Archive for June, 2010
Expert: If cap fails, oil in Gulf will triple
The worst fears of one conservationist may be coming true.
Admiral Thad Allen said Friday that the cap placed over the leaking well was only collecting oil at a rate of 42,000 gallons a day. Recent estimates put the leak’s flow at 500,000 to a million gallons a day.
That figure may have increased by 20 percent after the pipe at the top of the blowout preventer was cut off during BP’s latest attempt to staunch the flow.
Full Story: Expert: If cap fails, oil in Gulf will triple | Raw Story.
CEO: BP will make good on $10 billion in profit payouts to shareholders, despite spill
BP’s shareholders may receive more this year from the company’s coffers than those affected by the spill in the Gulf of Mexico will receive in their lifetime.
BP CEO Tony Hayward has indicated that he will go ahead with massive dividend payouts to shareholders in the aftermath of the worst oil spill in US history. $10 billion in payouts are scheduled for this year. The cost of the spill has been estimated in the tens of billions, but ExxonMobil only ended up paying a $507 million settlement for the 1994 Exxon Valdez spill after 20 years of appeals.
BP’s dividend ratio is now at 7.4 percent per year, more than twice the average payout of companies listed in the S&P 500. This means that US investors who hold BP stock effectively earn 7.4% interest on their shares — more when US tax law is taken into account — in addition to any gains or losses as a result of price shifts in the stock’s value.
Full Story: CEO: BP will make good on $10 billion in profit payouts to shareholders, despite spill | Raw Story.
US attendees at ‘world government’ meeting may be breaking law: activists
Activists protesting outside this year’s meeting of the secretive Bilderberg Group say American citizens attending the meeting may be breaking the law.
The 56-year-old group, which hosts some of the world’s most influential financiers and politicians on annual basis, is alleged to have been the driving force behind the launch of several wars and behind a push to create a single global government — a claim that many observers describe as not credible.
Among the attendees of previous years’ meetings were former President Bill Clinton; former UK prime ministers Tony Blair, Gordon Brown and Margaret Thatcher; World Bank head Robert Zoellick; former Fed chairman Ben Bernanke; and US statesman Henry Kissinger. The Independent reports that this year’s attendees include Jean-Claude Trichet, head of the European Central Bank, and Queen Reina of Spain. Russia Today reports of “rumors” that Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner is attending this year’s meeting.
Full Story: US attendees at ‘world government’ meeting may be breaking law: activists | Raw Story.
After opposing the GOP repeal effort as ‘radical,’ Rep. Reichert (R-WA) signs onto health reform repeal bill.
Long before the final health reform language was even debated in Congress, right-wing activists and big business lobbying groups like the Club for Growth were clamoring to launch a repeal effort to nullify the benefits of the law. While the pressure from these far right groups convinced every Republican in Congress to vote against health reform, many were split over the idea of repealing the bill and essentially rescinding health insurance coverage for over 30 million Americans and reinstating the worst insurance industry abuses, like preexisting condition discrimination. For instance, in March, Rep. Dave Reichert (R-WA) quickly distanced himself from the repeal campaign, telling Seattle-based KIRO that the repeal effort is “the more radical approach” and not a “substantial argument,” but rather simply “a political move, a political argument.” KIRO’s Dave Ross asked Reichert point blank if he would support the repeal effort, to which he replied, “no”:
ROSS: You have a chance to repeal it, I suppose. Are you one of those who are going to try to repeal it?
REICHERT: No.
Listen here:
Flashback: In 2000, Vitter Proposed Legislation To Reduce Criminal Liability Of Oil Companies For Spills
This week, Attorney General Eric Holder announced that the Obama administration had opened criminal and civil investigations into the companies involved in the massive Gulf oil spill. Officials said they were looking into potential violations of the Oil Pollution Act [OPA] of 1990, the Clean Water Act, and the Endangered Species Act, among other laws.
But if Sen. David Vitter (R-LA) had his way, BP and its partners would have been off the hook for violations of all but the weakest of these laws. In July 2000, when Vitter was in the House, he introduced a bill that would make penalties under the OPA “the exclusive criminal penalties” for oil spills:
(a) IN GENERAL- Notwithstanding any other provision or rule of law, sections 4301(c) and 4302 of the Oil Pollution Act of 1990 (Public Law 101-380; 104 Stat. 537) and the amendments made by those sections provide the exclusive criminal penalties for any action or activity that may arise or occur in connection with a discharge of oil or a hazardous substance referred to in section 311(b)(3) of the Federal Water Pollution Control Act (33 U.S.C. 1321(b)(3)).
Fortunately, the bill — which attracted only two cosponsors — never made it out of committee. If it had become law, BP and the other companies would be exempted from more stringent criminal penalties under the other environmental laws. It would also potentially exempt BP from any workplace safety violations on the rig or during the cleanup.
Defending Raghead Comment, South Carolina State Senator Says ‘We’re At War’ With Foreign Countries
As many bloggers have noted, South Carolina state Sen. Jake Knotts (R) has been taking heat for calling an Indian-American gubernatorial candidate a “raghead.” “We already got one raghead in the White House, we don’t need a raghead in the governor’s mansion,” Knotts said of state Rep. Nikki Haley (R).
The South Carolina Republican Party quickly condemned Knotts’ slur, and he eventually issued an apology. “My ‘raghead’ comments about Obama and Haley were intended in jest,” Knotts said in a statement. He made the comments during an interview with the webcast Pub Politics, and defended himself by saying, “Bear in mind this is a freewheeling, anything-goes Internet radio show that is broadcast from a pub. It’s like local political version of Saturday Night Live.”
Pub Politics disagreed, saying Knotts’ hateful rhetoric “does not fit with our program and its goals.” They’ve announced that they won’t release the audio, but a better decision would be to post the clip of Knott’s comment on the Internet without airing the episode so that there’s a public audio record of Knott’s comment.
Full Story: Think Progress » Defending Raghead Comment, South Carolina State Senator Says ‘We’re At War’ With Foreign Countries.
Rep. Jo Ann Emerson Votes Against Stimulus, Attends Ribbon Cutting Ceremony For Stimulus-Funded Project
Rep. Jo Ann Emerson (R-MO) joined Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood yesterday a “ribbon cutting” ceremony for a “green cement plant” in St. Genevieve, Missouri. The plant resulted in more than 2,500 jobs during its construction and currently employs 250 jobs for its operation.Emerson tweeted that it was a “great grand opening event,” but she didn’t acknowledge how the plant was funded.
Michael Bersin at the liberal Missouri blog Show Me Progress points out that Emerson voted against the stimulus back in January 2009. Not only did Emerson register a nay vote, but she also continued to bash the Recovery Act as recently as March:
I opposed the stimulus for two reasons: the spending was irresponsibly high, and I saw no way this money could be spent accountably by the federal government.
Disaster in the Amazon
Bob Herbert:
BP’s calamitous behavior in the Gulf of Mexico is the big oil story of the moment. But for many years, indigenous people from a formerly pristine region of the Amazon rainforest in Ecuador have been trying to get relief from an American company, Texaco (which later merged with Chevron), for what has been described as the largest oil-related environmental catastrophe ever.
“As horrible as the gulf spill has been, what happened in the Amazon was worse,” said Jonathan Abady, a New York lawyer who is part of the legal team that is suing Chevron on behalf of the rainforest inhabitants.
It has been a long and ugly legal fight and the outcome is uncertain. But what has happened in the rainforest is heartbreaking, although it has not gotten nearly the coverage that the BP spill has.
Full Story: Op-Ed Columnist – Disaster in the Amazon – NYTimes.com.
Threat of Federal Enforcement Helps Uncover Widespread Financial Malfeasance, Researchers Find
The need to “fix” or restate financial statements is an admission by corporate management that these reports (prior to their being corrected) to the government and the investing public misrepresented the corporations’ financial positions, Texas A&M University sociology professor Harland Prechel reports in a research paper published in the June 2010 issue of the American Sociological Review.
Prechel and Theresa Morris of Trinity College in Hartford, Conn., examined the revised statements from hundreds of the largest U.S. companies between 1995 and 2004, then co-authored the paper, titled “The Effects of Organizational and Political Embeddedness on Financial Malfeasance in the Largest U.S. Corporations: Dependence, Incentives, and Opportunities.”
The researchers’ analysis examines restatements that occurred after Congress passed the 2001 Sarbanes-Oxley Act, which holds chief financial officers (CFOs) and chief executive officers (CEOs) personally responsible for corporate violations of security and exchange laws. Soon after this legislation was passed, the number of financial restatements rapidly increased.
Full Story: On The Hill: Threat of Federal Enforcement Helps Uncover Widespread Financial Malfeasance, Researchers Find.
Republicans Keep Hoping To Turn White House Primary Contacts Into Scandal, Despite Mounting Evidence To The Contrary
House Republicans continue to demand that President Obama “come clean” about contacts on his behalf with candidates in Democratic primary races despite the facts that White House officials have already answered exhaustive questioning on the subject, and even a former top Bush administration lawyer finds little to indicate real scandal.
House Republican Leader John Boehner of Ohio Thursday signaled his support for efforts of several other GOP colleagues to keep the issue alive, in which Obama has come under fire for apparent attempts to dissuade Democrats from challenging incumbent senators in Pennsylvania and Colorado.
Gaza flotilla activists were shot in head at close range
Exclusive: Nine Turkish men on board Mavi Marmara were shot a total of 30 times, autopsy results reveal
Israel was tonight under pressure to allow an independent inquiry into its assault on the Gaza aid flotilla after autopsy results on the bodies of those killed, obtained by the Guardian, revealed they were peppered with 9mm bullets, many fired at close range.
Nine Turkish men on board the Mavi Marmara were shot a total of 30 times and five were killed by gunshot wounds to the head, according to the vice-chairman of the Turkish council of forensic medicine, which carried out the autopsies for the Turkish ministry of justice today.
The results revealed that a 60-year-old man, Ibrahim Bilgen, was shot four times in the temple, chest, hip and back. A 19-year-old, named as Fulkan Dogan, who also has US citizenship, was shot five times from less that 45cm, in the face, in the back of the head, twice in the leg and once in the back. Two other men were shot four times, and five of the victims were shot either in the back of the head or in the back, said Yalcin Buyuk, vice-chairman of the council of forensic medicine.
Full Story: Gaza flotilla activists were shot in head at close range | World news | The Guardian.
NATO Aggravated Enuf to Recognize & Cut Its U.S. Puppet Strings?
Craig Murray was a member of the British Foreign and Commonwealth Office for over 20 years. He served in 5 countries and took part in 13 formal international negotiations. As a result he declares:
I have in consequence a great many friends among ex-colleagues in both British and foregin [sic] diplomatic services, security services and militaries.
I lost very few friends when I left the FCO over torture and rendition. In fact I seemed to gain several degrees of warmth with a great many acquantances [sic] still on the inside. And I have become known as a reliable outlet for grumbles, who as an ex-insider knows how to handle a discreet and unintercepted conversation.
Mr. Murray asserts that NATO is terribly unhappy with what is happening, not only with Israel and the United States concerning the Gazan flotilla attack, but also with the U.S. in Afghanistan.
