Since no one else posted it: The not quite worst possible scenario..

[Chun Liroy]

I don't normally like to get into political debates or threads really, but does swampdonkey's sig accurately represent how he acts ALL the time?

[Rhinox]

And if he doesn't own the stock anymore impartiality can't be shown. And past impartiality is usually based on a statement or something.

Again He owned stock as little as two years ago. Which to any reasonable Person with the IQ above that of a nant would show he had a favorable view on the Energy business.

So What you're telling me is if Bill gates sold all his interests in Microsoft and was to be appointed head of the FCC and Apple filed a complaint that Microsoft is violating the Sherman Antitrust act again he would be an impartial arbiter in the investigation?


And a Statement can also be an act.

like say... the act of buying stock in an energy company.

or

boycotting a state for a racist law.

[Olo401]

http://images2.dailykos.com/images/u...0/damn_lrg.jpg

[Olo401]

An update..

Christian Science Monitor - Oil Rain in Louisiana?

Tropical Depression One - Storm Tracker at Weather Underground

[Tajin]

http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/pdf/hurrican..._factsheet.pdf

prolly repost, havent read the last 2 - 3 pages.

[Olo401]

Interesting read.. among all the stuff in there it mentions that a hurricane could help accelerate the biodegredation process.

[Kuya]

The government and BP are getting pretty cozy together.

From ProPublica:

A photographer taking pictures for these articles, was detained Friday while shooting pictures in Texas City, Texas.

The photographer, Lance Rosenfield, said that shortly after arriving in town, he was confronted by a BP security officer, local police and a man who identified himself as an agent of the Department of Homeland Security. He was released after the police reviewed the pictures he had taken on Friday and recorded his date of birth, Social Security number and other personal information.

The police officer then turned that information over to the BP security guard under what he said was standard procedure, according to Rosenfield.

No charges were filed.

Rosenfield, an experienced freelance photographer, said he was detained shortly after shooting a photograph of a Texas City sign on a public roadway. Rosenfield said he was followed by a BP employee in a truck after taking the picture and blocked by two police cars when he pulled into a gas station.

According to Rosenfield, the officers said they had a right to look at photos taken near secured areas of the refinery, even if they were shot from public property. Rosenfield said he was told he would be "taken in" if he declined to comply.

From Newsweek:

As BP makes its latest attempt to plug its gushing oil well, news photographers are complaining that their efforts to document the slow-motion disaster in the Gulf of Mexico are being thwarted by local and federal officials -- working with BP -- who are blocking access to the sites where the effects of the spill are most visible. More than a month into the disaster, a host of anecdotal evidence is emerging from reporters, photographers, and TV crews in which BP and Coast Guard officials explicitly target members of the media, restricting and denying them access to oil-covered beaches, staging areas for clean-up efforts, and even flyovers.

From the Raw Story:

Journalists who come too close to oil spill clean-up efforts without permission could find themselves facing a $40,000 fine and even one to five years in prison under a new rule instituted by the Coast Guard late last week.

It's a move that outraged observers have decried as an attack on First Amendment rights. And CNN's Anderson Cooper describes the new rules as making it "very easy to hide incompetence or failure". . . .

[S]ince "oil spill response operations" apparently covers much of the clean-up effort on the beaches, CNN's Anderson Cooper describes the rule as banning reporters from "anywhere we need to be" . . . .

A "willful" violation of the new rule could result in Class D felony charges, which carry a penalty of one to five years in prison under federal law.

Reporters have been complaining for weeks about BP, the Department of Homeland Security and the Coast Guard working to keep reporters away from wrenching images of oil-covered birds and oil-soaked beaches.

Government and corporations working together to block information. What's that familiar smell i smell?

Links:

http://www.propublica.org/article/bp...e-gulf-blowout

http://www.newsweek.com/2010/05/26/t...ll-photos.html

http://rawstory.com/rs/2010/0704/coa...cleanup-sites/

Links obtained from:

http://www.salon.com/news/opinion/glenn_greenwald/

[Rhinox]

even when the American Journalist try and be responsible they are double teamed in the ass by the American Government/Private sector..

[Olo401]

Just wanted to address a common misconception about the First Amendment..

At its root meaning, it only stops Congress from taking away your right to free speech. The federal executive, courts and the state governments are not limited by it at all.

[Rhinox]

wiki

Originally, the First Amendment only applied to the Congress. However, starting with Gitlow v. New York, 268 U.S. 652 (1925), the Supreme Court held that the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment applies the First Amendment to each state, including any local government.

[Stumblingdrunk]

i'm pretty sure he just said Shut the fuck up Olo with citations

[SwampdonkeyPLD]

wiki

Originally, the First Amendment only applied to the Congress. However, starting with Gitlow v. New York, 268 U.S. 652 (1925), the Supreme Court held that the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment applies the First Amendment to each state, including any local government.

Off topic but I've never understood why the SCOTUS used the due process clause instead of the P&I clause to apply the bill of rights to the states. It seems illogical to use a procedural guarantee as a foundation for a substantive guarantee. And yes I know the P&I clause was gutted.

[Rhinox]

Nah actually like Olo. he is just wrong on this.

[Shuvo]

Regarding this link:
http://rawstory.com/rs/2010/0704/coa...cleanup-sites/

They're allowed to take photographs, they just have to do so from at least 20 meters away from the oil boom. Any decent camera could take good photographs at this distance. Its not a first amendment issue, its a safety-of-the-oil-booms/workers issue. You don't want some random journalist's boat crashing into them.

[Lordender]

5min mark when she talks about the letter she got from BP.

[Olo401]

wiki

Originally, the First Amendment only applied to the Congress. However, starting with Gitlow v. New York, 268 U.S. 652 (1925), the Supreme Court held that the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment applies the First Amendment to each state, including any local government.

Oooh thanks for correcting me here.. That pesky 14th amendment strikes again!

i'm pretty sure he just said Shut the fuck up Olo with citations

Fuck off.

[BerenTebogo]

The government and BP are getting pretty cozy together.

From ProPublica:



From Newsweek:


From the Raw Story:



Government and corporations working together to block information. What's that familiar smell i smell?

Links:

http://www.propublica.org/article/bp...e-gulf-blowout

http://www.newsweek.com/2010/05/26/t...ll-photos.html

http://rawstory.com/rs/2010/0704/coa...cleanup-sites/

Links obtained from:

http://www.salon.com/news/opinion/glenn_greenwald/

Nevermind I fail.



(Rhinox already posted the Anderson Cooper vid it just didn't load for me originally. Oops.)

[Olo401]

Bumping for a major update.. It looks like the test of the new riser/shutoff valve has been successful and the well is currently shut off.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/38255728...r_in_the_gulf/

They're now holding the well shut to see if it can withstand the pressure of the oil coming up the well. One of the live robot feeds shows "vapors" of some kind - not sure if it's a very small leak or if it's something else like methane crystals forming or maybe dispersant..

Fantastic news. Now onto the final kill of the well and expanding the cleanup effort.

[Tristam]

And now some bad news, oil is leaking out elsewhere. So is there another hole downwell? Let's hope the relief wells get deep enough to kill whatever the hell is leaking out wherever it is.

http://www.cnn.com/2010/US/07/18/gul...eo=true&hpt=T1

[Olo401]

I'm trying to find that video now.. I did find this tho:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mdxpAEYN5E4

That's the new stack of pipes and valves and BOPs they put on.. looks like they need to open it back up soon and release the pressure because oil's leaking out from the welds..