BP Gulf Oil Leak Well-Head Repair … an anthology part VII

FINALLY!!!! The valves on the newly installed capping stack on the Macondo well have been closed as of 14:25 July 15, 2010 and the integrity test has begun. Just a mere 86 days after the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig first exploded.

All the credit for this achievement must be given to the engineers, technicians and crews of the ships and rigs from the many companies involved who conceived, developed and executed an excellent plan, the results of which we witnessed yesterday. Unlike the many agencies of the US Government, the companies that actually accomplished something were not deterred, nor did they make sure their every step was the most politically expedient thing to do from every possible angle. I am not giving any kind of a pass to BP; the company failed time after time before and continuing throughout this entire episode and deserve much the scorn they have received.

I had intended on writing out the time-line on all the stumbles and screw-ups caused by Obama, Napolitano, Salazar, Chu and the rest of the incompetents who have so openly exhibited their lack of leadership qualities. But I thought I begin with the video below, which does a very good job of summarizing Obama’s lack of understanding as to how to fix a crisis, rather than try to use it to further his socialist agenda.

Jake Tapper reports that in  a Rose Garden briefing this morning, Obama “said he wanted to speak to the public this morning because media reports were overplaying the significance of the cap being fitted over the well.”

“There were a lot of reports coming out in the media that seemed to indicate, ‘Well, maybe this thing is done,’” he said. “We won’t be done until we actually know that we’ve killed the well and that we have a permanent solution in place,” he said.

The president said that “it’s important that we don’t get ahead of ourselves here. You know, one of the problems with having this camera down there is that when the oil stops gushing, everybody feels like we’re done. And we’re not.”

Taking an optimistic but cautious tone, the president said that the cap will be used to either stop the flow entirely or partially until construction on the relief wells is finished. “We’re not going to know for certain which approach makes sense until additional data is in,” he said.

Obama is doing nothing more than to try and defuse any good news that he wasn’t personally responsible for. Heaven forbid someone else get credit for something! BP has said over and over that the capping stack is to be an interim measure to stem the oil flow, not the solution. They will continue drilling relief well number 1 and tie into Macondo. They well then “kill” the Macondo well by pumping heavy drilling mud down the relief well, which will be drawn up into Macondo and choke it foo permanently.

Our government has failed over and over and over in their response to this disaster. The claim that they have “managed” anything in regards to BP’s screw up is laughable. This administration is incapable of managing their way out of a wet paper sack.

Remember November!

BP Gulf Oil Leak Well-Head Repair … an anthology part VI

BP just released a video explaining some of the steps they were going to be going through to install the capping stack.

That was a lot easier than what I went trough tiring to write an explanation in almost real-time;-)

I’ll continue with my rant tomorrow.

BP Gulf Oil Leak Well-Head Repair … an anthology part V – UPDATED

Updated info at the end of the post

It was my expectation that today I’d be reporting on the progress of the stack test and then be moving on to expand on the rant I began at the end of my last post. Alas … not gunna’ happen. AP released a story this morning indicating that the government was treading “cautiously:”

An administration official, who asked not to be identified because of the sensitivity of the talks with BP, said the government was acting out of “abundance of caution” and didn’t want potentially dangerous pressure tests on a tighter containment cap that has been placed over the well to go ahead until BP answers questions about possible risks.

This has been the government’s problem since they finally realized the Deepwater Horizon explosion and sinking was in fact a big deal. No one in the Administration knows what they’re doing, so rather than trust the experts, “let’s just stop everything, sit down and contemplate our navels until the right answer jumps into our laps!”

Meanwhile:

Oil continues to flow out the top of the 3 Ram Stack

UPDATE 20100714 13:35 PDT: BP has now postponed their regularly scheduled afternoon technical conference call … twice . No new time has been provided … yet!

UPDATE II 20100714 15:45 PDT: This afternoon’s delayed briefing just concluded. While there was a lot of “we’re working closely with go’mnt  scientist” and other such blather, Kent Wells walked through the process BP was getting ready to undertake to conduct the well integrity test. As he was speaking, BP began shutting off the top valve, which diverted oil flow from the discharge out the top of the stack as in the image above. Oil began flowing from ports on two sides of the capping stack as seen in the image below:

Top valve on Capping Stack is closed, diverting oil flow to side ports

Work will continue for the next couple of hours to close the remaining valves. BP will be intently watching the pressure in the well casing, which hopefully will rise to between 8,000 and 9,000 PSI and hold steady. As I wrote in yesterday’s post, should the pressure begin to drop, that will indicate the integrity of the well is compromised and they will not be able to close in the well. At that point they will connect the top discharge connection to the collection system and begin recovering the oil and gas with the recovery vessels on the surface.

