Here's hoping that the storm doesn't carry the chemical dispersant over the mainland:

PENSACOLA, Fla. — Retired Coast Guard Adm. Thad Allen late Thursday ordered BP to begin evacuating the Deepwater Horizon oil spill site after the National Hurricane Center predicted that sustained winds of more than 55 miles per hour would reach the area perhaps as early as Saturday.

"Due to the risk that Tropical Storm Bonnie poses to the safety of the nearly 2,000 people responding to the BP oil spill at the well site, many of the vessels and rigs will be preparing to move out of harm's way beginning tonight," Allen said. "This includes the rig drilling the relief well that will ultimately kill the well, as well as other vessels needed for containment. Some of the vessels may be able to remain on site, but we will err on the side of safety."

Allen said he had directed BP to leave the well sealed during the evacuation and said that monitoring of the well, which has not leaked oil into the Gulf of Mexico for more than a week, would continue until the last possible moment. He said BP has been told to move ships guiding remotely operated vehicles providing a video feed from the capped well last and to return them to the area first.

"While these actions may delay the effort to kill the well for several days, the safety of the individuals at the well site is our highest concern," he said.

Federal and state oil cleanup workers had begun the process of battening down across the Gulf of Mexico for a weekend tropical storm, pulling out booms and calling vessels back to port from anti-contamination efforts in the Deepwater Horizon disaster.

On his blog BPOilslick,John L. Wathen,
aka Hurricane Creekkeeper, posts pictures of contractors covering up the oily beaches in Gulf Shores, Alabama with fresh sand. (Which may make things look pretty for the tourists, but doesn't do a damn thing about the toxic dispersant in the water.) Heather pointed out other instances last week.

Now, a semi-plausible case might be made for covering up the oil to serve the tourist trade, I suppose -- but why would you want people swimming in that water? (Anyone remember "Jaws"?) And more importantly, why are they lying to us about what they did?

US Coast Guard issued a press release claiming that no covering of oiled beach was occurring. I sat in my motel room in Orange Beach and watched as multiple pieces of heavy equipment excavated sand and hauled it up the beach and used it to cover oiled sections of beach.

While contractors drove bulldozers, front end loaders, screening tractors and various kinds of equipment on beaches known for Turtle nesting.

I watched them from about 11:00 P.M 07/02/10 until about lunch the next day excavating the beach under cover of darkness. There was a stand of ponded water with oil and so called "Tar Balls" which was covered with sand from another area.

U. S. Coast Guard issued a press release stating that this is not happening. USCG uniformed men sat in ATV buggies and watched. I saw them and photographed them.

Why is our Coast Guard playing toady to BP? Are they nothing more than oil lackeys?

Go look at the rest of the pictures. Fascinating...

Queen - Somebody To Love

Everyday - I try and I try and I try -
But everybody wants to put me down
They say I'm goin' crazy
They say I got a lot of water in my brain
Got no common sense
I got nobody left to believe

I am an optimistic person by nature, I really am. But I think that I have reached a point of uncharacteristic despair over the state of the world. I had hoped that we would reach a certain level of sanity after the Orwellian Bush/Cheney years, but instead the crazy has amped up to all new bewildering levels. And unfortunately, our media has failed us miserably by playing into the crazy without ever calling it that.

And we're going to have more of that this Sunday. The oil spill in the Gulf appears to be boring the Villagers with Coast Guard Commander Thad Allen appearing only on Face the Nation, which will also feature the Republican governors of the Gulf states. What's a little generational catastrophic environmental disaster to the Beltway Bubble? Navel gazing and sweeping pronouncements on the health of the majority party after the primaries of last week is a much more fun discussion, with Steny Hoyer and John Boehner on This Week, James Clyburn and Mike Pence on State of the Union, and Carly Fiorina on Meet the Press and Fox News Sunday. In the "What possible relevance do you have to be on a news show" category, GWB's non-Jenna daughter, Barbara Bush, is also on Fox New Sunday.

ABC's "This Week" - House Minority Leader John Boehner, R-Ohio; House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, D-Md.; Bill Gates, co-founder of Microsoft Corp.

CBS' "Face the Nation" - Govs. Charlie Crist, R-Fla., Haley Barbour, R-Miss., and Bob Riley, R-Ala.

NBC's "Meet the Press" - White House senior adviser David Axelrod; Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, D-Fla.; Carly Fiorina, the Republican nominee for Senate from California.

NBC's "The Chris Matthews Show" - Panel: Savannah Guthrie, John Heilemann, Rick Stengel, Helene Cooper. Topics: How Obama Can Take Charge of the Gulf Oil Crisis. Is the Rise of the New Right Making Regular Republicans Harder To Elect? Meter Qestions: Will President Obama Pass An Energy Bill This Year? YES: 6, NO: 6; Will the political damage to the President over the handling of the spill be long-lasting? YES: 5, No: 7.

CNN's "State of the Union" - Riley; Reps. James Clyburn, D-S.C., and Mike Pence, R-Ind.

CNN's "Fareed Zakaria GPS" - It's the worst oil spill in US history and the media seems to want one thing from Obama: to see him get mad. In "Fareed's Take" this week, Fareed gets mad -- at the media's absurd demand that the President "show some emotion" instead of dealing with the many weighty issues on his plate. Plus Paul Wolfowitz, and the Israeli Deputy Foreign Minister who says the activists onboard the flotilla had ties to Al Qaeda.

"Fox News Sunday" - Fiorina; Susan Rice, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations; Barbara Bush, daughter of former President George W. Bush.

So what's catching your eye this morning?

Admiral Thad Allen approved part of Louisiana's Barrier Island project proposal today as a component of the Federal oil spill response, opening the door for Louisiana to recover its costs from BP or the Oil Spill Liability Trust Fund.

As important as the costs are, approval is far more significant for Louisiana's coastal wetlands. The proposed plan allows for 45 miles of barrier berms to be constructed immediately to protect the coastline and wetlands from oil, particularly in the event of a hurricane.

The photo at the top is from the plan filed (PDF) with the Army Corps of Engineers. The highlighted areas are where the berms will go.

Hopefully they can get this project underway immediately and complete it fast, before the hurricanes start rolling in.