Deja Vu Horizon

This clip is 7:54 long, but watch it anyway.



So, basically the deep-water oil drilling companies are currently using 30-year-old technology to contain the Deepwater Horizon spill.

I'm sick of seeing BP's Tony Hayward being held up as the single face of villainre in all of this. Sure, BP's involvement is egregiously negligent. But let's see Steven Newman and David J. Lesar put through the ringer. In my point of view, they're all involved, so they're ALL deserving of the same excoriation.

In 1979, it took them nine months to stop the spill coming from a well 200 feet underwater. We're now three months and 3 days into Deepwater Horizon oil spill. How long will it take them to stop this well that's 5,000 feet underwater?

John McCain and the Making of a Financial Crisis

This weekend was a pretty disgusting weekend in the McCain campaign, with Sarah Palin accusing Obama of "palling around with terrorists," citing a New York Times article that did not corroborate this part of her argument, oddly enough. Essentially the meme, if you will, is that Obama is being judged by the company that he keeps; that he is guilty by association.

If they want go there, then I suggest you look at this list that Steve Benen (formerly of The Carpetbagger Report and now Political Animal at the Washington Monthly) has compiled of McCain's nefarious relationships, for your information.

Just saying.

And let's not forget that McCain was directly involved in the whole Savings & Loan debacle of the late 80s:

Once upon a time, a politician took campaign contributions and favors from a friendly constituent who happened to run a savings and loan association. The contributions were generous: They came to about $200,000 in today's dollars, and on top of that there were several free vacations for the politician and his family, along with private jet trips and other perks. The politician voted repeatedly against congressional efforts to tighten regulation of S&Ls, and in 1987, when he learned that his constituent's S&L was the target of a federal investigation, he met with regulators in an effort to get them to back off.

That politician was John McCain, and his generous friend was Charles Keating, head of Lincoln Savings & Loan. While he was courting McCain and other senators and urging them to oppose tougher regulation of S&Ls, Keating was also investing his depositors' federally insured savings in risky ventures. When those lost money, Keating tried to hide the losses from regulators by inducing his customers to switch from insured accounts to uninsured (and worthless) bonds issued by Lincoln's near-bankrupt parent company. In 1989, it went belly up -- and more than 20,000 Lincoln customers saw their savings vanish.

Keating went to prison, and McCain's Senate career almost ended. Together with the rest of the so-called Keating Five -- Sens. Alan Cranston (D-Calif.), John Glenn (D-Ohio), Don Riegle (D-Mich.) and Dennis DeConcini (D-Ariz.), all of whom had also accepted large donations from Keating and intervened on his behalf -- McCain was investigated by the Senate Ethics Committee and ultimately reprimanded for "poor judgment."

But the savings and loan crisis mushroomed. Eventually, the government spent about $125 billion in taxpayer dollars to bail out hundreds of failed S&Ls that, like Keating's, fell victim to a combination of private-sector greed and the "poor judgment" of politicians like McCain.

The $125 billion seems like small change compared to the $700-billion price tag for the Bush administration's proposed Wall Street bailout. But the root causes of both crises are the same: a lethal mix of deregulation and greed.

As a result of his involvement, McCain was formally reprimanded by the Senate Ethics Committee for being guilty of public misconduct.

The point here, as Steve says, is that we could go all day playing, "Who knows more shitty people," but with the election coming up in less than a month, I'm more interested in knowing what the candidates can do for me. Are you going to make the streets safer? Are you going to fix the economy? If I want to buy a house next year, will it be impossible for me to get a mortgage?

I've had to sit through eight years of fearmongering, idiocy, and intellectual vacuousness. It's time to get down to brass tacks and fix this country.

The Obama campaign launched a short documentary today on John "Keating Five" McCain at KeatingEconomics.com. Take a few minutes to watch it.

Poor Larry.

Larry Ellison's shithole in Woodside, CA.

Larry Ellison, Oracle's CEO, recently took a $3M tax break on his Woodside home after declaring it "functionally obsolete," whatever that means. According to the SF Chronicle, the money will come out of San Mateo County funds, $1.4M of which would have gone to schools.

And while it's true that Ellison, Mr. #12 on the Forbes 500 List, already has a net worth of about $25 billion (with a B, kids), he must really need that extra three mil, so get off his back.

Why? How did Larry Ellison's palatial estate decline by more than 60 percent in value in a market where luxury homes are actually appreciating and single-family homes values in the county only decreased 6.3 percent in the last year, according to DataQuick Information Systems?

Oracle spokeswoman Deborah Lilienthal declined comment, and Bennett, of San Francisco law firm Bennett & Yee, didn't return a call from The Chronicle. But Ellison's appeal claimed the property suffered from "significant functional obsolescence" because there is a finite market for high-end luxury homes, limited appeal for 16th-century Japanese architecture and the "over improvements" and "excessive" landscaping are costly to maintain.

