Tuesday, May 04, 2010

Obama's Eight Days of MIA on Guf Oil Spill. Are You Fired Up?

Surely because Obama is the great community organizer and has been on top of the oil spill since the first day, he must have been tirelessly using his own private web site to organize the reponse and clean up effort. The web site should reflect the anxiety and grief the President feels for the people affected. Let's take a look. I will take a picture of the web site at 8:18 on 4 May 2010. It has been two weeks since Obama has been on top of the oil spill tragedy.

Are you ready to see what is on ? OBAMA.COM



Are you Fired up?

Below is a chronology of the oil spill and its impact:

April 20, 2010 - Explosion and fire on Transocean Ltd drilling rig Deepwater Horizon licensed to BP; 11 workers missing, 17 injured. The rig was drilling in BP's Macondo project 42 miles southeast of Venice, Louisiana, beneath about 5,000 feet (1,525 metre) of water and 13,000 feet under the seabed. A blowout preventer, intended to prevent release of crude oil, failed to activate.

Where is Obama?

April 22 - The Deepwater Horizon rig, valued at more than $560 million, sinks in 5,000 feet (1,525 meters) of water. A five-mile long oil slick is seen.

Where is Obama?

April 23 - The U.S. Coast Guard suspends search for missing workers, all thought to have been near the site of the blast, and are presumed dead.

Where is Obama? Ths Coast guard has been on a rescue mission, SOP, but no federal activity directed at control or burning of the oil.

April 25 - The Coast Guard says remote underwater cameras detect the well is leaking 1,000 barrels of crude oil per day (bpd). The agency calls the leak a "very serious spill" that threatens on-shore ecosystems along the Gulf Coast. It approves a plan to have remote underwater vehicles activate blowout preventer and stop leak. Efforts to activate the blowout preventer fail.

Where is Obama? Ths Coast guard has been on a rescue mission, SOP, but no federal activity directed at control or burning of the oil. They are not Fired UP.

April 26- BP's shares fall 2 percent on fears the cost of cleanup and legal claims will deal the London-based energy giant a heavy financial blow.

Where is Obama? Ths Coast guard has been on a rescue mission, SOP, but no federal activity directed at control or burning of the oil. They are not Fired UP.

April 27 - The U.S. Departments of Interior and Homeland Security announce plans for a joint investigation of the explosion and fire. The Coast Guard said the leaking crude may be set ablaze to slow the spread of oil in the Gulf.

After Seven critical days, Obama's reaction is to do what Obama does best, blame someone. Obama sends in the lawyers, Ths Coast guard has been on a rescue mission, SOP, but no federal activity directed at control or burning of the oil. They are not Fired UP.

April 28 - The Coast Guard says the flow of oil is 5,000 bpd, five times greater than first estimated. Controlled burns begin on giant oil slick, but shifting winds are expected to push crude ashore.

After Eight critical days, Obama wakes up and does what should have been done seven days earlier.They are still not Fired UP.

April 29 - U.S. President Barack Obama pledges "every single available resource" including the U.S. military, to contain the spreading spill, which Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano says is of "national significance." Obama also says BP is responsible for the cleanup. Louisiana declares state of emergency due to threat of state's natural resources.

After Nine critical days, Obama is in full political and panic mode. They are still not Fired UP.

April 30 - A top Obama aide says no drilling will be allowed in new areas, as Obama had recently proposed, until the cause of the Deepwater Horizon accident is known. The U.S. Justice Department said a team of lawyers was monitoring the spill. BP Chairman Tony Hayward said the company took full responsibility for the spill and would pay all legitimate claims and the cost for the cleanup. The Interior Department orders safety inspections of all 30 deepwater drilling rigs and 47 deepwater production platforms.

After Ten critical days, Obama blames private industry. All lawyers are on deck. No mention of federal dereliction of duty. Talk about having their foot on the back of BP's neck as Obama realizes this is a political problem. They are still not Fired UP.

May 1 - The Coast Guard says the leak will affect the Gulf shore.

After Eleven days the obvious. They are still not Fired UP.

May 2 - Obama visits the Gulf Coast to see cleanup efforts first hand. U.S. officials close areas affected by the spill to fishing for an initial period of 10 days.

After Twelve critical days, Obama goes to visit the catastrophe claiming he was on top of it sice day one..
Are you Fired up? They are still not Fired UP.



137 comments:

  1. They made a conscious decision a long time ago that burning that oil would cause, oh my God<, See Oh Too (also known as plant food) to be released into the atmosphere.

    It sounds so ridiculous in hind-sight that they will be extremely loathe to admit it, now.

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  2. I can hardly wait for the Obama apologists.

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  3. ..to appear like a big smelly brown slick across the horizon.

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  4. Excellent observation. Develop that for a post.

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  5. You're going to be pissed off. The MSM will NEVER carry it.

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  6. You're going to feel like Rufus shuffling around muttering, "oil? We don't need oil. I can fix this. Give me some money; listen to me. It's easy. Anyone listening? Hello?"

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  7. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  8. Let's see, the NYCity, Times Square bomber bomber, we have blamed upon a dead Democrat, Teddy Kennedy.

    Not the Administration that allowed Faisal Shahzad into the country and granted him citizenship, thirty years ago.
    That'd have been in 1970, back when Richard M. Nixon was President, the Republicans large and in charge, at that time.

    No, at the EB it is claimed that, Teddy Kennedy, based upon a vote in 1963, when he was a freshman Senator, is to blame.

    Now we swing to the Gulf oil disaster, where the Federals, three days after the explosion and leak started approved the BP plan to stop the flow of oil.

    The first FEDERAL action to stem the flow. An approval of the attempt by the owner of the property to stem the flow caused, at least in part by the workmanship by Halliburton.
    Halliburton (NYSE: HAL) is the world's second largest oilfield services corporation with operations in more than 70 countries. ...

