Category: News

Transocean to give shareholders $1 billion while trying to cap its responsibility for Gulf spill at $27 million.
Transocean, Ltd., the giant oil contractor that leased its Deepwater Horizon rig to BP, held a “closed-door meeting” with shareholders Friday, “just days after” executives appeared before Congress to explain the company’s role in the massive Gulf of Mexico oil spill. As ThinkProgress noted, the meeting took place at the company’s headquarters in Zug, […]

Transocean, Ltd., the giant oil contractor that leased its Deepwater Horizon rig to BP, held a “closed-door meeting” with shareholders Friday, “just days after” executives appeared before Congress to explain the company’s role in the massive Gulf of Mexico oil spill. As ThinkProgress noted, the meeting took place at the company’s headquarters in Zug, Switzerland, where Transocean relocated two years ago to avoid paying taxes. Though CEO Steven Newman “ignored questions from reporters,” the company said in a statement that it would distribute $1 billion in dividends to shareholders:

The revelation that Transocean is distributing a $1 billion profit to shareholders as one of its drill sites leaks millions of gallons of oil into the sea is sure to inflame an already smarting debate over offshore drilling and the company’s role.[…]

To put the distribution in perspective, the amount of profit that Transocean plans to pay out in the next year is half of what Exxon ultimately paid for the Exxon Valdez disaster off the Alaska Coast.

It’s also more than double what BP has said they’ve spent on the cleanup to date.

Meanwhile, Transocean has “passionately argued” to limit its financial responsibility for the disaster. The company filed a court request last week to cap its liability under $27 million, a paltry sum considering BP has already spent over $450 million on cleanup, and analysts estimate the effort could ultimately cost up to $8 billion. As Raw Story notes, Transocean has actually made money from the disaster, collecting over $400 million from insurers, leaving it with a profit of $270 million after the costs of the rig are subtracted. As maritime attorney Jeff Seely told NPR, “They are the only people who have been compensated for this tragedy. The decedents [of the 11 workers killed in an explosion on the rig] haven’t been the compensated. The injured people who still are suffering, all the fishermen out in the Gulf that can no longer work haven’t been compensated.”

At least 18 people have been killed in a suicide attack in Kabul against a convoy of NATO troops. The bomber detonated a car packed with 750 kilos of explosives over the military in the early hours of the morning in the square Darulaman, near the Parliament and other official buildings.

After several confusing information, the NATO command in Afghanistan’s capital has confirmed that the attack six foreign soldiers have died. Hours earlier, police sources quoted by Reuters, said seven soldiers were killed, five Americans and two Canadians.

About 47 people were injured in the blast. Most of them were waiting for a bus on the road.

Police have built numerous checkpoints in the capital. Kabul has been the victim of several attacks like this in recent months.  Security remains a weakness of the international troops and the Hamid Karzai government itself.

Afghan President called the attack “outrageous.” ”We condemn the attack in the most profound way possible. I hope that Afghanistan will not suffer such attacks soon,” he told a press conference on television.

The Afghan insurgency, recently announced a spring offensive against Karzai’s government in response to NATO operations in Kandahar.

No related posts.

Tween star Justin Bieber has deflowered his flesh with a hip tattoo! The 16-year old teen idol recently had a coin-sized tattoo of a bird in flight inked on his left hip, according to the celeb tattles at BestWeekEver.tv.

The “One Less Lonely Girl” heartthrob was photographed a few weeks ago in Sydney with what looked like a small bird tattoo on his hip — and guess what, it’s not a rub-on! Here’s the photographic proof that Biebs really did visit the Son of a Gun Tattoo Parlor in his native Toronto, Canada, shortly before his hysteria-inducing tour of Australia last month.

The bird tattoo is a Bieber family tradition, according to the pop culture website.