Sixteenth-century Japanese architecture doesn't just take care of itself, Lar.



(Photo credit: Chronicle photo, 2006, by Christina Koci Hernandez)

Free At Last

So what's the first thing Paris Hilton did after getting out of jail?

Bitch went and got herself a weave.

I thought three weeks in prison made her eschew the ways of vapidity and move toward a life full of meaning and purpose?

Silly me!


/sarcasm

Brand Identity Overload

Donald Trump is now selling steak.

From Meat News (yes, "Meat News"):

Until now, Trump Steaks were only available at Donald Trump’s resort restaurants, but now these same steaks can be delivered to homes exclusively from The Sharper Image. Trump Steaks are made exclusively from corn-fed Angus stock—“The Butcher’s Breed” from the Midwest. Products are individually sealed, flash-frozen, packed in dry ice, and shipped in a distinctive black-and-gold Trump Steaks presentation box, according to a promo piece.

Somewhere out there, Richard Branson's getting jealous.

And I'm getting hungry.

(Photo lifted from Dethroner.)

Free Paris REDUX - Now I've seen it all

Paris Hilton supporters created a petition asking Gov. Schwarzenegger for leniency. Indulge me while I give you a little excerpt:

Paris Whitney Hilton is an American celebrity and socialite. She is an heiress to a share of the Hilton Hotel fortune, as well as to the real estate fortune of her father Richard Hilton. She provides hope for young people all over the U.S. and the world. She provides beauty and excitement to (most of) our otherwise mundane lives.

[...]

As most of America now knows, Ms. Hilton was just charged in a Los Angeles court with DUI and sentenced to 45 days in Century Regional Detention Facility in California beginning on or before June 5, 2007.

We, the American public who support Paris, are shocked, dismayed and appalled by how Paris has been the person to be used as an example that Drunk Driving is wrong. We do not support drunk driving or DUI charges. Paris should have been sober. But she shouldn't go to jail, either.

Whatever, people! Yeah, Paris is such a victim. In her own words:

"I think I get in more trouble because of who I am," posits Paris. "The cops do it all the time. They'll just pull me over to hit on me. It's really annoying. They're [the cops] like, 'What's your phone number? Want to go out to dinner?'"

So NOT sympathetic to your cause, girlfriend.

UPDATE: In response to this absurdity, I just had to create a rebuttal petition. Read (and sign) it here.

Socialite in the Slammer

Let the "Free Paris" campaign begin!



I wonder if 45 days in the clink will teach girlfriend some maturity.

There aren't any "don't drop the soap" prison jokes for women, are there?

Basically, Miss Thang got arrested for violating her probation by driving on a suspended license. She claims to not have known about her license being suspended for 90 days, even though she signed a document saying just that:

[Paris] said that when an officer who stopped her in January made her sign a document stating her license was suspended, she thought he was mistaken and did not actually look at the document.

Poor girl. She probably thought the officer was asking for her autograph.

UPDATE 5/4: In this L.A. Times article, Hilton's attorney declared the verdict unfair, saying that Paris, whom he said was a person with "unique issues and needs" [apparently], was selectively prosecuted because of who she is.

Bitch, please. Nobody is above the law, especially socialites who are too stupid to take shit like this seriously.

Oh yeah, and Paris made the sign of the cross before hearing the verdict. What, all of a sudden she's religious? Heh.


(Photo credit: Damian Dovarganes/AP)

Just in time for prom

As if you needed another reason to love Brooklyn:

Paris Hilton's naked "corpse" could provide an invaluable service to students preparing for prom this season.

An interactive Public Service Announcement featuring the graphic display of a tiara-wearing, autopsied Paris Hilton with removable innards is designed to warn teenagers of the hazards of underage drinking. The display also features Tinkerbell, Hilton's forlorn pet Chihuahua with matching tiara, and debuts in the trendy Williamsburg, Brooklyn neighborhood where prom-goers frequently dine, courtesy of Capla Kesting Fine Art.

"Campaign to Rescue Women of Youth" featuring "The Paris Hilton Autopsy" offers a cadaveric nude Paris Hilton, laid out with twisted body and opened abdominal cavity on a coroner's table, while her cell phone remains in her grip. The 'unglamorous' display which includes support material from anti-drunk driving organizations counters "the disturbingly glamorized trend of Hollywood's 'girls gone wild'," according to gallery director, David Kesting.

