The Oil Spill Isn’t The Only Thing That’s Slick
Posted by Michelle Moquin on May 14th, 2010
Everyday, like I many of you, I am reading online, and everyday I keep reading about the the oil spill, and everyday I get angrier and angrier. How can something so disastrous be happening, and why haven’t they figured out how to stop this gush?
All I keep thinking about is the plant and marine life that is destroyed, not to mention any life that we aren’t even aware of, that we will now never have the privilege of discovering in our deep oceans. The loss is devastating to say the least.
And although this slick is worse than the Exxon Valdez, BP CEO, Tony Hayward, has the gaul to say that the Gulf spill is ‘relatively tiny’ compared to the ‘very big ocean’.
Don’t worry about that pesky oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, BP CEO Tony Hayward says: It’s “relatively tiny” compared to the “very big ocean.”
Hayward launched this novel defense of the worst spill in U.S. history during an interview with the Guardian that deserves a full read, especially with BP fighting the Obama administration’s push to make the company pay the full tab for cleanup costs. The BP chief executive acknowledged for the first time that he expects his future with the company to be “judged by the nature of the response” to the current crisis; this may help explain his stream of delaying tactics and excuses.
“We will fix it. I guarantee it. The only question is we do not know when,” Hayward told the Guardian. “The Gulf of Mexico is a very big ocean. The amount of volume of oil and dispersant we are putting into it is tiny in relation to the total water volume.”
Before calling the oil spill analogous to the Apollo 13 flight and comparing it favorably with a deadly 2005 BP rig explosion in Texas, Hayward said BP is “increasingly confident” that they’ll find a way to stop the oil flow, and that the company has already prevented significant amounts of oil from reaching the shore.
BP’s CEO isn’t alone in downplaying the effects of the spill. Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour (R)told the Associated Press his state is ready for tourism dollars — just don’t get too close to the water while waterskiing.
“We don’t wash our face in it, but it doesn’t stop us from jumping off the boat to ski,” Barbour said.
Yeah well, your pockets are deep, and thanks to the Bush administration, what comes out of your pocket is ‘relatively tiny’ compared to your ‘very big ocean’ of billions. If you check the regulations that Cheney and Bush set up, you will find that no matter how much the spill cost, BP by law, is only liable for $75 million. The tax payers are on the hook for the rest.
So….if I think in a conspiratorial way, I wouldn’t be surprised if Cheney knew about the integrity of the oil rig well beforehand. One of my readers, Claire, posted this awhile back from the Huff Po:
“And wherever there’s a national tragedy involving oil, Cheney’s offshore company Halliburton is never far afield. In fact, stay tuned; Halliburton may emerge as the primary villain in this caper. The blow out occurred shortly after Halliburton completed an operation to reinforce drilling hole casing with concrete slurry. ”
Tie this in with the rumour that Goldman Sachs shorted the Gulf of Mexico – yes that was a joke that the Borowitz Report put out:
NEW YORK (The Borowitz Report) – In what is looming as another public relations predicament for Goldman Sachs, the banking giant admitted today that it made “a substantial financial bet against the Gulf of Mexico” one day before the sinking of an oil rig in that body of water.
The new revelations came to light after government investigators turned up new emails from Goldman employee Fabrice “Fabulous Fab” Tourre in which he bragged to a girlfriend that the firm was taking a “big short” position on the Gulf.
“One oil rig goes down and we’re going to be rolling in dough,” Mr. Tourre wrote in one email. “Suck it, fishies and birdies!”
But many believed it to be true:
by Sterling D. Allan
Pure Energy Systems News
Not being aware that the author,Andy Borowitz, is a comedian, scores of Internet sites ran with the story as being genuine. As of today, Google search on <Goldman Sachs shorted “Gulf of Mexico”> pulls up 207,000 returns, beginning with the Huffington Post link. Many, such asInfowars, pulled their stories when they realized the mistake.
Christopher Rudy noted:
The news about Goldman’s bet against the Gulf comes on the heels of embarrassing revelations that the firm had taken a short position on the housing bubble, profiting from economic collapse, followed by more billions in government bailout support that paid out a couple billion in bonuses to thousands of loyal Goldman “officers” (corporate stakeholders).
We shouldn’t be surprised. The owners of Goldman Sachs are the same Rothchilds co-owners of the privately held Federal Reserve Banking System, and they know how to play this game. Watch how Congress capitulates to Wall Street losses that the lap-dog press attributes to “bankster bashing”.
