All aircraft operations are prohibited except those flights authorized by ATC, routine flights supporting offshore oil operations; federal, State, local and military flight operations supporting oil spill recovery and reconstitution efforts; and air medical and law enforcement operations.
What the two TFRs do, of course, is keep aircraft hired by reporters and conservation groups from observing what is going on.
It is clear which side of the picture this Administration is on, and that is the side of BP. That would have been expected from the Cheney-Chimpy Administration and we all would have been appropriately cynical about it, but this is far, far worse. BP engaged in a "Potemkin village" beach cleanup and I didn't read a word of chastisement from the the Obama Administration.
So what is the alternative to the Democrats when it comes to looking out for the interests of working people? The Teabaggers are clearly not it; they are an astroturf group for the GOP. The Libertarians are even worse than the GOP.
Who stands up for us? Maybe three senators out of 100: Russ Feingold, Bernie Sanders and Al Franken, perhaps? It's becoming clear that this administration does not.
We are so screwed.
6 comments:
I just put a link to this post on Facebook, and it put me through a CAPTCHA. It doesn't do that to Jon Stewart!
The lack of alternatives is what worries me. When a people feel they have no recourse to the normal mechanisms of government for resolution of their grievances, they tend to do Bad Things. And generally the results do *not* turn out as good as 1776... usually they turn out more like June 1793-July 1794, the consequences of which led to a massive population decline across most of continental Europe until the events of June 18, 1815.
We've been in a situation of corporate capture of the government before, whether it was the "Gilded Age" at the end of the 19th century, or the "Roaring 20's". But there was always an alternative -- the Progressives, the Socialists, even the Communists were always there waiting in the wings. Now the Socialists and Communists basically don't exist in America, and the Progressives are a small fringe of the Democratic Party. So as you say... what now? I don't have the answer to that question... and that disturbs me.
- Badtux the Apocalypse Penguin
I'm beginning to think that the "Pitchforks and Torches" and "Tar and Feather" parties are what we need.
And then what? When the French did that in 1789, the final result was 10% of the male population of France dead. The United States avoided that because the colonies already had governments in place, and all that happened was that said governments changed their allegiance from the British Crown to the Continental Congress. I suppose that's an option -- devolve government to the states. But do you seriously suggest that our state governments are any less corrupted by the corporations than our national government is?
- Badtux the Option-seeking Penguin
I call bullshit.
If they'd said surface to FL600, I'd agree with you, but 3000' is **plenty** low enough for any newsgathering or assessment flights.
Craig Medred, reporting for Alaska Dispatch reported flying over at 2,000 feet and damn near choking on fumes... couldn't find a link to the particular story, but AD has writers who were around when Exxon Vadez happened.
http://www.alaskadispatch.com/index.php
Post a Comment