Paris Hilton, arrested for a DUI last year, previously released a marginally effective PSA concerning drunk driving. This latest PSA includes a website by Capla Kesting, which offers high school educators an icebreaker for discussing drunk driving's consequences. Students are encouraged to take the virtual field trip at http://www.ParisHiltonAutopsy.com to view the making of the "Paris Hilton Autopsy" and compete for prizes by writing Paris Hilton's obituary.

What's more is that this sculpture/PSA is interactive in that Paris' innards are removable, allowing aspiring prom queens to see the effects of drunken driving "from a coroner's perspective."

Art. Public Service Announcement. Social commentary on The Evil That is Paris. Writing contest. What more do you want?

Brilliant.

Courtesy of the same gallery that brought you the Crowning Britney.

(Photo credit: Capla Kesting Fine Art)

Giuliani: "I said FIJI water, bitches!"

Seeing as how I'm just a G-lister, I found it quite amusing that Giuliani has a rider:

In addition to his $100,000 speaking fee, the former mayor insists that he be shuttled to and from any event by a private plane — and not just any plane, mind you!

“Please note that the private aircraft MUST BE a Gulfstream IV or bigger,” notes the contract, referring to a $30 million jet that can clock 600 mph.

Once there, Hizzoner demands that he be met by “one sedan and one large SUV,” and booked into a hotel room “with a king-size bed, on an upper floor, with a balcony and view,” plus four more rooms on the same floor for his entourage.

And, oh, yeah, America’s Mayor doesn’t like “candid photo opportunities,” but he will stand for posed pictures provided they are taken in a room “with sufficient light” and “without direct, on-camera flash bulbs.”

Who does he think he is? J-Lo?


(Link courtesy of The Carpetbagger Report.)

Dubya's attack on rich folk

In a stunning display of his intermittent ability to grasp the painfully obvious, Not-My-President gave a speech on Wall Street recently in which he acknowledged that income equality exists.

No shit?

So now that he acknowledged it, what's he going to do about it? Think Progress breaks down Bush's previous attempts to fix the problem:

– “$77 billion in funding cuts for Medicare and Medicaid over the next five years, and $280 billion over the next 10.”

– $223 million in funding cuts (4 percent decrease from this year’s levels) to the Children’s Health Insurance Program.

– “$4.9 billion, or 8 percent, cut in education, training, employment and social services” grants.

– $100 million cut for Head Start, which provides child development services to economically disadvantaged children and families.

– “$2.4 billion cut in community and regional development grants — which often provide funding for low- and middle-income communities — to $16.5 billion from $18.9 billion.

– $400 million — 18 percent — cut in the Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program, “which provides $2.2 billion to help people pay heating bills this year.”

– $172 million — nearly 25 percent — cut in funding for housing for low-income seniors.

Did I say "help"? Sorry, I meant "swift kick in the nutsack of the American poor and middle class."

He also went on to say that “government should not decide the compensation for America’s corporate executives,” and that “... the salaries and bonuses of CEOs should be based on their success at improving their companies and bringing value to their shareholders.”

Isn't that how it is already?

Rich people, never fear. Despite what Dubya tells the press and the American public, he'll still hook you up. In perpetuity, even. Keep your chin up, ol' boy.


(Props to Think Progress for the link.)

Why this world pisses me off sometimes

For those of you tryin’ to make a dollar outta fifteen cents, here’s a nice kick in the nuts: McDonalds Corporation announced that it has paid out bonuses (in the millions of dollars) to two past CEOs, now deceased. And yet, Joe Schmoe working the drive-thru window probably doesn’t even have health insurance.

****
There is some speculation that Britney and Kevin are having marital problems. I know, I’m as shocked as you are. Apparently the two checked into separate hotel rooms at a Santa Monica hotel, and that they called an “emergency meeting” among members of her family. Britney contends she is upset that her little foo-foo dog, Bit Bit, got knocked up by Porkchop, Britney’s brother’s dog. Whatever. A: Get your dog spayed/neutered (whichever), B: Don’t try to front like your marriage to Federline isn’t full of drama, and C: This further proves that you're an idiot, thinking that the concept of "incest" applies to dogs, even though Bit Bit is a chihuahua and Porkchop is a bulldog.

****
Torrid, the plus-size answer to Hot Topic, raked in almost $40 million in sales last year. It’s about time they had some decent clothes for bigger folks. But now people are saying that stores like Torrid “encourage obesity.” Bullshit. Stores like Torrid don’t encourage obesity; they’re filling a niche that desperately needs to be filled. I’ll admit I have some items from Torrid – I can’t walk around naked! – but I still manage to work out and eat healthy (sometimes). These stores are a response to the problem, not the cause. People need to recognize this and just let it go. Let the chunky kids have their clothes. It's more depressing - and one could argue, more of an encouragement for obesity - to walk into a mall and not be able to buy anything than walking into a mall and buying something that fits and - gasp - somewhat stylish, even.