Thursday, August 5, 2010

Is The Oil Spill Really Gone in the Gulf, More Smoke And Mirrors From BP?

*** More bizarre reports from the BP and government corners trying to end the politics about the Gulf oil spill, when all they did was stir up a hornet's nest of criticism and anger.White House tone deaf to the Gulf residents and Dems political survivalFrom Denny: Apparently, I'm not the only one who sees politics as the driving force behind the Gulf oil spill pie charts. The political guys at the White House - yet again - have made a really bad call, both on timing and substance. When tone deaf news reports like this barf out of the White House it always has Axelrod's fingerprints on it. What does the President see in this guy?Oil spill report is bad science and just political posturingOn to the oil spill report trumpeting how there is hardly any oil left in the Gulf. This report is based on speculation "modeling and extrapolation and very generous assumptions" and that cannot be tested. People that ain't science; it's politics. How insensitive can this White House be to the Gulf residents? BP Claims Fund still empty and not paying Gulf residentsFeinberg still doesn't have a choke hold on BP, screaming "Show me the damn money!" to fill the coffers of the Claims Fund. The White House still refuses to give a date as to when the Gulf residents can expect their long awaited reimbursements. Yet, suddenly, the White House has this neatly pie-charted report all ready to go as soon as BP yells out of the bedroom how they have achieved static kill orgasm, "The cement is down the pipe!" And Axelrod declares, "OK, release the document hounds and let's put this environmental disaster to bed before the November elections."Plight of Louisiana's seafood industry Is he really that bonehead stupid to think the people of Louisiana and the Gulf coast are going to forget about this shabby treatment? Putting out a report to declare all is well in the Gulf is fantasy thinking. The fishing industry here is decimated and so is tourism as it relied heavily upon the Louisiana slogan of the state as "The Sportsman's Paradise" - a lot of deep sea fishing. The seafood fished here are mostly bottom and filter feeders like shrimp, crabs and oysters. Who is going to dine on this seafood that is ingesting the tar balls lying on the bottom of the ocean? So what if they are dispersed smaller tar balls? Tar balls are tar balls. Toxic is toxic. You can't change that reality no matter how many cute reports you feed to the media.Obama should be winning hearts and minds in Republican country instead of angering themThis disaster was Prez Obama's prime time to win some hearts and minds back into voting for Democrats in this Republican territory. Instead, all he's done is piss them off to the maximum with these delaying tactics and trust in BP's consistent outrageous lying. Why doesn't the President start yanking BP federal contracts to start getting things done on all these matters? Money talks and all the rest of the bullshit walks.From the science community criticizing this report: "This is a shaky report. The more I read it, the less satisfied I am with the thoroughness of the presentation," Florida State University oceanographer Ian MacDonald told The Associated Press. "There are sweeping assumptions here.""A lot of this is based on modeling and extrapolation and very generous assumptions,” said Samantha Joye, a marine scientist at the University of Georgia who has led some of the most important research on the Deepwater Horizon spill. “If an academic scientist put something like this out there, it would get torpedoed into a billion pieces."Gulf oil spill not 'gone' -- close to half may still lurk in GulfA White House adviser said Wednesday that the 'vast majority' of the Gulf oil spill is gone. But a summary of the report she cited leaves some questions unanswered.Gulf oil spill biggest ever, could cost BP $21 billion in finesA new estimate suggests that the Gulf oil spill blowout gushed 4.9 million barrels of oil before BP capped it, making it the largest accidental oil spill in history.Oil Spill Calculations Stir Debate on Damage - The Obama administration’s latest report on the Gulf of Mexico disaster set off a war of words Wednesday among scientists, Gulf Coast residents and political pundits about what to make of the Deepwater Horizon spill and its aftermath.

