BP top kill halted due to “snag,” another giant underwater plume of oil discovered
Author’s note: This is three-part piece, but what is most noteworthy is that all of the information was obtained through corporate media. Are they finally waking up, or this is so bad there is no hiding it anymore? Excerpt: The New York Times reported today that BP’s “top kill” effort has been halted due to a snag. A […]

Voters Still Angry Despite Brighter Outlook
“Americans are increasingly optimistic about the economy, but that brightening outlook hasn’t softened their outrage over the country’s direction and its political leadership,” a USA Today/Gallup Poll finds.

Two-thirds of those surveyed say they are “angry” about the way things are going, the highest percentage in the decade the question has been asked. By nearly 2-1, they would rather vote for a candidate who has never served in Congress than one with experience.

The poll also finds a huge intensity gap between the parties: 50% of Republicans are “extremely motivated” to vote this year; 30% of Democrats are.

House Votes to Repeal “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell”
The House of Representatives voted to let the Pentagon “repeal the ban on gay and bisexual people from serving openly in the military, a major step toward dismantling the 1993 law widely known as ‘don’t ask, don’t tell,’” the New York Times reports.

“The House vote was 234 to 194, with 229 Democrats and 5 Republicans in favor, after an emotionally charged debate. Opposed were 168 Republicans and 26 Democrats.”

The Washington Post notes Democrats pushed ahead on the issue over the objections of some key military leaders, who said Congress should have waited to vote until a study is complete.

Meanwhile, the St. Petersburg Times reports Florida Gov. Charlie Crist (I) — in an apparent nod to Democratic voters — switched his position on the issue and said he would support the repeal if he were in the Senate.

Political Advice From BP?s Handmaiden, Sen. Mary Landrieu

Cross-posted from Hullabaloo. Has there ever been a more loathsome hypocrite than Mary Landrieu? I don’t think so: Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-La.) says President Barack Obama will pay a political price his lack of visibility in the Gulf region during the catastrophic BP oil spill. “The president has not been as visible as […]

Why Do Christians Try to Impose Their Beliefs on Our Politics?
Author Ian Buruma Discusses "the political excesses of religion" he’s observed over three continents.

Author Ian Buruma Discusses "the political excesses of religion" he's observed over three continents.

BP’s Latest Effort Temporarily Blocks the Oil Gush – But Is It Stable?
"This will be felt for generations to come," warns oceans expert.

"This will be felt for generations to come," warns oceans expert.

Obama’s Crazy Plan To Cut Social Security
Is Obama’s new "debt commission" about to savage Social Security for no reason? Sure looks like it.

Is Obama's new "debt commission" about to savage Social Security for no reason? Sure looks like it.

We Are Living in a Screenworld — Reality Isn’t in the Real World Anymore
Has our new definition of "life experience" rendered tangible interactions irrelevant?

Has our new definition of "life experience" rendered tangible interactions irrelevant?

Fox News Anchors: ?We Can?t Trust BP?
Five weeks into the worst environmental catastrophe in the history of the United States, even the right-wing Fox networks are turning on BP, the foreign oil behemoth responsible for the hundred-million-gallon oil gusher now fouling the shores of Louisiana. On Monday, Fox News anchor Shepard Smith challenged top White House adviser David Axelrod why the […]

Five weeks into the worst environmental catastrophe in the history of the United States, even the right-wing Fox networks are turning on BP, the foreign oil behemoth responsible for the hundred-million-gallon oil gusher now fouling the shores of Louisiana. On Monday, Fox News anchor Shepard Smith challenged top White House adviser David Axelrod why the administration continues to trust BP, whose CEO Tony Hayward bet the disaster will have a “very very modest” impact on the Gulf of Mexico, claimed BP had “contained” the spill, and complained that Americans are too litigious:

And this is the chief executive of the company that’s in charge of cleaning up this disaster now? Who calls us litigious? Who makes comments about the comparative volume of oil and then says the environmental impact is very minimal? And this is the guy we as Americans are supposed to entrust with the largest ecological disaster in American history? Tony Hayward?

On Wednesday, Fox Business Network anchor Liz Claman interviewed John Williams, executive director of the Southern Shrimper Alliance, whose industry is threatened with extinction by the millions of gallons of dispersed oil contaminating the Gulf Coast. Claman noted that “we can’t trust BP”:

I think one thing we do know is that we can’t trust BP with information at this point. They were the ones, absolutely, you’re correct, who said, “Oh, don’t worry, the oil will not reach the beaches.” Oh, come on!

Watch a compilation:

This righteous anger at big oil is a remarkable turnaround for the networks that lied about the oil spills caused by Hurricane Katrina, deny the threat of oil pollution to the planet, and shilled for offshore drilling during the “Drill, Baby, Drill” summer of 2008.

