COLLECTIVE MADNESS


“Soft despotism is a term coined by Alexis de Tocqueville describing the state into which a country overrun by "a network of small complicated rules" might degrade. Soft despotism is different from despotism (also called 'hard despotism') in the sense that it is not obvious to the people."

Wednesday, June 16, 2010

Obama Blows the Vuvuzela. Noise, but the Leak Rolls On.

Training to be President

Why would anyone except the terminally naive, look at the resume of Barack Obama and vote for him to fill the biggest, hottest CEO seat on the planet?

Well, they would not, but they did. They liked the pretty pretty sounds coming from Obama's vuvuzela. The press ran out and picked up their plastic horns and joined the chorus. Tens of millions of other hapless fools did as well and we have President Barack Hussein Obama.

Last night we got to see how it matters. Obama looked small in the big chair and talked about what exactly? Anything about the only thing that really matters, stopping the leak?

No, just more plastic noise from the boy with the toy.

________________________________


The Tingle is Gone


Gulf fishermen say Obama's words can't stop the oil
Tue Jun 15, 2010 11:36pm EDT

La., June 15 (Reuters) - It's a familiar refrain in southern Louisiana since the oil spill began and after President Barack Obama's speech on Tuesday, it was voiced once again: there is little he can do until the oil stops gushing.

At the Black Velvet Oyster Bar and Grill in Buras, Louisiana, a popular watering hole for commercial and recreational fisherman, some patrons watched Obama's televised oval office speech intently. Others tuned out.

The crisis has hammered the Louisiana seafood industry, with large areas now closed to fishing.

Fisherman James Swain watched the major televised speech on the response to the BP Plc (BP.L) (BP.N) oil spill up at the bar with his friend Ray Cepriano. They ordered up beers and shrimp.

"We're in a bind down here," Swain said. "Obama can't stop the well, and that's what they need to do."

Obama took a tough stance during his address, saying he will direct BP to set up an independently administered fund to compensate workers and business affected by the spill, and to mobilize more equipment.

Still, Cepriano, an oysterman, seemed just as frustrated after the speech as he was before it began.

Like many here, he relies on checks from the oil company and hopes for fishing grounds to open up. It does not make up for what was shaping up as a bumper season, some fishermen believe the best since Hurricane Katrina hit in 2005.

"We went through Katrina. That was fine. We rebuilt," he said. "Now this -- this is not natural and it was done by BP."

Cepriano said he was unhappy with the government response, regardless of the president's tougher tone.

"Nothing's organized. None whatsoever ... they've got this really messed up," he said.

Obama delivered the speech after a tour of the Gulf Coast. An AP-GfK opinion polled showed 48 percent of Americans disapprove of his handling of the crisis, up 15 percentage points from a month ago. The spill is into its eight week.

At Joshua's Marina, across Louisiana Highway 23 from Buras, Brent Trauth, a fishing guide and seller of oil field equipment, said he believed the president was doing a "decent" job, but could not give him full marks.

He is disappointed Obama did not lift a six-month ban on deepwater drilling, a measure many in Louisiana have blasted for its impact on the state economy.

"A lot of people would (like to see it rescinded)," he said after fueling his boat. "I think it's going to come before six months, myself." (Editing by Eric Walsh)


160 comments:

  1. No one, not Obama nor even John "Maverick" McCain has a clue as to how that leak should be stopped.

    And all the "Clean Up" in the whirled is meaningless, unless the flow is staunched.

    And it cannot be.
    Not yet, anyway

    Drill, Baby, Drill
    in geography that is well beyond the technical capabilities of the industry has come home to roost.

    Unless, of course, BP was criminally negligent. Cutting corners, disregarding safe operating practices and industry standards.

    Even so, that will not stop nor even slow the flow of oil.

    But not to worry, the Gulf, it is like a Maytag washing machine. Self-cleaning, I've been told, right here.

    Elijah and J Willie, both have told that tale. We'll soon see just how tall it be.

    Have patience.
    Watch and learn.

    BP can cover all the losses of Gulf Coast economy.
    Well, maybe not.

    ReplyDelete
  2. The fat man that is Barry's Press Secretary says:

    "There are no requests for Waivers of the Jones Act Pending.

    If there were they would be granted immediately.
    "

    That may not be a lie, but it promotes another lie, namely it implies that the Dutch never offered help with their more advanced ships.

    In fact, they did on day 3, and were turned down or ignored by POTUS.

    Unwilling to acknowledge error, BHO instead chooses not to employ foreign vessels even now, even though that is condemning millions more to lose their livlihoods, and hundreds of millions more fish, birds and other wildlife to death.
    Needlessly.

    Delaying dredging for berms, likewise. Not burning from day 1, dittos. It appears likely that allowing massive use of dispersants underwater will turn out to have been a disaster also.

    ReplyDelete
  3. For 2 months, the Admin's spokespeople said they had no estimates other than BP's of the size of the flow.
    It has now come out that the unit tasked with responding to such disasters cited a NOAA estimate on day 2 that matched current maximum estimates, namely 60 to 80 THOUSAND BARRELS A DAY.

    The Administration showed no interest whatsoever in that report at that time.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Residents from areas visited by the oil already say Obama took a Disneyland tour, viewing four sites with almost no oil on the beachs.

    Where it has made landfall, it is disasterous, covering everything, and making breathing nearly impossible because of the fumes.

    ReplyDelete
  5. But, they still want to "Drill, Baby, Drill."

    So they can "Spill, Baby, Spill."

    So I can "Pay the Bill, Baby, Again."


    I've had about enough. They wanta drill, let "Them" Pay.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Alinsky Rules.

    You have to provide an alternative.

    Growth Energy fills that bill, politically, maybe even in reality.

    Drill, Baby, Drill, that's a dead option, in the current petroleum corrupted environment.

    Wind and solar?
    We all know of the lack of capability that potential capacity has to fuel our existing fleet of motor vehicles.

    Screwed, blued and tattooed.

    Have you lost that lovin' feelin'?

    ReplyDelete
  7. The Guardian - ‎24 minutes ago‎

    The Israeli cabinet is today expected to agree to a plan to ease off the blockade on Gaza in a deal brokered by Middle East envoy Tony Blair.


    Anti-Semitic Jew haters, those Israeli cabinet members

    Rolling over for Islam!

    ReplyDelete
  8. Any bets those Israeli cabinet members, that they're really closet Muslims?

    Just like Barack Obama and Rahm Emanuel?

    ReplyDelete
  9. Not me, Bubba. I got a flexfuel chevy, a field full a kudzu, and plans for a still. I'm good to go.

    ReplyDelete
  10. I didn't watch Obumble's whole speech, last night. I just caught the last couple of minutes. He sounded like us. A Billion a Day to Foreign Sources, a Finite Resource, Time to go to Renewables.

