New Media and Politics - The BP Valdez x 5,6,10?

The first story I saw today about the gusher in the Gulf was BP essentially claiming domonion over the waters they have polluted, telling the EPA that they don't want to use a less toxic dispersant and the EPA could go jump in a lake... of oil! Many do not know that the EPA was actually created by Richard M. Nixon and back before it got Bush-whacked, it had teeth.

McClatchy have been all over this story in ways the regular suspects in the MSM have not. Perhaps they seek to carve themselves out a niche as a reality based news site - that'd be nice. I highly recommend you go to their site and watch the video roundup of news from the Gulf. A couple of other stories from McClatchy are the serious concerns about the oil making it's way to Florida beaches and then on up the coast to North Carolina.

As for impacts being felt right now, Nola.com has a dispiriting article on the impossibility of removing the oil from the spill out from Louisiana's marshes. The picture painted is a grim one: Oil that has rolled into shoreline wetlands now coats the stalks and leaves of plants such as roseau cane -- the fabric that holds together an ecosystem that is essential to the region's fishing industry and a much-needed buffer against Gulf hurricanes. Soon, oil will smother those plants and choke off their supply of air and nutrients.

From NPR, a story about what might happen if a hurricane were to strike while all this is taking place - hurricane season begins June 1, remember, so we'll all probably get a first hand look. They have no clue as to what they have wrought. A lot of people are asking, why BP is still in charge of the response to the spill? That includes democratic strategist James Carville, and while I disagree with his assessment he's probably right about how people are going to respond to this crisis - blame the administration and Obama for not doing enough quickly enough.