Saturday, June 5, 2010
BP Thought For The Day.
BP intends to distribute $10 billion in quarterly dividends, despite the bills piling up on their books like oil on a Gulf Coast beach. Wonder who is working harder, BP's engineers trying to stop the leak, or BP's lawyers and accountants, trying to stop the leak.
Rebound in the labor market?
The only jobs being created are temporary, part-time and low wage. Of the 431,000 new jobs reported for May, only 20,000 are actual jobs. Jobs may be coming back, but they are not real jobs with real benefits and real futures. I n 2005, the government estimated that 31% of U.S. workers were already so-called contingent workers. Experts say that number could increase to 40% or more. And even the 431,000 was far below the predicted 600,000 to 700,000 new jobs.
20,000 instead of 600,000. James Stoeckmann, senior practice leader at WorldatWork, a professional association of human resource executives, believes that full-time employees could become the minority of the nation's workforce within 20 to 30 years, leaving employees without traditional benefits such as health coverage, paid vacations and retirement plans, that most workers take for granted today.
"The traditional job is not doomed. But it will increasingly have competition from other models, the most prominent is the independent contractor model," he said.
Unemployment is near 10 percent. Long-term unemployment is at a record high. Teachers are being laid off across the country. State governments are slashing services to the bone. So let's cut the estate taxes on the richest 0.2% of Americans. If you've got less than $3.5 million to leave your heirs, raise your hands and vote against this giveaway – at a cost of $440 billion in revenue that could go to the unemployed, to reinstate some teachers. Or to buy another penthouse, another yacht, another Congressman.
20,000 instead of 600,000. James Stoeckmann, senior practice leader at WorldatWork, a professional association of human resource executives, believes that full-time employees could become the minority of the nation's workforce within 20 to 30 years, leaving employees without traditional benefits such as health coverage, paid vacations and retirement plans, that most workers take for granted today.
"The traditional job is not doomed. But it will increasingly have competition from other models, the most prominent is the independent contractor model," he said.
Unemployment is near 10 percent. Long-term unemployment is at a record high. Teachers are being laid off across the country. State governments are slashing services to the bone. So let's cut the estate taxes on the richest 0.2% of Americans. If you've got less than $3.5 million to leave your heirs, raise your hands and vote against this giveaway – at a cost of $440 billion in revenue that could go to the unemployed, to reinstate some teachers. Or to buy another penthouse, another yacht, another Congressman.
Oil pours from cap over Gulf gusher, some captured.
A cap placed over the gusher was collecting only a fraction of the oil, which had stained beaches with a waxy mess of tar balls and created an usual orange foam in the surf.
In Gulf Shores, Ala., wooden boardwalks leading to beachfront hotels are spotted with oil from beachgoers' feet, and some condominiums were providing solvents for guests smeared with the brown goo. At Pensacola Beach, the retreating high tide left an orange stain in its wake.
Thad Allen, guessed early Friday that the cap was collecting 42,000 gallons a day — less than one-tenth of the amount leaking from the well. Later in the day, BP said in a tweet that since it was installed Thursday night, it had collected about 76,000 gallons.
Friday, June 4, 2010
Models Show Gulf Oil May Reach US East Coast This Summer
The National Center for Atmospheric Research models showed Thursday that oil could enter the Gulf’s loop current, go around the tip of Florida and as far north as Cape Hatteras, N.C. According to researchers, oil could threaten East Coast beaches by early July, but they cautioned the models were not a forecast.
The oil could then head by Bermuda on its way to Europe.
Martin Visbeck, a research team member with the University of Kiel in Germany, says it is unlikely any oil reaching Europe would be thick enough to be harmful.
The oil could then head by Bermuda on its way to Europe.
Martin Visbeck, a research team member with the University of Kiel in Germany, says it is unlikely any oil reaching Europe would be thick enough to be harmful.
Will Cardinal Roger Mahony Be Indicted?
