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Fri, 2010-06-04 19:26 — The Conductor
Topic: 
Culture
Politics
Storytelling
Places: 
U.S.A.
Organizations: 
MSM

The Boston Globe has some excellent oily bird pictures that support the Hate BP narrative. And the Google suggests the birdy body count is well over 300:

So far 300 birds, the bulk of them identified as Brown Pelicans and northern gannets have been found along the US Gulf Coast during the first five weeks of the BP oil spill, and 31 have survived. They are currently being counted as casualties because of the proximity in time and location to the spill, but are being tested to confirm results. The mortality rate is expected to rise sharply since this is the middle of breeding season.

With a population of 650,000, this just isn’t that big of a deal. We’re talking about maybe five hundredths of a percent of the pelican stock.

Relatedly, the current President is having shrimp for dinner. Cobb did a little research, and we’re not running out of shrimp, either:

Bottom line by the facts is that we get such a large portion of our shrimp from overseas, loss of the domestic piece won't hurt much.

Farmed shrimp from Asia are not a perfect substitute for the succulent and tasty wild-caught Lousiana variety. But I am a shrimp connoisseur. Most people wouldn’t—and haven’t—noticed a difference. They just shovel it in like George Costanza.

Comments

Sat, 2010-06-05 11:44 — The Conductor

I had CNN on for while last night. Anderson Cooper was going wall-to-wall on oil slick coverage. An interview with parish president Billy Paul Podunk who was mad that the BP chief didn’t make time to meet with him; Dr. Sanjay telling us that the oil on beaches isn’t very hazardous, but we can still worry about potential long-term effects; and a special segment about the animal hospital where oiled birds are cleaned.

It was 100% context-free.

No mention of how many birds were treated, nor any mention of the bird population. Just an ominous-sounding “statistic” that there have been more olied birds this week than in the past six combined. Well, you idiots, that’s because there were almost ZERO birds oiled in the past six weeks. That 5/100ths of a percent looks huge compared to none.

And parish president Podunk mentioned as much as 3,000 acres of oiled marshes. That’s about 4.75 square miles. Out of 1,584 square miles. Almost 3/100th of a percent! Or, if you include the dry land in Plaquemines (2,429 total), it’s nearly two hundredths of a percent. President Podunk never mentioned if the affected areas were already dead due to saltwater intrusion (a genuine problem for wetland conservation).

Information is the antidote to panic. That’s why CNN avoids it…their business is not reporting.