US judge denies stay on drill ban ruling | Reuters

So far so good on the lifting of the drilling ban as the judge shoots 'em down again today, which is met from the left with cries of "he's got oil investments" when as far as I'm concerned, anyone with a mutual fund or IRA has some also, not to mention those big globs of steel most people have at least one of in a driveway, parking garage or what have you is an oil investment as well, if you really think about it.

You buy that car, you're investing in the oil industry, because you'll be paying them thousands and thousands of dollars a year until you either sell it, smash it or kill it.

Some tens of thousands. Oil investment.

There's a good comment thread at Newsvine which I find to veer left (but this one's ok) on Judge Feldman's so called 'conflict of interest'. I was actually laughing typing those three words btw.

June 24 (Reuters) - A U.S. judge refused on Thursday to put on hold his decision blocking the federal government from enforcing its six-month ban on deepwater oil drilling after the Gulf of Mexico oil spill.

U.S. District Judge Martin Feldman in New Orleans rejected the Obama administration's request to stay his decision that allowed deepwater drilling to resume. The Interior Department suspended drilling after the ruptured BP Plc (BP.L) (BP.N) well began gushing oil into the Gulf more than two months ago.

Fifteen hours after the Justice Department appealed Feldman's ruling and requested a stay pending that appeal, Feldman issued a brief order denying the request for the same reasons he gave in his Tuesday decision.

In that opinion, Feldman strongly criticized the Obama administration's moratorium, saying that it was "indeed punitive" because it was too broad, arbitrary and was not adequately justified given the impact on thousands of oil industry workers and on local communities.
The Obama administration can still ask the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit -- also based in New Orleans -- for a stay as it seeks the appeal there.

Administration officials have defended the six-month moratorium as necessary to provide time to investigate the cause of the BP oil well spill and to ensure that other wells being drilled below 500 feet (152 meters) of water are safe.UPDATE 1-US judge denies stay on drill ban ruling | Reuters

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Day 51, Obama's BP Spill in comparison to known others in size....graphic

This was surprising to me as I recall the Wacky Iraqi Saddam Hussein, ordered by GW hunted and killed cutting loose those oil wells during the gulf war that super fire fighter, the late, great, American legend Red Adair was called in as the 'only man on the planet' who could close those fiery wells up...

But I didn't realize the size of it all, as it makes BP look like a 'Slick Willie' DNA Slick on the oval office carpeting in comparison, but don't tell the people down in Louisiana it's 'no big deal'.
Truthfully, I happen to believe it's a lot more than they've told us but, who knows and how? It's sure 'raging away as you can see in the sidebar leak cam >>>

Graphic and more stats on the spill from "oil spill timeline" found here.


These are some pics of this thing overnight, and it doesn't look like it's being captured too much to my eyes...

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