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*** THANKS for visiting, feel welcome to drop a comment or opinion, enjoy bookmarking this post on your favorite social site, a big shout out to awesome current subscribers – and if you are new to this blog, please subscribe in a reader or by email updates! *** Come by for a visit and check out my other blogs:The Social Poets - news, politicsThe Soul Calendar - science, astronomy, psychologyVisual Insights - photos, art, musicBeautiful Illustrated Quotations - spiritual quotes, philosophyPoems From A Spiritual Heart - poetryThe Healing Waters - health newsDennys People Watching - people in the newsDennys Food and RecipesDennys Funny Quotes - humor

Wednesday, August 4, 2010

Speaker Pelosi Champions Unemployed, Orders House Back From Vacation

*** Speaker Pelosi relentlessly drives hard to pass two important bills: keep teachers in the classrooms and hire the unemployed out of work for two years.Nancy "Give 'Em Hell" Pelosi takes no prisoners in CongressFrom Denny: Go get 'em, Nancy! Now THIS is government at work! "I will be calling the House back into session early next week to save teachers' jobs and help seniors & children," Pelosi said via Twitter this afternoon. From CBS: "The measure extends programs enacted in the stimulus package, with $16 billion for state health care programs and $10 billion to help school boards avoid teacher layoffs."Two bills: Medicaid, avoid teacher layoffs and funding for longest unemployedWhat's going on? House Speaker Nancy Pelosi ordered House members back to work to pass important pending bills, like first to pass a funding package for Medicaid and teachers. There's another bill in the Senate she is also motivating Senators to pass, most notably for the folks known as The 99ers, people who have been out of work for the past two years and no longer receive any unemployment benefits.Congress was scheduled for an entire month on holiday during August while other Americans face horrific financial and employment struggles. Well, The 99ers got smart and finally organized as a political group. They have threatened to take their case to the polls in November. Now we're talking about getting the attention of lawmakers.Unemployed for as long as two years: The 99ersAs you read this post, every day there are an additional 50,000 people who fall off the unemployment benefits roll because they no longer qualify after receiving benefits for the duration of 99 weeks. Unemployment is unprecedented in America since 70 years ago during The Great Depression. Big Business continues to insult the American worker, sending their jobs overseas. Big Business continues to screw over The Middle Class workerBig Business also imports foreign workers through unchecked visa programs like Microsoft set up with President Bush - and the practice continues today as Prez Obama has not stemmed the tide. That's where all the high tech jobs went: Americans got kicked to the side while foreign workers, willing to work for lower wages and no real benefits, filled the jobs in America. Gee, if billionaire Bill Gates of Microsoft wants to give away half his fortune like he claims, why doesn't he do something about the very mess he created where he displaced thousands of American workers every year for a decade?Russia paid a visit to Silicon Valley to recruit back their tech people from AmericaYou only had to watch the news a few weeks ago as the Russian President came to America to visit, you guessed it, Russian high tech workers in Silicon Valley. Clearly, Putin is trying to sweet talk the Russians home so they can reverse engineer our American technology for free. The Russian workers were suspicious and fearful of their President trying to woo them back home. Yeah, I would not want to go back to that after living in America either. The problem is that we have plenty of Americans who qualify for those high tech jobs and yet they are denied those same jobs because foreign workers on visa programs are filling them.New unemployment Senate billIntroduced by Senator Debbie Stabenow, Democrat, Michigan, and co-sponsored by Senator Charles Schumer, Democrat, New York, is a new bill to finally come to the rescue and help The 99ers. This bill extends unemployment benefits for an additional 20 weeks. They did not leave it at that as they have added incentives to the employers to get motivated to hire those who have been out of work the longest. As it stands, Big Business has ordered employment agencies to reject for consideration interviews anyone who is out of work. In order to get hired a prospective employee must already have a job.Incentives for employers to hire The 99ersThe Hire Act will be extending tax cuts as well as increase tax cuts for an additional year to those businesses that hire these four to five million people currently out of work for two years. Now THIS is a great idea for jobs creation. Tax incentives + tax breaks = jobs creation. This bill is now called the Americans Want to Work Act.

