Here goes...

It's been a long time since I posted here but since the Kossacks really enjoyed this one, I'm going to share it here with all of you as well.

Lately on RedState, they've been pushing this "biggest WMD story of all time," with regards to Iraq and intel, that's going to be released at the Intelligence Summit on Feb. 18th, 2006. I covered this a little while ago in a diary entitled New WMD Evidence Surfaces

Well, I saw someone at RedState drop a comment about it again and so I started doing some Googling to find some more info on this Intelligence Summit. What I found was...almost eerie.

Found at FreeRepublic. Yes, I'm probably quoting way more than I should but A) I'm saving you the trouble of visiting FR but more importantly B) shit like this ought to be pointed out.

I was reading this piece at Talking Points Memo and was getting to write something up about it as well, when I saw AMERICAblog also put up the story.

I'm cross linking to AMERICAblog, but it's certainly something to pay attention to. The washer is in full-spin mode.

After work today, I got into my girlfriend's mother's car (the 'rent are on vacation) and started heading back to the house to pick up my girlfriend. We had an apartment to look at tonight, as we can hardly pay the rent we have now.

As I usually do when I get in the car, I turned on NPR, 90.9 FM here in Philadelphia. The story I tuned into left me feeling absolutely empty during, and long after through dinner where I decided to do a little research into the topic and report back here.

John Aravosis....some love him, some hate him. Personally, I like what he writes and find he takes a no-holds barred approach to saying what he feels, and taking a situation and grabbing the inside, and pulling it through to the outside for everyone to see.

In regards to Hurricane Katrina, the rescue effort, and the response time of the Bush administration in dealing with this crisis, I almost see no better.

Update [2005-8-31 18:38:42 by Stand Strong]: - Just heard on CNN gas prices in places as high as $6.00/gal.

Hat tip to a Brendan @ Operation Yellow Elephant for forwarding me the email with this site linked in. This site details the devastation upon the oil wells and rigs in the Gulf area.

This is from an oil industry insider I consider quite credible.  She was definitely right about everything in her last post.  If she's right about this one, we may finally start to get a true picture of what's going on.

Update [2005-8-31 18:45:27 by Stand Strong]: - Gonna pull this one out of comments and hat-tip to Marcus Junius Brutus for the tip and link.

20 oil rigs missing in Gulf of Mexico: US Coast Guard

WASHINGTON (AFP) - At least 20 oil rigs and platforms are missing in the Gulf of Mexico and a ruptured gas pipeline is on fire after Hurricane Katrina tore through the region, a US Coast Guard official said.

"We have confirmed at least 20 rigs or platforms missing, either sunk or adrift, and one confirmed fire where a rig was," Petty Officer Robert Reed of the Louisiana Coast Guard told AFP.

Onto the diary...

Newest (and very informative and very scary) report from an anonymous insider

There are MANY production platforms missing (as in not visible from the air). This means they have been totally lost. I am talking about 10's of platforms, not single digit numbers. Each platform can have from 4 to 100+ wells on it. Most larger ones have 20-30 wells in this area, with numerous caisson wells. They are on their sides, on the bottom of the gulf - they will likely be left as reef material, provided we can get permission. MMS regulations require us to plug each of the wells that were on these platforms - HUGE cost now, as the platforms are gone... Hopefully, MMS will grant `abandon in place' status for these wiped out structures.

Sounds like an ecological disaster to me.

In short, the Gulf area hit by the storm is basically in about the same shape as Biloxi. The damage numbers you have gotten from the government and analysts are, in my opinion, much too low. We are looking at YEARS to return to the production levels we had prior to the storm. The eastern Gulf of Mexico is primarily oil production...

There's more to the article but I think what this basically says is that oil production in the Gulf is going to be affected in a much larger way than is being reported, and also for a much longer time.

For Philadelphians, and also for Kossacks (and apparently Boomans now too, with this cross-post) who have been desensitized (including myself at times) that government, be it national or local, government does not work, I have personal testament that it does.
Of course, while there are still many, many different things that need work, it's good to see government stand up to important initiatives and support them.

Follow me...

While I didn't watch the Rose Garden conference, I'm seeing a lot of diaries in a lot of places and I'm also reading about it online at some news sources.

Before I could even finish this article, I already was contemplating what I would say to Mr. President, if only I was in the Rose Garden during this Press Conference.