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Wildlife Impacts Six Months After the Spill - Animal Planet Gulf Oil Spill#tp

Wildlife Impacts Six Months After the Spill - Animal Planet Gulf Oil Spill#tp

A use for some of that BP Oil

found at Gizmodo.com

From something so horrible comes something pretty eye-catching—and beneficial for the charity the profits support.

From scooping up the oil, to the gunk being used as paint in the screen-printer, the photos paint a story of the BP oil disaster six months later. Burrill said of his posters "here is a perception among many people that the oil in the Gulf of Mexico is just going to somehow disappear…For people in the Gulf, including Louisiana, the effects of this disaster will be around for a long time."

Profits for the sale of the 200 posters will be donated to the Coalition to Restore Coastal Louisiana, a voluntary organization that protects and restores the coastline. They cost $210 each (after converting from 150 Euros), which isn't cheap, but considering they're limited edition screen-prints signed by the artist and for a worthy cause, I'm sure they'll be snapped up in no time.

New Hurricane Museum

From nola dot com

The Louisiana State Museum in New Orleans remembers the devastation and showcase the renewal with a new exhibit years in the making. Living with Hurricanes: Katrina and Beyond is a $7.5 million exhibit opening on the ground floor of the historic Presbytere in the French Quarter’s Jackson Square. The 6,700 square-foot installation tells the stories of real people caught in the hurricane’s wrath. It tells of their rescue, recovery, rebuilding and renewal in a way certain to move both those who survived the storms of 2005 and those who watched the events unfold on TV.

The show is billed by the museum as the largest hurricane exhibition in the world, and it covers a lot of ground: the nature of hurricanes, Hurricane Betsy and other storms that hit New Orleans in the past, levee engineering, coastal marshes, Hurricane Rita and of course the full story of Katrina’s impact, from evacuation to flooding to the city’s gradual repopulation, rebuilding and recovery.




The first object that will meet visitors’ eyes is one of the most striking: a ruined Steinway baby grand piano recovered from Fats Domino’s flooded Lower 9th Ward home.



A pair of blue jeans shows the identification and medical information their owner wrote on them in case he was injured or killed as he sought help.

One of the most memorable items is the “Mabry wall,” the daily diary that B.W. Cooper housing complex resident Tommie Elton Mabry wrote on the walls of his apartment with a black felt tip marker, starting the day before the storm hit and continuing for weeks afterward. The museum staff painstakingly peeled off the paint bearing his journal before the building was demolished.

Besides actual artifacts, exhibits incorporate some of the hundreds of oral histories the museum has assembled. Some of them play while a simulated helicopter hovers overhead, recalling the aerial rescues of stranded residents.

Funny Diversion

Douchebags of the U.S. - classified by region . Spot on!!!

wake up BP, Feds....it's still there!

MATTHEW HINTON / THE TIMES-PICAYUNE A boat travels through oil that was spotted in West Bay just west of the Southwest Pass of the Mississippi River Friday October 22, 2010.

Just three days after the U.S. Coast Guard admiral in charge of the BP oil spill cleanup declared little recoverable surface oil remained in the Gulf of Mexico, Louisiana fishers Friday found miles-long strings of weathered oil floating toward fragile marshes on the Mississippi River delta.

The discovery, which comes as millions of birds begin moving toward the region in the fall migration, gave ammunition to groups that have insisted the government has overstated clean-up progress, and could force reclosure of key fishing areas only recently reopened.

Criminals Is Stupid

Here's what Slidell cops have to deal with:

Sale of oregano in place of marijuana leaves three with records in St. Tammany
Courtesy of nola dot com, the following story
(must be a slow news day)


A Slidell area man this week pleaded guilty to drug charges stemming from his sale of oregano, which he passed off as marijuana, and is scheduled to receive a sentence of seven years behind bars.

Another Slidell man got five years of probation for his role in the oregano sale, and the man who bought the oregano received two years of probation.

In June, Joshua Harris, 22, passed off a large bag of oregano as marijuana and was successful in making a $210 sale. But, Joshua Davis, who'd made arrangements to purchase marijuana from Harris and Anthony Batiste that day, was angry after he realized he'd been duped and immediately called authorities.

Davis, 18, of Slidell, told St. Tammany Parish sheriff's deputies on June 4 that Harris had stolen $210 from him, but he failed to mention the true contention: that Harris simply had failed to provide him with the proper herb. Yet Davis got in hot water when deputies learned the true story, especially after they searched Davis and found a marijuana joint on him.