Charlie Crist flip-flops to support ?Don?t Ask, Don?t Tell? repeal.
When Florida Gov. Charlie Crist (I) announced that he would leave the Republican party to run for the Senate as an independent, he indicated that he would be more free to support “ideas that I believe are good ideas for the people,” instead of just following “one club’s decision.” Indeed, after long supporting “Don’t Ask, […]

When Florida Gov. Charlie Crist (I) announced that he would leave the Republican party to run for the Senate as an independent, he indicated that he would be more free to support “ideas that I believe are good ideas for the people,” instead of just following “one club’s decision.” Indeed, after long supporting “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,” Crist has announced that he is now in favor of the new comprise legislation, which would repeal the policy but allow the Pentagon to complete its study before the repeal is implemented. In a statement, Crist said the compromise will ensure that the new policy is “what is best for our military“:

“Ultimately, as in all military matters I defer to the Pentagon and to the Generals and what the Senate is doing today is giving them the ultimate authority to do what is best for our military. So, I would be inclined to support the Senate’s action on this.“

Crist has maintained a traditionally conservative record on LGBT issues, though there is some evidence to suggest he may adopt a more progressive stance now that he has been liberated from the Republican Party. He has said he is “fine” with civil unions, and in 2007, he asked the GOP to stop spending money promoting “a constitutional ban on same-sex marriage in Florida” in 2007.

Tesla Motors CEO Elon Musk seems to have it all. The electric-car entrepreneur is the toast of Silicon Valley, Sacramento, and Tokyo after unveiling a plan to revive Toyota’s shuttered NUMMI plant last week. And deal-hungry Wall Street bankers are angling to take his company public. He’s even a Hollywood star, with a cameo in the hit Iron Man 2 movie, said to be based on his life story.

The one thing he doesn’t have, by his own admission, is money.

“About four months ago, I ran out of cash,” he wrote in a court filing dated Feb. 23, reviewed by VentureBeat. That’s a problem not just for him but for Tesla, where he is the lead investor and chief product architect, as well as CEO. Musk’s willingness to funnel his own cash into Tesla has for years sustained the faith of fellow investors and reassured would-be car buyers in 2008 when the company’s finances were in perilous shape.

According to the filing — part of his pending divorce case from sci-fi novelist Justine Musk — Elon Musk has been living off personal loans from friends since October 2009 and spending $200,000 a month while making far less. Musk confirmed this in an interview with VentureBeat.

Tesla, likewise, is dealing with its cash flow problems by borrowing money from a friendly source — the United States government, which has eagerly backed cleantech startups through a Department of Energy loan program. Tesla burned through $37 million in cash in the last three months of 2009, according to amended S-1 documents, filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission in preparation for its IPO. Tesla slowed this burn rate in the first quarter of 2010 to $8.4 million, but only by drawing down part of a $465 million loan from the DOE, while reporting a net loss of $29.5 million. Tesla’s sales were flat year-over-year in the first quarter, but declined precipitously in the U.S., according to a former Tesla executive.

Now, Toyota has agreed to buy $50 million in shares at the time of Tesla’s initial public offering — if it manages to go public before Dec. 31. But for now, the company doesn’t have access to that promised cash, and must pay $42 million to buy the NUMMI plant in Fremont, Calif., from a Toyota-General Motors joint venture.

Only one thing is certain: Tesla’s not getting more money from Musk.

Divorced from his fortune

Musk was Tesla’s first investor, and he kept the company afloat until recently through round after round of funding. After a Tesla employee leaked word in October 2008 to a reporter that the company was down to its last $9 million in cash, Musk promised to personally refund car buyers’ deposits if Tesla couldn’t deliver the vehicles — a promise he made in the pages of Car & Driver. At that time, those deposits — which Tesla calls “reservation payments” — were an important source of cash for the company.

And throughout Tesla’s history, Musk has used his entrepreneurial legend — Zip2, sold for $305 million to Compaq; PayPal, sold to eBay for $1.5 billion — to bolster his credibility as a technology executive. Musk’s personal take from Zip2 was a reported $22 million, much of which he invested in his next startup, PayPal, netting $160 million when eBay bought the online-payments startup. According to filings in his divorce trial, he had roughly $48 million in income from his investments between 2005 and 2008. But he sunk much of that money back into Tesla, as well as his other enterprises, the space-exploration concern SpaceX and solar panel finance startup SolarCity.

His finances were not always so strained. In other documents filed in the divorce case, Musk reportedly made $9,551,753 in 2008 and an average of $17.2 million a year from 2005 to 2008. As of Dec. 31, 2008, he also had extensive holdings in venture capital and private equity partnerships, ranging from Softbank Technology Ventures to Charles River Ventures to Clarium Capital. These partnerships, however, tend to be highly illiquid investments: It can take months to get out of them because you have to find a sophisticated buyer willing to bear the risks of a private sale.

As he ran low on cash, a contentious divorce — in which his ex-wife, Justine Musk, is seeking a sizable chunk of Musk’s holdings — caused him more financial problems. Justine Musk is asking a court to rip up a post-nuptial agreement she and Elon Musk signed in March 2000, which could in theory lead to much of his holdings being deemed community property. While there’s no telling how the case will turn out — it has already gone to appeal — more important is the protective order the court has slapped on Musk’s holdings in Tesla and his other illiquid assets. These include his stakes in private equity funds. He won’t be able to sell significant holdings without first getting permission from his ex-wife. And he has also been ordered by a court to continue paying her legal fees for the duration of the lengthy appeal process.

