Monday, June 28, 2010

BP Slick Covers Dolphins and Whales

John L. Wathan, who photographed and documented the death of animals affected by the oil spill describes what he sees. The plane is piloted by Tom Hutchins. Much of what everyone needs to see about the Deep Water Horizon disaster, whether we like it or not, is right here. Our mainstream media is failing us with it's milquetoast reporting of the immense ongoing tragedy. They need to demand access to the entire Gulf region. I'm completely disgusted that our government appears to be allowing BP, the architects of the worst ecological disaster in history to be running the show and blocking access to reporters and the public.
Let me warn you, this is not for the faint of heart. I had a very hard time watching this.

Friday, June 25, 2010

Maddow Waves the Caution Flag on Big Oil

As someone who used to be an enthusiastic NASCAR fan, but has just morphed into an interested bystander, I still loved this analogy that Rachel Maddow used in comparing why big oil needs to take some lessons from NASCAR in how to deal with danger and accidents (is there anything she doesn't know about?). Congressman Ed Markey (D-MA) joins Rachel.


Monday, June 21, 2010

"Cries From The Gulf" by Lea Morris

Written and narrated by Gulf Coast native Lea Morris, this open letter captures the raw heartbreak of the millions impacted by the Deepwater Horizon disaster. Produced by ROF Productions.

Saturday, June 19, 2010

Republicans Agree...Obama is Extorting BP - Unbelievable!

The GOP is still out there defending BP, even after Rep. Joe Barton had to retract his apology to BP CEO Tony Hayward. First, the Republicans cried that Obama wasn’t doing enough about the Gulf oil spill crisis, and now they’re complaining that he’s overstepped his bounds. Mike Papantonio appears on MSNBC’s The Ed Show to take on the GOP and their defense of this corrupt corporation.

When Big Biz Stands on the Neck of a Local Community

The multi-billionaire owner of New Hampshire Motor Speedway said Thursday he will consider moving next year's summer race if Loudon's police chief doesn't cut the cost for providing safety details! NHMS owner Bruton Smith (who owns many of Nascar's sanctioned tracks) said that if he can't reach a compromise with the town on security costs, he may move next June's race from New Hampshire. "The dates are scheduled year to year with contracts with NASCAR," said Jerry Gappens, NHMS vice president. "There is the option of doing that. Let's hope it doesn't come to that option." Gappens said Loudon charges too much to organize security, and Loudon's police chief makes too much doing it. He said Chief Robert Fiske makes $50 per hour (yup, that's a lot), amounting to almost $59,000 for covering the races over five years. NHMS is asking Loudon to reduce its price tag for June's upcoming race from $170,000 to $65,000. "No, we're not prepared to do that," said Loudon Selectman Roger Maxfield. "The answer is no, we won't." Maxfield said he thinks $170,000 to cover an influx of 100,000 people is reasonable, as is Fiske's hourly rate. "He's also in control of 80 full-time officers, so that's a large detail," Maxfield said. NHMS has suggested cutting 38 police officers from its camp grounds and replacing them with private security guards supported by a few officers. Fiske said that plan isn't in the best interest of public safety. "The crime is consistent with a city of that size," he said. "We have alleged rapes and assaults, let alone the DWIs." (wmur) (6-18-2010)

I'm rooting for the Town of Loudon, the police chief and all his personel. Race fans pay upwards of $150 for some of these seats. The 43rd (last) place car earns what some blue collar workers make per year...seriously. The $170,000 price tag is a drop in the bucket for Bruton Smith. He probably spends that on any given day for personal items. How screwed up are our priorities when Smith is telling the Chief to hire $8 per hour security guards? With over 100,000 people in a very small space, they want to minimize security? Seriously? I've been to races...I want trained professionals monitoring the angry drunken wild fans who often times need to be handcuffed and arrested. While I've never stayed on the infield or campground at any track, the people I know who have often feared for their safety. Someone making $8 per hour isn't going to "protect" you in an altercation...they're just not. This is just one more case of a filty rich prick who is watching his wallet grow fatter and has no regard for the safety of the fans. To the best of my knowledge, the summer race at Loudon has never failed to sell out. Personally, I think he's using this as an excuse to move the date to another of his tracks - Las Vegas, giving them two race dates.

Friday, June 18, 2010

To Live on the Land, We Must Learn by the Sea

A heartwarming video in these difficult times. Music courtesy of the great John Denver and inspiration from the great Jacques Cousteau.

Thursday, June 17, 2010

Fake President Maddow's Oval Office Address Rewrite

Rachel Maddow rewrites President Obama's Tuesday Oval Office Address as an "in-her-own-head, wish he had said that" speech.  To call this woman brilliant is understated, I wish he had said these things too. 