    His folks won't let him say ethanol, but odds are good that it will be in the bill.

    I'm hoping we can avoid the full-bore "cap and trade" dealie, but who knows.

    ReplyDelete
  11. 30,000 wells in the Gulf, the last large spill was Mexico 20 years ago.
    This one would not have occurred had not BP piled one shortcut on top of another in a troublesome and extremely high pressure (12,000 psi) well.
    To go cheap on the casing, install 6 centering devices when Halliburton advised 21, to skip needed tests on the concrete, and then to displace the mud with seawater even after it was apparent gas was leaking into the well was to beg for the blowout.

    Even more insane decisions were made in the last few hours.

    People still want to drill because they want to have jobs and for their neighbors to have jobs. The chinese brazilians, mexicans, venezuelans, etc etc etc are sure as hell drilling, baby, so it makes no difference for us to be the only holdout.
    Get real, Rufus!
    BHO's partial moratorium is said to cost 40,000 jobs on top of all the other lost jobs.
    The Gulf Coast is gonna suffer an economic disaster on top of the environmental one.

    ReplyDelete
  12. The CNBCers are cryin in their beer. It just occurred to them that actions have consequences.

    They thought BP was going to spend a few bucks, and waltz off. Ooops.

    ReplyDelete
  13. We'll put'em to work building ethano refineries, Doug. We're going to have to, eventually, anyway. Might as well do it now.

    This deal is over.

    ReplyDelete
  14. Anybody in the 20 something percent of lunatic fringe folks that still think obamacare's a great idea, need to be ignored as lacking in common sense.

    ReplyDelete
  15. Doug, those few little old drilling jobs aren't a drop in a bucket compared to the damage they've done (and will likely do again.)

    ReplyDelete
  16. I think for myself, Doug. I don't let Joe Kernan, and Larry Kudlow do my thinking for me.

    ReplyDelete
  17. I think for myself, Doug. I don't let Joe Kernan, and Larry Kudlow do my thinking for me.

    ReplyDelete
  18. You are totally correct, doug.

    It will be both an environmental and economic disaster.
    Of a dimension as yet unrealized, by most folks.

    Those that thought BP was an economically viable company, that $17 billion a year in profits was substantial.

    That amount will not cover the losses caused by the Deepwater Horizon, just in the recreational fishing industry along the Emerald Coast.

    Horizon, interesting choice of names, for the sunset moment in US off shore drilling.

    Those other off shore drillers, doug, in areas that could threaten US shores ...

    That is why we maintain 11 carrier battle groups, to protect our shores from potential threats.

    Preemptive action was all the rage, just a decade ago. We can tread there again, to protect US beaches from possible foreign petro-chemical assault.

    ReplyDelete
  19. Oil's gonna be with us if we magically converted our auto fleet overnight.

    Unrealistic to pretend it won't be.

    Very few honestly willing to return to the stone age, lifestyle-wise.

    ReplyDelete
  20. BHO talking down the value of BP is just gonna make it apparent sooner to all those folks that thot BP stood for Big Piggybank, 'Rat.

    Some day I wanna find and link back to that post where we had various Bar Stooly's claiming this weren't no big thing.

    JW said we had "weak minds" for thinking otherwise.

    ReplyDelete
  21. So where are all the "Save the Gulf" concerts? Where are the T.V. Benefits with celebrities and musicians giving heart felt speeches on the poor fisherman, wildlife, beaches, loss of income and sabotaged gulf economy? I find it rather strange how these people are so quick to help Haiti and other countries...but where are they for this one.

    ReplyDelete
  22. You are totally correct, doug.

    It will be both an environmental and economic disaster.
    Of a dimension as yet unrealized, by most folks.

    Those that thought BP was an economically viable company, that $17 billion a year in profits was substantial.

    That amount will not cover the losses caused by the Deepwater Horizon, just in the recreational fishing industry along the Emerald Coast.

    Horizon, interesting choice of names, for the sunset moment in US off shore drilling.

    Those other off shore drillers, doug, in areas that could threaten US shores ...

    That is why we maintain 11 carrier battle groups, to protect our shores from potential threats.

    Preemptive action was all the rage, just a decade ago. We can tread there again, to protect US beaches from possible foreign petro-chemical assault.

    ReplyDelete
  23. Not from the deepwater Gulf of Mexico, though. At least, not for awhile.

    Doug, we've been stuck on 73 million barrel/day since the fall of 2004. It's going to "double-dip" us, next year, just as sure as shooting.

    We've got to get off of this stuff. It's going to bankrupt us for sure if we don't.

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

    ReplyDelete
  25. Doug, let's say it's a $40 Billion Tab (not to mention all the pain and suffering.)

    For That money I could give us another 1,000 Cellulosic refineries (10 Billion Gallons/Yr,) and put a Blender Pump in every fuel station in the Country.

    The Downside has gotten substantially bigger than the Upside as regards this oil biz.

    Time to move.

    ReplyDelete
  26. Look, one thing they're not mentioning: Approx 1 out of 10 Deep Water wells "Blow out."

    It's like those O rings on the shuttle; every forty or so blow outs the BOP is going to shoot craps. This ain't a "one-off."

    This Will happen again.

    ReplyDelete
  27. Agree we need to convert our fleet, but oil is still an almost universal resource in our everyday lives.

    If BP had simply followed best practices, this would not have occurred.
    Should be required to do more than that in deepwater.
    BOP's can easily be made with two hydralic rams, and should be required:
    Both the Mexico Blowout and this one had BOP failures because the rams encounters drillpipe collars.

    Two rams separated by sufficient distance would constitute a failsafe solution for that problem.

    ReplyDelete
  28. "Look, one thing they're not mentioning: Approx 1 out of 10 Deep Water wells "Blow out.""

    Link Please:
    First I've heard of that one.

    ReplyDelete
  29. Buddy said the Mississippi Canyon is one of the largest yet found.

    ReplyDelete
  30. Washington Post -

    The man appointed Tuesday by President Obama to oversee offshore oil drilling has no experience with oil and gas issues, but he has a reputation for cleaning up embattled organizations.


    Closes the Industry-Federal revolving door hiring practices, at least for the moment, in that Department.
    Not at Treasury, though.

    ReplyDelete
  31. Doug, I don't have a link handy, but we've drilled about 390 Deep Water wells in the Gulf, and there've been 39 blowouts.

    Too bad they didn't do the double cams, before. I guess it would have cost an extra couple hundred thou, or so. :(

    ReplyDelete
  32. Sure, we're going to use every drop we can get, as long as we can get it. BUT, facts is facts. The price of oil has tripled in the last six years (or, close to it,) and we're still producing the same amount. And, we're making a hell of a mess just trying to stay even.

