IS THE NEW BP BOSS OUR DUDLEY DO-RIGHT?

From Yahoo News:

BP's new boss says it's time for a "scaleback" in cleaning up the Gulf of Mexico oil spill. Federal officials say there is no way the crude could reach the East Coast. And fishing areas are starting to reopen.

There were several signs Friday that the era of thousands of oil-skimming boats and hazmat-suited beach crews is giving way to long-term efforts to clean up, compensate people for their losses and understand the damage wrought. Local fishermen are doubtful, however, and say oil remains a bigger problem than BP and the federal government are letting on.

Other people contend the impact of the spill has been overblown, given that little oil remains on the Gulf surface, but Bob Dudley, who heads BP's oil spill recovery and will take over as CEO in October, rejected those claims.

"Anyone who thinks this wasn't a catastrophe must be far away from it," he said in Biloxi, where he announced that former Federal Emergency Management Agency chief James Lee Witt will be supporting BP's Gulf restoration work.
....

As the work of plugging the well appears to reach the homestretch, so does much of the cleanup work. Relatively little oil remains on the surface of the Gulf, leaving less for thousands of oil skimmers to do.

Dudley said it's "not too soon for a scaleback" in the cleanup, and in areas where there is no oil, "you probably don't need to see people in hazmat suits on the beach."
He added, however, that there is "no pullback" in BP's commitment to clean up the spill.

I hope the new man in charge of BP, Bob Dudley, is serious about the commitment to clean up after the catastrophe. I hope he is our Dudley Do-Right, who will save us and not our Snidely Whiplash, who will tie us to the tracks when he gets the chance.

Oil remains in the Gulf, but most of it may now be underwater due to being mixed with dispersant. Some oil is still visible as you can see if you watch this segment from NBC's "Today Show" from a couple of days ago, as Bonny Shumaker takes NBC reporter Lisa Meyers on a plane ride over the Gulf. Meyers says of the oil, "...it could be washing up on the beach for weeks." I'll wager that oil will be washing up on the beach for more than weeks? To me, that statement seems wildly optimistic.

The 3500 wild creatures who have been found dead are perhaps only 10% of the number killed by the oil gusher. No one really knows the number, but it's far greater than 3500. I admire people like Bonny Shumaker, who continue to fight the good fight to save the Gulf and the coastline.

Cartoon from Wikipedia

GAY GAMES IN COLOGNE

From the Guardian:

Around 10,000 gay and lesbian athletes from around the globe are expected to descend on the western German city of Cologne tomorrow to participate in the international Gay Games.

Entrants from more than 70 countries are due to take part in an eclectic mix of events including football, transgender ballroom dancing and cheerleading. A cultural programme includes art exhibitions, choir concerts and film screenings.

Many of the participants have adopted false identities because of fears that they will be persecuted on their return home.

"We want to demonstrate that the exclusion of gays and lesbians, especially in the sporting world, has to end," said Thorsten Moeck, of the organisation committee.

"Among the represented countries are plenty in which it's still an absolute taboo to out yourself."

While most participants come from Germany and the US, the list of countries represented will also include Sri Lanka, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Mexico and Zimbabwe.

Since I'm not much of a sports fan, my favorites to see would probably be the "transgender ballroom dancing and cheerleading" events. I'm just saying.

Read the rest at the Guardian

UPDATE: One day, in the not too distant future, one would hope that gay athletes will not need to hold special games but will be welcomed as full participants in the regular games.

WEEP FOR RACCOON ISLAND

This Royal Tern was rescued, after we discovered it and alerted officials. It was so weak, and from its ordeal that I seriously doubt that it survived. Photo by Drew Wheelan



The picture on the left shows Drew Wheelan, the conservation coordinator for the American Birding Association, who writes at The Gulf Coast Oil Spill blog, which is managed by the American Birding Association.

Drew writes about Raccoon Island:

I continue to be baffled by the decisions being made by the response effort as it concerns wildlife. A most distressing situation that illustrates just how ineffective and poorly managed the response has been is that of the multi-species nesting colony on Raccoon Island. Known to many locals as Last Island, this 5 km. long island in the Isles Deniers chain in Terrebonne Bay contains one of the largest populations of nesting seabirds in the state of Louisiana, including thousands of Brown Pelicans, Louisiana's State Bird. One would assume that being such an important resource for local wildlife that it would be indentified as en extreme priority for protection and monitoring.
....

