Imagine for a moment that you're a "government is bad" Republican candidate for president running on your experience as a Corporate Executive "that knows how to get things done". Not necessarily Mitt Romney mind you but just some generic Conservative ideologue that believes the government can't do anything right and corporate America can do no wrong.

Next, imagine a disaster strikes in the middle of your run for the White House. Hurricane, earthquake, tornado... again, doesn't matter. Just some generic disaster. With me so far?

Now your competition... the President of the United States... gets to look all presidential and all marshaling the resources of the Federal Government to provide assistance to the states, mobilizing FEMA and declaring his vow to "help the nation through this tragedy" in a timely manner.

Now, being a good Conservative and Wealthy Corporate Executive, you're already on the record as suggesting the possible privatization of FEMA, the Federal Emergency Management Agency, impressing upon the American people your solemn belief that Private Industry is far better suited to handle such matters than the bureaucracy of Big Government™. So while the President is out looking all "Presidential", don'tcha think NOW would make for the PERFECT opportunity to put your money where your mouth is and show the country that a Corporate Leader can rally Corporate America to step up and do a better job of disaster relief than the Federal government?

Or do you host a bake sale?

Because what Mitt Romney did yesterday/Tuesday hosting a donation drive in Ohio for the Red Cross, was not much more helpful than that... in fact, an ACTUAL "bake sale" might have been MORE helpful since the Red Cross says what they really need right now is money, not provisions that need to be checked, cleaned and distributed... all of which requires manpower they just can't spare in the midst of a crisis.

No, what Gov. Romney SHOULD have been doing in this crisis is call up his fellow corporate titans and organize corporate-sponsored relief efforts, supplying money, services, food & water, and heavy machinery to the cleanup effort. But he didn't. And you know why. Because they'd laugh in his face.

Corporations don't do anything for free unless they think it will make them more money down the road. If they tried to do everything FEMA does every time there's a disaster, they'd go broke in a month.

Romney also suggested in his 2011 debate response [ibid first link] of possibly "turning disaster relief over to the states". More Libertarian nonsense. The ONLY way the country can afford to pay out tens of Billions in Disaster Relief is BECAUSE the entire nation is paying for it with their tax dollars. Taxes paid in California and Nebraska go to pay for Hurricane relief in Florida & Virginia. And taxes paid in Michigan & Texas aid California following an earthquake. To dump the entire cost off on individual states would plunge them into bankruptcy overnight.

Well... maybe not "overnight", Individual states might be able to hang on for at least a few months before going belly up... unlike Corporate America

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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...

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.