Thursday, May 27, 2010
Gulf Oil Spill Disaster:
Democracy Now ! - Coast Guard Grounds Ships Involved in Spill Cleanup After 7 Fall Ill; BP Reportedly Preventing Fishermen From Wearing Respirators
"At least seven fishermen involved in the cleanup of the BP oil spill were hospitalized on Wednesday after reporting nausea, dizziness, headaches and chest pains. The fishermen were likely exposed to both the leaked oil and chemical dispersants. As a precautionary measure, the Coast Guard has ordered all 125 commercial ships helping with the cleanup to return to land. For weeks cleanup crews hired by BP have been reporting health issues but their complaints have largely been ignored. We speak to Clint Guidry, president of the Louisiana Shrimp Association..."
Guidry goes on to say that when his people, working their boats as part of the clean-up effort, attempted to use their own respirators, BP said 'no!'. Why? Because it would mean a tacit admission of the existence of a respiratory hazard, which opens up the company to medical liability. We can't have reality interfering with BP's 'indicent preception management,' now can we?
Democracy Now ! - Coast Guard Grounds Ships Involved in Spill Cleanup After 7 Fall Ill; BP Reportedly Preventing Fishermen From Wearing Respirators
"At least seven fishermen involved in the cleanup of the BP oil spill were hospitalized on Wednesday after reporting nausea, dizziness, headaches and chest pains. The fishermen were likely exposed to both the leaked oil and chemical dispersants. As a precautionary measure, the Coast Guard has ordered all 125 commercial ships helping with the cleanup to return to land. For weeks cleanup crews hired by BP have been reporting health issues but their complaints have largely been ignored. We speak to Clint Guidry, president of the Louisiana Shrimp Association..."
Guidry goes on to say that when his people, working their boats as part of the clean-up effort, attempted to use their own respirators, BP said 'no!'. Why? Because it would mean a tacit admission of the existence of a respiratory hazard, which opens up the company to medical liability. We can't have reality interfering with BP's 'indicent preception management,' now can we?
Wednesday, May 26, 2010
Gulf Oil Spill Disaster:
Huffington Post: ABC News Goes Underwater For Special Report On Gulf Oil Spill (VIDEO)
"ABC News outfitted a diving team with special hazmat suits and sent them to the Gulf to see the damage the oil leak and subsequent cleanup are causing underwater. They found that the leaking oil is combining with the cleanup chemicals to form a toxic soup..."
Huffington Post: Interior Department IG Report: Regulators Accepted Oil-Company Gifts, Lunches, Sports Tickets
"The government regulator with oversight of offshore drilling allowed industry officials to fill in their own inspection reports and federal employees accepted gifts -- including meals and tickets to sporting events -- from oil and natural gas companies, according to a new report by the Interior Department's Inspector General..."
IT Secutiry - Privacy:
Krebs on Security: Devious New Phishing Tactic Targets Tabs
"Most Internet users know to watch for the telltale signs of a traditional phishing attack: An e-mail that asks you to click on a link and enter your e-mail or banking credentials at the resulting Web site. But a new phishing concept that exploits user inattention and trust in browser tabs is likely to fool even the most security-conscious Web surfers..."
threatpost: Why Can't Johnny Have Privacy?
"One of the more trite and oft-repeated maxims in the software industry goes something like this: We're not focusing on security because our customers aren't asking for it. They want features and functionality. When they ask for security, then we'll worry about it. Not only is this philosophy doomed to failure, it's now being repeated in the realm of privacy, with potentially disastrous effects.
One problem with the 'our customers aren't asking for security' mantra is that, even if it's true right now, it won't be true forever. And when your customers do come knocking on the door complaining about insecure products and demanding that you do better, you'll likely be in no position to respond.
Security isn't an ingredient that developers can add to an application on demand, like adding an extra dash of Cholula to a plate of enchiladas. Security is a property of well-designed and well-executed software and hardware systems. It's a result of careful planning, development and review--not to mention a lot of training. In other words, security is hard. And it's time-consuming. And it's expensive..."
Missle Defense:
Expensive and flawed.
NY Times: Review Cites Flaws in U.S. Antimissile Program
"President Obama’s plans for reducing America’s nuclear arsenal and defeating Iran’s missiles rely heavily on a new generation of antimissile defenses, which last year he called 'proven and effective.' His confidence in the heart of the system, a rocket-powered interceptor known as the SM-3, was particularly notable because as a senator and presidential candidate he had previously criticized antimissile arms. But now, a new analysis being published by two antimissile critics, at M.I.T. and Cornell, casts doubt on the reliability of the new weapon..."
Huffington Post: ABC News Goes Underwater For Special Report On Gulf Oil Spill (VIDEO)
"ABC News outfitted a diving team with special hazmat suits and sent them to the Gulf to see the damage the oil leak and subsequent cleanup are causing underwater. They found that the leaking oil is combining with the cleanup chemicals to form a toxic soup..."
Huffington Post: Interior Department IG Report: Regulators Accepted Oil-Company Gifts, Lunches, Sports Tickets
"The government regulator with oversight of offshore drilling allowed industry officials to fill in their own inspection reports and federal employees accepted gifts -- including meals and tickets to sporting events -- from oil and natural gas companies, according to a new report by the Interior Department's Inspector General..."
IT Secutiry - Privacy:
Krebs on Security: Devious New Phishing Tactic Targets Tabs
"Most Internet users know to watch for the telltale signs of a traditional phishing attack: An e-mail that asks you to click on a link and enter your e-mail or banking credentials at the resulting Web site. But a new phishing concept that exploits user inattention and trust in browser tabs is likely to fool even the most security-conscious Web surfers..."
threatpost: Why Can't Johnny Have Privacy?
"One of the more trite and oft-repeated maxims in the software industry goes something like this: We're not focusing on security because our customers aren't asking for it. They want features and functionality. When they ask for security, then we'll worry about it. Not only is this philosophy doomed to failure, it's now being repeated in the realm of privacy, with potentially disastrous effects.