New, Unopened Resmed Mirage Quattro Cushion and Clip

View Resmed Mirage Quattro Clip and Cushion – Medium Details

Obama Doing Labor’s Bidding

The Revenue Limits of Tax and Spend
David Ranson, Wall Street Journal
The Greeks have always been trendsetters for the West. Washington has repudiated two centuries of U.S. fiscal prudence as prescribed by the Founding Fathers in favor of the modern Greek model of debt, dependency, devaluation and default. Prospects for restraining runaway U.S. debt are even poorer than they appear.U.S. fiscal policy has been going in the wrong direction for a very long time. But this year the U.S. government declined to lay out any plan to balance its budget ever again. Based on President Obama's fiscal 2011 budget, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) estimates a…

Primaries Gauge Voters’ Frustration
Kiely & Fritze, USA Today
Cruising the struggling rural communities of eastern Arkansas, Earnestine Weaver, the local justice of the peace and longtime Democratic committeewoman, senses a tide building in advance of Tuesday's primary.”People are saying: 'Let's make a change. Let's get rid of all the people in office now,' ” she says.In state after state, as campaigns ramp up for this year's congressional elections, voter anger threatens to capsize the careers of lawmakers previously considered untouchable. Party affiliation is not the issue.

The guys at Bro Bible infiltrated this year’s Reggae Party at San Diego State University, if only to remind you that while you were jump-starting your car after winter break at Amherst, these guys were doing this.

Click on the link, the pictures say more than I will be able to.

Related posts:

1. Party of the Year? A Letter Describing an Insane Blowout at Miami University in Ohio
2. The 10 Worst Bachelor Party Cities
3. Make Your Bachelor Party Memorable – With Automatic Weapons

Apple quietly updated the MacBook this morning, replacing the 2.26GHz Core 2 Duo with a 2.4GHz of the same pedigree. Graphics is now provided via an NVIDIA GeForce 320M, which no doubt lends a hand in the new 10-hour battery rating. Yeah, you read that right. 10-hours.

The new MacBook is quite a deal, really. It’s nearly the same computer sans the unibody construction and 2GB of RAM as the 13-inch MacBook Pro. Except this model starts out at $999, which is why it has always been a favorite among budget-minded buyers. We would have still like to see Apple opt for a Core i3 CPU, but once again, Apple choose battery life over computing power and it’s hard to argue against a 10-hour runtime.

NASA and NOAA have both confirmed now that April 2010 is the hottest April on record and January-April 2010 is the hottest January-April on record.

NASA just reported that this April was the hottest April on record. This followed the hottest March on record and the hottest January-February-March on record. So, is the hottest January-February-March-April on record a surprise? Only if you think climate change or global warming is a farce. Of course, how to explain this record-breaking first quarter of the year would be the big question in that case (especially since we are in the “deepest solar minimum in nearly a century“).

(more…)

According to All Things Digital, that $10-a-month Hulu Plus subscription service won’t quite make it out the doors in time for the rumored May 24th launch-date. Considering Hulu still hasn’t confirmed that a subscription service is on the cards, it’s not entirely surprising we won’t be seeing anything next Monday. [All Things D] More »










Hulu – HuluPlus – Business – Subscription business model – All Things Digital

Via Prison Planet.com » Prison Planet

Sovereign Independent
May 18, 2010

Among the 78 research projects to receive $100,000 grants from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation earlier this week as part of the Grand Challenges in Global Health initiative, is an effort by researchers at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, to develop a non-invasive, reversible form of birth control for men — using ultrasound. Based on preliminary trials in rats, researchers James Tsuruta and Paul Dayton hope to develop a technique that would render men temporarily infertile for up to six months after one or two ultrasound exposures.

Via Prison Planet.com » Commentary

Dr. Tim Ball
Canada Free Press
May 18, 2010

The Kerry – Lieberman American Power Act (APA) is a disastrous, unnecessary solution for a non-existent problem. Worse, it’s a problem that exists only in a grossly inadequate computer model whose projections have never been correct. It is predicated on the false assumption that an increase in CO2 causes a temperature increase. Every record of any duration for any period in Earth’s history shows temperature increases before CO2 increases.  The false assumption is the basis of all global warming and climate change used in the corrupted research and models of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). It is impossible to imagine such an unjustified basis for any action, except to undermine the US economy for political gain.

