Obama Leadership: No time to discuss this with the committee!

[AZRedhawk44]

Reminds me of the Han Solo / Princess Leia exchange in Empire Strikes Back... only we have Princess Leia as President of the US.  Or, at least, one of the various heads of one of these committees.

http://abcnews.go.com/WN/bp-oil-spill-gov-bobby-jindals-wishes-crude/story?id=10946379&page=1

Eight days ago, Louisiana  Gov. Bobby Jindal  ordered barges to begin vacuuming crude oil out of his state's oil-soaked waters. Today, against the governor's wishes, those barges sat idle, even as more oil flowed toward the Louisiana shore.
Louisiana Governor Jindal frustrated over decision-making red tape.

"It's the most frustrating thing," the Republican governor said today in Buras, La. "Literally, yesterday morning we found out that they were halting all of these barges."

Watch "World News" for David Muir's report from Louisiana tonight.

Sixteen barges sat stationary today, although they were sucking up thousands of gallons of BP's oil as recently as Tuesday. Workers in hazmat suits and gas masks pumped the oil out of the Louisiana waters and into steel tanks. It was a homegrown idea that seemed to be effective at collecting the thick gunk.

"These barges work. You've seen them work. You've seen them suck oil out of the water," said Jindal.
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Coast Guard Orders Barges to Stop

So why stop now?

"The Coast Guard came and shut them down," Jindal said. "You got men on the barges in the oil, and they have been told by the Coast Guard, 'Cease and desist. Stop sucking up that oil.'"

A Coast Guard representative told ABC News today that it shares the same goal as the governor.

"We are all in this together. The enemy is the oil," said Coast Guard Lt. Cmdr. Dan Lauer.

But the Coast Guard ordered the stoppage because of reasons that Jindal found frustrating. The Coast Guard 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.

Louisiana Governor Couldn't Overrule Coast Guard

The governor said he didn't have the authority to overrule the Coast Guard's decision, though he said he tried to reach the White House to raise his concerns.

"They promised us they were going to get it done as quickly as possible," he said. But "every time you talk to someone different at the Coast Guard, you get a different answer."

After Jindal strenuously made his case, the barges finally got the go-ahead today to return to the Gulf and get back to work, after more than 24 hours of sitting idle.

Along Gulf Coast, Governors Ask, 'Who's In Charge?'

Fifty-nine days into the crisis, it still can be tough to figure out who is in charge in Louisiana, and the problem appears to be the same in other Gulf Coast states.

In Alabama today, Gov. Bob Riley said that he's had problems with the Coast Guard, too.

Riley, R-Ala., asked the Coast Guard to find ocean boom tall enough to handle strong waves and protect his shoreline.
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The Coast Guard went all the way to Bahrain to find it, but when it came time to deploy it?

"It was picked up and moved to Louisiana," Riley said today.

The governor said the problem is there's still no single person giving a "yes" or "no." While the Gulf Coast governors have developed plans with the Coast Guard's command center in the Gulf, things begin to shift when other agencies start weighing in, like the Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

"It's like this huge committee down there," Riley said, "and every decision that we try to implement, any one person on that committee has absolute veto power."

I feel bad for Jindal and Riley.

I'm appalled that the CG stopped the barges from harvesting oil over life vests.  Why they didn't simply board them, and inspect while they operated, then stood by if vests weren't available and MADE them available to expedite the work.  Bill BP for a couple dozen vests.  Sheesh.  Use some imagination.

I hate "policy makers."  Especially libtard ones.  They don't even have the spine to make a decision without going back to committee or running the idea by another crony, at least.

[Boomhauer]

Doesn't suprise me a bit.

This should prove that the fed .gov is not actually interested in doing anything productive about or actually stopping the leak. This is exactly the way the fed .gov operates. This is why I left fed .gov employment- I couldn't take the idiocy anymore.

[taurusowner]

I have a lot of respect for the Coasties because of their life-saving and anti-drug running operations.  But this sort of top level bureaucratic BS is just unacceptable.  We have state governors who are actually taking action to save their states, and being deliberately stopped and hassled by the Federal government.  Not only is BHO's administration not actually doing anything to solve this, he is getting in the way of those who are solving it.  This needs to stop.  I wish Jindal would truly commit and say "I'm going to do what I need to do to save my state, and if you really want to stop me, you're gonna need to send men with guns to make it happen."  And he may actually do it.  I doubt it, but it would be great to see a leader like him actually call Obama on his BS.  Not just call him out in speeches and interviews, but actually put it all on the line in a "if you wanna stop me, you're gonna have to arrest me" kind of way.

