Archive - Jul 3, 2010

BP Ordered To Release Information on Well Bore Damage and Sea Floor Leaks From BP Gulf Oil Spill
By Alexander Higgins | Alexander Higgins' Blog

Florida Oil Spill Law points us to a press release issued by Representative Markey questioning BP on the integrity of the BP Gulf Oil Spill well bore and the leaks in the the surrounding sea floor.

The Chairman of the Energy and Environment Subcommittee Rep. Ed Markey is now questioning not only if oil and gas are seeping out of the damaged casing into the seabed and surrounding rock, but whether oil and gas may be rushing IN to the casing after BP drilled into oil formations above the target reservoir.

The press release from Rep Markey reads:

WASHINGTON (June 23, 2010) – In an extensive inquiry letter sent to BP today, Rep. Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.) asked the company about the progress and design of the relief wells, which are now being drilled to shut down the still-spewing BP Macondo well. This comes on the heels of yesterday’s briefing by Coast Guard Admiral Thad Allen, where he said alternatives to the relief wells are being considered.

“The relief wells are still our best chance to end this spill,” said Rep. Markey, who chairs the Energy and Environment Subcommittee in the Energy and Commerce Committee. “We need to know that these efforts are being conducted with the utmost of caution and competence, so that this gushing geyser of oil is safely shut off.” Read more.

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Wells Fargo, Wachovia Involved in Numerous Mexican Drug Laundering Schemes
By Mike Shedlock | Favstocks

If you or I was involved in drug laundering of as little as 2 dollars and fifty cents we would be in prison.

Wachovia bank, now part of Wells Fargo via a merger, has laundered countless sums of Mexican cartel drug money and will get off with a slap of the wrist. The reason...Wells Fargo is too big to fail.

Please consider Banks Financing Mexico Gangs Admitted in Wells Fargo Deal

Just before sunset on April 10, 2006, a DC-9 jet landed at the international airport in the port city of Ciudad del Carmen, 500 miles east of Mexico City. As soldiers on the ground approached the plane, the crew tried to shoo them away, saying there was a dangerous oil leak. So the troops grew suspicious and searched the jet.

They found 128 black suitcases, packed with 5.7 tons of cocaine, valued at $100 million. The stash was supposed to have been delivered from Caracas to drug traffickers in Toluca, near Mexico City, Mexican prosecutors later found. Law enforcement officials also discovered something else. Read more.

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War is Peace, Occupation is Withdrawal, and Nation-Building is an Exit Strategy
By Austin Bramwell | American Conservative

Ross Douthat had this to say today about why we can’t leave Afghanistan:

Why? Because of three considerations. First, the memory of 9/11, which ensures that any American president will be loath to preside over the Taliban’s return to power in Kabul. Second, the continued presence of Al Qaeda’s leadership in Pakistan’s northwest frontier, which makes it difficult for any American president to contemplate giving up the base for counterterrorism operations that Afghanistan affords. Third, the larger region’s volatility: it’s the part of the world where the nightmare of nuclear-armed terrorists is most likely to become a reality, so no American president can afford to upset the balance of power by pulling out and leaving a security vacuum behind.

Note that Ross calls them “considerations” in favor of staying in Afghanistan. He evidently can’t bring himself to call them “reasons,” for they are anything but. Take the “memory of 9/11.” No doubt no president would want the Taliban to take Kabul on his watch. (The Taliban already control roughly half the country already, but Ross’s assumption that nobody will notice until they take over the few square kilometers where the media are concentrated is probably right.) According to departing General McChrystal, for example, Obama doesn’t really care about Afghanistan and probably sees the occupation as pointless. Still, he supports it because it keeps Afghanistan boring and therefore off the front page. Rather than order of withdrawal, in other words, Obama prefers to buy an option at $1 trillion [update: $70+ billion] a year that lets him pursue his domestic agenda without distraction. To put Ross’s point another way, no President would have the courage to make Afghanistan policy based on what’s actually best for America. The paramount concern is public relations. Read more.

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Genetic damage and health in Fallujah Iraq worse than Hiroshima | Brussels Tribunal | Press Release | 02 July 2010

Results of a population-based epidemiological study organized by Malak Hamdan* and Chris Busby are published on 03 July 2010 in the International Journal of Environmental Studies and Public Health (IJERPH) based in Basle, Switzerland. They show increases in cancer, leukemia and infant mortality and perturbations of the normal human population birth sex ratio significantly greater than those reported for the survivors of the A-Bombs at Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945.

