Tuesday, May 11, 2010
Oil companies pass the buck for big spill as the lawsuits pour in
At Senate hearing, lawmaker predicts 'liability chase' among companies
As BP critics stand up behind him, Lamar McKay, chairman and president of BP America, waits to testify Tuesday before the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee in Washington.
As oil gushes out, damage claims pour in…
Fisherman, hotel operators and others likely to seek compensation
A new sign advertises the "Oil Spill Law Group" in Bayou LaBatre, Alabama. A BP lobbyist says the company has already paid $3.5 million in damages.
Long-suffering tribe fears oil may strike final blow
The native Houma people, who have long relied on fishing and trapping in the marshlands of Louisiana, have been through a lot as a tribe.
They have been robbed of their lands, subjected to segregation, witnessed the steady erosion of marshlands and been displaced by hurricanes. Now, some fear the oil slick that threatens to invade the bayou could be the final blow to their culture and traditions.
Antoine "Whitney" Dardar (right), a Houma tribal elder, has been fishing and trapping in the bayou near Golden Meadow, La., for his whole life.
Monday, May 10, 2010
Coming Soon: As It Stands will review a new book to be released in June - ‘Denial: A Memoir of Terror’
Every now and then someone asks me to read their book and to do a review on it. I’m not really sure why I’m picked for this honor, but it’s happened several times in the last 18 months.
I’m certainly not a respected book critic, nor do I ever expect to be one. I do love reading and there’s very little I won’t read. My curious mind is constantly on the prowl. Research is a joy I lavish upon myself.
Karen Louie-Joyce, the web manager for Jessica Stern, a world-class social scientist, Harvard lecturer, and one of the foremost U.S. experts on terrorism and post-traumatic stress disorder, contacted me with a request to review Stern’s new book.
In her new book DENIAL: A Memoir of Terror, Jessica investigates her own unsolved adolescent sexual assault at the hands of a serial rapist, and, in so doing, examines the horrors of trauma and denial.
The book is in the mail,thanks to Karen, and I should have it by the end of the week. I’m not sure how long it is, so I won’t make any predictions on when the review will appear. But fear not readers, I will do my best. As some of you may know, trauma is a subject near to me as I’m a Vietnam veteran with service-connected PTSD.
More toxic jewelry for kids recalled – guess where it’s from?
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We can thank China once more for sending us toxic products. If it isn’t kids toys it’s drywall!
Claire's bracelets have high levels of harmful cadmium
Also:
Cadmium: Walmart, Claire's pull children's jewelry from shelves
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Reefer madness: The race to save corals
Coastal development and overfishing contribute to decline
Climate change, coastal development and overfishing have effectively wiped out nearly a fifth of the world's coral reefs, and by the end of this century they "are unlikely to look much like the reefs that we are familiar with today," said Peter Mumby, a marine biologist at the University of Queensland in Australia, who envisions smaller and weaker reefs that harbor fewer fish.
"But there will still be reefs and they will still be very important," he said. "And so what we really have to do is take all the steps we can locally to preserve reefs for future generations, including Australia's Great Barrier Reef, shown here.
Sunday, May 9, 2010
As It Stands: Oil politics legacy: Destroying gulf coast ecosystem since 1950s
By Dave Stancliff/For the Times-Standard
Posted: 05/09/2010 01:30:19 AM PDT
The Deepwater Horizon oil spill may signal the final battle in a war on the fragile ecosystems of the coastal states that was launched decades ago by Big Oil.
Oil companies steadily destroyed the Gulf Coast's ecosystems since the 1950s, when they carved canals through the marsh to make way for drilling rigs and pipelines, according to John Lopez, director of sustainability at the Lake Pontchartrain Basin Foundation.
No one knows exactly how much oil is escaping (estimates keep going up). Last week President Obama said, “We're dealing with a massive and potentially unprecedented environmental disaster.” Environmentally, the spill couldn't have happened at a better time to cause maximum damage to wildlife and the fishing industry.
As if that damage isn't bad enough, even the coastal land is threatened, as the dwindling marsh grasses will be killed by the oil. “The result,” said Michael Parr, vice president of the American Bird Conservancy “could mean the elimination of a natural barrier that keeps Louisiana's coastline from eroding.”
Go here to read the rest.
Related stories: Federal regulators haven’t kept up up with oil drilling expansion
Try to divert Gulf oil aborted; tar blobs hit Ala.
Photos from the Deepwater Horizon oil leak in the gulf
UPDATE:
Blogs/web sites that have picked up today’s column: (as of 10:16 a.m. PST)
Saturday, May 8, 2010
Legalize pot? Get mom onboard
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Crystal Guess talks during a news conference to launch the Women's Marijuana Movement in the State Capitol in Denver on Thursday.
Activists target women in push to legalize marijuana
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She founded, and fought, Mother's Day
Anna Jarvis' life was consumed by the holiday she started
She started Mother’s Day then spent the rest of her life fighting the holiday’s commercial and political exploitation of it.
Mother’s Day or Mothers’ Day?
Photograph of Anna M. Jarvis, founder of Mother’s Day, taken in Westchester, Pennsylvania, in 1907.