Refueling Tesla’s cash

Musk still owns roughly a third of Tesla — some 81 million shares out of approximately 250 million outstanding, according to the company’s filings. But keeping his ownership stake that high has come at a cost. In November 2007, in order to wield enough voting power to oust Tesla co-founder Martin Eberhard as CEO, he converted 8 million of his preferred shares into common shares. Two months later, Musk participated in a bridge loan to rebuff a separate effort by VantagePoint Venture Partners, a significant investor, to lead a deal that would have seriously diluted Musk’s control. VantagePoint partner Jim Marver left Tesla’s board as a result. From the perspective of Musk’s board allies, the move steadied the company at a time of significant employee turnover and potential loss of morale. (A VantagePoint spokesman declined to comment on Tesla board matters.)

The moves kept Musk in control of Tesla, but it also meant that his stake kept getting diluted in subsequent financing rounds. (Preferred shares often hold anti-dilution rights, but common shares typically do not.) And there were many subsequent rounds, including a highly dilutive convertible debt round in 2008. The first sign of trouble came last fall, when Musk, for the first time, did not participate in a financing round for Tesla.

The company has not disclosed Musk’s lack of financial liquidity or the potential implications of his divorce case in its filings — only that it is highly dependent on Musk’s services. Tesla has also begun reimbursing Musk for his private-jet flights, an expense he previously paid out of pocket. And while Tesla pays Musk only a minimal salary, its board awarded him 6.7 million stock options in December 2009 — the first time he has taken this kind of equity as compensation. It seems that Musk’s compensation from Tesla has increased since his personal finances became an issue.

A matter of disclosure

Should Tesla have mentioned all these facts in its S-1 filings? Eric Talley, a professor of law at Berkeley and co-director of the Berkeley Center for Law, Business, and the Economy, notes that  Section 11 of the 1933 Securities Act requires that companies registering to go public not make materially misleading statements or omissions. But it’s far from clear what’s material in these cases, he said: “It’s not a black and white rule.”

A longtime observer of the company thinks the state of Musk’s finances is worth disclosing. “It’s up to the courts to decide, but this feels like material information,” said Dallas Kachan, managing partner of Kachan & Co., a cleantech research and analysis consultancy which follows Tesla.

The easiest way for Musk to get out of debt to his friends and settle accounts with his ex-wife would be for Tesla to go public and for Musk to unload much of his stake. After an IPO, his shares of Tesla would become a readily sold asset — except for the protective orders in his divorce case and a requirement of the DOE loan that Musk hold onto a certain percentage of his shareholdings until some time after units of Tesla’s forthcoming Model S start rolling off the NUMMI assembly line.

Asked to comment on whether Tesla’s disclosures so far have been adequate, John Heine, deputy director of the Security & Exchange Commission’s Office of Public Affairs, said his agency does not comment on companies with pending registrations to the press. Ricardo Reyes, a spokesman for Tesla Motors, has previously said the company had no plans to revise its filings with the SEC to reflect the possible impact of Musk’s divorce as a risk factor.

Should the company have said more? Perhaps, argues one observer.

“Transparency is thought to be a good thing for the operation of capital markets,” said Talley, the Berkeley law professor. “Bare compliance with SEC rules isn’t enough.”

Here are the documents detailing Musk’s finances:

Elon Musk’s Finances –

 

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See Also:

• Tesla Paid $175,000 For CEO Elon Musk’s Jet Last Year
• Elon Musk Calls Times Writer "A Huge Douchebag" And "An Idiot" (VIDEO)
• Tesla’s Elon Musk: No Need For Unions–Just Fire The Assholes

House Committee Passes Bill Requiring Black Boxes in Cars

Kilpatrick’s Lies Land Him in the Big House

Big Government? Bring It On
Margaret Carlson, Bloomberg
May 27 (Bloomberg) — Big government? Bring it on, to borrow the words of our previous commander-in-chief.Those looking for bipartisan consensus in a fractured Capitol need look no further than officials of both parties pounding on the federal government's doors to stop the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.

Is It Time To Nationalize the Oil Industry?
Joe Conason, Salon
Nearly every day brings fresh evidence of the malfeasance,  corruption and recklessness that led to the Deepwater Horizon disaster, provoking widespread rage at BP and by implication the rest of the oil industry. Public anger at the Obama administration festers, too, as citizens recognize the pitiful impotence of the federal government in these circumstances. But are they furious enough to consider a radical response? If voters are sick of corporate misconduct and government paralysis, after all, there is an alternative to both: nationalization — or at least public…

With the Alfa Romeo Giulietta ready to go on sale in Europe in just a couple of weeks, the Fiat-owned brand is close to finalizing the final shape of the upcoming Giulia, a sedan that will compete with the likes of a BMW 3-Series.

The new Alfa Romeo Giulia will make better use of all the quality components that Fiat has in its parts bin including the company’s new COmpact Global Modular Architecture. The new Giulia will also use Fiat’s new Multair powertrain technology and dual-clutch gearboxes.

The new Giulia will sit on a stretched version of the platform that is used for the Giulietta. While the Giulietta is scheduled to make its U.S. debut by 2014, the Giulia sedan will make it to the stateside in 2012.