    If Saudi Arabia doesn't pull one hell of a rabbit out of the hat we'll produce Less next year. And, China will use More. As will India. As will Saudi Arabia, itself.

    This treadmill is moving faster, and those old giant wells are getting tired.

    ReplyDelete
  33. That BP did not follow those safety and common practice guides, is that criminal negligence?

    Betcha it is. Or at least will be seen to have been, by a jury, in retrospect.

    But it makes little, no difference, really. Not to the future of drilling in the Gulf.

    The question is no longer technical, but political.
    35 years of Earth Day will have an effect, on the politics and the politicos.

    That is the tide that needs to be harnessed.

    As to the oil that we will continue to require, agreed that we will need to continue pumping and importing, doug.

    But to fight for continued deepwater oil exploitation, that is a political loser. Not worthy of the expenditure of assets or energy in a losing action.

    ReplyDelete
  34. Whether Mississippi Canyon is, or not, doug, and I am not one to disagree with buddy larsen in his area of expertise ...

    I do know that the Deepwater Horizon and the attempted exploitation of that Mississippi Canyon created the:

    "Greatest MAN MADE Environmental Disaster in the United States of ALL TIME"

    We're all in the political back blast of this one.

    ReplyDelete
  35. Obama threw a 7. He needed to explain how to stop the leak and explain how the reporting of the amount of the leak has been so far off.

    Talking about alternate energy while 2.5 million gallons of oil is flooding into the gulf daily with no end in sight was foolish.

    He is fire chief. The building is burning out of control. Most of your battalions have yet to be committed to the fire.

    Time to give a lecture on architectural fire control systems and future fire codes? The man knows nothing.

    ReplyDelete
  36. If current best estimates are correct, Mexico, Valdeze, and even perhaps Saddam's work will be mere drops in the bucket.

    ...in this country's most valuable and sensitive wetlands.

    ReplyDelete
  37. If he were commanding a ship other than the ship of state, he would be relieved of command.

    ReplyDelete
  38. "Most of your battalions have yet to be committed to the fire."

    2 Months in.

    Yet we are to believe he and his fellow Nobel Laureats have been focused like a laser since day one.

    ReplyDelete
  39. All he can talk about is repeating time and again "BP will pay", "BP will pay". Obama is pathetic.

    ReplyDelete
  40. I'm not for sure that Obama's message isn't going to be better-received in the heartland than some people think.

    We'll see.

    ReplyDelete
  41. "The question is no longer technical, but political.
    35 years of Earth Day will have an effect, on the politics and the politicos.
    "
    ---
    I just learned today that Earth Day was born following the Santa Barbara Blowout of 1969.

    40 years ago, and no drilling off safe and shallow California since.

    Likewise, following Valdeze in the permafrost.
    ...best place of all to drill baby drill.

    ReplyDelete
  42. Republicans are always amazed at the positive reaction from the populace for environmental initiatives.

    ReplyDelete
  43. Wretchard's addressing that, Rufus:

    Just how bad things are for the President can be seen from the Matthews – Olberman’s reaction. “I Don’t Sense Executive Command.” And yes, Matthews compared the President to Jimmy Carter. When you’ve lost Tingles, you’ve lost the nation.

    Chris Matthews, Keith Olbermann and Howard Fineman react to President Obama’s Oval Office Address on the oil spill. Here are the highlights of what the trio said:

    Olbermann: “It was a great speech if you were on another planet for the last 57 days.”

    Matthews compared Obama to Carter.

    Olbermann: “Nothing specific at all was said.”

    Matthews: “No direction.”

    Howard Fineman: “He wasn’t specific enough.”

    Olbermann: “I don’t think he aimed low, I don’t think he aimed at all. It’s startling.”

    Howard Fineman: Obama should be acting like a “commander-in-chief.”

    Matthews: Ludicrous that he keeps saying [Secretary of Energy] Chu has a Nobel prize. “I’ll barf if he does it one more time.”

    Matthews: “A lot of meritocracy, a lot of blue ribbon talk.”

    Matthews: “I don’t sense executive command.”

    W refers to Barry as a putrifying corpse.

    ReplyDelete
  44. You can never go wrong by promising to "skin the fatcats."

    ReplyDelete
  45. If it was so "safe, and shallow" why the disaster?

    ReplyDelete
  46. Investigator Warned MMS in 2009 About Deepwater Gas Blowouts in Gulf of Mexico

    Sixty-page report points to record of almost 40 deepwater blowouts, and culture of dangerous risk exposure

    ReplyDelete
  47. No one will ever believe drilling is "Safe," again.

    ReplyDelete
  48. Yet we are to believe he and his fellow Nobel Laureats have been focused like a laser since day one.

    That is an interesting insight. Obama always mentioning the Nobel Peace Prize Energy Chief is actually honoring his esteemed self!

    I better bite my tongue.

    ReplyDelete
  49. Cause it was 1969, Rufus, and nowhere near as big as many since.

    You were right about the 39 deepwaters, but
    30 THOUSAND in the Gulf comprise a hell of a safety record.

    ...like NASA, that record lulled them into a foolish sense of overconfidence.

    ReplyDelete
  50. No one has forgotten that the Pubs damned near wrecked the entire world's economy (yeah, I know, Barney Frank, Dodd, Fanny/Freddy, yada, yada - it don't matter, Dubyah was President,)

    and that it was the Pubs dancing around on the stage singing, "Drill, Baby, Drill."

    I predict that Obumble will not only get a bounce from the speech, it won't disappear very quickly.

    ReplyDelete
  51. Less than 400 have been "Deep-Waters," though, Doug.

    Oh, and are you sure you don't have an extra zero in there? I don't believe there have been that many wells in the Gulf.

    ReplyDelete
  52. Nope, Ruf, turns out you were WRONG:

    Between 1992 and 2006, almost 2,500 deepwater wells were drilled — more than three times as many as in the previous 20-year period. There were 39 blowouts during that period — 38 of them in the Gulf of Mexico — recorded in MMS accident investigation reports.

    Most were in shallow water, short-lived and "environmental impacts were negligible," according to an MMS analysis.

    Because the fatality rate of these blowouts showed a decrease, the analysis was touted as pointing to an improving safety record. (See "Absence of Blowout Fatalities Encouraging in MMS OCS Study 1992-2006.")

    ReplyDelete
  53. Look at that map at my link, Rufus:

    Just in the area around Deepwater there are over 3,300 !

    No shifted decimal problem.

    ReplyDelete
  54. Maybe, I should have said "ultra-deep." That's 5,000 +, right?

    "Deep Water" would be 1,000 to 5,000?

    ReplyDelete
  55. Almost no one, in the lower 48, has ever been to Alaska.