    It is well known that any work done, at the wellhead, would be contracted out. It would not be done by a Federal or even any State or Local government employee.

    A sunken oil platform, a mile down, is not the same as a flooded parking lot of school buses. Not just anyone can turn the keys and solve the problem, like by moving the buses.

    No, in a deep oil well leak it is the private experts that will do the work, as they did in Kuwait, putting out the fires that Saddam started. Remember that the fires there, in Kuwait, burned for weeks, before private contractors, like Red Adair, put those fires out.

    So, as we review, it seems that the Federals, and by extension Mr Obama, were right there, on 25 April, trying to stem the flow. Following the advise of the property owners and technical experts.

    The basis of this thread, that the Federals and the President were absent from the decision making and activity, dies right there.

    Sorry.

    Perhaps they made the wrong call, in an attempt to stem the flow, in the manner that they did.

    It may be that no deep water drilling can be done, safely, with present technologies and the entire deep water offshore drilling program is a danger to our National and Environmental Security.

    In that case it is, once again, the Bush Administration, Republicans, that would have failed to keep the US safe.

    If we are going to look for the "root causes" of these two unrelated but connected by energy policy episodes, Nixon and Bush should be taking the blame, here at the EB, instead of Teddy and Barack.

    If there is blame to be divvied up, for the misconceived idea that deep water drilling was ever economically or environmentally feasible.

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  9. I have 30 minutes of peaceful morning left before the low-priced, illegal labor shows up to do the lawn.

    Peaceful as it ever gets, anyway, with flights in and out of Reagan National running about two minutes apart.

    Speaking of flying: It'll be a cold day in hell before anyone ever again gets to a departure gate in a US airport without having to remove their shoes.

    Were Mike Bloomberg to go all TSA on Gotham, no one would get into midtown without a full auto search. Then some major asshole would figure out how to sabotage a bike. Or, you know, just start casing other venues. Because that's what major assholes do.

    It's hard work, trying to stay one step ahead of them.

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  10. Drill baby drill

    Seems to equal

    Pollute baby pollute.


    Is that how they do it, in Alaska?

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  11. The United States is the "Property Owner." We merely leased them the access to the mineral rights.

    There was a protocol put in place. A decision was made at some point (a while ago, evidently) not to follow it.

    Why? There is only one possible reason.

    Who made the decision, and when?

    We may never know, because it's unlikely the MSM will take a chance on embarrassing the O'Marxist. The only way it could get covered is if the decision was make under Dubya (unlikely, but possible.)

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  12. There have been something like 39 "Blowouts" in the Gulf of Mexico. It took a year to get one of them plugged, and it was in water less than 1/10th as deep as this one.

    It was just a matter of time.

    But, someone made the decision a while ago that the oil wouldn't be burned. I'd like to see those "someones" try to explain to the people on the Gulf Coast why that decision was made.

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  13. I thought the weather conditions were what prevented 'the burn' - that great Limbaugh magical fix canard.

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  14. The well head and the platform, are owned by BP, the spill, is owned by them, too.

    Or at least their head of US operations has said it was.

    I'd venture that parts of that spill will be owned by all of US, soon enough, as it washes ashore.

    Ownership is secondary, to the topic, though.
    The Federals were there, taking part, from the beginning. What their part was in the decisions that were made and why, an unknown at this time.

    But the majority of the blame falls to BP, as during the aftermath of Katrina in was the local officials, the Mayor and Governor, that proved to be the most culpable for the human misery not being alleviated, sooner.

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  15. "Who made the decision, and when?

    We may never know, because it's unlikely the MSM will take a chance on embarrassing the O'Marxist."

    You mean no one at the Post or the Times is going to ask why a burn wasn't carried out until the 28th?

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  16. "Someone" there might ask. But, I'll venture neither paper will make the editorial decision to "run with it."

    The believe in the evils of "See Oh Too," also.

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  17. And, they certainly believe in "The Wun."

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  18. The sea was calm when the leak started, Ash. Besides, oil burns whether the wind is blowing, or not.

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  19. I don't know what alternate universe you inhabit, rufus, where the admin has not had to respond to MSM criticism. It's a full time job, as it was with the last admin.

    It goes with the office.

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  20. Globally, the oil and gas business is, probably, in the range of $5 Trillion/yr.

    $5 Trillion is bigger than the GDP of China, or Japan.

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  21. Exxon made $46 Billion last year, and paid NO Income Tax in the U.S.

    The Political, and Economic power of the Oil Companies are beyond imagination.

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  22. Since it was the Coast Guard, according to our base thread, that mis-underestimated the flow rate of the leak, the fault for not firing the oil sooner, may well lie there.

    That the Federal experts only reported 20% of actual leakage rate, that may have factored into the timeliness of the decision to ignite the spill.

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  23. Trish, I have yet to see any Television Program question the decision "not to burn."

    Have You?

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  24. Obama says....

    "I'm in charge, but I am not responsible"

    What a jackass....

    Can you picture any actual LEADER ever uttering such tripe?

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  25. 20% correct, about the norm, for the Federals, in all they do.

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  26. You accuse me of living in an "alternate" universe, and you appear to have no idea, whatsoever, what moves the world.

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  27. "Have You?"

    Well, lemme see. The issue first appeared yesterday. That's when Doug got wind of it, anyway. And Doug is our plugged-in Pineapple Head.

    So I'd give it until this afternoon or this evening for the MSM to pick up on it and for Admin response.

    If they're smart, they won't have Janet do it. Janet doesn't do it well. Or Gibbs.

    Someone from the Unified Response Command.

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  28. You accuse me of living in an "alternate" universe, and you appear to have no idea, whatsoever, what moves the world.