Raccoon Island, one of the most densely populated islands with birds in the entire state was left with one layer of deflective inner harbor type boom, which was completely useless against the waves and the wind from a storm in early July. As of last Friday, day 94, this boom was still piled high up on the beach, having been washed ashore with the same oil that drenched a large number of birds, an event that was brought to light by Cornell University biologists studying the colony. Had Tropical Storm Bonnie been stronger and hit Louisiana’s coast, Raccoon Island would have been utterly defenseless against the likely incursion of crude that would have been brought in with the waves as it lacked any boom at all. It makes no sense that this island was not identified as a higher priority, and now we are seeing massive effects which have been documented by New Orleans photographer Jerry Moran on his website.
....

From my journal, July 22, 2010, Day 93

"Yesterday I saw huge tracts of marshland in Barataria Bay with the thickest oil I have seen yet, and no clean up effort underway. We also saw a ribbon of fresh oil flowing into the marshlands, ten miles inside the bay. The wide swath of oil was over a mile long and so noxious that my throat still burns from the fumes. A small boat was present, but no skimmers were working to contain the oil, though we had passed many such boats, anchored in the bay before we found this oil. It is quite frankly, absolutely infuriating to hear the claims by BP that they are working to clean the Gulf. The efforts here are little more than a disorganized circus, and the fact that many birds are experiencing a respite from direct heavy oiling owes itself to nothing more than the weather, and the toxic dispersants having kept the Louisiana Crude from the shores. (My emphasis)

Drew's entire post is well worth reading, after which you will weep. I've had the link to Drew's post for several days, thanks to my friend Georgianne Nienaber at The Huffington Post, who has done her part in trying to tell the story of the perilous state of wildlife in the Gulf and on the coastline, but, in truth, I couldn't bear to write, because my heart was broken after reading it, which I realize makes me one sorry-assed reporter. All Drew's information is so very disheartening, especially in light of the dumbass statement by Thad Allen, retired head of the US Coast Guard, the present director of the federal government's response team.

Even though the leak stopped, oil likely will continue to hit the coastline and barrier islands for the next four to six weeks, Allen said.

Excuse my language about Allen's statement, but I couldn't help myself. As I said in my post:

"...for the next four to six weeks"! And that will be the end of the oil? To read those words spoken by the person in charge, a Coast Guardsman, at that, is chilling.

WE'LL BE LEFT BEHIND

from the Baton Rouge Advocate:

With the permanent sealing of BP’s ruptured oil well expected in the next two weeks, retired Coast Guard Adm. Thad Allen plans to begin discussions today with parish leaders on how and when the thousands of response workers and the vast amount of oil cleanup equipment will be scaled back.

“One of the reasons we’re here is to start a conversation with local leaders about how we transition from a response posture,” said Allen, who is in charge of the federal response to the leak. “Once the well is capped, what remains to be done?”

Allen said he plans to have “frank, open” discussions with parish leaders about what the federal government can do and what its requirements are, he said during a Wednesday news conference in New Orleans.
....

Even though the leak stopped, oil likely will continue to hit the coastline and barrier islands for the next four to six weeks, Allen said. (My emphasis)

He based that estimate on how long it took for oil slicks to make it to shore after the Deepwater Horizon oil rig exploded April 20 about 50 miles offshore.

Allen noted it is becoming more difficult to find oil.

“We’re seeing less and less oil, and the oil that we do see is weathered, it’s sheen, and sometimes it’s not that effective to skim it,” he said.

"...for the next four to six weeks"! And that will be the end of the oil? To read those words spoken by the person in charge, a Coast Guardsman, at that, is chilling.

Parish and state officials have said they’re concerned about how and when the response effort will be scaled back.

Billy Nungesser, Plaquemines Parish president, said Wednesday he is concerned the federal government and BP are going to end the response program too soon.

Nungesser is not the only one concerned.

“It is going to be a new fight from here on out,” he told members of the Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority at a meeting Wednesday in Baton Rouge. “There’s oil all over Plaquemines Parish this morning.”
....

Nungesser said he spent a day fighting with the Coast Guard and BP to keep equipment in place for fear it would not be returned after the storm.

“Why should I have to fight? They should be coming to me and saying, ‘Billy, what more can I do,’ ” he said.

But that would be in a civilized country.

I expect that the "conversations" with federal officials will not involve much listening on their part. They've declared the job done, although saying it is so will not make it so. An inadequate crew of people with inadequate equipment will remain to attempt an impossible task.