It will make the US economy uncompetitive, dramatically increase the cost of living and give more power to the government. This is already proven in the failure of countries that have pursued similar alternative energies and green economies.

The name of the Act is in the deceptive tradition of climate-based energy policy. It was carbon credits, then carbon tax, cap and trade, and now the APA but they are all the same and completely unnecessary.  Carbon credits were designed as a global equalization of wealth. Developed nations had to pay for the sin of making their money by using fossil fuels and producing the planet destroying global warming. Cap and Trade appeared virtuous by capping the planet-destroying CO2 while creating trade and business opportunity. It is actually the same old tax grab with more government control. The APA invokes patriotism and implies energy independence, especially from oil. The spill in the Gulf is unfortunate but has reinforced the push. As Rahm Emmanuel, White House Chief of Staff said, “Never let a serious crisis go to waste.”

The IPCC Provide Corrupt Scientific Basis

It provides the leverage to achieve the stated Obama administration goal of energy independence and a shift to alternative energy. However, it is much more than that because as Richard Lindzen said “Controlling carbon is a bureaucrats dream. If you control carbon you control life.”

The IPCC Reports and especially the Summary for Policymakers (SPM) are used to demonize CO2. Ironically, they provide evidence of how inadequate they are for taking such dramatic, drastic and unnecessary political action.

In the Reports what is initially included and then excluded tells the story. For example, a graph (Figure 1) showing the Medieval Warm Period (MWP) was included in the 1990 IPCC Report. It was a problem for Michael Mann and the Climatic Research Unit (CRU) so it disappeared in later reports and then was replaced in the 2001 Report by the corrupted ‘hockey stick’ graph, as they rewrote history.

Figure 1: Temperatures of Europe for last 1000 years.
Source: IPCC 1990 (Fig; 7c) Report

Figure 2 shows a table from the 2001 Report. It identifies estimates of some factors causing changes in radiative forcing because of human activities. Why do they then include “solar irradiance” as the only “natural” forcing. The column “LOSU” on the right side is critical and amusing. It stands for “Level of Scientific Understanding” so by their own measure only two are considered high and that is very debatable. Four of nine variables are low yet they are only the ones they chose. Even more bizarre they claimed solar irradiance explained at least 50% of temperature change up to 50 years ago, they were 90% certain that since then it was all attributable to human increases in CO2. 

Figure 2: 2001 IPCC Radiative Forcing Table
Source:

Figure 3 shows the same table in the 2007 Report and mysteriously the LOSU column, estimated forcing values and spatial scale disappear. 

Figure 3: 2007 IPCC Radiative forcing table.
Source:

A few years ago Environmental Scientists at Rutgers University listed processes that must be included in any computer model. They include, a) Wind, b) Radiation, c) Clouds, d) Precipitation, e) Air-sea exchanges of moisture, energy, and momentum, f) Air-land exchanges of moisture, energy and momentum, g) Soil moisture, h) Ground water, i) Chemistry of greenhouse gases, j) Aerosols, k) Ocean temperature, salinity, currents, l) Sea ice, m) Snow, n) Glaciers, o) Vegetation p) and Ocean biota. We have virtually no measures and only crude estimates of most of these variables. The models are inadequate scientifically in a multitude of ways. Consider the following comment about underlying mathematical issues.

“A number of recent papers analyzing the nature of climate models have yielded a stunning result little known outside of mathematical circles—climate models like the ones relied on by the IPCC contain “irreducible imprecision.” According to one researcher, all interesting solutions for atmospheric and oceanic simulation (AOS) models are chaotic, hence almost certainly structurally unstable. Furthermore, this instability is an intrinsic mathematical property of the models which can not be eliminated. Analysis suggests that models should only be used to study processes and phenomena, not for precise comparisons with nature.”

Three reasons for Kerry – Lieberman; a massive tax grab, crippling of the US economy, and offer of salvation through total government control

So the science is wrong and the computer models don’t work. Even if all human produced CO2 was eliminated tomorrow we would not be able to detect the difference in the amount in the atmosphere. The total humans produce is within the error of the estimate of at least three natural sources. For example, with the recent recession human production has decreased with no effect on global measurements. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) treats CO2 as a pollutant based on an ignorant ruling by the US Supreme Court. Kerry – Lieberman proposes to improve the environment by reducing CO2 when an increase is beneficial to the planet’s plants. Too bad the plants don’t get a vote.