One problem with the 'our customers aren't asking for security' mantra is that, even if it's true right now, it won't be true forever. And when your customers do come knocking on the door complaining about insecure products and demanding that you do better, you'll likely be in no position to respond.
Security isn't an ingredient that developers can add to an application on demand, like adding an extra dash of Cholula to a plate of enchiladas. Security is a property of well-designed and well-executed software and hardware systems. It's a result of careful planning, development and review--not to mention a lot of training. In other words, security is hard. And it's time-consuming. And it's expensive..."
Missle Defense:
Expensive and flawed.
NY Times: Review Cites Flaws in U.S. Antimissile Program
"President Obama’s plans for reducing America’s nuclear arsenal and defeating Iran’s missiles rely heavily on a new generation of antimissile defenses, which last year he called 'proven and effective.' His confidence in the heart of the system, a rocket-powered interceptor known as the SM-3, was particularly notable because as a senator and presidential candidate he had previously criticized antimissile arms. But now, a new analysis being published by two antimissile critics, at M.I.T. and Cornell, casts doubt on the reliability of the new weapon..."
Wednesday, May 19, 2010
Gulf Oil Spill Disaster:
Southern Studies - ISS - Air tests from the Louisiana coast reveal human health threats from the oil disaster
"The media coverage of the BP oil disaster to date has focused largely on the threats to wildlife, but the latest evaluation of air monitoring data shows a serious threat to human health from airborne chemicals emitted by the ongoing deepwater gusher.
Today the Louisiana Environmental Action Network released its analysis of air monitoring test results by the Environmental Protection Agency. The EPA's air testing data comes from Venice, a coastal community 75 miles south of New Orleans in Louisiana's Plaquemines Parish.
The findings show that levels of airborne chemicals have far exceeded state standards and what's considered safe for human exposure.
For instance, hydrogen sulfide has been detected at concentrations more than 100 times greater than the level known to cause physical reactions in people. Among the health effects of hydrogen sulfide exposure are eye and respiratory irritation as well as nausea, dizziness, confusion and headache.
The concentration threshold for people to experience physical symptoms from hydrogen sulfide is about 5 to 10 parts per billion. But as recently as last Thursday, the EPA measured levels at 1,000 ppb. The highest levels of airborne hydrogen sulfide measured so far were on May 3, at 1,192 ppb..."
Huffington Post: Gulf Oil Spill: Government Remains Blind To Underwater Oil Hazard
"The Obama administration is actively trying to dismiss media reports that vast plumes of oil lurk beneath the surface of the Gulf of Mexico, unmeasured and uncharted.
But the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, whose job it is to assess and track the damage being caused by the BP oil spill that began four weeks ago, is only monitoring what's visible -- the slick on the Gulf's surface -- and currently does not have a single research vessel taking measurements below.
The one ship associated with NOAA that had been doing such research is back in Pascagoula, Miss., having completed a week-long cruise during which scientists taking underwater samples found signs of just the kind of plume that environmentalists fear could have devastating effects on sea life of all shapes and sizes..."
Middle East/Central Asia:
Jake Horowitz: Blackwater's CEO: We Are Fighting 'Barbarians' in the Middle East
"...The Nation's investigative sleuth Jeremy Scahill has managed to obtain a rare audio recording of a recent private speech delivered by Prince at the University of Michigan this past January.
The result is an absolutely stunning window into the worldview of the man who somehow continues to secure billions of dollars of the American taxpayers' money by winning government contracts to fight the wars in Afghanistan, Iraq, and now Pakistan.
In front of an audience of ROTC commanders and cadets, military veterans, and entrepreneurs, Prince delivered a speech entitled, 'Overcoming Adversity: Leadership at the Tip of the Spear,' in which the Blackwater CEO touched on a range of issues associated with the fight against terrorism and America's military involvement in the Middle East. Fortunately, Scahill was able to place a contact inside the meeting, who managed to capture Prince's remarks by clandestinely recording the speech underneath his seat.
I'd strongly encourage you to listen to the recording, as there are simply too many troubling statements to take up here. But here are some of the highlights lowlights..."
Education:
The Guardian (UK) - Texas schools board rewrites US history with lessons promoting God and guns
"...The board is to vote on a sweeping purge of alleged liberal bias in Texas school textbooks in favour of what Dunbar says really matters: a belief in America as a nation chosen by God as a beacon to the world, and free enterprise as the cornerstone of liberty and democracy.
'We are fighting for our children's education and our nation's future,' Dunbar said. 'In Texas we have certain statutory obligations to promote patriotism and to promote the free enterprise system. There seems to have been a move away from a patriotic ideology. There seems to be a denial that this was a nation founded under God. We had to go back and make some corrections.'
Those corrections have prompted a blizzard of accusations of rewriting history and indoctrinating children by promoting rightwing views on religion, economics and guns while diminishing the science of evolution, the civil rights movement and the horrors of slavery.
Several changes include sidelining Thomas Jefferson, who favoured separation of church and state, while introducing a new focus on the 'significant contributions' of pro-slavery Confederate leaders during the civil war.
The new curriculum asserts that 'the right to keep and bear arms' is an important element of a democratic society. Study of Sir Isaac Newton is dropped in favour of examining scientific advances through military technology.
There is also a suggestion that the anti-communist witch-hunt by Senator Joseph McCarthy in the 1950s may have been justified..."
Southern Studies - ISS - Air tests from the Louisiana coast reveal human health threats from the oil disaster
"The media coverage of the BP oil disaster to date has focused largely on the threats to wildlife, but the latest evaluation of air monitoring data shows a serious threat to human health from airborne chemicals emitted by the ongoing deepwater gusher.
Today the Louisiana Environmental Action Network released its analysis of air monitoring test results by the Environmental Protection Agency. The EPA's air testing data comes from Venice, a coastal community 75 miles south of New Orleans in Louisiana's Plaquemines Parish.
The findings show that levels of airborne chemicals have far exceeded state standards and what's considered safe for human exposure.