2011 Alfa Romeo Giulietta:

– By: Kap Shah

Source: AutoCar

Apps are what drive modern smartphone platforms, so it’s a good thing we’re getting more of them. Included in yesterday’s app drop:

• ActiveCard got and update to version 2.0, bringing landscape support, an on-screen keyboard, integrated notepad, and more to the popular ‘today screen’ app.
• TestTube lets you get updates to the status of London’s Tube.
• What’s On TV? Is exactly that, television listings for the US of A.

That’s not all – the rest is listed in its usual location after the break.

read more

Via Prison Planet.com » Prison Planet

Bob Barr
May 28, 2010

Thousands of census workers, including many temporary employees, are fanning out across America to gather information on the citizenry.  This is a process that takes place not only every decade in order to complete the constitutionally-mandated census; but also as part of the continuing “American Community Survey” conducted by the Census Bureau on a regular basis year in and year out.

What many Americans don’t realize, is that census workers — from the head of the Bureau and the Secretary of Commerce (its parent agency) down to the lowliest and newest Census employee — are empowered under federal law to actually demand access to any apartment or any other type of home or room that is rented out, in order to count persons in the abode and for “the collection of statistics.”  If the landlord of such apartment or other  leased premises refuses to grant the government worker access to your living quarters, whether you are present or not, the landlord can be fined $500.00.

That’s right — not only can citizens be fined if they fail to answer the increasingly intrusive questions asked of them by the federal government under the guise of simply counting the number of people in the country; but a landlord must give them access to your apartment whether you’re there or not, in order to gather whatever “statistics” the law permits.

In fact, some census workers apparently are going even further and demanding — and receiving — private cell phone numbers from landlords in order to call tenants and obtain information from them.  Isn’t it great to live in a “free” country?

Via Prison Planet.com » Sci Tech

Mike Adams
Natural News
May 28, 2010

The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation is gaining a reputation for funding technologies designed to roll out mass sterilization and vaccination programs around the world. One of the programs recently funded by the foundation is a sterilization program that would use sharp blasts of ultrasound directed against a man’s scrotum to render him infertile for six months. It might accurately be called a “temporary castration” technology. Read more about it here: http://www.naturalnews.com/028853_u…

Now, the foundation has funded a new “sweat-triggered vaccine delivery” program based on nanoparticles penetrating human skin. The technology is describes as a way to “…develop nanoparticles that penetrate the skin through hair follicles and burst upon contact with human sweat to release vaccines.”

The research grant money is going to Carlos Alberto Guzman of the Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research in Germany and Claus-Michael Lehr and Steffi Hansen of the Helmholtz-Institute for Pharmaceutical Research.

These are both part of the Gates Foundation’s involvement in the “Grand Challenges Explorations” program which claims to be working to “achieve major breakthroughs in global health.”

…breakthroughs like mass sterilization and nanoparticle vaccines that could be covertly administered even without your knowledge, it turns out. These nanoparticles could be used in a spray mist that’s sprayed on to every person who walks through an airport security checkpoint, for example. Or it could be unleashed through the ventilation systems of corporate office buildings or public schools to vaccinate the masses. You wouldn’t even know you were being vaccinated.

This technology is potentially very dangerous to your health freedom. Using it, governments or drug companies (which are all the same thing these days) could create a vaccine skin cream that’s handed out and described as “sunscreen.” But when you put it on, you’re actually vaccinating yourself as the nanoparticles burrow underneath your skin and burst, releasing foreign DNA inside your body.

A history of covert mass medication

But why would the government medicate people without their knowledge or consent, you ask? They already do it with water fluoridation. Fluoride is a drug, and regional and national governments all over the world are using the water supply as a way to deliver the fluoride drug to people whether they need it or not — and without any proper medical diagnosis or prescription.

So if governments are already covertly medicating people with fluoride in the water supply, they’ve set the stage mass-vaccinating people through similar channels, such as the air supply in buildings. And thanks to Bill Gates, this nanotechnology needed to pull this off is now being funded.

Is this really a “major breakthrough in global health?”

I suppose it is if you believe in covert medicine where you dose people with drugs or vaccines without their knowledge. Western medicine is so offensive to rational people that it can’t even operate out in the open. That’s why it resorts to covert contamination of the water supply in order to force the public to swallow its drugs.

Fluoride and covert medicine

Oh, by the way, to anyone who argues that fluoride is not a drug, remember this: According to the FDA, any chemical substance that has a biological effect on the human body is, by definition, a drug. Therefore fluoride is a drug, too.

Even more, fluoride is promoted with outlandish claims about “preventing cavities” by swallowing it, making it an “unapproved drug” according to the FDA. So how is it that this unapproved drug can be dripped into the water supply and forced upon hundreds of millions of people without a single diagnosis of fluoride deficiency or even a single prescription from a doctor?

The answer is that western medicine is so arrogant that it does not believe it needs to follow any rules, regulations or laws. It is a system of “bully” medicine where drugs are shoved down your throat by being covertly dripped into the water supply without your consent. So why should we believe vaccines will be any different? If mainstream medicine can find a way to force every person to unknowingly be injected with vaccines, make no mistake they will pursue it!

And such efforts will no doubt have the continued financial support of Bill Gates.