Goldman Sachs just settled with the SEC for $450,000 (one guy’s salary for a month; or the price of one nicer home lost, among millions due to the collapse) as punishment for shorting the mortgage balloon. (Ref.) They made billions in the crime.
StreetInsider.com reported on April 30 in their “Top 10″ recap for that week:
Shares of Goldman Sachs (NYSE: GS) fell about 7% this week as execs were grilled on Capitol Hill and then, later in the week, the SEC referred its fraud case against the firm to the Justice Department for possible criminal prosecution. While much of Wall Street cheered Lloyd Blankfein’s snappy responses to an onslaught of questions, Main Street rejoiced as Carl Levin “stumped” other execs with “meaningful” interrogation tactics aimed at exposing the corruption within the US financial industry.
You can certainly see why people would be quick to believe the comedian’s satire piece about Goldman Sach’s shorting the Gulf of Mexico.
However, just because his piece was satire, doesn’t mean there isn’t something to it. The reason humor is funny is because it lampoons reality, providing an exaggerative and simplified caricature to bring out the key issues in a non-threatening way. Historically, especially in times of heavy oppression, the best truth tellers have been the comedians. Benjamin Franklin certainly used humor to his advantage in helping to win America’s Independence.
A. True Ott, Ph.D., wrote the following to me last night:
I have confirmed that there were indeed numerous “shorts” placed on TransOcean stock just days before the “problem”. Was it Goldman Sachs? That is yet to be conclusively determined (there is indeed a SEC investigation ongoing) — but labeling something as “satire” is a lawyer’s shrewd trick to keep from being sued for slander — even if it is all true. Moreover, there were massive shorts placed literally seconds after the news hit the airwaves.
Who would dare to quote the actual e-mails from “Fabulous Fab”, unless the writer would post them as a “satire” – especially after what happened to the Wall Street Journal writers who dared expose the 9-11 short sales involving Goldman Sachs. (They were assigned to Afghanistan, and had fatal “accidents” there.)
Dr. Ott has subsequently confirmed from two sources that Goldman Sachs was indeed in on the shorts being placed on TransOcean stock. (See Email from Don Nicoloff documenting Goldman Sachs short puts on TransOcean stock.) And he has confirmed that the comedian was aware of that as well.
Dr. Ott had me and Paul Noel on his two-hour radio show yesterday talking about the viral article we posted, “Mother of All Gushers Could Kill Earth’s Oceans“.
In response to the alleged Goldman Sach’s shorting story, Paul, who is an expert on the Gulf Oil subject, provided the following intelligence:
There is a reason they could have known the rig was going to fail up to two weeks ahead of its failure. The nature of these wells is that they leave the drill mud in the well and compress using very heavy drill mud to keep the well from blowing up unlimited. The well would begin to bump (similar to boiling a big bubble) and the acoustic signals would tell the rig was in trouble that far ahead. Goldman Sacks could just have had inside info. They also know the scale of things. This is the best explanation. It could be otherwise.
If you were going to sabotage a drilling team, all you would have to do is load a lighter mud in the mix as they pulled a drill pipe. …. There are lots of ways to have this happen either accidentally or deliberately. Goldman teams are great on statistical stuff sort of like the odds of rolling dice. They might just have figured stats for probability of a failure.??? Of course we could surmise other reasons are possible.
(If you want to read the rest of the article, click here)
So perhaps Cheney and Goldman Sachs were in the know. I wouldn’t put it past Cheney, and in light of the recent news on Goldman, who’s to say they weren’t in the know too? So…they went with it, knowing they could make a killing in the stock market for a few weeks, and in the end Halliburton would have several very lucrative contracts for shut off and clean up. There was no real downside because, like the too big to fail bank rip off, the federal government would have to step in. And hell, only a few birds and fish would be harmed right? Sounds like a plan to me.
Problem: The oil is still gushing. Did they realize that they would have such issues shutting it off? Do they even care?
Readers: Think I’m far off? Perhaps. Blog me.
Lastly, greed over a great story is surfacing from my ‘loyal’(?) readers. With all this back and forth about who owns what, that appears on my blog, let me reiterate that all material posted on my blog becomes the sole property of my blog. If you want to reserve any proprietary rights don’t post it to my blog. I will prominently display this caveat on my blog from now on to remind those who may have forgotten this notice.
