Thanks Domenico! Thought maybe you Mark & Ali were going to take in a ballgame or something!

Since you're NOT leaving early how about you take the next couple of days off on me? lol

They call him "one- take Montanaro"

PS Andy Gross is adorable. That's real acting talent there!

Mark, Domenico, Ali, Andy and the others work hard but the nicest thing is it looks like they have a lot of fun and in the process make it fun for us. Bet they go home at night and talk about us--you'll never believe what some poster said today!

I find it absolutely appalling that POTUS has yet to mention with empathy the victims of the flash floods in Arkansas, the tornado'sin the midwest and has yet to visit these sites and the families involved with these tragedies, Dumb Chuck why hasn't POTUS started a "Talk to POTUS" teevee show where the media'S so called "American People" can call in and express their media induced hysteria as to why he hasn't beat up a stupid reporter yet? I would gladly stand in for the Pres. and hand out some whoop ass to the , unqualified, inexperienced and dumb ass media that are pathetically trying to report on something they are totally clueless on. What I find funny is to watch how y'all keep trying to twist this into an Obama problem that he caused, won't work, give it up. Dumb Chuck, go to the DEEPWATER HORIZON website, you might be surprised what you and your clueless media friends might find.

One other thing for now, if those hourly workers were working for me on those beaches and you unqualified, inexperienced and dumb ass media were pestering them with some of the most ignoramus questions that could possibly be asked, I would fire them and run you off the beach, without prejudice!!

One more thing, I have noticed there is a new twist to y'all's unqualified, inexperienced and dumb ass reporting, the hands on reporters and well divers that go with the worker safety story, why don't they follow the HAZOP rules? I live next to a plant in TX that recently had a spill, I have been ignored and believe my sceptic tank has been compromised, could you send that idiot from AP to my house and have him dive into my sceptic tank and check it out and report to 60 minutes.

When will POTUS call the people in the Indian Ocean about the 7.7 earthquake and visit them???

Cheers...USA

It's sleek, anyway. Is it really necessary to login after every post or am I a dweeb and doing something wrong?

Either way, whatever format, I'm here for the content. Keep at it!

Thanks FR for another good week and enjoy some time off. At least there weren't any surprise formats to confuse us and we have adapted nicely. The only problem I have is that I get caught up in one article, usually First Thoughts, reading the comments, then the comments on the comments; and then I comment on the comment and the comments!!! Makes it more fun and so much easier to follow posts, rebuttals or additional ideas/thoughts.

Whew, it's a hot, steamy Iowa day, the kind when you can hear the corn growing--makes my naturally curly hair look like a dandelion fuzz ball--Carly Fiorina would really have something to talk about.

Have a great weekend.

I know a good deal less than nothing about computers but I went into the control panel and then appearance and themes. I then went to high contrast and came out with the names being blue and the print black. I then hit apply and have been much happier and able to read all my favorite people much better. Just a suggestion if you want to give it a try.

Well, truth be known, I'd guess many of us were grumpy and saying things to our computers until we figured out how to comment.

IT's all good, but PLEASE- darker font! Hey, can I help it if I'm blind in one eye, and can't see out of the other??

Thanks, guys!

IR, I totally agree that the new format is quite a distraction . . . a welcome one in your case! :o)

I haven't done much on the netvine yet myself except to look and sign up when asked. If it is as hot tomorrow as today, I'll have plenty of time to explore and see what folks are saying.

It's horrible here too Jody... I sweat the humidity is somewhere around 150% *Bleh* Suppose to be that way all weekend with thunderstorms sprinkled in for some excitment!

This new format is a LOT like the HCR law... people HATE it at first, but once things progress, it's not as bad as everyone feared...

I usually don't have a lot of time to respond to posts, but I would like to thank all of you who have agreed - and disagreed - with my posts. This site is VERY addictive, and like IR I come back as often as I can to see what has been posted. The new format allows me to respond at ANY time where the old format had a pretty rigid posting time.

If I haven't said it before, FR - you guys ROCK! Thanks for setting up such a fine method to allow regulasr people to be able to express their opinions. I like the fact that you DO respond to some of the posts an that you are not just a 'screen name' to all of you.

I REALLY like the feature where you can click on a screen name and see ALL of the posts that person has made!! I know it's more of a newsvine feature, but it is cool nontheless.