Pray the capping stack works!

BP Gulf Oil Leak Well-Head Repair … an anthology part IV – UPDATED

See update at the end of the post. I found a video of BP setting the 3 Ram Capping Stack; see the end of this post.

This is the forth in a series of posts I’ve written regarding BP’s efforts to stop the flow of oil and gas from their Macondo Well located in the Gulf of Mexico about 40 miles offshore from Louisiana. The 1st can be found here, the 2nd here and the 3rd post here. BP’s web page devoted to their response is here and from there you can access all of their resources including access to the video feeds from the cameras on the ROVs here.

On the last link, BP changed its page layout yesterday to show thumbnail views all the ROV feeds rather than a text list, making it much much easier to determine which ROV is in operation and where it is …

BP's ROV camera links page

There are a number of video and audio presentations on BP’s web site as well as copies of presentations and transcripts of meetings and conference calls, but there is one video in particular that provides a good overview of the process I’ve been walking through in my posts for the last couple of days. That video is available here.

Yesterday I left off at the point where BP had installed the Flange Transition Spool, the section of pipe that allows BP to connect a new BOP (Blowout Perventer) to the top of the well. BP is calling this new BOP the “3 Ram Capping Stack” and I’ve included a shot of it in the image below:

3 Ram Capping Stack being transported to the well site

This device, including the HC Connector at the bottom that allows it to quickly couple onto the top of the Flange Transition Spool, is about 18 feet tall and weighs around 150,000 pounds. Work seems to get in the way of fun, so of course I was off at a meeting when BP actually landed the 3 Ram Stack onto the FTS. My first view of the scene was …

3 Ram Stack in place

The HC Connector is a hydraulic/mechanical connector, so it took less than 30 minutes from the time the Stack was landed to complete the connection. At that point, there were many hours of testing to insure the 3 Ram Stack was still operating correctly. I have many screen caps that I won’t bore you with; besides I couldn’t tell you what was actually happening anyway.

Beginning today, BP will begin to shut down the oil flow through the well while at the same time monitoring the pressures within the well. Ideally, once the well is completely shut down and there is no more oil flow, the pressures will reach and then remain at somewhere around 8,000 PSI. If that happens, BP will be able to surmise that they can shut down the well in the event of a hurricane, causing the ships to have to leave the area. If pressures begin dropping off, that will tell them that the oil is escaping somewhere else; possibly to another underground reservoir, but it also could be heading to the sea floor through another path. That last possibility hopefully won’t happen.

Regardless of the outcome of the pressure testing, BP will continue completion of Relief Well #1, which was only a few feet away from the Macondo well as of this afternoon. The schedule is to complete this well by the end of July and then begin what is referred to as “bottom kill.” BP will begin to pump large volumes of what is called “heavy drilling mud” into the relief well. The mud will then be forced up the Macondo well by the oil flow. If all goes as expected, the mud will begin to choke off the Macondo well due to the viscosity and the weight of the mud relative to the oil. Their plan is to have the Macondo well completely shut down, or “killed” by mid August.

Now on to lighter fair. There is one shot I would like to show you that I found cool …

A fish checking out the action ... at 5,000 feet!

I have only seen fish on a couple of occasions and this was the only one I grabbed a shot of.

The Bottom Line

BP screwed up big time and they are at fault in this disaster, costing the lives of 11 men and causing a massive environmental disaster in the Gulf of Mexico. However, while I can’t speak to their actions on the ground, the beaches, the bays or the bayous, I’ve been listening to the technical conferences BP has twice a day and in my humble opinion, BP is doing a great job of getting the well capped and ending this nightmare. It is clear to me that their plan was well thought out, each element was tested to every extent possible and so far has been professionally executed. Great job on the repair phase so far, BP!

The US Government, on the other hand, has been asleep at the switch since day one! Actually, before day one … the agency that was supposed to be overseeing off-shore drilling operations such as this was unfortunately acting just like so many other government bureaucracies; incompetently.

The failure of the Offshore Energy and Minerals Management Agency to provide the necessary oversight of the Deepwater Horizon, which exploded and sank and led to where we are today is all too typical of these bloated, bureaucratic government behemoths.