Today,  Rachel sat down with the president for lunch at the White House along with columnist Eugene Robinson of The Washington Post, columnist Gail Collins of the New York Times, Gerald F. Seib of the Wall Street Journal and a handful of White House staffers. I would've loved to hear his response to last night's quasi-skewering of his Oval Office Address.  While I'm sure there was some good natured ribbing going back and forth, I'll bet there was some edgy awkwardness too.  No reports as to what they discussed.

Wednesday, June 16, 2010

Palin Claims She Knows How to Stop the Leak


So there you have it --- Sarah's alternate reality. Her Fox association has taught her well. Just lie, say it over and over and assume that other networks will pick up the lies and report them as fact. It worked when they destroyed ACORN, so their boldness and deception goes full speed ahead.

  • …On the June 15 edition of Fox News’ Fox & Friends, Glenn Beck said that Obama “needs to explain why we haven’t — why we turned down all the international help. They offered it within a couple of days. We said no…”
  • …In a later segment on the June 15 Fox & Friends, co-host Gretchen Carlson hosted Sen. George LeMieux (R-FL) and stated: “Steve Doocy asked [White House press secretary Robert Gibbs] why the Jones Act has not been waived, allowing international ships to come into the Gulf.” LeMieux later responded, in part, “The Jones Act shouldn’t be preventing any foreign ships from coming to help in the skimming operations.”
  • …Later on Fox & Friends, Fox News contributor Laura Ingraham stated that one of the “things the president needs to talk about and needs to do” is to “waive the Jones Act” so that “all of our technology, all of our manpower, all the skimmers internationally” could reach the Gulf. Ingraham did not note that there are already international ships in the Gulf responding to the spill.
All lies. How can anyone sincerely believe that this network doesn't continually do damage to this country's psyche? Not only for their political lies dividing us, but even on a situation that nearly every American agrees on. They want to divide and concur on this tragedy as well.  Reality posted below:

  • …In a June 15 press release, the Deepwater Horizon Incident Joint Information Center stated that “currently, 15 foreign-flagged vessels are involved in the largest response to an oil spill in U.S. history.” The JIC further explained, “No Jones Act waivers have been granted because none of these vessels have required such a waiver to conduct their operations in the Gulf of Mexico.” To date, the administration has leveraged assets and skills from numerous foreign countries and international organizations as part of this historic, all-hands-on-deck response, including Canada, Germany, Mexico, Netherlands, Norway, the United Nations’ International Maritime Organization and the European Union’s Monitoring and Information Centre. In some cases, offers of international assistance have been turned down because the offer didn’t fit the needs of the response.

Friday, June 11, 2010

How did he get through law school?

Massachusetts, what the hell happened electing a graduate of the Sarah Palin Civics School? Our newest Senator thinks (and I use the term loosely) that the EPA is "a non-governmental agency"? Explaining his vote to bar the EPA from regulating carbon emissions, Scott Palin...I mean Scott Brown said:

"To give a non-governmental agency the ability to regulate the way that they have the potential to, they can regulate churches and restaurants and drop it all the way down from the big emitters to the very smallest emitters and it’s not appropriate. And, you know, we in Congress should continue to work on this issue and have the authority to do just that. And I would encourage, certainly, the majority party to start to work on a lot of these energy issues right away."

Churches? Restaurants? OMG, we are so f***ed if this is the best our country has to offer for leaders. And this is Massachusetts, not South Carolina!

Wednesday, June 9, 2010

Flush This Mister Sr. WH Anonymous Source!

Shortly after Blanche Lincoln (D-AR) beat union supported candidate Bill Halter for the Democratic nomination for the U.S. Senate in Arkansas, an anonymous senior White House aide began spreading word that President Obama's political team thought that the money unions had spent on Halter's candidacy was a massive waste and damaging to the party.
The unnamed official told Politico's Ben Smith, "Organized labor just flushed $10 million of their members' money down the toilet on a pointless exercise. If even half that total had been well-targeted and applied in key House races across this country, that could have made a real difference in November."

AFL-CIO spokesman Eddie Vale quickly responded to the criticism saying, "We are not an arm of the White House or the DNC or a political party. We work on issues. And if we feel like someone is standing up for working families, we support them, and if they don't, we won't support it. In the past, people would have assumed that was talk, but now we have backed that up with action. Is the lesson they are taking out of tonight that they can go after labor and anonymously trash us and we will put our tail in between our legs and slink home? That ain't happening." And to drive home the point that the White House was hiding behind the cloak of anonymity in their attacks, the AFL-CIO spokesman added: "My name is Eddie Vale of the AFL-CIO and I'm proud to fight for working families and I don't hide behind anonymous quotes."

