Crushed with grief

I know I've been posting a lot about the gusher in the Gulf, but it seems to help ease my frustration to rant about it. The outrage needs an outlet, you know. And so does the crushing grief over the devastation of our beaches. So horrible to watch this disaster continue to unfold and feel so helpless to do anything about it. These photos of oil soaked seabirds about did me in yesterday.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is reporting 522 dead birds so far, with at least 38 of those being covered with oil and 80 oiled birds being rescued. What drives me crazy is the continued caveat coming from them saying, "it's not clear exactly how many of the deaths can be attributed to the spill." I mean, sure a few birds probably die of natural causes all the time, but what the hell else could be killing them in these numbers? It's only logical to think those who died and weren't oil covered likely died from eating oil covered fish.

And even as the oil slick has now started hitting beaches as far down as Florida, back in Lousiana, new waves of fresh oil are recovering the beach. My MSM tweep lizzieohreally has been there for a while, bravely defying orders to stay behind the barriers and has been posting pictures and updates. The only good news is, while BP's thugs continue to try to bar access, it seems the local law enforcement is willing to "not notice" when the media ignores the restrictions to document the forbidden zones.

[More posts daily at The Detroit News]