There is no scientific justification for claims CO2 is causing global warming. It is a non-existent problem. Reducing the amount is harmful not helpful to the economy or plants and not necessary. It will cripple industry with draconian rules and taxation to make the entire economy expensive and uncompetitive. Alternate energies will not provide adequate power replacement and increase costs through the subsidies necessary to make them even remotely viable. Green jobs will cost regular jobs as Spain and other jurisdictions have discovered. Energy independence is easily achieved with conventional sources and a transition to nuclear power and coal for home and industry, natural gas for vehicle power and the oil industry for petrochemical needs. There are only three reasons for Kerry – Lieberman; a massive tax grab, crippling of the US economy, and offer of salvation through total government control.

We’re about to get yet another 3D-enabled piece of hardware, and this time, it’s a projector. Sanyo’s PDG-DWL2500J, announced today in Japan (press release in English), is not only “3D ready”, but it also boasts the world’s shortest projection distance (just 32cm to project images that are 80 inches in size) for projectors weighing less than 9kg.

Sanyo says the maximum image size achievable for projections with this model is 110 inches (in WXGA resolution), up 30 inches from the previous model. With this new projector, which can be used both vertically and horizontally, the company also managed to cut the size of the hardware by about 50% (it now measures 321x 170×385mm).

Sanyo predicts the 3D function in particular will be used by museums, “amusement arcades”, movie theaters, advertisers, or for business presentations that require high show value (viewers will need to wear active shutter glasses to see the 3D images).

Buyers also get a 10W mono speaker, an HDMI interface, WLAN, 2000:1 contrast ratio, and 2,500 lumens brightness.

The PDG-DWL2500J will go on sale in Japan in July with an open price model. Sanyo hasn’t said yet when the projector will hit international markets.

Via Prison Planet.com » Prison Planet

Detroit Free Press
May 18, 2010

The stunning burst of light and noise from a flash-bang grenade was meant to distract and disorient whoever was inside the east-side Detroit duplex as officers sought to capture a murder suspect, police said.

But in the wake of the fatal shooting of 7-year-old Aiyana Jones during the raid, Michigan State Police are investigating what led to her death, while city police are reviewing whether the tactics were appropriate.

National experts say flash-bang grenades are useful tools in high-risk situations. But veteran Detroit cops told the Free Press on Monday that the devices are rarely used.

“In my entire career, we’ve only used these in barricaded-gunmen situations as a diversionary tactic,” said one Detroit cop, who has been on hundreds of high-risk arrests and raids.

Full article here

Ferrari World Abu Dhabi – Yas Island

What better way to say Good Morning to millions of auto enthusiasts by showing them a virtual tour of Ferrari World Abu Dhabi on Yas Island – a place they will probably never visit unless they are die hard Ferrari fans or if they just happened to be in the Middle East (particularly Abu Dhabi or Dubai).

Ready to open its doors later this year, Ferrari World Abu Dhabi will be the world’s largest indoor theme park. It will feature 20 rides and attractions, including the world’s fastest roller-coaster and a Ferrari driving school.

Check out the video after the jump.

Ferrari World Abu Dhabi – Yas Island:

– By: Kap Shah

The Times story continues to send shock waves through the political world. Here’s a sampling of reaction from Connecticut:

Via Prison Planet.com » Commentary

Ron Paul
Campaign For Liberty
May 18, 2010

The spotlight remains on the Greek sovereign debt crisis as the riots continue. The terms of the Greek bailout from the IMF and Eurozone countries remain contentious with citizens on all sides. Europeans hate having their governments throw public money away as much as Americans do. The Greeks are not happy about having their taxes raised while their pensions and salaries are cut. Meanwhile, it is rumored by the Financial Times, AFP and others that Greece may spend more than it saves from austerity measures on arms deals with Germany, France and the US as a potential condition of receiving bailout funds. If true, it is certainly not unprecedented for the global military industrial complex to benefit from deals made by their friends in the central banking community. After all, war is the health of the state. The last thing big government proponents want is for peace to break out in the world.

