President George W. Bush announced today that he will release oil from the country’s emergency reserves in the wake of Hurricane Gustav. The reason? Because an oil company asked, of course.

From Reuters:

“Last night we got a request from a company doing business here in Louisiana and we met that request,” Bush told reporters, referring to a request by Citgo Petroleum Corp, which is owned by the Venezuelan state oil company.

“Oil was released from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve and we will continue to do that upon request by companies,” Bush said after being briefed on recovery efforts in Louisiana.

For months, House Democrats have been calling (to no avail) on the Bush administration to tap part of the petroleum reserves to ease fuel prices at the pump. Following Wednesday’s announcement, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) had some choice words for a president more receptive to oil companies than to Congress:

By ignoring the needs of consumers but responding to the request of oil companies, it is clear that the Bush-Cheney-McCain energy decisions are made with only one thing in mind — Big Oil.

Not that Pelosi’s plan to use the U.S. emergency cache is anything but a band-aid on a larger problem. But GOP criticism that the resource should be saved for emergencies only rings hollow considering that scores of Republican have spent the last month in Washington screaming from the rafters about the dire need to address the issue with an offshore drilling vote.

What do you call a debate in which neither side has a leg to stand on?

Barack asks that you give to the Red Cross…

The short message encouraged supporters to give money online, by calling an 800 number, or, in a first for presidential politics, by using a dedicated text message number. Supporters could donate the pre-determined amount of five dollars by simply texting “GIVE” to 24357. Obama sent a similar message to supporters via email:

At times like this, it is our compassion and resilience that define who we are as a nation. Please give whatever you can afford, even $10…. and I hope you will join Michelle and me in praying for the safety of those in the path of the storm and the first responders who are doing all they can to ensure the safety of their communities.

Sen. John McCain and GOP leaders are also responding to the hurricane, as TWI’s Suemedha Sood reports, by paring back political convention activities. The McCain campaign released a round-up of relief activity on Monday afternoon:

The governors of the states affected by the hurricane recommended five charitable organizations that Americans can donate to if they wish to contribute to the relief efforts. The 2008 Republican National Convention is working to coordinate and encourage donations to these groups. In addition, the McCain 2008 campaign has set up a phone bank at the Hilton in Minneapolis, which will help coordinate donations to these groups.

Both campaigns are using their political networks for relief, with an emphasis on depoliticizing the activities.

In the sweltering heat, Palin received an enthusiastic greeting from an audience that the campaign said numbered more than 17,000, but was almost certainly considerably smaller. her speech was periodically interrupted by chants of “Sarah, Sarah,” and five audience members held up giant white letters that spelled “PALIN.” For the first time since McCain added her to his ticket, Palin sought to demonstrate that her experience in Alaska prepared her for the reponsibilities of the federal government. As Hurricane Gustav moved steadily toward New Orleans, three years to the week after Hurricane Katrina decimated the city, McCain and Palin paid a quick visit to the Mississippi Emergency Management Agency’s Emergency Operation Center in Jackson, Miss. yesterday, where they met with the governors of all four Gulf Coast states. Palin used this as a jumping off point.

I’d like to add my call also for every person and every family in danger to make a straight path toward safer ground. As governor of Alaska, I recently just signed a disaster declaration myself last month, when the people of the Fairbanks region, they faced the worst rainfall and flooding in decades, and when any governor calls for evacuation, these instructions need to be taken very seriously. To citizens in the Gulf Coast area, your lives and many others are in the balance, and the success of law enforcement, and of emergency workers, and our great National Guard, depends on your cooperation.

Palin’s remarks about the hurricane preparations were boilerplate, but her delivery was relentlessly upbeat. Even as she talked about the impending doom and gloom facing New Orleans, she spun just about everything she said in an optimistic light.

As we’ve seen in other disasters, crisis on this scale can bring out the best in our country. They show the resourcefulness, the resourcefulness of our people shine through, and the heroic kindness of which we are capable. And whatever the scale of destruction, grief, perhaps loss of life that this hurricane might inflict, people in the Gulf, that region will once again be counting on the good heart of America, Americans like all of you. I know that relief workers and charitable groups, and volunteers, they’ll be up to the task. So I join Sen. McCain in urging all of our fellow Americans to stand ready to help in the work and relief effort to rebuild. Some terrible days may lie ahead for New Orleans, again, and the region. But my fellow Americans, we’re going to get through this crisis, as we always do in our finest moments, by pulling together, and by helping where the need is greatest.

Palin’s speaking style is reminiscent of a friend’s impossibly cheery mother. It’s difficult to imagine her as an attack dog. Palin could provide relief from the near-constant negativity coming from the McCain campaign’s ads. In a reversal of the typical roles of running mates, McCain and the rest of his staff will be able to keep doing what they’ve done all along — launching broadsides against Sen. Barack Obama, while Palin can spread rays of sunshine throughout the battleground states where she will likely be spending the bulk of her time. If Palin largely refrains from going negative, it will make it all the more difficult for the Obama campaign to attack her without appearing to be “picking on the nice lady.” Palin can play the good cop, pushing her message of government reform and change to the masses, to the rest of the campaign’s bad cop.

