Why hasn’t the United States government done more to clean up the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico?

How many more helpless animals have to die and how many beaches have to be ruined before they stop forming commissions and start forming solutions?  Total Fail Whale on their part.

From CNN.com:

Obama announces oil spill commission

Posted: May 22nd, 2010 11:48 AM ET

After this weekend's official formation, the commission will have six months to issue a report with recommendations on how to prevent spills from offshore drilling. (Photo Credit: Getty Images)

Washington (CNN) – President Obama has named former Florida Sen. Bob Graham, D-Florida, and former Environmental Protection Agency Administrator William K. Reilly to head a new bipartisan commission tasked with investigating how to prevent future oil spills.

Obama announced the formation of the panel in his weekly radio and Internet address Saturday.

“Friday, I signed an executive order establishing the National Commission on the BP Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill and Offshore Drilling. While there are a number of ongoing investigations, including an independent review by the National Academy of Engineering, the purpose of this Commission is to consider both the root causes of the disaster and offer options on what safety and environmental precautions we need to take to prevent a similar disaster from happening again,” he said in his Saturday address.

The formation of the commission comes as the administration faces a growing chorus of criticism about whether it is putting enough pressure on BP to clean up the massive oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.

On Friday, for the second straight day, White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs faced a barrage of questions at his daily briefing about why the federal government is not intervening to take over responsibility for the cleanup from BP.

“Again, we are overseeing the response, OK?” Gibbs said just hours before the news about the commission broke. “I don’t know what you think – we’re – we’re working each and every day. That’s why Secretary (Steven) Chu – the Department of Energy – it sounds technical. The Department of Energy doesn’t have purview over oil, oil drilling. That’s not in their governmental sphere. But Secretary Chu has been down there working through a whole host of ideas, including enhanced imaging to get a better look at a disaster that’s 5,000 feet underneath the water.”

Gibbs added: “We have taken every step. We have pushed relentlessly for BP to do what is necessary to contain what is leaking, to deal with both the environmental and the economic impacts of what, as the president said today, is unquestionably a disaster.”

In announcing the commission Saturday, Obama said of two co-chairs, Graham and Reilly, “I can’t think of two people who will bring greater experience of better judgment to the task at hand.”

Five other people will soon be selected to serve on the commission. Obama said they would include “scientists, engineers, and environmental advocates.” Administration officials have said the other panel members would likely be people outside government because of allegations that leaders at the federal, state and local levels have been too cozy with the oil industry.

After this weekend’s official formation, the commission will have six months to issue a report with recommendations on how to prevent spills from offshore drilling.

Before the recent spill, Obama had opened the door to potential expansion of offshore drilling as part of a comprehensive energy reform plan. He has since faced a storm of criticism from fellow Democrats in states like Florida, who now want him to scrap those plans.

Graham hails from Florida, which has been under threat from the current spill. He served two terms as governor followed by 18 years in the U.S. Senate. Since retiring from the Senate in January 2005, he has served on several federal panels, including as chairman of the Commission on the Prevention of Weapons of Mass Destruction Proliferation and Terrorism.

Reilly served as EPA chief in the administration of President George H.W. Bush from 1989-93 and is chairman emeritus of the board of the World Wildlife Fund. His credentials in the environmental community could be important for the commission amid fears within those circles that the Gulf spill will cause unprecedented damage to wildlife and fisheries.

Administration officials have previously said that this commission will be modeled after the federal panels that were formed after the Three Mile Island nuclear disaster in 1979 and the Challenger space shuttle tragedy in 1986.

–CNN’s Ed Henry contributed to this report.

More than 20 fire departments from Mercer, Butler, Lawrence and Venango counties responded to the fire at 620 Madison Avenue and fought the flames for over 4 hours.  The fire was declared under control at 4:45pm, but the building was said to be doubtful, by the Grove City Fire Chief, according to Mercer County’s on-line EMS alert system.

No one was hurt in the fire and all employees working at the time of the fire escaped safely.  Firefighters tried to retrieve computers, files and antiques from the building, but were only able to save a few items.

Firefighters had a tough time getting the fire under control, partly because of broken fire hydrants close to the scene.  Tanker trucks were called in from around Mercer County to bring water from a hydrant about 3/4 of a mile away.

The Grove City location, Wendell August Forge’s flagship retail store and forge, opened in 1932 and was located partly in a building used by the Army in World War I.  The building which held the forge is listed on the National Registry of Historic Places.

The extent or dollar amount of the damage were not available Saturday evening.

Updated 8:47pm. Multiple reports are now saying that the cause of the fire was a chemical spray that caught fire in a woodworking area on the second floor. It does appear that the building is a complete loss and will have to be torn down. Will Kanecht, the president of Wendell August Forge, said on WKBN-TV that he does plan to rebuild the forge to be bigger and better than it was before.

The gallery below shows pictures that dotcom3.net’s Jeremy Saylor took from the scene.  To see his full gallery, visit his facebook photo gallery here.

You can also check out KDKA Pittsburgh’s report on the fire here.

Pittsburgh’s KDKA.com posted the story below earlier today about a man who pulled a gun on someone after a dispute about a parking space that was cleared out of a very snowy Pittsburgh street.  First of all, only in Pittsburgh does shit like this happen, and secondly couldn’t this all have been solved by a parking chair?

Fight Over Parking Spot Leads To Gunfire

HILL DISTRICT (KDKA) ―

An argument over a parking space in the Hill District sparked a shootout between police and a Pittsburgh man Tuesday night.

Police are at a loss about how to explain the incident and the victim in the case doesn’t understand how it all ended up the way it did.

However, the reality is that that two police officers were nearly shot all over a place to park.

The event took place in the Hill District in the 3200-block of Ewart Drive.

The victim in all this had apparently cleared some snow for his girlfriend’s car on the street. That is when, according to the victim, Errol Parker Sr., 61, decided to claim it for himself.

According to the victim, who did not want to be identified, after he asked Parker to move his car, Parker sucker punched him in the face and then pulled a gun.

Police were then called to the scene. By that time, Parker was back in his duplex and not coming out.

“One of the officers turned the door handle to see if it was locked and the door partially opened, enabling the officer to observe the actor walking toward them from a back room with a raised weapon pointing in their direction,” Diane Richard said.

Police then fired at Parker, who fired back and eventually surrendered after a short struggle.

“One of the officers deployed his Taser and the actor was taken into custody,” Richard said.

It is not known what caused Parker to lose his cool over a parking space to begin with, but the victim said he is alive, so are the officers, and that is all that matters.

“I feel very, very blessed to look up and see the sun working. I know God is on my side,” the victim said.

Parker remains in the Allegheny County Jail, charged with two counts of attempted criminal homicide, as well as two counts of aggravated assault on a police officer.
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