Gulf Blowout shenanigans : reckless cement etc

stories of lasting disinterest in here, go to last for the latest...


swine flu never affected puerto escondido much. i find it curious that the piglot combine culprits suddenlly dropped out of the conversation. also the bad state of mexican public health. now come the official doubters who fret over the 'disbenefits' of overreaction:

Severity doubts and fear hit flu response: WHO probe


...........Swine flu has affected 213 countries or territories since April 2009, leaving 17,700 people dead, according to the WHO.

The probe was set up following accusations that the agency-led international reaction to A(H1N1) influenza, including a pandemic declaration last June, was overblown and may have been tainted by commercial interests.

Panel members said that while sporadic outbreaks of more lethal bird flu had given crucial boost to international preparations for a pandemic before swine flu appeared, they had also raised expectations about the severity of a new virus.

Australian infectious diseases specialist John Mackenzie said that public reaction became guarded when the new A(H1N1) influenza virus turned out be less lethal even though the UN health agency had declared a pandemic.

"It was to our disbenefit in a sense," he told his colleagues.

"It wasn't that mild when you see the number of deaths in the young, but the customer expected it to be much more severe," said Mackenzie, who has been closely involved in determining the response to the swine flu pandemic.

Professor Harvey Fineberg of Washington's Institute of Medicine, who was appointed chairman of the WHO panel, said it was "a very central problem."

Officials told the panel that stronger International Health Regulations which came into force in 2007, pandemic preparedness plans and stockpiling of anti-viral drugs had proved vital in tackling fast spreading swine flu.

However, WHO flu chief Keiji Fukuda acknowledged: "H5N1 (bird flu) really sent up expectations not only among planners but also among populations. It really set the emotional tone."

Several of the health specialists, who are mainly attached to public authorities in 28 countries, also raised the need for an additional severity assessment in the flu alert rulebook approved by the WHO's 193 member states.

Currently the six phase international alert system culminates with a pandemic, which primarily denotes global geographic spread, an issue that led to "confusion," according to panel members.

Kuku Voyi, a public health professor at South Africa's University of Pretoria suggested a "bandwidth" of severity could allow a better response.

But there were warnings that the impact of swine flu varied in different settings, with a greater threat to impoverished countries or among groups such as pregnant women or the young.

The International Health Regulations Review Committee's work is expected to take about nine months, WHO spokesman Gregory Hartl said.

Chan promised an "independent credible and transparent" examination, without restrictions on its scope.

Parliamentarians conducting a Council of Europe probe have criticised the transparency of decision-making and especially the potential influence of the pharmaceutical industry on a decision last year to press for vaccination.

That inquiry was set up after several governments sought to cancel mass orders of hundreds of millions of dollars worth of swiftly developed special pandemic vaccines after fears about the severity of swine flu waned.

Fukuda said the need for a single dose of swine flu vaccine instead of the two expected had been "a big surprise."



Edited 17 time(s). Last edit at 10/30/2010 11:05AM by Uncle Mort.

no more than 3 hrs stuck on the tarmac etc--passenger rights during delays:

[www.cnn.com]

Now TSA can get pushy and intimidating. (another reason to support the ACLU.)

Pushy fliers may show up on TSA's radar
By Thomas Frank, USA TODAY

WASHINGTON — Airline passengers who get frustrated and kick a wall, throw a suitcase or make a pithy comment to a screener could find themselves in a little-known Homeland Security database.
The Transportation Security Administration says it is keeping records of people who make its screeners feel threatened as part of an effort to prevent workplace violence.

Privacy advocates fear the database could feed government watch lists and subject innocent people to extra airport screening.

"Is this going to be the baby watch list? There's a potential for the misuse of information or the mischaracterization of harmless events as potential threats," American Civil Liberties Union lawyer Michael German said.

A TSA report says the database can include names, birth dates, Social Security numbers, home addresses and phone numbers of people involved in airport incidents, including aggressors, victims and witnesses.