Results of a survey in Jan/Feb 2010 of 711 houses and more than 4000 individuals in Fallujah show that in the five years following the 2004 attacks by USA-led forces there has been a 4-fold increase in all cancer. Interestingly, the spectrum of cancer is similar to that in the Hiroshima survivors who were exposed to ionizing radiation from the bomb and uranium in the fallout. By comparing the sample population rates to the cancer rates in Egypt and Jordan, researchers found there has been a 38-fold increase in leukemia (20 cases) almost a 10-fold increase in female breast cancer (12 cases) and significant increases in lymphoma and brain tumours in adults.

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Habitat for Humanity's 'Musicians Village' Homes In NOLA Were Made With Defective Chinese Drywall
By Susie Madrak | Crooks & Liars

This is devastating. The working poor of New Orleans must feel like they have a target on their backs. Katrina, the Gulf disaster... now this? Apparently Habitat for Humanity is so worried about legal exposure, they've been stonewalling the residents:

NEW ORLEANS — For more than a year, the local chapter of Habitat for Humanity has insisted there were no defects in the Chinese drywall it used to build nearly 200 houses for victims of Hurricane Katrina, including many in its heavily publicized “Musicians’ Village’’ development in the Upper Ninth Ward.

But a house-by-house canvas of Musicians’ Village by reporters from the Sarasota Herald-Tribune and ProPublica found several homeowners who reported serious problems and one who said she had complained to Habitat for more than a year about corrosion and electronics failures believed to be related to her drywall.

The reporters’ interviews with dozens of residents also turned up a second potentially significant problem: Some of the homes that Habitat officials believed had been built with American-made drywall actually contain a Chinese product instead. Read more.

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Actually, Afghanistan is a war of choice
By Ian Welsh | Crooks & Liars

This is the sad truth of America: the only acceptable form of Keynesian spending is military Keynesianism. Instead of hiring tens of thousands of teachers, building a high speed rail network across the country, refitting every building to be energy efficient and doing a massive solar and wind build-out to reduce dependence on oil, well, the US would rather turn Afghans and Pakistanis into a fine red mist.

Michael Steele's comments on Afghanistan remind me of my favorite definition of a gaffe: "saying the truth in the worst way possible."

To wit, Steele said that Afghanistan is a war of Obama's choosing, and that everyone who's occupied Afghanistan has come to grief over it. Now one can quibble a bit over the details of who came to grief and who didn't, but basically he's right. Afghanistan went badly for the Russians and the British, most recently. There's a reason Afghanistan is called the "graveyard of Empires" and if the US isn't careful it'll be the graveyard of the US empire. Read more.

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AFP - Poles voted Sunday in an election forced by the air-crash death of conservative president Lech Kaczynski, in what looks to be a tight race between his bereaved twin and the governing liberals' candidate.

AFP - US General David Petraeus is set to formally take up his new role of commander of the Afghan war in a ceremony at NATO's headquarters in the capital Kabul.

AP - Kevin Harvick continued his season of resurgence by leading a strong Richard Childress Racing contingent to a victory Saturday night at Daytona International Speedway.

AP - Poles vote Sunday in a presidential runoff election that pits the identical twin brother of the last head of state, who was killed in a plane crash, against the acting president.

Patriotic Popeye starring Popeye The Sailor.  This Paramount Pictures cartoon was released on May 10, 1957.

Directed by Izzy Sparber.  Story by Carl Meyer.  Scenics by Robert Owen.  Animation by Frank Endres and Thomas Johnson.  Voices by Jack Mercer (Popeye).  Original Music by Winston Sharples.

What’s on your mind?