First the Israeli issue:
Full Story: NATO Aggravated Enuf to Recognize & Cut Its U.S. Puppet Strings? | Corrente.
BP’s OTHER Spill this Week
Greg Palast »
With the Gulf Coast dying of oil poisoning, there's no space in the press for British Petroleum's latest spill, just this week: over 100,000 gallons, at its Alaska pipeline operation. A hundred thousand used to be a lot. Still is.
On Tuesday, Pump Station 9, at Delta Junction on the 800-mile pipeline, busted. Thousands of barrels began spewing an explosive cocktail of hydrocarbons after “procedures weren't properly implemented” by BP operators, say state inspectors. “Procedures weren't properly implemented” is, it seems, BP's company motto.
Few Americans know that BP owns the controlling stake in the trans-Alaska pipeline; but, unlike with the Deepwater Horizon, BP keeps its Limey name off the Big Pipe.
Full Story: Greg Palast » Smart Pig:BP’s OTHER Spill this Week.
Clean Water Act might provide avenue for legal action on oil spill
If the Obama administration is serious about holding BP and others responsible for the Gulf of Mexico oil spill, it can start with the federal Clean Water Act, which could allow the federal government to collect as much as $4.7 billion in civil fines just for the oil that’s spilled so far.
Even if the courts allow the fines, however, there are no guarantees that the money would go to the cleanup and economic recovery of the Gulf Coast, according to legal experts.
Though other laws could come into play, the Clean Water Act may provide the best avenue for legal action. After the1989 Exxon Valdez spill in Alaska, the law was beefed up to include harsh civil and criminal penalties for oil spills.
Full Story: Clean Water Act might provide avenue for legal action on oil spill – KansasCity.com.
Obama’s free ride for oil industry appointees must stop
To shape the government’s long-term response to the Gulf oil calamity, President Obama recently formed an independent, bipartisan commission to investigate the origins of the leak and BP’s efforts to control it.
Yet one of the commission’s two co-directors, former EPA chief William K. Reilly, sits on the board of directors of the oil giant ConocoPhillips and the chemical company Dupont, which supplies goods and services to the oil industry. (Hat tip to The Maddow Blog.)
Now, Reilly is no doubt a relatively benevolent oilman. Grist contributor Osha Gray Davidson recently profiled him quite favorably on the El Phoenix Sun blog, portraying Reilly as a “bona fide environmentalist” whose Sonoma County home is powered by solar panels. According to Davidson, Reilly did good work at EPA under George H.W. Bush — “until conservatives in the administration who had always seen Reilly (and all environmentalists) as a political liability” undermined him ahead of the 1992 election.
Full Story: Obama’s free ride for oil industry appointees must stop | Grist.
Where Corporations Learn How to ‘Manipulate’ the Media
Len Hart, The Existentialist Cowboy
The word ‘manipulate’ was used by Edward Bernays to describe how big corporations, like BP and Exxon, should harness the ‘organized habits and opinions of the masses’. Bernays considered such ‘manipulation’ to be essential in a democratic society. BP’s recent oil spill –now threatening the U.S. Gulf Coast, indeed, the entire Gulf of Mexico –is an occasion in which corporations will apply the principle of ‘manipulation’ referred to by Bernays.
“The conscious and intelligent manipulation [emphasis mine, LH] of the organized habits and opinions of the masses is an important element in democratic society.
–Edward Bernays
Over a period of some thirty years or more, the ‘manipulation’ of the media has become a growth industry. As one might expect, a pioneer ‘consulting firm’ is located in the Houston suburb of Sugar Land, TX. Ammerman Enterprises ‘trains’ executives from huge firms like Exxon, Shell, DuPont, HCA, Humana et al. The ‘executives’ and other corporate kiss-ups are taught what we would call ‘spin’ and ‘propaganda’ techniques most of which are especially applicable in ‘crisis’ situations of which the BP ‘spill’ is a corporatist’s [fascist's] worst nightmare come true.
Full Story: The Existentialist Cowboy: Where Corporations Learn How to ‘Manipulate’ the Media.
New cancer guidelines: Exercise during and after treatment is now encouraged
Cancer patients who’ve been told to rest and avoid exercise can — and should — find ways to be physically active both during and after treatment, according to new national guidelines.
Kathryn Schmitz, PhD, MPH, an associate professor of Epidemiology and Biostatistics and a member of the Abramson Cancer Center at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, will present these guidelines at an educational session at the 2010 meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology, aimed at making cancer exercise rehabilitation programs as common as those offered to people who have had heart attacks or undergone cardiac surgery. (“Exercise Testing and Prescription for Cancer Survivors: Guidelines from the American College of Sports Medicine.”)
Schmitz, whose previous research reversed decades of cautionary exercise advice given to breast cancer patients with the painful arm-swelling condition lymphedema, led a 13-member American College of Sports Medicine expert panel that developed the new recommendations after reviewing and evaluating literature on the safety and efficacy of exercise training during and after cancer therapy.
“We have to get doctors past the ideas that exercise is harmful to their cancer patients. There is a still a prevailing attitude out there that patients shouldn’t push themselves during treatment, but our message — avoid inactivity — is essential,” Schmitz says. “We now have a compelling body of high quality evidence that exercise during and after treatment is safe and beneficial for these patients, even those undergoing complex procedures such as stem cell transplants. If physicians want to avoid doing harm, they need to incorporate these guidelines into their clinical practice in a systematic way.”
Full Story: New cancer guidelines: Exercise during and after treatment is now encouraged.
‘The Time We Have Is Growing Short’
Paul Volker:
Some five years ago, at a conference of the Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research, I lamented that “the growing imbalances, disequilibria, risks” were giving rise to “circumstances as dangerous and intractable” as any I could recall—intractable not just because of the combination of complicated issues, but because there seemed to be “so little willingness or capacity to do much about it.”
Part of the story is familiar. In the United States, savings practically disappeared as consumption rose far above past relationships to national production. That consumption was satisfied by rapidly growing imports from China and elsewhere in Asia at remarkably cheap prices, helping to keep inflation well subdued. The resulting seemingly inexorable increase in our current account deficit was easily financed by an equally large flow of short-term funds from abroad at exceptionally low interest rates. In fact, money was so easily available that it supported what became a bubble in housing, with rising home prices reinforcing a sense of prosperity and high consumption.
It was not so much that the imbalances were hidden or unknown. In particular, the Chinese surpluses and American deficits were widely thought to be unsustainable. But for the time being, the world economy was growing strongly. China in particular was mainly interested in developing its industry by encouraging exports, and the United States was not prepared to balance its national budget or to restrain the consumption and housing boom.
Full Story: ‘The Time We Have Is Growing Short’ | The New York Review of Books.
History of BP Includes Role in 1953 Iran Coup After Nationalization of Oil
As tens of thousands of gallons of oil continue to spew into the Gulf of Mexico from the BP oil spill we continue our series on BP. Sixty years ago, BP was called the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company. We look at the story of the company’s role in the 1953 CIA coup against Iran’s popular progressive Prime Minister Mohamed Mossadegh.
Real Video Stream – Real Audio Stream – MP3 Download – Transcript
Full Story: History of BP Includes Role in 1953 Iran Coup After Nationalization of Oil.
Reid Plans Legislation To Ensure BP ‘Held Accountable,’ As Obama Administration Begins Billing Firm To Pay For Spill
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid wants the chairs of several committees to propose new legislation to respond to the ongoing Gulf Coast oil spill, and ensure that BP and other oil companies are “are held accountable for their actions.”
Meanwhile, the Obama administration has served BP with its first bill to begin covering the costs of what has become the worst such disaster in U.S. history.
In a letter sent Thursday to eight of his committee chairmen, Reid says he intends to bring comprehensive energy legislation before the Senate, and he wants to include in that bill provisions that “would address the unfolding disaster in the Gulf of Mexico.
BP Oil Spill, News You May Have Missed
The BP oil spill.
IMHO, we need to shout these facts out until everyone knows them.
Before the explosion, BP
1. Using a blowout preventer with known mechanical faults.
2. Faking the pressure tests, that indicate integrity.
3. Skipping the safety procedures and not filling the well with mud.
You may have seen analysis on how the booming effort is a joke. Watch this and be informed. Just skip the first two minutes.
Full Story: BP Oil Spill, News You May Have Missed | The Seminal.
Lawsuit Seeks Full Disclosure of Dispersant Impacts on Gulf’s Endangered Wildlife
SAN FRANCISCO— The Center for Biological Diversity today filed an official notice of its intent to sue the Environmental Protection Agency for authorizing the use of toxic dispersants without ensuring that these chemicals would not harm endangered species and their habitats. The letter requests that the agency, along with the U.S. Coast Guard, immediately study the effects of dispersants on species such as sea turtles, sperm whales, piping plovers, and corals and incorporate this knowledge into oil-spill response efforts.
“The Gulf of Mexico has become Frankenstein’s laboratory for BP’s enormous, uncontrolled experiment in flooding the ocean with toxic chemicals,” said Andrea Treece, an attorney with the Center for Biological Diversity. “The fact that no one in the federal government ever required that these chemicals be proven safe for this sort of use before they were set loose on the environment is inexcusable.”
Dispersants are chemicals used to break oil spills into tiny droplets. In theory, this allows the oil to be eaten by microorganisms and become diluted faster than it would otherwise. However, the effects of using large quantities of dispersants and injecting them into very deep water, as BP has done in the Gulf of Mexico, have never been studied. Researchers suspect that underwater oil plumes, measuring as much as 20 miles long and extending dozens of miles from the leaking rig, are the result of dispersants keeping the oil below the surface.
Full Story: Lawsuit Seeks Full Disclosure of Dispersant Impacts on Gulf’s Endangered Wildlife.
Tyson Workers Finally Get $500,000 In Overtime Wages Owed
It’s been a long time comin’. But thousands of Tyson workers are finally getting overtime wages they’re owed. Jesse Russell reports.
Three thousand Tyson workers in Alabama who have been awaiting the result of litigation that was started in 2002 will receive $500,000 in overtime wages. Those wages will cover time the workers at the poultry processing plant spent washing up after their work shift and the time it took to put on protective items when starting a shift. The Department of Labor alleged that the company was required to pay for that time. Tyson has denied any wrong doing and said the wages weren’t paid because the law regarding what activities should and shouldn’t be compensated is vague. The company has agreed to pay the $500,000 in back pay to the 3,000 workers as well as change the way it keeps hours for certain employees. The company said the changes could impact as many as 47 plants across the country. The new plan could provide between eight and 12 minutes of extra pay to shift workers at the impacted plants.
Full Story: Tyson Workers Finally Get $500,000 In Overtime Wages Owed- 06/04/10 | Workers Independent News.
Report condemns swine flu experts’ ties to big pharma
Trio of scientists who urged stockpiling had previously been paid, says Council of Europe report bemoaning tentacles of drug company influence
Scientists who drew up the key World Health Organisation guidelines advising governments to stockpile drugs in the event of a flu pandemic had previously been paid by drug companies which stood to profit, according to a report out today.
