News

Joe Barton Covered in BP Oil Money

Andrew Belonsky :: Thursday, June 17th, 2010 5:30 pm

Texas Rep. Joe Barton apologized for apologizing to BP’s Tony Hayward today. Yet people are still wondering why Barton would go against the American grain and sympathize with the loathsome oil company. It’s all about the Benjamins, baby. MORE »

BP: Apologies, Then What?

Robin Bacior :: Thursday, June 17th, 2010 12:00 pm

Upon exiting the White House after a meeting with a very perturbed President Obama, BP chairman, Carl-Henric Svanberg was quoted saying:
“People say that large oil companies don’t care about the small people. But we care. We care about the small people.”
There’s nothing more comforting than being called a “small person,” by a man’s who’s oil company is single-handedly poisoning the Gulf Of Mexico at a newly estimated 60,000-barrel-per-day pace. Small people, ouch. The Swedish native has since apologized for the comment, claiming it was a misunderstanding in translation, but just like the oil, the damage has stuck. MORE »

Obama’s Oil Speech: We Need a Prayer

Andrew Belonsky :: Wednesday, June 16th, 2010 10:37 am

For all the hubbub over Barack Obama’s big oil spill speech, his first from the Oval Office, last night’s display was a huge flop. Rather than outlining a “battle plan” to combat the Gulf Coast catastrophe, the President’s seventeen-minute address simply brought us up to speed with what has already happened, while offering little in the way of forthcoming tactics. Other than his tepid threats to make BP “pay,” whatever that means, Obama offered us little more than political theater and suggested what we all already know: we’re damned. MORE »

“We’re Not BP”: Oil Companies Plead Before House Panel To Continue Drilling

Robin Bacior :: Tuesday, June 15th, 2010 1:00 pm

The Chief Executives of Exxon-Mobil, Chevron, Royal Dutch Shell and ConocoPhillips had to go before a subcommittee of the House Energy and Commerce Committee on June 14th to defend the continuation of Off-Shore Drilling (Yes, we have bequeathed “Off-Shore Drilling proper noun status). Obama has instated a temporary halt to Off-Shore Drilling in response to the Deep Water Horizon disaster, still reeking havoc on the Gulf of Mexico water and wildlife. MORE »

Will Deepwater Disaster Save Crist’s Candidacy?

Andrew Belonsky :: Tuesday, June 15th, 2010 12:40 pm

Florida Governor Charlie Crist seemed like a political lame duck earlier this year when he left the Republican Party to launch an independent senatorial bid. The odds were against him: GOP rival Marco Rubio was riding a swell of Tea Party support, the RNC cut their ties and anti-incumbency anger only continued to grow, which seemed to spell doom for Crist. As the oil crisis drags on, the governor has made up some of the ground he lost. Could BP’s ruin be Crist’s political salvation? MORE »

Kevin Costner: BP’s Next Move

Chelsea Fisher :: Tuesday, June 15th, 2010 11:45 am

Luckily for BP actor Kevin Costner, the same man who played candidate Bud Johnson in Swing Vote, has been working on a machine for over a decade that will separate oil from water more efficiently than the traditional “skimmers” that are being used today. BP, in it’s desperate attempts to combat the gushing oil, recently bought 32 machines from the actor. Costner stated “It may seem an unlikely scenario that I’m the one delivering this technology at this moment in time, but from where I’m sitting, it is equally inconceivable that these machines are not already in place.” Well considering his sea-faring work in both Waterworld and Message in a Bottle why not put the fate of the gulf in Costner’s hands?

Let’s Run The Numbers - BP Versus LimeWire

Alex Moore :: Thursday, June 10th, 2010 1:15 pm

In the last week, two major corporate fines have been slapped down very publicly on two very different types of companies.

First, the White House served BP a bill for $69 million in damages and cleanup efforts required by the spill.

