When BP CEO Tony Hayward testified before Congress this morning, many expected to hear him apologize for the disaster his company has caused. Instead, GOP Congressman Joe Barton was the one saying he was sorry -- to BP.
In his opening statement, Barton, the top Republican on the committee overseeing the oil spill and its aftermath, delivered a personal apology to the oil giant. He said the $20 billion fund that President Obama directed BP to establish to provide relief to the victims of the oil disaster was a "tragedy in the first proportion."
Other Republicans are echoing his call. Sen. John Cornyn said he "shares" Barton's concern. Rep. Michele Bachmann said that BP shouldn't agree to be "fleeced." Rush Limbaugh called it a "bailout." The Republican Study Committee, with its 114 members in the House, called it a "shakedown."
Let's be clear. This fund is a major victory for the people of the Gulf. It's a key step toward making them whole again. BP has a responsibility to those whose lives and livelihoods have been devastated by the disaster. And BP oil executives don't deserve an apology -- the people of the Gulf do.
Way to go John. These are some of the things Obama's doing that piss me off, areas where he is engaging in massive epic fail. There's more too but no time to go into it now (Stop Loss!!!!)
Rachel Maddow blasted BP COO Doug Suttles Monday night for what she found were highly misleading and inaccurate responses during an interview Suttles gave to NBC's Tom Costello.
Maddow had two main issues with the interview: 1. Suttles' explanation for why BP included animals such as walruses --which are typically not found in the region-- in a list of potentially endangered animals in BP's oil spill plan for the Gulf of Mexico; and 2. Suttles' attempt to defend the lack of technological innovation when it came to responding to spills by arguing that there had been "so few big spills" over the past few decades.
"The events haven't driven the technology change that's out there," Suttles told Costello.
Maddow called Suttles' explanation of the walrus mistake "not even a remotely believable answer." In response to his defense of the technology, she went to a board with a map of the United States on it and ran through a long list of oil spills that had occurred in the 2000s alone. She highlighted over a dozen of them, ranging from Massachusetts to Delaware to Louisiana to Alaska to California to Utah, and contradicting Suttles' claim that there have been too few spills to force the technology to catch up.
I don't consider myself to be an expert on Marijuana or the politics behind why it was illegal, but I've always felt like I know more than the average person. I know it has medical benefits, I know hemp is useful, I know that the government says it's a gateway drug and that's why it must be destroyed. I felt like I knew a bit of the depth of the issue.
This movie just made me blatantly aware of how ignorant I am about the truly amazing qualities of Marijuana, and the sick and twisted politics behind why it is illegal. I've definitely found a cause for activism that I will be involved in until Marijuana is legalized and all of it's potential is tapped for the good of all the people on this planet.
This is a MUST SEE MOVIE. It's on instant view on Netflix, so if you have an account then go search it out and watch it. You will be surprised how much you do not know. It's also on youtube but the quality is pretty crap, though that's not too important.
The Union: The Business Behind Getting High
Filmmaker Adam Scorgie explores the illegal marijuana industry in British Columbia, revealing how the international business is most likely more profitable than it would be if it was lawful in this enlightening documentary. Marijuana growers, law enforcement officials, physicians, politicians, criminologists, economists and celebrities -- including comedian Tommy Chong -- shed light on this topical subject in a series of compelling interviews.
Sword-Wielding Porn Actor Dies After Falling Off C
k2o4, Jun 06 2010
What kinda crazy world is this becoming? This is a story I never imagined I'd hear about unless it was in a bad movie... maybe a bad porn movie.
UPDATE: The LA Times reports that Stephen Hill has died as a result of head injuries suffered from his roughly 50 ft. fall...Developing...
LOS ANGELES (AP) -- A porn actor suspected of killing a colleague with a sword was taken into police custody Saturday after he fell some 40 feet from a rocky hillside from which he had been threatening to jump, officials said.
A "less lethal munition" was used against Stephen Clancy Hill just before his plummet, said police Officer Bruce Borihanh, who had no other details about the weapon that was used.
SWAT officers spent part of Saturday afternoon trying to talk Hill down from the outcropping as he clutched a sword.
It was unknown whether the sword was the murder weapon in Tuesday's deadly attack at a DVD production center that also left two people injured.
Hill fled to the Chatsworth neighborhood hillside after leaving a house where he was barricaded for most of Saturday.
Borihanh said Hill, 34, would be booked on murder and attempted murder charges after he was treated by paramedics. His condition was unknown.
Story continues below
The charges were filed against Hill Friday after Eric Jover, who runs the Ultima DVD production house, offered a $2,000 reward on the company's website for information leading to his arrest.
Hill attacked a colleague with a sword that was used as a film prop during a social gathering at the Ultima's studios about a week after being told he was being fired and that he would have to move out of the production facility, where he had been living, authorities said.