Tomorrow I’ll continue this rant, getting into all the stumbling and bumbling that has taken place since April 20.

UPDATE 20100713 19:02 PDT: BP just posted a more detailed explanation of the test they are preforming as I write.

UPDATE 20100714 19:00 PDT: I found a video of BP setting the capping stack onto the top of the Flange Transition Tool;

Amazing!

BP Gulf Oil Leak Well-Head Repair … an anthology III

Sunday morning (7/11/2010) finds the Flange Transition Spool (FTS) already hanging near the well head as preparations are underway to make the installation:

Flange Transition Spool being prepared for installation

I am unsure what the tool is in the foreground. It was on screen in the shot above as I logged on Sunday morning and I didn’t notice it after a short while. Notice in this shot there are three ROVs … the lights off in the gloom to the right of the view, the glow of lights behind the mechanical arm (upper left) and the ROV holding the tool.

Well stack w/o old flange

The image above shows the bottom flange, sans the old top flange removed in the early hours of the morning. Note to the right the white, inverted “u” dispersant injector has been reinserted directly into the well

The method BP is going to use to guide the FTS into the correct orientation above the well flange is through the use of tapered dowels that fit into holes in the flange made for that purpose. You can clearly see the dowels in the image below.

Left image - guide dowels built into the bottom flange of the FTS (click to see a larger image)

However, BP is using a clever way of making sure they are able to find the correct holes for the dowels. In the image on the left above, note the slim cables attached to the bottom of each tapered dowel; the ROV operator threaded each of these cables into the correct hole in the bottom flange prior to moving the FTS into position. By keeping tension on these cables, the FTS will be guided into the correct orientation even though the view will be blocked by the oil plume once the FTS is positioned within the plume.

Flange Transition Spool being moved into position adjacent to the well (click image to see an enlarged version)

The images above show two views as the Flange Transition Spool continues into position above the well.

BTW … I believe these two images are from ROVs controlled by another support vessel, the Boa Deep C, though I haven’t found that ship in the readily available information on BP’s site. These two ROV’s continue installing the FTS.

FTS close to the well

Above, the FTS getting closer to the well. The images below show the FTS in the plume, being positioned directly over the well. Note the tapered dowel and the cable being pulled taught by another ROV somewhere off camera.

FTS within the oil plume, directly above the well

In the next shots the FTS is in position and being lowered onto the well-head flange:

FTS being lowered onto the well-head flange (click for larger image)

Things are looking good!

A

FTS almost in place

Just a litttttttle bit more to go ….

Almost there ...

But it’s stuck. They take a closer look …

Why won't it drop further?

Okay … let’s try to raise it up slightly and then put it back down …

Raise the FTS ... just a bit

Okay … now lower it again and let’s see if it will seat itself:

FTS seated all the way! (click on image for a larger version)

Next, remove the external sleeves that held the bolts in place and begin screwing each into the lower flange.

Removing sleeves from flange bolts

Note the string attached to the white sleeve wrapped around each bolt … the ROV operator grabs the string and gives it a jerk and the sleeve pops off, allowing the bolt to fall all the way into the hole until it hits the threads.

Flange bolt sleeve removal

As before with the removal of the bolts, the ROV operator places each of the removed sleeves onto a tray on the old BOP (blowout preventer)

Stowing the bolt sleeves

Each bolt is then “hand” tightened:

"Hand" tighting the bolts

At this point I had plans to visit some friends, so I left. When I returned, I wasn’t really sure what it was I was watching, but after a few minutes I guessed that another type of hydraulic socket tool was …

Hydraulic tool to fully tighten the bolts

… torquing down the bolts. As you watched, the ROV camera would watch as the operator placed the tool on a bolt and then the view would switch to …

Monitoring the hydraulic pressure gague

A pressure gauge. As you watched, the gauge would move from zero up to more than ….

Hydraulic pressure torquing the bolts

… 6,000 PSI (pounds per square inch). The operator would drop the pressure then reapply several times before moving to the next bolt. It seems that the highest pressure reached on each bolt was around 6.600 PIS or so. I didn’t follow every step, but it appeared the operator torqued each blot at least twice. I’m not sure how many foot-pounds relates to 6.600 PSI, but I bet it’s more than what I used to torque the head bolts too on my 427 cubic inch Chevy I had in my flat bottom ski boat!

