Archive for April, 2010
Massey Energy Offers Hush Money — $3 Million to the Victims’ Families
“Massey Energy CEO confirmed the company has offered families [sic] some of the 29 victims of the Upper Big Branch Mine explosion a settlement of $3 million.”
(My emphasis.)
I was a paralegal in my former life. A “settlement” means it’s over, done. gone. You can’t talk about what happened.
Massey’s looking out for Massey.
Illegals are Terrorists — Arizona’s Republican Governor Jan Brewer
Governor Jan Brewer (R-AZ) today on Fox: Arizona has been under, ah, terrorists attacks, if you will, ah, with all of this illegal immigration that has been taking place on our very, very porous border.
The Gulf Oil Spill is “Obama’s Katrina?”
Righties want us to believe the Gulf oil spill is “Obama’s Katrina.” Nice try. Let me count the ways that that’s a ridiculous statement, this being the first:
Creepiest Thing Ever
Motorcycle enthusiast is shot and killed. He gets embalmed and his body is placed on his Honda motorcycle for his wake.
Ugh.
Halliburton’s “Cementing Process” May Be At Fault in Gulf Oil Rig Disaster
The Wall Street Journal reports today that Halliburton’s “cementing process” may be at fault in the Gulf oil rig disaster:
An oil-drilling procedure called cementing is coming under scrutiny as a possible cause of the explosion on the Deepwater Horizon rig in the Gulf of Mexico that has led to one of the biggest oil spills in U.S. history, drilling experts said Thursday.
The process is supposed to prevent oil and natural gas from escaping by filling gaps between the outside of the well pipe and the inside of the hole bored into the ocean floor. Cement, pumped down the well from the drilling rig, is also used to plug wells after they have been abandoned or when drilling has finished but production hasn’t begun.
In the case of the Deepwater Horizon, workers had finished pumping cement to fill the space between the pipe and the sides of the hole and had begun temporarily plugging the well with cement; it isn’t known whether they had completed the plugging process before the blast.
Regulators have previously identified problems in the cementing process as a leading cause of well blowouts, in which oil and natural gas surge out of a well with explosive force. When cement develops cracks or doesn’t set properly, oil and gas can escape, ultimately flowing out of control. The gas is highly combustible and prone to ignite, as it appears to have done aboard the Deepwater Horizon, which was leased by BP PLC, the British oil giant.
Concerns about the cementing process—and about whether rigs have enough safeguards to prevent blowouts—raise questions about whether the industry can safely drill in deep water and whether regulators are up to the task of monitoring them.
The scrutiny on cementing will focus attention on Halliburton Co., the oilfield-services firm that was handling the cementing process on the rig, which burned and sank last week. The disaster, which killed 11, has left a gusher of oil streaming into the Gulf from a mile under the surface.
Federal officials declined to comment on their investigation, and Halliburton didn’t respond to questions from The Wall Street Journal.
No wonder the righties are invoking the name of the Earth Liberation Front in order to divert attention from these criminals.
Break Time — Secluded Houses
Look at these houses (if you can find them) in the most amazingly secluded settings ever.
Like this:
The Earth Liberation Front Caused the Oil Spill?
Yes ladies and gentlemen, some wacko righties out there are so eager to protect BP and Halliburton and the other corporations involved in the explosion and collapse of the Gulf oil platform that they are making the wild accusation that the Earth Liberation Front caused what will likely be a huge catastrophe in the Gulf of Mexico.
That, according to Victoria Jones who reports from Washington for the Thom Hartmann radio program.
You gotta hand it to them. They sure have vivid imaginations.
The Major League Baseball Players Association Opposes Arizona’s “Immigration” Law
The MLB Players’ Association has issued a statement regarding Arizona’s new “immigration” law. The full text is here, the money quote is below:
The recent passage by Arizona of a new immigration law could have a negative impact on hundreds of Major League players who are citizens of countries other than the United States.
[...]
All of these players, as well as their families, could be adversely affected, even though their presence in the United States is legal. Each of them must be ready to prove, at any time, his identity and the legality of his being in Arizona to any state or local official with suspicion of his immigration status.
[...]
The Major League Baseball Players Association opposes his law as written. We hope that the law is repealed or modified promptly. If the current law goes into effect, the MLBPA will consider additional steps necessary to protect the rights and interests of our members.
Very well said.
Amazing and Horrifying Photos of the Gulf Oil Platform Explosion
Look at these pictures of the explosion and fire on the oil platform that lead to the oil slick raking the coast of Louisiana right now.
It’s amazing that anyone survived. It looks like hell on Earth.
Here’s one of them:
“The Wildlife in Four States is in Peril”
That would be a headline I heard on CNN about the oil slick in the Gulf.
Take a minute to think: The wildlife — the helpless, vulnerable wildlife — in four states – FOUR states — is in peril.
Yep. We’re the “greatest nation on Earth.”
