So now we're told that the amount of oil pouring into the Gulf of Mexico is double — double — what BP and the government had said it was.
It is very apparent this whole disaster is totally out of control, and Americans are furious about it.
In addition, the economy remains a mess. Unemployment is almost 10 percent, and the stock market has lost nine percent in the last few weeks.
And then there is ideology. Conservatives are angry because the Obama administration is spending like crazy and expanding government. Liberals are seething because the president is not far-left enough.
Last week, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi made the mistake of attending a far-left conference in Washington, where she was grossly insulted:
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
NANCY PELOSI, SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE, D-CALIF.: OK. Right. That's OK. That's OK.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I don't know if we can stop it. There's too many of them.
PELOSI: Wait, just a moment. OK, you have made your point.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Ma'am, they're throwing stuff. We need to leave.
PELOSI: Look, I am going to — excuse me, excuse me. I'm not leaving. I'm not leaving. You have made your point.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
On the other side, the Tea Party people are absolutely outraged, as you know:
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GROUP: Kill the bill. Kill the bill.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
Now, whenever you get angry, your judgment is affected. But sometimes anger produces positive action, so it can be a good thing.
However, as we all know, anger can also become irrational, destructive and hateful.
The United States is the most powerful country the world has ever seen, and now it is an angry nation. The fuse has been lit. President Obama has become even more polarizing than President Bush was, and almost every elected politician is in danger of losing his or her job.
Simply put: Americans are fed up. They believe they can no longer control their own lives.
Nobody knows how all this will play out, but I do know that this oil spill disaster is changing everything in this country. It's almost like a message written in the sky: Big government cannot solve all problems. The feds have no idea how to control this atrocity in the Gulf.
At this point, "Talking Points" believes we should all take it down a notch. It's OK to want change, and change will come. But we all have to keep our anger in check.
And that's "The Memo."
Pinheads & Patriots
We have been waiting for celebrities to get involved with the Gulf disaster, and now the New Orleans Saints have stepped up.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DREW BREES, NEW ORLEANS SAINTS QUARTERBACK: This is an opportunity for us to raise much needed funds for the entire Gulf Coast region for you all, for organizations down here that are involved in this cleanup. And it's also an opportunity for one of our fans to get a Super Bowl ring.
(END OF VIDEO CLIP)
The deal is a raffle. You can win a Super Bowl ring. Tickets are $2 each. The website is SaintsGulfCoastRenewal.org. The Saints are patriots.
Click here to watch "Pinheads & Patriots"!
On the pinhead front, I have never seen this woman on television, but others have. Her name is Snooki.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
NICOLE "SNOOKI" POLIZZI, "JERSEY SHORE" CAST MEMBER: I don't go tanning tanning anymore because Obama put a 10 percent tax on tanning, and I feel like he did that intentionally for us. McCain would never put a 10 percent tax on tanning because he's pale and he would probably want to be tan.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
Of course, Snooki would not know this, but John McCain has skin cancer and a pretty tough case of it. Is the woman a pinhead? Could be.
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