Incidents in the database include threats, bullying or verbal abuse, remarks about death or violence, brandishing a real or fake weapon, intentionally scaring workers or excessive displays of anger such as punching a wall or kicking equipment, the report says.

The database was created in late 2007 as the TSA launched a program to prevent the nation's 50,000 airport screeners from being attacked or threatened, agency spokeswoman Kristin Lee said. At the time, TSA officials voiced concern about passengers disrespecting screeners, and they began issuing new uniforms with police-style badges pinned to shirts.

Lee said attacks and threats against screeners are "rare" and the database has records from about 240 incidents. Most are screeners in conflict with other screeners. About 30 incidents involve people such as passengers or airport workers attacking or threatening screeners, Lee said.

Information about passengers is taken from incident reports that the TSA writes when a traveler threatens or attacks a screener, Lee said.

"The program's focus is on prevention," Lee said. The database helps the TSA spot trends in incidents that can shape workplace-safety programs, Lee said.

A TSA document published in February says database information can be given to government agencies and to airports, airlines and rail and bus systems in cases involving their workers or job applicants. "They may be contacted by the TSA if an incident involves their employee," Lee said.

A.J. Castilla, a screener at Boston's Logan International Airport and an official with a TSA union, said he has seen passengers throw shoes at and push screeners, but incidents have subsided more recently.

The ACLU's German said he worries that the incidents in the database are broad. "I've been very angry at an airport because flying can be a very frustrating experience," he said.

I dont think we have much to worry about based on the TSA's recent track record. The underwear bomber made it through no problem, and that Times Square nut boarded without problem. Watch them nab the first guy that complained about his meal.

my brother got his passport stolen in the 70's and some ira guy got ahold of it and he has been on the list ever since. once you are on it, it is forever. not good if you are trying to make a connection. suck it up and keep your anger for tea parties.

Stewardesses perform magic aboard the world's #1 rated airline. And the stewardess stretched out on that flying bed, can take the whole damn pacific to get my laptop running.

<[www.huffingtonpost.com];

GUA Guatemala Intl airport will be closed til saturday night due to ash and small rocks expelled from Volcan Pacaya:


Guatemala. El volcán Pacaya de Guatemala continuaba el viernes escupiendo algunas cenizas, después de haber cubierto la capital con una nube negra y una lluvia de pequeñas rocas que provocó al menos un muerto y obligó a evacuar a cientos de personas.

Vulcanólogos que midieron las columnas de cenizas señalaron en la noche del jueves que llegaron a casi mil 500 metros por encima de su cráter y cubrieron las calles de la capital con una capa de polvo negro. Pero el viernes el coloso de dos mil 552 metros de altura exhalaba menos material.

Los habitantes limpiaban el viernes con manguera y palas las calles y los techos de las casas para sacar la gruesa capa de ceniza que dejó el volcán, ubicado a sólo 40 kilómetros de Ciudad de Guatemala.

Un periodista de la televisión local, que había estado reportando desde el volcán, murió cuando fue alcanzado por unas piedras expulsadas durante la erupción, dijo el portavoz de la policía Donald González.

"Tenemos mil 600 evacuados confirmados y 600 de ellos ya están alojados en refugios de emergencia", dijo Alejandro Maldonado, jefe de la Coordinadora Nacional para la Reducción de Desastres.

En los pueblos cercanos al volcán, las familias pasaron la noche durmiendo en colchonetas dentro de edificios municipales y de una iglesia, a la espera de que los funcionarios les informaran si es seguro volver a sus casas.

"Jamás hemos visto algo así (...) aquí se oyen los estruendos del volcán y cayeron piedras encendidas todavía, piedras grandes.

Mucha gente estaba asustada", dijo Néstor Sican, que vive en el poblado de Amatitlán, entre la capital y el volcán.

El presidente Alvaro Colom dijo en una rueda de prensa que tres niños de 10, 9 y 7 años permanecen desaparecidos tras la erupción.

El periĂłdico Prensa Libre reportĂł tres muertos por la erupciĂłn, incluido el periodista, pero ni la policĂ­a ni los cuerpos de emergencia pudieron confirmar el reporte.