"The question isn't who's going to let me, it's who's going to stop me!"- Ayn Rand, Atlas Shrugged

[Boomhauer]

We have state governors who are actually taking action to save their states, and being deliberately stopped and hassled by the Federal government.

Only the fed .gov can be allowed to do anything. State and local governments and mere civilians must step aside to let the all knowing, all mighty bureaucracy accomplish the mission.

"I'm going to do what I need to do to save my state, and if you really want to stop me, you're gonna need to send men with guns to make it happen."

And fed .gov would send men with guns, and they would force the work to stop...once the stupid train is rolling, it will not be stopped.

[taurusowner]

You're right that they probably would use real force to stop him.  But at very least, the rest of us would see it happen.  This would not be the usual speechifying and interviews with Chris Matthews that only pundits really seem to care about. Watching real footage on TV of a sitting Governor being arrested only because he took action to save his state that the feds would not might actually serve to wake some people up.

I guess I'm  growing very tired of the political arena and all the BS that is being shoveled onto our backs because of it.  The oil spill, the border, welfare, etc.  I'm just tired of all these issues being so...academic.  Nothing is truly "real" to most of America.  They see men in suits sitting on couches rambling on with the same platitudes and empty political talk on the the usual MSM interview shows.  Watching the same old men chat with Katie Couric or stand being a podium reading some sterile speech off the teleprompter just isn't doing anything.  No amount of CSPAN analysis is going to solve the oil spill. Men in coveralls lifting heavy stuff and getting dirty is.  No commission or "comprehensive reform bill" is going to solve the border problem.  Men with guns and the will to use them will.  I know some amount of talk is necessary to get the ball rolling. I'm just tired of seeing nothing ever get beyond talk, interviews, speeches, and pundit analysis.  That's why we need someone like Jindal.  Someone who will say "forget all of your permit applications and checkboxes, I'm sending real people to go get their hands dirty solving this right now."

The US Government is getting downright Soviet in its ability to talk and talk about something but with no real action on anything ever taking place.  I think the likes of Schumer, Waxman, Pelosi, and Reid really do think that the entire world consists of them sitting in committees shuffling papers back and forth.

[KD5NRH]

You're right that they probably would use real force to stop him.  But at very least, the rest of us would see it happen.

More to the point, they'd have to come up with some pretty good excuses for doing it.

No amount of CSPAN analysis is going to solve the oil spill. Men in coveralls lifting heavy stuff and getting dirty is.

Therein lies the biggest issue I've been trying to get across to some of the "government must take over the Gulf situation" crowd; I can't imagine that the typical offshore oil worker has a lot of love for the Feds who just banned his livelihood.  I'd expect a lot of those men to refuse to get dirty if the government was in charge, so where are they going to get the real workers to actually fix the problem?

[seeker_two]

And fed .gov would send men with guns, and they would force the work to stop...once the stupid train is rolling, it will not be stopped.

...but it would make for great video footage for Fox News and a few campaign commercials.... 

[Jamisjockey]

Jindal has men with guns at his disposal, too.  I'd like to see him man some of the barges with Nat gaurd or state police and tell the CG to pound sand.  We the people don't have the power to stop the leviathan, but the states might.

[HankB]

Jindal has men with guns at his disposal, too.  I'd like to see him man some of the barges with Nat gaurd or state police and tell the CG to pound sand.  We the people don't have the power to stop the leviathan, but the states might.

NG may have arms as heavy as the Coasties . . . and with plenty of cameras and live feeds going, I'd expect the Coasties to back off.

[AZRedhawk44]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dRfVac0cjFw

"BP Coffee Spill."

Looks like Obama cabinet members are part of the BP executive board in this sketch.

[Ben]

Just as a reminder, we have Coasties on the forum.

I have worked drills, spill response, and vessel groundings with them quite a bit, and every Coastie I have worked with has been AJ Squared Away and always out to get the job done. Our Coastie members may not be able to comment, so I won't put them on the spot. My SPECULATION is that this is coming from somewhere other than USCG and filtering down to them. Commercial vessels are generally inspected on a regular basis. It would just be weird for all those barges to be up for a safety inspection at the same time. Even if they were, it seems they could be inspected on location, and those that fail could then be taken out of the game to be properly upgraded.

[longeyes]

It will come to the Feds using martial force.  I think many of us believe that.

But that will be the beginning, for real, of the next chapter, and it will without doubt turn public opinion massively against this administration.

[charby]

Just as a reminder, we have Coasties on the forum.

