In my opinion....

The arrogance of our agenda driven President has exceeded all levels of acceptance in recent days with the latest round of what American’s are led to believe are coincidences in the BP Gulf Geyser Catastrophe.

I’m talking about the federal government’s—specifically the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s—decision to halt the immediately needed sand berm dredging along the Gulf Coast over concerns about where the dredging is being done.

This dredging is the same dredging that the State of Louisiana had to apply for—and wait weeks for—permits from the Army Corps of Engineers. They were finally approved after multiple trips to the region by Mr. Obama and cabinet members.

Now, one day after U.S. District Judge Martin Feldman struck down the Obama administration’s six-month ban on deepwater oil drilling in the Gulf of Mexico; the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service determines they have concerns about one area where sand is being dredged from saying it is a sensitive section of the Chandeleur Islands, and the state failed to meet an extended deadline to install pipe that would draw sand from a less-endangered area.

Coincidence I ask?

As is so typical in these cases where the government is involved, the right hand doesn’t know or care what the left hand is doing—and in this case--in my humble opinion-- it’s “the left” slapping at those on “the right.”

Judge Feldman is a 1983 Ronald Reagan appointee. His 2008 financial disclosure report — the most recent available — showed investments (like many Judges in the region) in Ocean Energy, a Houston-based company, as well as Quicksilver Resources, Prospect Energy, Peabody Energy, Halliburton, Pengrowth Energy Trust, Atlas Energy Resources, Parker Drilling and others.

He’s clearly not invested in Mr. Obama’s “Green economy”—at least not by the looks of his financial disclosure.

Feldman’s ruling prohibits federal officials from enforcing the oil drilling moratorium until a trial is held. He wrote: “If some drilling equipment parts are flawed, is it rational to say all are? Are all airplanes a danger because one was? All oil tankers like Exxon Valdez? All trains? All mines? That sort of thinking seems heavy-handed, and rather overbearing.”

Judge Martin Feldman cited blatantly false claims by the Obama administration in its report imposing the ban, and violations of the Administrative Procedure Act, which protects against arbitrary government actions.

He was referring to a report filed by the National Academy of Scientists that was “altered” by Department of the Interior Secretary Ken Salazar to make the views of those who wrote the report appear to favor a federal moratorium…five of the National Academy experts and three of the other experts have publicly stated that they “do not agree with the six month blanket moratorium” on floating drilling.”

So is this tit-for-tat by the White House?

“Since day one”, Mr. Obama and members of his administration have hamstrung the response efforts to this disaster by imposing red tape at every juncture to delay prevention of the oil reaching shore, and rapid clean-up once the oil arrived.

They’ve failed to lift the Jones Act. The Jones Act bans foreign vessels and crews from working in U.S. waters, but it gives the President the authority to completely waive that ban if he wishes.

Obama refuses to lift the ban, even though American shippers who generally support the ban said they wouldn’t object to lifting it to fight the spill.

As a result of the ban, the U.S. has rejected a lot of foreign aid from counties with expertise in fighting oil spills.

Obama is a politician—not a leader—so in his world, his political agendas always come first. Obama’s reluctance to lift the Jones Act is because of his cozy relationship with labor unions. Unions see the President’s action [not waiving the act] as protecting jobs.

When Governor Bobby Jindal placed “port-o-let” trucks on barges—trucks that have the capability to suck gallons of oil from the marshes--the Coast Guard shut them down-- saying they needed to confirm that there were fire extinguishers and life vests on board, and then it had trouble contacting the people who built the barges. The result was a day or so of more oil lingering in the marshes.

And now, we have the issue with the sand berms after a Obama’s moratorium is lifted.

From where I stand, Obama is using BP’s oil spill to push his global-warming legislation that BP lobbied for.

Obama’s global-warming legislation expands ethanol subsidies, which cause famine, starvation, and food riots in poor countries by shrinking the food supply. Ethanol production also results in deforestation, soil erosion, and water pollution--as well as making gasoline costlier and dirtier.

This President came into office with his agenda of “hope and change”. He has however proven it is one of “hoax and chains”—he’s repeatedly saying the government is doing everything they can to work with BP to stem the tide of oil—yet his actions and the actions of the agencies he is in charge of—say otherwise.

Obama’s agendas are his and he’s willing to achieve them—at the expense and lives of Americans—for now on the Gulf Coast—but I’m convinced, he’d sacrifice us all, if it’d meant him “winning.”

Matt Lawrence is a three-time author. His latest book, with co-author Thomas Van Hare, is entitled BETRAYAL: Clinton, Castro & the Cuban Five and uncovers an explosive scandal that links the Clinton White House with Castro's murder of American citizens in February 1994. Click Here to buy the book.

BP’s Botched Plan

The proof is in the “pudding”--or oil--as the case is this time.

Unless someone can prove otherwise--BP never considered developing a deep water spill response plan for the Gulf of Mexico; but instead spent their money buying off politicians and finding new ways to locate and suck the Black Gold out of the Gulf.