Laura Bush as Publicity Hound
In a new book, “Spoken from the Heart,” Laura Bush claims she thought she, her husband, and some of their staff might have been poisoned while on a trip to Germany for a G8 summit. But, the
German hotel where then US President George W. Bush stayed in 2007 angrily rejected Thursday claims by his wife Laura Bush of possible poisoning, accusing her of a publicity stunt for her memoirs.
“We see absolutely no evidence to support (these allegations) at all,” said Christian Ploeger, a spokesman for the Fundus Group that owns the Grand Hotel Heiligendamm in northern Germany where the Bushes stayed for a G8 summit.
“The food was checked by security staff,” Ploeger told AFP.
“I suspect that this may be just to try and sell more copies of the book.”
In her upcoming autobiography “Spoken from the Heart,” a copy of which was obtained by the New York Times, Laura Bush writes that she, her husband and staff members may have been poisoned when they fell ill during their stay.
So, undoubtedly our “liberal media” will be all over this…?
Good Morning
It’s a good morning because I’m waking up to this picture of water, dogs and play. What could be better?
Wind Power Disaster — No Threats Reported
Follow the tweets here.
(Calm down. This is filed under “Humor/Satire.” The point is to mock what’s happening in Louisiana tonight, sad as it is.)
Without “Illegals” We’d Pay $10 for a Tomato
An Hispanic comedian was on “Countdown” just now (8:02 p.m. ET) — didn’t catch his name (apologies to him — I didn’t anticipate putting up a post). He was talking about Arizona’s new “immigration” law. His last sentence was, “Either we have cheap labor or we pay $10 for a tomato.”
Bravo! The reason the immigration issue hasn’t been dealt with is because corporations (who own Washington) need and want “illegals.” Pay low wages, charge low prices. Period.
If MSNBC puts video of the segment up, I’ll post it. The guy was great.
Thousands of People Marched on Wall Street Today
Thousands of people marched on Wall Street today, “angry over lost jobs and the taxpayer-funded bailout of banks.” They held “signs saying ‘Wall Street Overdrafted Our Economy’ and ‘Reclaim America’.”
As a not so aside of an aside, the president of the AFL-CIO was barred, literally, from the floor of the NYSE this morning.
I haven’t seen or heard a thing about this on corporate TV “news” today. Have you?
Sen. Mary Landrieu Defends Offshore Drilling
A giant oil slick is hours away from the shores of Louisiana and Mississippi but — it’s hard to fathom how bought this woman is — Louisiana Senator Mary Landrieu (D) said today that, “We must continue to drill.”
Sickening and incredibly out of touch. The governor of Louisiana has declared a state of emergency for God’s sake.
Predictions are that this slick is going to be devastating. It could be bigger than the Exxon Valdez “in just a few days.” Wonder how long it’ll take Landrieu to change her tune.
I’ll follow-up.
The Gulf Oil Spill Didn’t Have to Happen
A man named Walter Hang, of Toxics Targeting, was on “The Ed Show” on MSNBC just now (6:32 p.m. ET). He said there is a device that can be installed on underwater wells like the one in the Gulf that burned and tipped over a last week. That well is now spewing 5,000 barrels (not gallons) of oil a day, oil that in a matter of hours will hit the coast of Louisiana and Mississippi. He described it as a thing that immediately caps the well if there is a problem above sea level. Both Norway and Brazil require that they be installed on all off-shore wells there, but they cost $500,000 and the U.S. government, lobbied by the oil companies, natch, hasn’t required that technology here.
Hang said at the very least, oil companies should be required to post bonds and get insurance that will cover the cleanup (the government should have to foot that bill — we might as well call that a bailout) and remunerate people who are harmed (like fishermen and landowners) if there is a spill.
Amen to that.
So, anyway, as always, (1) it’s about the money, and (2) the corporations win and We the People lose and the birds and the turtles and the fish lose.
Do I Look “Illegal”?
Buy your Do I Look “Illegal” T-shirt here and support Cuentame — the boycott Arizona movement.
Brain Activity Surges Immediately Before Death
Wow, this is food for thought (from Scientific American):
People who are resuscitated from near death often report strange sensory phenomena, such as memories “flashing before their eyes.” Now a rare assessment of brain activity just before death offers clues about why such experiences occur.
Anesthesiologist Lakhmir Chawla of George Washington University Medical Center and his colleagues recently published a retrospective analysis of brain activity in seven sedated, critically ill patients as they were removed from life support. Using EEG recordings of neural electrical activity, Chawla found a brief but significant spike at or near the time of death—despite a preceding loss of blood pressure and associated drop in brain activity.
“To our knowledge, this is the first time that this event has been shown to occur,” Chawla explains. “It occurs at a very peculiar time point, when most people would think your brain would physiologically die [because of] an absence of blood flow.”
The jolts lasted 30 to 180 seconds and displayed properties that are normally associated with consciousness, such as extremely fast electrical oscillations known as gamma waves. Soon after the activity abated, the patients were pronounced dead.