When will this WH understand that real liberals don't care about blindly electing anyone with a (D) after their name? I'm so disillustioned, disappointed and disgusted with this administration kowtowing to every conservative they can find under any and every rock, but have totally thrown us under the bus. We actually voted for change and progress and are ending up with a status quo, right leaning administration. I knew we were in trouble when Rahm Emanual basically told us to piss off saying, "where they going to go?" Screw you Rahm. You are destroying the party, not those of us who wanted real change - change that benefits the masses, not the few privileged. We'll stay home and we won't donate. Yes, Republicans will take over for the next few years, but really, what's the difference? And more importantly, why the hell are people so anti-union when it's the unions who will protect them in the workplace? Don't they care about fair wages, benefits and safety? How I'd love to see a third party with Bernie Sanders (VT-I) on the top of the ticket!

Sunday, June 6, 2010

The View From The Deck - Week Ending 6/6/10

I'm back - I have a very nice tan so traveling to Arizona wouldn't be advisable at this time. However, I am happy to report that I do have less than 5 players on the DL on my fantasy baseball team (down to 2), but all of my other hopes from last week went unfulfilled.
  • On the BP Disaster, as they kept saying they need 48 hours every 48 hours to assess if the "top kill" was working, it was pretty clear to me it wasn't working and they were just biding time with the media to come up with plan D. Plan D turned out to be the "cap" which they're lauding as a success because they claim they're collecting half of the gusher! Call me crazy, but even if those estimates are accurate (I'm skeptical as I don't trust BP or Tony 'I want my life back' Hayword one iota), half a mega disaster is still a mega disaster. Every time I see those tar covered birds, I feel sick. While I was in east central Florida, I noticed that the BP station was selling their gasoline for 9 cents less per gallon than everyone else. I paid the extra at a 7-11.
  • On Wednesday, we probably watched the worst call ever when umpire Jim Joyce's blown...and I mean blown call robbed a young Detroit Tigers pitcher of a perfect game. At the risk of sounding like a complete smartass, Stevie Wonder could've made that call! He probably would've heard the ball hit the glove waaay ahead of the batter's foot hitting the base. Armando Galarraga's classy response left him personally victorious from this mess. His remarkable grace in handling this entire situation should cement him as one of those guys everyone just roots for from this point forward. Right after Joyce made that unbelievable call, Galarraga reacted with a smile, he was empathetic to the umpire's plight following the game, and the two men shook hands the next evening when Galarraga brought out the Tigers lineup card. Every step of the way, Galarraga took the highest possible road. The umpire tearfully admitted he blew it and cost that kid a perfect game, batter Jason Donald admitted he was out, yet Commisioner Bud Selig will not reverse the call as I feel he should. This blown call did not affect the outcome of the game, it cost the guy not only a perfect game, but a no hitter.  I'm sick of the so called "baseball purists" saying that an overturning this call would set a new precedent. To them I say bullsh*t.  It has already happened. We only need to go back to 1983 when George Brett's homerun was disallowed (too much pine tar on bat), he went ballistic and had to be restrained from hitting the umpire. The call was overturned, the homerun was reinstated and the game picked up the next day. Maybe had Galarraga acted like a rabid madman like Brett did, Selig would've been more empathetic.
  • Right wing hate radio commentator Rush Limbaugh, 59, married Mrs. Limbaugh IV, Kathryn Rogers, 33 and blonde, just like all of Faux Newz women. I'm sure this is true love and has nothing to do with his multi-million dollar empire.  Just look at him, so suave and handsome, even George Clooney is jealous - NOT! What really bothers me is this; Elton John, 63 and gay, serenaded the 400 guests Saturday night to celebrate the marriage. I'm sorry, but EJ is a sellout. I don't care how much money he was paid, any gay person who would perform for this horrible evil man in light of all the things he has said and continues to say about gay folks. If Elton John actually needed the money, he's still a loser as he's had a wildly successful career.
  • Finally, it seems that Maine Republicans are backing away from the Tea Party platform. The state prides itself on its independence and moderation, that is not what the Tea Party represents. Last month with inspiration from a small block of tea partiers, Maine Republicans adopted a party platform last month that raised eyebrows nationally, with planks calling for the elimination of the Department of Education, calling global warming a "myth" and a declaration that health care "is not a right. It is a service." Etc... Apparently it occured to someone that the state generally favors centrists such as Republican Senators Susan Collins and Olympia Snowe and former independent Gov. Angus King. Adhering to a rigid platform right wing may be a turnoff to voters who will be choosing party nominees Tuesday. Don't look now, but people might be coming to their senses!
Quick Note: MSNBC's "The Rachel Maddow Show" is again the only cable news show nominated for a Television Critics Association award. TRMS is 2 for 2 since it's September 2008 inception! The show is nominated in the Outstanding Achievement in News & Information category alongside Comedy Central's "The Daily Show," ESPN's "30 for 30," History's "America: The Story of Us," and Discovery's "Life." You know who I'm rooting for!