Report: White House Pressured Scientists to Underestimate BP Spill Size

Report: White House Pressured Scientists to Underestimate BP Spill Size | Mother Jones

For the first few weeks after the spill began in April 2010, BP misled the public about how big it was, and the government repeated BP's estimate without question. And when the government released its own estimate in late May of up to 25,000 barrels per day, that too was controversial—and proved to be far lower than the actual size,which was more like 53,000 barrels of oil per day.

Now, an email released by Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER) traces efforts to downplay the spill size in the initial weeks back to the White House. The group released a May 29, 2010 email from Dr. Marcia McNutt, the director of the US Geologic Survey and head of the government's Flow Rate Technical Group (FRTG), that was released in response to a Freedom of Information Act request.

Newt Gingrich Video: I supported Rockefeller over Goldwater

Nelson Rockefeller was not a Conservative. In fact, he was a liberal New York Republican Governor:
Last night Gingrich tried to give the impression that he was a Goldwater supporter. This typical Gingrich double-speak:

"I went to a Goldwater organizing session in 1964. I met with Ronald Reagan for the first time in 1974. I worked with Jack Kemp, and Art Laffer and others to develop supply side economics in the late '70s. I helped Governor Reagan become President Reagan. I helped pass the Reagan economic program and worked with the National Security Council on issues including the collapse of the Soviet Empire," Newt Gingrich said at tonight's debate.

Freddie Mac Contract: What is Newt Gingrich Hiding?

Sounds like he has something to hide:

Newt Gingrich’s consulting firm yesterday released a copy of its 2006 contract with Freddie Mac (FMCC), which covers just one year of his multiple years of service and documents only $300,000 of the $1.6 million he received from the mortgage company.

The Republican hopeful’s first contract -- spanning 1999 to 2002 and worth between $1 million and $1.2 million, according to two people familiar with the agreement -- wasn’t released because officials at the Center for Health Transformation can’t find it, said Susan Meyers, a center spokeswoman who works for the Gingrich campaign. The 2006 contract also applied to 2007, she said, meaning the total value of that contract was $600,000.

“We’re not even sure we signed anything for 2007,” said Meyers.

[...]“Why isn’t Speaker Gingrich disclosing the full extent of his relationship with Freddie Mac?” said Brian Jones, a spokesman for the Romney campaign. “Ultimately this disclosure raises more questions than it actually does answer.”

[...]Surrogates for both candidates traded jabs over Gingrich’s work for Freddie Mac yesterday.

Former Governor Tim Pawlenty of Minnesota and Florida House Speaker-designate Will Weatherford said in a Romney-arranged conference call with reporters that Gingrich needed to provide “transparency” about his work for Freddie Mac.

“We don’t have insight or transparency into what he actually did,” Pawlenty said. He called Gingrich’s claims that lawyers are holding up the release of the contracts “B.S.” and “just nonsense.”

Commentary: The Truly Dismal State of the Union

Joseph Curl covered the White House and politics for a decade for The Washington Times:

There is one person — one American among the 300 million of us — who is not to blame for the state of the union. Everyone else, each of you, in some small or large way, bears some share of the blame, but not this guy. Not one little bit.

[...]This guy is Barack Obama. He is not the least bit to blame for the dismal state of the U.S. economy. George W. Bush is, for sure, and that evil Dick Cheney, oh, no doubt. House Speaker John A. Boehner — evil, too — is, of course, to blame. But guess what? So is Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi, and every Democrat in the House and Senate.

Now, President Truman made it very clear: The buck stops with him. No passing the buck for that guy. But Mr. Obama blames everyone but himself. Mr. Bush, he says, left the nation in a ditch, a deep ditch, and he’s been digging out since he took office. And Congress? Those guys are just plain awful, he says. So mean. Wah, they won’t do anything I want done! Mr. Obama feels so sure about it that he’s basing his re-election campaign on bashing Capitol Hill.

[...]Some 48 percent of all Americans — 146.4 million — are considered by the Census Bureau either as “low-income” or living in poverty, up 4 million from when Mr. Obama took office; 57 percent of all children in America now live in such homes.

Since December 2008, a month before Mr. Obama took office, food-stamp use has increased 46 percent. Total spending has more than doubled in just four years to a record high of $75 billion. In 2011, more than 46 million people — about one in seven Americans — got food stamps. That’s 14 million more than when Mr. Obama took office.

Median household income has dropped nearly 7 percent in the last six years, taking inflation into account. What’s more, nearly 20 percent of males age 25 to 34 now live with their parents.

Low- and middle-income Americans 65 and older now hold more than $10,000 in credit card debt, up 26 percent since 2005. The average age of the American car is 10 years; in 1990, it was 6.5 years old (by the way, in 1985, Americans bought 11 million cars; in 2009, less than half that, 5.4 million).