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*** Update 5 Aug 2010: Senate Passes Bill to Save Teacher, Police Jobs - The House Reconvenes Next Week to Take Up $26 Billion Measure, which Won't Increase Budget Deficit. This just passed the Senate, preserving about 300,000 jobs across America by extending programs in last year's stimulus plan. It passed by the vote of 61 - 39. That was after months of stalling tactics by the heartless Republicans. The House votes on it next week for a final vote to send this bill to the President.*** THANKS for visiting, feel welcome to drop a comment or opinion, enjoy bookmarking this post on your favorite social site, a big shout out to awesome current subscribers – and if you are new to this blog, please subscribe in a reader or by email updates! *** Come by for a visit and check out my other blogs:The Social Poets - news, politicsThe Soul Calendar - science, astronomy, psychologyVisual Insights - photos, art, musicBeautiful Illustrated Quotations - spiritual quotes, philosophyPoems From A Spiritual Heart - poetryThe Healing Waters - health newsDennys People Watching - people in the newsDennys Food and RecipesDennys Funny Quotes - humor

Monday, August 2, 2010

Roundup of Late Night Funnies - 2 Aug 2010

*** Check out jokes from the late night comedians about American society, funny videos from Colbert and Stewart and a few of the newest political cartoons.From Denny: There's plenty red hot political scandals to match up with the freaking hot weather across America this week. In Gulf Shores, Alabama, they suffered a 125 degree F. heat index - whew! And I thought 110 degree F. heat index was suffering...The ethics probes continue on various House members, both Democrat and Republican. Because the Dems are in power it seems the media only wants to highlight the failings of their members. The Dems would do well to mention the Republican members facing ethics or criminal charges as well. Political corruption is definitely a well balanced "menu" in America that involves both sides of the aisle.This week the White House has their Press Secretary Gibbs singing a new tune about how the Dems will keep the House in the November election. Let's hope they are correct. Random Denny Thought: The Dems would do well to beef up their slogan beyond, "Hey! It really sucks with the Republicans who are putting you into the Poor House and plan to sell you off as slaves on the Wall Street auction block. It's bad with us - but it's a whole lot worse with the Republicans. Vote for us!" You guys need new political operatives with fresh ideas that are certainly more appealing.Speaking of political operatives, the White House ones trotted out the President onto the daytime TV set of "The View" to try and grab back the disenfranchised female audience who voted for him. Talk about controversy. The Republicans were screaming at the top of their lungs about it wasn't Presidential to attend a daytime female audience show as it cheapened the Presidency. How lame can you get? Presidents Nixon and Bush 43 already ruined what was left of respect for the Presidency. You can't blame that one on President Obama.Then the intellectual feminist crowd booed Obama practically off the stage when he quipped about The View was about the only show his wife would watch. A lot of women were outraged at his sexist remark. I just yawned. So what? The President clearly looked bored and sometimes uncomfortable in such tight quarters with so many women. He's more of a man's man, feeling better out in the fresh air playing golf. If I were President and got trotted out to the set of the sports channel ESPN you would have seen me equally bored, though I've never been uncomfortable in a room full of men.Did I really care if he went on that show? No. The show bores me and I don't watch it. I can do enough hissy fit fussing on my own. I don't need to go looking for it on the tube. All I have to do to get riled up is read the daily news - and I'm off and running with the word play on the blogs, solving all the problems and saving the world. :)Funny Videos Featured this week:Funny Video: Jon Stewart Mocks Media For Sorry WikiLeaks ReactionFunny Video: Colberts Live Tony Hayward Cam Tracking His Slow ResignationBill DayFrom Jay Leno:Because of Arizona's new law, a lot of immigrants have fled the state and returned to their homeland, Los Angeles.President Obama said he had a good time on 'The View,' and that the ladies on the show talk a lot less than Joe Biden.Whiny Tony Hayward - you know the cry-baby BP