Harris pleaded guilty on Tuesday to possession with intent to distribute marijuana, and two counts of possession of legend drugs without a prescription. Deputies found pills on him at the time of his arrest, along with a small amount of marijuana and drug paraphernalia.

State Judge Martin Coady announced he would sentence Harris to seven years in prison, but the official sentencing hearing is scheduled for next month. Harris was charged in part through a section of the law that states selling "a counterfeit controlled dangerous substance" carries the same penalties as selling the actual substance.

Harris admitted to the charges against him mid-trial on Tuesday after noticing that both Davis and Batiste were prepared to testify against him, according to the St. Tammany district attorney's office.

Assistant District Attorney Harold Bartholomew prosecuted the case.

Batiste, 21, of Slidell, pleaded guilty on Monday to attempted possession with intent to distribute the counterfeit drug, and Coady gave him five years of probation under the condition that he would testify against Harris, according to the district attorney's office.

And while Davis initially was also charged with a felony marijuana charge, that charge was reduced for both helping the deputies and agreeing to testify against Harris, authorities said.

On Monday, Davis pleaded guilty to two misdemeanors, possession of marijuana first offense - for the joint in his pocket - and criminal mischief, for not telling the whole truth to police when he stated his $210 had simply been stolen. Davis was sentenced to two years of probation.

Louisiana bashing returns

You didn't think it would go away did you? The bashing of people who live and work in Louisiana. It's all the rage, as evidenced by the boneheaded ignorant comments following an article in the Washington Post found here.

Entitled "Six months after the spill, BP's money is changing the gulf as much as its oil", the article tells the story of BP paying "huge" sums of money to Gulf Coast shrimpers and makes it sound as if the shrimpers would rather sit around and collect the money than shrimp. Geesh.

Here's a sampling of the "love" from our fellow "United States" citizens:


Geria wrote:
This is another fraud being perpetrated on the people of the Gulf. The whole purpose of the toxic dispersant was to hide the oil and make the water appear normal. That doesn't make it normal as any scientist will tell you!

jrussell1 wrote:
So Acy Cooper, shrimper and vice president of the state's shrimpers association, seems to have found the luxury of BP welfare. The shrimpers begged to be able to go shrimping in that oily water so they could make a living by selling us contaminated seafood, but now that they're getting a nice fat paycheck from BP they elect to stay home. He is probably a life long conservative and has railed against Federal Welfare all his life. How ironic.

FLvet wrote:
We are a nation of deadbeats looking for a handout.

Don't get me wrong, there ARE commenters who defend the Gulf Coast people. But the ignorance of the others makes me see red.

May they live through a few disasters themselves.

Pics from our vacation

I know....the old "pictures from our vacation" entry. But wait! Mine are different. We went to Walt Disney World in Orlando Florida during the second week in October. I'll be adding photos to this post as I can find time. For now, here's what I have that's ready to go


The typical Disney picture


Mickeys pumpkins


Epcot - Mexican Pavillion

Raglan Road - Pagtrick Kavanagh

We found a fantastic Irish Restaurant/Pub in Downtown Disney this week inspired by this poem (pictures to be added later)

On Raglan Road



On Raglan Road on an autumn day I met her first and knew
That her dark hair would weave a snare that I might one day rue;
I saw the danger, yet I walked along the enchanted way,
And I said, let grief be a fallen leaf at the dawning of the day.

On Grafton Street in November we tripped lightly along the ledge
Of the deep ravine where can be seen the worth of passion's pledge,
The Queen of Hearts still making tarts and I not making hay -
O I loved too much and by such and such is happiness thrown away.

I gave her gifts of the mind I gave her the secret sign that's known
To the artists who have known the true gods of sound and stone
And word and tint. I did not stint for I gave her poems to say.
With her own name there and her own dark hair like clouds over fields of May

On a quiet street where old ghosts meet I see her walking now
Away from me so hurriedly my reason must allow
That I had wooed not as I should a creature made of clay -
When the angel woos the clay he'd lose his wings at the dawn of day.

Patrick Kavanagh

Scuzzbucket of the Week

Not only was he a scuzzbucket when he gained national/worldwide attention for threatening to burn the Koran on September 11th, but That S.O.B. preacher is now accepting a new car for agreeing NOT to burn the Koran.

From Yahoo News

SOUTH BRUNSWICK, N.J. — Car dealer Brad Benson made the pitch to Florida pastor Terry Jones in one of his quirky radio ads: If you don't burn a Quran, I'll give you a new car.

He was surprised, though, when a representative for Jones called to collect the 2011 Hyundai Accent, retailing for $14,200.

