Friday Open Thread

Filed in National by on May 14, 2010

Welcome to your Friday open thread! You may not see me around too much for the next few days. My brother is coming into town from Tennessee. We’re going to run in a 10 K race in Kennett Square tomorrow and knock around the area. Any suggestions of fun places to go while my brother is in town?

Anyway, let’s get this thread started!

The BP oilcano is way worse than it has been represented, according to professors who have examined the video that was released. It could be equivalent to 2 Exxon Valdezes per week.

Based on “sophisticated scientific analysis of seafloor video made available Wednesday,” Steve Wereley, an associate professor at Purdue University, told NPR the actual spill rate of the BP oil disaster is about 3 million gallons a day — 15 times the official guess of BP and the federal government. Another scientific expert, Eugene Chiang, a professor of astrophysics at the University of California, Berkeley, calculated the rate of flow to be between 840,000 and four million gallons a day. These estimates mean that the Deepwater Horizon wreckage could have spilled about five times as much oil as the 12-million-gallon Exxon Valdez disaster, with relief only guaranteed by BP in three more months.

So far all efforts to contain the leak have failed. I hope we’re not going to have to wait until the sea bed runs out of oil.

I thought John McCain’s reputation had hit rock bottom, but I think I was wrong. Watch the Morning Joe crew try to contain their laughter at McCain’s newest ad “Build the Danged Fence.”

“You’re one of us now.” One of who? In addition to the stupidity of the ad, the sheriff featured in the ad is not actually the sheriff of the county where the ad was filmed. The sheriff is from Pinal County which is not on the Mexico border. The sheriff from the actual county where the ad is filmed opposes the border fence.

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Opinionated chemist, troublemaker, blogger on national and Delaware politics.

Comments (19)

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  1. anonone says:

    Why is Obomba covering up for BP? Why did the government allow BP to delay release of the oil gushing video for 3 weeks?

    Why is Obomba allowing illegal non-permitted oil drilling?

    Why did Obomba schedule today to “get angry?”

  2. a.price says:

    for one, the government PRESSURED BP to release the video. Since we are a free country without a dictator, there is only so much they can legally do…. I know it sucks. If only we could name Ralph Nader king, THAT would show ’em.

    second, the deepwater well was build under BUSH

    third, now you are reaching for reasons to be upset.

  3. a.price says:

    A1, why the hardon for knee jerk reactionaries? I swear, sometime i think you wanted a Liberal Bush for president rather than someone who thinks before they act.

  4. Joanne Christian says:

    Weekend’s here, weather is great, softball anyone?

  5. anonone says:

    1) The government had the video weeks ago, a.price. They could have released it, but didn’t.

    2) Who was President in 2009?

    “The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, or NOAA, is partly responsible for protecting endangered species and marine mammals. It has said on repeated occasions that drilling in the gulf affects these animals, but the minerals agency since January 2009 has approved at least three huge lease sales, 103 seismic blasting projects and 346 drilling plans. Agency records also show that permission for those projects and plans was granted without getting the permits required under federal law.”

    Nobody with any sense needs to reach very far to be upset with this corporate-puppet of a President.

  6. a.price says:

    Last night, Rachel interviewed the ACTUAL sherif of the town where that POS was shot….. BIG surprise, he is against the fence…. AND he is a Beaner.

    She also really missed the mark commemorating the 25th anniversary of the MOVE tragedy. I was barely 5 months old, but my father lived in north Philly at the time and remembers the whole 7 year saga well. Seems Rachel forgot to mention that 5 years before the showdown, the MOVE members murdered a Philly police officer before resurfacing years later at Osage with their piles of human waste, loud offensive speeches and HUGE stockpile of military weapons.

    Im not condoning AT ALL (delcrat) the bombing of the rowhouses, or the subsequent murder of everyone inside, including children….. but giving a history of what the police were dealing with may have helped someone who didnt know the story why they took such drastic measures.