Gratefully your blog host,
michelle
Aka BABE: We all know what this means by now :)
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May 14th, 2010 at 10:32 am
Your advice to Maria is the absolute truth. We as whites have been teaching ethnic studies and continue to do so every day. We just refuse to admit that ethnic study is White or European ethnic studies.
Check the schools books today and think back to the time you were in school. All you had was white ethnic studies. Every thing talked about was from the white man’s perspective.
Whether it was social studies, science, math, you name it, it was and for the most part and still is one big tale of a white man’s accomplishment to that field.
You don’t learn who contributed anything if it was not done by a white man. And to be honest many of the things that are attributed to a white man is an our right lie. Lies made deliberately to instill the superiority of the white man in the minds of the human race.
Todays and yesterday’s school curriculum is designed so that you leave school believing that everything of significance done in this world was done by a white man.
For example, you don’t learn in math about who invented algebra, the present day numbering system, students are only taught the contributions white men made to the field. Students are left thinking that the white man invented math and the only contributions made to the field were made by whites.
For example, one doesn’t learn in any science class be it biology, chemistry, physics, geometry, etc any contributions made by non white males. The origins of the field of study, or any contributions made to the field by any race but the white man is deliberately left out. Students are basically told that the Greeks invented medicine. From there only contributions made to the field by white men were taught.
For example, one isn’t taught about who wrote the first books or who invented writing, or about any books that were written by any authors other than white men. The races of many authors are deliberately concealed to continue the facade that great book were only written by white men.
For example, one doesn’t in social studies learn about the first creation of civilization and the establishment of justice systems as we know it. We are taught it was created by the Greeks or English. One leaves schools believing the white man is the one who made the law and society what it is today.
Pick a field in the 12 year curriculum of America’s schools and it is taught as one big ethic study of the white man’s accomplishments. Is it any wonder that whites in America think they are all that.
Now those same whites want to prevent the other ethnic groups in America from learning about any contributions their race may have made to the present day state of the world. The other great fear is that they will discover the lies that have been perpetrated in the scheme to instill the concept of white superiority in the minds of America’s children.
Anton
May 14th, 2010 at 10:42 am
eBay, Craigslist or Amazon?
Michael Miller
You have items to sell online, but you’re not sure which site to use — eBay… Craigslist… or Amazon.com. Where to sell your items…
Antiques. Sell them on eBay, the premier Internet-auction site. Auction sales are perfect for antiques. If the antiques truly are rare and valuable, competitive bidders can drive up the prices.
Exception: A local auction house or consignment store might be a better choice for large antiques that would be very expensive to ship.
Appliances. Sell large appliances on Craigslist. It would cost too much to ship these, and Craigslist is the best way to reach local buyers. Sell small appliances on Amazon.com. They tend to fetch higher prices there than on eBay.
Art. Sell on eBay. Amazon.com is not designed for one-of-a-kind items, such as art (though it does have a category for poster prints)… and art-for-sale listings don’t attract much attention on Craigslist.
Exception: Major auction houses, such as Christie’s and Sotheby’s, could be the best option for expensive art.
Bicycles. Sell high-end or collectible bikes on eBay. Buyers are likely to pay the $40 or more in shipping charges only if a bike is special. Sell mainstream bikes, older bikes and children’s bikes on Craigslist. Buyers can find used bikes on Craigslist for less than $50.
Books. Sell on Amazon.com — that’s where most book buyers shop on the Internet.
Exception: If you want to sell many used books of little value, list them as one lot on Craigslist. Group lots by theme, such as “Box of 25 paperback Western novels.”
Or donate them to a local library book sale. The charity tax deduction might be more than these books would bring if sold.
Clothing. Sell designer and vintage clothing on eBay. Sell other clothing as lots on Craigslist, or donate them to charity for the tax deduction.
Collectibles. Sell old or rare collectibles on eBay. Sell modern collectibles that are not in great demand on Amazon.com, where at least you won’t have to pay listing fees if they don’t find buyers.
Follow auctions of similar collectibles on eBay to determine if yours are in demand or not.
Example: Commemorative plates made in large quantities during the past decade might not be worth posting on eBay.
DVDs, CDs and Video Games. Sell on Amazon.com. These categories have become so flooded on eBay that many auctions do not attract competitive bids.
Exception: An eBay auction could be appropriate for a DVD or CD that is no longer being produced and is difficult to find.