    Everyone has been to the Gulf Coast.

    Obama cannot tell US how or when the well will be capped, because no one can do it.

    Mid August, maybe, when the relief wells are in place, there will be a better opportunity to stem the spill. Until then, there is nothing to even talk about.

    The Gross Criminal Negligence of BP and the failure of the Federal watch dogs, now coming home to roost.

    We better "get" BP.
    For every asset they have.

    It still will not be enough, to cover their liability.
    Court and Jail time, for the BP executives, while providing an entertaining diversion, will not bring justice to those whose lives have been disrupted.

    ReplyDelete
  56. Between 1992 and 2006, almost 2,500 deepwater wells were drilled

    ...yet most of the 39 were shallow!

    Guess Buddy was right about BP being a standout in cost cutting disaster producing criminal negligence.

    ...around the World.

    ReplyDelete
  57. "It still will not be enough, to cover their liability.
    Court and Jail time, for the BP executives, while providing an entertaining diversion, will not bring justice to those whose lives have been disrupted.
    "

    And given that we are approaching bailout fatigue for the Trillions given to the underserving fatcats, those poor, deserving little kitties down Rufus' way are gonna get fucked and stay fucked, Big Time.

    ReplyDelete
  58. "By the end of 2008, however, even industry insiders were starting to acknowledge that the deepwater drilling boom had grown beyond the safety capacity of the oil and gas companies to manage properly. With profits on the line, rig crews were stretched thin and staffed with less experienced operators, as this article from Drilling Contractor acknowledged. "

    BP's man in charge was there for some On the Job Training.

    He had little offshore experience!

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

    ReplyDelete
  60. Mid August, maybe, when the relief wells are in place, there will be a better opportunity to stem the spill. Until then, there is nothing to even talk about.

    Maybe Obama can make them go faster with a well-placed kick in the ass.

    ReplyDelete
  61. Failure of a "top kill" — if it doesn't make matters worse — would leave well control experts with only one final known option for stopping the leak in the Gulf: drilling a relief well. The idea is to reach the oil reservoir with a well drilled on a tangent to the original, and seal it closed. But an industry publication published in 2009 indicates that drilling a relief well to 18,000 feet below the sea bed is beyond the edge of the technical capability of well control experts.

    The detection tools used to locate the blowout wells have been successfully used for many years. However, there have been very few relief wells drilled deeper than 16,000 ft. A very deep intercept greater than 20,000 ft will be a challenge to any relief well team. If the deep intercept cannot be made, a shallower depth will need to be chosen. This complicates the kill operation as it will not be made close to the reservoir.


    Yet even without a fail-safe option for well control in case of an accident, industry has proceeded to ever greater depths in search of oil. Deepwater boosters proudly speak of the deepest well ever drilled, which reaches more than 30,000 feet down into Earth's crust. It sits off the coast of Texas in US waters in the Gulf of Mexico.

    ReplyDelete
  62. Those folk down along the Gulf Coast, doug, cannot tap into the DC frat boy network, to get their back scratched.

    They went to the wrong schools and have the wrong "Circle of Friends" on speed dial in their cell phones.

    They're not "to big to fail".

    ReplyDelete
  63. Jonah Goldberg: In a peculiar instance of synchronicity, President Obama's Oval Office speech to the nation last night resembled the very calamity it was intended to address: Like the oil spewing into the Gulf, it began as a focused and narrow stream of words -- and quickly spread out into an amorphous cloud of goo.

    ReplyDelete
  64. Looks like they may need multiple kicks, T, in hopeing of jump starting them A-Holes to plug A Hole deeper than must Holes have ever been plugged.

    My Corn Hole experience now seems mild in comparision.
    ...although I remain psychologically scarred.

    ReplyDelete
  65. Those folk down along the Gulf Coast, doug, cannot tap into the DC frat boy network, to get their back scratched.

    They call it the Redneck Riviera.

    ReplyDelete
  66. Doug My Corn Hole experience now seems mild in comparision....although I remain psychologically scarred.

    Deliverance - Dueling Banjos

    ReplyDelete
  67. Solution to too big to fail?

    Setup smaller ones to fail,
    make big ones bigger.

    ReplyDelete
  68. Correction:

    "Looks like they may need multiple kicks, T, in hope of jump starting them A-Holes to plug A Hole deeper than most Holes have ever been plugged."

    Got all verclempt just thinking about it.

    ReplyDelete
  69. BP will never be able to pay for all the damage.

    BP has to file an 11. They can reorganize or be liquidated by a court instead of by politicians trying to cover up their own negligence, no one more so than Obama. He wasted time. Has Obama used and called upon all the talent and equipment available to mitigate this disaster?

    Everyone is talking about a BP coverup, but what if this thing is accelerating? Was the US Navy asked to question the estimate of the leak? They have the ability to search underwater. Was that used or even asked for.

    Obama talks about BP paying as if that will make a difference to the true damage. He has no other idea on how to handle a crisis. He needs to deal with the now. His intuitions and instincts are all wrong.

    Obama is thinking like a detached lawyer. He is not the man for this job and we are stuck with him.

    ReplyDelete
  70. I'm not a lawyer, but I don't think you can declare bankruptcy against a "tort." Especially, if the Government doesn't want you to.

    It looks to me like this deal is Full of Torts.

    ReplyDelete
  71. Obama's doing the right thing, trying to "get the money," now. Lock it up before they can start weaseling.

    ReplyDelete
  72. Zimmerman devotes more than ten pages of his report to a partial listing of blowouts caused by drilling into or through methane hydrates.

    It is a sobering listing that includes photographs and links to disturbing videos, including one that shows a drill room on a platform at the moment a blowout occurs,

    and another that shows the ocean boiling with methane escaping around a drilling rig.

    ReplyDelete
  73. Rufus, always bettin against the odds on Barry!

    Result of Barry's actions:

    BP has lawyered up,

    It's net worth is cratering,

    and the British hate us even more.

    Probly export a few Muzzies intent on pursuing their "personal struggles" on behalf of Allah.

    ReplyDelete
  74. Wonder how/if they ever got off, surrounded by a Giant Plume of Methane?

    ReplyDelete
  75. BP "Stays" Lawyered-up.

    BP was a "Dead-Man Walking" when the well blew.

    F*** the Brits.

    ReplyDelete
  76. Suprise, suprise:

    Report Says Oil Agency Ran Amok

    Interior Dept. Inquiry Finds Sex, Corruption

    Government officials in charge of collecting billions of dollars worth of royalties from oil and gas companies accepted gifts, steered contracts to favored clients and engaged in drug use and illicit sex with employees of the energy firms, federal investigators reported yesterday.

    ReplyDelete
  77. "...the British hate us even more."

