RUSH: ‘A federal judge in New Orleans halted President Obama’s deepwater drilling moratorium on Tuesday, saying the government never justified the ban and appeared to mislead the public in the wake of the Gulf of Mexico oil spill. Judge Martin L.C. Feldman issued an injunction, saying that the moratorium will hurt drilling-rig operators and suppliers and that the government has not proved an 
outright ban is needed, rather than a more limited moratorium. … On Tuesday, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar said he will issue a new order imposing a moratorium on deepwater drilling after a federal judge struck down the existing one. Salazar said in a statement that the new order will contain additional information making clear why the six-month drilling pause was necessary in the wake of the Gulf oil spill. The judge in New Orleans who struck down the moratorium earlier in the day complained there wasn’t enough justification for it.’
Michelle Malkin today, National Review Online: ‘For all his John Wayne rhetoric on the BP oil spill, President Obama has failed to administer a swift kick to the ample, deserving rump of Interior Secretary Ken Salazar. No matter. Federal judge Martin Feldman has now done the job the White House won’t do. In a scathing ruling issued Tuesday afternoon, New Orleans-based Feldman overturned the administration’s radical six-month moratorium on deepwater drilling — and he singled out Salazar’s central role in jury-rigging a federal panel’s scientific report to bolster flagrantly politicized conclusions. In a sane world, Salazar’s head would roll. In Obama’s world, he gets immunity. The suit challenging Obama’s desperately political ban was filed by Covington, La., rig company Hornbeck Offshore Services, which spoke on behalf of all the ‘small people’ in the industry whose economic survival is at stake. … Scientists who served on the committee expressed outrage upon discovering earlier this month that Salazar had — unilaterally and without warning — inserted a blanket drilling ban recommendation into their report,’ after they had signed it. Here is what Feldman said in his ruling, the judge.
‘In the Executive Summary to the Report, (Salazar) recommends ‘a six-month moratorium on permits for new wells being drilled using floating rigs.’ He also recommends ‘an immediate halt to drilling operations on the 33 permitted wells, not including relief wells currently being drilled by BP.’ … Much to the government’s discomfort and this Court’s uneasiness, the Summary also states that ‘the recommendations contained in this report have been peer-reviewed by seven experts identified by the National Academy of Engineering.’ As the plaintiffs, and the experts themselves, pointedly observe, this statement was misleading. The experts charge it was a ‘misrepresentation.’ It was factually incorrect.’ That’s the judge basically saying that Salazar lied.
‘Salazar committed fraud. Salazar sullied the reputations of the experts involved and abused his authority. And for what purpose?’ Michelle Malkin says, ‘To exploit the Gulf crisis, appease the eco-extremists and stymie the economic recovery to which the Obama White House pays oily lip service.’ That’s exactly right. I mean, can there be any doubt? In the meantime, the judge who struck down the moratorium ‘has reported extensive investments in the oil and gas industry, according to financial disclosure reports.’ This is from Obama’s tireless opposition researchers at the Associated Press. ‘He’s also a new member of a secret national security court.’ He’s also a friend of Scalia. And so this judge is public enemy number one. So much for judicial independence here, folks. This is the playbook, as we say. Reward liberal activists, punish conservative constitutionalists. Maybe the State-Run Media, the Drive-By Media needs a name-change. Maybe we need to call ’em the Hugo Chavez Media.
When’s the last time the media rose up against this president en masse over his abuses of power? When? When will the media talk about this president abusing his office, grabbing too much power, as they do with every single Republican president? And when will this wonderful media ask why Congress holds no oversight hearings into the things this president and his regime do? Why? Because they fear the public might get upset with this kind of one-party rule, this kind of authoritarianism, which they, in the media, support and eagerly accept being part of. My friends, we’re living now where there are no checks and balances on the president’s power. Not Congress, not the media, and barely the courts. One federal judge, one judge says, ‘Wait a minute. You don’t have the power to destroy an entire region and thousands of jobs and businesses by presidential fiat,’ and the media attacked the judge. The media attacked Joe Barton. They attacked Joe Wilson. They attacked General McChrystal. They attacked Palin. They attacked DeMint. They attacked Marco Rubio. They attacked Sharron Angle. They attacked J.D. Hayworth. On and on and on.
Meanwhile, where are all the attacks on liberal members of Congress, liberal candidates, labor unions, the environmental groups? There aren’t any. These are all angelic groups, as far as the media is concerned. Where are all the stories on this president’s obvious incompetence? Where are the stories on the affect of his policies? Where are the stories with the media out there talking about people who have lost their jobs and can’t get their jobs back because of this administration’s policies? Where are the stories on how he lies about all things all the time, his unkept promises and all that? It will never happen. I ask these questions rhetorically. You need to get used to the fact the media do not support liberty, they do not support the Constitution, nor do they support American exceptionalism. They are the water carriers, they’re the water boys for the left in whatever form the left takes, activist judges, massive bureaucracies, presidential fiats as long as they’re liberal. The evidence is overwhelming. It hits us in the face every day. 
If a general had mocked Bush during the war in Iraq, that general would be treated as a hero by the media and the liberals in Congress. Today, McChrystal, who barely is quoted in this Rolling Stone piece, as a matter of fact, is said to be insubordinate and worse. Now, the liberals don’t care about civilian rule; they care about liberal rule. These are the ends that justify the means, and this is the ends that justifies the means crowd. They don’t even care, folks, about constitutional rule or constitutional law. They defend every power grab this president makes and unleashes. Civilian rule? They’re all worried about civilian rule here? What was the government-run health care vote, that was civilian rule? No, that was an act of defiance against the people. It was Washington rule. The American people didn’t want this massive health care bill. They still don’t. So McChrystal and everybody else gets smeared with whispers and leaks. And now we’re moving into the intimidation of the judiciary phase. FDR did it, Hugo Chavez did it, all the left does it, so much for the independent judiciary. As I say, I wonder how long it’s going to be before this poor judge is summoned to the Oval Office to explain himself.
BREAK TRANSCRIPT
RUSH: For those of you who doubt that this oil spill is a political opportunity for Obama, we have video — well, audio from video — at Organizing for America’s website, BarackObama.com. Obama posted a video in which he spoke about the Gulf oil spill. Here’s a portion of what he said.
OBAMA: If we refuse to heed the warnings of this disaster, we will have missed our best chance to help build the clean energy future America needs. But if we seize this moment, we can rebuild our economy on a new foundation.
RUSH: So there’s Obama to his supporters: Seize the moment! Don’t let the oil spill go to waste. We can build the clean energy future America needs, like Spain tried and is now bankrupt as a result. But if we seize the moment we can build a new economy on a new foundation. I thought that was already done! I thought that was what the stimulus was for. I thought it is what TARP was for. Rebuild the economy? There is no rebuilding of the economy taking place. There is still economic destruction going on.