"They said unless I was doing false advertising, they would like to arrange to pick up the car," Benson recalled. At first he thought it was a hoax, so Benson asked Jones to send in a copy of his driver's license. He did.

Jones, of Gainesville, Fla., told The Associated Press that the free car wasn't the reason he called off the burning — and that he didn't even hear about the offer until a few weeks after Sept. 11, when he had threatened to set the Muslim holy book on fire.

He said he plans to donate the car to an organization that helps abused Muslim women.

The pastor will have to pick up the car at Brad Benson Mitsubishi Hyundai in South Brunswick — known locally for Benson's radio ads focusing more on current events than cars — so he can fill out paperwork. No date has been set for the handover.

Jones had threatened to burn the Quran over plans to build an Islamic center and mosque near where terrorists brought down the World Trade Center nine years ago. Muslims revere the book as the word of God and view its destruction as sacrilege.

His plans drew opposition across the world. President Barack Obama appealed to him on television, and Defense Secretary Robert Gates called him personally. Gen. David Petraeus, head of the U.S. mission in Afghanistan, said carrying out the plan would have endangered American troops.

Benson, a former New York Giants offensive lineman, said he originally offered Jones use of a car for a year if he refused to burn a Quran ever.

"I just didn't think that was a good thing for our country right now," Benson said.

He's now giving Jones the car outright because he doesn't want to be connected to whatever the Florida pastor does with it.


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"I don't want to be involved in the politics of that," Benson said.

Before he made his decision, Benson asked listeners to weigh in on whether he should honor his promise.

More than 2,600 people responded by phone and e-mail, and the vast majority, Benson said, urged him to keep his word.

One caller suggested painting sayings from various religious books — the Quran, the Talmud, the King James Bible — on the car.

"What you didn't say was what the car was going to look like when you gave it to him," the caller said.

Another caller told Benson to "be a man" and keep his promise. And some encouraged Benson to pick his own charity to get a car.

In 2003, Benson offered another newsmaker — Saddam Hussein — a new car if he fled Iraq. That commercial wasn't as successful, and Benson pulled the ad after two days, replacing it with one apologizing for any offense that was taken.

The Quran commercial was part of a regular "idiot award" segment Benson has singled out others for, including Lindsey Lohan, Mel Gibson and Roger Clemens.

"We don't have your typical car commercial," Benson said.

But they are memorable — and effective. Three years ago, he was selling 60 cars a month, he said. Today, that number is between 500 and 600 — making him one of the state's most successful dealers.

Rebuilding St. Genevieve

St. Genevieve Church - in the Bayou Liberty section of Slidell is finally going to begin construction.

From Nola dot com:

A fluorescent orange X marks the spot where parishioners from St. Genevieve Catholic Church near Slidell will bring handfuls of dirt from home today to fill the spot where the groundbreaking for a new church will take place.


Archbishop Gregory Aymond will celebrate Mass under the stately oaks on the banks of Bayou Liberty where parishioners gathered five years ago for the first Mass after Hurricane Katrina destroyed the original church, which was built in 1958, though the Chapel of St. Genevieve existed on the site from the 1800s.

After the Mass, parishioners will drop the dirt into the hole where the new church’s altar will stand to symbolize the church becoming their new parish home, said the Rev. J. Roel Lungay, St. Genevieve’s pastor. The groundbreaking and the blessing of the site will follow.

“It means a lot,” Lungay said about what the new church will mean to the parish’s 900 families. “But it makes me think about the people who didn’t live to see the church rebuilt.”


The church will measure nearly 12,000 square feet, with fiber cement siding and a metal roof. It will have space for more than 500 parishioners, a sizable jump from the old church’s 350-person capacity and the 300 or so seats now available for worshippers in the church’s parish hall, where Lungay has been celebrating Mass since the storm.


The church will rise 7 feet off the ground, per the area’s new flood requirements, and an elevator will take those parishioners with special needs to the main floor. Officials at one point had hoped to build the church 11 feet high to be able to use the space underneath, but the cost became prohibitive, said Kathie Lusch, the church’s secretary and a member of the Building and Design Committee that helped to create the plan for the new church.

Mary Silva, a parishioner since 1983 when her family moved to the north shore from New Orleans, said she never felt like a true part of the church until she joined the effort to rebuild it. She said with so many parishioners original to the area, her family felt like it was on the outside looking in.

“This is giving us all a chance,” she said. “This is our church now.”

Lungay is hoping that families that left St. Genevieve after the storm will come back once the new church is built. The church lost about a third of its parishioners after the storm.

In addition, the church has been unable to offer religious education classes in the interim, though it joined with St. Margaret Mary Catholic Church in Slidell to provide children with the classes, and no one wants to have a wedding there, with no grand aisle to walk down, he said.