Have a good weekend and we will see you next week!!

CA, enjoyed your earlier post this morning and tend to agree with you. I worked ,voted and support our President, but something is awry in my take on this spill situation and the WH handling. I will mull over it some more, before I put all my two cents in.

Everyone, have a great weekend. It is hot here too, but sitting by the beach today was wonderful. It only underscores how much we can lose here and continue to feel deep empathy for those on the Gulf.

C.A. I appreciated all your thought today myself. Couple of things that your saying would make for a conversation over a couple of cold beers but they would just be small quibbles on fine points among friends. GBM I think basically and I'll bet C.A. would agree with me some is what the Gulf is really missing is somebody with the expertise and force of will like a Red Adair that can step in blow the B.S. whistle on all the pie in the sky solutions and plans and then take charge and make it happen and the devil take the hindmost. Guys like that are real hard to find. President is doing the best he can but this just ain't his field and and it doesn't look like the Man Upstairs is going to furlough old Red

Eric, I was not correct this morning in what I told you. My office is in a well known hotel and basketball teams stay here all the time. But I just found out from the doormen downstairs that the Lakers are not staying here. ESPN analysts are only staying here. And the lines for autographs are for Magic Johnson, Chas. Barkley, etal. So I was wrong. The team is quite a few blocks away in another hotel.

But the commentators are all here, eating lunch, etc. at the local restaurants outside our door. People are having a lot of fun talking with them.

Anyway, best of luck. I think this series is going 7. I'm glad for the break for the day few days. We all need it. lol

Hey Nash!

It worked... now I'm going back to read it! :0)

It sure did girl . . . I guess it was just a little bit of "user error"! :o)

Excellent article Nash... am I the only one that noticed Halliburton was not named anywhere in there regarding the cementing process...

Someone should forward this to Lizzard Cheney & her daddy 'Dick!

Yeah . . . the Cheney's only show up at places where they can dominate the conversation and not answer any questions . . . the ironic thing is the "article" is actually a letter to the editor written by an oil exec . . . and boy does he sound like he knows what he is talking about!

Thanks, Nashville. I saved it to read later this evening.

Feisty, I'm not sure Liz or Dick have comprehension skills.

Nash - I take it you saw her last Sunday on This Week... maybe now that the Cheewowwaaa's are no longer around they could donate one of their muzzles to that yappy b!tch! And Jody you bring up a good point! LOL

I'm thinking the author probably couldn't include Halliburton and get it past Rupert...

Now why would I ruin my Sunday by watching Nellie Olsen being a brat? lol

I'm heading home now . . . hope everyone has a wonderful weekend!

Okay Gail I'll try . . . but I've already surprised myself by being able to comment at all . . . now you go and up the difficulty level! lol

I know, Nash! What's up with those First Read people making us learn something new? The nerve! LOL!

I think the difficulty level was just too much for those cute wittle chee wah wah brains!

Sad! :(

Maybe they can get their "owners" to translate their thoughts soon . . . or maybe its summer and they are spending all of their time frolicking at the dog park and enjoying the sunshine!

EDIT: I tried to retroactively bold this Gail . . . don't know if it worked! :)

I think they can't figure out how to merge their multiple persons into one big, snarly Bulldog.

But isn't it nice not to read dozens of nasty one-liners with many alias. I'm no computer whiz but I'm guessing the registration makes it hard to be more than one poster.

Please Pat don't give them any ideas. Not that they had any of their own anyway. I for one do not miss them.

Thanks for sharing this Feisty . . . Rick is making me want to hit the road again!

Nash, I read the article about the explosion. With it being on the WSJ, at least they (you know who that is) can't complain about it being the liberal media. But it was a very concise timeline of events and missed opportunities leading up to the explosion. Have you seen this information about the pressure build-up and capping attempts anywhere else?

FrankH -

I really hadn't seen it explained that concisely before . . . the great part is that the "article" is a Letter from a Reader who works for an oil company. . . pretty amazing read.

nojoe:

What possible reason would the President of the United States have to deliberately do things to make things worse?

Question for you to ponder over the weekend:

What are you doing to help your President and your country face this major environmental and economic and disaster?

