A Day's Roundup

Since everyone seems to give the overseas wars short shrift, I start there.

General McChrystal seems to be stalling for time so that coming offensive in Kandahar will be extra awesome - because war always is. An attack so brutish that the Taliban doesn't claim credit, but then they're murderous liars. Hamid Karzai has lost faith in US ability to defeat Taliban - turning to Pakistan. It's been a pretty bad month for Nato allies in Afghanistan and it's only 1/3 done.

Obama got his sanctions against Iran but no one actually believes they'll accomplish much.

On to the volcano of oil spewing into the Gulf, and the numbers are not good. The numbers have been revised upwards by the government and the uppermost estimates are frightening: 20 to 40 thousand barrels per day, and maybe even as high as 50 thousand, or 2.1 million gallons!

The right are trying to blame environmentalists for the oil spill - their fault for being right about the risks of off-shore drilling. John Boehner, minority House leader suggesting taxpayers should pay for the oil spill cleanup. BP still denying the existence of large oil plumes underneath the ocean waters. Aaaaand they couldn't be bothered to attend hearings on the oil disaster.

A couple of articles on how Dick Cheney and GWB jr. helped create a culture of corruption and deregulation that led to the BP disaster. Obama and his administration, especially Secretary of the Interior, Ken Salazar, deserve to shoulder their fair share of the blame while we're doling it out. There really is no excuse for not doing more to change the culture and dynamics at the MMS.

The last five months have easily been the warmest on record. The Obama administration have been complacent about acting on global warming issues too.

Relentless

I have to start with something positive as the news today, as another week in the life of the gusher in the Gulf draws to a close, is relentlessly terrible.

So, some insight on how to go about changing awareness and public policy from Jacques Cousteau: Forget the politicians-- they all think short-term... But there is something I have found that works. Identify an issue with a campaign that has emotional appeal. Advocate a specific policy. Get letters, petitions and faxes. With thousands of signatures, the politicians will join the parade--No--they will try to lead the parade.

It's a short read and elegant in its' simplicity. Speaking of elegant solutions, a twitter star known as shoq along with engineer Justin Grindal have come up with an idea to capture the spewing oil that looks like it could work.

And to guarantee the day's posts start on a note that'll bring a smile, from UCBcomedy.com  here's a video called BP Spills Coffee:

Soylent Green

 

I can remember being a kid and watching the film about a future dystopia, "Soylent Green," and thinking it quaint. I don't get that same sense of kitschy fun now when I view it. Characters portrayed by Charlton Heston and Edward G. Robinson live in a world where complete desertification has taken over the planet, destroyed the environment, and the inhabitants live a hard-scrabble life in a world completely depleted of all its' wonders and natural resources. It's (quite famously and literally) a dog eat dog world.

Today, as I busy myself posting the news links to stories I covered on my radio show, stories that are not getting enough MSM coverage because the medias are far too busy focusing on fake scandals like Obama using the word "ass," I find myself thinking of that fictional world. (My only problem with Obama's use of that word is that he did not direct it those truly responsible for the continuing disaster in the Gulf and those who really lower the level of discourse, especially when it comes to policy and politics.) Anyhow, as I continue following the nightmarish stories that are coming out of the Gulf while those on the right continue to push for an end to the moratorium on drilling, I see nothing but people blind to the real potential of this disaster in concert with everything else that is taking place around the globe. So much so that an entertainment I once regarded as a B-movie fantasy now seems prophetic and frightening.

Listen to how short-sighted and ignorant this man sounds now in the light of what's taking place:

Accountability

Been trying not to make all my posts about the disaster in the Gulf of late. It's playing out long, slowly and painfully. We made pretty good calls here based on common sense and decent internet sources. The first being that there was no way the rate of flow was anything like only 5,000 barrel a day. The figure has now been set at 19,000 or so and that's still low-balling the true figure - as is pointed out in the video below by CBS legal correspondent Sharyl Attkisson on Face the Nation:



Maybe BP thinks by playing games with the figures they're going to get away with paying a smaller fine - and maybe they will. They certainly have the resources and wherewithal to try. Corporate citizens are never taken to task the way the rest of us are - or would be if any of us were responsible for the deaths of 11 people and destruction of various flora and fauna that has robbed tens of thousands of people of their livelihoods.