This free flow of fiat money from around the globe to Greece will not really save Greece as much as it will grant a temporary reprieve to central bankers from the consequences of their mistakes. Sadly, this will come at the expense of the Greek people and taxpayers in Europe and America. Taxpayers are of no consequence to either European or American central bankers. Even the mere desire for complete information on what they are up to in our name is rebuffed, as we saw last week in the Senate with the failure of Senator Vitter’s amendment containing my language to fully audit the fed. The hubris of powerful and secretive central bankers seems to know no bounds.

If someone incurred debts against you as an individual, without your knowledge or consent, you would call it identity theft. You would call your bank for a full accounting of the debts incurred in your name, and after some verification, those debts would be declared invalid and you would not be held responsible for them. Furthermore, if the culprit was found, they would be prosecuted and sent to jail.

Not so with governments and central banks. Governments that are supposed to be of the people and for the people routinely incur debts against the people. Some governments even borrow money to oppress their citizens, and then expect them to pay for their own oppression with interest. With a fiat monetary system, the sky is the limit for how much debt a government can place on the backs of the people.

We have reached the point in the United States where the debt our government has accumulated against us is mathematically impossible to pay off. Harder times, likely due to a wave of hyperinflation, will eventually find its way to our streets and I am fearful of how Americans will react. My hope is that we will come together peacefully and help each other, and that enough of us will be aware that the blame rests securely on the shoulders of the Federal Reserve and the special interests. They should not be looked to for salvation. They should not be given more power. Rather, they should be stripped of the powers that allowed them to create this mess in the first place.

Resistance to public transparency regarding public debts should be denounced in the strongest of terms, and the central bankers that incurred them should be seen as no better than common identity thieves.

Word on the Curb has it that Jonathan Rhys Meyers used a racial slur against an airline employee during that drunken tirade that got him banned from United Airlines last weekend.

The star of the Showtime series The Tudors reportedly used the “N” word when he was reprimanded for drunk and disorderly conduct at John F. Kennedy Airport in New York City early Saturday.

An airline employee has confirmed to RadarOnline.com that the 32-year-old star used the word “n****r” when he was told he couldn’t board the morning flight to Los Angeles. Other airline workers claim the actor was “pounding drinks” in the first class lounge and was becoming increasingly drunk and rowdy — even though it was only 7 AM. He then tried to board his flight but was refused entry due to his “out of control behavior.”

Officials were unable to elaborate any further on the report because of passenger privacy laws, but it is believed that Meyer has received a lifetime ban from traveling with United Airlines following the alcohol-soaked outburst.

The actor has been in trouble twice before with airport staff for similar issues. In 2007, the repeat rehabber was arrested at a Dublin airport and charged public drunkeness and disturbing the peace. Both charges were later dismissed. Two years later, in June 2009, he was arrested after allegedly attacking staffers at a bar in Paris’ Charles de Gaulle Airport.

Satoru Iwata, Nintendo’s President, has been especially cagey about the final name for what’s known as the 3DS, but according to recent trademarks filed in Japan the 3DS model name could very well stick. More »










Nintendo – Video game – Games – Console Platforms – Nintendo DS

Apparently, it’s difficult for US soldiers in places like Iraq to get access to Hollywood movies legitimately, so it should come as little surprise that they might pick up bootleg DVDs to keep up with what they’re missing back at home. Rather than actually supplying content for the military, it appears the MPAA decided to send a letter asking for details about how US Central Command is stomping out this practice, and asking if it will ban soldiers from going into stores that sell bootleg DVDs. Thankfully, USCC said “no,” noting that it didn’t want to harm Iraqi entrepreneurs and had no jurisdiction over shops selling bootlegs… while also suggesting that “the provision of popular entertainment like first-run movies, concerts and other events will help to curtail the demand for pirated media.” In other words, stop worrying about piracy and maybe send over some movies for us to watch already.

Permalink | Comments | Email This Story