For instance, hydrogen sulfide has been detected at concentrations more than 100 times greater than the level known to cause physical reactions in people. Among the health effects of hydrogen sulfide exposure are eye and respiratory irritation as well as nausea, dizziness, confusion and headache.
The concentration threshold for people to experience physical symptoms from hydrogen sulfide is about 5 to 10 parts per billion. But as recently as last Thursday, the EPA measured levels at 1,000 ppb. The highest levels of airborne hydrogen sulfide measured so far were on May 3, at 1,192 ppb..."
Huffington Post: Gulf Oil Spill: Government Remains Blind To Underwater Oil Hazard
"The Obama administration is actively trying to dismiss media reports that vast plumes of oil lurk beneath the surface of the Gulf of Mexico, unmeasured and uncharted.
But the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, whose job it is to assess and track the damage being caused by the BP oil spill that began four weeks ago, is only monitoring what's visible -- the slick on the Gulf's surface -- and currently does not have a single research vessel taking measurements below.
The one ship associated with NOAA that had been doing such research is back in Pascagoula, Miss., having completed a week-long cruise during which scientists taking underwater samples found signs of just the kind of plume that environmentalists fear could have devastating effects on sea life of all shapes and sizes..."
Middle East/Central Asia:
Jake Horowitz: Blackwater's CEO: We Are Fighting 'Barbarians' in the Middle East
"...The Nation's investigative sleuth Jeremy Scahill has managed to obtain a rare audio recording of a recent private speech delivered by Prince at the University of Michigan this past January.
The result is an absolutely stunning window into the worldview of the man who somehow continues to secure billions of dollars of the American taxpayers' money by winning government contracts to fight the wars in Afghanistan, Iraq, and now Pakistan.
In front of an audience of ROTC commanders and cadets, military veterans, and entrepreneurs, Prince delivered a speech entitled, 'Overcoming Adversity: Leadership at the Tip of the Spear,' in which the Blackwater CEO touched on a range of issues associated with the fight against terrorism and America's military involvement in the Middle East. Fortunately, Scahill was able to place a contact inside the meeting, who managed to capture Prince's remarks by clandestinely recording the speech underneath his seat.
I'd strongly encourage you to listen to the recording, as there are simply too many troubling statements to take up here. But here are some of the highlights lowlights..."
Education:
The Guardian (UK) - Texas schools board rewrites US history with lessons promoting God and guns
"...The board is to vote on a sweeping purge of alleged liberal bias in Texas school textbooks in favour of what Dunbar says really matters: a belief in America as a nation chosen by God as a beacon to the world, and free enterprise as the cornerstone of liberty and democracy.
'We are fighting for our children's education and our nation's future,' Dunbar said. 'In Texas we have certain statutory obligations to promote patriotism and to promote the free enterprise system. There seems to have been a move away from a patriotic ideology. There seems to be a denial that this was a nation founded under God. We had to go back and make some corrections.'
Those corrections have prompted a blizzard of accusations of rewriting history and indoctrinating children by promoting rightwing views on religion, economics and guns while diminishing the science of evolution, the civil rights movement and the horrors of slavery.
Several changes include sidelining Thomas Jefferson, who favoured separation of church and state, while introducing a new focus on the 'significant contributions' of pro-slavery Confederate leaders during the civil war.
The new curriculum asserts that 'the right to keep and bear arms' is an important element of a democratic society. Study of Sir Isaac Newton is dropped in favour of examining scientific advances through military technology.
There is also a suggestion that the anti-communist witch-hunt by Senator Joseph McCarthy in the 1950s may have been justified..."
Friday, May 14, 2010
Energy:
Using nukes to make electricity for producing hydrogen is not the brightest idea. Neither is using natural gas. I've always thought that one of the keys to our energy future lies in understanding how to emulate nature's unique process of photosynthesis...
h+ Magazine: Toward a Hydrogen Economy: Clues from Nature
"Artificial photosynthesis may soon be a reality – splitting water into hydrogen and oxygen. You only have to look as far as your garden to observe one of the most common chemical reactions in nature at work pulling apart water molecules (H2O) and splitting them into carbohydrates and oxygen (O2). Nature provides the template for this process using the energy from sunlight to fuel the reaction..."
Using nukes to make electricity for producing hydrogen is not the brightest idea. Neither is using natural gas. I've always thought that one of the keys to our energy future lies in understanding how to emulate nature's unique process of photosynthesis...
h+ Magazine: Toward a Hydrogen Economy: Clues from Nature
"Artificial photosynthesis may soon be a reality – splitting water into hydrogen and oxygen. You only have to look as far as your garden to observe one of the most common chemical reactions in nature at work pulling apart water molecules (H2O) and splitting them into carbohydrates and oxygen (O2). Nature provides the template for this process using the energy from sunlight to fuel the reaction..."
Gulf Oil Drilling Disaster:
Paul Noel: A volcano of oil erupting
"New video showing largest hole from pipe 5 feet in diameter spewing oil and natural gas at ~4 barrels per second, along with analysis of the amount of oil on the surface, supports the estimates closer to 1 million barrels per day erupting from this hole BP popped in the ocean floor that contains trillions of barrels of oil and natural gas...
...BP estimated a spill of 165,000 barrels per day would not even reach land! That is what they told the US Government before they drilled the well. They had excellent science on their side, which you can begin to comprehend when you understand how oil reacts in salt water, as we will briefly discuss below.
The fact that the spill has reached land clearly states that the size of the spill is probably well above 200,000 barrels per day. Yes, that's BARRELS, not gallons. There are 42 gallons per barrel.
To get a full estimate we have to look at the process of sinking an oil slick and count money. A newly released video of the larger of the two leaks also contributes to our understanding of a minimum estimate of the flow erupting from this man-induced volcano of oil...
...In the case of the BP underwater hole, the slick is not being poured on top of the water. It is coming up from the ocean bottom that is 1 mile deep at that point. That fact raises stunning questions on how big the well releases are.
