Oh, For Goodness Sake

Just The Facts

Obama Is Not Alone

Despite The Economist’s deceptive Photoshop:

There was President Obama on the cover of the June 19 issue of The Economist, standing alone on a Louisiana beach, head down, looking forlornly at the ground. …

The unaltered image, shot on May 28 by a Reuters photographer, Larry Downing, shows Adm. Thad W. Allen of the Coast Guard and Charlotte Randolph, a local parish president, standing alongside the president. But in the image that appeared on The Economist’s cover, Admiral Allen and Ms. Randolph had been scrubbed out, replaced by the blue water of the Gulf of Mexico.

When it comes to its own photographers, Reuters has stringent standards regarding photo editing. “Reuters has a strict policy against modifying, removing, adding to or altering any of its photographs without first obtaining the permission of Reuters and, where necessary, the third parties referred to,” Thomson Reuters said in a statement on Sunday.

New York Times

Mississippi Uses Just 58 Out Of 6000 National Guard Troops

NASA satellite imagery shows long ribbons of oil have entered the Mississippi Sound.As significant amounts of oil from the BP disaster moved past Mississippi’s barrier islands this week, Gov. Haley Barbour (R-MS) partied in Washington DC to raise money for Republicans. On Wednesday, boats were skimming oil near the Petit Bois Island at the Mississippi-Alabama border. Barbour decided to attend to his duties as a political fundraiser …

“The most important thing right now is the 2010 elections,” Barbour told reporters.

Continuing his record of dismissing the magnitude of the BP disaster, Barbour said on Friday after he returned to Mississippi that major slicks miles long within the Mississippi Sound “shouldn’t be a cause for alarm.” By Saturday, there were “long, wide ribbons of orange-colored oil for as far as the eye could see and acres of both heavy and light sheen moving into the Sound between the barrier islands.”

The system for responding to a major oil spill depends on coordination between the federal government, the responsible oil company, and the state government. Out of the 6,000 National Guard troops President Obama has authorized for response in Mississippi, Haley Barbour has mobilized only 58.

Think Progress

Public Backs Obama’s Moratorium On New Drilling

Almost half of Americans say the risks associated with offshore drilling are too great to justify oil exploration, while even more favor the temporary ban on deepwater offshore drilling.

Forty-nine percent of respondents in a New York Times/CBS News poll released Tuesday said the costs and risks associated with drilling for oil and natural gas in U.S. waters were too great, while 42 percent favored increased exploration.

By a larger margin, Americans as a whole backed President Barack Obama’s six-month ban on new oil drilling starts in deep waters.

Sixty-five percent of those surveyed said it was a good idea to halt new drilling until an investigation into the Gulf of Mexico oil spill could be completed, compared to 30 percent who said it was a bad idea.

The Hill

The government will appeal a federal judge’s ruling against the moratorium on new deepwater drilling.

NC-13: ‘Bagger Babble

Yes! And George Bush MIHOP 9/11, also, too! Gawd almighty, with candidates like this, is it any wonder public approval of the Tea Party is dropping like a rock?

Randall is facing Raleigh magazine publisher Bernie Reeves for the Republican nomination in the June 22 primary runoff. The race has been a nasty one, full of attacks on both sides. The man who wins will face Rep. Brad Miller (D), whom most prognosticators say is a lock for reelection. …

He told reporters that the political pickle the White House has found itself in over the BP spill isn’t due to the administration’s poorly-timed (in hindsight, anyway) advocacy for increased off-shore drilling three weeks before the well blew up. It’s because their scheme with BP to pour oil into the Gulf of Mexico for whatever reason worked a little too well.

TPMDC

“It is BP’s spill, but it is America’s ocean.”

Quote of the Day goes to Rep. Ed Markey (D-Mass.).

How Is This Obama’s Fault?

We don’t know yet, but give it a little time.

MONROE, Ohio – A six-story-tall statue of Jesus Christ with his arms raised along a highway was struck by lightning in a thunderstorm Monday night and burned to the ground, police said.

The “King of Kings” statue, one of southwest Ohio’s most familiar landmarks, had stood since 2004 at the evangelical Solid Rock Church along Interstate 75 in Monroe, just north of Cincinnati.

The lightning strike set the statue ablaze around 11:15 p.m., Monroe police dispatchers said.

The sculpture, 62 feet tall and 40 feet wide at the base, showed Jesus from the torso up and was nicknamed Touchdown Jesus because of the way the arms were raised, similar to a referee signaling a touchdown. It was made of plastic foam and fiberglass over a steel frame, which is all that remained early Tuesday.

Associated Press

Santa Catarina Pinula, Guatemala

Deep round crater caused by mudslides from Tropical Storm Agatha.