Construction is expected to take 18 months and will begin as soon as the church receives its building permit from St. Tammany Parish. The parish is waiting for the church to submit some paperwork to the parish’s Department of Environmental Services before granting the permit, said Tom Beale, a parish spokesman.

Parishioners will not be able to access the church’s boat launch during the construction period.

Officials salvaged the old church’s stained-glass windows, hand-carved Way of the Cross stations, 150-year-old baptismal font and crucifix, and will incorporate the items into the new church. The congregation also plans to restore the old church’s St. Genevieve statue.

The new church will cost $3 million, plus another $1 million to outfit the church once it’s built, Lusch said. The Archdiocese of New Orleans has set aside about $2 million for the construction, while St. Genevieve is nearing its goal of raising an additional $1.5 million.

A film about BP's affect on Louisiana

Crude Justice from Alliance for Justice on Vimeo.

From Oil to Red Tape, The BP Mess Continues

 

From Oil to Red Tape, The BP Mess Continues Posted: 03 Oct 2010 04:00 PM PDT By Veronica Del Bianco In drastic contrast to the tragic oil rig explosion in the Gulf, the eventual capping of the BP well in September was quiet and unceremonious because it meant little in the way of recovery for many along coastal Louisiana. The oil may have stopped gushing into the Gulf, but it's economic impacts continue to spread. Gary Bauer, owner of Pontchartrain Blue Crab, Slidell, La., is worried about the future. "I really thought there would be this flood of fishermen back to the water but it's been very slow," says Gary Bauer, owner of the dock and processing plant Pontchartrain Blue Crab, Inc. at Slidell, La. "They are hesitant. They are waiting to see what happens." Bauer is a big man whose voice becomes quiet when talking about the future of his business and his community. "I got a wife and kids," he says, his voice beginning to waiver. "It's the way I support my family. If the business collapses – I have right at about 100 employees right now – what happens to them? I buy from over 150 fishermen directly. I'm not going to make or break Louisiana seafood but if I fail … what does that say?" Bauer has run the numbers. Between April 20 and August 31 in 2008 and 2009, he purchased 1.8 million and 1.84 million pounds of seafood, respectively. This year, he has only purchased 800,000 pounds during the same period of time. Workers at Pontchartrain Blue Crab picking lumb crab meat for packing. "We're off a million pounds of seafood for the time since the spill," he sys. "That's how much of a drop we have taken." Since the oil spill, Bauer has lost two major accounts – one because of a shortage of supply, and the second because of the negative brand perception of Gulf seafood. For more than ten months, Bauer had worked on a deal worth $750,000 a year with a restaurant chain throughout the southeast to provide them with cooked crabs. But after the rig exploded and oil closed a majority of the fishing grounds, he couldn't get enough crabs, and the restauranteur pulled the plug on the project. "That would have been a substantial repeating business year after year," says Bauer. "That was probably the most disappointing and devastating effect of the spill. If I had to pinpoint any one thing, that would have been tremendous." The second account he lost not because he couldn't supply the machine picked crab meat promised, but because the buyer, who processes crab cakes, no longer wanted to purchase it. "I lost one customer up north in Baltimore," reports Bauer. "He said 'you can't get another cup? My customer will take your meat in any cup that doesn't say product of Louisiana.'" Bauer does not understand how BP and Feinberg can continue to say there is no problem with the perception of Gulf seafood. Fresh caught, wild blue crab from Lake Pontchartrain. "I am Pontchartrain Blues," says Bauer, "and, Lake Pontchartrain was shut down to commercial fishermen for quite some time. That makes the news. And now my name is associated with the spill. It took me ten years to build that name brand. It took 160 days for them to destroy that image." Since April 20th, Bauer has gotten two compensation checks from BP but nothing since Feinberg took over. "There are businesses similar to mine that closed, and because they closed it's easy to prove their loses," says Bauer. "It's cut and dry and they'll be paid. But because I made the decision to stay in business, it's going to be quite a job to prove my loses to BP and Mr. Feinberg." Bauer worries that he will be penalized for staying open and trying to maintain his production, labor force and customer base. "I give myself – the business – maybe a 50/50 chance of being in business six months from now," sighs Bauer, "and less than that if some kind of financial assistance doesn't come through – soon." For Gary Bauer, his business Pontchartrain Blue Crabs, Inc. and the fishermen who sell their catch to him, the caping of the BP well was not the end of the disaster, only the end of the beginning. Now they find themselves in the middle of a bigger mess – red tape. Photos by Peter Forest.