The last operation I watched last night was something I didn’t understand. An ROV holding some sort of an instrument moved to the base of the well casing where it came out of the sea floor …

Instrument at the sea floor

The instrument was placed against the casing as shown in the image below …

Test instrument placed against the well casing

The instrument was held in place for several minutes, then moved 90 degrees and the process repeated for a total of four times. My first thought was that it was some kind of ultrasonic flow measuring device, but the ones I’m familiar with require sensors on both sides of the pipe, and for such a large diameter pipe, the sensors would be much longer.

I then assumed the instrument was some sort of device that measured the stress on each quadrant of the casing to insure the added weight of the Flange Transition Spool wasn’t causing undue stress on the casing. However, when completed at the bottom of the stack, the ROV relocated to …

Instrument placed in the oil plume ...

… the top of the stack and put the instrument directly into the oil plume! Some kind of flow measurement device?

Things began to slow down, so I called it a night. I’ll pick up with Monday morning’s activities in the next post.

BP Gulf Oil Leak Well-Head Repair … an anthology II

So … last night we left off at the point where BP was removing the flange bolts using a hydraulic socket wrench.

View of the hydraulic socket tool on one of the flange bolts

Notice the bolt to the right of the one with the wrench (not the larger object directly adjacent to the bolt the socket is on … I believe that is an alignment pin, but certainly not a bolt head. I’m referring to the second object to the right of the bolt that the socket is on). It appears the flat surfaces have at some point been damaged. The image below provides a better view:

Bolt on the right shows damage to a couple of its hex surfaces

Not to worry! Just go to your trusty tool box and bring out the Dremal rotary tool … an industrial strength Dremal if I do say so!

Industrial strength Dremal rotary tool being used to grind burrs off of hex bolt in image on the left (click on image to see an enlarged version)

Below is a second view of the grinder seen from both ROV cameras:

Grinder seen from both ROVs (click image to enlarge)

The next image shows the hydraulic socket wrench loosening the now-cleaned bolt:

Socket on bolt that had the burs removed with grinder

Same view as the last, but from both ROVs (note the polished surface … as a the result of grinding, of the bolt below the socket in the image from ROV 1):

Damaged bolt removal seen from both ROVs (click image to enlarge)

ROV 1 now begins to remove all the loosened bolts:

ROV 1 using one of its mechanical arms and "hand" begins to remove the loosened bolts

The “hand” at the end of the arm is positioned directly above each bolt and then rotates counter-clockwise, unscrewing each bolt.

Bolt almost removed from flange

I was surprised that as each bolt was removed, the ROV would back away from the stack and move to a shelf located somewhere lower on the stack and drop each bolt on the shelf, rather than just drop the bolts to the ocean floor. Keep your work space tidy!!

Meanwhile, in the next image ROV 2 breaks out the trusty rotary wire brush and begins cleaning the surface of the outer flange:

Rotary wire brush cleaning the outer flange surface

It is pure speculation on my part, but I suspect that the Flange Overshot Removal Tool (FOLT), designed to remove the damaged flange, is designed with relatively close tolerances. BP cleaned the outside of the flange to make sure there are no large burrs or other obstacles on the flange that could inhibit the placement of the FOLT, shown below:

Flange Overshot Removal Tool ... used to remove the flange

Wire brushing continues to clean the entire outer surface of the flange:

View of wire-brushing operation from both ROVs (click image to enlarge)

I mentioned the “tool box: earlier. Below is a shot of one of those tool boxes:

Tool box

Note all the different colored rope loops with different tape markings; a very simple and clever way of identifying different tools IMHO. I’s say these guys may have done this type of thing once or twice before Below is a second view of the same tool box:

Another view of one of the tool boxes

At this point it’s almost midnight Saturday evening in the Gulf and the activity that I can see via the various ROV cameras is slowing down, so I decide to call it a day and go to bed. As it turned out, BP was apparently able to remove the flange around 12:30 or 12:45, so I missed that operation completely.

In the next post I’ll pick up the operation that began the next morning to install the Flange Transition Spool, seen in the image below:

Flange Transition Spool being tested

BP Gulf Oil Leak Well-Head Repair … an anthology

I’ve mentioned my engineering background in the past and how I marvel at some of the feats accomplished by American engineering prowess such as our accomplishments in outer space, submarine technology and medicine, just to mention a few. With that short intro, it is no surprise that the Gulf oil disaster has attracted my attention. I have logged on to BP’s web site every couple of days and watched their cameras on the undersea ROVs (remotely operated vehicles) showing barrel after barrel of crude oil flow from BP’s Macondo well. I’ve been collecting stories on the political consequences of this disaster for a forthcoming essay, but this series of posts will deal only with the core engineering challenges taking place in the Gulf as I write.

