kpete
kpete's Journal“BP prolonged Gulf of Mexico oil spill by 2 months by concealing the rate of oil flowing from well"
Transocean Turns on BP With Scorching Oil-Spill Document
By SABRINA CANFIELD
NEW ORLEANS (CN) - BP prolonged the Gulf of Mexico oil spill by two months by concealing the rate of oil flowing from the broken Macondo well, Transocean claims in a document filed in the damages trial.
A bench trial to apportion damages is being held before U.S. District Judge Carl Barbier. Penalties for Clean Water Act violations alone could range from $4 billion to $17 billion.
Transocean wrote in a heavily redacted "supplemental answer and affirmative defenses" that "BP's fraud was the proximate, intervening and superseding cause of the well continuing to flow until mid-July 2010. BP's misrepresentation and concealment of material information about the flow rate caused source control decision-makers to approve proceeding with the top kill over the BOP-on-BOP strategy in mid-May 2010. Because of that, a well that could have been capped in early May 2010 emitted tens of thousands of barrels per day for another two months causing significant environmental pollution."
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Transocean claims that BP's motive was to keep the true flow rate hidden, to minimize environmental fines, which are assessed by the barrel.
MORE:
http://www.courthousenews.com/2013/03/04/55381.htm
via:
Your moment of zen - Papal Conclave edition
Your moment of zen
by digby
Papal Conclave edition:
The man, identified as Ralph Napierski, donned a short cassock, “an unusual” cross necklace, and a purple Episcopal sash that was actually a scarf, according to Italy’s Gazzetta del Sud.
He told reporters his name was “Basilius,” and a member of the "Italian Orthodox Church,” which does not appear to exist.
Before being found out, the faux-bishop told reporters the church “made a mistake by moving priests” who were accused of pedophilia around to different parishes, according to Agence France-Presse...
"All I can say is that everyone seated for the congregation is a real cardinal," Federico Lombardi, the Vatican spokesman, said after Napierski was busted, according to AFP.
MORE:
http://www.digbysblog.blogspot.com/2013/03/your-moment-of-zen-papal-conclave.html
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/world/fake-bishop-sneaks-vatican-article-1.1278885#ixzz2MbHqP3C5
Reuters: Great Betrayal Is In Play; Obama Puts Medicare & Soc Sec "Compromises" On Table
Reuters: Great Betrayal Is In Play; Obama Puts Medicare and Soc Sec "Compromises" On Table:
Obama renews budget offer to cut social safety nets
By Richard Cowan
Reuters
WASHINGTON | Sun Mar 3, 2013 10:48pm EST
(Reuters) - President Barack Obama raised anew the issue of cutting entitlements such as Medicare and Social Security as a way out of damaging budget cuts, a White House official said on Sunday, as both sides in Washington tried to limit a fiscal crisis that may soon hit millions of Americans.
Signaling he might be ready to explore a compromise to end automatic spending cuts that began late Friday, Obama mentioned reforming these entitlement programs in calls with lawmakers from both parties on Saturday afternoon.
"He's reaching out to Democrats who understand we have to make serious progress on long-term entitlement reform and Republicans who realize that if we had that type of entitlement reform, they'd be willing to have tax reform that raises revenues to lower the deficit," White House senior economic official Gene Sperling said on Sunday on the CNN program "State of the Union."...
...
...Neither Sperling nor White House spokesmen would provide further details on Obama's conversations on Saturday with members of Congress, and they did not identify the lawmakers to whom the president spoke...
http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/03/04/us-usa-fiscal-idUSBRE91P0W220130304
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2013/03/04/1191389/-Reuters-Great-Betrayal-Is-Official-Obama-Puts-Medicare-and-Soc-Sec-Compromises-On-Table
NRA: One Can Never Have TOO Much Ammo
(Editorial cartoon by Kevin Siers / The Charlotte Observer (July 27, 2012))
Adelson Admits Using Bribery To Build His Casino Empire-Funnels $$$ Into Politics-Hoping To Get Off
Sheldon Adelson Admits To Bribing Foreign OfficialsBy: DSWright Monday March 4, 2013 5:58 am
Las Vegas Sands Corporation, run by billionaire Sheldon Adelson, has admitted in an SEC filing that it likely broke the law by violating the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act.
So Adelson has now admitted to using bribery to build his mobbed up casino empire from which he takes some of his earnings and funnels them into American politician’s pockets in hopes of making his corruption legal.
The disclosure comes amid an investigation by the Securities and Exchange Commission as well as the Department of Justice and the Federal Bureau of Investigation into the company’s business activities in China.
Adelson played a major role in the 2012 election, both in GOP primary by singularly keeping some candidates alive and in the general election by pumping millions into GOP campaign accounts. Of course in America, that’s not bribery. Giving roughly $155 million to various politicians is completely acceptable even when it clearly comes with strings attached.
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MORE plus links:
http://news.firedoglake.com/2013/03/04/sheldon-adelson-admits-to-bribing-foreign-officials/
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/03/business/in-filing-casino-operator-admits-likely-violation-of-an-antibribery-law.html?ref=business&_r=0
ROMNEY: "What I said is not what I believe." (that's what we all figured isn't it?)
-- Mitt Romney, in an interview with Fox News, on his infamous 47% comment, leading First Read to conclude "that one sentence sums up Romney's two failed presidential bids."
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2013/03/03/romney-still-disappointed-over-loss-admits-mistakes-critical-obama-second-term/
David Gregory To Boehner: ‘Mr. Speaker, That’s Just Not True’
David Gregory To Boehner: ‘Mr. Speaker, That’s Just Not True’
NBC's David Gregory and House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) butted heads during an interview when the speaker insisted that President Obama did not have a plan to replace sequestration and Gregory disagreed. The interview was taped Friday afternoon after Boehner met with the president to discuss sequestration and aired on "Meet the Press" Sunday.
"Mr. Speaker, that's just not true," Gregory said. "They've made it very clear, as the president just did, that he has a plan that he's put forward that involves entitlement cuts, that involves spending cuts. That you've made a choice, as have Republicans, to leave tax loopholes in place and you'd rather have those and live with all these arbitrary cuts."
Boehner called Gregory's objection "nonsense."
"Well David, that's just nonsense. If they had a plan, why wouldn't Senate Democrats go ahead and pass it," he said.
MORE:
http://livewire.talkingpointsmemo.com/entry/david-gregory-to-boehner-mr-speaker-thats-just?ref=fpb
Just, Wow: Mark Sanford Approached Ex-Wife About Running Congressional Campaign
Mark Sanford Approached Ex-Wife About Running Congressional Campaign
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But according to the profile in New York magazine, Mark Sanford still wanted his ex-wife to play a prominent role in his new campaign bid.
According to Jenny, she had already told Mark she would be taking a pass on the race the day before, at the funeral of a mutual friend. So when Mark came to visit her, he arrived with a proposal. “Since you’re not running, I want to know if you’ll run my campaign,” he said. “We could put the team back together.”
Jenny told him, in so many words, that wasn’t going to happen. Mark made one last appeal.
“I could pay you this time,” he said.
http://livewire.talkingpointsmemo.com/entry/mark-sanford-approached-ex-wife-about-running-congressional
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