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Huge Solar Storm to Shower Earth with Radioactive Particles

Source:

The largest solar storm for seven years is expected to send a shower of radioactive solar particles racing towards Earth at almost 1,400 miles a second this week, according to NASA.

The flare, caused by a huge eruption on the sun's surface on Sunday, is expected to affect GPS systems and other communications when it reaches the Earth's magnetic field on Tuesday..

Solar flares are our solar system's largest explosive events and can last from minutes to hours, according to NASA, releasing up to a billion tons of matter in the process.

NASA says the flare may also spark an unusually large display of auroras, which may be visible at lower latitudes than normal.

Chinese Forces Break up Tibetan Protest with Tear Gas

The world has forgotten Tibet, again:

Chinese security forces fired tear gas to break up a protest by Tibetans in the southwest province of Sichuan, an advocacy group said, the latest sign of volatile ethnic unrest in the region.

Reports from advocacy groups earlier said that in a separate clash, coinciding with this week's Chinese New Year celebrations, troops fired on thousands of Tibetans protesting in the same province, killing at least one and wounding more.

Free Tibet, a London-based organization that campaigns for Tibetan self-determination, said in an email that on Monday troops fired tear gas at Tibetan protesters in Meruma township, Aba County, called Ngaba County by Tibetans.

"Tibetans had gathered to protest Chinese oppression on the occasion of Chinese New Year, having decided that they would not celebrate the lunar New Year because of the current repression in Tibet," Free Tibet said.

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Video: NBC Florida GOP Presidential Debate (1-23-12)

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

NYC Police Throw Navy SEAL Into Psych Ward for Claiming…He’s a SEAL

I'm against the lax and chaotic gun laws in America. But this case is a travesty:

A Virginia man claimed to be a Navy SEAL to talk his way out of a gun possession arrest on Thursday, and the New York Police Department committed him  to a psych ward thinking his claims of elite military status were the rantings of a lunatic.NYC Police Throw Navy SEAL Into Psych Ward For Claiming... Hes a SEAL

Turns out the guy was in fact an elite Navy SEAL.

But as the New York Post put it, telling the NYPD “I’m in an elite military unit, you can’t arrest me,” doesn‘t help much when the city’s draconian gun laws are at issue.

Twenty-nine-year-old Shaun Day was on a leave from his duty as a Navy SEAL duty when cops nailed him for running a red light in Manhattan, New York on Thursday.

NYPD officers searched Day’s pickup truck and found a 9mm semiautomatic pistol and three magazines full of ammo.

During the arrest, police claim Day was babbling incoherently and repeatedly claimed that he was an elite Navy SEAL with “top- secret clearance,” but was unable to provide any documentation for police.

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Man Jailed Over Occupy Jacket at Supreme Court

Full Video Link with more info

John Kiriakou, ex-CIA officer, Charged for Media Leaks

This man is a hero. He exposed the illegal practice of waterboarding condoned by our government. The real criminals are the Bush and Obama administrations that defend attacks on our Constitution:

A former CIA officer was charged Monday with disclosing the identity of a covert CIA officer and with telling journalists the name a CIA officer involved with the interrogation of alleged Al Qaeda leader Abu Zubaydah.

The Justice Department charged that John Kiriakou, 47, who worked as a CIA officer from 1990 to 2004, revealed the information to journalists and that one reporter passed some of the secrets onto attorneys representing prisoners at Guantanamo Bay.

Kiriakou’s case is the sixth leak-related criminal prosecution brought since President Barack Obama took office, a figure that exceeds the number of such cases in all previous administrations combined.

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$25B nationwide mortgage deal goes to states

$25B nationwide mortgage deal goes to states

Bills would let NJ avoid US ban on Sports Betting

The politicians have an insatiable appetite for money revenue. And they don't care where they get it. Gambling is an evil and the industry leads to all kinds of social ills. It is no coincidence that Nevada has the highest crime rate  of any State in the country. You better believe that the gambling industry is lobbying heavily the pimp politicians in New Jersey:

With talk of New York Giants (who play in New Jersey) and the odds of them winning the Super Bowl in two weeks dominating the airwaves Monday, two New Jersey congressmen introduced separate bills that would let their state offer legal sports betting.

U.S. Rep. Frank LoBiondo, a Cape May County Republican, introduced a bill Monday giving all states until 2016 to legalize sports betting. New Jersey and 45 other states missed a 1992 deadline to approve sports betting, which is now illegal everywhere but Nevada, Delaware, Montana and Oregon.

U.S. Rep. Frank Pallone Jr., a Long Branch Democrat, introduced a separate bill Monday to exempt New Jersey from the existing federal ban.

New Jersey has passed and enacted a law legalizing sports betting, but the federal ban still must be overcome before Atlantic City casinos and the state's four horse tracks can start taking bets on professional and college sporting events.

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Supreme Court rules warrant needed for GPS tracking

Supreme Court rules warrant needed for GPS tracking – USATODAY.com

In its first ever review of GPS tracking, the Supreme Court ruled Monday that police need a warrant before attaching a GPS device to a person's car.