SHOPPING, GAMES, AND SCREENSAVERS

Today, I took my grandchildren shopping for school uniforms. We have a great store here in Thibodaux, The New Store, although it's not really new. The service is excellent. The staff know what the rules are for each school, how long the skirt must be, etc., and they do it all, except the customer pays the bill, which turns out to be close to astronomical.

Afterward, we went shopping for a baby gift for young friends of ours who have a new baby girl. My granddaughter introduced me to a neat new shop in town, and she helped me pick out the gifts, so that's done. I like to give my business to folks who have the courage to open up a small store in this age of the big box stores, and I was pleased to see that the shop had a good bit of traffic.

When the kids and I returned to our house, we played MONOTONOUS, which is only fun when I play with my grandchildren. The game in the picture is the very same set that I played with my children. Perhaps it's a collector's item by now, although the box is not in perfect condition, as you see with the taped corners.

My granddaughter was on my computer for a while, and when I turned it back on after they left, I said, "What! My eyes!". She'd left me with the screensaver pictured below. Oh, no. I called her, but she didn't answer her phone. I fiddled around and finally got the screensaver changed to something more peaceful. She'd also left me with a header colored iridescent pink and green. Oh no, again, but I couldn't figure out how to change the color of the header. When I finally got GD on the phone, I said, "You changed my settings! I asked you not to do that." She said, "They were a present. I thought you would like them." And then, I felt bad. I still feel bad. Oh well. No undoing what's done. My expertise on computers is lame compared to theirs, and what they change, I don't often don't know how to change back.




UPATE: The picture above shows wallpaper, not a screensaver. You see? I do not even know the terminology.

STORY OF THE DAY - UNCONDITIONAL LOVE

I try to use unconditional love in small
amounts, she said, so people really
appreciate it. The rest of the time I just
try not to yell.

From StoryPeople.

BISHOP KATHARINE AT ST. PAUL'S IN LONDON

From Bishop Katharine's sermon:

... [When we Christians fish for people] [t]he goal is a healed society where all have the dignity that comes of right relationship with God and neighbour. We usually call it the reign of God, or the common weal of God. That commonweal of God work is a prophetic vocation, often deeply unpopular and challenging, and born of the dream that dignity for all is a deeply divine warrant. That kind of prophetic witness, in both word and deed, is what made Jesus so offensive to the powers at hand.
...
Dignity means a sense of worth, suitability, or honour, and it is the state in which God created all that is. The indignities came later. One of the eucharistic prayers in the Episcopal church's prayer book says that we have been created worthy to stand in God's presence. When we treat others as less than that, we reject God's good creation, and in a very real sense, we deny our own dignity. Prophetic work helps to restore the dignity of creation, and acknowledges that creation reflects the utter dignity of the creator. We get in trouble when we limit dignity to lesser things, or deny dignity to some....

Lovely words to remind us what we are to be about if we call ourselves Christians - followers of Jesus.

Thanks to John Chilton at The Lead for the excerpt from the sermon. John does a compare and contrast that you may want to check out.

Photo from Episcopal Life.

WELCOME TO ST. MATTHEW-IN-THE-CITY

Wonderful ark banner from St. Matthew-in-the-City in Auckland, New Zealand. The church's website is eye-catching, inviting, colorful, and informative. Makes you want to hang around and explore - which I did.

And after further exploring, I'd say St. Matthew's website is fabulous, and the church community sounds lovely, too.

As usual, click on the picture for the larger view.

Thanks to Lapin for the picture.

I'M GETTING NUMB

From NOLA:

A leaking oil wellhead in lower Jefferson Parish could be plugged today, according to a parish official, but the investigation into the cause of the spill continues.

An oil wellhead on Bayou St. Denis near the Barataria Waterway continues to spew oil, contaminated water and natural gas after a dredge barge crashed into the rig early Tuesday.

The company contracted to cap and plug the damaged well is on site and preparing to begin work, said Deano Bonano, Jefferson Parish director of homeland security. Wild Well Control of Harahan is currently doing a site examination of the well, and depending on the results, could have the leak stopped today, he said.

The well is small. Thanksgiving for small mercies.

"BRING CHAIN SAW WHEN YOU COME"

The title is taken from an email by a neighbor in New Roads. Our neighbor added, "No damage to power lines." Thanksgiving for that favor.

Grandpère will have his work cut out for him on his next visit. Work, work, work is how he spends his time in New Roads during the summer. When the grass stops growing in September, he can relax, except for cutting up broken pecan tree limbs. The trees drop limbs all too often.