    - rufus

    Well, what's your concern here? The MSM running cover for the O'Marxist, or ALL POWERFUL OIL?

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  29. We'll see.

    By the way, Doug was asking that question, on his own, almost a week ago.

    You think No One is the MSM thought to ask it?

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  30. I'm not "concerned" about any of it, Trish. I'm retired.

    But, I'm observant of the fact that Oil is Very, Very Powerful, and that the media pretty much dreams of blowing obama, morning, noon, and night.

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  31. Doug is so far ahead of the curve.

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  32. I'm not "concerned" about any of it, Trish.

    - rufus

    I didn't mean in a material sense.

    On the one hand you've established that the CO2ers hold principal sway in the matter. On the other, that Big Oil is the Master of the Universe.

    Just trying to untangle narratives.

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  33. I remember distinctly reading about the attempt to butn pretty close to a week ago and it saying the weather conditions were very important. Think about it rufus, oil sits on top of the water in a very thin layer and you want to oxidize it (burn it) the wind kicks up and the seas get rough mixing the oil and the water together. Do you think that would burn? The other aspect is keeping the burn under control. The prospect of the whole slick going up in one big poof sounds cool but a few eyebrows could get singed if such an event were possible and happened. The oil is also still leaking. The hope in a burn would be to continually burn it off as it leaks. That gonna happen? Not without their fancy still to be built domes and channels to get it to the surface where it can be burned off.

    Why hasn't the MSM latched on to the failure to burn? Probably why much of the MSM didn't latch on to the conspiracy theories behind the 911 attacks - they are foolish at first glance.

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  34. Doug asked the obvious question, which was, "Why didn't they just set it on fire?"

    Evidently that question was asked a long time ago, because That WAS, and, actually, IS the "Protocol."

    Who decided Not to proceed according to protocol, and helped enable the largest environmental disaster in the history of the lower 48?

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  35. The last time I checked the Coast Guard Is part of Homeland Security, under the guidance of Janet Napolitano, personally selected by Barack Obama.

    Jannie is Obama's "Brownie," doing a fine job protecting border and shore from all foreign invaders, accurately assessing the threat and response.

    If oil is leaking in the gulf and we have the party of friends of the environment in charge the obvious place to start is to assess the degree of leakage.

    Rufus is correct, they were too worried about carbon to worry about tar.

    Ideology out-trumped geology.

    BP drills under license and the supervision of the US Federal government. The federal government has responsibility to set standards and emergency procedures.

    Obama and his federal posse did not inherit that role, they bought it. They have their hand at the tiller.

    Fuel burning, telepromted Barack had Team O in full sail defending the federal disregard for border patrol while busy slamming the Arizona response to their domestic invasion.

    He was more focused on politics. He was too busy disparaging the real Americans who are concerned about their culture and their legacy.

    He was fired up and too busy getting Afro- American and Hispanic voters to neutralize the white vote, than to neutralize the growing flood of petroleum heading for US shores.

    That is who Obama is. That is what Obama does. Obama created his own petard.

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  36. Trish, have you not noticed that the oil companies are a "Major" funding source for many (most) of the envirowhacko enterprises?

    Think back. When's the last time the econutzies went after the oil companies?

    They spend most of their time (and oil's money) attacking Ethanol.

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  37. The reason for the delayed burn - feds did not possess a fire boom. Only bureaucracy can be this fucking stupid.

    http://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2010/05/026219.php

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  38. Is the slick a fire, now?

    If not, why?
    If it is the solution de jour.

    If it a fire, now,, no worries!

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  39. Good point, we have 11 carriers, who knows how many submarine boomers, too many baby boomers and not one oil boomer.

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  40. That's the point I'm making. The decision "not to burn" wasn't made a week, or two, ago. It was made quite some time ago.

    That is why there were no fire booms (except maybe one) on the Gulf Coast. The decision had been made that they wouldn't be used.

    Windy, not Windy, raining, not raining. Big spill, little spill, it didn't matter. The decision had been made sometime in the past that CO2 was, as Deuce put it, more important than tar.

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  41. This is the article now appearing at Drudge:

    http://blog.al.com/live/2010/05/fire_boom_oil_spill_raines.html

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  42. Hey, hey,

    you can't "ever" have too many Baby Boomers.

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  43. j willie to the rescue, with the answer!

    After 39 blow outs, the Federals were not ready for the "Big One".

    This a "Permanent Government" problem, not an ideological or partisan one.

    Unless all Governmental problems are reduced to the personality of the President.

    In which case, Mr Bush, the oil man, allowed BP to operate without the high costs of adequate preparedness and Mr Obama, the Marxist/environmentalist, was praying for a "blow out", knowing his Government was ill-prepared, so he could kill the entire off shore oil program.

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  44. If the Federals had, in 2008, those oil booms ready, where did they go?

    If they did not have them, in 2008, why not?

    If Obama disposed of those booms, that's culpability. If he never had them, well that's ongoing bi-partisan Federal policy.

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  45. Poet, the company that continued to profitably produce 1.3 Billion gallons of ethanol/yr, Dupont, and Novozymes, all say they can produce ethanol from corn cobs, wheat straw, and switchgrass for $2.00/gal.

    Now, Buick says their new engine (coming out in the fall) will get virtually the same mileage on ethanol as on gasoline (and the mileage on gasoline will be really, really good.)

    Now, I ask you, what would Any reasonable society do?

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  46. Would it ignore that? Would it continue down the path of spending $500 Billion/yr fighting wars, and importing oil?

    What could cause a society to do that? What kind of economic, and political power would it take to keep that game in place?

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  47. The Greek say thanks

    ATHENS/LONDON (Reuters) - Striking public workers challenged the Greek government's bailout-for-austerity deal with the EU and IMF on Tuesday as investors fretted about Athens' ability to push through ambitious budget cuts.

