Category: News

by Brad Johnson.

This post is co-authored by Tom
Kenworthy.

There are obvious limits to how much control the federal government
can exert over the frantic and so far hapless effort to stem the
catastrophic oil eruption that threatens the entire Gulf of Mexico with
ecological devastation. As Coast Guard Commandant Thad Allen said
Monday, the government does not have the equipment or technical
expertise to simply shove aside BP and its industry partners a month
after the explosion of the Deepwater Horizon rig off the coast of
Louisiana. “To push BP out of the way, it would raise the question, to
replace them with what?” Allen said.

The Obama administration’s embattled and frustrated Interior
Secretary Ken Salazar, who on Sunday had threatened to do the pushing,
recognized the sobering reality 24 hours later. “This administration has
done everything we can possibly do to make sure that we push BP to stop
the spill and to contain the impact,” Salazar said. “We have also been
very clear that there are areas where BP and the private sector are the
ones who must continue to lead the efforts with government oversight,
such as the deployment of private sector technology 5,000 feet below the
ocean’s surface to kill the well.”

But if government has little choice but to keep the perpetrator on
the job at the immediate crime scene, it does have a choice when it
comes to operations beyond the urgent task of quelling the erupting
well. BP will necessarily remain in charge of plugging the hole; but the
federal and state governments in the gulf must take greater charge of
containing the onshore ecological impacts.

This requires a greater mobilization than exists today, and
Washington needs to send the message that it is in full command of the
disaster response with the following actions:

One highly visible leader at the White House should lead the
command and coordination at the cabinet level between the Department
of Homeland Security, the Department of the Interior, the
Department of Commerce, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration, the Department of Energy, the EPA, the Department of
Justice, the White House Office of Energy and Climate Policy, the White
House Office of Science and Technology, and the Department of Defense.
Two excellent choices for this role would be Vice President Joe Biden or
energy advisor Carol Browner. This leader should also work directly
with the affected states’ governors.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency should be in charge of
onshore coastal recovery and disaster response, assisted by the Army
Corps of Engineers. The National
Guard should be fully deployed under the control of each state’s
governor, with Army units if necessary. The EPA, NOAA, and U.S. Fish and
Wildlife Service should exercise relevant oversight. And any environmental
and disaster response contractors working for BP should instead
work directly for the federal government.

The federal government should clearly be in charge of
surface-water recovery and maritime disaster response. The Vessels
of Opportunity and other maritime contractors now working for BP
should be under contract with the federal government, including research
vessels. The Coast Guard with the EPA, NOAA, and U.S. Fish and Wildlife
Service oversight should manage dispersant
use for cleanup.

The Environmental Protection Agency should immediately bar
BP from new federal contracts-including drilling in federally
controlled oil fields-because of its repeated environmental crimes.

The State Department should continue to reach out to other
nations that have experience with disastrous oil spills to see if
assistance and ideas are available. This should be a
government-to-government effort, not one undertaken by private
companies.

Claims for damages and lost revenues should be put under the
authority of the U.S. Coast Guard
National Pollution Funds Center. The scope of this disaster far
exceeds the NPFC’s traditional resources, and other federal, state, and
local claims processing resources must therefore be brought to bear,
particularly from the Coast Guard’s sister agency FEMA.

The EPA, the Justice Department, the Internal Revenue Service,
and other law enforcement branches of the federal, state, and local
government should exercise subpoena authority to seize
or monitor relevant communications and data collection, and assets
if necessary.

The EPA and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
should begin a health-monitoring program for the most at risk
populations so there is a baseline from which to measure health
complications from the spill and cleanup.

Federal agencies, not BP, should handle spill response hotlines
for volunteers, technology
ideas, affected wildlife, and others. Full call records need to be
logged with incident reports and technology ideas presented publicly on
dynamic websites.

BP is required as the responsible party for this apocalyptic disaster
to provide full and instant funding for the response by the federal,
state, and local governments and their contractors. BP personnel and
equipment being used for disaster response in the Gulf should be put
under governmental control during the crisis.