He then turned on two others who rushed to their co-worker's defense. One of those who attempted to help, Herbert Hin Wong, 30, was killed in the attack.
Hill, whose professional name is Steve Driver, fled in an SUV with the murder weapon, authorities said.
Ultima is located in the San Fernando Valley, known in the adult film industry as Porn Valley for its large number of porn businesses. The small company produces niche films featuring fetishes and sexual domination of men.
Hill was convicted of second-degree assault and a handgun charge in March 1999 in Maryland, according to court records.
This shit is crazy. A big storm caused this sinkhole to open up in the middle of the city. This is after a sinkhole took a house + family in Canada a few weeks ago.
I've taken shit for posting about this show in the past and it was well deserved, cause during season 1 the show was cheesy as hell and the special effects/fights were all pretty crap. Even the beginning of season 2 was weak. So what show am I talking about? What show is now my favorite?
The 2nd half of season 2 has put this show into the "awesome" category. The special effects and fight scenes suddenly got good and the writing got fantastic. The stories were always interesting and entertaining, but more in a "Kevin Sorbo is Hercules" kinda way. I think someone else got involved in directing or editing or something, cause suddenly it's a whole new show. But it still has enough fun cheesy moments to satisfy.
Let's examine what this show is all about:
* Cheesy - Check
* Main character that looks like Link from Zelda - Check
* Female lead who's boobs hang out often - Check
* Ugly old dude that looks like really could be a wizard - Check
* Sword fighting - Check
* Using magic in the story to create unique story lines - Check
* Hot blond girl in red leather who dominates you with a pain inducing dildo - Check
Let's confirm with some photo evidence:
"I'm the Seeker and I'm ready to kick some ass... hey, where's my boomerang? And why isn't Epona here, I need a ride to the castle to defeat Gannond... I mean Lord Raul!"
"I'm the lead chick and this dress is built for cleavage, though this picture isn't so flattering"
"Ahh, there we go, one of my better cleavage shots"
"I'm an ugly old SOB but I can burn you with Wizards fire"
"Ready to be beaten... and love it?"
When they were first premiering the first season of this show they did a live interview with the actors who were filming in New Zealand on like channel 2... it was a horrible interview but I think that helped cause in my pitty for them I got curious about the show. Watched the first few episodes and was reminded of the old Hercules TV show with Kevin Sorbo. It was ok, not great, and I stopped watching.
Then I was watching TV late one night on Sci-Fi and they were doing a Seeker Marathon, but they were doing the episodes in some crazy random order. And the later episodes were pretty good and the story had gone in directions I hadn't predicted. I got curious again. So I went and found it on netflix and watched all of season 1. Totally loved it despite all the ways it's cheesy and stupid.
Now season 2 is coming to an end and the writing is kinda like LOST but things actually MAKE SENSE. It's so nice. Totally love this show right now.
(PS - Yes, I reposted a bunch of stuff from an old blog. I'm lazy)
So I am barely playing any poker these days and decided that I'll play tournaments instead of cash games because with the miniature volume of hands I'm putting in there's no way I'll make any money from cash games, but if I can win a big tournament I'm in business. Better value for the time I put in since I've been playing usually 1-3 tables and only 1-2 times a week.
Was only playing big massive MTT tournaments and kept making it into the money but busting out in the top 50 or so of thousands of people. So I decided to try some smaller SNG's and played 4 last night, won 1 and got 2nd in another. Fun stuff.
I've also completely changed my playing style compared to what it used to be. Since I'm playing less tables I'm much more focused on playing by feel than by preconveived rules, and I'm going with my gut to make reads which have been right about 95% of the time so far. Made some huge bluffs and huge calls. I think this strategy is so ideal for tournaments cause I'd usually float through a tourney around avg stack size and try to go harrington style of being an overall nit. But the problem was that once I got deep and the blinds were up it was always hard to keep my stack solid cause I wasn't making enough moves and didn't have a stack that could take much risk. this new strat had my stack fluctuating all over the place but in the long run it would grow. Pretty awesome.
Anyway it was a lot of fun. Just felt like ranting a bit about it =)
WASHINGTON - President Barack Obama on Friday angrily decried the "ridiculous spectacle" of oil industry officials pointing fingers of blame for the catastrophic spill in the Gulf of Mexico and pledged to end a "cozy relationship" between the oil industry and federal regulators that he said had extended into his own administration.
Obama said he shared the "anger and frustration" felt by many Americans, and promised he would "not rest or be satisfied" until the leak had been capped, the spill had been cleaned up and gulf residents could return to their livelihoods.
He also acknowledged differing estimates about just how disastrous the damage from the leak could become. He said the administration's response has "always been geared toward the possibility of a catastrophic event."
...
Reacting to the president's remarks, NBC's Andrea Mitchell said, "I frankly don't remember a Rose Garden scene like that against the industry since JFK and the steel industry."
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