It's too hot for outrage
Oil may stop spewing into Gulf by end of month, but yeah, probably not
Remember that oil spill that was big news a few weeks back? No, probably not. But that is a thing that is still happening. Anyway, BP could have the Gulf oil well all fixed up by July 27, according to the Wall Street Journal! This current plan is called "Bottom Kill" and attempts to shoot a bunch of mud or something in there. There are also backup plans, the article notes, though hasn't everything been a backup plan since the thing exploded? Meanwhile, Tony Hayward is flying around on his air yacht looking for investors, as BP has no money left for all of this. MORE »
###
###
Bartcop:
"I was born and raised with Mayberry, riding my bicycle any time of the day or night. But we live in different times." - Louisiana State Rep. Henry Burns, author of a law that will allow insane rednecks to bring guns into Louisiana churches Link
I can see it now - someone drops a Bible and it makes a big boom sound. Then some handjob stands up and draws his gun, ready to "save the church." Then other armed handjobs see "an armed gunman" so they open fire and the headline reads, "22 people shot at local Church."
###
###
The US has lost 75% of Gitmo habeas cases. If I'm reading the story correctly, there are 181 prisoners at Guantanamo, and over 100 of them have filed habeas cases, so if the record holds, the number of prisoners there may be cut in half in the near future.
###
At last, a wingnut who speaks honestly about the Republican position on wealth redistribution and "spreading the wealth around." They support it!
Stephen Moore calls for raising taxes on poor in order to pay for tax cuts for the rich.
###
###
An early look at Wisconsin's next senator
Ernest J. Pagels, Jr. once urinated on a homosexual pornographic car tire and sued McDonald's
Wisconsin's fastest rising star, Republican U.S. Senate candidate Ernest J. Pagels, Jr., became Internet-famous this afternoon after the discovery of his brilliant political ad on YouTube. Now, with the help of Wonkette operatives, more has been found about this great American. He previously ran for Congress in 2004, for one. And also he has done a whole lot of suing people. MORE »
###
###
NSA still seeks to spy on all Americans
The National Security Agency, under the rubric of "cyber security" is going forward with a plan to monitor all traffic on the Internet. They call it "Perfect Citizen", as in "we'll make sure that you are perfect citizens, because we are watching your every move."
This is surveillance fuckery that I would have expected from the last administration, not from this one. You can bet your ass that the conservative bloggers will be all over this like a cheap suit and they will be fully justified in doing so.
Companies and ISPs will have to put NSA black boxes on their systems in order to allow the NSA to tap their computer systems. I have no doubt that the government will provide a very strong incentive for them to do so (like denial of qualifying for government contracts).
I don't know why I am so disappointed in the Obama Administration for going along with this shit, other than the fact that Barry was a fucking professor of constitutional law and should have a pretty clear grasp of the concept that the main intent of the Bill of Rights was to protect citizens from government intrusion. The NSA once was prohibited from collecting any communications on American soil, I guess that has gone the way of steaming open letters and buggy-whips. Cheney, at least, had a long track record of being an advocate of having a police state, so I expected shit like this from him and Chimpy.
The Republicans had the Patriot Act and the various plans to massively engage in datamining and dossier-building on all Americans, as well as seeking to form a Stasi-like national network of neighborhood spies. Bill Clinton started the Nightwatch, er InfraGard, which is sort of a combination of the Junior G-Men and the Brownshirts.
Spying on American citizens has become a bipartisan endeavor. This shit needs to be vigorously opposed regardless of which party is in power or who the president happens to be.
###
The Unexpurgated Bible #40When Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal signed a bill
into law that will allow people to bring concealed
weapons into houses of worship, Jesus wept.
###
It isn't just the newly-loathed unemployed middle class walking away from mortgages.
###
Nutty people giving money to nutjob candidate
###
Satan wins
Anti-mural Arizona Councilman getting his radio job back?
Remember our good Caucasian friend Steve Blair, who lost his job at KYCA radio in the Arizona town of Prescott last month after making his mountain village look like KKK City? According to the official blog of Arizona, Prescott eNews, Blair's old bosses at KYCA have already forgiven him for all his racist hijinks and are bringing him back on their team. One vanilla "Welcome Back" cake coming right up! MORE »
###
Wisco: Michele Bachmann probably isn't an insane cannibal serial killer - but shouldn't we be sure?