BP’s funding should come in the form of an escrow account that draws
on BP’s $100
billion in capital reserves, without limit. The federal government
should require BP to use its first quarter 2010 profits—$5
billion—to establish the escrow account. Congress needs to pass the
Big Oil Liability Bailout Prevention Act, S. 3305, to lift the
liability limit to $10 billion.

The Center for American Progress also supports a full moratorium on
new leases or new drilling for all companies until the commission issues
its report and recommendations. The Department of Interior has approved
at least 17 new
permits and 19 environmental waivers since the Deepwater Horizon rig
explosion.

Congress and the administration must meanwhile take further steps to
end our dependence on big oil. The administration should beef up federal
research and development efforts into how to prevent oil spills and
better contain them if they occur. The federal government should
establish additional protection for continental shelf areas beyond just
the three miles states can control. Congress should cut tax loopholes
and other handouts to big oil companies, which would save $45 billion
over 10 years—money that can be spent on investing in a clean energy
economy instead. And clean energy legislation that caps the oil and coal
pollution that is heating the atmosphere and acidifying the oceans is
long overdue.

Related Links:

Obama’s finally connecting the Gulf spill and clean energy. Champagne time?

How would you stop the Gulf oil leak?

Will Obama admin allow Shell Oil to do to Arctic waters what BP did to the Gulf?

Rumors of John Travolta and Kelly Preston expecting twins set out. Star Magazine was the first to report that Kelly was pregnant, which was right, and now reports that she is expecting twin boys, but are the right this time? The truth is – no they are not expecting twin boys or twins at all. Sam Mast, the couple’s rep says, “Totally false. They are not expecting twins.” The couple has been mourning for the loss of their 16 year old son, Jett, at the beginning of last year after he had suffered a seizure. The couple’s two dogs were also killed in an accident at Maine’s Bangor International Airport earlier this month. However, the 56-year-old actor and 47-year-old actress still have their daughter Ella, 10; and are expecting a new addition to their family.

John’s co-stars congratulate him for the announcement that he and his wife are expecting. Hugh Jackman congratulates the couple stating, “I’m very thrilled for him. I know John – he’s an amazing dad and that’s one lucky kid. I’m very, very, very happy for them. Very excited.” British actress Amber Rose Revah, Travolta’s From Paris with Love costar, said “I think it’s wonderful. John is a really caring person. I’m just happy for him because I think with all that’s happened to him over the last year, he deserved something good.”

Related posts:

1. John Travolta and Kelly Preston expecting a new child
2. John Travolta to be a Father Again
3. Travolta Couple is having their Newborn for the Third Time!

Here’s a good reason to tune into tonight’s ninth season finale of American Idol: The original Idol powerhouse Kelly Clarkson and Season 3 champ Fantasia will perform a duet, “Together We Are One,” as a final send-off to departing Idol judge Simon Cowell!

The American Idol finale — featuring finalists Crystal Bowersox and Lee DeWyze –kicks off tonight @ 8PM on Fox.

Filed under: Hatchback, Bentley

The Porsche 918 Spyder might’ve been our pick of the Geneva Motor Show, but the consensus on which vehicle we’d drive home was unanimous: The Bentley Continental-based Flying Star.

As many of you have pointed out, we’ve got a undying love of all things shooting brake, so the Flying Star lit up all the right nerve endings. And apparently, we aren’t alone.

Car and Driver spoke with Stuart McCullough during the launch of the Mulsanne and when asked about the possibility of a Bentley-built hatch, the Volkswagen board member said, “We have an idea in the back of our minds that we may yet bring to market.”

That’s far from a confirmation and it’s doubtful that a Continental-derived shooting brake is coming, particularly when you consider that the GT is due for a refresh. However, something based on the Mulsanne’s underpinnings could replace the aging Continental, and Bentley is sure to be considering other body styles when that model arrives within the next few years.