    Well now, that's the end of the fucking world, isn't it?

    ReplyDelete
  78. Rufus said it for me.

    Bless his little hillbilly heart.

    ReplyDelete
  79. I got a BIG hillbilly heart, thank ye.


    Anybody can hate the French. It takes a hillbilly to hate the British.

    ReplyDelete
  80. Watched a neat Black and White short in AIT at Fort Macarthur at San Pedro, CA.

    Point was not to get hot and bothered by the flirting chicks at the base bar.

    Coulda been Commie Agents back in the day.

    Today, I guess they counsel GIs to avoid bitches in Burquas at the Bar.

    ...or warn them that not dating them would constitute religious profiling.

    ReplyDelete
  81. Hamas embraces Iraqi shoe-thrower
    By KHALED ABU TOAMEH
    06/15/2010 06:56

    Organization offers journalist financial aid and a Palestinian bride.

    Hamas offered on Monday to provide financial aid and a Palestinian bride to Muntazer al-Zaidi, the Iraqi journalist who threw his shoes at former US President George W. Bush during a press conference in Baghdad in 2008.

    Hamas’s offer came after Zaidi complained that Arabs and Muslims have failed to fulfill their promises to help him financially after his release from prison.

    Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh announced that his government was prepared to cover all the expenses of the journalist’s wedding.

    He also offered to help the Iraqi journalist find a bride from the Gaza Strip.

    “We are prepared to receive him here in the Gaza Strip and to cover all the expenses of his wedding,” Haniyeh told the Elaph Web site. “We are even prepared to find him a bride here. He’s most welcome in the Gaza Strip.”

    In a recent interview with the British Observer newspaper, Zaidi complained that promises of cars, gold-saddled horses, money, camels and virgin brides were never kept.

    He said that his only regret after spending nine months in prison was that he was still a relatively poor man.

    “I blame the media because they said I would become rich for doing what I did, that I would become a multimillionaire,” Zaidi said. “All the promises about gifts I heard when I was in prison were just empty. The only gift I’ve got since my release is from Canadian television, who made me their man of the year and gave me a pair of golden shoes.”

    ReplyDelete
  82. Trish slipped Petraeus a Mickey.

    ReplyDelete
  83. Do we have Johnny Horton on the jukebox?

    Someone, put in a quarter.

    ReplyDelete
  84. It was the loverly Brits that released the Lockerbie bomber so . . . . . . wait for it . . . . . . BP could drill in Libya.

    ReplyDelete
  85. I was thinking Battle of New Orleans.

    ReplyDelete
  86. I seems that Yellow Rose song, that was Bobby Horton singin'.

    Here's Johnny goin' north to Alaska!

    ReplyDelete
  87. I say we boycott marmite.

    And Heinz baked beans.

    ReplyDelete
  88. Some Jap representative suggested to Hayward that he should be given a Samuri Sword.
    And use it on himself.

    Very enlightening and productive.

    ReplyDelete
  89. The Brits will put a Tariff on Spam if we boycott marmite.

    ReplyDelete
  90. Spam is Hawaii's State Meat.

    Spam and 2 scoops white rice a staple.

    ReplyDelete
  91. "The Brits will put a Tariff on Spam if we boycott marmite."

    Well then, we'll just up the ante by refusing to send our team to the Cricket World Cup.

    ReplyDelete
  92. 57. peterike
    No matter what happens anywhere, it seems any plan from this Administrator must first and foremost involve a way to scam money out of the deal. So they want BP to pony up for a $20B “fund” which they will control? Oh nice. No doubt it will all be used in the most scrupulous manner, with exceptional levels of transparency.

    What Team Obama ultimately is about is plunder. They want to suck the very last dime out of anyone that still has a jingle in their pocket. It’s the first official Plundocracy of the United States, staffed by full-time Plundercrats.

    ReplyDelete
  93. That was a staple of the Sunday brunch playlist at my house, rufus.

    ReplyDelete
  94. The Telegraph, via Drudge:

    The BBC reports of Barack Obama’s speech last night are about as derisive as it would be possible to be about someone you were describing only a few months ago as the incarnation of Hope and Optimism. Yes indeed, the romance is over. The British media have decided that it was all a cruel deception: Obama is just one more ranting populist president who will do anything to divert attention from his own failure to get a grip. And this is not just about BP and the fate of all those pension funds.

    [Of course it isn't.]

    Nor is it simply the demonising of Big Oil – which makes the US president sound as if he were recruiting his speech writers direct from the student union – that has evoked the UK media’s collective sneer. What has been much commented upon – especially by those fastidiously liberal BBC correspondents – is Obama’s pointedly bellicose language: the US is apparently engaged in a “battle” to be waged in very personal, anthropomorphic terms “against an oil spill that is assaulting” its coast. Considering how relentlessly the Bush “war on terror” was ridiculed, how long will it take before the Obama “war on an oil slick” is labelled as absurd? Given the tone of this morning’s coverage, perhaps not very long at all.







    Too funny.

    ReplyDelete
  95. Allen,

    Just showing how the "world's largest open air prison" has all kinds of resources...

    Enough to pay for weddings, provide brides, dowries and rewards...

    Some "open air prison"!

    I bet they don't support Gay Civil Unions....

    ReplyDelete
  96. Condoms for Gazans

    Break the Blockade!

    Provide the newest and greatest invention for the Gazans at once. They deserve the best...

    Extra small condoms for Arabs go on sale in
    Switzerland

    Alexandra Williams in Geneva
    Published: 8:13PM GMT 03 Mar 2010
    Called the Hotshot, the condom has been produced after government research showed Arabs did not use
    sufficient protection when having sex.
    The study, conducted on behalf of the Federal Commission for Arab Peoples Health, interviewed 1,480 Arabs aged 16 to
    40.

    It showed more Arabs were having sex & rapes, in comparison with the 1990s.
    The Hotshot condoms, which cost 7fr60 (£4.70) for a packet of six, have been created by Lamprecht AG, a leading
    condom manufacturer in Switzerland.
    The company has said the UK would be "top priority" if they expanded abroad, considering that it has the highest Arab
    pregnancy rate in Europe.
    Nysse Norballe, a spokesman for the company, said: "At the moment we are only producing the Hotshot in Switzerland.
    But the UK is certainly a very attractive market since there is a very high rate of Arab & Muslim conception. The UK would
    definitely be top priority if we marketed abroad."
    A standard condom has a diameter of 2ins (5.2cm) in comparison with the Hotshot's diameter of 1.7ins (4.5cm). Both are
    the same length – 7.4ins (19cm).