    The main public sector union, ADEDY, began a 48-hour national strike that shut down ministries, tax offices, schools, hospitals and public services, with thousands of protesters converging on parliament in the center of the Greek capital.

    Greek police guarding parliament fired teargas at a small group of protesters who threw rocks and bottles at them.

    "We want an end to the freefall of our living standards," said Spyros Papaspyros, the head of ADEDY, which represents about half a million workers in the Aegean nation of 11 million.
    .

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  48. Is there Any chance in Hell that CNBC, or Fox (15% owned by a Saudi Prince) will mention that this fall you can drive a luxury Buick in Iowa for $0.06/mile?

    And, have 270 HP to boot?

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  49. I must say, rufus, that you convinced me, years ago.

    We've done the figgurin', napkin style. We could have replaced the oil imports from outside the Americas, by now.

    If there had been folks concerned about the economic security of the United States, large and in charge, since the US was attacked by Islamic radicals in 2001.

    Ten years of distillery construction and bringing marginal farmlands into sweet soughram or switchgrass production. This was feasible, from a National Security perspective, even before the technological innovations concerning the enzymes occurred.

    Instead of spending a trillion USD occupying Iraq, we could have been reaching for economic independence from that region of the whirled.

    That is not a Federal objective, though, independence from the whirled.

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  50. US energy policy, proof positive that the US is not at war with Islam.

    We'd have cut off our need for their oil, if we were.

    We have not.

    We have not even made the attempt, instead we have founded Islamic Republics, to protect what our bi-partisan leadership see as the advancement of US interests.

    Strengthening Islamic culture, not weakening it.

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  51. Blogger Deuce said...

    "The Greek say thanks"



    If Greece defaults who will take it in the shorts? Who's holding the paper?



    'meeeester Deuce, sir, I've got some fiiiiine Greek paper here - wanna buy some? oh, and some beaaauuutifullll Spainish paper as well.'

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  52. And, let's face it, Rat, we might be good-lookin, but we're not That damned smart. If we figured it out, those "smart" guys sure as hell did.

    The decision was made.

    More money for the "moneyed" class doing bizness wit oil.

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  53. "...no federal activity directed at control or burning of the oil."

    So when do we get a correction on this, Blue?

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  54. The last things I bought from the Greeks were two flokati rugs and an Arab antique sword.

    The flokatis have long been lost to the moths and the sword was a good but worthless reproduction.

    I do regret not having bought some worry beads and not returning a letter from a once raven haired olive skinned beauty with Agean blue eyes named Alayla.

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  55. "Now, I ask you, what would Any reasonable society do?"

    Ask Dupont why they don't purchase the land (probably pretty cheap right now) and do it?


    .

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  56. Don't disappoint me because my morning's been shattered once already by the lawn guys.

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  57. Blogger Deuce said...

    "The last things I bought from the Greeks were..."

    aye, but do you hold stock in any Bank? I wonder how much Greek paper they've got in inventory? Spanish paper? British paper? US paper? paper paper paper everywhere. yummmy tasty credit paper lying about as far as the eye can see.

    Many Greek people are saying 'fuck 'em', many German people are saying 'fuck 'em'. The rulers and masters, the bankers et al are going, 'no, no, no, gotta make all that paper good'. Deutchbank owes Citibank owes Royal Bank owes you. Watch out for 'credit freeze'. Who's got the paper?

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  58. Ah, the regrets of "letters not returned."

    I didn't "not take advantage" of many opportunities, but I sincerely regret the ones that did.

    Even though a few of those "opportunities, taken advantage of" did cost me a bit of discomfort, and temporary financial worry.

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  59. Come on, Q. You're not that slow. Dupont is chemical/enzyme maker, not a farming cooperative.

    And, although, they're a big company, we're talking a couple hundred billion, here. Only governments can play in games that big. At least, if you're trying to do something fairly quickly.

    Q, you have Got To Forget the Adam Smith "invisible hand" nonsense. The "invisible hand" sometimes takes centuries, and sometimes doesn't get around to anything more than moving deck chairs.

    I'm not saying "Capitalism/Free Enterprise" isn't the best system; but in the real, practical world we live in we have to harness government from time to time, also.

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  60. Transocean (RIG) actually owns the platform and oilrig, which BP has leased. There stock has dropped 20 points since this accident.

    http://www.theatlantic.com/special-report/the-climate-report/archive/2010/04/white-house-rebrands-the-bp-oil-spill/39696/

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  61. "Shahzad, who received U.S. citizenship last year, recently visited Pakistan for about five months, returning to the United States in February, the source said."

    U.S. arrests Pakistani-American over failed car bomb


    Not that it matters one iota, but the young man (30) was naturalized LAST YEAR (2009), subsequently taking a long vacation in Pakistan, home of a'Q and the Talliewackers.

    If I were having a significant problem with young Muslim men engaging in terrorism within the US, say, like Major Hasan, I would have spent a great deal of time investigating his itinerary. He would be of far more interest to me than a group of "white bigots" from the Midwest.

    Our good fortune rests on our Islamic adversaries being marginally dumber than us. Natural selection will inevitably change that dynamic.

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  62. C'mon, Blue. We're the Bar.

    We're truth-seekers.

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  63. I'm ragging on you Ruf.

    You ask the wrong question. "What would a reasonable society do?" Better to ask "Why don't we have a reasonable society?"

    Despite what you think, there is no "THE" answer to solving the energy problem. It's going to take a whole host of alternatives in combo, ethanol, electric, solar, wind, coal, eventually natural gas.

    The problem is it will take decades unless we run out of oil sooner. It will take a crisis or an extremely long time before we change our habits.