Speaking of corporate accountability in these instances, or lack thereof, word today that those responsible for the tragedy at Bhopal were finally convicted - 25 1/2 years later, of negligence. The seven surviving defendants were sentenced to two years in prison and fined 100,000 rupees, or $2,100.

They were the first criminal convictions from the leak at the Union Carbide chemical plant in Bhopal, a central Indian city. The leak killed 3,000 people almost instantly, and thousands more died later from the aftereffects of the toxic gas, an ingredient in pesticides the plant produced.

Maybe BP will get the same deal. Or maybe they'll get the same deal as Exxon, 'cause that's what they really want. They want the rough estimates to be off by 2/3's and to fight it in court for 20 years and then dole out pocket change and pretend they've paid their debt.

The President has been doing his part near as we can tell, but will get little credit as there is little he can do other than try and make the accountable - seems unlikely if BP finds ways to drag it through the courts for 20 years. The reality is that they will have to wait until August when the relief wells have been dug, and even that's not a sure thing, before oil stops gushing into the Gulf. Meanwhile, he's out-numbered by the whores and spinmeisters and those in the pockets of big oil.

For comic relief from all this, try reading about an under-reported spill stemming from the BP offices in the UK.

Thursday Blogging Roundup

 

Starting to feel like there's nothing going on in the world except that disaster in the Gulf sometimes, but the crimes are so egregious and the people behind them so shameless.

Tony - I want my life back - Hayward and BP have a new advertising campaign going to try and salvage his/their reputation, because that's what is really important here! That's going tobe tough when you get caught trying to hide evidence of dead marine life in the hopes of the ocean washing them away. Quote: There is a lot of coverup for BP. They specifically informed us that they don’t want these pictures of the dead animals. They know the ocean will wipe away most of the evidence. It’s important to me that people know the truth about what’s going on here,” the contractor said.

Getting clean-up crews to sign waivers prohibiting them from speaking to the media looks suspicious too. Denying credible scientific reports about the massive oil plumes that are underneath the surface of the Gulf waters seems pretty muddleheaded too - especially when there's video evidence of their existence. Oh, the latest attempt at mitigating the spill has suffered a setback, and it turns out BP was unprepared for such a spill even though they had declared that they were ready for one ten times the size.

A reminder, 21 years later Alaska's coast still has not fully recovered from the Exxon Valdez spill. This of course doesn't stop Republicans who are in the pockets of big oil from making ridiculous statements understating the damage being caused to wildlife and delicate eco-systems.

George Bush still thinks torture is awesome: "It's what Jesus would do!"

Another fake Obama scandal gets debunked. Apparently all these ad hominem attacks are having an effect on Obama's disposition - for the better! They (the Republicans) gave us tax cuts that weren’t paid for to millionaires who didn’t need them. They gutted regulations and put industry insiders in charge of industry oversight. They shortchanged investments in clean energy and education, in research and technology. And despite all their current moralizing about the need to curb spending, this is the same crowd who took the record $237 billion surplus that President Clinton left them and turned it into a record $1.3 trillion deficit.

Robert Scheer risks being called a self-hating Jew to call the Israeli attack on the Gaza blockade-busting flotilla an act of international terrorism. There can be no valid claims of self-defense on the part of Israeli commandos who attacked a ship of protesters in international waters, killing nine civilians and kidnapping more than 600 others -- including 15 international reporters who were prevented from filing their stories by a nation that claims to be the beacon of democracy in the Mideast. And Israel is not making it easy for anyone to defend their actions, rejecting any international investigation into what happened.