Full article here

Via Prison Planet.com » World News

Washington’s Blog
May 28, 2010

Matt Simmons was an energy adviser to President George W. Bush, is an adviser to the Oil Depletion Analysis Centre, and is a member of the National Petroleum Council and the Council on Foreign Relations. Simmon is chairman and CEO of Simmons & Company International, an investment bank catering to oil companies.

Simmons told Dylan Ratigan that “there’s another leak, much bigger, 5 to 6 miles away” from the leaking riser and blowout preventer which we’ve all been watching on the underwater cameras:

I have no idea whether or not Simmons is right. The government should immediately either debunk or admit his claim.

If accurate, the bigger leak could have been caused by the destruction of the well casing when the oil rig exploded. That is Simmons’ theory.

Or it could be caused by a natural oil seep, although the odds of a seep of that size occurring right around the time of the Deep Horizon disaster is nearly zero.

There is another possibility.

It is well-known that there were previous accidents at the Deepwater Horizon rig. For example, as AP notes:

From 2000 to 2010, the Coast Guard issued six enforcement warnings and handed down one civil penalty and a notice of violation to Deepwater Horizon, agency records show.

On 18 different occasions during that period the Coast Guard cited the vessel for an “acknowledged pollution source.”

It is therefore possible that there has been another ongoing leak which BP has tried to cover up.

Via Prison Planet.com » Commentary

cryptogon.com
May 28, 2010

HAARP?

Via: National Geographic:

The ash plume from Iceland’s Eyjafjallajökull volcano, which crippled international air travel in April, held a shocking secret: an unexpected electric charge.

Ash plumes directly over erupting volcanoes have been known to generate lightning, and electrically charged ash has been found in previous plumes up to 30 miles (50 kilometers) from their source volcanoes.

But according to a new study, electric ash from the Eyjafjallajökull volcano was found a record 745 miles (1,200 kilometers) away from the eruption.

At that distance, it wasn’t energy from the eruption itself that charged the ash, said study co-author Giles Harrison, a meteorologist at the University of Reading in the U.K. Based on the average size and shape of particles in the ash, “any initial charging that occurred would have decayed away many times over.”

In fact, ash from deep in the volcanic plume was still charged 32 hours after being spewed from the Iceland peak, which suggests that the charge was self-renewing, the scientists say.

The discovery means that many volcanic ash plumes might be electrified, which could have implications for the air-travel industry.

Electric Ash Deep in Volcanic Plume

The Eyjafjallajökull volcano started erupting in late March, and on April 14 the volcano began belching out a gigantic plume of ash.

The plume traveled to continental Europe, grounding flights around the world for days, due to fears of ash clogging plane engines.

Full article here

Via Prison Planet.com » Sci Tech

JAMES TARANTO
Wall St Journal
May 28, 2010

lead paragraph from the New York Times is just priceless:

Last month hundreds of environmental activists crammed into an auditorium here to ponder an anguished question: If the scientific consensus on climate change has not changed, why have so many people turned away from the idea that human activity is warming the planet?

Imagine popular children’s fables retold by Times reporter Elisabeth Rosenthal: Anguished weavers gathered to ponder the sudden shift in fashion by subjects who only recently thought the emperor was wearing a splendid suit of clothes. If the boy still says there is a wolf, why have so many farmers turned away from the idea that the sheep are in danger?

Rosenthal reports from London, because the “shift in public opinion” has been especially “striking” in Britain, where “climate change” was once a “popular priority”:

But since then, the country has evolved into a home base for a thriving group of climate skeptics who have dominated news reports in recent months, apparently convincing many that the threat of warming is vastly exaggerated.

The Times story could be titled “What’s the Matter With Many?” Not only do opinion polls in Britain and elsewhere show a significant drop in public credulity about climate alarmism, but newly elected Prime Minister David Cameron “was ’strangely muted’ on the issue in a recent pre-election debate, as The Daily Telegraph put it, though it had previously been one of his passions.” And then there’s this:

London’s Science Museum recently announced that a permanent exhibit scheduled to open later this year would be called the Climate Science Gallery–not the Climate Change Gallery as had previously been planned.

That last bit is just an example of the euphemism treadmill at work. We’re old enough to remember the “greenhouse effect,” which became “global warming,” which became “climate change,” which now apparently has become “climate science.” Just as “retarded” was a clinical term until it developed connotations of mockery and insult, so each term for greenhouseeffectglobalwarmingclimatechangeclimatescience comes to connote dishonest alarmism–because that is what GEGWCCCS is all about.

Full article here

World leader, Royal Dutch Shell PLC, announced that it has agreed to buy U.S. Gas firm East Resources Inc., for $4.7 Billion from private investors. East Resources Inc., is one of the major owner of Shale Gas Holdings in the United States. Shell further announced that it will pay cash for acquiring the firm which has the capability of producing 10,000 barrels of oil daily.

At one end when Shell has revealed plans of acquiring the U.S. Gas Firm, analysts believe that Shell would be further burdened as the company is already planning substantial spending. After working out of the deal, Shell’s daily gas production in North America would rose by 7.5 percent.

Shale Gas has been tagged as one of the strongest deliverer of Oil in future. Currently it has gas accounts between 15 to 20 percent of the total U.S. gas production but expecting to quadruple in the coming years.

