the moratorium, but I am sure Republicans will call today's ruling a victory.
I expected Feldman to rule in favor of the companies. Slabbed says anyone who doubted this outcome should have looked at the judge's oily financial statements, and Mother Jones reports that in 2008, Feldman's had stock in TransOcean.
He has also recently owned stock in offshore drilling or oilfield service providers Halliburton, Prospect Energy, Hercules Offshore, Parker Drilling Co., and ATP Oil & Gas. Feldman was appointed by President Ronald Reagan in 1983.
And now a word from a BP whistleblower, Tyrone Benton. He survived the fatal explosion of April 20 that killed 11 people. There have been quite a few people stepping forward to say BP doesn't give a damn about safety, however. Neither does Judge Feldman, I suppose.
Film titan Tyler Perry as Madea, the character that made him a success.
I don't know how long this Boondocks, Season 3/Episode 8 entitled "Pause," will be available online, but last night Twitter went aflutter over the show's skewering of Tyler Perry. The movie mogul is despised in some parts of the black community where it's declared he furthers black stereotypes. I see the critiques as evidence of our class struggle issue between the Spike Lees of the black community and the church-going folk with southern sensibilities. Tyler began and continues to build his empire through a southern-style church-loving tradition.
I have seen some scathing, homophobic posts about Perry from certain bloggers over the years who say they hate the man. In addition, I've watched a few conversations about the native New Orleanian roll through Twitter as black social activists, PhDs, and media critics bear verbal claws and fangs to rip him to shreds.
What I see in these debates is that Perry faces the same kinds of criticisms Zora Neale Hurston received from the "intellecutal" black writers of her era, including Richard Wright.
Miss Hurston voluntarily continues in her novel the tradition which was forced upon the Negro in the theater, that is, the minstrel technique that makes the "white folks" laugh. Her characters eat and laugh and cry and work and kill; they swing like a pendulum eternally in that safe and narrow orbit in which America likes to see the Negro live: between laughter and tears….
Her opponents also spread rumors about her sexual orientation. Interestingly, some of the people who lambaste Perry, love Zora and defend her as a genius. We'll see how time treats Perry.
No further comment on last night's episode of Boondocks except to say that you'll see a Rocky Horror Picture Show spoof, former hookers talking about giving it up for Jesus, and the "no homo" clip I mentioned a while back. Boondocks creator Aaron McGruder suggests Perry uses love of Jesus to cloak homosexuality and indulgence of some other behaviors some Christians call sinful. While much is made of Perry dressing as a woman, theater historians will attest that men dressing as women for the sake of laughs is a time-honored tradition among thespians.
While it seems to me that McGruder, whose middle name is "controversy," may be the type to let these clips stay up on YouTube, I'm not sure Adult Swim will. So, watch it while you can. McGruder may anger a whole lot of folks at once, but the young man does have a gift for cutting satire. In this case, his satire is closer to personal ridicule than political commentary.
Pause: If episode is not visible here, try this link.
BP is not only bleeding oil but also gushing damning documents about its carelessness in the DeepwaterHorizon oil spill case. To me, it feels as though each day we see some new hint of madness.
A BP estimate made before the explosion of the Deepwater Horizon noted that as much as 100,000 barrels per day could leak into the ocean if the blowout preventer and wellhead were removed, a higher worst-case scenario than previously reported.
That's 4.2 million gallons of oil per day under a worst-case scenario, CNN reports.
Congressman Edward Markey of Mass., chairman of the Energy and Environment Subcommittee in the House Energy and Commerce Committee, released the documents, and said, per CNN:
"This document raises very troubling questions about what BP knew and when they knew it. It is clear that, from the beginning, BP has not been straightforward with the government or the American people about the true size of this spill ..."
With this kind of news surfacing and Republican Joe Barton recently apologizing to BP and then taking that apology back, the gloves are off and bipartisanship is out, according to the Huffington Post's report about White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emmanuel appearing on This Week at ABC:
... Emanuel says the GOP philosophy is to paint BP as the victim, pointing to Rep. Joe Barton's apology to BP for what the congressman called a White House "shakedown."
"That's not a political gaffe, those are prepared remarks. That is a philosophy. That is an approach to what they see. They see the aggrieved party here as BP, not the fishermen ..."
At BlogHer, I commented that Barton didn't get the memo from Republican leaders that they don't want to play the oil spill crisis this way in the open.
Also, on June 16 under "Obama Wheel of Fortune," I wrote: "It's becoming clearer each day that it's not health care nor the economy, stupid, it's the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico that will shape this president's future. Both Republicans and Democrats will make this oil spill a crucible of 2012 and November 2010." (Also see Republicans gloat over oil spill.)
In addition, Emanuel talked at length about the White House taking charge of the oil spill and holding BP accountable.
What About Getting Off the Oil Pipe?
In a blog post at Huffington Post, Robert Greenwald links to this video with petition at Facebook asking us to stop the bribing of our politicians by the oil industry. He's saying in his post, Clean, Baby, Clean, that it's time to get serious about switching to clean energy. The video is from Power Without Petroleum.
Right along through here, Van Jones crosses my mind often. He was the green jobs guy run from his position as a White House advisor via the McCarthy-like tactics of Glenn Beck.
I've probably said enough for the time being about how MSM is ignoring La. Governor Bobby Jindal's oil industry history; however, there's no evidence Jindal's received gobs of money directly from the industry for anything. He's just another Louisiana politician who's said we can balance environmental risks with drilling for oil.
The media has chosen instead to discuss President Barack Obama's acceptance of $71,051 from BP employees during his presidential campaign, a figure that is less than .0001 percent of the nearly $750 million in campaign contributions he raised.
CNN also reports in an intro to its story about new BP documentation that an all-star telethon for Gulf aid has been planned by Larry King. Read more here. They'd better leave Kanye West out of this one. However, "BP don't like brown pelicans" could make a good T-shirt.
This could be a horrible thing. This post may be the proverbial train wreck the curious must watch--an opinionated heterosexual writing about a controversial topic deemed "queer," as it relates to the sensibilities and politics of the gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender communities. But I'm writing about it because, well, it's a train wreck with cars twisted and toppled, hanging precariously over cliffs, heavy with philosophies about the right to privacy, journalistic integrity, the sanctity of 12 step programs, and the circumstances under which homosexual politicians or pastors should be outed. 
Thanks to Teachbx, who commented on 
With the Oprah show coming to an end on network television because the 