[Source: Car and Driver]

Report: Bentley says shooting brake a possibility? originally appeared on Autoblog on Wed, 26 May 2010 18:25:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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How does Grandma stay connected to you? Buddy Radio hopes to help the elderly by giving them an old school gadget—a basic radio—that combines new school technology—social networks—so they can broadcast their mood and ask for help. More »










Facebook – Online Communities – Social Networking – Twitter – Radio

Posted by Rick Pearson at 6:10 p.m.; updated at 6:46 p.m. with Biggins’ response

For 17 years, Elmhurst’s Bob Biggins has been a reliable House Republican vote, but his decision Tuesday to join Democrats in favor of a $4 billion pension borrowing plan is earning the lame-duck lawmaker some blowback from GOP officials.

Biggins, who decided not to seek re-election this fall, was called out by state Republican Chairman Pat Brady today as having “some explaining to do.” Brady contends there are questions of whether Democratic Gov. Pat Quinn made an “offer in exchange” for Biggins’ vote.

Biggins did not attend a closed-door caucus of House Republicans prior to the vote, but instead was in the governor’s office. Biggins, however, has denied being offered anything in return for his vote.



But colleagues, who had locked themselves in opposition to the pension borrowing plan, weren’t happy with Biggins, long a protégé of former House Republican leader Lee Daniels of Elmhurst. State Rep. Jim Sacia, R-Pecatonica, saw Biggins being interviewed by reporters in Springfield following Tuesday’s vote and said loudly and angrily, “Two-faced son of a (expletive).”



Biggins was not the only retiring Republican House member to vote for the plan, which passed with a bare majority of 71 votes. Rep. Bill Black of Danville, a 24-year state lawmaker and member of the House GOP leadership, also voted for the measure.

Brady, the state GOP chairman, said Black was not singled out for criticism because he attended the House GOP caucus while Biggins skipped it for a meeting in Quinn’s office.

“That’s what raises questions,” Brady said. “I think questions have been raised. We just want to know.”

Biggins said Brady should call him for his reasons for voting instead of issuing critical news releases.



"When the GOP has the guts to call me and ask me why I voted for it, I’ll provide them with the answer for this fiscally responsible vote," Biggins said. "The Republican position was fiscally unsound."



Biggins said he was asked to meet with Quinn chief of staff Jerry Stermer during the House GOP caucus and did so.  "Nothing was offered and he didn’t even try to talk me into" voting for it, Biggins said.

The Motorola Shadow has not exactly been living up to its name lately. We caught a few choice glimpses of it at the end of April, then a shot of its user manual was splashed across the internet, just yesterday it was caught pumping iron in Washington, and finally today we have it posing on a desk for all to see.

This most recent photo comes courtesy of longtime Howard Forums user wnrussell, the same gentleman that brought us the user manual image last week.

While we have now seen almost every square inch of the Shadow (or the Extreme/Xtreme) the specs haven’t quite come into focus yet. As wnrussell by all appearances has the device in hand — rather than simply having some time with the device prior to its proper owner laying claim to it — I’m slightly more inclined to trust his version of what is going on inside the newest member of the Droid family.

Combining his newest report with our previous information we come up with these specs:

• Verizon
• 4.1″  TFT FWVGA screen
• 720 MHz OMAP 3630 Processor
• 8 GB of internal storage
• 8 MP Camera
• 720p Video Recording
• mini-HDMI out
• Wifi 802.11 b/g/n
• Bluetooth 2.1
• MicroSD support up to 32GB
• ~9mm at the bottom of the device flaring to ~11mm at the top
• Android 2.1 or possibly 2.2 with a new version of MOTOBLUR
• Launch window: July-August

Other than the bump in screen size this doesn’t seem like anything to make a new Incredible owner too jealous, but if Motorola has managed to match the sturdy build quality of the Droid with the speed of the Incredible they are at least offering Verizon customers a compelling alternative.