On Saturday afternoon I logged on to see BP’s progress on removing the LMRP cap (the temporary, loose fitting cap used to recover some of the oil flowing from the now broken Macondo well.

I was hooked!

Let me stop here to clarify that I have not expertise in the oil industry. My background in oil, aside from a couple of years pumping gas in a gas station after school, consists of exactly two days as a “boilermaker” for Texaco in San Pedro, CA in 1967 or 1968. I did work for for ten years for one the worlds largest oil-related engineering firms, but I was in their facilities organization and had little interface with the guys that designed and constructed huge refineries, petro-chemical plants and oil pipe-lines (the Alyeska Pipeline in Alaska) around the world.

As I watched, I started trying to figure out what the operators were doing as they manipulated the mechanical arms of the ROVs and slowly I began to understand the different steps as they began implementing the plan to replace the loose-fitting LMRP cap with a better-fitting device. I would recommend that you download a copy of a presentation (.pdf) BP has on their web site, showing their plan and the details of each element

At that point I began to take screen captures of the video from first one the two ROV cameras, thinking I could write a blog post. This is the first post of that anthology.

As it is late Sunday evening and BP has made a significant amount of progress over the last 18-20 or so hours toward their plan to capture most of the oil flowing from the run-away well, I’ll break this into several posts (who can say how many at this point?) for easier reading.

Almost 4:00 PM Pacific Time on July 10 I made my first screen-cap. From this point forward, I will reference all time as shown in the vid-caps , which is in Central Daylight Time.

BP removes LMRP cap

Following removal of the LMRP cap, the well flows uncontrolled. BP did install a tube to inject chemical dispersant directly into to flow, shown above (the white “U” shaped tube on the right of the flange and disappearing into the jagged pipe). At this point, I opened multiple browser windows to capture the various ROVs working either in conjunction with one another or on separate tasks and began to include the header indicating which ROV the image was being captured by.

At this point, removal of the top flange with the short section of pipe with the jagged edge (from being cut to allow the LMRP cap to be put in place) is the first task. In the next shot you can see the second ROV bring in the hydraulic socket wrench to begin removing the bolts holding the flange in place.

Ocean Intervention III ROV 1 arrives with tool to remove flange bolts (note tool in the left mechanical arm)

ROV 1 and 2 from Ocean Intervention III continue working together, loosening the six bolts around the flange.

View from both ROVs as BP begins to loosen the flange bolts (click for full image)

Note the hydraulic socket wrench being operated by ROV 1 on the right image, also seen from ROV 2′s camera on the left. This procedure continues as each bolt is loosened.

More flange bolts being loosened (click for larger image)

Note the loosened bolt to the left of the tool as viewed by ROV 2.

I’ll break here and continue in the morning.

Happy Birthday America

IN CONGRESS, July 4, 1776.

The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America,

When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.–That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, –That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.–Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.

He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.

He has forbidden his Governors to pass Laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till his Assent should be obtained; and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them.

He has refused to pass other Laws for the accommodation of large districts of people, unless those people would relinquish the right of Representation in the Legislature, a right inestimable to them and formidable to tyrants only.

He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of their public Records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures.

He has dissolved Representative Houses repeatedly, for opposing with manly firmness his invasions on the rights of the people.

He has refused for a long time, after such dissolutions, to cause others to be elected; whereby the Legislative powers, incapable of Annihilation, have returned to the People at large for their exercise; the State remaining in the mean time exposed to all the dangers of invasion from without, and convulsions within.

He has endeavoured to prevent the population of these States; for that purpose obstructing the Laws for Naturalization of Foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migrations hither, and raising the conditions of new Appropriations of Lands.

He has obstructed the Administration of Justice, by refusing his Assent to Laws for establishing Judiciary powers.

He has made Judges dependent on his Will alone, for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries.

He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harrass our people, and eat out their substance.

He has kept among us, in times of peace, Standing Armies without the Consent of our legislatures.

He has affected to render the Military independent of and superior to the Civil power.