    They just got sign-off on the first offshore wind-farm off the east coast. It took nine years. There are already lawsuits and more are promised. It will be years before it's settled. Hell some Indian tribe is suing over underwater burial grounds.

    When was the last time we had a nuclear reactor built in this country? The utilities in Europe take the subsidies but then complain that wind-farms produce energy too cheaply.

    Right of ways? NIMBY? Politics? Enviro wackos?

    Solar? There will be some way to tie it back to causing global warming.

    Any progress we make on alternative energy will be marginal until we are absolutely forced to act.

    Prior to our achieving energy independance, I predict you will have posted your one millionth post on the value and need for ethanol. Same content. Same effect.

    Just my opinion.


    .

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  64. By the way, once they identified the wouldabomber, the FBI didn't get around to "cooperating" with TSA, State Dept, or Border Security.

    The couldn'tbomber's passport was NOT flagged. He was Onboard, and the plane was pulling away from the gate when the FBI finally figured out he was on the flight.

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  65. We're in for a hell of a mess no later than early 2012, Q. And, the powers that be know it. They still refuse to take any effective action. The oil money is too strong.

    They're dicking around with the idiot nonsolution knowing damned well that it's simply mental masturbation.

    Battery cars supported by windmills. Holy Smokes.

    What kind of drugs would one have to be on to look at an emergency in transportation energy in 2012, and imagine that windmills, and batteries can make a difference in that timeframe?

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  66. I really appreciate the MSM telling the Islamic bozos how they botched the bombing.

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  67. A naturalized American citizen...from Pakistan.. the sound of it makes me sick. I'll take the other side of the issue on this one.

    You want to see a real naturalized citizen then choose someone from Eastern Europe or Latin America. Odds are that you have a real patriot.

    And the US military was the route a lot of them chose to get that citizenship.

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  68. How about, nine years after 9-11 we don't flag the guy's passport?

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  69. He was "naturalized" LAST YEAR.

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  70. He is about as unnatural a citizen as is possible.

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  71. Any more theories from the schmuck mayor?

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  72. The Pakistani, they are our number one ally, in the War on Terror.

    What's the problem?

    Bush policies, well, long term Federal policies, are what put that fella on the path to citizenship.

    Proof, again, that the Federals do not consider Islam or Islamoids, to be an enemy of the United States.

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  73. "The truth as we see it."

    Blue, it's *not* true that there was "...no federal activity directed at control or burning of the oil."

    And here also I think back to Katrina, where it was the USCG that - being the USCG - was the very first up in still-shitty storm conditions and had funneled in every damn thing they could put their hands on from every damn where prior to the storm.

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  74. I happen to have a US passport application on my desk, no where on it appears any form of question with regards to the religion of the applicant.

    Bet the same applies to Naturalization. Creed is not a qualified question, it is not even a subject of interest, to the Federals.

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  75. Iran Elected to the U.N. Commission on the Status of Women.

    "Which is fine, unless you think that the "advancement of women" should not include the stoning of women for alleged adultery. And unless you think, as I do, that it is time to abandon the fiction of U.N. human rights diplomacy altogether—or if you worry, as perhaps we all ought to, that Iran knows its way around U.N. nuclear diplomacy better than we imagine."

    Typical UN Hypocrisy


    .

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  76. The Mayor said something about "too much salt in the guy's diet might have caused him to do it."

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  77. Stay in the Heartland, stay alert. Avoid the break off areas at all costs.

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  78. "Allen, echoing Obama’s remarks, said he was confident that BP would foot the entire bill for the cleanup, which could run into the tens of billions, despite a $75 million cap on payment for ecological damages embedded in a 1990s law.

    “There is an unlimited liability. ... Under certain conditions, there is no limit to the liabilities,” he said, adding that the government would have to prove “negligence or things like that” to recoup the whole amount..."


    Oh yea, some lawyers will be getting rich..er..richer over this one.

    Cleanup Costs


    .

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  79. allen said...
    EXCLUSIVE: U.N. Elects Iran to Commission on Women's Rights

    Virgin Girls Raped Before Execution in Iran [including a nine year-old]

    ...the law of nations...

    Thu Apr 29, 04:33:00 PM EDT




    Yes, little girls must be appropriately raped before hanging under the laws of the Prophet. The rape of little boys prior to strangulation is purely optional.

    Why am I to take these beasts seriously?

    For the benefit of our Muslim loving posters here at the EB (and you know who you are), Iran is a NATION. Its acts of purposeful barbarism visited upon helpless children is not the act of a few hotheads who have misunderstood the inspired Prophet. No, the brutalization of these children before their public executions is the LAW of the Prophet's anointed.

    Islam is the problem!

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  80. Obama'a rhetoric and the talking points of the administration will smooth out over the days ('we were on it from the first minute') like the slick itself, tll the oil companies get it capped, then the blame and lawyers will move in, there will be now righteious indicnations aall and whoever on the private side that was responsible will get hung to dry while the Feds will walk, is my prodiction. Meanwhile, mother nature will do what she does best, finally clean it up in her torough, slow way.

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  81. In September of 2006 Chevron tapped into a petroleum field 5 1/2 miles deep in the Gulf of Mexico.

    Chevron predicted the discovery would boost the nation’s reserves by more than 50 percent. It was thought to be the biggest new domestic oil discovery since Alaska’s Prudhoe Bay

    The Gulf of Mexico produces more than a quarter of the country's domestic crude. The US government knew and reported that 72 percent of oil production in the Gulf of Mexico in 2007 came from deep-water drilling, and the number of deep-water projects has doubled since 2002.

    The government had to know about the challenges and the dangers involved. The present estimate is 200,000 gallons a day is spilling from the well.