Related Posts

• Verizon’s next Motorola Droid sequel comes out of the shadows
• The Motorola Shadow re-emerges
• Motorola Droid successor coming to Verizon later this year
• LG Ally commercial leaks, Verizon launch pending soon
• Verizon set to launch an Incredible device “really soon” – April 29th

It’s been blazin’ in New York all day. I’ve got two Vornados on me, a minimal amount of clothing, and I’m wearing a coldpack on my head. So, in the spirit of temperature abatement, I am delighted to share this printable 20% off anything coupon for Cold Stone Creamery, which I would totally use if everything on their menu didn’t have a gazillion calories. [via Dealnews]

The Chicago voucher bill, SB2494, which failed to pass earlier this month in the Illinois House, could return as soon as Wednesday evening.

Late Wednesday afternoon, House sponsor Kevin Joyce filed an amendment to the proposal that would divert nearly $100 million to private and religious schools in Chicago.

The amendment is clearly intended to gain the votes needed to pass the voucher bill, which fell 12 votes short of passage on May 5.  Though the vote was unofficial, you can see the video of how the House members voted here:  http://bit.ly/bD8ARE

ALL IEA MEMBERS ARE URGED TO CALL THEIR STATE REPRESENTATIVES IN SPRINGFIELD NOW!

1. CALL THE SWITCHBOARD – 217/782-2000
2. ASK TO BE CONNECTED WITH THE OFFICE OF YOUR STATE REPRESENTATIVE.
   
3. TELL THE REPRESENTATIVE (OR LEAVE A MESSAGE) THAT HE/SHE MUST VOTE NO ON THE CHICAGO VOUCHER BILL.

SB2494 would divert almost $100 million dollars at a time when schools are considering laying off thousands of teachers and staff and cutting programs for students because of underfunding.   This is unacceptable.  PLEASE CALL NOW.

We will keep you informed of new developments.

The Nissan LEAF is the world’s first truly mass-market, affordable electric car and there are plenty of folks who’ve plunked down the $99 reservation fee with plans to be one of the first to own one when they start going on sale at the end of this year. But, from those intrepid early adopters, I constantly hear a deep-seated worry that dealers will try and squeeze some extra dollars out of them because of the incredible groundswell of demand.

Given the lack of clarity on the subject to this point, the worry is justifiable. After all, we saw it with the Prius back in the day, no? There must be something Nissan can do to stop dealer price gouging. Well, yes, yes there is.

(more…)

It’s BMJ week (again) on NCBI ROFL! After the success of our first BMJ week, we decided to devote another week to fun articles from holiday issues of the British Medical Journal. Enjoy!

“OBJECTIVE: To investigate the risks of mild traumatic brain injury and neck injury associated with head banging, a popular dance form accompanying heavy metal music. DESIGN: Observational studies, focus group, and biomechanical analysis. PARTICIPANTS: Head bangers. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Head Injury Criterion and Neck Injury Criterion were derived for head banging styles and both popular heavy metal songs and easy listening music controls. RESULTS: An average head banging song has a tempo of about 146 beats per minute, which is predicted to cause mild head injury when the range of motion is greater than 75 degrees . At higher tempos and greater ranges of motion there is a risk of neck injury. CONCLUSION: To minimise the risk of head and neck injury, head bangers should decrease their range of head and neck motion, head bang to slower tempo songs by replacing heavy metal with adult oriented rock, only head bang to every second beat, or use personal protective equipment.”

Read the full article here.

Image: flickr/y-its-mom

Related content:
Discoblog: NCBI ROFL: Injuries due to falling coconuts.
Discoblog: NCBI ROFL: I scream! You scream! We all scream…from ice-cream headaches.
Discoblog: NCBI ROFL: Pink Floyd hallucinations: not just for druggies.

WTF is NCBI ROFL? Read our FAQ!