Colom declaró el estado de emergencia en el área cercana al volcán. Autoridades de la aviación civil cerraron el aeropuerto internacional de La Aurora, el más importante del país.

"La arena está cayendo sobre la pista y es necesario retirarla antes de que cualquier aeronave pueda aterrizar sobre la misma y eso se hace por medidas de seguridad", dijo Mónica Monje, de la autoridad aeronáutica del país.

Monje dijo que las autoridades decidirían el viernes si es seguro reabrir el aeropuerto al mediodía. Vulcanólogos han dicho que usualmente las erupciones del Pacaya duran alrededor de seis horas, pero ésta es la más fuerte en más de una década, así que la actividad podría continuar en los próximos días.

El Pacaya, que se encuentra cerca de Antigua -donde se cultiva el café de mejor calidad de Guatemala-, ha permanecido activo desde la década de 1960, pero no había lanzado cenizas negras desde 1998.

Anacafé, la asociación de productores de café de Guatemala, dijo que estaban reuniendo información de los caficultores que están cerca del volcán para determinar si hubo algún daño a las cosechas.

[news.bbc.co.uk]

Most rain in Guat since 1949. Not only is the sky falling, but the earth is opening up:

[www.huffingtonpost.com]

Three story bldg, can't even see the roof down there...

The consumer model that mounts on the hood of your car, will be available shortly.

London, England (CNN) -- British budget airline easyJet unveiled a volcanic ash detector on Friday that it says will allow aircraft to safely navigate around potentially lethal ash clouds.

The system uses tiny infrared cameras mounted on the tail wings that will allow pilots to detect atmospheric ash up to 62 miles (100 km) ahead and at altitudes between 5,000ft and 50,000ft, its makers say.

Data from the infrared sensors would also be sent to flight control centers, allowing ground staff to build up a detailed 3D map of atmospheric ash, says easyJet.

The technology employs similar principles to aircraft storm-detecting weather radar and has the potential to help lessen the large scale disruption experienced by the commercial aviation industry when the Icelandic volcano Eyjafjallajokull erupted in April.



The new system -- dubbed the Airborne Volcanic Object Identifier and Detector (AVOID) - was developed by Dr Fred Prata of the Norwegian Institute for Air Research and has the backing of the British Civil Aviation Authority (CAA).

[www.salon.com]

The mayan underworld is belching forth right on schedule for 2012. Volcanos and earthquakes are suddenly converging with human recklessness to bring us face to face with apocalypse. The suppressed story out of the Gulf is that the oil blowout has expanded from a puncture to an enormous open wound and may not be stoppable in our lifetimes. (Want to go for a nuke?) ...And they've lowballed the volume to protect BP's ass (don't fret about their chief exec, he cleverly sold his shares 2 months ago so he could pay off his castle!) Not ten, not twenty thousand but more like 100 thousand gallons a day. Holy shiz. It's the realtime version of 'what if' science fiction we read as kids, curled in a chair as the earth froze or the moon fell out of its orbit. enjoy a good fish & shrimp dinner while you can. And what will birds eat, the ones not coated with oil?

For the hurricane season will bring plenty of this to coat the Mexican gulf states, which have so far been spared. Already they're predicting major industrial shutdowns on the texas coast. Ships will not go through oily murk to Veracruz for example. This disaster will cause another exodus to the American border. do we say tough on you, have a nice day? like the oil itself, a sticky problem that should have been fixed long ago, now the train keeps a rollin' into the night.

[www.huffingtonpost.com]



Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 06/09/2010 04:59PM by Uncle Mort.

Morty...can I have yer SUV when the Rapture comes?

"Oh no, it's the end of the world and i'm still hungry!"

--Garfield the cat

Eat a baby pelican head....[www.theamericansheeple.com]

Miguel Sucio... Scanning the internet so you don't have to. Good stuff. I would be laughing my ass off if I wasn't crying.

i can hear the dolphins screaming all the way to ky.

gottagobye
driftllastic

I feel so much better now...[www.youtube.com]....