Rising through 5000 feet of water, the oil is going through a process that the oil men call Fractionating. Literally the tremendous pressure and temperature issue are the equivalent of taking the oil and boiling it in a cracking tower 5000 feet high. The oil and Natural Gas change on their way up. The very light, easy-to-evaporate parts are all that is rising to the surface.
The heavy oil isn’t even getting to the top. That oil is losing its volatile fractions and is being dragged along with the rising column into the surface water where it is probably distributing as tar balls that are not being skimmed up or burned or otherwise dispersed.
In fact the chemicals added at the well head to disburse the oil, speed this process up. This oil is mixed into the water for the top 250 feet or so. Salinity and temperature issues probably keep this oil from ever reaching the very top of the water. The exact behavior here will not be known until studies are published some years from now. This is the first time humans have encountered a deep ocean leak of this magnitude. We're in uncharted territory here. Volume per volume, it is highly probable that due to this fractioning, this oil blowing into the ocean from a mile down is causing far more ecological trouble than a surface spill of similar size.
It is also certain that the slick volume on the surface is substantially lower than the rising column of oil. This is a key point to bear in mind. Because of this fractioning, what you see from the air on the surface of the water represents maybe just 20% of the volume of the various types of oil in that area. And we're talking an area the size of Maryland (10,000+ square miles) that is on the surface. The remaining 80% is under the surface; and all of it is highly toxic to the living organisms encountered..."
Paul Noel: A volcano of oil erupting
"New video showing largest hole from pipe 5 feet in diameter spewing oil and natural gas at ~4 barrels per second, along with analysis of the amount of oil on the surface, supports the estimates closer to 1 million barrels per day erupting from this hole BP popped in the ocean floor that contains trillions of barrels of oil and natural gas...
...BP estimated a spill of 165,000 barrels per day would not even reach land! That is what they told the US Government before they drilled the well. They had excellent science on their side, which you can begin to comprehend when you understand how oil reacts in salt water, as we will briefly discuss below.
The fact that the spill has reached land clearly states that the size of the spill is probably well above 200,000 barrels per day. Yes, that's BARRELS, not gallons. There are 42 gallons per barrel.
To get a full estimate we have to look at the process of sinking an oil slick and count money. A newly released video of the larger of the two leaks also contributes to our understanding of a minimum estimate of the flow erupting from this man-induced volcano of oil...
...In the case of the BP underwater hole, the slick is not being poured on top of the water. It is coming up from the ocean bottom that is 1 mile deep at that point. That fact raises stunning questions on how big the well releases are.
Rising through 5000 feet of water, the oil is going through a process that the oil men call Fractionating. Literally the tremendous pressure and temperature issue are the equivalent of taking the oil and boiling it in a cracking tower 5000 feet high. The oil and Natural Gas change on their way up. The very light, easy-to-evaporate parts are all that is rising to the surface.
The heavy oil isn’t even getting to the top. That oil is losing its volatile fractions and is being dragged along with the rising column into the surface water where it is probably distributing as tar balls that are not being skimmed up or burned or otherwise dispersed.
In fact the chemicals added at the well head to disburse the oil, speed this process up. This oil is mixed into the water for the top 250 feet or so. Salinity and temperature issues probably keep this oil from ever reaching the very top of the water. The exact behavior here will not be known until studies are published some years from now. This is the first time humans have encountered a deep ocean leak of this magnitude. We're in uncharted territory here. Volume per volume, it is highly probable that due to this fractioning, this oil blowing into the ocean from a mile down is causing far more ecological trouble than a surface spill of similar size.
It is also certain that the slick volume on the surface is substantially lower than the rising column of oil. This is a key point to bear in mind. Because of this fractioning, what you see from the air on the surface of the water represents maybe just 20% of the volume of the various types of oil in that area. And we're talking an area the size of Maryland (10,000+ square miles) that is on the surface. The remaining 80% is under the surface; and all of it is highly toxic to the living organisms encountered..."
Wednesday, May 12, 2010
Transportation/Energy:
That's 94 horsepower, more than both the 1987 Jetta (1.8L gas, 85hp) and 1999 Golf (1.9L diesel, 90hp) I've owned...
Autoblog Green: FEV's Extremely Downsized Engine is a 0.7-liter mill with amazing 134 hp/L output
"It seems as though engine downsizing is the catch phrase of the last few years. Take an engine, shrink it and drop a turbo in and ba da bing, you've got a more efficient and sometimes even more powerful solution. Even though engine downsizing is popular, few have ventured as far as FEV Inc. With this new engine (pictured), appropriately called the Extremely Downsized Engine, FEV explores uncharted waters, going beyond tiny four-cylinder engines.
The Extremely Downsized Engine (EDE) comes in at just 0.7 liters of displacement from its three-cylinder turbocharged design. FEV claims that the EDE powerplant, complete with direct-injection, can return 12 percent better fuel economy than a non-turbocharged 1.5-liter four-cylinder motor.
Fuel economy aside, the EDE has horsepower per liter numbers that few supercars can match. We're talking about 134 horsepower per liter here, jolting this engine past icons such as the Corvette LS9 powerplant at just over 100 hp/L and the 2.0-liter turbocharged Ecotec mill at 130 hp/L, but falling just shy of the current 911 turbo rated at 137 hp/L..."
Autoblog Green: Video: Fox News reportedly refusing to air ad denouncing dependence on foreign oil
"While it is generally understood that America's dependence on foreign oil negatively impacts the country in many ways, both the citizenry and the media differ in how they choose to deal with the topic. Case in point: VoteVets, a group of veterans who are working to eliminate our dependence on foreign oil, produced a commercial outlining some of the brutal realities that our addiction to crude creates. The commercial aired on CNN and MSNBC, but according to TreeHugger, the folks at Fox News have rejected the commercial because it is 'too confusing.'