He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution, and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his Assent to their Acts of pretended Legislation:

For Quartering large bodies of armed troops among us:

For protecting them, by a mock Trial, from punishment for any Murders which they should commit on the Inhabitants of these States:

For cutting off our Trade with all parts of the world:

For imposing Taxes on us without our Consent:

For depriving us in many cases, of the benefits of Trial by Jury:

For transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended offences

For abolishing the free System of English Laws in a neighbouring Province, establishing therein an Arbitrary government, and enlarging its Boundaries so as to render it at once an example and fit instrument for introducing the same absolute rule into these Colonies:

For taking away our Charters, abolishing our most valuable Laws, and altering fundamentally the Forms of our Governments:

For suspending our own Legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever.

He has abdicated Government here, by declaring us out of his Protection and waging War against us.

He has plundered our seas, ravaged our Coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people.

He is at this time transporting large Armies of foreign Mercenaries to compleat the works of death, desolation and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of Cruelty & perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the Head of a civilized nation.

He has constrained our fellow Citizens taken Captive on the high Seas to bear Arms against their Country, to become the executioners of their friends and Brethren, or to fall themselves by their Hands.

He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeavoured to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian Savages, whose known rule of warfare, is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions.

In every stage of these Oppressions We have Petitioned for Redress in the most humble terms: Our repeated Petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. A Prince whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.

Nor have We been wanting in attentions to our Brittish brethren. We have warned them from time to time of attempts by their legislature to extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over us. We have reminded them of the circumstances of our emigration and settlement here. We have appealed to their native justice and magnanimity, and we have conjured them by the ties of our common kindred to disavow these usurpations, which, would inevitably interrupt our connections and correspondence. They too have been deaf to the voice of justice and of consanguinity. We must, therefore, acquiesce in the necessity, which denounces our Separation, and hold them, as we hold the rest of mankind, Enemies in War, in Peace Friends.

We, therefore, the Representatives of the united States of America, in General Congress, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the Name, and by Authority of the good People of these Colonies, solemnly publish and declare, That these United Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States; that they are Absolved from all Allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that as Free and Independent States, they have full Power to levy War, conclude Peace, contract Alliances, establish Commerce, and to do all other Acts and Things which Independent States may of right do. And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor.

The 56 signatures on the Declaration appear in the positions indicated:

Column 1
Georgia:
Button Gwinnett
Lyman Hall
George Walton

Column 2
North Carolina:
William Hooper
Joseph Hewes
John Penn
South Carolina:
Edward Rutledge
Thomas Heyward, Jr.
Thomas Lynch, Jr.
Arthur Middleton

Column 3
Massachusetts:
John Hancock
Maryland:
Samuel Chase
William Paca
Thomas Stone
Charles Carroll of Carrollton
Virginia:
George Wythe
Richard Henry Lee
Thomas Jefferson
Benjamin Harrison
Thomas Nelson, Jr.
Francis Lightfoot Lee
Carter Braxton

Column 4
Pennsylvania:
Robert Morris
Benjamin Rush
Benjamin Franklin
John Morton
George Clymer
James Smith
George Taylor
James Wilson
George Ross
Delaware:
Caesar Rodney
George Read
Thomas McKean

Column 5
New York:
William Floyd
Philip Livingston
Francis Lewis
Lewis Morris
New Jersey:
Richard Stockton
John Witherspoon
Francis Hopkinson
John Hart
Abraham Clark

Column 6
New Hampshire:
Josiah Bartlett
William Whipple
Massachusetts:
Samuel Adams
John Adams
Robert Treat Paine
Elbridge Gerry
Rhode Island:
Stephen Hopkins
William Ellery
Connecticut:
Roger Sherman
Samuel Huntington
William Williams
Oliver Wolcott
New Hampshire:
Matthew Thornton

My Ode to “Earth Day”

While the language is a bit rough in spots, this is the best ode to “Earth Day” ever!

;-{ )

California – America’s La-La Land

I posted here about how California was heading for a green train wreck if the citizens didn’t fight to stop AB32, the California version of Obama’s Cap and Tax and Tax and Tax and Tax. Fortunately a group has formed and created a petition to suspend AB32 until such time as the state’s unemployment drops below 5.5% for four consecutive quarters. I’d rather see the law totally repealed, but beggars can’t be choosers. If you are a resident of California and a registered voter, you can download the petition, print it (print a bunch and get others to sign it also), sign it and send it to the sponsors to help get this imitative on the November ballot. I’ve gotten a bunch of folks to sign and have mailed back six completed signatory pages.(just noticed the completed petitions have to be postmarked by April 16!!!!! Hurry!!!)