Another source told that the company was not commenting on how it intended to finance the purchase. The current balance sheet shows $8.45 Billion cash and equivalents at March 31. An analysts revealed that if the company plans to move the same way, not much dividend would be declared in the next two years.

The deal awaits customary regulatory approvals, after which the sale would be confirmed.

Related posts:

1. Shell To Cut 2000 Jobs By 2012, Boosting Production
2. With Volvo Deal China Enters Global Market of Automobiles
3. Perrigo Acquires PBM Holdings In A Deal Worth $808 Million

Via Prison Planet.com » World News

Russia Today
May 28, 2010

Tensions on the Korean peninsula are mounting by the day after a torpedo sank a South Korean submarine killing 46 people. South Korea is conducting military drills and North Korea has pulled out of a military treaty preventing armed clashes with its neighbor. The International community is calling for restraint but will these two neighbors go to war?

	eBay Find of the Day: Hydrogen-powered 1972 AMC Gremlin by George Barris What else is hiding out there?		Royal Academy of Engineering: Coal-powered electric vehicles not enough to cut CO2 Well, duh.
	Details on Nissan Leaf battery pack, including how recharging speed affects battery life Numbers, expectations and more.	Other news: Report: new VW Jetta TDI delayed till 2011 Mahindra & Mahindra tieup with Reva changes GM’s e-Spark plans Report: Fisker Karma full production delayed to February 2011

AutoblogGreen for 05.28.10 originally appeared on Autoblog on Fri, 28 May 2010 06:02:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Via Prison Planet.com » Commentary

The Economic Collapse
May 28, 2010

Could the world economy be headed for a depression in 2011?  As inconceivable as that may seem to a lot of people, the truth is that top economists and governmental authorities all over the globe say that the economic warning signs are there and that we need to start paying attention to them.  The two primary ingredients for a depression are debt and fear, and the reality is that we have both of them in abundance in the financial world today.  In response to the global financial meltdown of 2007 and 2008, governments around the world spent unprecedented amounts of money and got into a ton of debt.  All of that spending did help bail out the global banking system, but now that an increasing number of governments around the world are in need of bailouts themselves, what is going to happen?  We have already seen the fear that is generated when one small little nation like Greece even hints at defaulting.  When it becomes apparent that quite a few governments around the globe cannot handle their debt burdens, what kind of shockwave is that going to send through financial markets? 

The truth is that we are facing the greatest sovereign debt crisis in modern history.  There is no way out of this financial mess that does not include a significant amount of economic pain. 

When you add mountains of debt to paralyzing fear to strict austerity measures, what do you get?

What you get is deflationary pressure and financial markets that seize up.

Some of the top financial authorities in the world are warning us that unless something substantial is done, that is exactly what we are going to be seeing as 2010 turns into 2011.

Of course some governments around the world could try to put these economic problems off for a while by printing and borrowing even more money, but we all know by now that only makes the long-term problems even worse.

For now, however, it seems as though most governments are opting for the austerity measures that the IMF seems determined to cram down the throats of everyone.

So what will austerity measures mean for the global economy?

Think “stimulus” in reverse.

Yes, things are going to get messy.

It looks like there is going to be a great deal of economic fear and a great deal of economic pain in 2011 and the years beyond that.

So are we headed for “the depression of 2011″? 

Well, let’s hear what some of the top financial experts in the world have to say….     

#1) Economist Nouriel Roubini:

“We are still in the middle of this crisis and there is more trouble ahead of us, even if there is a recovery. During the great depression the economy contracted between 1929 and 1933, there was the beginning of a recovery, but then a second recession from 1937 to 1939. If you don’t address the issues, you risk having a double-dip recession and one which is at least as severe as the first one.”

#2) Bank of England Governor Mervyn King:

“Dealing with a banking crisis was difficult enough, but at least there were public-sector balance sheets on to which the problems could be moved. Once you move into sovereign debt, there is no answer; there’s no backstop.”

#3) German Chancellor Angela Merkel:

“The current crisis facing the euro is the biggest test Europe has faced for decades, even since the Treaty of Rome was signed in 1957.”

#4) Paul Donovan, the Senior Economist at UBS:

“Now people are questioning if the euro will even exist in three years.”

#5) Michael Pento, Chief Economist at Delta Global Advisors:

“The crisis in Greece is going to spread to Spain and it’s going to be very difficult to deal with. They are bailing out debt with more debt and it isn’t sustainable. It’s a wonderful scenario for gold.”

#6) LEAP/E2020:

“LEAP/E2020 believes that the global systemic crisis will experience a new tipping point from Spring 2010. Indeed, at that time, the public finances of the major Western countries are going to become unmanageable, as it will simultaneously become clear that new support measures for the economy are needed because of the failure of the various stimuli in 2009, and that the size of budget deficits preclude any significant new expenditures.”

#7) Telegraph Columnist Edmund Conway:

“Whatever yardstick you care to choose – share-price moves, the rates at which banks lend to each other, measures of volatility – we are now in a similar position to 2008.”

#8) Peter Morici, an Economics Professor at the University of Maryland:

“The next financial tsunami is emerging and will ripple to America.”