After viewing the 30-second clip available after the jump, we have trouble seeing where the spot is confusing. The premise is quite simple: our nation's dependency on foreign oil benefits numerous hostile regimes and can even lead to war. So, if the commercial isn't 'too confusing,' then why did Fox News refuse to air it? TreeHugger suggests many possible reasons, but one stands out: Saudi prince Prince Alwaleed bin Talal, owns a seven percent stake in News Corp. (which owns Fox), so even suggesting that the U.S. should eliminate its dependence on foreign oil would appear to be a conflict of interest for the network..."
That's 94 horsepower, more than both the 1987 Jetta (1.8L gas, 85hp) and 1999 Golf (1.9L diesel, 90hp) I've owned...
Autoblog Green: FEV's Extremely Downsized Engine is a 0.7-liter mill with amazing 134 hp/L output
"It seems as though engine downsizing is the catch phrase of the last few years. Take an engine, shrink it and drop a turbo in and ba da bing, you've got a more efficient and sometimes even more powerful solution. Even though engine downsizing is popular, few have ventured as far as FEV Inc. With this new engine (pictured), appropriately called the Extremely Downsized Engine, FEV explores uncharted waters, going beyond tiny four-cylinder engines.
The Extremely Downsized Engine (EDE) comes in at just 0.7 liters of displacement from its three-cylinder turbocharged design. FEV claims that the EDE powerplant, complete with direct-injection, can return 12 percent better fuel economy than a non-turbocharged 1.5-liter four-cylinder motor.
Fuel economy aside, the EDE has horsepower per liter numbers that few supercars can match. We're talking about 134 horsepower per liter here, jolting this engine past icons such as the Corvette LS9 powerplant at just over 100 hp/L and the 2.0-liter turbocharged Ecotec mill at 130 hp/L, but falling just shy of the current 911 turbo rated at 137 hp/L..."
Autoblog Green: Video: Fox News reportedly refusing to air ad denouncing dependence on foreign oil
"While it is generally understood that America's dependence on foreign oil negatively impacts the country in many ways, both the citizenry and the media differ in how they choose to deal with the topic. Case in point: VoteVets, a group of veterans who are working to eliminate our dependence on foreign oil, produced a commercial outlining some of the brutal realities that our addiction to crude creates. The commercial aired on CNN and MSNBC, but according to TreeHugger, the folks at Fox News have rejected the commercial because it is 'too confusing.'
After viewing the 30-second clip available after the jump, we have trouble seeing where the spot is confusing. The premise is quite simple: our nation's dependency on foreign oil benefits numerous hostile regimes and can even lead to war. So, if the commercial isn't 'too confusing,' then why did Fox News refuse to air it? TreeHugger suggests many possible reasons, but one stands out: Saudi prince Prince Alwaleed bin Talal, owns a seven percent stake in News Corp. (which owns Fox), so even suggesting that the U.S. should eliminate its dependence on foreign oil would appear to be a conflict of interest for the network..."
Tuesday, May 11, 2010
Gulf Oil Drilling Disaster:
Washington Post: Feds let BP avoid filing blowout plan for Gulf rig
"Petrochemical giant BP didn't file a plan to specifically handle a major oil spill from an uncontrolled blowout at its Deepwater Horizon project because the federal agency that regulates offshore rigs changed its rules two years ago to exempt certain projects in the central Gulf region, according to an Associated Press review of official records.
The Minerals Management Service, an arm of the Interior Department known for its cozy relationship with major oil companies, says it issued the rule relief because some of the industrywide mandates weren't practical for all of the exploratory and production projects operating in the Gulf region.
The blowout rule, the fact that it was lifted in April 2008 for rigs that didn't fit at least one of five conditions, and confusion about whether the BP Deepwater Horizon project was covered by the regulation, caught the attention of Interior Secretary Ken Salazar.
Following a tour of a boom operation in Gulf Shores, Ala., Salazar said Wednesday that he understood BP was required to file plans for coping with a blowout at the well that failed.
'My understanding is that everything was in its proper place,' said Salazar.
But an AP review of government and BP documents found that the company had not filed a specific comprehensive blowout plan for the rig that exploded April 20, leaving 11 workers dead and spewing an estimated 210,000 gallons of oil a day.
Instead, a site-specific exploration plan filed by BP in February 2009 stated that it was 'not required' to file 'a scenario for a potential blowout' of the Deepwater well..."
Paul Krugman: Sex and Drugs and the Spill
"...The full story of the Deepwater Horizon blowout is still emerging. But it’s already obvious both that BP failed to take adequate precautions, and that federal regulators made no effort to ensure that such precautions were taken.
For years, the Minerals Management Service, the arm of the Interior Department that oversees drilling in the gulf, minimized the environmental risks of drilling. It failed to require a backup shutdown system that is standard in much of the rest of the world, even though its own staff declared such a system necessary. It exempted many offshore drillers from the requirement that they file plans to deal with major oil spills. And it specifically allowed BP to drill Deepwater Horizon without a detailed environmental analysis.
Surely, however, none of this — except, possibly, that last exemption, granted early in the Obama administration — surprises anyone who followed the history of the Interior Department during the Bush years.
For the Bush administration was, to a large degree, run by and for the extractive industries — and I’m not just talking about Dick Cheney’s energy task force. Crucially, management of Interior was turned over to lobbyists, most notably J. Steven Griles, a coal-industry lobbyist who became deputy secretary and effectively ran the department. (In 2007 Mr. Griles pleaded guilty to lying to Congress about his ties to Jack Abramoff,)..."
Nukes:
Haaretz: Report: IAEA to discuss Israel's nuclear activities for first time
"Israel's secretive nuclear activities may undergo unprecedented scrutiny next month, with a key meeting of the International Atomic Energy Agency tentatively set to focus on the topic for the first time, according to documents shared Friday with The Associated Press.
A copy of the restricted provisional agenda of the IAEA's June 7 board meeting lists Israeli nuclear capabilities as the eighth item - the first time that that the agency's decision-making body is being asked to deal with the issue in its 52 years of existence...
...Even if dropped from the final agenda, however, its inclusion in the May 7 draft made available to The AP is significant, reflecting the success of Islamic nations in giving concerns about Israel's unacknowledged nuclear arsenal increased prominence.