CEO guy - he says life’s not fair and that sometimes you step off a curb and you get hit by a bus. You know, if life was fair, that bus would have been driven by an unemployed Louisiana shrimp boat operator.President Obama is going on 'The View' to talk about the economy. Later on, he’ll go to 'General Hospital' to explain to doctors how the new healthcare system works.With Arizona’s new immigration law getting ready to kick in, there’s a new slogan: 'What happens in Arizona stays in Mexico.'Nick AndersonCongress’ approval rating has hit an all-time low of 11 percent. To give you an idea of how bad that is, the BP oil spill is at 12 percent.Continental announced a new feature called 'self boarding.' There’s no ticket agent taking your boarding pass anymore, and you scan it yourself as you board the plane. It’s part of Continental’s 'Terrorists Fly Hassel-free' program.President Obama's new message to the American people is 'things could be a lot worse.' We've gone from 'change you can believe in' to 'things could be a lot worse.' The sequel is never as good as the original.BP announced that as a result of their own internal investigation, it has cleared itself of all blame in the Gulf oil spill. In a related story, Congressman Charlie Rangel has announced that he will be investigating himself and will find himself completely innocent.An American named Bob Dudley is BP's new CEO. Nice to see an American taking a job from a foreigner for once.New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie said this week that 'Jersey Shore' is giving New Jersey a bad name. As opposed to the good, clean, inspirational shows about New Jersey, like 'The Sopranos.'Vice President Joe Biden has declared that the heavy lifting is over for the year, and it's time to begin campaigning and talking about the White House's accomplishments. The heavy lifting might be over, but it sounds like the heavy shoveling is just beginning.Shirley Sherrod was fired from her job at the Agriculture Department, then they said they made a mistake and offered to hire her back. Today, Gen. McChrystal asked if he could have his job back.WikiLeaks has posted over 90,000 classified documents about the war in Afghanistan. The Pentagon is outraged, the White House is furious, but British Petroleum is relieved: 'Finally, a leak we had nothing to do with.'Ford has moved ahead of Toyota in sales and they say they're not stopping until they see even better results. Not stopping? That's what screwed up Toyota.A new poll shows that Congress' approval rating is at a record low of 11 percent. The other 89 percent are going to withhold judgment until Congress actually does something.Steve BensonDemocratic Congressman Charlie Rangel was charged with multiple ethics violations. Members of Congress were stunned. They had no idea there was more than one ethics.Budget problems are so bad in Newark, New Jersey, that the mayor has ordered the government to stop buying toilet paper for public restrooms. They're calling this the worst thing to happen to the state since 'Jersey Shore.'Former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich did not testify at his trial. He wanted to testify, but he sold his seat at the court for $100,000." –Jay Leno"Happy birthday to former Sen. Bob Dole. He's 175 years old today." –Jay LenoHave you guys seen this show 'White House Apprentice?' It's a lot like the other 'Apprentice,' but on this one, when the boss fires you, he offers you your job back a day later.Britney Spears has been giving her support to Mel Gibson throughout the scandal, which is ironic because Mel's latest tape is called, 'Oops, I did it again.'Chip BokFrom David Letterman:President Obama is going to be on ‘The View.’ Who says this guy isn’t willing to confront radical extremists?Chelsea Clinton is getting married this weekend. I don’t know how this happened, but she’s marrying Levi Johnston.A lot of security at the wedding, a huge security detail, and that’s just to keep Bill from the bridesmaids.Arizona's immigration law went into effect today. If you want to boycott Arizona, instead of going to see the Grand Canyon, come to New York City to see our potholes.President Obama is in town for an appearance on 'The View.' He probably won’t get a word in edgewise, but he said he’s used to it. He lives with his mother-in-law.Elmhurst, Ind. wants to make it illegal to roll your eyes in public. But what if Rod Blagojevich comes to town and declares his innocence?David Letterman's "Top Ten Reasons Jeb Bush Isn’t Running for President"10. Worried