I have worked drills, spill response, and vessel groundings with them quite a bit, and every Coastie I have worked with has been AJ Squared Away and always out to get the job done. Our Coastie members may not be able to comment, so I won't put them on the spot. My SPECULATION is that this is coming from somewhere other than USCG and filtering down to them. Commercial vessels are generally inspected on a regular basis. It would just be weird for all those barges to be up for a safety inspection at the same time. Even if they were, it seems they could be inspected on location, and those that fail could then be taken out of the game to be properly upgraded.

I concur it is the amateur bureaucrats of the current admistration.

[dm1333]

Commercial vessels are generally inspected on a regular basis. It would just be weird for all those barges to be up for a safety inspection at the same time. Even if they were, it seems they could be inspected on location, and those that fail could then be taken out of the game to be properly upgraded.

Coastie here, willing to take heat, but unable to do more than speculate a bit since I am not down in the GOM.

According to what I just saw and heard on Neil Cavuto's show these were barges that had what were described as "vacuum trucks" parked on them.  The comment was made that these trucks are what you see cleaning out porta pottis, except that they were being used to suck up the crude oil.  My best guess is that the barges themselves were not due for inspections but somebody got worried about these trucks being parked on them, and the people operating the equipment on the trucks.  I won't speculate on what agency that might have been but there are several besides the CG that come to mind.  And I'm not ruling out this being a CG decision, either. 

As far as the talk about putting armed NG members on the barges and speculation about whether or not the CG has equally heavy arms?    I'd bet my next paycheck that none of the people on scene involved in the clean up are walking around armed.  That is unheard of in the marine safety world because of the nature of the work.

I'm appalled that the CG stopped the barges from harvesting oil over life vests.  Why they didn't simply board them, and inspect while they operated, then stood by if vests weren't available and MADE them available to expedite the work.  Bill BP for a couple dozen vests.  Sheesh.  Use some imagination.

You aren't the only person who is appalled.  I would also bet my next paycheck that Coasties at the deckplate level suggested some of the same things that you mentioned and were ignored or over ruled. 

[RoadKingLarry]

so where are they going to get the real workers to actually fix the problem?

Maybe they will be able to get some of those people that "are doing jobs Americans don't want to do"...

[longeyes]

The Gulf tragedy will end, as Katrina did, with a massive employment program for illegal aliens and a huge expansion of welfare benefits for present and former Gulf native residents.

Of course we weren't in the dire economic straits back in 2005 (as far as we knew) that we are today.  I doubt any of this will go down well or occur unremarked upon.

[KD5NRH]

Just as a reminder, we have Coasties on the forum.

Sorry; we'll try to use small words   

[dm1333]

It pains me to say this but it appears that the decision to tie these barges to the dock was purely a CG decision.  I like it a lot more when other people make us do stupid stuff vs. us deciding to do stupid stuff on our own. 

[Boomhauer]

It pains me to say this but it appears that the decision to tie these barges to the dock was purely a CG decision.  I like it a lot more when other people make us do stupid stuff vs. us deciding to do stupid stuff on our own. 

But was it "front line" unit decision to stop the barges or was it dumbass brass riding the stupid train (please, please let it be the latter)

[Ben]

With all the negative publicity that got, I wonder if somebody(s) might be getting passed over...

[KD5NRH]

Reminds me of the Han Solo / Princess Leia exchange in Empire Strikes Back... only we have Princess Leia as President of the US.

Which exchange?  I really hope it's not going to end with Jindal and Obama licking each others' tonsils like one of those ESB exchanges did.  

Or Jindal taking off to look for Rand Paul in a snowstorm and having to stuff him into a dead tauntaun to keep him warm.

[Scout26]

Obviously, the barges did not have a properly completed 27B-6 form.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eosrujtjJHA

[AZRedhawk44]

Which exchange?  I really hope it's not going to end with Jindal and Obama licking each others' tonsils like one of those ESB exchanges did.  

Or Jindal taking off to look for Rand Paul in a snowstorm and having to stuff him into a dead tauntaun to keep him warm.

When they land the Falcon inside the asteroid, and it turns out they landed inside a giant asteroid worm's guts, and they take off quickly as a result.

[Ryan in Maine]

Let's try to make time!

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100622/ap_on_bi_ge/us_gulf_oil_spill

NEW ORLEANS – A federal judge struck down the Obama administration's six-month ban on deepwater oil drilling in the Gulf of Mexico on Tuesday, saying the government rashly concluded that because one rig failed, the others are in immediate danger, too.

[KD5NRH]

When they land the Falcon inside the asteroid, and it turns out they landed inside a giant asteroid worm's guts, and they take off quickly as a result.

Uh, the spit-swapping happened while they were in that tunnel.