A hard rain's gonna fall


Oil spill threatens 'total destruction'
Fri, 28 May 2010

The oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico may have apocalyptic consequences, a report by the Russian Ministry of Natural Resources said.
The British Petroleum oil spill is threatening the entire eastern half of the North American continent with "total destruction," reports say.

An ominous report by Russia's Ministry of Natural Resources warned of the impending disaster resulting from the British Petroleum (BP) oil and gas leak in the Gulf of Mexico, calling it the worst environmental catastrophe in all of human history, the European Union Times reported.

Russian scientists believe BP is pumping millions of gallons of Corexit 9500, a chemical dispersal agent, under the Gulf of Mexico waters to hide the full extent of the leak, now estimated to be over 2.9 million gallons a day.

Experts say Corexit 9500 is a solvent four times more toxic than oil.

The agent, scientists believe, has a 2.61ppm toxicity level, and when mixed with the warm waters of the Gulf of Mexico, its molecules will be able to “phase transition.”

This transition involves the change of the liquid into a gaseous state, which can be absorbed by clouds. The gas will then be released as “toxic rain” leading to “unimaginable environmental catastrophe” destroying all life forms from the “bottom of the evolutionary chart to the top,” the report said.

[www.theonion.com]

Costner & brother actually did the inventing, and not just the PR!


CNN) -- BP officials have turned to a new source for help with their oil cleanup efforts: actor Kevin Costner.

The oil giant announced Monday that it had ordered 32 machines from Costner's company, the actor told CNN in an exclusive interview on "AC360."

The machines use a centrifuge mechanism to separate oil from water and recycle the crude at the same time, Costner said.

"This is the key, it's the linchpin to people going back to work. It's certainly a way to fight oil spills in the 21st century," he said. "It creates an efficiency where there are no efficiencies out there, and it's been a long time coming."

Costner said he had been working on developing the machine since 1992 or 1993 with the help of his brother, a scientist.

Each machine weighs about 4,000 pounds, he said, and will allow crews to collect more oil.

"Skimmers are picking up 90 percent water, 10 percent oil, and they throw it into a barge ... What this machine simply does, in that particular case, will give a pure payload. Suddenly a barge will be coming back to shore with 99 percent oil as opposed to the other way around," he said.

A 5.9 tremor shook the middle of a San Diego Padres home game last night.

RICO / racketeering lawsuit is being brought, alleging criminal collusion between Bush admin/Bp--starting with those secret energy meetings right after he was elected. Enron was another beneficiary of the bushies of course.

[rawstory.com]



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/16/2010 09:45AM by Uncle Mort.

Unsparing critique by NYT's Frank Rich of Obama's gulf gusher speech and the admin's overall lackluster response to the situation: [www.nytimes.com]

Does Blowout Petroleum's "Gusher That Keeps on Givng", give you a big appetite for those soon to be extinct yummies? Their PR department has just issued the "I Hate to Clean Up Cookbook":

[www.newyorker.com]

just great for that Last Supper.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 06/24/2010 12:53PM by Uncle Mort.

[www.wimp.com] just think about this 1979 oil spill in the gulf and now....????

Titan3, Thanks for the post, very well done.......LT???

from CrooksandLiars, this expert explains how dispersants merely hide gushed oil, saving Blunder Petroleum beaucoup bucks while worsening contamination:


"Anderson Cooper talked to Fred McCallister, an investment banker with Allegiance Capital Corporation, who is going to be testifying before the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee today about something that's appeared painfully obvious to me for some time now, that BP is using dispersants to hide the size of the oil spill in the hopes if limiting their liability. My only question is why has the government allowed them to do it?

ANDERSON COOPER: Fred McCallister joins us now.

Fred, why do you think that BP would prefer to use dispersants over skimmers?

FRED MCCALLISTER, VICE PRESIDENT, ALLEGIANCE CAPITAL CORPORATION: Anderson, thank you for having me on tonight.

The issue that BP is facing right now is whether to use what's practices that are normal around the world, which is to try to cause the oil to come to the surface, and then deploy the right amount of equipment and the right type of equipment to gather that oil up and get it out of the Gulf.