###
The U.S. District Court in Boston has ruled that Section 3 of DOMA is unconstitutional. Bay Windows reports.
###
She's going to run
They're beginning to carve out a serious political leadership role for Sarah Palin in the Republican Party. Some cable news people were even talking about her as the next chairman of the RNC. But I don't know. I think she's going to run for president, and I think she has a very strong chance of winning the nomination. Greg Sargent has finally acquiesced to this idea: For the first time I think she's really may run.
Here's the new "Momma Grizzlies" ad. Prepare to wince a lot.
###
Tar balls have entered Lake Pontchartrain, and it's all because of the disperants pushing oil far below the reach of skimmers.
St. Tammany Parish President Kevin Davis said Wednesday that the dispersants being used to break down the oil in the Gulf of Mexico are causing the tar balls to travel underwater, later resurfacing beyond the protective walls of the barges. He urged officials with the Deepwater Horizon Unified Command to cease the use of dispersants, so crews can see the reddish-brown oil and fight it farther out.
They're continuing to pump the dispersants directly into the plume. Obviously, it's going to be many years of this because there's no way to see the extent and volume of the oil from the surface. Which is exactly what BP wants.
###
Last week Sarah Palin did a meet-and-greet at the American Amusement Machine Association's International Bowl Expo 2010, where she met this excited supporter.
###
###
The only answers they could give that would satisfy us are "Guilty, your honor." and "Here's the number of my private account in the Caymans." "BP has been given 24 hours to answer questions on the Gulf of Mexico oil spill, says the US government's incident commander. Adm Thad Allen sent a letter to the oil giant's managing director Bob Dudley saying the company must hand over "detailed plans and timelines" on stopping the leak. The information is needed before BP is allowed to change caps on the oil well. Switching to a cap with a tighter seal would allow more oil to be captured. Meanwhile, BP says its operation to drill a new relief well is ahead of schedule. The new cap on the well should make a more secure seal over the wellhead, with BP also planning to connect a third containment ship to capture more oil. Ships and drilling rigs surround the Discoverer Enterprise BP began drilling two relief wells to stop the Deepwater Horizon leak in May But while the caps are being changed, the rate at which oil is spilling out of the leak will increase. And if the third containment ship, the Helix Producer, has not been connected when the change of caps is made, there will only be one vessel capturing oil."
###
If BP could suck up money like politicians suck up money ....
You know, you'd think that with all that's happened during the past couple of months, the prostitutes in Congress and the administration would waqnt to back off a tad in their gluttonous sucking at the oil companies' tit but then these folks ain't noted for being all that bright. In fact, if you're a typical American politician or high level bureaucrat then once you get focused on all those big bucks being tossed around by the energy lobbies then dollar signs are pretty much all you're ever going to see again.
Even as more tar balls wash up, Congress is on pace to break its record on oil industry contributions. Samuel P. Jacobs on why no one can stop the most uncappable cash spill in politics.
President Obama was so upset about the BP oil spill he announced he was looking for "whose ass to kick." Rep. Bart Stupak (D-MI) was moved to ask whether companies with bad safety records should be banned altogether. Even oil-industry friendly Sen. Richard Shelby (R-AL) called for BP executive Tony Hayward to get his yacht down to the Gulf to help clean up oil. The air in Washington is full of hostility toward the oil industry these days, the result of the Deepwater Horizon explosion nearly 80 days ago-and BP's continuing failure to plug the resulting leak. So you'd think all those politicians might be a bit sheepish about collecting campaign checks from the beleaguered industry right about now.
Actually, when you stop to think about it though, why would anyone be surprised that they obviously do not feel any kind of remorse or guilt or pangs of conscience for what they've wrought? In fact, why shouldn't an increase in the amount of money being spent on bribes contributions be EXPECTED to increase during a time of closer public scrutiny given the frankly whorish nature of what appears to be a huge number of our so called leaders? Let's just file that one under, "What... you expected something different maybe?", and move along.
###
h/t Dick
Kos: Meet the American people, House Republicans-style
The Unexpurgated Bible #40