    In an ironic sense, the spill is demonstrating the size of the field. The United States has to exploit that oil. Certainly the Chinese are, as well as the Mexicans and Venezuelans.

    Is it too much to expect the US government which has its hand out to take its cut of the booty, has the proper procedures and equipment on hand to deal with a calamity of this sort?

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  82. All the assholes and dopes in Congress are talking about the liability.

    It seems to me that the liability belongs to the regulators and reserve owners and that is the federal government. Their failure to be prepared for the predictable is also predictable.

    ReplyDelete
  83. The following is fom the neocons over at the Weekly Standard and needs to be read in that context.

    However, it provides a counterpoint to Deuce's comments about the size of our navy.

    The Turning Point


    .

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  84. Horsehockey,

    200,000 gal/day is only 73 million gallons/yr. That's an average ethanol refinery. A Large ethanol refinery is 100,000 gallons/yr.

    We need that crap like we need a hole in the head.

    ReplyDelete
  85. A large ethanol refinery is 100 Million gallons/yr.

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  86. From 2002 until Jan 2009 the oilmen were in charge of the US government.

    We get the results of that collaboration, now.

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  87. First thing to do is ban all drilliing in the Gulf, and along the coasts, obviously. That'll put an end to it, the birds will fly free, we'll walk to work, where there are't any jobs. And we can't have nukes., either for demestic or for defense. This situation might go a long ways to further eroding O's numbers, which aren't looking so good now. Congress is in the dry hole, particularily the dems. Ah, for November.....

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  88. The modern US Navy is both a platform to deliver an unacceptable amount of fire power to an unfortunate adversary and is also a potential target.

    The current balance favors the navy as there are many potential targets for the navy and very few who would care to take it on. That proportion differs very little if the navy were cut in half, especially since alternate methods of destruction are available.

    If the money saved by cutting the navy in half were to be redeployed to next generation weapon systems not naval based, that would have the added advantage of dissuading potential adversaries from building a system that has been made obsolete by the US.

    You will always need a surface navy. We needed a navy before we had submarines, an air force, a strategic missile system, and now a strategic missile defense.

    To argue that we will always need more navy regardless of other systems is illogical. There certainly is a reasonable argument that some if not all of these systems would allow for a smaller conventional navy.

    The real argument is what you do with the saved money. I favor using it for next generation weapons systems and not for a weakening of current defense levels.

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  89. To paraphrase what General McCrystal said while addressing the UAE:
    There was no way that the Iranian Air Force could survive a fight with the UAE's capable US manufactured aircraft and US trained pilots.

    That just the UAE, alone, had capacity enough to defeat the Iranian Air Force.

    How much over kill is really required?

    I mean, really, if the Iranian threat is the "best" there is, there is little threat, as seen from the US military's perspective.

    When the rest of the whirled, combined, cannot field two carrier battle groups, in joint operations, just how many do we really need to dominate the sea lanes?

    Less than 11, fer sure.

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  90. The money spent to field those battle groups, borrowed.

    There is none to "reinvest".

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  91. Where's Red Adair when we need him? Maybe a small nuke would do the trick, way under water. Maybe it would make things worse.

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  92. The latest NYC bomber traveled to Pakistan TWICE during 2009: once for a month and again for five months.

    Pointing out again its irrelevance, the NYC bomber entered the United States in 1998 under a student visa.

    How about this: any civilian traveling to Syria, Iran, Lebanon, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Afghanistan, Turkey or the Emirates gets a lengthy face-to-face interview upon returning to the US.

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  93. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  94. The shoe bomber and the Munich boys, Europeons.

    Gotta face to face for all those entering from England or Germany, face to face, before they board.

    That's where the most extreme threats have come from.
    Germany.
    England.

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  95. But then, they'd just walk across the border, from Canada or Mexico, illegally.

    Along with the other 3,000 folks that do, each day.

    ReplyDelete
  96. rat, it is all Obama's fault!

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  97. We have to get away from the PC thing of identifying Germans , English and Americans as such when in fact they are from one of a dozen Islamic countries with little cultural connection except for documentation.

    ReplyDelete
  98. Deuce said...
    We have to get away from the PC thing of identifying Germans , English and Americans as such when in fact they are from one of a dozen Islamic countries with little cultural connection except for documentation.

    Tue May 04, 04:02:00 PM EDT


    With all due respect, if we do what you propose, we will lose our strength of diversity; and, as we all know via Army channels, diversity is what made America great and will ULTIMATELY ensure victory (although, I can see T.R. disagreeing).

    Now, you might believe that assimilation into an English speaking, English jurisprudential, and English economic model, all having their foundations in a Judeo-Christian worldview, played a far greater role in America's advancement than diversity; but, au contraire, my friend, as the resident socialists will quickly point out.

    To the point, the problem is Islam. It is a murderous, medieval menace, which would not be given the time of day, and would be instantly eradicated, were it not for our prostitution to oil.

    For those who tend to equate the illegal immigration across our southern border with the dangers posed by the Islamofascists, the Mexican guy who cuts my grass is not interested in either converting me to Roman Catholicism or else. The same cannot be said for Muslims. For the Mexican, the deal is money, for the Muslim it is either my submission to his brand of theocracy or death. Of course, being a Jew gives me no real choice in the matter when dealing with the Muslim: I must die.

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  99. "It seems to me that the liability belongs to the regulators and reserve owners and that is the federal government."

    You mean, abrogate the contractual responsibility of private industry and further increase the domain of fedgov?

    ReplyDelete
  100. I'm shocked you would advance such an idea.

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  101. About as shocked as I am that that you will not correct your original post in re containment efforts.

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  102. If they leave the wife back in Pakistan with a bunch of unpaid mortgages, there's a tip off.

    Soon, they will score a hit, they can't all be duds.

    We need a Congressional House Committee for Un-American Muslim Activities.