#9) Bob Chapman of the International Forecaster:

“The green shoots of recovery have now turned into poison ivy. The abyss has again been filled with more debt and more fiat currency. In the process the Fed and now the ECB have lost all credibility.”

#10) Telegraph Columnist Ambrose Evans-Pritchard:

“The M3 money supply in the United States is contracting at an accelerating rate that now matches the average decline seen from 1929 to 1933, despite near zero interest rates and the biggest fiscal blitz in history.”

#11) Professor Tim Congdon from International Monetary Research:

“The plunge in M3 has no precedent since the Great Depression. The dominant reason for this is that regulators across the world are pressing banks to raise capital asset ratios and to shrink their risk assets. This is why the US is not recovering properly.”

#12) Reuters Columnist Iliana Jonas:

“The default rate for commercial mortgages held by banks in the first quarter hit its highest level since at least 1992 and is expected to surpass that by year-end and peak in 2011, according to a study by Real Capital Analytics.”

#13) Paul Krugman, a Nobel Prize-winning Economist:

“Anyone expecting a robust rebound in the housing market … will be sorely disappointed.”

#15) Fox News:

“As the national debt clock ticked past the ignominious $13 trillion mark overnight, Congress pressed to pass a host of supplemental spending bills.”

#16) Bloomberg:

“The U.S. government’s Aaa bond rating will come under pressure in the future unless additional measures are taken to reduce projected record budget deficits, according to Moody’s Investors Service Inc.”

#17) Peter Schiff:

“When creditors ultimately decide to curtail loans to America, U.S. interest rates will finally spike, and we will be confronted with even more difficult choices than those now facing Greece. Given the short maturity of our national debt, a jump in short-term rates would either result in default or massive austerity. If we choose neither, and opt to print money instead, the run-a-way inflation that will ensue will produce an even greater austerity than the one our leaders lacked the courage to impose. Those who believe rates will never rise as long as the Fed remains accommodative, or that inflation will not flare up as long as unemployment remains high, are just as foolish as those who assured us that the mortgage market was sound because national real estate prices could never fall.”

#18) The National League of Cities:

“City budget shortfalls will become more severe over the next two years as tax collections catch up with economic conditions.  These will inevitably result in new rounds of layoffs, service cuts, and canceled projects and contracts.”

#19) Dan Domenech, Executive Director of the American Association of School Administrators:

“Faced with continued budgetary constraints, school leaders across the nation are forced to consider an unprecedented level of layoffs that would negatively impact economic recovery and deal a devastating blow to public education.”

#20) Mike Whitney:

“Without another boost of stimulus, the economy will lapse back into recession sometime by the end of 2010.”

#21) Kevin Giddis, Managing Director of Fixed Income at Morgan Keegan:

“There is big money making big bets that at a minimum we we’ll have a recession if not a depression that could last for years.”

#22) John P. Hussman, Ph.D.:

“In my estimation, there is still close to an 80% probability (Bayes’ Rule) that a second market plunge and economic downturn will unfold during the coming year. This is not certainty, but the evidence that we’ve observed in the equity market, labor market, and credit markets to-date is simply much more consistent with the recent advance being a component of a more drawn-out and painful deleveraging cycle.”

#23) Richard Russell, the Famous Author of the Dow Theory Letters:

“Do your friends a favor. Tell them to “batten down the hatches” because there’s a HARD RAIN coming. Tell them to get out of debt and sell anything they can sell (and don’t need) in order to get liquid. Tell them that Richard Russell says that by the end of this year they won’t recognize the country. They’ll retort, “How the dickens does Russell know — who told him?” Tell them the stock market told him.”

As if the recall woes of Toyota weren’t already worrying the executives, the Japanese automaker lost a bid to dismiss Paice LLC’s patent-infringement claim that may put a ban on imports of the company’s new Prius and Camry hybrid models.

A judge with the U.S. International Trade Commission in Washington by the name of Theodore Essex denied Toyota’s request to end the case by Paice, a Florida-based company. Essex said that Toyota has no argument that Paice’s patent is invalid.

A hearing is scheduled for July 19 to dispute the hearing.

“We are encouraged by the judge’s rulings and look forward to completing our case at the upcoming trial,” said Paice lawyer Ruffin Cordell of Fish & Richardson in Washington.

Toyota did not comment.

A federal judge in an earlier case rejected Paice’s request to stop sales of hybrid models from Toyota and ordered royalty payments on the Prius, Highlander Hybrid and Lexus RX400h.

– By: Omar Rana

Source: Automotive News (Subscription Required)

By Curt Pedersen

Guest Writer/Chief Blogger at Stay Fit Central

Taking the right nutritional supplements can help you look, feel, and perform your best. If you want to be lean, muscular, strong, and healthy they can help you reach these goals. The right supplements won’t just help achieve these goals now, but can help you look and feel good throughout your life.

This article describes 4 nutritional supplements every man should know about. Beside taking a multi-vitamin, these nutrients make up the basics of a man’s nutritional supplement program.

Creatine Monohydrate
Often referred to as ‘Natures Muscle Builder’, creatine monohydrate is one of the most clinically researched nutritional supplements available. Studies show that it can help you safely and quickly pack on pounds of muscle, lift more weights, and recover faster during your workouts. It’s ability to help build muscle will help you look better at the pool or beach too. If you play sports like basketball, football, soccer, or any other that requires you to jump, hit, sprint, throw, or kick it will boost your performance in these activities too.