Surely you can use all of your talents for something other than nitpicking and second guessing. . . not that criticism doesn't have a place . . . but somehow all of the "what ifs" and "how comes" being hurled around in the midst of the crisis strikes a false note with me . . . perhaps if the President's only job was oil spill response I would be more critical myself . . . but there are a tremendous number of URGENT problems facing the President hourly . . . war and piece, economic Armageddon, government and corporate corruption . . . terrorism at home and abroad . . . Haiti . . . (wtf ever happened with the swine flu?) . . . and that is just the stuff we know about.

So maybe if we had more of that old "can do" and "bootstrap" mentality in this country (instead of all the political posturing and pontificating) we could all be part of the solution instead of just voyeurs pointing out the problems.

Just a thought.

No joe:

Not an expert here by no means, but how does the moratoium create a scenario for more disasters? I would think that the moratoirum would avert more similar disasters by evaluating and checking the safety procedures and practices that were obviously being ignored by BP and perhaps other oil companies. Perhaps what the experts were referring to was that the moratorium would create disasters for oil companies to secure as much oil as they can for profit regardless of the safety procedures and practices. Just asking.

Also, I have not seen any polls on the mortorium although we know the value of polls, but if the majority of Americans support the moratoirum in order to evaluate and improve sarety procedures in order to avert future similar incidents, why would Obama take the suggestion of a panel of experts over those desires of the American people. Those on the right are always quoting polls and stating how Obama needs to listen to what the Amecian people want, i.e. the HCR Bill. I think you have even suggested this. Perhaps that is what he is doing in this case.

I'll drink to that Nash (well not for a little while as it's not 5:00 here :0)))

I've found that if I ignore NoJo life is a whole lot brighter!

Btw: Speaking of the doomsday scenario - did anyone else catch Bill Nye (sp?) the Science Guy on MSNBC yesterday talking about sun/solar showers and what they could potentially due to our communication systems? I only caught the tail end so I've got to dig into this a little more..

Saw that report Fiesty. Says that the earth is to expect the effects of major sun/solar flares sometime in the next couple of years. That satellites monitoring the sun's activity clearly show unusual and major activity on the sun that will result in major solar flares that will have an impact on the earth's power grids, and perhaps more. Very interesting with all the Mayan 2012 hoopla going around.

no joe

The people of the Gulf region are begging for help in the clean-up effort and at the same time to allow new drilling to be restarted. They need both.

With all respect to them it is important for the safety of those who work the platforms that we understand what caused this failure before we have to bury more of the oil workers.

Can you tell us for certain that the next time this happens the responsible company will be able to pay? Not many have a balance sheet like BP. If not then it is additional billions for the taxpayer to shell out.

I'm beginning to wonder if the Mayan's weren't on to something - cause one things for sure (solar flares or not) and that is if we KILL the oceans we've KILLED ourselves... *shakes head*

There's not much logic that I read in this except another attempt to paint Pres Obama as uninformed. Sorry, the experts, oil executives, the military, they're all there advising the Pres and obviously considering the Jones Act since that was mentioned by the WH weeks ago. I don't pretend to know anything close to the information the Administration has been provided nor do I know why the Jones Act might or might not be used in the Gulf or if it will be.

I seriously doubt any expert would claim the temporary moratorium would cause more problems--and if he/she did, they're no expert in my opinion. Temporary job losses, yes, but no way should we risk another disaster until the Government is certain those operations were properly inspected, have not made the same mistakes or cut corners as BP, until we find out the cause of the first disaster, and make sure regulations suit the new reality of deep-water offshore drilling, AND that those companies can fix it immediately should another explosion or leak occur.

CA, Tuscaloosa

I read your post from earlier today about President Obama and President Bush both missing their opportunities. Your post was awesome.

One of the reasons the experts advised against the moratorium was that the shut down procedures are one of the riskiest parts of rig operations. The Deepwater Horizon was shutting down when it exploded. The experts were mad that Secretary Salazar included the moratorium suggestion in his report and made it sound like the experts recommended it, when they did not.

I heard this afternoon that, while President Obama, can waive the Jones Act provision, one of the requirements is that the vessels have to be operated by Americans even though they are foreign owned ships. The President can waive that requirement too but the Unions are causing a fuss. I just heard this and only heard snippets. Is this true?