The 35-nation IAEA board is the agency's decision making body and can refer proliferation concerns to the UN Security Council - as it did with Iran in 2006 after Tehran resumed uranium enrichment, a potential pathway to nuclear weapons.
A decision to keep the item would be a slap in the face not only for Israel but also for Washington and its Western allies, which support the Jewish state and view Iran as the greatest nuclear threat to the Middle East..."
Guns Or Butter:
The political influence of the Military Industrial Complex assures 'we' always choose the guns. Eisenhower's insight (next item below) of 57 years ago seems lost on today's America.
William Rivers Pitt: A Simple Way to End This Recession ... Forever
"...One Osprey costs $70 million, and Bell-Boeing has sold some 450 of the things to the Marines, the Navy and the Air Force. If you don't have a calculator close at hand, that comes to $31,500,000,000.00. Spelled out, that's thirty one billion five hundred million dollars of your money. Now, let's see.
The residents of Tennessee and surrounding states had the heavens open up on them last week, causing floods of catastrophic proportions that killed dozens of people and wiped out an as-yet undetermined number of homes. Dealing with this calamity is going to cost hundreds of millions of dollars, if not more...
...The Federal government, as well as all 50 states, have been undertaking a series of extreme austerity measures in order to make up for the financial shortfall the nation has been experiencing during this supply-side, trickle-down, right-wing recession. Taxes on soda drinks, taxes on everything that moves, school budgets pillaged, libraries closed and as many budgetary holes as possible filled with federal money the federal government can't afford to spend.
We are a nation in bankruptcy dealing with a series of disasters and calamities, and we are going to be deep in the hole for generations to come.
But wait, what about those Ospreys? What about the $31 billion spent on spiffy, dysfunctional helicopters we absolutely do not need, even if they did work? What about the billions stolen by US 'defense' contractors in an orgy of fraud in Iraq? What about the $1 trillion allocated this year alone for the 'national defense' budget?
Just dumping the Osprey program would have given us enough money to pay for the disasters in Tennessee and the Gulf, with a whole lot left over to help those affected by the recession and the Wall Street thievery. Shaving the tiniest percent off the 2010 'defense' budget would feed, clothe and educate every person of woman born in the United States, and we'd still have the most awesomely formidable military arsenal in the history of the galaxy.
But we don't talk about that stuff. We close libraries, cut education budgets, tax everything, and borrow from our children's future instead of tapping into the awesome reservoir of taxpayer cash shoveled into the Pentagon each and every year..."
Dwight D. Eisenhower: “The Chance for Peace,” speech given to the American Society of Newspaper Editors, Apr. 16, 1953
"...Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired signifies, in the final sense, a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed. This world in arms is not spending money alone. It is spending the sweat of its laborers, the genius of its scientists, the hopes of its children. The cost of one modern heavy bomber is this: a modern brick school in more than 30 cities. It is two electric power plants, each serving a town of 60,000 population. It is two fine, fully equipped hospitals. It is some fifty miles of concrete pavement. We pay for a single fighter plane with a half million bushels of wheat. We pay for a single destroyer with new homes that could have housed more than 8,000 people. This is, I repeat, the best way of life to be found on the road the world has been taking. This is not a way of life at all, in any true sense. Under the cloud of threatening war, it is humanity hanging from a cross of iron. […] Is there no other way the world may live?"
Washington Post: Feds let BP avoid filing blowout plan for Gulf rig
"Petrochemical giant BP didn't file a plan to specifically handle a major oil spill from an uncontrolled blowout at its Deepwater Horizon project because the federal agency that regulates offshore rigs changed its rules two years ago to exempt certain projects in the central Gulf region, according to an Associated Press review of official records.
The Minerals Management Service, an arm of the Interior Department known for its cozy relationship with major oil companies, says it issued the rule relief because some of the industrywide mandates weren't practical for all of the exploratory and production projects operating in the Gulf region.
The blowout rule, the fact that it was lifted in April 2008 for rigs that didn't fit at least one of five conditions, and confusion about whether the BP Deepwater Horizon project was covered by the regulation, caught the attention of Interior Secretary Ken Salazar.
Following a tour of a boom operation in Gulf Shores, Ala., Salazar said Wednesday that he understood BP was required to file plans for coping with a blowout at the well that failed.
'My understanding is that everything was in its proper place,' said Salazar.
But an AP review of government and BP documents found that the company had not filed a specific comprehensive blowout plan for the rig that exploded April 20, leaving 11 workers dead and spewing an estimated 210,000 gallons of oil a day.
Instead, a site-specific exploration plan filed by BP in February 2009 stated that it was 'not required' to file 'a scenario for a potential blowout' of the Deepwater well..."
Paul Krugman: Sex and Drugs and the Spill
"...The full story of the Deepwater Horizon blowout is still emerging. But it’s already obvious both that BP failed to take adequate precautions, and that federal regulators made no effort to ensure that such precautions were taken.
For years, the Minerals Management Service, the arm of the Interior Department that oversees drilling in the gulf, minimized the environmental risks of drilling. It failed to require a backup shutdown system that is standard in much of the rest of the world, even though its own staff declared such a system necessary. It exempted many offshore drillers from the requirement that they file plans to deal with major oil spills. And it specifically allowed BP to drill Deepwater Horizon without a detailed environmental analysis.
Surely, however, none of this — except, possibly, that last exemption, granted early in the Obama administration — surprises anyone who followed the history of the Interior Department during the Bush years.
For the Bush administration was, to a large degree, run by and for the extractive industries — and I’m not just talking about Dick Cheney’s energy task force. Crucially, management of Interior was turned over to lobbyists, most notably J. Steven Griles, a coal-industry lobbyist who became deputy secretary and effectively ran the department. (In 2007 Mr. Griles pleaded guilty to lying to Congress about his ties to Jack Abramoff,)..."
Nukes:
Haaretz: Report: IAEA to discuss Israel's nuclear activities for first time
"Israel's secretive nuclear activities may undergo unprecedented scrutiny next month, with a key meeting of the International Atomic Energy Agency tentatively set to focus on the topic for the first time, according to documents shared Friday with The Associated Press.