he can’t live up to the expectations 9. Doesn’t want to live in a house previously occupied by a smoker 8. Too busy with his daily routine: gym, tan, laundry 7. Huckabee has a lock on the 'pasty fat guy' vote 6. Leaves voicemail messages that make Mel Gibson sound like a choir boy 5. Scared of Lincoln’s ghost 4. Wants to be an 'American Idol' judge 3. Wasn’t blessed with the Bush family stammer 2. For some reason, he’d rather not inherit two wars, massive debt, and an ocean full of oil 1. No governor siblings to help him rig the electionElmhurst, Illinois is going to outlaw eye-rolling. So what happens if John McCain shows up and says he still thinks he made the right choice with Sarah Palin?BP CEO Tony Hayward is being sent to a project in Siberia. He wants to go to a part of the planet that hasn't been ruined yet.King Tut's chariot is in New York City for two weeks, then it goes right back to Jay Leno's garage.King Tut used the chariot on his first date with Barbara Walters.Chip BokDavid Letterman's "Top Ten Surprises In The Leaked Government Documents"10. Revealed secret recipe for Ayman Al-Zawahiri's 'Easy Cheesy Potato Casserole' 9. Intelligence agencies have almost deciphered the plot of 'Inception' 8. Outlined the Knicks' failed strategy to get LeBron 7. Terror chatter is at its lowest during 'Cake Boss' 6. Al-Qaida canceled plan to destroy Gulf of Mexico when BP beat them to it 5. Haven't found Osama's cave, but did find his 'man cave' with a sweet 65-inch flat screen 4. Despite stern memo from Kathy Mavrikakis, documents weren't printed double-sided 3. Discovered classified location of Chelsea Clinton's wedding 2. Obama and Osama almost appeared with Oprah in Tostitos Super Bowl commercial 1. Turns out the 9-year, no-end-in-sight Afghan war isn't going wellThe White House is very upset about a bunch of secret documents about the Afghanistan war that were leaked online. Out of habit, BP apologized.BP is firing its CEO, Tony Hayward. They're negotiating a settlement for $18 million. Boy, that'll teach him.David Letterman's Top Ten Questions on the BP CEO Application 10. Do you have prior experience working for greedy thugs? 9. How many lies can you type per minute? 8. Do you own a lot of towels and rags? 7. On a scale of 1-10, how committed are you to protecting the environment, 1 meaning 'Not very much' and 10 meaning 'Not at all'? 6. What species do you most want to drive into extinction? 5. This isn't about the job, but seriously, how crazy are those Mel Gibson recordings? 4. Do you know how to beat a lie detector? 3. Have you ever seen a donkey parasailing? 2. By the way, would you mind firing the last guy for us? 1. Any suggestions on where we should have our next spill?The brother of former President George Bush, Jeb Bush, is running for president. Yep, and the campaign slogan is, 'I'm going to finish what my brother started.'So Jeb Bush is running for president. I don't know about the rest of the country, but thank God, ladies and gentlemen, the comedy recession is over!Political experts and pundits and people who know the Bushes are saying that Jeb Bush is smarter than his brother. That's damning with faint praise, isn't it? Who the hell isn't smarter than his brother, for God's sake?Steve BensonFrom Craig Ferguson:Scientists are saying that a giant asteroid could strike the earth in 2182, and that it could decimate the planet and destroy most forms of life. A spokesman for BP said, 'Been there, done that.'A federal judge has blocked Arizona’s immigration law. Immigrants have been celebrating and throwing confetti. The governor of Arizona said, 'Sure, now they’re showing us their papers.'Tony Hayward is stepping down as CEO of BP. They weren't supposed to make the announcement yet, but of course, the news leaked.Leaked documents show that Pakistan has been taking American money and using it to fund the Taliban. The Pakistanis are denying it, and they're like, 'The Taliban bought those iPods with their own money.'WikiLeaks has 91,000 secret documents, but who has the time to read that? I can barely get through the instructions on a shampoo bottle.It turns out that our biggest ally in the region is Russia. With all due respect to Russia, it's not the best place to get advice on how to win in Afghanistan.Chip BokFrom Jimmy Kimmel:President Bush's memoir is set to come out just in time for the midterm elections and it has some Republicans upset because it may remind voters of — President Bush.One conservative columnist called the timing of the book release 'selfish and