That’s because BP’s six-hundred page response plan reads like a collegiate attempt at a term paper that was never going to be read--by anyone.

The document, an apparent copy of a plan meant for colder waters mentions sea lions, walruses, and seals as critters of concern in the Gulf of Mexico—uh, hello Dr. Geologist CEO…Ms. Director of MMS…is anyone familiar with “who lived” in the Gulf?

Whoever wrote (or copied) BP’s contingency plan also chose to list MSRC as the company’s 24/7 “primary equipment provider” for the Gulf of Mexico.

I checked out the company’s Japanese website and didn’t find the oil spill response section, maybe you can. Here’s the URL. http://www.msrc.com/Equipment.htm .

Also, missing from the voluminous document—any mention of meteorlogical or oceanographic data--or information about tracking underwater plumes.

Plumes which, according to BP CEO Tony Hayward, a University of Edinburgh educated PH.D (Geology), with Honorary Doctorates from the University of Edinburgh, Aston University and the University of Birmingham—says don’t exist.

Amazingly, BP did manage to have a section for their corporate media spokespeople. They’re instructed to never make "promises that property, ecology, or anything else will be restored to normal.”

Exactly the opposite of what the million dollar ad campaign featuring an apologetic Mr. Hayward is saying the company will do, which is to make things as they once were.

Just like Tony Hayward’s feeble attempts at minimizing the spill and his continued empty promises, the remainder of the response plan consists blank forms and is not worth the paper it is written on.

But then again most corporate contingency plans are basically "fantasy documents” which is why BP is now on plan “W” of theirs—they’re “Winging it.”

BP claims to have hired 20,000 paid responders to facilitate the clean up, yet work crews are small. Work rules are rumored to be--work fifteen minutes, rest fifteen minutes--to avoid the overheating themselves in their protective gear.

I can only imagine the $12 per hour workers spend a good part of their day texting friends and family while complaining of the heat with the extra time they have.

In the meantime, the majority of the Louisiana shrimping fleet sits idle, even though their crews are ready to work. Those fishermen who left over a month ago are considered the fortunate ones—they’re working.

Unfortunately, they have no ability to return to port because their hulls can't be decontaminated—and they’ve yet to receive a paycheck from BP.

Something smells fishy in the Gulf….

There have been a couple of reports circulating on the world wide web that add an air of suspicion to this disaster.

One, which originally appeared in the Huffington Post, says Goldman Sachs shorted Transocean stock just days before the explosion. In it there’s a quote from Goldman employee Fabian Tourre’s email to his girlfriend.

"One oil rig goes down and we're going to be rolling in dough," Mr. Tourre wrote. "Suck it, fishies and birdies!"

http://pesn.com/2010/05/05/9501645_No_joke--Goldman_Sachs_shorted_TransOcean/

The other report, in the U.K. telegraph reported that BP CEO Tony Hayward sold $2.8million (USD) in BP stock one month before the explosion.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/energy/oilandgas/7804922/BP-chief-Tony-Hayward-sold-shares-weeks-before-oil-spill.html

While BP chose to make no “genuine” disaster/contingency plan, FEMA has.

"Emergency preparations in dealing with the expanding oil menace are now being made for cities and towns from Corpus Christi , Texas , to Houston , New Orleans , Gulfport , Mobile , Pensacola , Tampa-St.Petersburg-Clearwater, Sarasota-Bradenton, Naples , and Key West.”

“Some 36 FEMA-funded contracts between cities, towns, and counties and emergency workers are due to be invoked within days, if not hours, according to WMR's FEMA sources."

"There are plans to evacuate people with respiratory problems, especially those among the retired senior population along the west coast of Florida, before officials begin burning surface oil as it begins to near the coastline.”

The entire FEMA release can be found at the link below and like my prior blogs, you’ll do best to cut and paste the URLs into your browser or emails to your friends.

http://www.resourceinvestor.com/News/2010/5/Pages/The-Coverup--BPs-Crude-Politics-and-the-Looming-Environmental-MegaDisaster.aspx

There’s a major threat looming for inland towns and cities.

Just because you live inland, don’t think for a minute BP’s disaster won’t reach you.

The FEMA plan goes on to say, “With hurricane season in effect, there is a potential for ocean oil to be picked up by hurricane-driven rains and dropped into fresh water lakes and rivers, far from the ocean, thus adding to the pollution of water supplies and eco-systems."

BP claims it can have a relief well drilled by mid-August thus stopping the flow once the well is capped, but it’s now projected we’ll be dealing with oil in the Gulf through the fall—and the clean-up will take decades.

With Florida boasting more exposed shoreline and inland waterways than anywhere else in the southeast, BP’s oil will have a greater chance to work its way far into the state’s unique environments thus polluting the Gulf, the bays, rivers, lakes and possibly even the Everglades.

We're about to pay for BP’s lack of planning and years of profits because of this spill and that may include another round of declining property values.

Property values in Grand Isle, Louisiana have dropped 30% thanks to the oil washing up on the beaches; it can’t bode much better for us in Florida either.