Anyway, even if we are able to suspend AB32, the state is still in big trouble. Watch this video:

We have a very long and tough fight ahead. In fact, the state may have to hit bottom, similar to a drug addict, before enough citizens realize we can’t keep feeding the beast called government. Tea Party folks have already awakened, but there just aren’t enough of us in California to actually make changes. We’re going to have to be satisfied to play the role of catalyst for change.

H/T to Instapundit.

Americans care about fairness

Nancy Pelosi has been playing the role of the consummate politician these last few days, wheeling and dealing in order to cajole her wayward flock into committing political suicide and vote for Obamacare. The latest ploy being discussed over the last few days is being refereed to as the ‘Slaughter Solution,’ named after Congresswoman Louise Slaughter (D-NY), Chairman of the House Rules Committee.

What this ploy attempts to accomplish is to provide cover to those Democrats without the courage to come out and vote directly for Obamacare. Many House Dems have one or more problems with the Senate bill, passed on  December 24, most notably including the fact that for the first time, the government would pay for abortion. What the Slaughter Solution would do is create a rule change; the House would create a bill that includes changes to the Senate bill acceptable to those members who what changes to that bill, and by voting for the ‘rule change,’ that vote would automatically cause the Senate version of the bill would “deem” it to have been passed without requiring House Members to actually vote for that bill. Someone searching the House record in three, six, nine months from now would never find a record of any one Congressman voting “for” Obamacare.

Americans are smarter than that! If the Democrats think they can create some kind of political sleight-of-hand and it not be noticed, they are even dumber than I think they are.

One of the really basic values of the American culture is that of fairness. Americans will overlook many weaknesses in someone’s character, but if they ‘deem’ people are being unfair, that is where they generally draw the line.

The smoke and mirrors Pelosi is trying to use to cover her underhanded tricks is going to backfire on her and her caucus … because it will be viewed by the average American as unfair.

US Census and Identity Politics

The US Constitution requires the the Federal Government determine how many and where its citizens live:

“Representation and direct Taxes shall be apportioned among the several States which may be included within this Union, according to their respective Numbers … . The actual Enumeration shall be made within three Years after the first Meeting of the Congress of the United States, and within every subsequent Term of ten Years, in such Manner as they shall by Law direct.”

Article I, Section 2 of the Constitution of the United States

Initially, that’s all the government did; count its citizens. However,it did require a differentiation of “white male” and “white female” and “slave” in each household. One of the reasons for this is that slaves were accorded 3/5ths of a person when counted for purposes of apportionment, based upon a compromise during the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia in 1787. Additional census questions were added over time throughout the history of the US Census. However, the question of race has been a relatively consistent feature during every census.

Regardless, the reasoning behind asking for the racial identity of our citizens has changed. Obviously the issue of slavery is no longer in need of tracking. Since the 1960′s, the reasons have been more associated with “affirmative action” and white guilt. Nonetheless, accurately defining ones “race” is becoming much more difficult in today’s United States.

Mark Krikorian, the Executive Director of the Center for Immigration Studies and a contributor at National Review Online, made an outstanding suggestion the other day;  when you fill out your census questionnaire this month, on question number 9, check the box “Some other Race – Print race:” and then enter “American” on the space provided.

Michelle Malkin concurs.

UPDATE: James Taranto writes a well stated piece on racial politics in last Monday’s Best of the Web (opening article).

UPDATE 2: Hans A. von Spakoski wrote a post last night on this issue and made a couple of great points:

I have been deluged lately with requests asking me whether one has to answer all of the questions on the 2010 Census, particularly those about race and ethnic background. Like Mark Krikorian, I don’t like those questions and don’t think the U.S. government should be collecting that information — its only use is to continue to separate us on racial grounds, for reapportionment purposes and for certain government programs.

The point of why the government collects such information is precisely the point I was trying to make with commenter brad. Further, those who claim the Constitution doesn’t require anything more than our name and the names of everyone in our household may not fully understand the Article cited above, granting Congress the authority to conduct the Census, and I liken to those who claim the government has no “right” to collect income taxes. Hans goes on:

Mark has said that he is going to answer “American” on the race question. I have always been tempted to answer “Native American,” since I was born and raised here. However, people need to understand that they may incur a legal liability if they use such answers or don’t answer questions at all.

In Article I, Section 2, the Constitution says that an “Enumeration” must be conducted every ten years “in such Manner as [Congress] shall by Law direct.” Congress has directed through a federal law that anyone who “refuses or willfully neglects…to answer, to the best of his knowledge, any of the questions” on the Census form can be fined $100 (13 U.S.C. § 221).  If you deliberately give a false answer, you can be fined up to $500.

