Colorado Floodwaters Cover Fracking And Oil Projects: ‘We Have No Idea What Those Wells Are Leaking’

Colorado flooding has not only overwhelmed roads and homes, but also the oil and gas infrastructure stationed in one of the most densely drilled areas in the U.S. Although oil companies have shut down much of their operations in Weld County due to flooding, nearby locals say an unknown amount of chemicals has leaked out and possibly contaminated waters, mixing fracking fluids and oil along with sewage, gasoline, and agriculture pesticides.
“You have 100, if not thousands, of wells underwater right now and we have no idea what those wells are leaking,” East Boulder County United spokesman Cliff Willmeng said Monday. “It’s very clear they are leaking into the floodwaters though.”

Photographs shared by East Boulder County United, a Colorado environmental group that opposes hydraulic fracturing, show many tanks have been ruptured and others floating in the flood. At least one pipeline has been confirmed broken and leaking.

http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2013/09/17/2630131/oil-fracking-colorado-flooding/

George Zimmerman’s Very Bad Week – Speeding Ticket, Divorce And Now The U.N.?

“We call upon the US Government to examine its laws that could have discriminatory impact on African Americans, and to ensure that such laws are in full compliance with the country’s international legal obligations and relevant standards,” said human rights expert Verene Shepherd, who currently heads the UN Working Group of Experts of People of African Descent.
“The Trayvon Martin case has highlighted the importance of the need to review those existing laws and policies that can have a discriminatory effect on the basis of race, as African Americans become more vulnerable to such discrimination,” Ms. Shepherd said, recalling that the US has been party to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights since 1992, the International Convention on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination since 1994, and many other international human rights law treaties.
“States are required to take effective measures to review governmental, national and local policies, and to amend, rescind or nullify any laws and regulations which have the effect of creating or perpetuating racial discrimination wherever it exists,” said the Special Rapporteur on racism, Mutuma Ruteere.
Source: UN News

http://samuel-warde.com/2013/09/george-zimmermans-bad-week-speeding-ticket-divorce-now-u-n/

House Republicans Refuse to Come Back Early from Vacation to Discuss Syria

Nothing gets in the way of the Republican House avoiding work. Not even voting on military action in Syria.
House leaders issued a statement saying that “serious, substantive” questions were being raised regarding Syria and they are so glad that the President is asking them to vote because this is so important, constitution, blah blah – oh, and they are going to take the measure up on September 9th, which is another way of saying they are not coming back early from vacaction for this “serious, substantive” matter.

Can you imagine if Democrats had told Bush they’d get back to him on Iraq when they were done with vacation?

http://www.politicususa.com/2013/08/31/house-republicans-refuse-early-vacation-discuss-syria.html

H. G. Heinz was bought out and are laying people off

Heinz Bought By Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/02/14/warren-buffetts-berkshire_n_2685098.html

Heinz layoffs: Heinz cuts 600 jobs in U.S. and Canada

http://www.examiner.com/article/heinz-layoffs-heinz-cuts-600-jobs-u-s-and-canada

Boehner's pollster: even Republicans oppose shutdown plan

Republican pollster David Winston, perhaps best known for his polling work on behalf of House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) and his caucus, asked national survey respondents a simple question: "Some members of Congress have proposed shutting down the government as a way to defund the president's health care law." Folks were asked whether they support or oppose the idea.

The results really weren't close. The survey, conducted not for a news organization but rather for congressional Republicans themselves, found widespread opposition to the shutdown scheme. Among all Americans, a 71% majority rejected the idea, but just as importantly, a 53% majority of self-identified Republican voters reached the same conclusion.

While the results are interesting, let's also not forget the story behind the story -- this poll was conducted by Boehner's pollster, to better inform congressional Republicans, and then leaked to Byron York, a conservative writer who's widely read in Republican circles.

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http://maddowblog.msnbc.com/_news/2013/08/23/20154308-boehners-pollster-even-republicans-oppose-shutdown-plan?lite


I posted the number for the poll the other day. I am letting all those that participated know the results and saying thank you for taking the time to call.

This needs some DU love

Cayman Islands, US reach agreement on reporting Americans’ assets in Caribbean territory

Source: Washington Post

The Cayman Islands says it has reached agreement with the United States to provide information on accounts held by American citizens to comply with a sweeping U.S. law designed to combat tax evasion.