An investigation by the British Medical Journal and the Bureau of Investigative Journalism, the not-for-profit reporting unit, shows that WHO guidance issued in 2004 was authored by three scientists who had previously received payment for other work from Roche, which makes Tamiflu, and GlaxoSmithKline (GSK), manufacturer of Relenza.
City analysts say that pharmaceutical companies banked more than $7bn (£4.8bn) as governments stockpiled drugs. The issue of transparency has risen to the forefront of public health debate after dramatic predictions last year about a swine flu pandemic did not come true.
Full Story: Report condemns swine flu experts’ ties to big pharma | World news | The Guardian.
EXCLUSIVE: Documents Show Kagan’s Liberal Opinion on Social Issues
Elena Kagan has kept her cards so close to the vest that in the days after President Obama nominated her to the Supreme Court, some on the left worried she was too moderate to replace liberal Justice John Paul Stevens.
But in documents obtained by CBS News, Kagan–while working as a law clerk to the late Justice Thurgood Marshall – made her positions clear on some of the nation’s most contentious social issues.
The documents, buried in Marshall’s papers in the Library of Congress, show Kagan standing shoulder-to-shoulder with the liberal left, at a time when the Rehnquist Supreme Court was moving to the conservative right.
They also provide a remarkably candid picture of her opinions, including on the most controversial issue Supreme Court nominees ever confront: abortion.
Although Kagan’s confirmation has thus far been an all but foregone conclusion, sources say these documents will give Republicans a few cards of their own to mount a strong fight against her.
Full Story: EXCLUSIVE: Documents Show Kagan’s Liberal Opinion on Social Issues – Crossroads – CBS News.
Secretive Bilderberg Club ready for protests
Splash! Could that be the sound of Lord Mandelson hitting one of the Dolce hotel’s four pools? Or Robert Zoellick of the World Bank? Paul Volcker of the US Economic Recovery Advisory Board? Or merely the euro taking another dive?
That is the thing about the Bilderberg group’s top secret meetings: you never know quite what is going on behind the police checkpoints.
Across the world, secretaries to the rich and the powerful have blocked out the next three days in their bosses’ calendars for their annual gathering, this time at the Dolce in Sitges, one of Spain’s most exclusive resorts.
Full Story: Secretive Bilderberg Club ready for protests – Times Online.
Federal Communications Commission to debate Comcast-NBC merger
Debate over Comcast’s $30 billion bid for NBC Universal heads to Chicago next month, where the Federal Communications Commission plans to hold its first field hearing on the proposed mega-merger.
The FCC will announce the July 13 public forum as soon as Thursday afternoon, an agency official told POLITICO. Regulators selected Chicago in part because Comcast and NBC maintain equal footing in the city, which is well regarded for its diversity.
The announcement arrives as the House Judiciary Committee revs up its own regulatory engine ahead of a scheduled Monday field hearing in Los Angeles. That forum comes at the insistence of Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.), who long implored the FCC to incorporate community reaction in its review of a merger that would combine the country’s largest cable and broadband provider with one of the nation’s top broadcast stations.
Full Story: Federal Communications Commission to debate Comcast-NBC merger – Tony Romm – POLITICO.com.
Monsanto’s 475-ton seed donation challenged by Haitian peasants
Advocates for Haitian peasants said a U.S.-based company’s donation of up to 475 tons of hybrid vegetable seeds to aid Haitian farmers will harm the island-nation’s agriculture.
The advocates contend the donation is being made in an effort to shift farmer dependence from local seed to more expensive hybrid varieties shipped from overseas.
Haitian farmers and small growers traditionally save seed from season to season or buy the seed they desire from traditional seed markets.
However, an official from the St. Louis-based Monsanto Co. told Catholic News Service that the seed is simply a donation to the Haitian government. The first two shipments – 135 tons – of hybrid varieties of corn, cabbage, carrot, eggplant, melon, onion, spinach, tomato and watermelon arrived in Haiti during the first two weeks of May.
Full Story: »The Catholic Review Online | Catholic newspaper, Archdiocese of Baltimore, world and national Archdiocese news, CNS.
Privatization of Public Housing Shelved — For Now
George Lakoff:
HUD’s attempt to privatize all of America’s public housing has been put on hold — for now. You played an important role. Thousands of you signed the petition and spread the word, so that those at the House Financial Services Committee hearing on May 25 understood what the stakes were.
Barney Frank and Maxine Waters asked the right questions, and HUD’s answers revealed what was hidden in the language of the bill, namely, that all public housing in America would be subject to privatization. Under the PETRA bill, public housing could result in new ownership that would take out mortgages from private banks to fix and maintain the property. In the case of budget cuts to HUD, or mismanagement by new owners, the mortgage payments would be endangered and foreclosure would be a real issue. Banks that held the mortgages could foreclose and then those banks would own what is now public housing.
Barney Frank’s questions to HUD Secretary Shaun Donovan reveal that Rep. Frank understood that foreclosure would mean privatization. Donovan did not answer Barney Frank’s questions. The next day Donovan stated in a blog on the Huffington Post that his PETRA bill would not allow privatization of public housing, contrary to Rep. Frank’s — and my — understanding
Full Story: Privatization of Public Housing Shelved — For Now | CommonDreams.org.
Severe Drought Causes Hunger for 10 Million in West Africa
A severe drought is causing increasing hunger across the Eastern Sahel in west Africa, affecting 10 million people in four countries, aid agencies warned today. In Niger, the worst-affected country, 7.1 million are hungry, with nearly half considered highly food insecure because of the loss of livestock and crops coupled with a surge in prices. In Chad, 2 million require food aid. The eastern parts of Mali and northern Cameroon have also been badly affected by the failed rains, says the UN World Food Programme, which described the situation as critical.The Sahel, a largely arid belt of land that stretches across Senegal to Sudan and separates the Sahara desert in the north from the savannah regions further south, is one of the poorest regions in the world. The WFP, which plans to assist 3.6 million people in the coming months, has described the humanitarian situation in the four affected countries as “critical”, and says the hunger season is expected to last at least until the next harvest in September.
Save the Children, which has launched an emergency appeal for Niger, says in some cases families have trekked more than 600 miles to reach the capital Niamey to find work or beg for food. Others have crossed the border in Nigeria. Similarly, desperate Chadians have sought food in Libya.
Full Story: Severe Drought Causes Hunger for 10 Million in West Africa | CommonDreams.org.
Gulf Oil Spill Likely to Hit U.S. Atlantic Coast This Summer
Oil from the massive spill in the Gulf of Mexico is likely to extend along thousands of miles of the Atlantic coast and into the open ocean as early as this summer, according to a detailed computer modeling study released today by the National Center for Atmospheric Research.
The research was supported in part by the National Science Foundation, NCAR’s sponsor. The results were reviewed by scientists at NCAR and elsewhere, although not yet submitted for peer-review publication.
“I’ve had a lot of people ask me, ‘Will the oil reach Florida?’” says NCAR scientist Synte Peacock, who worked on the study. “Actually, our best knowledge says the scope of this environmental disaster is likely to reach far beyond Florida, with impacts that have yet to be understood.”
Full Story: Gulf Oil Spill Likely to Hit U.S. Atlantic Coast This Summer.
A-Okay To Change Sell-By Date On Expired Meat, Says New York State
*Story updated below with official comment from D’Artagnan on relabeling of its expired products*
You know those nifty “sell-by” tags on food that seem like they’re there for your safety and to separate our 21st Century grocery stores from, say, medieval street fairs? Well, it turns out they’re not for you. Evidently, they’re for the convenience of the store owner, according to this unsettling report in the Brooklyn Paper.
An angry customer of a Brooklyn Heights Key Food pointed out that store store placed a newer “sell-by” tag over an expired, 11-day old one on a (spoiled) D’Artagnan chicken.
If that wasn’t unsettling enough, state officials at New York’s Department of Agriculture and Markets seem pretty lax about the whole thing:
Full Story: A-Okay To Change Sell-By Date On Expired Meat, Says New York State [UPDATED].
Fed Still Doesn’t Know How To Stimulate Lending To Small Businesses
Two years after the credit crunch mushroomed into a full-blown credit crisis, the Federal Reserve continues to search for answers in its quest to boost bank lending to small businesses, Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke indicated today.
Speaking at a conference on small business lending in Detroit sponsored by the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago, Bernanke noted the drop in bank lending, yet expressed doubt on the reasons behind it or how to fix it.
“Unfortunately, lending to small businesses has been declining,” he said in his prepared remarks. “Indeed, outstanding loans to small businesses dropped from almost $700 billion in the second quarter of 2008 to approximately $660 billion in the first quarter of 2010.”
Full Story: Fed Still Doesn’t Know How To Stimulate Lending To Small Businesses.
OPS: Start closing banks that don’t
Are Your Weight Issues Tied to Insulin Resistance?
Frequently, a new client will walk into my office knowing he or she needs to lose weight, get in shape and improve their health. Perhaps they feel sluggish and are hungry a good part of the day, and nothing they do makes a difference. Multiple diet regimes, exercise programs, lose-weight-quick gimmicks — they’ve tried them all and are just fed up.
With no visible results, many are still searching for the root of the problem, which could actually be insulin resistance. Not until the last 10 years did many health care professionals really understood what it is and its impact on the body. It affects metabolism, hunger levels and zeal for life, and if untreated, can turn into diabetes.
A Key That Won’t Turn
Full Story: Susan B. Dopart, M.S., R.D.: Are Your Weight Issues Tied to Insulin Resistance?.
Illinois Newspaper Forced To Disclose Names Of Anonymous Commenters (POLL)
A downstate Illinois newspaper must reveal the identity of an anonymous online commenter, according to a new appellate court ruling that could have wide-ranging implications for internet privacy.
The decision, a 2-1 margin in the Third District Appellate Court, says that the libelous nature of the comment kept it from being protected as free speech. But the dissenting judge argued that no defamation had been proven, and that “no reasonable person” would consider the comments fact and not opinion.
Bringing the case are Donald and Janet Maxon, a couple living in Ottawa, Illinois. The local Ottawa paper, The Times, reported on its website, mywebtimes.com, that the couple intended to convert their home into a bed and breakfast. City ordinances prevented such a move, and after unsuccessfully lobbying the Ottawa Plan Commission, the Maxons gave up.
Full Story: Illinois Newspaper Forced To Disclose Names Of Anonymous Commenters (POLL).
Fastest Mobile Networks In The US: PC Mag Ranks The Speediest Networks
With help from over a dozen people, PC Mag scoured the streets of cities nationwide to determine the fastest mobile networks in the country.
PC Mag, which explains its method here, notes the focus was on mobile data: “We didn't test voice quality, dropped calls or coverage areas; while those are very important measurements, these tests were all about mobile Internet.”
They ranked the fastest networks by region (Northeast, West, Southeast, Central) as well as nationwide. (See the regional results here)
Check out the top five fastest mobile networks nationwide in the slideshow below, then check out their scores
Full Story: Fastest Mobile Networks In The US: PC Mag Ranks The Speediest Networks.
Army Plans $100 Million Special Ops HQ in Afghanistan
The Army is looking to spend as much as $100 million to expand its Special Operations headquarters in northern Afghanistan.
