Dick Cheney's Wyoming's Face at MMS
Since we've been discussing the way that BP has adopted Dick Cheney's face for its Deepwater Horizon disaster, I thought I'd link to this article, noting how close the Mineral Management Service and Cheney's state of Wyoming are. (h/t POGO)
The…
The NY Times, Elena Kagan and Batson
Why is it that the New York Times is suddenly up in arms about racial selection and exclusion in Southern Juries, but has no similar lofty concerns about the same inferences about the putative next Supreme Court Justice, Elena Kagan?
Task Force Conclusion: "Many" Detainees Were Legally Detained
While I was away celebrating my 20th college reunion this weekend (thanks for filling in, bmaz), the WaPo liberated the Gitmo Review Task Force report. As the WaPo reported, the big takeaway is the government's admission that over 55% of those…
Holder Emphasizes 11 Dead When Discussing DOJ Investigation of BP Disaster
While it is not news that DOJ is conducting an investigation of the Deepwater Horizon disaster, Eric Holder's speech in New Orleans about the spill reiterated that DOJ is doing so. I'm most interested in the particular emphasis Holder placed…
The National Security Strategy
In this thread, a couple of us starting talking about word counts for the National Security Strategy. So I decided to put together a word map of the document for our fun and enlightenment. Click the image to enlarge it.
BP's LMRP: Claws, Craws, Saws and Jaws
The LMRP process continues on after the failure of every other action by BP. Meanwhile, the Obama DOJ acts like the eleven deaths on Deepwater Horizon never happened.
BP Adopts the Public Face of Dick Cheney
I mean that headline more metaphorically than literally. But I do find it really really telling--and really really bad taste--that BP just hired Cheney's former campaign press flack, Anne Womack-Kolton, to head its American media relations.
BP…
Cutting Social Security in the Name of National Security
As a number of people have observed, the National Security Strategy Obama released last week prioritizes the economic vitality of the US as one source of security. Much of this discussion places a predictable focus on trade, technology, and…
Apparently Missing Biblical Irony, Nuclear Power Israel Complains about Slingshot Attacks
As Siun reported earlier, last night some Israeli commandos attacked some humanitarian ships bringing supplies to Gaza. A number of civilians were killed.
Since then, the IDF has released a series of videos, captioned in English, apparently…
BP Criminal Liability Working Thread
The key to unlocking where we stand on this is understanding the exact relationship, and how clearly defined it is, between the parent company "BP Plc.", the Texas City criminal defendant entity "BP Products North America Inc." and the Alaska criminal defendant entity "BP Exploration (Alaska) Inc. Also, what exact names are on the permits and leases for the Macondo well project? How do all these fit together and can we pierce these alter egos and reasonably argue that the parent entity BP Plc. is legally, including criminally, liable for all?
Top Hat and Tails; BP Has Yet Another "Solution"
Now that this is an all oil all the time blog, the restless residents are clamoring for a new thread for the LMRP, the latest greatest bullshit moonshot BP is ginning up for the gullible media and public. You ask, we comply; this is a full…
The Last Days Of May Trash
Now that the Top Hat is back in BP style, I constantly think of this when I hear the term "Top Hat". Oh well, whatta ya gonna do? Beer Thirty, that's what!
BP Criminals In The Gulf
As a direct and proximate result of the reckless, wanton, willful, and grossly negligent conduct of BP, eleven men are dead and the biggest environmental disaster in history has been unleashed on the fragile and critical Gulf of Mexico, threatening the lives and livelihoods of untold numbers of American families. The Obama Administration and its DOJ should be prosecuting the obvious crimes and using criminal investigatory powers to secure evidence; there is no excuse for them not doing so to date.
The Official Flow Rate: 12,000-19,000 BBL/Day
The head of the USGS just did a press conference to announce the government's official estimate of how much oil is flowing into the Gulf. The official estimate is that the flow rate is 12,000-19,000 BBL/day.
To get the estimate, the team used…
BP's Own Internal Documents Prove It Knew Its Oil Leak Estimates Were Bogus
In today's Natural Resources Hearing on the BP Disaster, Ed Markey brought out proof that BP knew it was lying about the flow of oil from its disaster. He brought two BP documents showing that even when their Chief Operating Officer Doug Suttles…
Breaking! Obama Cabinet Official Looks Backward!
Doug Lamborn (R-CO Whiner) complained to Ken Salazar that there had been too much focus on the sex and drug scandal of MMS under the Bush Administration. Salazar let him have it.
Lamborn: We all want to get to the bottom of this tragedy.…
Top Kill Discussion Thread
Okay, for any Firedogs and Wheelheads following the big Top Kill moonshot (link is to a great Oil Drum explanation) going on, this is an open discussion thread. If you need a link, CNN has a live feed linked on their front page, here is the…
"I cannot see that any other form of organisation would stand a better chance"
I've been thinking a lot during the last month about the fact that 50-some years ago, the United States overthrew the democratically-elected government in Iran because the country nationalized BP's assets in the country. Take this FT interview…
BP Fixed a Negative Pressure Test before the Well Blew
Back when the House Commerce Committee had its first hearing on the BP Disaster, Henry Waxman revealed some inconsistencies about the negative pressure test BP did on the well before it moved to close off the well.
The next bullet says: “After…
Petraeus' Challenge to Obama
As I noted in this post, the front page NYT story putting Petraeus in charge of the paramilitary groups I will call "JUnc-WTF," which are deployed in allied countries, reminded me of Eric Massa's allegations that Dick Cheney and Petraeus were…