    ReplyDelete
  103. Meanwhile, Brownie is making the media rounds.






    No, I am not making that up.

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  104. And in an interesting twist on rufus' insistence that there would be a conspiratorial silence on the actual cause of the almost complete absence of in-situ burn, BP chief Hayward noted in a briefing today that the surface slick is too thin to keep a burn going.

    He is, however, optimistic regarding ongoing containment efforts to prevent the PR disaster of oily, flopping dying birds on the WH lawn.

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  105. Re: Judeo-Christian

    Of Plymouth Plantation was written by William Bradford, longtime governor of the colony. Bradford used Hebrew liberally in the text.

    Giving quite an endorsement, said he:

    "Though I am growne aged, yet I have a longing desire to see, with my owne eyes, something of that most ancient language, and holy tongue, in which the law and Oracles of God were written; and in which God and angels spoke to the Holy Patriarcks of old time; and what names were given to things at the Creation."

    WILLIAM BRADFORD (1590-1657)

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  106. Trish, it wouldn't have been to "thin" if they had, immediately, put "fire boom" around the site. THAT was the protocol.

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  107. Going on what we have from the Times (the other Times):

    [...]

    He dismissed claims that the rig should have activated the blowout preventer at the well head with an “acoustic switch” — they were useless at 5,000ft, he said — and that fire booms should have been used to ignite the slick. “We couldn’t keep the fire alight because the sheen is too thin,” he said.


    Type of oil? Mixes well with water?

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  108. i just got compared, by a lady that deals him poker, in Billings, Montana to--Wilford Brimley. I denied this sccusation right off, sayed she counldn't be right, it was just light on the drive through; she had taken me for a yougher Errol Flyyn; or Wlfred's young son; she looked closed, said I was right. Besides I have no white hairs. Anywhere.

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  109. I'm making breakfast Friday for roughly 40 NCTC people, allen.

    Can I include a thanks on your behalf with the breakfast burritos?

    ReplyDelete
  110. Sorry, no take backs at the EB. No one ever remembers in the morning and if they did they would not respect you anyway. Nor in the afternoon or evening for that matter.

    ReplyDelete
  111. "No one ever remembers..."

    Elephants do.

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  112. A Pakistani intelligence official said Tuesday that authorities had arrested at least two people in the southern port city of Karachi in connection with the Times Square plot. But a U.S. law enforcement official said the arrest was "not at our behest."

    The Pakistani Taliban has waged a campaign of bombings and assassinations against the Pakistani government in recent years. Until now, U.S. and Pakistani intelligence officers didn't think the group had the reach necessary to execute attacks outside its home region, and it has traditionally shied away from the sort of global jihad espoused by al-Qaeda.

    But the group's ties with al-Qaeda and other foreign militants have expanded of late, and so have its ambitions. In a video issued this week, Pakistani Taliban leader Hakimullah Mehsud promised more strikes against the United States, and said that suicide bombers had infiltrated American cities.


    Pakistani Taliban

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  113. If the good prick Heyward's lips are moving, he's lying. BP is the most corrupt oil company on the planet; and that's saying something.

    They were out, yesterday, trying to trade temporary work to the fishermen for their signature on an unreadable missive, that, in essence, negated their right to ever file suit.

    Finally, the governments of the Gulf Coast States made them quit. They are despicable shit. Always have been. They've killed more Americans than MS-13.

    Remember the Texas City Refinery fire? Yep, that was them. The Rotting, non-maintained pipeline in Alaska? yeah. They're "on probation" in the North Sea. Thunderhorse? Yep.

    They're the trash of the oil biz.

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  114. In a 2005 settlement with the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration, BP pledged to fix the multiple hazards that exploded part of its Texas City refinery and killed 15 people.

    Four years later, OSHA alleged more than 700 safety breaches, hundreds of them violations of the 2005 agreement, and proposed a record $87.4 million fine.

    BP says it’s been working as hard as it can to make the refinery safe and is appealing the OSHA findings.

    That BP’s promises to do the right thing have fallen short should come as no surprise.

    A corroded BP pipeline spilled more than 250,000 gallons of crude into Alaska’s Prudhoe Bay in 2006, followed by a second spill a few months later, which shut down the operation.

    Dumping Waste

    In 2000, BP admitted dumping hazardous wastes onto Alaska’s North Slope. In 2001 it vowed to clean up air emitted from eight of its U.S. refineries in a settlement with the Justice Department over Clean Air Act violations. And yet the Environmental Protection Agency cited one of those plants, in Indiana, for polluting the air again in 2007.

    The company has been prosecuted for environmental crimes time and again. It has been sued by people who lost family members to BP’s carelessness and by workers hurt or sickened.

    Each time BP executives are so very sorry. Each time they promise to install safety measures and to monitor the result and to never ever do such a thing again. And then it happens again.

    ReplyDelete
  115. From an article at Bloomberg.

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  116. From Multinational Monitor's 2005 list of the world's 10 Worst Companies:

    BP

    In November 2005, BP said that it expects to spend as much as $8 billion in alternative-energy projects, including solar, wind, hydrogen and carbon-abatement technology, over 10 years.

    It is running two-page ads in major U.S. newspapers touting itself as a leader in alternative energy.

    This is part of a high-energy campaign to cover up BP’s dirty tricks that flow from its oil business.

    To do so, it has to cover up its shoddy operations on the North Slope of Alaska, where it is seeking to bust open the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge for drilling, and its reckless operations at its refineries around the globe.

    In March, 15 workers were incinerated, and more than 170 injured, following an explosion at BP’s sprawling refinery in Texas City, Texas.

    It was the third fatal accident at the Texas City BP facility in the last four years.

    In September 2004, two workers were burned to death and another was seriously injured.