All around Afghanistan, from Kandahar Airfield to the Bagram jail, the U.S. military is on a building spree, spending hundreds of millions of dollars on wartime encampments. By one count, America and its allies now have 700 bases in Afghanistan. But most of the construction — and most of the extra troops “surging” into the country — are going to the violent south and the dangerous east.
Until recently, northern Afghanistan was considered quiet. Regional hub Mazar-e-Sharif was the first major city in Afghanistan to be taken from the Taliban. But, especially in nearby Kunduz province, violence is bubbling up once again.
Full Story: Army Plans $100 Million Special Ops HQ in Afghanistan | Danger Room | Wired.com.
Senate Financial Reform Bill DOESN’T End Too Big To Fail, Major Credit Rating Agency Says
So much for ending Too Big To Fail.
The financial reform bill championed by the Obama administration and Senate Democrats as permanently ending the idea that large, interconnected financial institutions are too big to fail does no such thing, analysts at Moody’s Investors Service cautioned today in a new report.
“[A] key issue that challenges the feasibility of the proposed legislation is that it would not fully eliminate the issue of interconnectedness, nor is it likely that resolution authority could fully eliminate the systemic implications of allowing a large and/or highly interconnected firm to default, especially with respect to large international groups, and it certainly would not eliminate the risk of contagion,” the team of analysts led by Robert Young wrote.
“[T]he interconnectedness and contagion risks would not be completely eliminated, nor would the incentives and tools for regulators and the government to provide support via emergency liquidity or other programs that would continue to be part of the framework,” they noted.
Full Story: Senate Financial Reform Bill DOESN’T End Too Big To Fail, Major Credit Rating Agency Says.
Media Watchdog FAIR Slams ABC, Stephanopoulos for Repeating NYT’s False ACORN ‘Pimp’ Coverage
Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting (FAIR), the decades-old media watchdog group whose condemnation of the NYTimes mis-reporting on the ACORN Pimp Hoax picked up on our detailed exposé here, and ultimately helped force the “paper of record” into a begrudging partial correction, has now picked up on our coverage earlier this week of ABC News’ Good Morning America host George Stephanopoulos’ and his near-verbatim use of the Times discredited reporting in his introduction to an interview with Rightwing hoaxsters James O’Keefe and Andrew Breitbart on Tuesday…
From FAIR’s Peter Hart last night:
Full Story: The BRAD BLOG : Media Watchdog FAIR Slams ABC, Stephanopoulos for Repeating NYT’s False ACORN ‘Pimp’ Coverage.
BP paid for officials’ meals, airfare and polar bear trip
The embattled oil and gas giant BP paid for a slew of travel and dining arrangements for senior government officials in the years leading up to the massive oil leak in the Gulf. Critics say BP got too close with regulators, neutering the government’s safety watchdogs.
The Washington-based newspaper The Hill revealed a series of BP-funded trips after a review of files at the Office of Government Ethics.
Among the more notable was a BP-sponsored trip to Alaska for officials of the Food and Wildlife Service, which involved “maintenance of video surveillance at polar bear den” and a “polar bear study.”
Full Story: BP paid for officials’ meals, airfare and polar bear trip | Raw Story.
Sen. Reid’s ‘clean energy legislation’ would not end offshore drilling | Raw Story
Bill to focus on safety regulations, emergency well shutoff techniques, ‘updated criminal and civil penalties’
The top US senator pressed key lawmakers Thursday to craft legislation by July 4 to prevent the kind of “economic, social and environmental devastation” wrought by the Gulf of Mexico oil spill.
Democratic Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid told major committee chairs that he aimed to include their proposals in a comprehensive energy and climate change bill he hoped to bring to a full Senate vote in the next three months.
Full Story: Sen. Reid’s ‘clean energy legislation’ would not end offshore drilling | Raw Story.
BP And Halliburton Build Legal Teams, Attempt To Buy Off Government Officials
Facing possible jail time for their roles in the largest oil spill in American history, BP and Halliburton are building high-powered legal teams with “deep Department of Justice and White House ties.” But the companies are pursuing other means to defend themselves as well.
Halliburton’s campaign donations have spiked as it tries to curry favor with key members of Congress investigating the disaster. The company donated $17,000 in May, making it “the busiest donation month for Halliburton’s PAC since September 2008,” Politico reports. Thirteen of the 14 contributions from May went to Republicans, while seven went to members of Congress who are “on committees with oversight of the oil spill and its aftermath”:
About one week before executive Timothy Probert appeared before the House Energy and Commerce’s investigative subcommittee, Halliburton donated $1,500 to Ranking Republican Joe Barton’s reelection effort. It was Halliburton’s second-largest donation of the month — topped only by $2,500 to former Rep. Pat Toomey (R-Pa.), who is running for the Senate
Full Story: Think Progress » BP And Halliburton Build Legal Teams, Attempt To Buy Off Government Officials.
Hatch: ‘Gays and lesbians don’t pay tithing, their religion is politics.’
Sen. Orrin Hatch’s (R-UT) has been trying to have it both ways with the volatile Tea Party in Utah, on the one hand justifying their anger but also chastising them for not listening to the GOP. This week at a town hall meeting at Utah’s Dixie State College, Hatch again highlighted this dichotomy. Tea partiers “are good, honest, descent people, but out of anger should not disrupt the few GOP [candidates] who can win,” he said. Saying the GOP at large needs to get better organized, Hatch pointed to successful progressive efforts. He suggested the GOP would be at a disadvantage as a movement because gay rights activists, for example, are religiously devoted to politics:
He said the Republicans need to organize and pull together just as unions, environmentalists, personal injury lawyers and gay rights activists do for Democrat candidates.
“Gays and lesbians don’t pay tithing, their religion is politics,” said Hatch.
Full Story: Think Progress » Hatch: ‘Gays and lesbians don’t pay tithing, their religion is politics.’.
At Heritage Event, George Allen Rips RomneyCare Plan That Heritage Helped Draft
Former Sen. George Allen (R-VA), who gained national notoriety after hurling a racial slur at an Indian-American man working for his opponent’s campaign in 2006, has a new book about sports and politics called What Washington Can Learn from the World of Sports, which he publicized at an event today at the Heritage Foundation. During his remarks, Allen continually attacked the health reform plan passed this year as a “monstrosity” and claimed that it was based on the Massachusetts health care system, which Allen ridiculed as “costly and foolish.”
ThinkProgress asked Allen if his attacks on the Massachusetts health system were in any way a critique of former Gov. Mitt Romney (R-MA), the creator of the Massachusetts system. Allen quickly laughed and said he would not get “into personalities.” But ThinkProgress followed up, asking if his attacks were a critique of the Heritage Foundation, which helped to draft Romney’s plan. Allen became clearly confused, repeating that he doesn’t “like the law” before asking a nearby Heritage staffer if they had indeed assisted with the crafting of Romney’s health plan:
Full Story: Think Progress » At Heritage Event, George Allen Rips RomneyCare Plan That Heritage Helped Draft.
The pictures BP doesn’t want you to see.
This afternoon, AP photographer Charles Riedel filed some of the most disturbing images yet of the effect the BP oil spill is having on Gulf Coast birds:
Full Story: Think Progress » The pictures BP doesn’t want you to see..
US citizen killed on flotilla was reportedly shot four times in head
“One of the nine people killed in the Israeli raid on an aid flotilla Monday was a 19-year-old man with dual U.S.-Turkish citizenship, a U.S. State Department official said,” CBS News reports.
The official identified the victim as Furkan Dogan, who was believed to have been residing in Turkey.
The official spoke on condition of anonymity because the matter has not been officially confirmed by the U.S. government.
The official said the victim had been shot but it was not clear who shot him. He was among eight of the dead being mourned at a funeral in Istanbul Thursday.
Full Story: US citizen killed on flotilla was reportedly shot four times in head | Raw Story.
Senior Democrat Foresees Two Major Issues Emerging In Financial Reform Endgame
Derivatives regulation, and new limits on credit card companies, are likely to draw the most intense opposition as a congressional conference committee hammers out a final financial reform bill, according to one of the Democratic senators named to that committee.
After weeks of debate, the Senate last month approved a large package of reforms, which would be the most sweeping overhaul of financial industry regulations since the Great Depression. President Obama has long sought such financial reforms to avoid another financial meltdown, such as that which occurred in 2008, as well as to offer consumers greater protection from predatory banking practices.
The House late last year passed its own version of financial reform, which is somewhat different from the Senate legislation. A conference committee must reconcile differences between the two bills to craft a final piece of legislation that both the House and Senate can support and send to Obama to sign into law.
Full Story: On The Hill: Senior Democrat Foresees Two Major Issues Emerging In Financial Reform Endgame.
For progressives, it’s time to press
Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal, last seen haplessly offering up conservative nostrums in response to the president’s 2009 State of the Union address, is now begging for the federal government to act. “BP is the responsible party, but we need the federal government to make sure they are held accountable and that they are indeed responsible,” Jindal said after surveying the oil spill impact on the Louisiana coastline last week.
Jindal raised eyebrows by departing from the old Republican text in this way. But actually, what’s surprising is that after the worst financial collapse since the Great Depression, the worst mining disaster in 30 years, and what is now the worst environmental disaster in the nation’s history, more conservatives aren’t revising the gospel about the blessings of deregulation and the horrors of government. Despite what should be obvious failings, deregulation, smaller government and privatization remain central to the dominant Republican message.
Case in point is Newt Gingrich. The former Republican House speaker seems to be pushing the notion that rather than renovate their ideas, conservatives should become more shrill. His new book, To Save America, is a screed against President Obama’s “secular socialist machine,” which poses a “mortal threat” to America as we know it. And he retreads the entire conservative mantra — smaller government, lower taxes, less regulation, strong dollar, free trade, privatization, even the ownership society — as if we hadn’t just pursued those policies over the cliff.
Full Story: For progressives, it’s time to press.
Seize BP While it Still Has an Asset!
Len Hart, The Existentialist Cowboy
BP is busted. Penalties already assessed BP exceed 60 $billion. The cost of the cleanup will run about $760m but that figure was ‘operative’ before the last failed attempt to plug up the hole. Damages increase daily, hourly as the hole remains unplugged, as the oil continues to spew!
Associated Press reports that damages have already wiped out some $75 billion in market value. By every definition, BP is bankrupt, finished! Kaput!
Firm’s stock sale nearly twice as large as any other institution; Represented 44 percent of total BP investment
Full Story: The Existentialist Cowboy: Seize BP While it Still Has an Asset!.
Turkish Prime Minister To Israel: International Community Is “Sick Of Your Lies”
Today in a speech to the Turkish parliament, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan called Israel out on the carpet over its recent murder of at least 9 peace activists. Erdoğan told Turkish parliamentarians that Israel had “massacred the innocent” and the fact that it treats civilians like terrorists shows that “it knows no boundaries”. He said that since the Israeli government uses lying as state policy, the international community should conduct its own inquiry and lawfully punish those responsible.