US House Approves Bill Increasing Compensation for Oil Spill Victims
By Sarah Miley | Jurist via Truthout

The US House of Representatives on Thursday approved a bill that would increase compensation for injured workers and victims' families that have filed claims against BP as a result of the recent Deepwater Horizon oil spill [JURIST news archive] in the Gulf of Mexico. The bill marks the first piece of legislation passed by the House in response to the oil spill. The Securing Protections for the Injured from Limitations on Liability (SPILL) Act would change several laws applying to legal liability on the high seas. The jurisdiction of the 1920 Death on the High Seas Act, which allows families of decedents to bring a civil action in federal court, would be extended from three to 12 miles from the US coastline. The amendment would also allow the families of workers who died in the BP oil rig explosion to file a claim for both compensatory and punitive damages, including pain and suffering and loss of companionship. SPILL also amends the 1920 Jones Act to allow recovery for loss of care, comfort and companionship by a individual injured in the course of employment at sea. Representative John Conyers (D-MI) sponsored the bill, calling the previous legislation "ancient" and "outdated." Some Republicans argued that the bill was too broad because it covers all companies operating on the high seas but did not act to block its passage. Representatives from both parties did agree on at least one issue—that companies directly responsible for the Gulf oil spill should not be allowed to limit damages under outdated laws. The House passed the bill on a voice vote, and was therefore not recorded. The bill will now go before the US Senate. Read more.

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BP and Government Misleading Public About Safety Of Florida Beaches
By Alexander Higgins | Alexander Higgins' Blog

As a tide of tarballs from the BP Gulf Oil Spill assaults the Florida coast line local Florida residents, businesses and county officials are demanding action from BP, State, and Federal Government officials in charge of monitoring and responding to the spill.

Local residents in Walton County, Florida demanded a Town Hall meeting to discuss the lack of response to the oil assaulting the coast line.

They are also demanding answers to other questions like why local beaches have been declared safe and remain open even though tarballs have been washing ashore for weeks in Florida and the DEP hasn’t tested the waters for hydrocarbons since May 1st.

Ed Berry, a local businessmen, urged the commissioners to make sure the appropriate parties are being held accountable.

In his testimony he said “The children were in the water swimming. They were coming out of the water with tarballs on their face; they were wiping their face and having tar in their eyes and on their mouth.” Read more, watch startling videos.

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This evening's Rescue Rangers are rexymeteorite, Purple Priestess, grog, sunspark says, and shayera, with watercarrier4diogenes as the editorial functionary.

The rescued diaries are:

• First time diarist and fibromyalgia sufferer imokyrok knows that conflicting reports about research into retroviruses are Much Ado About Something - XMRV and CFS. (sunspark says)
• leftyparent describes how a caring boss turns the "org chart" upside down with his humanistic management style in Much More Boss. (rexymeteorite)
• Aji says Rebuild Haiti for Haitians, Not Halliburton: Justice, Not Charity. (shayera)
• Next time you hear "all conservative economists say...." you can go to Avenging Angel's diary for info to repute it: McCain Adviser, CBO Back Need for Jobs Bill. (Purple Priestess)
• vets74 begins a new series on the gulf crisis: BP Oil Disaster v. 1.0: Hats On, Patriots! (sunspark says)
• dantilson tells us about the Republicans' effort to kill progress towards making Florida energy independent in Energy Independence Day Postponed In Sunshine State - Again. (rexymeteorite)
• In an amazing analogy, ParkRanger compares the Titanic to the BP oil spill as he discusses Republicans in the Abyss or why I want a Democratic majority in 2010. (sunspark says)
• tle did all the work for us and lays out the Disaster Relief and Summer Jobs Act of 2010 in: War funding gobbledegookery. (Purple Priestess)
• MikeDub asks everyone to Take a few minutes, and feel what it's like to be unemployed. (grog)
• Trying to determine just how he became a "liberal fascist,' pkgoode explores his Journey to the Dark Side. (sunspark says)
• UntyingTheNot has some touching memories of the late Robert Byrd in: Remembering Senator Byrd. (Purple Priestess)

jotter has High Impact Diaries: July 2, 2010.

carolita has Top Comments 7-3-10 – Independence Revisited Edition.

Enjoy and please promote your own favorite diaries in this open thread (even if you're the author! Here's where that's actually appreciated). And, of course, since it's an open thread, PLAY NICE, OK? 8^)

As you've probably known since childhood, 234 years ago today we declared our independence from England.

But until this week, none of us could have known that:

• In October 2001, then-Illinois State Senator, and current first female President of the United States Barack Obama took us to war in Afghanistan; and

• Thurgood Marshall will never be confirmed to serve on the Supreme Court. Jerry Seinfeld will.