A copy of the restricted provisional agenda of the IAEA's June 7 board meeting lists Israeli nuclear capabilities as the eighth item - the first time that that the agency's decision-making body is being asked to deal with the issue in its 52 years of existence...
...Even if dropped from the final agenda, however, its inclusion in the May 7 draft made available to The AP is significant, reflecting the success of Islamic nations in giving concerns about Israel's unacknowledged nuclear arsenal increased prominence.
The 35-nation IAEA board is the agency's decision making body and can refer proliferation concerns to the UN Security Council - as it did with Iran in 2006 after Tehran resumed uranium enrichment, a potential pathway to nuclear weapons.
A decision to keep the item would be a slap in the face not only for Israel but also for Washington and its Western allies, which support the Jewish state and view Iran as the greatest nuclear threat to the Middle East..."
Guns Or Butter:
The political influence of the Military Industrial Complex assures 'we' always choose the guns. Eisenhower's insight (next item below) of 57 years ago seems lost on today's America.
William Rivers Pitt: A Simple Way to End This Recession ... Forever
"...One Osprey costs $70 million, and Bell-Boeing has sold some 450 of the things to the Marines, the Navy and the Air Force. If you don't have a calculator close at hand, that comes to $31,500,000,000.00. Spelled out, that's thirty one billion five hundred million dollars of your money. Now, let's see.
The residents of Tennessee and surrounding states had the heavens open up on them last week, causing floods of catastrophic proportions that killed dozens of people and wiped out an as-yet undetermined number of homes. Dealing with this calamity is going to cost hundreds of millions of dollars, if not more...
...The Federal government, as well as all 50 states, have been undertaking a series of extreme austerity measures in order to make up for the financial shortfall the nation has been experiencing during this supply-side, trickle-down, right-wing recession. Taxes on soda drinks, taxes on everything that moves, school budgets pillaged, libraries closed and as many budgetary holes as possible filled with federal money the federal government can't afford to spend.
We are a nation in bankruptcy dealing with a series of disasters and calamities, and we are going to be deep in the hole for generations to come.
But wait, what about those Ospreys? What about the $31 billion spent on spiffy, dysfunctional helicopters we absolutely do not need, even if they did work? What about the billions stolen by US 'defense' contractors in an orgy of fraud in Iraq? What about the $1 trillion allocated this year alone for the 'national defense' budget?
Just dumping the Osprey program would have given us enough money to pay for the disasters in Tennessee and the Gulf, with a whole lot left over to help those affected by the recession and the Wall Street thievery. Shaving the tiniest percent off the 2010 'defense' budget would feed, clothe and educate every person of woman born in the United States, and we'd still have the most awesomely formidable military arsenal in the history of the galaxy.
But we don't talk about that stuff. We close libraries, cut education budgets, tax everything, and borrow from our children's future instead of tapping into the awesome reservoir of taxpayer cash shoveled into the Pentagon each and every year..."
Dwight D. Eisenhower: “The Chance for Peace,” speech given to the American Society of Newspaper Editors, Apr. 16, 1953
"...Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired signifies, in the final sense, a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed. This world in arms is not spending money alone. It is spending the sweat of its laborers, the genius of its scientists, the hopes of its children. The cost of one modern heavy bomber is this: a modern brick school in more than 30 cities. It is two electric power plants, each serving a town of 60,000 population. It is two fine, fully equipped hospitals. It is some fifty miles of concrete pavement. We pay for a single fighter plane with a half million bushels of wheat. We pay for a single destroyer with new homes that could have housed more than 8,000 people. This is, I repeat, the best way of life to be found on the road the world has been taking. This is not a way of life at all, in any true sense. Under the cloud of threatening war, it is humanity hanging from a cross of iron. […] Is there no other way the world may live?"
Thursday, May 06, 2010
Gulf Petroleum Disaster:
BNET - Gulf Oil Spill: Who's to Blame? BP, Halliburton and the Feds Are All Implicated
Democracy Now! - BP Oil Spill Highlights Poor Safety Record, the Worst of Any Oil Company in America
"AMY GOODMAN: ...Tyson Slocum, just lay out BP’s record.
TYSON SLOCUM: Sure. They have been fined over $550 million over the last several years for various infractions of federal laws spanning workplace safety, environmental protection, and even anti market manipulation walls. One of the worst issues with BP was a refinery explosion in Texas City, Texas in March of 2005 that resulted in BP pleading guilty to a criminal felony violation of the Clean Air Act and paying over $150 million in fines for the explosion that resulted in the deaths of fifteen workers, and serious injury to 170 other workers. The important issue here as we’ve seen in multiple other instances with BP, Amy, is that the immediate investigation found hundreds of workplace violations. The company was fined, it was placed on probation where BP was expected to address the hundreds of systemic workplace safety violations that were found. When the Obama administration reviewed whether or not BP had been in compliance with this probationary period, last year, the Obama administration’s Department of Labor found that BP failed to comply with the terms of its probation and fined the company and additional $87 million.
One of the things that we’ve seen in all of these fines, whether it’s for the oil spill a couple of years ago at Prudhoe Bay where the Department of Justice found that BP willfully under-invested in routine maintenance that allowed the pipes to corrode that resulted in 200,000 gallons of crude oil released directly into the tundra. Whether it was the Commodity Futures Trading Commission fining the company $300 million for single-handedly manipulating the entire U.S. propane market. Whether it’s the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission fining BP $21 million for its role in price gouging California electricity consumers during the California electricity crisis. Whether it’s other violations of the Clean Air Act at its Indiana refinery or workplace violations at its Toledo, Ohio refinery. The fact is, that this company when it’s found to have violated the law, the times that it’s been put on probation, it has not even adhered to the terms of that probation in multiple instances. And that raises the question of when we have habitual repeat corporate lawbreakers, we need to do more than just issue financial penalties against them. When a company like BP is earning $6 billion or more in profits every three months, issuing a fine of $20 million here, $50 million here, finding them guilty of crimes as the Department of Justice has done on two occasions in just a last couple of years, that is all just the cost of doing business for the accountants at BP. We’ve got to think about permanent sanctions against repeat criminal offenders like BP. We’ve got to start talking about denying them access to lucrative leases that the government sells to these companies. We have got to think about revoking a corporate charters of companies that habitually demonstrate to the American people that they don’t have respect for U.S. laws, U.S. worker safety, or U.S. environmental laws..."