The Sierra Club sent out a press release about one of those lessons — perhaps not the most important, but certainly one that finds relevance today. The environmental group points out that the Gulf Coast hurricane caused oil spills both on- and offshore, and urges supporters of offshore drilling to recognize the potential for future oil spills.

From the release:

New Orleans, LA: When Hurricane Katrina struck the Gulf Coast on Aug. 29 2005, millions of people suffered a tremendous loss. This tragedy was only compounded by incompetent government response both in the immediate aftermath of and in the long-term recovery from the historic storm.

In the three years since Katrina struck, numerous problems have surfaced related to government inaction and official misinformation ranging from the problem of formaldehyde in emergency housing, and now to myths about whether the hurricane really did cause any oil spills along the Gulf Coast.

As we reach the anniversary, our presidential candidates should be talking about ways to get our government working for people again. But John McCain and other supporters of more offshore drilling are trying to rewrite history and perversely use Katrina as evidence that drilling and oil spills aren’t threats.

Fact–Hurricanes Katrina and Rita Caused Oil Spills and damage to both off-shore rigs and on-shore infrastructure:

• More than 9,000,000 gallons of oil were spilled as a result of the two storms.
  (Source: U.S. Coast Guard)
• Hurricanes Katrina and Rita alone “totally destroyed” 113 offshore oil platforms. One platform drifted 66 nautical miles before running aground on a beach in Alabama. Hurricane Dennis in 2005 nearly destroyed the then brand-new, state-of-the-art $1-billion Shell Thunder Horse platform—the largest of its kind in the world.
  (Source: Minerals Management Service)

Yet at campaign events last month, Sen. John McCain said, “I would remind you that off the coast of Louisiana and Texas, they both had hurricanes that did not cause any real difficulties. So the environmental side of it I think is pretty well okay.” Two days later he said, “I’m aware that off the coast of Louisiana and Texas there are oil rigs, as we well know, and those rigs have survived very successfully the impacts of hurricanes, Hurricane Katrina as far as Louisiana is concerned.” (campaign events 7/15 and 7/18/08)

When I talked to the California-based conservation group the Surfrider Foundation for my story on offshore drilling last week, the spokesman Matt McClain said much the same thing that the Sierra Club release:

When Hurricane Katrina hit back in 2005, there was a lot of attention in New Orleans to all the devastation and destruction that took place on land, and rightfully so. But when that story was breaking, what didn’t get a lot of attention was that over 100 offshore drilling platforms were destroyed or damaged during the storm. And they spilled a significant amount of oil into the Gulf of Mexico. It’s kind of funny, because the energy secretary, as recently as last month, got on the news and had said, “We didn’t lose one drop of oil.” Meanwhile, there are copious amounts of satellite imagery showing the spills taking place.

As McClain and other sources discuss in that story, such oil spills can do a lot more than look ugly. They can destroy ecosystems, kill off wildlife and shut down beaches — costing local businesses and the tourism industry a whole lot of money.

News of Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin and Hurricane Gustav has eclipsed a series of police raids that took place in the Twin Cities over the weekend, in which FBI agents and local law enforcement detained six people on suspicion of conspiracy to riot at the Republican National Convention. The detainees have not been formally charged with any crime and their lawyers are in court on Monday, Labor Day, seeking their release. There were no similar pre-emptive arrests of protesters at the Democratic Convention in Denver last week.

The raids started Friday night in downtown St. Paul, with armed officers entering an anarchist headquarters, known as a “convergence space.” The occupants, who were ordered to lie on the floor, demanded to see a warrant — as heard on the audio on this not-very-revealing video.

Bob Fletcher, the Ramsey County sheriff, whose jurisdiction covers St. Paul, said the action was part of an investigation of the RNC Welcoming Committee. He was described the group as “a criminal enterprise made up of 35 self-described anarchists who are intent on committing criminal acts before and during the Republican National Convention. These acts include tactics to blockade and disable delegate buses, breaching venue security and injuring police officers.”

No arrests were made.

On Saturday morning, FBI and local police raided a home in Minneapolis that houses an organization called Guns Not Bombs. Four people were detained on “probable cause” for conspiracy to riot.

The search warrant for the raid said police were looking for “assembled, improvised incendiary devices” and urine and feces, apparently to be used in protests. Fletcher said the urine had been seized. Lawyers for protesters said the material identified as “unidentified liquid” was actually gray water used to save water in an ecologically correct toilet. The officers did find 37 “caltrops” in the garage of the home, according to MnIndy’s Molly Priesmeyer who reviewed the police inventory of material seized in the raid. A caltrop is a nail-like device used to stop traffic or puncture wheels.

While some complained of rough tactics, at least one of the officers acted with decency, according to MnIndy. As a five-year-old boy was escorted from the home by police, he said he wanted his markers. An officer went in and came back out a few minutes later. “These are the only colors I could find,” he said. “Did I get the right stuff?”

On Saturday afternoon, police kicked in the door of another house in Minneapolis and detained three people on suspicion of conspiracy to riot.

On Sunday morning, The National Lawyers Guild said a total of six people had been detained but none had been formally charged. Police have 72 hours to charge detained suspects. Guild lawyers said they would seek judicial review on Monday of the “probable cause holds” used to detain the six activists.