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Offshore Oil Drilling is a lot like Tightrope Walking. It's less dangerous than it looks, most of the time.. There are nets and safety protocols, and an accident is not deemed serious, as The Net is always there. Until it's not. Take away those nets and safety protocols, and the result can easily become deadly. The difference? Tightrope Walking kills only the person(s) involved, and a massive disaster involving Offshore Oil Drilling can, quite possibly, kill millions of sea(and sea-dependent) animals, and effect millions along the Gulf and Eastern coasts of this country(and more..later). But these potentially apocalyptic implications (now that they're upon us) still doesn't stop The Love from some political-types..Congressman Don Young: What's the fuss?Rachel Maddow reminds us who the Real Culprit is: ACORN. (Long segment; so worth it. Really nice expose on BP's corporate monkeys on The Hill. And those recently employed there, of course.)Everything is all right because BP says it's all right. Except where it is not.
The huge, burning object that slammed into Jupiter last week still remains a mystery to scientists who are currently examining this latest impact on the gas giant.
Snakes may be declining across the world, according to a global study.Excerpts:Researchers examined records for 17 snake populations covering eight species over the last few decades, and found most had declined markedly.For reasons that are not entirely clear, some populations shrank in number abruptly around 1998.And:The researchers believe they amassed most, if not all, long-term datasets for this study - although "long-term" in this context means going back more than one decade, in some cases more than two.Nevertheless, within this relatively short time frame, eight of the 17 populations were seen to fall markedly in size - some by more than 90% - with only one showing any sign of a rise.And:Populations shrank even in protected areas, suggesting that the progressive loss of habitat for wild animals being seen all over the world is not the only cause.Similar steep declines observed in frogs and newts in an earlier period were eventually found to be caused by the fungal disease chytridiomycosis.The year when many of the snake declines began - 1998 - raises the question of whether climatic factors might be involved, as very strong El Nino conditions contributed to making it the hottest year recorded in modern times.
'Phantom' Motrin Recall Probe Intensifies. Excerpts:A Congressional probe into a "phantom" 2009 recall of Motrin pain relief caplets is causing headaches for the pharmaceutical giant Johnson & Johnson.In July 2009, Johnson & Johnson's consumer division, McNeil Consumer Healthcare, began officially recalling Motrin caplets thought to be dissolving improperly resulting in possible adverse effects.And:"Rather than doing the right thing and announcing a recall, we have learned that the drug company hired contractors to basically sneak into stores to purchase the products as if they were legitimate customers," Towns said in a statement last week. Towns called the Motrin case a "phantom recall" at a May 27 hearing.And:Last week, the Oversight Committee uncovered a document titled "Motrin Purchase Project" purportedly sent to WIS by Inmar, a Winston-Salem, N.C.-based supply chain management specialist. Towns's spokeswoman said the document indicates that a division of Inmar was contracted by Johnson & Johnson's consumer division, McNeil Consumer Healthcare, and that WIS, in turn, was subcontracted by Inmar. WIS workers were instructed to go into stores and buy up all the Motrin IB Caplets they found, according to the document, which was made public by the committee. "There must be no mention of this being a recall of the product!" the Motrin Purchase Project memo read.And:Documents supplied to the Oversight Committee by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration showed that the FDA originally found out about the alleged secret Motrin recall last year, and looked into it, prompting the official recall, which was never publicized and involved 88,000 caplets thought to be problematic. The FDA was initially told by Johnson & Johnson that its contractors were merely performing a statistical sampling, according to an FDA document made public by the committee. The dissolution problem was first identified in November of 2008, the FDA document said.The Timeline is as follows: They knew about the problem since November 2008, didn't start working with the FDA until May of 2009, started covering their asses with a "Phantom Recall" in July 2009(when they started their "Official Recall"), and still aren't responding to this Congressional probe as of Tuesday. Who says Corporations don't care about you and me?
US financial markets may be shut down on Monday. No judgement whether this will happen tomorrow, but probably really soon..Doom quote: We have never been this close to the inevitable outcome.Then there's this: U.S.’s $13 Trillion Debt Poised to Overtake GDP: Chart of DaySo.. Soon.
Iran's navy offers to escort Gaza ships.Official: Elite Revolutionary Guards are prepared to intervene.This can't end badly, right?
Excerpts: Analysts said the North could use the extra session of the Supreme People's Assembly to make a major announcement on personnel changes or power succession, or to issue a hardline response to sanctions imposed by the South over the ship sinking.Many analysts say neither side is ready to go to war but also see the possibility of more skirmishes at their disputed sea border off the west coast or along the heavily armed DMZ land buffer that could flare up into a major fight.And:North Korea has called Seoul's move to refer it to the Security Council an "unforgivable act of grave provocation.The Supreme People's Assembly is the North's rubberstamp parliament, and approves new laws, personnel changes and economic policy initiatives as a formality after they have been formulated by the leadership
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