In a clear swipe at the 62-year-old Jewish state, Erdoğan said “Turkey is not a young and rootless country” and that no one should test its patience. He said that the Free Gaza flotilla was carrying “the conscience of humanity” and Israel’s actions of “pouring blood and massacring was obviously state terrorism”.
Full Story: Turkish Prime Minister To Israel: International Community Is “Sick Of Your Lies” — Signs of the Times News.
Feds send BP $69M bill as Obama plans trip to Gulf
The federal government sent BP a bill for $69 million on Thursday to cover initial costs of responding to the nation's largest oil spill. President Barack Obama planned his second visit in a week to the battered Gulf Coast.
Facing questions over his administration's handling of the disaster, the White House said Obama will return to Louisiana on Friday to assess the latest efforts to contain the massive leak and clean up the damage.
Meanwhile, the Minerals Management Service stopped issuing permits for new oil and gas drilling in the Gulf of Mexico, even as an administration official denied a formal freeze on drilling in shallow water.
Full Story: Feds send BP $69M bill as Obama plans trip to Gulf.
Kentucky Republicans Stand Up For Outsourcing
The hypocrisy of the Republican Party is astounding. When in control of our government they took a surplus and turned it into a huge deficit. They allowed the worst attack ever on American soil and stole generations of Constitutional protections while starting two expensive and ongoing wars to hide their own incompetence. Their policies of spend, and spend, and then give out a little Corporate welfare all while outsourcing middle-class jobs was a failure, all while crashing the American economy in the ditch.
RDemocrat :: Kentucky Republicans Stand Up For Outsourcing
Well, Kentucky’s Republican delegation has once again shown their true colors. Their sorry asses are covered and they think all of us in the great unwashed masses should suffer their incompetence. They care little about the families and livelihoods they destroyed by the outsourcing of jobs and the crashing of our economy and today they showed once again that they hold the average American in complete scorn and will do anything to let Corporate America run roughshod over anyone.
Today every Republican House member in the Kentucky delegation except Geoff Davis, who did not even have the decency to show up and vote voted for continued outsourcing and the heartless and quite frankly gutless cutting off of millions effected by their own failed policy of desperately needed funding. They did find time to serve their true masters by trying to keep tax loopholes open for Corporations that outsource jobs.
Of course, why should they care about real Americans who are hurting??:
Full Story: Hillbilly Report:: Kentucky Republicans Stand Up For Outsourcing.
Contractor: BP Is Trying To Hide Dead Animals, Since The Ocean Will Eventually Wash Away The Evidence
In recent weeks, reporters and photographers for major news organizations around the country have been speaking out about the attempts by BP to prevent them from getting a first-hand look at the Gulf Coast oil spill. A CBS News crew was threatened with arrest when it tried to photograph the spill, and a BP representative in Louisiana told a Mother Jones reporter that she couldn’t visit the Elmer’s Island Wildlife Refuge without a BP escort.
On Monday, journalists from the New York Daily News were also “escorted away from a public beach on Elmer’s Island bycops who said they were taking orders from BP.” However, they managed to get a covert tour of the Queen Bess barrier island from a BP contractor who is fed up with the oil company’s attempt to cover up the disaster:
“There is a lot of coverup for BP. They specifically informed us that they don’t want these pictures of the dead animals. They know the ocean will wipe away most of the evidence. It’s important to me that people know the truth about what’s going on here,” the contractor said.
Judges Quit BP Gulf Oil-Spill Suits Over Conflicts of Interest
BP Plc and Transocean Ltd. oil-spill lawsuits may be combined before a judge from outside the Gulf Coast states, because judges in the region are withdrawing from cases, citing conflicts of interest.
Six of 12 active judges in the federal judicial district based in New Orleans have removed themselves from spill-damage cases filed by fishermen, property owners and coastal businesses, according to a court official and court records. The judges found conflicts tied to oil investments or personal relationships with lawyers or companies involved.
“Plaintiffs have been informed that most or all of the judges in the district have a conflict and cannot preside” over the litigation, victims’ lawyers said in a request to a Washington judicial panel asking that all the cases be combined before one judge in the New Orleans district.
Full Story: Judges Quit BP Gulf Oil-Spill Suits Over Conflicts of Interest – Bloomberg.com.
Government Impotence and Corporate Rule
Jim Hightower:
Many news reports about the Gulf oil catastrophe refer to it as a “spill.” Wrong. A spill is a minor “oops” — one accidentally spills milks, for example, and from childhood, we’re taught the old aphorism: “Don’t cry over spilt milk.” What’s in the Gulf isn’t milk and it wasn’t spilt. The explosion of BP’s Deepwater Horizon well was the inevitable result of deliberate decisions made by avaricious corporate executives, laissez faire politicians and obsequious regulators.
As the ruinous gulf oil blowout spreads onto land, over wildlife, across the ocean floor and into people’s lives, it raises a fundamental question for all of us Americans: Who the hell’s in charge here? What we’re witnessing is not merely a human and environmental horror, but also an appalling deterioration in our nation’s governance. Just as we saw in Wall Street’s devastating economic disaster and in Massey Energy’s murderous explosion inside its Upper Big Branch coal mine, the nastiness in the gulf is baring an ugly truth that We the People must finally face: We are living under de facto corporate rule that has rendered our government impotent.
Thirty years of laissez-faire, ideological nonsense (pushed upon us with a vengeance in the past decade) has transformed government into a subsidiary of corporate power. Wall Street, Massey, BP and its partners — all were allowed to become their own “regulators” and officially encouraged to put their short-term profit interests over the public interest.
Full Story: t r u t h o u t | Government Impotence and Corporate Rule.
Physics professor: Oil leak could last for years
Physics professor Michio Kaku has some bad news: oil could gush from the leaking BP deepwater well for years.
After six methods for stopping the leak failed, BP is now trying a seventh method: “cut and cap.” Underwater robots are attempting to trim the pipe connected to the blowout preventer — and depending on how well the cut is made, either a “top hat” or “top cap” will be lowered from the surface which would then transport the spewing oil to a drilling ship.
The “cut and cap” method has several drawbacks. A perfect seal is thought to be almost impossible and some amount of oil will continue to leak into the Gulf. And the cap will have to be completely removed during inclement weather. The Gulf hurricane season began June 1, and it's expected to be the worst year since 2005.
Full Story: Physics professor: Oil leak could last for years | Raw Story.
Goldman Sachs sold $250 million of BP stock before spill
Firm’s stock sale nearly twice as large as any other institution; Represented 44 percent of total BP investment
The brokerage firm that’s faced the most scrutiny from regulators in the past year over the shorting of mortgage related securities seems to have had good timing when it came to something else: the stock of British oil giant BP.
According to regulatory filings, RawStory.com has found that Goldman Sachs sold 4,680,822 shares of BP in the first quarter of 2010. Goldman’s sales were the largest of any firm during that time. Goldman would have pocketed slightly more than $266 million if their holdings were sold at the average price of BP’s stock during the quarter.
Full Story: Goldman Sachs sold $250 million of BP stock before spill | Raw Story.
Obama calls for rollback of big oil tax breaks
President Barack Obama says it’s time to roll back “billions of dollars in tax breaks” for oil companies and use the money for clean energy research and development.
Obama made the comments Wednesday in prepared remarks for a speech at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh.
He said the catastrophic Gulf oil spill shows the country must move toward clean energy by embracing energy efficiency, tapping natural gas and nuclear power and eliminating tax breaks for big oil.
Obama said that the Gulf spill “may prove to be a result of human error – or corporations taking dangerous shortcuts that compromised safety” – but that deepwater drilling is inherently risky and America cannot rely solely on fossil fuels.
Full Story: Obama calls for rollback of big oil tax breaks | Raw Story.
Rep. Tom Cole on oil spill: ‘Acts of God are acts of God.’
Rep. Tom Cole (R-OK), an ardent supporter of the oil industry and adherent of the “drill here, drill now” chant, appeared on KTOK radio yesterday to discuss BP’s oil disaster in the Gulf. Like Gov. Rick Perry (R-TX), who dismissed the oil spill catastrophe as an “act of God,” Cole sought to downplay dangers inherently associated with offshore drilling. Cole said more could have been done to deal with the spill, but the oil spill itself was more or less unpredictable because “acts of God are acts of God”:
COLE: We probably should have forced BP to mobilize more in the way of vessels. There’s still a lot that can be done. But again, acts of God are acts of God. And you know, FEMA is not, you know, can not cope with everything.
Watch it:
Full Story: Think Progress » Rep. Tom Cole on oil spill: ‘Acts of God are acts of God.’.
McCain tries to blame the Gaza flotilla raid on Obama.
In response to the Israeli raid of a flotilla of ships in international waters transporting aid to the Gaza Strip on Monday, the United Nations Security Council called for “a full investigation into the matter.” But some conservatives have already arrived at the conclusion that the incident is somehow a fault of the Obama administration. “We have to ask if the Obama administration remains committed to the state of Israel and the right of Israel to exist and defend herself,” Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN) told Politico, adding that “this weekend shows how” the White House’s posture towards the Israeli government “has played out.” On Fox News last night, Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) declared that the deadly flotilla raid was “another step in a chain of unfortunate events beginning with President Obama’s insistence that there be a [settlement construction] freeze”:
MCCAIN: So what I think is, they wanted to provoke an international incident.
Full Story: Think Progress » McCain tries to blame the Gaza flotilla raid on Obama..
Anti-Health Reform Davis Loses Alabama Democratic Gubernatorial Primary To Pro-Health Reform Sparks
Last night, Rep. Artur Davis (D-AL) was soundly trounced in his state’s Democratic gubernatorial primary by Alabama agricultural commissioner Ron Sparks, losing by 24 points. The race is being considered an upset, given that “Mr. Sparks was stunned by his winning margin, considering he was on the verge of leaving the race a few months ago to avoid an embarrassing loss.”
One of the major issues that Davis ran on was his opposition to — and his vote against — federal health care reform, likely thinking that it would help win over conservative voters. The congressman complained that health care reform could be accomplished “at half the cost without a 3,000-page, near trillion-dollar overhaul of the system.” Without offering any alternative, Davis said that he voted the way he did because “we can’t just keep throwing a trillion dollars toward the problem.”
As University of Mississippi political science professor Marvin King wrote of Davis’s campaign, “Essentially, Davis threw his current constituents under the bus for his own political advancement.” Yet, Alabama progressives revolted against Davis’s endorsement of conservative orthodoxy. Four major African American advocacy groups in the state endorsed Sparks, who is white. Some of the groups cited Davis’ vote against health reform.
Full Story: Think Progress » Anti-Health Reform Davis Loses Alabama Democratic Gubernatorial Primary To Pro-Health Reform Sparks.
Mississippi GOP congressional candidate: Democratic policies are ‘more dangerous’ than 9/11 or Pearl Harbor.
One of the winners in yesterday’s primary elections was state Sen. Alan Nunnelee, who secured the GOP nomination for a congressional seat in northern Mississippi. The Washington Post’s Dave Weigel notes that Nunnelee was an “[e]stablishment favorite” and raised the most campaign cash for the three-way race. However, Nunnelee is far out of the mainstream. In little-noticed comments on Saturday to a Rotary Club in Corinth, MS, Nunnelee said that Democratic policies are a bigger threat to the United States than Pearl Harbor or 9/11:
Republican congressional candidate Alan Nunnelee tells a Rotary Club audience that the United States survived the traumas of Pearl Harbor and 9/11, but those attacks were less a threat to America than the higher spending and government expansion pushed by Democrats.