  7. anonone says:

    “HUGE stockpile of military weapons”? Wrong. There were as many military weapons in that house as there were WMD in Iraq in 2003.

  8. RSmitty says:

    Edge Out Cancer, a live ice-skating and on-stage music fund-raising show to benefit cancer research will be tonight at the Fred Rust Arena at the University of Delaware.

    Tickets

    My hook? Mrs Smitty will be one of the on-stage singers! Mr Smitty will be at home, as Mr Dad, so cheer her on, damn it! Mixed feelings, I tell ya’! Sorry I don’t have a link to a flyer or event-information page. All I have is a link to a ticket info page.

    Some previous releases have this as a two-night event, but Saturday’s schedule has been cancelled.

  9. Geezer says:

    Day 3, still no word on what happened with Beau. Of course, we’re assured he’ll make full recovery. From what, they refuse to say.

  10. Brooke says:

    Have the whole family gathered around watching the NASA feed for the shuttle launch. It’s exciting. http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/nasatv/index.html

  11. a.price says:

    so the automatic weapons being fired at the firefighters and the c4 on the roof (in addition to what was deposited by the cops) doesnt count in a1 land. Im sure the family of Officer Ramp would LOVE to hear your conspiracy theories.

    like i said, Mr. “i cant see the world in anything other than black and white”… the bombing of the house was reprehensible … but it isnt like John Africa and the ADULTS … the ADULTS…not children…. ADULTS… were 100% innocent.

  12. anonone says:

    The only weapons found in the ashes of the MOVE house were a bolt-action rifle, two shotguns, and two revolvers.

    No automatic weapons. No “HUGE stockpile of military weapons”. No C4 on the roof. But you tend to believe the lies of any elected official that is a registered Democrat, so you mustn’t let actual evidence get in the way of that.

  13. a.price says:

    tell me, were you also this sympathetic to David Koresh?

  14. anonone says:

    I am sympathetic to all people killed by violence, particularly state-sponsored violence.

    By the way, facts are facts, whether you are sympathetic or not. Yesterday you were calling Seymour Hersh a tabloid reporter, then today, as usual, you can’t even get the most basic facts right about the city of Philadelphia bombing a house, burning children to death, and destroying a neighborhood.

    Why don’t you think or research before you write? Your heart is often in the right place, but your brain is often out to lunch.

  15. delacrat says:

    like i said, Mr. “i cant see the world in anything other than black and white”… the bombing of the house was reprehensible … but it isnt like John Africa and the ADULTS … the ADULTS…not children…. ADULTS… were 100% innocent. a.price @ 1:59

    Actually, they were 100% innocent of anything that warranted the death penalty. particularly when administered without due process.

  16. anonone says:

    “Did you know that one of [Pat] Buchanan’s relatives was killed in the Holocaust? He fell out of a guard tower.”

    Comment from TPM. Too funny not to share.

  17. liberalgeek says:

    A1 – Yeah, I have seen @OToolefan on Twitter use that one. Classic.

  18. Joanne Christian says:

    Well, since Weekend Open Thread isn’t open yet–C’mon out to the Appoquinimink Education Fair at the Appoquinimink High School in Middletown until 2pm. Lots of booths, activities, crafts, fun/educational stuff for everyone–all FREE. It won’t disappoint.

  19. P.Schwartz says:

    US actors, intellectuals protest Obama ‘crimes’ (Worse then Bush)

    afp May 13, 2010
    NEW YORK — US actors and liberal intellectuals joined a list to be published Friday of nearly 2,000 people accusing President Barack Obama of allowing human rights violations and war crimes. “Crimes are crimes, no matter who does them,” the statement reads over pictures of Obama and his predecessor George W. Bush due to appear in the New York Review of Books. The statement, published as a paid advertisement, accuses Obama, who was elected in 2008 with the enthusiastic support of US liberals, of continuing Bush’s controversial approach to human rights in Iraq and Afghanistan, and in domestic security. It…