Studies show that you will get the best results from creatine by completing a loading phase of 10-20 grams a day for 5-7 days. After this, your muscles are ‘loaded’. You can then keep them full of creatine and continue to benefit from by taking 5 grams every day.

When buying a creatine supplement, always choose creatine monohydrate over any other type as it is what’s proven to work the best. Studies show that it outperforms liquid (link here) and creatine ethyl ester (link here) supplements in every way. You should also buy a brand that is guaranteed to be free of impurities. Two that meet these requirements are Prolab Creatine and Optimum Nutrition Micronized Creatine Monohydrate.

Fish Oil
Taking fish oil should be part of your daily routine for many reasons. First, it is good for your brain. Studies show it can also help you feel and think better. Second, it’s good for your heart. While you may not be worried about the health of your heart in your 20’s and 30’s, protecting it now will reduce the risk of problems as you get older. Fish oil supplements can also help your joints, which is nice, especially after several days of tough workouts or a weekend of basketball. Taking a fish oil can also help you lose fat, especially when added to a weight loss diet and workout plan. After taking it for a while you’re also likely to have fewer cravings for foods that pack on fat. This makes it that much easier to stay lean and keep the six pack abs you’ve worked hard to achieve.

When buying a fish oil supplement, make sure you get a product that is tested to be free of impurities like potentially toxic pesticides and heavy metals. You should also look for a supplement that has at least 1 gram of EPA and DHA per 2 capsule serving. These are the fats that give fish oil its benefits. One product that meets these requirements is Nordic Naturals Ultimate Omega. You can learn which others are good to use by checking out the IFOS website.

You’re likely to see the best results from taking 2-3 grams of EPA and DHA daily.

Vitamin D
Vitamin D is perhaps the most important supplement on this list. It’s the least expensive too. Taking this powerful vitamin which is actually a hormone, can benefit you in many ways. Studies show that most people are chronically low in it too. Vitamin D can benefit the health or your bones, brain, and heart and reduce the risk of several diseases. Having adequate levels of vitamin D are also shown to improve your performance in the gym as well.

Most health experts that healthy men should take between 1000-5000 IU of vitamin D every day. This is easily done with a vitamin D supplement. Make sure you use one that contains only vitamin D3 (cholocalciferol) as that is the type that is best for your body. You can get your blood levels tested by your doctor to further dial in how much you need.

Whey/Casein Protein Powders
If you want to look, feel, and be your best you must get enough protein in your diet every day. Supplementing your diet with a protein powder makes it easy. The best proteins for both building muscle and keeping you healthy are whey and casein. Studies show that when compared to whey protein alone, drinking a whey and casein blend is superior for adding muscle, cutting body fat, and increasing your strength. Adding about 50 grams a day from protein or meal replacement shakes will do the trick.

When looking for a whey/casein based protein powder make sure that these two proteins are listed first on the label. You want a product that the majority, if not all of its protein comes from whey and casein. This will give you the best results. Products that use whey and casein as their primary proteins are: BSN Syntha 6, Cytosport Evo Pro, and Biotest Grow.

Whether you use one or all of these supplements together, when added to a good nutrition and workout plan they’re sure to help you be the man you want to be, in and out of the gym.

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1. P90X Workout Program Will Get You Ripped in 90 Days
2. Is Alcohol Really Good for You?
3. The Ready-for-Anything Workout

My mom used to tell her school friends that she was related to the actor, Roy Rogers. She wasn’t. As a kid I used to tell people I was half German, half English, half Irish, and half American. Knowing these two things, you could extrapolate that my family tree contains liars and people that can’t do fractions.

On my dad’s side, it was believed that my first ancestor in America was born in Germany, because he spoke German. Some relatives said he came to America with a brother and that they were from Frankfurt, Germany. However, these details turned out to be incorrect.  Within a short generational span, no one in the family spoke German and the family history was lost.

My sister, Paula, the “Nancy Drew” of the family, decided to do some research because she was interested in the details of our ancestry. When she told me she wanted to check into this, I suggested she start with the USA.gov Family History and Genealogy page. It is a great
launch point with all kinds of links to other resources.

She then went to the National Archives website. The National Archives has a terrific Genealogists/Family Historian web section. They have guidance on how to start your family history search, search-able databases, publications, and a list of independent researchers you can hire to help you with family history search.

U.S.
Citizenship and Immigration Services website. You can make requests for USCIS to search its historical indices for file citations related to particular individual. From that information you can request copies of specific records. Check the site for the fees for index searches and copies of documents.

If you are of Native American ancestry, you may want to go to the Department of Interior to trace your Indian ancestry. They have guidance on determining if you are eligible for tribal membership.

Although my sister was able to obtain additional information about my great-grandfather, it was only dates and locations. She didn’t learn what motivated my great-grandfather to leave Prussia, why he chose to settle in Iowa, how he felt passing through Ellis Island, or what his circumstances were as an immigrant. Those are the types of details that can only be learned through the intimate sharing of family stories. While you are conducting your search into the past, don’t forget to pass on your family stories and share your history with your children.