“What I see in Washington over the last 16 months is a more dangerous attack because it’s an attack on our freedom that’s coming from the inside,” Nunnelee, neatly dressed in a gray suit and red tie, tells about 30 people who have finished their lunch of chicken-fried steak, mashed potatoes and fried squash.
OPS: Well, that’s true, if you’re a Millionaire, Billionaire, Large Corporation or Fascist
Ted Haggard To Open More Inclusive Church That Will Only Promote ‘Heterosexual Monogamous Relationships’
Before resigning in disgrace after a three-year relationship with a male prostitute, Ted Haggard — the founder and former pastor of the New Life Church — was one of the Christian Right’s most powerful figures and a close confidante of the Bush White House. In 2006, Haggard — who railed against gays — admitted he was a “deceiver and a liar” and confessed to doing meth and engaging in “sexual immorality” with a male prostitute.
Moments ago, Haggard announced that he would be opening a new, more inclusive church, St. James, that would be open to “gay, straight, bi, tall, short” members and would focus on “helping other people going through the most difficult times of their lives.” “I just want to help people,” he said.
Asked if his new church would take a position on homosexuality, Haggard said “we will take positions.” “I’m going to teach the bible, chapter by chapter, verse by verse,” “but I don’t want to be a political activist.” Haggard explained that the church won’t advocate a specific public policy, but would instead “encourage” members to strive towards the ideal of biblical heterosexuality and monogamy:
Gov. Brewer claims her father ‘died fighting’ the Nazis — but he actually passed away 10 years after WWII.
Gov. Jan Brewer (R-AZ) has faced significant criticism ever since she signed the anti-immigrant bill, SB-1070, into law. In a recent interview with the Arizona Republic, Brewer spoke out about some of the harsher rhetoric she’s heard, saying comparisons equating her with the Nazis are especially hurtful because her father “died fighting the Nazi regime in Germany”:
“The Nazi comments…they are awful,” she said, her voice dropping. “Knowing that my father died fighting the Nazi regime in Germany, that I lost him when I was 11 because of that…and then to have them call me Hitler’s daughter. It hurts. It’s ugliness beyond anything I’ve ever experienced.”
As Oil Arrives On MS Beaches, Will Barbour Continue To Praise BP And Mock News Coverage Of The Spill?
The Biloxi Sun Herald reports that oil began covering two miles of Mississippi’s Petit Bois Island yesterday as a “larger glob crept close to Dauphin Island in Alabama, and the edge of the main slick has moved to within about 35 miles of Mississippi, about half the distance it was last week.” Much of the oil hitting the beaches had “escaped detection because it was floating a couple of feet below the surface.” Reacting to the looming disaster, Gov. Haley Barbour (R-MS) sounded the alarm to local press yesterday. “This could turn out to be something catastrophic and terrible, but that has just not been the case so far,” said Barbour.
Barbour’s rhetoric yesterday strikes a very different note from his upbeat tone since the spill. Shortly after the spill, Barbour encouraged tourists to “enjoy the beach,” even as dead dolphins were washing ashore. In another instance, Barbour incredulously declared, “some in the news media keep forcing this on the public as the equivalent of Exxon Valdez. Well, the difference is just enormous.”
And as early as last week, Barbour went on CNN to blame “news coverage” for the state’s woes, telling Wolf Blitzer that “we haven’t had enough oil hit Mississippi’s beaches to fill up a milk jug.” Barbour went out of his way to lavish praise on BP, exclaiming that the British oil conglomerate has been completely cooperative:
Breaking News: Ex Florida GOP Chair Arrested on Fraud Charges
Jim Greer, ex head of the Republican Party of Florida (RPOF) and huge Gov. Charlie Crist supporter (and vice versa) was arrested today on six counts of fraud for funneling money from GOP donors for his personal use.
The indictment is likely to shake up the Florida Senate race. Gov Crist, running without party affiliation, is a personal friend of Greer’s, instrumental in his chairmanship, and continued to support him after calls began for his resignation. Former House Speaker Marco Rubio, along with other Florida Republican politicians, has been paying back money he received from the party under Greer.
Tampa Tribune:
[Statewide Prosecutor William] Shepherd said Greer was charged with organized scheme to defraud, four counts of grand theft and one count of money laundering.
Full Story: Pensito Review » Breaking News: Ex Florida GOP Chair Arrested on Fraud Charges.
A Plague Upon The World: The USA is a “Failed State”
Interview with Dr. Paul Craig Roberts
Question: Dr. Roberts, the United States is regarded as the most successful state in the world today. What is responsible for American success?
Dr. Roberts: Propaganda. If truth be known, the US is a failed state. More about that later. The US owes its image of success to: (1) the vast lands and mineral resources that the US “liberated” with violence from the native inhabitants, (2) Europe’s, especially Great Britain’s, self-destruction in World War I and World War II, and (3) the economic destruction of Russia and most of Asia by communism or socialism.
After World War II, the US took the reserve currency role from Great Britain. This made the US dollar the world money and permitted the US to pay its import bills in its own currency. World War II’s destruction of the other industrialized countries left the US as the only country capable of supplying products to world markets. This historical happenstance created among Americans the impression that they were a favored people. Today the militarist neoconservatives speak of the United States as “the indispensable nation.” In other words, Americans are above all others, except, of course, Israelis.
To American eyes a vague “terrorist threat,” a creation of their own government, is sufficient justification for naked aggression against Muslim peoples and for an agenda of world hegemony.
Full Story: A Plague Upon The World: The USA is a “Failed State”.
Israelis opened fire before boarding Gaza flotilla, say released activists
First eyewitness accounts of raid contradict version put out by Israeli officials
Survivors of the Israeli assault on a flotilla carrying relief supplies to Gaza returned to Greece and Turkey today, giving the first eyewitness accounts of the raid in which at least 10 people died.
Arriving at Istanbul’s Ataturk airport with her one-year-old baby, Turkish activist Nilufer Cetin said Israeli troops opened fire before boarding the Turkish-flagged ferry Mavi Marmara, which was the scene of the worst clashes and all the fatalities. Israeli officials have said that the use of armed force began when its boarding party was attacked.
“It was extremely bad and very tough clashes took place. The Mavi Marmara is filled with blood,” said Cetin, whose husband is the Mavi Marmara’s chief engineer.
Full Story: Israelis opened fire before boarding Gaza flotilla, say released activists | World news | guardian.co.uk.
Our political system is flawed and no longer benefits Americans
It is to a great degree directed by lobbyists hired and paid for by special and foreign interests for their benefit – not ours.
Most of the lobbies include ex-elected and appointed government officials at the highest levels with intimate knowledge of what it takes to have legislation passed for the benefit of their sponsors, who may pay them up to 20 times or more as lobbyists than they earned as government employees. * You can presume your representatives are not representing you at all when you observe what is happening to us – when you see what your representatives are allowing foreign countries to do to us.
One may wonder how the US has descended in so short a time from being a wealthy and productive nation to one now having the profile of a third-world country – forced to live on imports, ever increasing debt and liquidating our best companies to foreign ownership.
Full Story: Our political system is flawed and no longer benefits Americans | Economy In Crisis.
Do We Want to be a Nation With No Manufacturing?
The spate of mass layoffs in the manufacturing sector shows no signs of slowing down.
While some Washington politicians and optimistic economists are hailing the recent spate of good economic news as a surefire sign of a strong recovery, a closer look inside the numbers reveals that the nation’s economy faces serious, long-term structural problems.
The economy may have added 290,000 jobs in April, marking a four-year high in monthly job creation, but the number of mass layoffs – those totaling 50 or more at a single company – rose during the month, and was led by the manufacturing sector.
According to the U.S. Labor Department, out of 1,856 mass layoffs during the month, the manufacturing sector accounted for 448, or 23 percent of the total. That resulted in 63,616 first time claims for jobless benefits, 28 percent of the month’s total.
Full Story: Do We Want to be a Nation With No Manufacturing? | Economy In Crisis.
Schumer Introduces Bill Curtailing Call Center Outsourcing
Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) announced on Sunday that he intends to introduce legislation designed to curtail the flow of American call center jobs to foreign lands by requiring companies to provide customers with more information on who they are speaking with and imposing a fee on calls transferred offshore.
The bill would require companies to disclose to customers when their calls are being transferred outside the U.S. A fee of $0.25 cent fee would also be charged to the company for each call it transferred.
With 1.6 billion calls transferred outside the U.S. each year, the excise tax imposed on companies that offshore call centers could raise as much as $400 million each year.
Full Story: Schumer Introduces Bill Curtailing Call Center Outsourcing | Economy In Crisis.
Howard Zinn: “You Can’t be Neutral on a Moving Train.” Obama Stands at Station Waving as the Train Goes By.
MARK KARLIN FOR BUZZFLASH, EDITOR’S BLOG
When it comes to BP, Wall Street, global warming, and the insidious corporate control of government, Obama has shown himself to be the counterpoint to Howard Zinn: in action, Obama can be neutral as he is a bystander watching the rapacious corporate express whiz by.
Sure Obama sporadically makes a populist statement or two, but he does little or nothing to stop the high-speed destruction of our democracy, planet, and life by the predatory corporate train. At times, he appears little more than a passive bystander serving the interests of the corporations as they rapaciously ruin our economy and earth, deferring to them on bended knee, with just some meaningless words of protest because they are not backed by White House action. Either he was a secret corporatist all along who believes wealth merits respect and power; he is simply befuddled and paralyzed by what he is confronting; or he has some inscrutable long-term plan to rein in the corporations known only to him and at great cost to the planet while it mysteriously unfolds.
Alas, as BuzzFlash has been a great supporter of Obama and fought on his behalf in our editorial pages during the primary, we must finally admit that his soaring words had us fooled as we confront more of the same. Sure there has been some legislation passed to “rein” in Wall Street, but they don’t seem too worried about it, and the health insurance and pharmaceutical companies are going to make out like bandits on healthcare reform. Obama was once a community organizer, but it was a long time ago, and now he is a protecter of the status quo of the corporate oligarchy that is destroying democracy, our economy and our very earth. His words of protest are meaningless without a big stick of action. He needs to stop playing golf with the heads of the big banks that caused our economic collapse and start talking jobs over lunch buckets with the Americans out of work and increasingly underpaid.
Oil could hit Florida in next day
Tar balls and oil from a massive oil slick could hit Florida’s pristine white beaches as soon as Wednesday.
Escambia County officials said late Tuesday an oil sheen was confirmed just 9.5 miles off of Pensacola Beach. Officials have began laying out boom and making other plans for the oil’s immediate arrival.
Beach officials said earlier Tuesday that their request for about $150,000 from BP to buy sifting machines and a tractor to help remove oil from the beach’s famous white sands has lingered unanswered for more than three weeks.
Full Story: Oil could hit Florida in next day | floridatoday.com | FLORIDA TODAY.
