Price of Oil

AP Photographer Charlie Riedel just filed the following images of seabirds caught in the oil slick on a beach on Louisiana's East Grand Terre Island.

(CLICK ON ANY IMAGE BELOW TO VIEW FULL SIZE)

You Pay For What You Get

Gov. Bobby Jindal toured part of Louisiana's vast coastal marsh this past Wednesday and found thick, oily sludge encroaching on the fragile ecosystem.

"We saw some heavy oil stranded in the wetlands. The oil is no longer just a projection or miles from our shore. The oil is here. It is on our shores and in our marsh," Jindal said at a news conference after the airboat tour in Plaquemines Parish.




Unfortunately for his home state of Louisiana, Jindal sponsored the Deep Ocean Energy Resources Act in 2006. It was a bill aimed at eliminating the moratorium on offshore oil and gas drilling over the U.S. outer continental shelf. He and other Republicans, like Sarah Palin argued that increased drilling would greatly reduce American dependence on foreign oil.

I love this little quote (Below) from The Heritage Foundations's website
(Located halfway down the page under The DOER Act)

"Myth: Drilling poses great risks of oil spills. The last major offshore oil spill in America occurred off of Santa Barbara in 1969. Critics of offshore drilling still refer to this incident, but much has changed in the interim. Drilling technology has greatly advanced in recent decades, and any new drilling will have to comply with strict safeguards that did not exist then."


And who can forget the 2008 Republican National Convention?





DRILL BABY DRILL!









I mean really ... What could possibly go wrong?






It's truly beyond me why no reporter has the guts to ask Bobby Jindal if he regrets that pro drilling stance now.

Jennings, LA

We arrived in Jennings, Louisiana late Wednesday evening.




We are here to investigate the recent killings of eight innocent young women. The latest victim, Necole Guillory, was arrogantly dumped on the westbound shoulder of Interstate 10.




Regardless of what this story eventually becomes, there is something very wrong in this town.




The decent residents of Jennings will not be able to fully relax until the killer ... or killers ... is finally brought to justice.

Pot calling the kettle black

Yesterday, John McCain spoke briefly at a National Sheriffs' Association meeting in Indianapolis. In his speech, McCain addressed the recent Supreme Court ruling that struck down a Louisiana law allowing capital punishment for people who rape children under the age of 12.




The 5-4 decision was a blow to the Louisiana Supreme Court, which supported the execution of Patrick Kennedy, who was convicted of raping his 8-year-old stepdaughter.

McCain warned that if Barack Obama were to become president, his Supreme Court nominees would produce more decisions like the child rapist ruling.

McCain did acknowledge that Democrat Barack Obama had also disagreed with the court's decision. However, he hammered at a statement made by Obama mentioning that he considered Stephen Breyer, Ruth Bader Ginsburg and David Souter to be sensible judges.




Here is the tidbit that John Boy conveniently left out of his speech.

John McCain himself voted to confirm four of the five who voted in the majority. The fifth judge was John Paul Stevens, and the only reason he did not vote to appoint him was that McCain was not in the Senate when Justice Stevens was confirmed in 1975.