Bruce V. Bigelow wrote:

San Diego-based Zeebo, the game console maker backed by wireless giant Qualcomm and Brazilian video-game developer Tectoy S.A., has raised $8 million in a combination of equity, debt, and loans convertible to stock, according to a recent regulatory filing. The Zeebo consoles are available throughout Brazil and Mexico in a plan that Zeebo laid out last year. Consumers can buy inexpensive games, download them directly to the Zeebo, and access the Internet.

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UNDERWRITERS AND PARTNERS

Filed under: Truck, Marketing/Advertising, Work, Chevrolet, GMC

The 2011 Chevy Silverado HD didn’t pull any punches about wanting to beat the competition, but it might just pull everything else. In case you missed any of its maybe-or-maybe-not best-in-class numbers, The General has put together a nifty little animation for you that trumpets all of its heavy duty points. And it does a much better job of it than the Dude Perfect spot did…

However, since it is well known that size matters a great deal in the world of pickup trucks, you can expect Ford and Dodge to be unveiling bigger trumpets soon enough. Follow the jump to see the Transformer-esuqe spot.

[Source: General Motors via PickupTrucks.com]

Continue reading Video: GM wants you to see a few things about the Silverado HD

Video: GM wants you to see a few things about the Silverado HD originally appeared on Autoblog on Wed, 26 May 2010 17:58:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Therapeutic Discovery Project Program Tax Credit/Grant – The U.S. Department of the Treasury announced the guidelines for applying for the new Therapeutic Discovery Project Program created by the Affordable Care Act.  The program will provide tax credits and grants to small firms that show significant potential to produce new and cost-saving therapies, support good jobs and increase U.S. competitiveness.  The therapeutic discovery tax credit is targeted to projects that show significant potential to produce new therapies, address unmet medical needs, reduce the long-term growth of health care costs and advance the goal of curing cancer within the next 30 years.  The credit’s allocation will also take into consideration which projects show the greatest potential to create and sustain high-quality, high-paying jobs in the United States and to advance our competitiveness in the fields of life, biological, and medical sciences.  The credit covers up to 50 percent of the cost of qualifying biomedical research, up to a maximum credit of $5 million per firm and $1 billion overall and is only available to firms with fewer than 250 employees. To provide an immediate boost to U.S. biomedical research and the small businesses that conduct it, the credit is effective for investments made in 2009 and 2010.  Firms can opt to receive a grant instead of a tax credit, so start-ups that are not yet profitable can benefit as well.  Opening Date: June 21, 2010.  Closing Date: July 21, 2010.

Posted Date: May 21, 2010

Program Announcement Number: TG712

Art Linkletter died on Wednesday at his home in the Bel Air section of Los Angeles. He was known as the friendly host who parlayed his talent for the ad-libbed interview of two of the television’s longest- running shows – “People Are Funny” and “House Party”. He had a great talent of pleasing others and getting them to open up. The highlight of his show was the segment where five schoolchildren ages 5 to 10 sat down to be interviewed by Mr. Linkletter. Women, who were the made three quarters of the audience for “House Party”, loved his easy and enthusiastic way with children. Mr. Linkletter made replies like that in “Kids Say the Damdest Things” which was illustrated by Charles M. Schulz, the creator of “Peanuts,” and its sequel, “Kids Still Say the Damdest Things.”

Mr. Linketter became a campaigner against drug use and an adviser to President Richard M. Nixon on drug policy shortly after his daughter Diane died by jumping from her sixth story apartment with reports that she had taken LSD, became depressed and lost her mind. He also spent his subsequent years on lecture tours, appearing in commercials and tending to his far-flung business interest that included oil wells and toys. He also wrote “Old Age Is Not for Sissies”. He was asked on what his secret for his long life was when he was in his 80s, he replied “You live between your ears. You can’t turn back the clock, but you can rewind it.”