stupid,' which, coincidentally, is also the title of the book.Chuck AsayMahmoud Ahmadinejad is lashing out at Paul the Octopus, who predicted winners in the World Cup. Ahmadinejad said the octopus represents what’s wrong with the West. I guess he’s never seen 'Jersey Shore.'He said Paul the Octopus is a symbol of decadence and decay in the Western world. You have to lose some dictator credibility when you pick a fight with an octopus.There are more Mel Gibson tapes coming out. How many of these do they have? It might be time to drill a relief well in Mel Gibson.Paris Hilton is in hot water for a picture in which she looks like she's doing a Nazi salute. Let's be honest, Paris Hilton has no idea what a Nazi salute is. She probably thinks Nazi is a game you play with dice.The heat in Washington D.C. was so bad today, that the Supreme Court had to wear their emergency sleeveless robes.BP will replace Tony Hayward as CEO. He plans to spend more time at home spilling every liquid in his kitchen cabinet.Violence struck at Comic-Con when an argument between two men resulted in one being arrested for stabbing the other with a pen. Which proved that the pen is mightier than the light saber.There were 80,000 guys dressed as superheroes and no one stepped in to save him.Facebook now has more than 500 million users, which may help explain why unemployment is around 10 percent.Facebook now has 500 million users. The previous record holder was heroin.Lisa BensonFrom Jimmy Fallon:Toyota is recalling more than 400,000 cars in the U.S. because of steering problems. Toyota's crisis management spokesman issued a statement saying, 'Good to be back.'BP CEO Tony Hayward complained that he was unfairly 'demonized' in the U.S. over his handling of the Gulf oil spill. In response, demons complained that they were unfairly compared to BP CEO Tony Hayward.President Obama was in New York today to tape his appearance on 'The View.' Whoopi asked him about the economy, Joy asked about the war, and Elizabeth asked for his birth certificate.Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said that Paul the Octopus is a symbol of decadence and decay in the western world. Which is exactly what Paul the Octopus predicted he would say.Chuck AsayPresident Obama is going on a 10-day vacation to Martha's Vineyard in August. Obama was like, 'This is my longest vacation ever,' and voters were like, 'Wait'll you see the one we're planning for you!'Former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice performed a duet with Aretha Franklin at a charity event. Not to be outdone, President Bush played tambourine on three songs with The Wiggles.There were reports over the weekend that BP's CEO Tony Hayward could resign within the next two days. Two days. Of course, in BP time, that's like six months.The founder of WikiLeaks just released 91,000 classified documents about the war in Afghanistan, and he said he plans to post thousands more. I just wish he'd hurry, because I breezed through those first 91,000. It's like waiting for the next Harry Potter.There's a report that Kate Gosselin and Sarah Palin are taking their families camping together in Alaska. And it must be true, because Sarah Palin hasn't refudiated it yet.Lisa BensonPresident Obama and his family are going on vacation in the Gulf Coast next month. Of course, the Gulf Coast is a lovely place to sit back and relax — just ask BP.Starbucks' profits went up 37 percent in the third quarter of this year. They say they owe the increase to their new strategy of opening a Starbucks inside an existing Starbucks.A woman from Washington is suing American Airlines for 5 million dollars after they lost her luggage. When the airline said that's a ridiculous amount of money for luggage, she was like, 'Now you know how we feel.'*** Bozo Sapien Award photo by I'm Fantastic @ flickr*** THANKS for visiting, feel welcome to drop a comment or opinion, enjoy bookmarking this post on your favorite social site, a big shout out to awesome current subscribers – and if you are new to this blog, please subscribe in a reader or by email updates! *** Come by for a visit and check out my other blogs:The Social Poets - news, politicsThe Soul Calendar - science, astronomy, psychologyVisual Insights - photos, art, musicBeautiful Illustrated Quotations - spiritual quotes, philosophyPoems From A Spiritual Heart - poetryThe Healing Waters - health newsDennys People Watching - people in the newsDennys Food and RecipesDennys Funny Quotes - humor
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