Thanks for the kudos Candice. Let me add , and although I know some will disagree, which is fine by me, I think Obama has been faced with many more difficulties than GW Bush from the beginning that have diverted POama from being able to take advantage of that open window period for greatness. And yet, if those steps he is taking happen to turn out positive for this country then he can still achieve that greatenss. In other words, Obama may be on the way to greatness, or he still has the opportunity to achieve the same, or he too will fail. The end- story is still out on that one. That same opportuntity closed for GW Bush after diverting the country's attnetion away from the real terrorists who planned and participated in 911 by way of chasing a wacko idiot inamed Saddam Hussein and his sons. who had nothing to do with 911.

To all who question why the expert panel recommended AGAINST the moratorium:

they believe that stopping the flow of oil into these rigs creates pressure which, if not alleviated, could cause another blow-out. They also believe that stopping, and then restarting, the flow opens the doors to more blow-outs.

It's is a question, to my mind, of 'if it ain't broke, don't fix it'.

You leap to defend anything Obama does, but do yoou never wonder why he would commission a panel of experts, only to ignore their advice? Do you not question why he does not take advantage of past experience in dealing with oil spills, and waive the Jones Act?

Do you never question at all? If so, you do not respect the man, you worship him. And that is sad, and dangerous.

Shutting down existing rigs through the moratorium increases risks, does not alleviate risk, unemploys thousands of workers and could cause increased environmental and economic damage. Rather than over-reacting, why not send inspectors out for safety and compliance checks on the rigs currently in operation?

Many times decisions are made without thinking through the issues. Secretary Salazar amended the experts report to justify a moratorium.

"Experts brought together by the Obama administration to review offshore drilling safety were asked to review recommendations in the wake of the Deepwater Horizon disaster. They did not give their blessing to the six-month drilling moratorium announced by Interior Secretary Ken Salazar and have accused him of deliberately appending their report to make it seem like they did.

According to the New Orleans Times Picayune, Salazar's May 27 report to the president said the seven experts "peer reviewed" his recommendations, including a six-month ban on drilling in waters deeper than 500 feet. The experts say the report they reviewed suggested stopping only NEW drilling in waters deeper than 1,000 feet.

The reviewers for Salazar's report were provided by the National Academy of Engineering. Their joint letter says that while they agreed with the report's various safety recommendations, "we do not agree with the six-month blanket moratorium on floating drilling. A moratorium was added after the final review and was never agreed to by the contributors."

One panelist, Bob Bea of the University of California, Berkeley, said in an e-mail: "Moratorium was not a part of the ... report we consulted-advised-reviewed." The academy's Ken Arnold was less subtle, saying: "The secretary should be free to recommend whatever he thinks is correct, but he should not be free to use our names to justify his political decisions."

The panelists simply oppose the announced moratorium. "A blanket moratorium is not the answer," the letter says. "It will not measurably reduce risk further, and it will have a lasting impact on the nation's economy, which may be greater than that of the oil spill. We do not believe punishing the innocent is the right thing to do."

Experts do not run the country. Am I wrong in assuming that experts provide advice based on their expertise and it is the decision makers who must look at all the information and make an informed decision?

If the President listens to the experts and do as they requested, then he would be criticized for allowing them to make decisions instead of making it himself.

I was shocked this morning when I heard a shrimp boat captain in Lousiana on CNN defend BP and criticize the President.

These people want to have their cake and eat it. Lousiana has profited from the oil companies, and they should help with the clean up. I also think they are taking advantage of the situation to get more money from the Federal government.

Logic is needed to address the problem in Lousiana not solely emotion.

LMAO as I clean Diet Coke off the computer screen!

Will do drive-by. But you have to admit it is interesting.

I believe such an event would have world wide implications; however, the right will blame President Obama for not anticipating this and the potential harm to the American public :)

On a serious note, careful monitoring by our scientist is necessary to avoid potential catastrophe of our communication systems. The government must also have contingency plans to protect citizens as well as the country.

We are moving into an era of potential catastrophic events influencing our way of life, and preparation is the key. Whether we believe in a doomday scenario or not, the increase in earthquakes, volcano eruptions, etc gives room for pause.

We are not taking care of our planet and we will pay the price regardless of party affilitation.