Chawla posits that the predeath spikes are most likely brief, “last hurrah” seizures originating in brain areas that were irritable from oxygen starvation. Living nerve cells constantly maintain an electrical charge gradient, similar to the difference in charge on the poles of a battery. Keeping up this polarity takes energy—in this case, energy created from oxygen. As blood flow slows and oxygen runs out, the cells can no longer maintain polarity and they fire, causing a cascade of activity that ripples through the brain. If these seizures were to occur in memory regions, they could explain the vivid recollections often reported by people who are resuscitated from near death, Chawla says.
It’s neat that they’ve proven that there is a surge in activity but who knows, maybe it more than brain cells seizing due to a lack of oxygen. Maybe it’s something else; something more spiritual or cosmic.
Halliburton Implicated in Gulf Oil Spill
Check out the last sentence of the last paragraph of this excerpt of an article from Reuters:
* Lawsuit is first for economic losses from blowout
* Suit filed on behalf of all coastal Louisiana interests
HOUSTON, April 29 (Reuters) – Louisiana shrimpers have filed a class-action lawsuit against oil giant BP Plc. and owners of the oil rig that exploded in the Gulf of Mexico, marking the first claim for economic losses stemming from the disaster.
The lawsuit was filed late on Wednesday in U.S. District Court in New Orleans as London-based BP and the U.S. Coast Guard fought to contain a massive oil slick expected to hit the Gulf Coast on Friday.
The suit was filed on behalf of two commercial shrimp fishermen named in the suit, and all other coastal Louisiana residents whose livelihoods are threatened by the spill.
The Coast Guard estimates that 5,000 barrels (210,000 gallons) of crude oil a day is gushing from the sea floor where the blowout occurred, and authorities have said it could take weeks to cap the leak as BP mounts what it calls the largest oil spill containment operation in history.
The suit names as defendants BP, which holds the lease to the offshore well; Swiss-based Transocean Ltd., owner of the Deepwater Horizon drilling platform that exploded in flames on April 20 and collapsed two days later; and Halliburton Energy Services Inc., which the suit says was engaging in cementing operations of the well and well cap.
Figures.
Louisiana Shrimpers File Suit Against BP Over Oil Spill
Wow, these guys are on the ball:
* Lawsuit is first for economic losses from blowout
* Suit filed on behalf of all coastal Louisiana interests
HOUSTON, April 29 (Reuters) – Louisiana shrimpers have filed a class-action lawsuit against oil giant BP Plc and owners of the oil rig that exploded in the Gulf of Mexico, marking the first claim for economic losses stemming from the disaster.
The lawsuit was filed late on Wednesday in U.S. District Court in New Orleans as London-based BP and the U.S. Coast Guard fought to contain a massive oil slick expected to hit the Gulf Coast on Friday.
The suit was filed on behalf of two commercial shrimp fishermen named in the suit, and all other coastal Louisiana residents whose livelihoods are threatened by the spill.
The Coast Guard estimates that 5,000 barrels (210,000 gallons) of crude oil a day is gushing from the sea floor where the blowout occurred, and authorities have said it could take weeks to cap the leak as BP mounts what it calls the largest oil spill containment operation in history.
The suit names as defendants BP, which holds the lease to the offshore well; Swiss-based Transocean Ltd., owner of the Deepwater Horizon drilling platform that exploded in flames on April 20 and collapsed two days later; and Halliburton Energy Services Inc., which the suit says was engaging in cementing operations of the well and well cap.
Break Time
This video is a time-lapse of a 24-hour period in a WalMart store. Amazing. The place essentially never slows down. And you can’t tell whether it’s night or day because there aren’t any windows.
(I can’t figure out why my blog will accept the embed code for YouTube videos but it won’t accept the embed code for Vimeo videos. Any ideas?)
CNN Trivializes Dorothy Height
The funeral for Dorothy Height was held today in Washington, D.C.
Height, who died on April 20 at the age of 98, was one of the most important African-American women to have lived in the United States. Thanks to a school curriculum that ignores people like Height and to the “liberal media,” I didn’t know much about her, but a read of her Wikipedia page shows that she devoted her entire life to both civil rights and women’s rights. How many of us do something like that?
Anyway, I just watched a segment on CNN about how people in D.C. are mourning Height. The report wasn’t about what Height did, or the causes she spent her life fighting for, it was about her love of big hats.
Really disgusting.
“Big Government” to Fight Gulf Oil Spill
I presume the Tea Partiers and birthers down in Louisiana, Mississippi and Florida are on the way to the beaches to deal with that oil spill that’s headed their way. Don’t want to accept any help from “big government” now do they? Nah, they can deal with it themselves. Oh, and think of the cost!
Where are the protests?
Glenn Beck: Free Elections are a Progressive Plot
Glenn Beck’s insanity knows no bounds: In this 60-second video Glenn Beck says the term, “democratically elected” is “code language.” He doesn’t say for what, but I’m sure it’s bad.
I guess he wants us to say republically elected?
Seriously, this is Beck indoctrinating his followers into thinking that when elections don’t go their way (think: Obama), there had to have been fraud involved.