Follow the link to Hans’ post and read the whole thing.

More Evidence for Global Warming

I know that you’ve all been holding off the attacks from them dirty “deniers” following the exploitation of the stolen emails and what is being nastily called “Climategate” … Well below is a video you can refer folks to proving that the climate is warming.

See!!! Proof!!!

[/snark]

Obamacare Without Reconciliation

Reconciliation has been the topic du jour every day since Obama’s dog and pony show last Thursday. Pundits speculate whether the Democrats have enough votes in the Senate to meet the majority requirement or not … does Pelosi have enough House votes even without counting on Bart Stupak (D-Mich.) and his like-minded Blue-dog Dems. Pelosi has said she’s trying to find a way to make ‘reconciliation’ work for those in the House who are skeptical of it working. Harry Reid denied that anyone was contemplating using reconciliation to pass Obamacare.

The real reason Pelosi is having so much trouble finding the votes in the House is most likely due to members of the House not wanting to be shafted by the Senate and Obama. Reconciliation is a Senate function, supposedly limited to budget issues, allowing bills to pass without being subjected to the Senate’s filibuster rule (requiring 60 votes to reach cloture .. stopping debate and putting the bill to a vote). Obamacare has already passed cloture and voted on by 60 Democrat Senators.

The current rub is that the House and Senate versions of Obamacare do not match … and they must in order for Congress to send one bill to Obama for signature. There are portions of the Senate version that some members of the House don’t buy into … mainly Federal funding for abortion, but even some House members on the far left don’t like that the the Senate stripped the “public option” from version of the bill.

So Obama, Pelosi and Reid need to convince the House to accept the Senate bill as is and pass it … before the Senate begins working on the “fix” that would be acceptable to those in the House who have the heartache with the Senate version … ergo the rub! It would be quite possible that after the House passed the Senate’s version, Reid could say it will be too hard to put together a reconciliation bill that meets the rules of the Senate and just send the one bill passed by both chambers (which just happens to be the Senate version!) to Obama for signature.

The Senate decided not to take up Cap and Tax and Tax and Tax after the House passed it on June 26 2009. There were many House Democrats, Pelosi being one, who were not happy with putting their necks on the line for a very unpopular bill and being stiffed by the Senate. Fortunately for those of us who are massively against government takeover of our health care system, House members look to be following the adage “once bitten, twice shy.”

Let’s make sure the House Dems occupying tenuous seats know they could be nothing more than the fodder Obama needs to stay away from his Waterloo.

UPDATE: I just ran across this post by Yuval Levin on this same subject. A slightly different approach, but draws the same conclusion.

CIA to Remain as Nation’s … uh … Top Torturer?

The Hill is reporting that the controversial bill I mentioned in my last post that would have levied criminal punishments on intelligence officers for harsh interrogations was pulled this evening.

House Republicans charged Democrats with trying to sneak a provision into the intelligence authorization bill that would establish criminal punishment for CIA agents and other intelligence officials who engage in “cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment” during interrogations.

Democrats inserted an 11-page addition into the bill late Wednesday night as the House Rules Committee considered the legislation.The provision, previously not vetted in committee, applied to “any officer or employee of the intelligence community” who during interrogations engages in beatings, infliction of pain or forced sexual acts. The bill said the acts covered by the provision would include inducing hypothermia, conducting mock executions or “depriving the [detainee] of necessary food, water, sleep, or medical care.”

…

“This will fundamentally change the nature of the intelligence community by creating a criminal statute governing interrogations,” said Rep. Pete Hoesktra [sic] (R-Mich.).

He added that it had appeared “out of nowhere” in a manager’s amendment.

“Would someone on the other side please explain the rationale behind this and why the majority was unwilling to have hearings on this issue?” he said.

On Thursday night, Hoekstra lauded the GOP effort against the bill.

“Republicans brought this to the attention of the American people, who were rightly outraged that Democrats would try to target those we ask to serve in harm’s way and with a unified push we were successful in getting them to pull the bill,” Hoekstra said in a statement. “The annual intelligence bill should be about protecting and defending our nation, not targeting those we ask to do that deed and giving greater protections to terrorists.”

So … I suppose this means the CIA can continue it’s reign of torture and mayhem without pause or fear of retribution. Oh, could you pass me the Iron Maiden please?