The opinion was unanimous, although the justices split in their views of how the Fourth Amendment protection against unreasonable searches and seizures applies to such high-tech tracking.

Sen. Paul Stopped By TSA At Airport, Law Enforcement Denies It Was A Detention

Sen. Paul Stopped By TSA At Airport, Law Enforcement Denies It Was A Detention | Fox News

Sen. Rand Paul's office says he was held by the Transportation Security Administration on Monday, although TSA officials deny he was "detained" at Nashville Airport after an incident at the security gate.

Paul's father, presidential candidate Ron Paul, tweeted early Monday, "My son @SenRandPaul being detained by TSA for refusing full body pat-down after anomaly in body scanner in Nashville. More details coming."

Newt Gingrich's big, slobbering mutual love affair with the elite media

Newt Gingrich's big, slobbering mutual love affair with the elite media

Why GOP Leaders don't Trust Gingrich

David Frum, a CNN contributor, was a special assistant to President George W. Bush from 2001 to 2002. He is the author of six books, including "Comeback: Conservatism That Can Win Again."

But here's a problem with Gingrich-style politics. It does not long survive the encounter with real-world voter concerns.

The pollsters who generate those 70% numbers are creating a statistical artifact, not a workable political majority. In his pursuit of a governing majority, Gingrich has chased phantoms: In that 1983 speech about liberals and space, for example, Gingrich actually cited the popularity of the "Star Wars" movies as evidence that space exploration could be a winning issue for Republicans. The person most deluded by Gingrich's politics of cultural division has always been Gingrich himself.

Gingrich may raise more money after his South Carolina win. But prediction: Romney will raise even more, among the great national network of Republicans who recognize that to nominate Gingrich is to commit party suicide.

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Russian Liberal says Kremlin Bars him from Vote

Russia has descended into a quasi-dictatorship. And we in the United States need to be worried about the future of that country:

Election officials have refused so far to allow the leader of Russia's leading liberal party to compete in March's presidential election, a move the politician said reflects the government's fear of genuine competition.

Grigory Yavlinsky, the leader of Yabloko party, said authorities want to prevent him from challenging Prime Minister Vladimir Putin's bid to extend his 12-year rule by reclaiming the presidency. He said other contenders are only nominal rivals who are following the Kremlin's guidance.

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Europe Debt Crisis Still Likely to End Badly

And if Europe goes down it will take us with them:

There are two main schools of thought on what may happen next with Europe’s debt crisis. Some well-informed people strongly believe that everything will work out just fine, and without much of an economic slowdown. Other, equally well-informed people believe just as strongly that the euro area will break apart in a traumatic manner. When it comes to predicting Europe’s future, not many people occupy the middle ground.

[...]But Europe’s problem isn’t just that some countries have the wrong exchange rate, and no way to adjust it within the existing system. The main issue is that governments borrowed heavily during the good times, which are most definitely at an end.

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Newt Gingrich: The Master of Disguise

Gingrich is about himself. What makes him dangerous is that he would blow America if it furthered his ambitions. His ambition knows no limit. Remind you of anyone? His election as President, which is highly unlikely, would mean an end to America as we know it:

The disguise part is clear, too. Gingrich has used his debate skills — and his instinct to hit the raw nerves of conservatives — to camouflage considerable weaknesses as a candidate. The three wives, and cheating on and leaving the first two while they were ill; inconsistency on the most consequential conservative causes of the past decade; episodic bouts of self-importance severe even by politicians’ standards; and countless tales of erratic leadership in crisis.

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Halliburton Profit Rises 50%

Dick Cheney's old company is now thriving under President Obama:

The second-largest oilfield service company after Schlumberger Ltd. SLB +0.53% Halliburton is the top seller of hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, services in North America. That service is essential in cracking open deeply buried oil-and-gas-bearing rocks, including shale, an area where energy companies have been making big bets for future growth.

[...]In the latest quarter, Halliburton’s North American revenue was up 56% and profit rose 77%. The company said Monday it expects strength in the segment to persist into 2012, with continued improvements in drilling and completion efficiency, as well as higher demand for services. In its international business, revenue rose 17%, while profit was up 9.5%, aided by growth in Latin America.

And, of course, they are up to no good:

Safety First, Fracking Second, The Editors, Scientific American: A decade ago layers of shale lying deep underground supplied only 1 percent of America’s natural gas. Today they provide 30 percent. Drillers are rushing to hydraulically fracture, or “frack,” shales in a growing list of U.S. states. ... The benefits come with risks, however, that state and federal governments have yet to grapple with.

    Public fears are growing about contamination of drinking-water supplies from the chemicals used in fracking and from the methane gas itself. Field tests show that those worries are not unfounded. ... Yet states have let companies proceed without adequate regulations. They must begin to provide more effective oversight, and the federal government should step in, too.