    In 2001, a maintenance worker at the facility died after falling into a tank that had been shut down. Nationwide, BP’s facilities have had more than 3,565 accidents since 1990, ranking first in the nation, according to a 2004 report by the Texas Public Interest Research Group (TexPIRG).

    BP has admitted it was at fault in the Texas City explosion. “We regret that our mistakes have caused so much suffering,” said Ross Pillari, president of BP Products North America, after the company had completed an interim investigation in May.

    “We apologize to those who were harmed and to the Texas City community,” said Pillari. “ We cannot change the past or repair all the damage this incident has done. We can assure that those who were injured and the families of those who died receive financial support and compensation. Our goal is to provide fair compensation without the need for lawsuits or lengthy court proceedings.”

    There is a case to be made that BP engaged in criminal reckless homicide, or involuntary manslaughter. To prove this, the District Attorney in Galveston County, where the deaths occurred, would have to find that BP and its executives consciously disregarded “a substantial and unjustifiable risk that a death will occur.”

    We believe that the families of the dead deserve a full-blown reckless homicide investigation by the District Attorney in Galveston County.

    When asked about this, Mohamed Ibrahim, the first assistant district attorney in Galveston County, told us that his office had opened no such criminal investigation into the BP matter. “We have no reason to believe at this point that it was anything but an unfortunate industrial accident,” Ibrahim said.

    “If OSHA [the Occupational Safety and Health Administration] came to us and said it was a result of criminal recklessness, we would look at an investigation,” he added.

    In September, OSHA fined the company $21 million for violating federal OSHA law. There was no criminal referral. Lesser workplace crimes this year have resulted in criminal convictions against smaller companies. BP gets off because it is a large multinational?

    On the North Slope of Alaska, BP continues to muscle the political machinery to get its way.

    Its reckless operations there — including unreported oil spills — will someday end up in an environmental disaster, long predicted by oil industry critic Charles Hamel.

    BP is eager to portray itself as the good guy oil company, but it is not eager to answer tough questions.

    In October, U.S. News and World Report held a press conference to announce “America’s Best Leaders 2005.”

    The press event was paid for by BP.

    BP’s guy at the door wouldn’t let us in.

    No questions about corporate crime allowed.



    .

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  117. trish said...
    In hebrew?

    Tue May 04, 09:54:00 PM EDT


    ???...What is hebrew?

    ReplyDelete
  118. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  119. Colombian Elections

    "Uribe, a conservative, is popular for weakening the rebels who once controlled large parts of Colombia. But his government was tarnished by scandals that analysts say have hurt the political establishment's candidate, former defense minister Juan Manuel Santos. An Ipsos-Napoleon Franco poll on Monday showed Mockus surging to 38 percent support of intended voters in the May 30 election, versus 29 percent for Santos. Mockus was at about 20 percent support in an Ipsos-Napoleon Franco poll about two weeks ago.


    When asked how they would vote if no candidate were to win an outright majority in the first round, 50 percent would support Mockus in the second round, compared to 37 percent for Santos, according to Monday's poll. "The scandals of Uribe's government didn't affect him (Uribe) but they are affecting the establishment candidate Santos," said Jorge Londono, a local pollster. The next president is unlikely to shift far from Uribe's hardline stance toward FARC rebels and his free-market approach to foreign inv
    estment, which is expected to rise to $10 billion this year from $2 billion in 2002 when Uribe was elected..."



    Colombian Polls

    The Colombian elections aren't until May 30. However, I print this article only because of the following post here at the EB.

    "As far as the AP article goes, the individual who wrote it is demented.

    Santos is going to win. And I'm not saying that simply because I'm biased. I am biased. I mean he's actually going to win. The author, Vivien Whatshername, is just off in some la la land.

    Sat Apr 24, 09:24:00 AM EDT



    This was part of a larger post by one of the regulars. I post it merely to make that poster sweat a little and to assure that regular that were Santos to manage somehow to lose that I will never let that poster live it down.


    :)



    .

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  120. Ibrew
    Youbrew
    HebrewSheBrewItBrew

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  121. Business people from Colombia, Brazil and Ecuador have increased their visits to Peru to widen their businesses, thanks to the opportunities and facilities that the country offers, report the agency in charge of promoting foreign investments, ProInversion.

    Jorge Leon, Executive Director of ProInversion, said that Colombian entrepreneurs seek to complete in Peru their production line, while Japanese businessmen have increased their trust in their branches in Peru.

    According to ProInversion, Colombia was the seventh country from where Peru received foreign direct investment (US$751 million, or 3,99% from the total), while Brazil was the eighth.(2,59%).


    Investing in Peru

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  122. Things are heating up between Israel and Hezbollah.

    "Israeli Defence Minister Ehud Barak presented senior Israeli Defence Forces officers with stark options for Israel’s future security at a meeting earlier this year. “In the absence of an arrangement with Syria, we are liable to enter a belligerent clash with it that could reach the point of an all-out, regional war,” he told them..."


    Is War Coming to ME Soon?


    .

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  123. Wilford's none to healthy lookin'.
    What with him bein' fat and diabetic.

    Best get yourself on a diet plan.
    Get back in the game.

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  124. It was only the dark at the drive through, she just saw the moustache, once she saw the real me, she got so nervous she spilled the coffee. Wanted to know if she could deal me cards, anytime.

    ReplyDelete
  125. Besides the best marriage ever done was Carlo Ponti and Sophia Loren.

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  126. your views on this topic are really interesting and give a clear cut view. Thanks for sharing the knowledge!

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  127. Re: Quirk's ME link,"Is War Coming to ME Soon"

    These reports of weapons deliveries to Lebanon via Syria must be erroneous. The UN/French/American observers would never let this happen. Dr. Rice promised.

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