    According to a German study of 12,970 Arabs & Turks, a 3/4 said a standard condom was too large.
    Family planning groups and the Swiss Aids Federation campaigned to have the Hotshot produced after a number of
    studies, including the government study researched at the Centre for Development and Personality Psychology at Basel
    University.
    Nancy Bodmer, who headed the research, said: "The result that shocked us concerned Arabs who display
    apparently risky behaviour. They have more of a tendency not to protect themselves. They do not have a very developed
    sexual knowledge. They do not understand the consequences of what they are doing and leave the young girls & women to take
    care of the consequences.
    "The results of this study suggest that early prevention makes sense."

    The Swiss initiative comes as the UK government announces an overhaul of its Moslem pregnancy strategy after new
    figures showed conception rate among Moslems were growing out of control.
    The UK has the highest Islamic pregnancy rate in Europe.
    In 1999, the government pledged to halve the Islamic conception rate within 10 years.
    But data released last week from The Office for National Statistics shows it has clearly failed to make any significant
    impact.

    ReplyDelete
  97. The keratin solution applied to the hair contains formaldehyde, a known carcinogen. When formaldehyde is applied to the hair and scalp, you will inhale a significant amount of toxic fumes.

    http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/2724337/dangers_of_keratin_hair_straightening.html?cat=69


    You can get the same result using fresh elephant dung, and letting it dry, and you don't have to wear an aqualung when applying--though you might want nose plugs, like I use--
    mee'mi

    ReplyDelete
  98. Two pieces of good news--

    http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2010/06/15/appeals_court_denies_earthworm_protection/

    The 9th Circus Court of Appeals has denied Endangered Species Listing to the Giant Palouse Earthworm. "It's not that big, doesn't spit, and doesn't smell like a lily"

    and

    In November the dems are going to take it in the ass so at least we'll have a stalemate. This can only be good.

    Obama's poll numbers fall to new low.

    ReplyDelete
  99. Sorry, mee'mi, but the product I used is formaldehyde free. No fumes...no burning...just silky smooth hair that won't look like shit when the humidity is 98 percent.

    ReplyDelete
  100. Great news you're formaldehyde free. Was just looking out for you. One of my friends went bald cause of that shit. I'll bet all those phatt asses from Philly will be sweating like Sumo wrestlers in Saudi Arabia, at 98% humdidity. But you'll be looking cool and neat. And, watch your purse will ya, there are said to be many criminals among them. The Army won't even take 'em.

    mee'mi

    ReplyDelete
  101. Obama's poll numbers fall to new low

    That calls for some music. Ready?


    VUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU

    ReplyDelete
  102. Maybe it wasn't the top of her head that went bald if she had the Brazilian. (:

    But thanks for the look out. We can't let anything happen to my hair now can we. Besides my stylist is a very good friend, she wouldn't misinform me.

    ReplyDelete
  103. Marc Ambinder:

    BP's Chairman, Carl-Henric Svanberg, explaining to the press why President Obama is frustrated with his company:

    "He is frustrated because he cares about the small people, and we care about the small people...we care about the small people."


    Unless the discussion veered off into a direction that was unanticipated -- i.e., a mutual cognizance of the struggles that dwarfs and little people face in society, I cannot imagine someone saying something more brilliantly clueless and Dickensian on a day like today. Also, it doesn't help that the guy has a Swedish name that could easily be mistaken for a German one. So it's Dickensian AND sinister.


    Svanberg mistaken for a German name? I think not.

    Way to step in it, though.

    ReplyDelete
  104. I've haven't seen the wide swath of devastation (environmental and economic) that one would expect to see from the "worst environmental disaster in the history of the country.

    Here's the latest situation report for Florida

    Memorial day weekend was a sellout along the gulf coast with record catches of red snapper.

    The situation report notes that 36 oiled birds have been recovered.

    ReplyDelete
  105. Unified Area Command estimates release rate of oil from Deepwater Horizon at
    35,000 to 60,000 barrels per day. The containment dome is recovering
    approximately 15,000 barrels of oil and burning off millions of cubic feet of natural
    gas per day.
     This event has been designated a Spill of National Significance.
     Unified Area Command continues with a comprehensive oil well intervention and
    spill response planning following the April 22 sinking of the Transocean Deepwater
    Horizon drilling rig 130 miles southeast of New Orleans.
     More than 29,000 personnel are working the on and offshore response.
     Oil-water mix recovered: approximately 21.1 million gallons
     Response vessels available: more than 6,490
     Response aircraft available: 95
     Dispersant (in gallons): approximately 1,298,000 deployed
     There is no planned use of dispersants in Florida waters.

    ReplyDelete
  106. BP provided a $100,000 grant through a Memorandum of Understanding with Volunteer Florida to maintain a database for the registration of volunteers.
     BP issued a $25 million block grant to Florida; first priority is booming. BP issued a
    second $25 million grant to Florida for a national tourism advertising campaign. BP
    issued another $25 million to Florida for the state’s preparedness and response
    efforts.
     BP claims in Florida total 13,978 with approximately $11,248,856.44 paid.
     The fishery failure declaration for the Gulf of Mexico includes Florida, providing impacted and eligible commercial fisheries the opportunity for federal support; it does not close fisheries.

    ReplyDelete
  107. AP:

    [...]

    Hayward will appear before the House Energy and Commerce Committee's oversight and investigations subcommittee, which is investigating the explosion that killed 11 workers and unleashed a flood of oil that has yet to be stemmed. He called it "a complex accident, caused by an unprecedented combination of failures."

    Hayward has been a juicy target for lawmakers and other critics -- once saying "I'd like my life back." Before that happens, he'll have to survive a hearing that some are describing as a public execution.

    "I expect him to be sliced and diced," said Rep. Bart Stupak, D-Mich., chairman of the subcommittee.

    Here's advice from a Washington lawyer, Stan Brand, who specializes in criminal law and Congress: "Put on your asbestos suit and get ready."

    Thursday will be Hayward's inaugural appearance since the largest oil spill in U.S. history. At earlier hearings, company executives such as BP America President Lamar McKay testified alongside other witnesses.

    This week, Hayward flies solo. He might as well show up with a big X on his forehead.

    "There's nobody else in front of the firing squad," Brand said. "It's about as far from a legally recognizable proceeding as you're going to see. It will be a much more dramatic public execution" than the earlier congressional hearings.

    Another lawmaker, Rep. John Dingell, a Michigan Democrat and former committee chairman, also predicted a rough road for Hayward on Capitol Hill.

    "He's going to have, if I'm any judge of the committee and the temperament of the members, a very unpleasant afternoon," Dingell said.

    [...]





    I actually feel for him. I feel for a lot of people who are trotted out before, as my dad put it, "that pack of jackals."

    ReplyDelete
  108. I think you've got to score this one a "Win" for Obumbles.

    He's got the $20 Billion locked up, and no amount of "lawyering up" is going to get it back (actually, they committed to putting in $4 Billion Yr, for 5 years, or something like that, . . . but, still.)