Shadow Congress:
A Guide To More Than 170 Congressmen Turned Lobbyists
I’d really encourage readers to check out this great piece from Justin Elliot and Zachary Roth over at TPM Muckraker, which documents what the authors term “the Shadow Congress.” See, in their ongoing efforts to destroy America, lobbying firms have hired “more than 170 former lawmakers” to skulk around the corridors of power, using their contacts and their intimate awareness of the legislative process to make sure that moneyed interests retain their iron grip on your lawmakers.
Members of this Shadow Congress — not all of whom are registered lobbyists — hail from 41 of 50 states (Texas has the most, with 17) and they’re almost as likely to be Democrats as Republicans. Some, like Tom Daschle and Bob Dole, were powerful congressional leaders, whose presence on K Street has drawn scrutiny in the past.
But far more are low-profile back-benchers we’d never heard of and we doubt you had either: say, George Hochbrueckner, who served five terms as a New York Democrat, stepping down in 1995, and now works at Nossaman LLP; or Bill Zeliff, a three-term New Hampshire Republican who left Congress in 1997 and is now at the Livingston Group. For these run-of-the-mill lawmakers, it’s not hard to see how a second career based on leveraging their direct knowledge of the legislative process and their cozy relationships with current lawmakers — credentials they never fail to tout on their websites — could seem more appealing than the other options likely on offer: a visiting professorship at the local college, say, or a seat on the board of a smallish company.
Full Story: Shadow Congress: TPM Offers Guide To More Than 170 Congressmen Turned Lobbyists.
Europe’s Debt Crisis: A Country-By-Country Guide (PHOTOS)
Europe’s governments are struggling to deal with a mountain of debt made worse by the past three years of global financial and economic turmoil.
Here are thumbnail sketches of how some of the countries involved are faring — and what they’re doing to escape the crisis.
Full Story: Europe’s Debt Crisis: A Country-By-Country Guide (PHOTOS).
Guatemala Sinkhole Is MASSIVE, Swallows Building (PICTURE)
Torrential rains brought by the first tropical storm of the 2010 season pounded Central America and southern Mexico, triggering deadly landslides. The death toll stood at 15 Sunday but authorities said the number could rise.
Tropical Storm Agatha made landfall near the border of Guatemala and Mexico on Saturday with wind speeds of up to 45 mph (75 kph), then weakened into a tropical depression before dissipating over the mountains of western Guatemala.
Although no longer even a tropical depression, Agatha still posed trouble for the region: Remnants of the storm were expected to deliver 10 to 20 inches (25 to 50 centimeters) of rain over southeastern Mexico, Guatemala and parts of El Salvador, creating the possibility of “life-threatening flash floods and mudslides,” the U.S. National Hurricane Center in Miami said in an advisory Sunday.
Full Story: Guatemala Sinkhole Is MASSIVE, Swallows Building (PICTURE).
Funeral Protests Should Not Be Protected Say 48 States: Amicus Brief Filed In Supreme Court Case
Forty-eight states and the District of Columbia have submitted a brief to the Supreme Court in support of a father who sued anti-gay protesters over their demonstration at the 2006 funeral of his son, a Marine killed in Iraq.
Only Virginia and Maine declined to sign the brief by the Kansas attorney general.
Albert Snyder sued over protests by the Kansas-based Westboro Baptist Church at his son’s funeral in Maryland. The church pickets funerals because they believe war deaths are punishment for U.S. tolerance of homosexuality.
The Supreme Court has agreed to consider whether the protesters’ message is protected by the First Amendment.
Full Story: Funeral Protests Should Not Be Protected Say 48 States: Amicus Brief Filed In Supreme Court Case.
Fed Sides With Megabanks, Argues That Credit Card Reforms Would HURT Main Street
Federal Reserve Adopts Megabanks’ Arguments, Warns Against Added Protections For Small Business Credit Card Users
The Federal Reserve warned Congress in a recent report that protecting small businesses from the kind of “harmful” credit card practices it prohibits from being used on consumers would lead to a reduction of credit and higher borrowing costs for businesses — a similar argument advanced by the banks the Fed regulates.
The American Bankers Association applauded the report and the Fed’s recommendation.
The report comes at a time when Congress is debating how to stimulate moribund bank lending levels to small businesses, which have been hit particularly hard by the credit crunch, financial crisis and subsequent recession.
“[S]mall business credit remains severely constricted,” according to the May report issued by the Congressional Oversight Panel, the bailout watchdog. Lending “plummeted during the 2008 financial crisis and remained sharply restricted throughout 2009.” With Wall Street banks cutting lending and smaller banks “strained by their exposure to commercial real estate and other liabilities,” many small businesses “have had to shut their doors, and some of the survivors are still struggling to find adequate financing.”
Full Story: Federal Reserve Adopts Megabanks’ Arguments, Warns Against Added Protections For Small Business Credit Card Users.
Japan Prime Minister Plans To Resign, Report Says
Japanese Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama says he is resigning.
Hatoyama told a news conference broadcast nationwide on Wednesday that he will step down over his broken campaign promise to move a U.S. Marine base off the southern island of Okinawa.
After eight months in office, the embattled prime minister has faced growing pressure from within his own party to resign ahead of July elections.
His approval ratings have plummeted over the bungling of handling the Marine Air Station Futenma, reinforcing his public image as an indecisive leader.
Full Story: Japan Prime Minister Plans To Resign, Report Says.
Mark Kirk Gay Rumor Reignited By Blogger Who Outed Larry Craig
Illinois Rep. Mark Kirk has had a dramatic few days, and now a popular gay blogger known for outing politicians claims to have sources confirming that Kirk is a closeted gay man.
Before the February Illinois primary, Kirk, a Republican vying for President Obama’s former senate seat, faced attacks from birther Andy Martin claiming that Kirk was gay. Kirk denied the claims, but now faces an attempted outing from the other side–the gay community.
Activist blogger Mike Rogers tends to target politicians with antigay voting records, and “outed” Sen. Larry Craig and Rep. Mark Foley. He was also featured in the film “Outrage” where he discussed closeted politicians who work against the gay community. In a Tuesday post on Rogers’ BlogActive, he explained why he decided to bring up Kirk’s sexuality now:
Full Story: Mark Kirk Gay Rumor Reignited By Blogger Who Outed Larry Craig.
NATO Wants Probe Of Israeli Raid
Pro-Palestinian activists sent another boat to challenge Israel’s blockade of the Gaza Strip on Tuesday and Egypt declared it was temporarily opening a crossing into the Palestinian territory after a raid on an aid flotilla that ended with Israeli soldiers killing nine activists.
The raid provoked ferocious international condemnation of Israel, raised questions at home, and appeared likely to increase pressure to end the blockade that has deepened the poverty of the 1.5 million Palestinians in the strip.
NATO on Tuesday joined calls for a “prompt, impartial, credible and transparent investigation” into the raid. “As a matter of urgency, I also request the immediate release of the detained civilians and ships held by Israel,” said NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen in a statement after representatives of the alliance’s 28 nations had met.
Full Story: NATO Wants Probe Of Israeli Raid.
BP Criminal Investigation Launched By Feds
BP’s stock plummeted and took much of the market down with it Tuesday as the federal government announced criminal and civil investigations into the Gulf of Mexico oil spill. BP engineers, meanwhile, tried to recover from a failed attempt to stop the gusher with an effort that will initially make the leak worse.
Attorney General Eric Holder, who was visiting the Gulf to survey the fragile coastline and meet with state and federal prosecutors, would not say who might be targeted in the probes into the largest oil spill in U.S. history.
“We will closely examine the actions of those involved in the spill. If we find evidence of illegal behavior, we will be extremely forceful in our response,” Holder said in New Orleans.
Full Story: BP Criminal Investigation Launched By Feds.
HP to cut workforce by 3,000
Hewlett-Packard plans to eliminate 3,000 jobs over the next few years as it ramps up its use of automated data centers for business customers, the company announced Tuesday.
The world’s largest computer company said it will invest $1 billion in building up its automated data centers to service business customers. HP will cut about 9,000 jobs in its enterprise services division as a result, but over the same time period, the company expects to add about 6,000 employees to its sales and delivery teams.
HP (HPQ, Fortune 500) will take a charge of about $1 billion to reflect the investment, and expects it to pay off in annual savings of about the same.
After reinvesting some of that money, HP expects these moves to boost annual pre-tax earnings by between $500 million and $700 million by fiscal year 2013.
Full Story: HP to cut workforce by 3,000 – Jun. 1, 2010.
When Companies Respond to Online Criticism With Lawsuits
After a towing company hauled Justin Kurtz’s car from his apartment complex parking lot, despite his permit to park there, Mr. Kurtz, 21, a college student in Kalamazoo, Mich., went to the Internet for revenge.
Outraged at having to pay $118 to get his car back, Mr. Kurtz created a Facebook page called “Kalamazoo Residents against T&J Towing.” Within two days, 800 people had joined the group, some posting comments about their own maddening experiences with the company.
T&J filed a defamation suit against Mr. Kurtz, claiming the site was hurting business and seeking $750,000 in damages.
Full Story: When Companies Respond to Online Criticism With Lawsuits – NYTimes.com.
Contaminated Cocaine Can Cause Flesh to Rot
Cocaine abusers — already at risk for an abnormal heartbeat, blood pressure problems, hallucinations, convulsions and stroke — can add another potential health complication to the list: rotting flesh.
“If you are a user of cocaine, you should be aware that some of the cocaine is not clean and can have other agents that can cause you to have a low white-cell count or skin tissue death,” said Dr. Ghinwa Dumyati, an associate professor of medicine at the University of Rochester and an epidemiologist for the Monroe County Health Department in New York.
In a report in the June 1 issue of Annals of Internal Medicine, Dumyati and doctors from the University of Rochester Medical Center discuss two cases involving women with a history of cocaine use who came to the hospital for help when they noticed purplish plaques on their cheeks, earlobes, legs, thighs and buttocks.
Full Story: Contaminated Cocaine Can Cause Flesh to Rot – Yahoo! News.
For Some Homeowners in Foreclosure, a Rent-Free Approach
For Alex Pemberton and Susan Reboyras, foreclosure is becoming a way of life — something they did not want but are in no hurry to get out of.
Foreclosure has allowed them to stabilize the family business. Go to Outback occasionally for a steak. Take their gas-guzzling airboat out for the weekend. Visit the Hard Rock Casino.
“Instead of the house dragging us down, it’s become a life raft,” said Mr. Pemberton, who stopped paying the mortgage on their house here last summer. “It’s really been a blessing.”
A growing number of the people whose homes are in foreclosure are refusing to slink away in shame. They are fashioning a sort of homemade mortgage modification, one that brings their payments all the way down to zero. They use the money they save to get back on their feet or just get by.
Full Story: For Some Homeowners in Foreclosure, a Rent-Free Approach – NYTimes.com.
Vitter comes out to advocate for BP
Vitter and BP
What happens when you’re a small government, pro-business conservative and your state gets pummeled by one of the worst man made disasters ever – not five years after getting pummeled by one of the worst natural disasters (Hurricane Katrina)? If you’re Louisiana Senator David Vitter, you double down on offshore drilling and push for a liability cap for BP.