When her mother died on May 23, 1905, Miss Jarvis worked untiringly to have the second Sunday in May set aside each year as a day of honor to the mothers of the nation.
© Bettmann/CORBIS
Should women live in fear of male athletes?
Recent incidents show the ‘culture’ of sports has taken a terrible turn
Excerpt:
Is there something in our sports culture that condones the demeaning treatment of women by athletes, like the alleged acts of Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger (photo on left)?
Friday, May 7, 2010
Cosmologist outlines three concepts for time travel
The laws of physics actually accommodate the notion of time travel, through portals known as wormholes.
In an article in the Daily Mail this week, British cosmologist Stephen Hawking outlined not one, but three, theoretically realistic ideas for traveling through time one of which he says is even practical.
FDA investigates E. coli at Ariz. lettuce farm
Yuma grower may be source of outbreak; 19 sickened in 23 states
Excerpt:
“Food and Drug Administration investigators are looking at a farm in Yuma, Arizona, as a possible source of a widespread E. coli outbreak in romaine lettuce.”
Graham: 'Impossible' to pass climate bill now
Key GOP senator says oil spill, immigration debate have derailed legislation
Excerpt:
“A key Republican senator negotiating with Democrats on a climate change bill said Friday it's "become impossible" to pass the legislation now because of disagreements over offshore and immigration reform.”
Thursday, May 6, 2010
No clear explanation for Wall Street’s wild plunge
After stocks plunge, search begins for cause
Computer programs exacerbate losses; Was there a ‘fat finger’ trade?
Another busy day at ‘As It Stands’
It’s 2:32 p.m. PST, and 845 viewers have stopped by to visit thus far. It’s fun seeing where visitors come from and wondering what they think when they stop by and take a peek. My thanks to you all, and don’t hesitate to stop by again.
Guest Opinion: As oil leaked, Interior Dept. official rafted with wife
“Though the Obama administration has stressed its involvement with the April 20 BP oil spill since "day one," at least one Interior Department official decided instead to phone it in and go white water rafting in the Grand Canyon with his wife and other officials.
Tom Strickland -- who serves as Interior Secretary Ken Salazar's chief of staff and the department's assistant secretary for fish, wildlife and parks -- traveled to the Grand Canyon on official business on April 27, three days after the oil leak was initially discovered.
The incident bears similarity to the decision by National Counterterrorism Center Director Michael Leiter to stay on a ski trip with his son in the days following the thwarted Christmas Day bombing.
Other administration officials have canceled trips and events to focus on the spill. The Minerals Management Service wisely canceled an awards luncheon in Houston with the oil industry (where BP was a finalist)!
EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson stayed away from the TIME 100 banquet where she was honored and Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano declined her Washington Post invite to the White House Correspondents Dinner in order to track the spill.”
Go here to read the rest. Photo source
Students Kicked Off Campus for Wearing American Flag Tees
I re-read this article three times and each time I came away with mixed feelings. Students were told they couldn’t wear an American flag on their T-shirts (a normally accepted practice at the school) on Cinco de Mayo because the majority of the school is Mexican-American, and would be offended because it’s “their holiday.”
One excuse was that the principal wanted to avoid fights between the five students wearing the flag and the angry Latino population. I thought this was AMERICA. What happened to those student’s rights? They can’t wear something that is normally acceptable because the Latino population wants to celebrate “their holiday?”
Those boys were being intimidated for doing nothing wrong and school authorities threatened suspension – and finally sent them home – for what reason?
Fear perhaps? Did school authorities think they’d lose control of the students if their flag-wearing peers didn’t concede and turn their T-shirts inside out? If so, then that’s pretty scary and tells you what’s happening on that campus – racial discrimination.
What do you think about the school’s action? Right or wrong?
Excerpt:
"They said we could wear it on any other day," student Daniel Galli said, "but today is sensitive to Mexican-Americans because it's supposed to be their holiday so we were not allowed to wear it today."
Read the full story here.
Poisonous chemicals used to fight Gulf oil slick
A deadly side-show to the massive oil spill drama is playing itself out with marine wildlife as BP uses record amounts of a toxic stew (environmentalists don’t even know all the ingredients in it, making it difficult to access the damage being done) that is supposed to help disperse the gushing oil.
Dispersants’ ingredients — ‘proprietary recipes like Coca-Cola’ — are secret
PHOTO: A sea turtle in the gulf surfaced Wednesday to feed, swimming through patches of oxidizing oil mingling with chemical dispersants used by BP to break up oil.
Why Was an Ad Criticizing Mayor Bloomberg for NYC's Marijuana Arrest Policy Censored?
Excerpt:
“Most New Yorkers don’t know that last year, the New York Police Department arrested close to 50,000 people for marijuana possession at a staggering cost of nearly $100 million.”
California To Collect $100 million in Cannabis Taxes This Year
While the State of California begins to debate the consequences of taxing and regulating cannabis for personal use, it's important to note the state is already taxing and regulating the agricultural product used by 2.9 million Californians monthly.
California Board of Equalization official Anita Gore told the Express this week that the board estimates it collects anywhere from $50 million to more than $100 million in sales taxes per year from medical cannabis dispensaries.
Go here to read the rest.
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