    ReplyDelete
  109. Someone calculated that BP is worth more alive than dead.

    ReplyDelete
  110. BP calculated they are better of decapitalized than part of XOM.

    ReplyDelete
  111. Satellite images of the oil spill--


    http://news.gather.com/viewArticle.action?articleId=281474978303554

    ReplyDelete
  112. 20 billion ain't exactly chump change but they have it. What did big tobacco wind up sending to the Jackalasses? They survived.

    ReplyDelete
  113. BP is a wounded lion and the pack of hyenas are in full bay. They are frothing for the kill and the vultures wait to pick the bones clean.

    ReplyDelete
  114. There are a couple of petitions online to ban the vuvuzela from the World Cup. Here's one:
    http://www.petitiononline.com/2010WC/petition.html
    :)

    ReplyDelete
  115. I think we've not yet exhausted the metaphors.

    ReplyDelete
  116. Piss on metaphors. Let's deal in facts. BP is a company governed by Criminals. They are a danger to humanity. (Kinda like the Clintons.)

    ReplyDelete
  117. BP is a solitary royal archangel, bringing the means of civilized life to the masses, crucified by the mob for one mistake.

    ReplyDelete
  118. Damn! I KNEW we could count on you, bob!

    ReplyDelete
  119. BP is a fruitful bough

    A fruitful bough by a spring

    Brought low by unseasonable snow

    ReplyDelete
  120. "BP is a company governed by Criminals."

    Even criminals deserve better.

    ReplyDelete
  121. Reminds me of the French Revolution.

    ReplyDelete
  122. I seriously doubt if this spells the end of drilling in the gulf.

    ReplyDelete
  123. "I seriously doubt if this spells the end of drilling in the gulf."

    Roger that.

    ReplyDelete
  124. So far, BP has agreed to huge payouts and Obama's wishes/demands. At some point, they may decide enough is enough and the matter goes to court.

    The idea of joining with the likes of ANSWER and seizing BP is abhorrent to me. Also, I wonder about the unforeseen consequences of driving them out of business. Let them answer in a court of law and not public opinion if there are criminal charges.

    ReplyDelete
  125. And to add to the good news that includes Melody's hair, this has been awaiting mention here:

    BBC

    14 June

    Colombian security forces have rescued two senior police officers and a soldier taken hostage by Marxist rebels nearly 12 years ago.

    Troops attacked a Farc guerrilla camp in Colombia's southern jungle, rescuing Gen Luis Mendieta, Col Enrique Murillo and army Sgt Arbey Delgado.

    Army patrols were searching for another police officer, William Donato, who fled during the fighting.

    The rescue came just days before the second round of the presidential poll.

    The rescued men were among the Farc's longest-held captives.

    [...]





    Boo Yah.

    ReplyDelete
  126. Please stand.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xe1_La4zblI

    ReplyDelete
  127. BP is the most irresponsible bunch of sociopaths on the surface of the Earth. I hope the company is destroyed, and a few of the execs go to jail.

    11 People Died from their Negligence. Hundreds of Thousands will lose significant, or all, of their incomes as a result of their criminal carelessness.

    This is a Nation of Laws. They have repeatedly bent, twisted, and broken our laws, and now people are dead.

    The Rule of Law requires "Punishment" for law-breakers. These crimes are heinous. The punishment needs to be severe. The Death Penalty for the Company, and imprisonment for some officials would seem reasonable.

    ReplyDelete
  128. "BP is the most irresponsible bunch of sociopaths on the surface of the Earth."

    Hyperbole much?

    "This is a Nation of Laws."

    Yes. Yes, it is.

    However, I am genuinely sympathetic to many of those individuals and enterprises that are dragged before...our august lawmakers.

    ReplyDelete
  129. It's like going before a committee of Dougs.

    Which would expand our range of metaphors to include chihuahuas.

    ReplyDelete
  130. You're right. I should have said, "exluding the Democratic, and Republican Parties."

    ReplyDelete
  131. And, "any group composed, primarily, of Hawaiians, and Gov. Officials."

    ReplyDelete
  132. And, of course, "Rosicrucians, Bilderbergers, and Astrologers."

    ReplyDelete
  133. I hate Michigan Rosicrucians.

    ReplyDelete
  134. http://sites.google.com/a/amorc.rosicrucian.org/michiganrosicrucians/

    What's so bad about the Rosies? We don't have any out here, that I know of, so I don't know about them.
    ----

    It takes a special kind of stupid, a deluded delusion, or perhaps being hardwired for denial, that the Mayor of New York City would surrender to the enemy in the war of ideas by insisting on a triumphal mosque on the burial ground Ground Zero. It's wrong. Period. It is an insult, a humiliation to the victims, their families, to America. It is an Islamic pattern to build giant mosques on the cherished sites of conquered lands. This is the final victory for the 911 jihadists.

    In the following exchange, it is clear Bloomberg is uncomfortable with his own position, and rightly so. Americans are repulsed by this Islamic flag of conquest, as was made clear by the close to ten thousand great Americans who showed up to the SIOA protest against the monster mosque on June 6th (we will be back out there marching on City Hall September 12th). Video highlights here.

    Bloomberg can stop it. He controls the landmarks commission; he could easily do the right thing and keep his politically correct hands clean at the same time.
    Shelomo Alfassa confronted the Mayor over the mega mosque at Ground Zero, and the Mayor exploded. While attending the June 15, 2010 annual invitation-only Jewish Heritage Dinner at Gracie Mansion, the New York City mayor's symbolic home, Alfassa had an astonishing and unforeseen run-in with Mayor Michael Bloomberg regarding the proposed controversial mosque at Ground Zero.

    "MR. MAYOR, NO MOSQUE AT GROUND ZERO!" The mayor's face immediately became somber. He quickly disregarded his elderly constituent and in a serious tone, while staring me directly in the eye, leaned forward, pointed to my face and said matter-of-factly, "If we don't let them build a mosque, we won't be able to build a temple!" Some in the crowd gasped. I quickly responded, "But we don't need a temple-that's not the issue, a mosque is a symbol of jihad victory." While still standing in the crowd and amongst his staffers, which attempted to shuffle him away, the mayor suddenly lurched forward, walked right up to me and with a perturbed voice and stern eyes, said what sounded like "we need to allow it." "But mayor, this is my field of study, and I am telling you, they are building it as a symbol of victory over us." At that time the mayor's staff shuffled him away but not before the mayor looked back at me, obviously annoyed that I raised the subject with him in public. His staffer also asked me to "just drop it" as the mayor was whisked away.