Doubling down on drilling is not particularly surprising. Much of Louisiana’s much-needed revenue comes from off-shore drilling leases. “By the same token, after every plane crash, you and I should both oppose plane travel,” Vitter quipped on Sunday to CNN’s Candy Crowley. “I don’t think that is rational.” Even Vitter’s Democratic challenger, Rep. Charlie Melancon, reiterated his support for expanded drilling in the wake of the disaster.
But it’s Vitter’s early support of a liability cap – he introduced legislation that he promoted in last weekend’s weekly GOP radio address – that’s landing the son of a Chevron petroleum engineer in trouble. Local and national Democrats have been pounding Vitter for seeking to limit the amount of legal damages BP would be responsible for to the last four quarters of profit. “Unlike Republicans, Democrats are not going to protect BP – and given their track record, we are certainly not going to rely on BP’s word as the only thing ensuring that taxpayers are not left on the hook to pay for the disaster they caused,” Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said in a statement.
Full Story: Vitter and BP – Swampland – TIME.com.
American investors: predictably stupid
Obama backs status quo, helping Wall Street skim hundreds of billions
Yes, I am mad as hell again. Wall Street’s soulless, immoral, greedy bankers really believe that the vast majority of America’s 95 million investors are not only “predictably irrational” but “stupid,” as J.P. Morgan Chase’s chief investment officer put it in Forbes a while back.
Worse, Main Street investors are losers for continuing to trust Wall Street after they lost 20% of our retirement money the last decade. Now, worst of all, Wall Street’s traders have profiled Main Street investors in their algorithms: Yes, investors are “predictably stupid losers,” what Vegas croupiers call a mark, a dumb gambler that can be easily conned out of his money.
Full Story: American investors: predictably stupid Paul B. Farrell – MarketWatch.
Google phasing out use of Windows over security concerns
Web search group Google Inc is phasing out internal use of rival Microsoft Corp’s Windows operating system because of security concerns following a Chinese hacking incident, the Financial Times reported on Tuesday.
Citing several Google employees, the FT said the decision to move to other operating systems including Apple Inc’s Mac OS and open-source Linux began in earnest in January after Google’s Chinese operations were hacked.
Internet security firm McAfee Inc said at the time the cyber attacks on Google and other businesses had exploited a previously unknown flaw in Microsoft’s Internet Explorer browser, which was vulnerable on all recent versions of Windows.
Full Story: Google phasing out use of Windows over security concerns | Raw Story.
Attorney General: Criminal probe of Gulf oil spill began ’some weeks ago’
Update: Obama promises criminal probe into Deepwater Horizon disaster
Calling for a “full and vigorous accounting” of the facts, President Obama demanded Tuesday that the ongoing probe into the Deepwater Horizon disaster keep open to the possibility of criminal charges.
“They have my full support to follow the facts wherever they may lead, without fear or favor,” he told press gathered in the White House Rose Garden, according to published reports.
“We have an obligation to determine what went wrong,” he said, according to The New York Times.
Pledging to strengthen laws and reform regulatory measures to prevent another similar disaster from occurring, Obama vowed: “If our laws were broken, leading to this death and destruction, my solemn pledge is that we will bring those responsible to justice on behalf of the victims of this catastrophe and the people of the Gulf region.”
Full Story: Attorney General: Criminal probe of Gulf oil spill began ’some weeks ago’ | Raw Story.
Israeli Officials And American Conservatives Claim ‘There Is No Humanitarian Crisis In Gaza’
On Sunday, Israeli forces raided an aid flotilla trying to break a blockade of Gaza to deliver much-needed humanitarian supplies, killing nine activists, including four Turkish citizens. The incident has received “widespread condemnation” from the international community. Turkey’s Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan called the raid a “bloody massacre by Israel.”
In a damage control effort, Israeli officials and their right-wing American supporters are now trying to deflect blame onto the activists, saying that there was no reason for them to be trying to breach the blockade to deliver supplies because there is no humanitarian crisis in Gaza:
ISRAELI FOREIGN MINISTER AVIGDOR LIEBERMAN: “There is no humanitarian crisis in Gaza. … The flotilla is an attempt at violent propaganda against Israel, and Israel will not allow the violation of its sovereignty at sea, in the air, or on land.”
MICHAEL OREN, ISRAELI AMBASSADOR TO THE U.S.: “Over one hundred trucks, every day, laden with food and medicine go into Gaza. There’s no shortage of food. There is no shortage of medicine.”
NEWT GINGRICH: “There was no humanitarian crisis; this was a deliberate political effort on the part of people who want to try to undermine the survival of Israel.”
CHARLES KRAUTHAMMER: “What exactly is the humanitarian crisis that the flotilla was actually addressing? There is none. No one is starving in Gaza.”
Full Story: Think Progress » Israeli Officials And American Conservatives Claim ‘There Is No Humanitarian Crisis In Gaza’.
Pelosi: ‘I Don’t Want To Go Into A Discussion Of The Blockade Of Gaza’
Today, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) held a conference call with bloggers, where she received questions — including from ThinkProgress — about Israel’s raid of the flotilla carrying humanitarian aid and activists bound for Gaza. Pelosi refused to speak directly about whether Israel’s blockade is causing a humanitarian crisis in Gaza, saying that the focus should instead be on solving Middle East peace through a two-state solution:
PELOSI: Well, first of all, this incident, as you mentioned, is very recent. There is very strong interest in getting the facts and a transparent and credible investigation is what people are calling for — that’s what the White House has mentioned, and that’s what I support as well. We have to have the facts on which to make a judgment about how we go forward. I don’t know — I appreciate what you’re saying that people are suffering from different physical challenges because of the blockade. I don’t know that. I know blockades have consequences. … But the fact is, this is a terribly regrettable situation. I regret the loss of life first and foremost, and again, call for a credible and transparent investigation about how this came to be. […]
TP QUESTION: Do you think the blockade of Gaza should be lifted because it’s causing undue suffering on the people in the region?
PELOSI: [...] I don’t want to go into a discussion of the blockade of Gaza. I hope that we can end that by having a resolution in terms of Middle East peace. That’s where we spend our time, not necessarily on one particular tactics of one country or the next, but on the bigger picture, which is we must have peace in the Middle East. It must respect both sides, it must have a two-state solution — and I emphasize the solution part of it, so that both sides feel respected and well-treated and safe as they go forward with the new peace agreement — and I hope that whatever actions are taken on both sides, it’s in furtherance of that peace.
Full Story: Think Progress » Pelosi: ‘I Don’t Want To Go Into A Discussion Of The Blockade Of Gaza’.
Poll: Plurality say GOP should not push to repeal any part of healthcare reform
A plurality of Americans said they would prefer Republicans to leave the new healthcare law alone and not repeal any parts of it, a new poll found Tuesday.
Given the option to name the sections of the healthcare law they would most like to see the GOP repeal, 42 percent said they would leave the bill alone and repeal no parts, a new “60 Minutes”/Vanity Fair poll found.
But if there is one section voters would like to see stricken from the healthcare law, it seems to be the individual mandate — the requirement that all Americans buy health insurance, or face stiff penalties.
Full Story: Poll: Plurality say GOP should not push to repeal any part of healthcare reform – The Hill’s Blog Briefing Room.
High Court Limits Miranda in 5-4 Ruling
High Court Limits Miranda in 5-4 Ruling
Silence Right Must Be Invoked Explicitly, Court Says 01 Jun 2010 Criminal suspects must explicitly invoke their right to remain silent to force police to stop questioning, a divided U.S. Supreme Court ruled. The 5-4 decision upholds the Michigan murder conviction of a man who sat silent throughout most of a three-hour interrogation by police. The ruling blunts the force of the landmark 1966 Miranda v. Arizona decision, which required police to inform suspects of their rights. The ruling divided the court along what have become familiar lines, with Chief ‘Justice’ John Roberts and Justices Antonin Scalia, Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito joining Kennedy in the majority.
Full Story: High Court Limits Miranda in 5-4 Ruling | Citizens for Legitimate Government.
BP stock tumbles as feds announce oil-spill probes
BP’s stock plummeted and took much of the market down with it Tuesday as the federal government announced criminal and civil investigations into the Gulf of Mexico oil spill. BP engineers, meanwhile, tried to recover from a failed attempt to stop the gusher with an effort that will initially make the leak worse.
Attorney General Eric Holder, who was visiting the Gulf to survey the fragile coastline and meet with state and federal prosecutors, would not say who might be targeted in the probes into the largest oil spill in U.S. history.
“We will closely examine the actions of those involved in the spill. If we find evidence of illegal behavior, we will be extremely forceful in our response,” Holder said in New Orleans.
Full Story: BP stock tumbles as feds announce oil-spill probes – Yahoo! News.
‘Hidden’ Government Subsidies Fuel Big Oil’s Lack of Responsibility, Think Tank Analyst Says
The billions of dollars in taxpayer-funded government subsidies they take only serve to reinforce a sense of irresponsibility on the part of the big oil companies like BP, according to an analyst at a left-leaning think tank.
“Well, right now oil companies aren’t taking very much responsibility in the grand scheme of things because they benefit from government subsidies even though they’re highly profitable. But their actions have the ability to inflict great damages upon society,” says Sima Gandhi, a senior policy analyst with the economic policy team at the Center for American Progress in Washington.
BP, the energy giant responsible for the ongoing Gulf Coast oil spill, and the other four major oil companies are all expected to collect $20 billion in taxpayer-funded subsidies over the next five years. That’s on top of the billions they’re earning in high profits.
Full Story: On The Hill: ‘Hidden’ Government Subsidies Fuel Big Oil’s Lack of Responsibility, Think Tank Analyst Says.
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Republicans Don't Care about Voter Fraud....owa Republicans are trying to dismiss claims that the vote count in Tuesday's Iowa Caucus was wrong. An Iowa voter told a local TV station yesterday that he noticed a 20-vote discrepancy in the count - and that Rick Santorum was the real winner of the Caucuses. Republican Party officials, though, are sticking to their first count - showing Mitt Romney as the winner by 8-votes - and there will be no recount.The Republican Party has launched a war on voters around the nation this year with strict new laws that will disenfranchise over 5 million Americans. They claim these laws are necessary to combat so-called voter fraud. Yet in Iowa - where there are no such laws - and where a very, very close and questionable election was just held - Republicans don't seem to care at all about getting it right.Clearly - the war on voters isn't about making sure the people's voices are represented accurately - it's about making sure poor people, young people, and minorities who tend to vote for Democrats - can't vote at all.-Thom(Who do you think won? Tell us here.) -
LEGALIZE Democracy
" We the corporations" On January 21, 2010, with its ruling in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, the Supreme Court ruled that corporations are persons, entitled by the U.S. Constitution to buy elections and run our government. __________
MOVE to AMEND
a project of the CAMPAIGN TO LEGALIZE Democracy
Help end Corporate personhood
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The modern conservative is engaged in one of man's oldest exercises in moral philosophy; that is, the search for a superior moral justification for selfishness. 