File Under 'Hypocricy':
Miami New Times: Christian right leader George Rekers takes vacation with 'rent boy'
BNET - Gulf Oil Spill: Who's to Blame? BP, Halliburton and the Feds Are All Implicated
Democracy Now! - BP Oil Spill Highlights Poor Safety Record, the Worst of Any Oil Company in America
"AMY GOODMAN: ...Tyson Slocum, just lay out BP’s record.
TYSON SLOCUM: Sure. They have been fined over $550 million over the last several years for various infractions of federal laws spanning workplace safety, environmental protection, and even anti market manipulation walls. One of the worst issues with BP was a refinery explosion in Texas City, Texas in March of 2005 that resulted in BP pleading guilty to a criminal felony violation of the Clean Air Act and paying over $150 million in fines for the explosion that resulted in the deaths of fifteen workers, and serious injury to 170 other workers. The important issue here as we’ve seen in multiple other instances with BP, Amy, is that the immediate investigation found hundreds of workplace violations. The company was fined, it was placed on probation where BP was expected to address the hundreds of systemic workplace safety violations that were found. When the Obama administration reviewed whether or not BP had been in compliance with this probationary period, last year, the Obama administration’s Department of Labor found that BP failed to comply with the terms of its probation and fined the company and additional $87 million.
One of the things that we’ve seen in all of these fines, whether it’s for the oil spill a couple of years ago at Prudhoe Bay where the Department of Justice found that BP willfully under-invested in routine maintenance that allowed the pipes to corrode that resulted in 200,000 gallons of crude oil released directly into the tundra. Whether it was the Commodity Futures Trading Commission fining the company $300 million for single-handedly manipulating the entire U.S. propane market. Whether it’s the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission fining BP $21 million for its role in price gouging California electricity consumers during the California electricity crisis. Whether it’s other violations of the Clean Air Act at its Indiana refinery or workplace violations at its Toledo, Ohio refinery. The fact is, that this company when it’s found to have violated the law, the times that it’s been put on probation, it has not even adhered to the terms of that probation in multiple instances. And that raises the question of when we have habitual repeat corporate lawbreakers, we need to do more than just issue financial penalties against them. When a company like BP is earning $6 billion or more in profits every three months, issuing a fine of $20 million here, $50 million here, finding them guilty of crimes as the Department of Justice has done on two occasions in just a last couple of years, that is all just the cost of doing business for the accountants at BP. We’ve got to think about permanent sanctions against repeat criminal offenders like BP. We’ve got to start talking about denying them access to lucrative leases that the government sells to these companies. We have got to think about revoking a corporate charters of companies that habitually demonstrate to the American people that they don’t have respect for U.S. laws, U.S. worker safety, or U.S. environmental laws..."
File Under 'Hypocricy':
Miami New Times: Christian right leader George Rekers takes vacation with 'rent boy'
Monday, May 03, 2010
Greece In Crisis:
The Greek government cries for an EU bailout package after being unwilling to enforce its own tax laws? The fact that the governemnt received help from the charlatans at Goldman Sachs to hide their debt from the EU seems to fit a pattern of corruption. How, again, did Greece get into the EU in the first place?
NY Times: Greek Wealth Is Everywhere but Tax Forms
"In the wealthy, northern suburbs of this city, where summer temperatures often hit the high 90s, just 324 residents checked the box on their tax returns admitting that they owned pools.
So tax investigators studied satellite photos of the area — a sprawling collection of expensive villas tucked behind tall gates — and came back with a decidedly different number: 16,974 pools.
That kind of wholesale lying about assets, and other eye-popping cases that are surfacing in the news media here, points to the staggering breadth of tax dodging that has long been a way of life here.
Such evasion has played a significant role in Greece’s debt crisis, and as the country struggles to get its financial house in order, it is going after tax cheats as never before.
Various studies, including one by the Federation of Greek Industries last year, have estimated that the government may be losing as much as $30 billion a year to tax evasion — a figure that would have gone a long way to solving its debt problems.
'We need to grow up,' said Ioannis Plakopoulos, who like all owners of newspaper stands will have to give receipts and start using a cash register under the new tax laws passed last month. 'We need to learn not to cheat or to let others cheat,'..."
The Greek government cries for an EU bailout package after being unwilling to enforce its own tax laws? The fact that the governemnt received help from the charlatans at Goldman Sachs to hide their debt from the EU seems to fit a pattern of corruption. How, again, did Greece get into the EU in the first place?
NY Times: Greek Wealth Is Everywhere but Tax Forms
"In the wealthy, northern suburbs of this city, where summer temperatures often hit the high 90s, just 324 residents checked the box on their tax returns admitting that they owned pools.
So tax investigators studied satellite photos of the area — a sprawling collection of expensive villas tucked behind tall gates — and came back with a decidedly different number: 16,974 pools.
That kind of wholesale lying about assets, and other eye-popping cases that are surfacing in the news media here, points to the staggering breadth of tax dodging that has long been a way of life here.
Such evasion has played a significant role in Greece’s debt crisis, and as the country struggles to get its financial house in order, it is going after tax cheats as never before.
Various studies, including one by the Federation of Greek Industries last year, have estimated that the government may be losing as much as $30 billion a year to tax evasion — a figure that would have gone a long way to solving its debt problems.
'We need to grow up,' said Ioannis Plakopoulos, who like all owners of newspaper stands will have to give receipts and start using a cash register under the new tax laws passed last month. 'We need to learn not to cheat or to let others cheat,'..."
