Friday, June 11, 2010

Friday Mashup (6/11/10)

  • Like all of you I’m sure, I’m glad that 16-year-old Abby Sunderland was found safe and sound in the Indian Ocean (here); she was trying to circumnavigate the globe, beginning her trip in January, but ran into rough water and lost contact with her family on Thursday.

    However, this begs a question to yours truly; what the hell is a 16-year-old doing trying to circumnavigate the globe by herself (or himself)?

    I thought we were through all this stuff with Steve Fossett, the gazillionaire who thought he was some hot-shot adventurer even though he kept getting bailed out when his jaunts went badly, as they inevitably did, until one of his escapades eventually killed him.

    If someone of at least reasonable talent is going to get it into their heads to try something like this, can they at least provide for their own security in case something goes terribly wrong?


  • Also, in its “Thumbs Down” segment today, the Bucks County Courier Times harrumphed as follows (here)…

    To state Sen. Daylin Leach, D-Montgomery, for his lengthy rant about an investigative grand jury that, after indicting two dozen lawmakers and legislative insiders, filed a report about corruption in the Legislature that included recommendations on how to purge it.

    On a blog that went on for a thousand words or so, Leach belittled the grand jury's work and questioned the jurors' ability to accurately assess what legislators do, how and why they do it. He was sarcastic and insulting and essentially accused the grand jury of being a political tool for the state attorney general, who is running for governor.

    Here's a sample: "We should subject these self-appointed re-inventors of democracy to a little bit of scrutiny because, well + their suggestions are just so goofy."

    This is a guy who gets to write our laws. No wonder the grand jury and numerous others are calling for wholesale change.
    Here is the original Op-Ed Leach wrote on the subject, and here is his recent blog post. I read both (wonder if the Courier Times can say the same), and I have no problem with either one (and I must have missed the line about the grand jury as a "political tool" for Repug AG and gubernatorial nominee Tom Corbett).


  • Update 6/15/10: Dem PA House Rep Steve Santarsiero wrote a Guest Opinion today about the grand jury recommendations here.

  • In addition, I give you the following from John Gibson at Fix Noise (here)…

    Last week's jobs report tanked the stock market; the president took weeks to assert control of the oil spill that threatens doom on the Gulf Coast -- but at the White House the Gatsby-like parties roll on as if happy days were here again.

    Just yesterday, President Obama held another fun-filled White House event, a picnic for Congress members, complete with hot dogs, cold beverages and a fire pit.

    All told, during the last seven weeks of spewing oil and rampant unemployment, he has frolicked and danced through three major White House music parties:
    Gee, I didn’t hear Gibson or any of his ideological pals complaining when Former President Highest Disapproval Rating In Gallup Poll History hosted Mr. “Crazy Train” himself, Ozzy Osbourne, at the White House in May 2002 (here). That’s kind of an interesting choice of guests for Dubya, who of course has claimed to be Born Again (wonder if Ozzy performed “War Pigs”? It would have been apropos – maybe they traded tales of trying to overcome substance abuse).

    And gee, there was a military campaign going on at the time of the Osbourne visit, as I recall. Which one was it again?

    Oh yes, it was the Afghan War, which began in October 2001 and was short-changed for about eight years until the current White House occupant, rightly or wrongly, decided to send over more troops, making it now the longest war in our history with no end in sight (and why anyone would think propping up a narco-terrorist like Hamid Karzai is in our interest in any way, shape or form escapes me).


  • Finally, this story tells us the following…

    NEW ORLEANS – At the same time they are venting their fury on BP over the Gulf of Mexico spill and its calamitous environmental effects, Louisiana politicians are rushing to the defense of the oil-and-gas industry and pleading with Washington to bring back offshore drilling — now.

    As angry as they are over the disaster, state officials warn that the Obama administration's temporary ban on drilling in the Gulf has sent Louisiana's most lucrative industry into a death spiral.

    They contend that drilling is safe overall and that the moratorium is a knee-jerk reaction, akin to grounding every airplane in America because of a single crash. They worry, too, that the moratorium comes at a time when another major Louisiana industry — fishing — has been brought to a standstill by the mess in the Gulf.
    In response, this Media Matters post tells us the following…

    On Fox & Friends, Fox News contributor Andrew Napolitano falsely claimed that the Obama administration imposed a moratorium on all oil drilling in the Gulf of Mexico. In fact, the administration's moratorium halted only new deepwater Gulf drilling; indeed, more than 5,000 Gulf oil wells reportedly can remain in operation.
    And if Florida is a bellwether for how the rest of this country sees this issue, then it looks like the “Drill, Baby, Drill” crowd might need a Plan B; as noted here…

    TALLAHASSEE — Floridians have reversed themselves on whether they favor offshore drilling for oil in the aftermath of a massive spill that threatens the state's beaches.

    Fifty-one percent of 1,133 registered voters surveyed by Quinnipiac (Conn.) University between June 1-7 say they now oppose drilling compared to 42 percent who still believe it's OK. That's a 48-point swing from an April 19 poll when 66 percent of the state's residents supported drilling. The survey has a margin of error of plus or minus 4.7 percentage points.

    Some tar balls have washed ashore in Florida's western Panhandle from BP's Deepwater Horizon oil rig explosion in April that blew open the wellhead and allowed millions of gallons to spew into the Gulf of Mexico.
    And in case anyone has any doubt about the next act getting ready to play out in this nightmare, I give you the following from Brent Budowsky (here, with an assist from “Man Tan” Boehner, as noted here).
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