Though President Obama’s highly anticipated oil-gusher speech was widely panned, he made an important commitment to restoring Louisiana’s coastal wetlands. If kept, this expensive, long-term promise – made before a national prime-time audience – might be the most significant commitment a president ever made to the Pelican state. Here’s the relevant excerpt from Obama’s Oval […]
Posted inGovernment & Politics, Opinion
Jindal needs to engage in more than a war of words
Weeks ago, Gov. Bobby Jindal joined Sen. David Vitter’s call for the government to treat the response to the Gulf Coast oil gusher as it would a war. Here’s a representative quote: “[W]e need the federal government and BP to intensify their efforts and treat this oil spill like a war. We need to be […]
Posted inGovernment & Politics, Opinion
More Senate candidates courting Tea’d off voters
Let’s see how various fringe candidates in Louisiana are intending to ride the Tea Party wave to electoral success. 1. Remember David Duke? Well, he’s planning a comeback, and he thinks it might be a promising time to begin a 2012 Presidential run. In preparation, he recently posted a video “Message to the Tea Party” […]
Posted inGovernment & Politics
The Small Print
We scan The Times-Picayune’s legal ads so you don’t have to. Here’s a look at some selected items from the past week. Library needs makeover – Louisiana’s Office of Facility Planning and Control is taking bids for the Phase I – 4th Floor completion of the Earl K. Long Library at University of New Orleans. […]
Posted inGovernment & Politics, Opinion
Who dat say they’d pay mo’ for a cool driver’s license?
Legislative watchdog C.B Forgotston expects Gov. Bobby Jindal to veto a bill that repeals the fee increase on driver’s licenses, which the Jindal administration ordered earlier this year. Forgotston correctly asserts that this fee is tantamount to a tax, and he urges everyone to support the repeal and oppose a veto. As a stalwart opponent […]
Posted inGovernment & Politics, Opinion
Barton’s not the only one using “shakedown” language
U.S. Rep. Joe Barton’s fellow Republicans quickly forced him to apologize for his “shakedown” remark and to retract his apology to BP. A little more about Barton, a Texan, from the NY Daily News: Rep. Joe Barton, a Republican who once angered ailing 9/11 responders by comparing them to the cartoon character Wimpy, called Tony […]
Posted inGovernment & Politics, Opinion
What’s in a blowout’s name?
The May 1980 issue of Popular Mechanics discusses what at that time was the world’s worst oil spill – the Ixtoc I blowout, which gushed an estimated 140 million gallons into the Gulf of Mexico for 10 months. Towards the end of the article we learn that “Ixtoc”, is the Mayan term for “blowout,” or […]
Posted inGovernment & Politics, Opinion
Another man-made disaster, another presidential speech
As President Obama prepares to make a prime-time address about the oil gusher, South Louisiana finds itself in a familiar position: reeling from man-made disaster, concerned about the future, and hopeful their president will make a bold commitment to the region in front of a national TV audience. Based on past experience, the smart money […]
Posted inGovernment & Politics, Opinion
Come to the Anadarko side: We might have liability limits
BP’s U.S. stock price plunged over 16 percent Wednesday, before partially recovering. CNBC commentator Jim Cramer was “mesmerized” by the descent, as BP’s total lost market capitalization, since the Deepwater Horizon explosion April 20, surged to over $90 billion. Many analysts linked the drop to a Reuters report quoting a BP source saying that “at […]
Posted inEnvironment
Despite commandeering boats, officials losing island oil battle in Barataria Bay
Signs of the siege were scattered across East Grand Terre Island at the mouth of Barataria Bay: a pile of rakes crusted with oily mud, drenched absorbent matted into the sand, baby pools filled with greasy mud-colored water, wooden scrub brushes that looked more appropriate for a bubble bath than the cleanup of the biggest […]