Using the dispersants allows the oil to stay under the surface, and this accomplishes several purposes. It allows the -- it makes it a lot more difficult to quantify the amount of oil that's coming out, which has a direct impact on damages and royalties that have to be paid.

It keeps it out of sight and out of mind. And it allows BP to amortize the cost of the cleanup over several years, 10 to 15 years, because some of this oil is going to biodegrade, but a lot of that oil is going to roll up on the beaches for 10 or 15 years.

And if they can amortize that over 10 or 15 years,as opposed to dealing with that over the next 15 months, that's a much better financial position for BP to be in.

COOPER: Well, let's be clear, though. The EPA has sanctioned the use of dispersants on the spill. Dispersants are generally less harmful, they say, and toxic than the oil itself. But you say it's really about BP's financial interests?

MCCALLISTER: Well, it's about -- well, in terms of environmental impact, it's about getting the oil to the surface and getting it out of the water. That's the best solution, bar none.

And I understand that the EPA has sanctioned the use of these dispersants, but I also believe that BP is in control of this situation. And they're doing what's in the best interest of BP and their shareholders.

No one wants BP to fail, trust me. I don't want BP to fail. It's in the best interests of the country and everybody in the Gulf region. I happen to be from that region. I have family there. I have property there. I want BP to succeed.

COOPER: But do you have any direct evidence, though, that what you're saying, what you believe is true is actually true? I mean, do you have any evidence that BP is basically using these dispersants to keep the oil from not coming to the surface for financial motives, and not using these skimmers?

MCCALLISTER: I -- I have been working on this project of trying to get these skimmers into the Gulf for over a month now.

Everybody in Europe, where standard practice is to raise the oil and to collect it, is scratching their heads and, quite honestly, laughing at what's happening in the Gulf. This is -- and I have educated myself over the last month, as I have gone through this process of trying to get these skimmers here, because it seems self- evident that these skimmers were needed.

People like Billy Nungesser down there are using makeshift equipment. And so I began to educate myself. And what I have learned is that everybody is looking at us and wondering why we're allowing this to happen.

And, as a businessman, the only answer I could come up with is, what are the motivations for not dealing with this issue head-on, raising the oil, and collecting it with the skimmers? And the only answer is the financial interest of BP.

I don't -- I don't see any other reason that it should be handled the way that it's handled.

COOPER: I mean, the other alternative could be, A, that they believe in the dispersants or don't believe in the skimmers, or, B, that they're simply incompetent or just not doing a very good job.

MCCALLISTER: Well, Anderson, it's a grand experiment on an unprecedented scale.

And, unfortunately, I don't know that we're going -- you and I are going to know the results of this experiment until we get 20 years down the road. I think we know what the result would be if we put an armada of vehicles -- vessels out there and gathered the oil off the surface and took it out of the Gulf.

We know what would result from that. We don't know what's going to result from emulsifying this oil into the Gulf, what's happening under the surface to the marine life, and what the long-term effects are going to be.

COOPER: Yes.

Well, I should point out, as we always do, we invited BP to be on the program tonight to defend themselves, basically, and show their side of the story. They declined that. In particular, in response to this, they said they wouldn't have any response to your allegations.

Mr. McCallister, I appreciate you being on with us tonight. Our invitation stands, as always, to BP to come on.

MCCALLISTER: Thank you.

why not just ship these endangered turtle eggs to oaxaca, instead of a weird experiment?

[www.google.com]

i have your turle eggs right here and i am shoving them oh so gently.

Now the oaxaca press is reporting turtle eggs under siege at La Escobilla from beetles. result of dry weather?

meanwhile they're testing 'top hat' in the gulf to cap the mother of all gushers.

BP has said that the "sealing cap system never before has been deployed at these depths or under these conditions, and its efficiency and ability to contain the oil and gas cannot be assured."

Oh wait, BP already DID assure the US govt, way back in 2001. But NEVER MIND.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/13/2010 12:31PM by Uncle Mort.