Electronics. Sell recent electronics, such as a new-model DVD player or digital camera, on Amazon.com. For older electronics (those that still are in demand but that are no longer sold on Amazon.com), use eBay.
Follow eBay auctions of similar items to evaluate demand. Sell (or give away) old electronics that are in low demand on Craigslist.
Exercise equipment. Sell on Craigslist. Most exercise equipment is too heavy to be economically shipped to buyers in other regions.
Furniture. Sell on Craigslist. Most furniture weighs too much to be affordably shipped. This is one of the most active “for sale” categories on Craigslist.
Golf clubs. Sell modern clubs and antique clubs on eBay. Sell clubs that are out-of-date but not antiques on Craigslist.
Jewelry. Sell on eBay. Jewelry is too unique to sell on Amazon.com, which is designed for mass-produced merchandise… and Craigslist doesn’t reach enough potential buyers to bring a fair price.
Helpful: Many bidders won’t trust jewelry auctions from sellers who lack an eBay track record. If you’re relatively new to eBay, consider selling jewelry through an eBay “trading assistant” who specializes in jewelry sales (http://pages.ebay.com/tahub). This person will list the jewelry for you for a fee.
Local-interest items. Sell on Craigslist, which is divided into regional sites, so it’s a good choice for items of interest to regional buyers.
Example: A 19th-century map of your town.
Musical instruments. Sell on Craigslist. Musicians like to play instruments before they buy them, which usually is not possible with Amazon.com or eBay.
Exception: eBay is best for antique instruments and high-end instruments from collectible makers, such as a Gibson guitar.
Skis. Sell modern high-end skis in excellent condition on eBay. eBay also is the place to sell antique skis. Sell run-of-the-mill worn or low-end skis on Craigslist — buyers won’t bid very much for them on eBay, where they also would have to pay $20 or more in shipping charges.
Tickets. Sell them on eBay’s StubHub. This is the most popular of the ticket-resale Web sites (www.stubhub.com).
Exception: Some sports teams insist that season ticket holders resell unwanted tickets only through their designated channels. Review the small print on the ticket or the team’s Web site for details.
Toys. Sell in lots on Craigslist… or in a garage sale.
Exception: Toys more than a generation old might be collectible. See if similar items are fetching high prices in eBay auctions, and sell there instead if they are.
Vehicles, including cars, boats and RVs. Sell on Craigslist. Vehicles are best sold locally, because buyers like to test-drive them before buying.
Exception: Sell vintage or collectible vehicles through eBay Motors (www.motors.ebay.com).
WHAT IT COSTS TO SELL ONLINE
The three top Web sites for sellers differ widely in what they charge. What you need to know…
eBay (www.ebay.com) remains the king of Internet auctions, but the site’s seller fees have been inching upward in recent years.
Those fees vary, but sellers generally pay 8.75% of the sales price up to a $25 price, with a declining percentage paid on larger sales. Up-front fees of 10 cents to $4 or more apply as well, whether or not the item sells.
Now that eBay lists Internet retailer Buy.com’s merchandise on its site, certain product categories, including DVDs and CDs, are so choked with listings that many items receive no bids at all.
To sell on eBay: Click “Sell” on the main page, and follow the directions.
Craigslist (www.craigslist.org) is like an online version of a newspaper classified section, except that listing items for sale on Craigslist is free. Craigslist is divided into regional Web sites.
If you live in a region with an active Craigslist community, such as San Francisco or New York City, your for-sale ads are likely to be seen by thousands of potential buyers.
If Craigslist is not widely used in your region, your items might not sell. Craigslist buyers typically pick up their purchases in person and pay in cash.
Helpful: Take a look at the “Furniture” category under the “For Sale” heading on your region’s Craigslist site. If more than one day of listings is displayed on the first page (each page includes 100 listings), Craigslist is not widely used in your region.
To sell on Craigslist: Select your region, then click “Post to Classifieds” and follow the directions.
Amazon Marketplace (www.amazon.com). The Internet retailer Amazon.com lets private sellers post new or used merchandise for sale alongside Amazon.com’s own listings.
Amazon.com sellers set fixed prices for their goods, while eBay allows either fixed-price sales or auctions. Sellers pay a commission of 15% on most products (though commissions are as low as 6% to 8% on certain products, including cameras, computers and other electronics), in addition to a 99-cent transaction fee and a modest closing fee.