The British Caribbean territory, considered the world’s sixth largest financial center and a major haven for mutual funds and private equity, said the texts of the new pacts will be made public once an official signing ceremony is held.

The Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act requires U.S. taxpayers with more than $50,000 in a foreign financial asset to annually report the details. The threshold is higher for some people such as married taxpayers filing jointly or U.S. citizens living in a foreign country, according to the IRS.

Critics of the U.S. law argue it will be an administrative headache for financial institutions and will make it more difficult for U.S. citizens to have foreign accounts.



Read more: http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/the_americas/cayman-islands-us-conclude-talks-on-pacts-aimed-at-uncovering-americans-overseas-assets/2013/08/15/82e898dc-05d5-11e3-bfc5-406b928603b2_story.html

Republican Sues to Keep Wife & Daughters From Accessing Birth Control

A (male, Republican, natch) Missouri state representative is suing the federal government for a personal family exemption from the Obamacare birth control mandate on the grounds that it violates his religious liberty. Since we can assume that this male Republican is not worried about blocking his own access to a pharmaceutical made for and taken exclusively by women, we can conclude that this guy is basically suing to keep his wife and daughters from having the option to access free birth control. I guess I missed that day in Catechism when we learned about how the Church believes that the man's religion gets to determine his wife and female offspring's insurance benefits.

To be fair, State Rep. Paul Wieland isn't alone in his lawsuit; joining him is his wife, Theresa. The pair claim that simply having the option to access copay-free birth control through Wieland's state-provided insurance plan violates their Catholic faith, which famously views birth control as basically punching God in the face (God, in his omnipotence, has yet to use his magic to overcome birth control nor is he able to make fetuses less abortable, but give him time. Angels in Godlab are working around the clock to overcome the simple inventions of the people God created). Wieland and his wife have three daughters, all of whom would be ostensibly blocked from accessing birth control if Paul and Theresa's dumbass lawsuit is successful. From the St. Louis Post-Dispatch,

“I see abortion-inducing drugs as intrinsically evil, and I cannot in good conscience preach one thing to my kids and then just go with the flow on our insurance,” said Rep. Wieland, who has three daughters. “This is a moral conundrum for me. Do I just cancel the coverage and put my family at risk? I don’t believe in what the government is doing.

http://jezebel.com/republican-sues-to-keep-wife-daughters-from-accessing-1148313604

I personally don't believe in birth control, therefore I should have the right to deny it to the world at large because I and only I count. The sheer arrogance is astounding.

Student faces years in prison for college massacre "joke"

A 20-year-old college student in Georgia has spent the past six months in jail—and could spend up to five years—for making what he considers "an experimental literary piece and art project" to his personal Tumblr.

The "literary piece" Caleb Clemmons speaks to was actually somewhat concerning: He announced on the blogging platform that he planned to open fire on staff and fellow students at Georgia Southern University.

"hello. my name is irenigg and i plan on shooting up georgia southern," he posted on Feb. 8. "pass this around to see the affect it has. to see if i get arrested."

He did.

http://www.dailydot.com/news/georgia-student-prison-tumblr-caleb-clemmons/

Do they give out Bachelor of Stupid degrees in this day and age?

Seeing red over map of hatred- map of hate tweets

The red stains spread out across the maps of the US like bruises or the ink blots of a Rorschach test. They are maps of hate speech, as gathered via Twitter and analysed and plotted by a team of researchers led by the Humboldt University geography professor Monica Stephens.
During the 2012 campaign, Dr Stephens noted the surge of racist tweets made about President Barack Obama, and decided to plot those that were sent with a geocode - an electronic pinpoint - to see if some areas appeared to be more racist than others.
In that early project she discovered that two of the hotspots were Mississippi and Alabama, states that voted strongly against the president and have a history of poor race relations.
Intrigued, she and a group of students decided to map hatred across America using the same method - plotting the location of tweets made with derogatory use of terms such as ''nigger'' and ''fag''.


Read more: http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/world/seeing-red-over-map-of-hatred-20130810-2rork.html#ixzz2bggl1oYM

It is really eyeopening. There more hot spots than one would think there are. The ability to remain anonymous seems to get people to let their guard down and show what they really are.