The scandal that wasn't

post from Daily Kos on 08 June 2010 03:00:04 PM. © Daily Kos

What a shock:

Voters express only modest concern and hardly any surprise about the secret job offers made by the Obama White House to Democratic politicians in Colorado and Pennsylvania in hopes of getting them to drop their primary challenges of incumbent senators...

Less than one in five see the job offers as out of the ordinary.

Obviously these results aren't surprising since anyone with more than two brain cells to rub together knows that national parties don't want their incumbents to go through bruising primaries.

Once again we had the media dutifully taking notes on a Republican-created non-story.

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After taking $96k from oil and gas firms, Toomey
pushes for more offshore drilling.

post from Think Progress on 08 June 2010 03:00:03 PM. © Think Progress

Toomey2 Despite the massive devastation caused by BP’s oil gusher, a growing number of Republicans have called for an immediate increase in offshore drilling, opposing President Obama’s moratorium on new wells until an investigation of the Deepwater Horizon disaster is complete. Pennsylvania Republican Senate nominee Pat Toomey joined the club Friday, telling WHYY in Philadelphia that Obama went too far in stopping new drilling:

Republican Senate candidate Pat Toomey says the Gulf Coast oil spill is a “huge disaster,” but argues the United States shouldn’t shy away from offshore drilling. [...]
Going forward, Toomey wants to see more, and not less, domestic oil exploration.
“You know,” Toomey said, “we choose not to drill in the ANWAR, for instance. In a very obscure, remote part of Alaska that’s sitting on a huge amount of oil, and we don’t touch it. That increases our dependence on foreign oil. And I think that’s a mistake.”
In an interview, Toomey said President Obama might have gone too far in declaring a moratorium on offshore drilling in the wake of what’s being labeled the largest environmental disaster in American history.

The other Republicans calling for more drilling now hail from coastal states with economic interests in offshore drilling. Pennsylvania has no ocean coastline, but Toomey has a personal financial interest in drilling. The oil and gas industry has given Toomey nearly $50,000 for his Senate campaign this year, and he has taken over $96,000 from them over his entire career. Haliburton has been particularly generous to Toomey, giving him $2,500 in their post-Deepwater Horizon spending spree. Toomey was their top recipient of cash in May. Meanwhile, when Toomey was president of the hard-right Club For Growth, he said federal restrictions on offshore drilling “border on the criminal.” And while serving in the House, he consistently voted with the oil and gas industry.

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Will Japan Be the Next Debt Crisis

post from Jutia Group on 08 June 2010 02:58:55 PM. © Jutia Group

Bloomberg: Japan may spark the next global debt crisis unless the nation’s new leader addresses its widening fiscal deficit, Kusano Global Frontier Co. said.(skip)What is bothering foreign investors the most is Japan’s debt issue and the related risk of Japan triggering the next sovereign debt crisis,” Kusano said in an interview.Japan’s 10-year yields have stayed mostly below 2 percent in the past decade partly because domestic investors hold over 90 percent of government debt, according to Kusano. Overseas investors will start avoiding Japanese bonds as the supply of the securities exceeds local demand, Kusano said.“Japan’s inability to finance its debt sales domestically is approaching,” Kusano said. “And when that time comes, you can’t expect foreign investors to accept Japanese debt with such a low coupon…

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AR-Sen: Long Lines and Delays at Garland Countys
Two Polling Places

post from Firedoglake on 08 June 2010 02:57:24 PM. © Firedoglake

After Garland County, Arkansas closed 40 of its 42 polling places for today's runoff election, voters who wanted to vote early were turned away all week. Now, on Election Day, the full extent of the county's boneheaded decision to make it more difficult[...]

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Conservatives and Government

post from Where's the Outrage? on 08 June 2010 02:42:49 PM. © Where's the Outrage?

A couple of days ago, one of my commenters correctly mentioned that conservatives want a smaller[...]

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Where Is Everybody Theyre Piling onto Helen
Thomas

post from Firedoglake on 08 June 2010 02:30:32 PM. © Firedoglake

The storied career of Helen Thomas has come to a sad end. Who will now ask the hard questions in the White House briefing room?[...]

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http://seminal.firedoglake.com/diary/53523

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Determining the real oil flow could cost BP
billions

post from Daily Kos on 08 June 2010 02:28:04 PM. © Daily Kos

Here's a question that is bothering me: why are BP and the Federal government telling two different stories about the importance of closing the vents on the containment cap over BP's leaking well?

It's certainly possible that the government's position (that the vents should be closed) is wrong, and if so, they need to clarify the record. But I'm far more suspicious of BP's position -- that we don't need to close the vents -- and it all comes down to one reason: money.

Let me explain. The one thing that everybody agrees on is that if the vents were closed and we could bring all the oil to the surface, we'd have a good idea what the flow rate actually is. Another independent researcher is now pegging the rate at 100,000 barrels per day, but if we captured all the oil, we'd have a much more reliable figure for the flow-rate.

So what does that have to do with money? Well, if you were BP, you'd know the fines that will be levied against you are calculated by the barrel. And if you're BP and you've been spewing 100,000 barrels per day since April 20, you be looking at a fine so far of $21.5 billion -- a fine that's growing ever single day. (That's if they get hit with the $4,300 per barrel maximum.)

And if the flow rate is as high as 100,000 as some fear, then as long as the well is flowing, BP has a financial incentive to not bring all the oil to the surface, because bringing the oil to the surface will allow us to calculate the total flow rate. Given that reality, when BP starts downplaying the urgency of closing vents to bring more oil to the surface, it's only natural to be suspicious. (And when they start talking about needing to wait for a new cap to be deployed sometime in July, there's even more reason to be suspicious.)

If BP is playing games here with capturing the oil, the administration needs to put it to an end, and they need to do it now. Either way, this is a critical -- and perhaps defining -- moment of this crisis, and the administration needs to get it right.

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Talk to the Hand!

Last week we brought you the story of Rep. Marcia Fudge (D-OH), whose top aide was targeted by the Office of Congressional Ethics and then drew up legislation to strip the Office of most of its powers. The underlying story had to do with one of her top[...]

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It's a Hyundai

Sheesh, the Deepwater Horizon rig was built by Hyundai and I'm only finding this out now? No wonder. Hyundai - Deepwater Horizon - Recreation - Autos - Makes and Models[...]

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GOTV Can Save Her

Sue Lowden's campaign is saying they think GOTV can save her on the ground today since Sharron Angle, who's way ahead in the polls, only has outside money, not field organization. I can't think of many limping establishment candidates who used killer[...]

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