Amazon.com’s fees tend to be a little higher than eBay’s — but Amazon Marketplace sellers pay nothing when their items don’t sell, while eBay sellers must pay listing fees even for failed auctions.
If an item is not already sold on Amazon.com, you likely cannot list yours for sale there unless you subscribe to one of Amazon.com’s professional seller programs.
Helpful: Set your asking price lower than all other offers. The site lists all offers of the same item in a single list, so buyers can easily select the cheapest.
To sell on Amazon.com: Find your item among Amazon.com’s listings, then click “Sell Yours Here” and follow the directions.
Bottom Line/Personal interviewed Michael Miller, who has been selling products through eBay and other online sales channels for more than a decade. He lives in Burnsville, Minnesota, and is author of Selling Online 2.0: Migrating from eBay to Amazon, craigslist, and Your Own E-Commerce Website (Que).
May 14th, 2010 at 11:04 am
Great information! Thanks for the homework! Keep up the pressure on the transparency in politics and truth in corporatocracy and the enlightening of the minds of the world!
May 15th, 2010 at 7:23 am
I always take a peep at your blog before I make my mind up about what’s happening in the world of high finance. It seems you have to knack for shinning light on the rascals who like to make money in the dark.
Yancy
May 15th, 2010 at 7:32 am
Michelle it is getting harder and harder to post to your blog. this is my fifth attempt.
Subject: Take two aspirin…
Every year, English teachers from across the country can submit their collections of actual analogies and metaphors found in high school essays.
These excerpts are published each year for their amusement.
Here are last year’s winners…
17. He fell for her like his heart was a mob informant, and she was the East River.
May 15th, 2010 at 7:43 am
This information shows how easily it is for others to collect data on anyone by anyone with a computer program designed to collect data.
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In a blog post published Friday, Google admitted to ‘mistakenly’ collecting sensitive private data sent over WiFi networks.
Germany’s data protection authority (DPA) requested Google audit the WiFi data collected by its Street View cars.
The audit revealed that contrary to the company’s claims, for at least three years, Google has been collecting payload data (the information users send over a wireless network) from non-password-protected WiFi networks. A programming error from 2006 was at fault.
Explaining how this collection of sensitive data occurred, Google’s Senior VP of Engineering & Research Alan Eustace said, “Quite simply, it was a mistake.” He explained,
“An engineer working on an experimental WiFi project wrote a piece of code that sampled all categories of publicly broadcast WiFi data.
A year later, when our mobile team started a project to collect basic WiFi network data like SSID information and MAC addresses using Google’s Street View cars, they included that code in their software—although the project leaders did not want, and had no intention of using, payload data.”
Google outlined the steps it plans to take as a result of the mistake. The company says it intends to delete the data “as quickly as possible.” It has already grounded its Street View cars, and will halt collection of WiFi network data.
===========================
This may or may not have been a mistake by Google, but it certainly shows how easy it is to collect data on anyone using non encrypted means of communication.
Joseph
May 15th, 2010 at 8:03 am
Hafa adai Peter
It looks like you got your wish for the Chief of Police to be fired.
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GUAM – (Updated as 4:52 pm) After a closed door meeting with Governor Felix Camacho this morning, reliable sources at Adelup tell Guam News Watch that Suba’s resignation will be effective today.
A decision was reached after the controversial search and seizure of an alleged stolen document at KUAM’s broadcast headquarters on Wednesday.
Questions about the legality of that search have been raised by media and legal experts. Guam Police Department staff attorney James Mitchell told Guam News Watch that the warrant was based on a complaint filed by Suba.
Sources say police Maj. Rick Leon Guerrero is being considered for the position of Acting Chief., and that Capt. Maurice Sayama is being considered for Deputy Chief.
On local radio this afternoon, Suba said that he was not resigning. The situation continues to unfold. Stay tuned to Guam News Watch’s live newscast at 6pm on CW-4.
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I heard the Governor’s office in swamped with calls for his resignation. You are a force to be reckoned with.
Lea
May 15th, 2010 at 12:53 pm
[...] Emily: I have not be able to access my blog this morning either, which is the reason for my very late post. I am just as frustrated as you and the rest of my readers. [...]
May 30th, 2010 at 10:15 am
[...] touched on this the other day in my write, when it was written in the Borowitz Report that Goldman Sachs had shorted the Gulf of Mexico. [...]