Then two days ago, the Recording Industry Association of America asserted in its ongoing lawsuit against LimeWire that the file-sharing company owes them $1 billion for copyright infringement. What’s wrong with this picture? MORE »

Kevin Costner Really Might Save the World

Amelia Kreminski :: Thursday, June 10th, 2010 11:45 am

A few weeks back, we mentioned Kevin Costner’s magical water-cleaning machines. They can clean up to 200 gallons in a minute, and over the last twenty years Costner has invested $20 million of his own money into developing these separators, in partnership with Ocean Therapy Solutions. The project initially sparked his interest after the Exxon-Valdez disaster, and he since sold 32 of them to BP to help with the Gulf of Mexico disaster. On Wednesday, Costner testified in front of the House Science and Technology Energy and Environment Subcommittee regarding these machines. MORE »

Don’t Play With Tar Balls (Or Should You?)

Stephen Blackwell :: Wednesday, June 9th, 2010 7:00 pm

When a waiter tells me that my plate is hot and I shouldn’t touch it, I immediately scoff at the warning, and proceed to find out for myself that the plate is very hot. Yea, it’s pretty stupid, but you can’t tell a man to not do something that seems relatively harmless and expect them to listen.

Now the government is trying to tell us that we can’t play with the tarballs that are popping up along the Florida panhandle. Come on guys! MORE »

Sarah Palin Begins 2012 Campaign - Shill, Baby, Shill!

Alex Moore :: Wednesday, June 9th, 2010 2:15 pm

Apparently someone forgot to tell Sarah Palin this isn’t a campaign year.

In her much-hyped Facebook post from yesterday in which she sought to give the president advice, imploring, “What the heck, give me a call,” her real message rang louder than any criticism of the president: she would have done a better job as president.

It seems we are looking at a very early start to a 2012 campaign bid for the White House. MORE »

Political Theater, Melodrama, and the BP Investigation

Stephen Blackwell :: Wednesday, June 2nd, 2010 12:45 pm

By the time Barack Obama was sworn in in January 2009, he had already introduced several initiatives that would define his presidency, namely the public healthcare option, the shuttering of Guantanamo Bay, and an economic stimulus package powerful enough to galvanize our wilting economy. MORE »

12 Things to Throw Down the Guatemala Sinkhole

Matt Kiebus :: Tuesday, June 1st, 2010 5:15 pm

Guatemala City is the world’s most recent victim of an unfortunate natural disaster. But if we’ve learned anything it’s that, from the comforts of our cubicle, we can find some good in the horrific.

So when life gives your underdeveloped city a tropical storm sometimes it luckily makes a super cool sinkhole! What might one do with a sinkhole you ask? Well, we have a couple suggestions for fun stuff to toss in it. MORE »

Top Kill - Coming to a Theater Near You

Stephen Blackwell :: Wednesday, May 26th, 2010 12:05 pm

British Petroleum — let’s just all start calling it that again — and their efforts to stanch the oil flow gushing into the Gulf of Mexico have devolved into pure comedy. A top kill? What’s next, a super death shot? This company is as ridiculous as its ignominious record. Though I must admit, “Top Kill” is a fantastic name for an action film. It’s not oil I’m smelling — it’s a franchise. MORE »

The Inverted “Gusher”

Andrew Belonsky :: Monday, May 24th, 2010 11:00 am

President Obama has finally started taking more administrative control in the Gulf oil spill by sending three cabinet officials to survey the BP-led cleanup. It’s unclear whether Obama’s action will help stem the criticism flowing his way. In fact, this story, like the oil itself, shows no idea of stopping and, as it continues to spread, “gusher,” a word once upheld as the pinnacle of oil-based success, will come to symbolize disaster, not dollar signs.

Spillers

Stephen Blackwell :: Thursday, May 20th, 2010 2:30 pm

In my neighborhood, it was common to start drinking at 12, if not mandatory. Forties were two dollars in 1994, and bodega owners are shockingly immoral. And they hate cops. So, in the Bronx, there’s no legal drinking age, more or less. MORE »