    I was in emergency management for 15 years. For several years I was a deputy commander of a federal emergency response team which existed to respond to terrorist attacks. I was also one of the rescue workers at Ground Zero. Today, I am an historian and my field of study includes life in Islamic Spain. What the mayor does not understand, is that a practice associated with conquering Islamic armies was the construction of a mosque at the location where their triumphant battle was won.


    from Atlas Shrugs

    ReplyDelete
  135. President Barack Obama pleaded Tuesday night for Congress to pass comprehensive energy and climate legislation, but he may have put the dagger into his long-sought plans for a cap on greenhouse gas emissions by opening the door for alternatives.

    In the first Oval Office speech of his presidency, Obama connected the Gulf of Mexico oil spill to his longer-term vision to wean the country off of fossil fuels. Still, when he turned to the policies he'd like lawmakers to consider, the president stopped well short of calling for carbon caps of any kind.

    Obama never even uttered the words "carbon," "greenhouse gases," "global warming" or "cap and trade." He used the word "climate" only once — and then only to acknowledge that the House last year passed a "a strong and comprehensive energy and climate bill."

    Read more:


    I suspect that he will not give the Republicans any video to use against him in elections.

    ReplyDelete
  136. He may not utter the words in public but he will work for them in private.

    ReplyDelete
  137. http://www.wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=165981

    Hawaiian elections official would testify Obama not born in Hawaii.

    Issue won't go away.

    ReplyDelete
  138. That was the best post of the day. Useful.

    ReplyDelete
  139. Seldom does something I read cause my head physically to snap backwards as though I'd taken a good punch. A column by Dorothy Rabinowitz did it.

    ...

    Why doesn't the president produce his birth certificate? The best answer I've heard so far is, "If he showed you that, you'd just want to see something else!"

    And if that answer were a rope bridge, I wouldn't march an underweight ant across it.


    Demented Fringe

    ReplyDelete
  140. Mr Farquharson said when he got out of the car he went under the water and down.

    He said he dived down "three or four" times.

    Mr Farquharson agreed that at some point he swam to the edge of the dam and climbed over a fence to the road where he flagged down a car.


    Into a Dam

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

    ReplyDelete
  142. rufus said...

    "And, of course, "Rosicrucians, Bilderbergers, and Astrologers."

    Wed Jun 16, 08:57:00 PM EDT


    trish said...

    "Fucking Rosicrucians."

    Wed Jun 16, 09:11:00 PM EDT






    If you prick us do we not bleed?

    Am I a Job who must be constantly persecuted?

    I find myself unable to respond to Trish. Is her comment vituperation or solicitation? Only the gods know. She is like the goddess Amaunet, the "Hidden One", a mystery even to an Adept of the Order of the Rosy Cross.

    Rufus on the other hand is an entirely different story. He attacks both my affiliations and my avocations as he has to so many others here at the EB, Israeli's, Mauians, et al.

    He is a bitter, bitter man. (And Trish could be too. Not that I know. I mean the whole mystery thing. Amaunet. Hidden One. But I don't mean a bitter man. I mean just bitter. But who knows? Mystery.)

    All I can say is that my purity is the purity of the great Benu which is in Hensu.

    I do not curse you Rufus, but if there is justice in the Halls of Anubis and under the great god Amun, your ethanol will turn to vinegar.

    Yet I can still find it in my heart to utter the ancient axiom “Peace Profound”.


    .

    Thu Jun 17, 01:47:00 AM EDT

    ReplyDelete
  143. Israel responded coolly Wednesday to indications that despite the establishment of the Terkel Committee to investigate the Gaza flotilla, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon was still considering the establishment of an international panel to look into the May 31 IDF raid.

    ...

    On Tuesday, Robert Serry, the UN’s special envoy to the Middle East, said that Ban was still looking into the idea of a UN investigation.

    ...

    Meanwhile, the security cabinet met Wednesday to discuss easing restrictions on what is allowed into Gaza. It is expected to finish the discussion on Thursday with an agreement to draw up a list of goods prohibited from entering Gaza, rather than a list of good permitted into the area, and to agree that construction material can be allowed in for earmarked projects if mechanisms are in place to ensure that they are not diverted to Hamas’s use.


    Flotilla Probe

    ReplyDelete
  144. Oh, I'm sorry, Q; did you say something?

    ReplyDelete
  145. Chairman Carl-Henric Svanberg visited the White House to discuss the establishment of a $US20 billion ($23 billion) fund to compensate victims of the Gulf of Mexico spill with US president Barack Obama.

    ...

    White House Office of Energy and Climate Change Policy director Carol Browner says without Mr Obama's intervention, BP would not have voluntarily put up the $US20 billion that is now available for victims of the oil spill.

    ...

    The next step for BP is an appearance by chief executive Tony Hayward on Capitol Hill.


    Spill Victims

    ReplyDelete
  146. heh

    I've never pricked a Rosicrucian in my life.

    Don't think I've ever met one, but if they are a secret society, they may be all about me.

    The baboons in the Halls of Anubis are barking with delight, but not for the rising sun, or for the god Amun, but for the godly humor of that fallen man, Quirk, the Overcomer, whose heart surely will be found not to be lacking by the Jackel Head, eater of souls, he, Quirk, having risen to the fourth chakra. Choirs of angels shall usher Quirk to his proper realm, where he shall be greeted by the humorists of the ages.

    ReplyDelete
  147. Quirky, honey, you Overcomer, you make me laugh, you want a quicky?

    ReplyDelete
  148. A senior U.S. diplomat met with his counterparts in Seoul Thursday to discuss ways to condemn the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) at the United Nations Security Council for the sinking of a South Korean warship.

    ...

    Seoul's foreign ministry said informal discussions on the issue have been underway among 15 members of the Council, including five veto-wielding permanent members.

    Pyongyang also made its own case at the Council, claiming Seoul fabricated the findings of investigations led by a multinational team of investigators.


    Warship Sinking

    ReplyDelete
  149. "I've never pricked a Rosicrucian in my life."

    Well, I've pricked plenty. And trust me, they don't bleed.

    There's just this hissing noise.

    ReplyDelete
  150. bob made a mistake, needing correction, in his Egyptian iconography.

    The soul eater is Ammut
    Symbol: Head of crocodile, body of lioness, and hind of hippopotamus.
    Purpose: Eater of bad souls. If a person's soul outweighs the feather of Ma'at during judgement in the Hall of the Dead, Ammut devours it, condemning the soul to oblivion.
    Power: Making souls cease to exist.

    ReplyDelete
  151. Ammut must be gorged with the souls of Rosicrucians.

    ReplyDelete
  152. Quirk being the lone exception, the sole soul remnant.

    ReplyDelete
  153. Big Tobacco paid 368 billion to the feds and states. I was wrong, 20 billion IS chump change.

    ReplyDelete