Related posts:

1. Katherine Jackson says Grandchildren to Move Out
2. White House for Take Our Daughters and Sons to Work Day
3. Miley Cyrus’ Lap Dance With Adam Shankman

I finally got around to getting a copy of the EPIC study I posted on here. The study showed that adding 200 g of fruits and vegetables per day decreased the risk of cancer by 4%. What the reports didn’t mention was that people who ate more than 647 grams of fruit and vegetables per day (the equivalent of about 2 cups of broccoli plus 2 1/4 medium apples) had an 11% reduced risk of cancer compared to those who at only 226 g per day (the equivalent of about 3/4 apple plus 3/4 cup of broccoli).

Here are the confidence intervals:

Remember Zer01? The company that made really quite stunning claims about being able to offer a VoIP-based mobile phone that would offer unlimited voice and data on smart phones for a low price? After some investigations by reporters like Nancy Gohring and our own Derek Kerton it became pretty clear that the whole thing was pure vaporware, tied to a multi-level marketing (MLM) scheme that had a questionable past. It certainly sucked in lots of folks, a bunch of whom showed up in our comments insisting that the phones were real and we’d be proven wrong soon enough. Of course, multiple promised launch dates came and went with nothing to show for it. Laptop Magazine, whose credibility took a big hit, rescinded its “best of show” award for the product, and eventually the company tried to blame everyone else for its problems, suggesting that it was its MLM partner, Global Verge, who was the real problem. Oh yeah, and all those journalists who asked tough questions and weren’t satisfied with the non-answers they received. As part of that Zer01 “dissolved” its relationship with Global Verge (the “parent” operation of Buzzirk Mobile, which was set up to sell Zer01 — or, more accurately, to sell the “dream” of being a Zer01 sales rep, in typical MLM fashion).

Of course, if it was really everyone else’s fault, you would imagine that somewhere along the line, Zer01 would show up with an actual product. One that people could see and actually use — just as Derek had asked to use the “demo” phone at CTIA, a request that was denied. But, of course, none of that happened. Earlier this year, Zer01’s website just disappeared. It also turns out that Global Verge sued Zer01, and has now been awarded $43 million. Of course, considering that Zer01 seems to have disappeared entirely, you can consider that $43 million to be worth about the same as $43 million in Monopoly money. Apparently, Zer01’s boastful CEO, Ben Piilani lost his lawyers after “he stopped replying to contact from his counsel.” In other words, Piilani has disappeared.

Assuming that Piilani doesn’t re-emerge and appeal, then Global Verge may try to take any assets it can, which may include some apparent patent applications that Zer01 claimed it had — though, the details were never explained, so I wouldn’t hold my breath on the actual existence of such patent applications, or the likelihood that they get approved. Of course, as Gohring’s latest piece on the saga points out, many people are still upset with Global Verge for convincing them to sign up to sell these non-existent phones. Global Verge tap dances around all this:

“One of the misnomers out there is that with Zer01 that we were charging people to come into the company to sell the Zer01 service. We never charged any of our distributors one dime for any service or any phones or any of the ability to sell the phones or the service,” he said.

Yet, Robbins himself spoke repeatedly on conference calls for associates last year that were almost exclusively about the Zer01 service and the potential benefits of becoming an associate in order to sell the service.

Robbins maintains that associates who signed up to become part of the marketing program last year did so in order to get other benefits of being part of Global Verge, such as national ID recovery, back-end management systems to manage their businesses, a video conferencing program and travel sites to save money on travel.

Of course, it seems that many of those who signed up don’t agree. Gohring notes that two dozen complaints have been filed against Global Verge to the Missouri state attorney general’s office. Yet another reminder that if something seems to be too good to be true… it probably is.

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You can never have too much Miranda Kerr. After our latest post on the beloved Aussie gal, we have once again found some images of the beauty for the latest Elle US June 2010 issue. The editorial entitled, “Body Language” has the popular Victoria Secret model in various poses and sexy looks. She’s definitely a favorite here at SwipeLife, so much so that we had to put her up twice this month.

Continue reading for more images.

Source: Fashion Gone Rogue