"The coast guard today announced new rules keeping photographers, reporters and anyone else from coming within 65 feet of any response vessel or booms, out on the water or on beaches. In order to get closer you need to get direct permission from the coast guard captain of the Port of New Orleans. Shots of oil on beaches with booms - stay 65 feet away. Pictures of oil soaked booms useless laying in the water because they haven't been collected like they should. You can't get close enough to see that. And believe me, that is out there. But you only know that if you get close to it, and now you can't without permission. Violators could face a fine of $40,000 and class D felony charges. The coast guard tried to make the exclusion zone 300 feet before scaling it down to 65 feet."Most important is Anderson Cooper's conclusion, which is spot on:
Little by little, nothing else matters, except for what the administration, the Fed, and the megacorps think it is in America's best interest to be able to see, hear, read, do, and what assets they have."we are not the enemy here, those of us down here trying to accurately show what is happening down here, we are not the enemy. If we can't show what is happening, warts and all, no one will see what is happening, and that makes it very easy to hide failure and hide incompetence,"
Freedom of the press is paramount to our rights as free citizens. That such rights are being so severely restricted, on this our 4th of July, is a sad statement.
How nice of BP to pay for fireworks. The oil must look cool reflected with all the lights. The fish must think it is the end of the world.
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