I wasn't aware of this, but no U.S. Catholic leader has been prosecuted for the church’s child-sex scandals. But officials are weighing obstruction and perjury charges against Cardinal Roger Mahony—and studying emails showing Mahony discussing with his lawyers ways to avoid giving law enforcement the names of abusive priests. Philip Shenon reports today:
Cardinal Roger Mahony of Los Angeles faces the prospect of an unwelcome retirement gift when he steps down in February: a federal indictment.
Law-enforcement officials tell The Daily Beast that prosecutors are weighing charges of conspiracy, obstruction of justice, and perjury against the 74-year-old cardinal and his deputies over allegations that they covered up rampant child sexual abuse within the Archdiocese of Los Angeles.
The cardinal denies wrongdoing and insists he has been assured he is not a target of the federal inquiry. But officials with knowledge of the grand jury’s work say that Mahony remains at the center of the Justice Department’s two-year-old investigation.
Federal prosecutors are paying special attention to seemingly damning emails between the cardinal and his lawyers—in which Mahony outlined tactics to avoid providing prosecutors with the names of abusive priests, the officials said.
One official said the Justice Department has received important assistance from the Los Angeles District Attorney’s Office; a related investigation by the D.A.’s office stalled because of the restrictive statute of limitations under California state law. (In a memo released this week, the DA's office said that while it had found evidence of possible "criminal culpability" by archdiocese leaders, the statute of limitations issues made the likelihood of bringing criminal charges "more and more remote with each passing day.") No federal charges are imminent, the official said. But “the church would like to pretend this investigation has gone away. It hasn’t.” The cardinal’s lawyer, J. Michael Hennigan, said in an interview he was “unaware of any indictable crime that might have been conducted by any church official” in the hierarchy of the archdiocese, including Mahony.
The day that Mahony steps down next year is the day that he leaves for the Vatican and never comes back,” predicted Joelle Casteix, southwestern regional director of the Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests, or SNAP.
The victims groups draw comparisons to Cardinal Bernard Law of Boston, who resigned his post in Massachusetts in 2002 and left for a comfortable new assignment in Rome in the midst of allegations that he covered up for several abusive priests in New England.
As cardinals, Mahony and Law are entitled to diplomatic protections from the Vatican.
“Mahony should be in jail for what he did,” Casteix told The Daily Beast. “I personally know of dozens of people who were molested because of decisions made by Roger Mahony—decisions that he made personally. If I were Mahony, I’d flee the country.”
Law-enforcement officials tell The Daily Beast that prosecutors are weighing charges of conspiracy, obstruction of justice, and perjury against the 74-year-old cardinal and his deputies over allegations that they covered up rampant child sexual abuse within the Archdiocese of Los Angeles.
The cardinal denies wrongdoing and insists he has been assured he is not a target of the federal inquiry. But officials with knowledge of the grand jury’s work say that Mahony remains at the center of the Justice Department’s two-year-old investigation.
Federal prosecutors are paying special attention to seemingly damning emails between the cardinal and his lawyers—in which Mahony outlined tactics to avoid providing prosecutors with the names of abusive priests, the officials said.
One official said the Justice Department has received important assistance from the Los Angeles District Attorney’s Office; a related investigation by the D.A.’s office stalled because of the restrictive statute of limitations under California state law. (In a memo released this week, the DA's office said that while it had found evidence of possible "criminal culpability" by archdiocese leaders, the statute of limitations issues made the likelihood of bringing criminal charges "more and more remote with each passing day.") No federal charges are imminent, the official said. But “the church would like to pretend this investigation has gone away. It hasn’t.” The cardinal’s lawyer, J. Michael Hennigan, said in an interview he was “unaware of any indictable crime that might have been conducted by any church official” in the hierarchy of the archdiocese, including Mahony.
The day that Mahony steps down next year is the day that he leaves for the Vatican and never comes back,” predicted Joelle Casteix, southwestern regional director of the Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests, or SNAP.
The victims groups draw comparisons to Cardinal Bernard Law of Boston, who resigned his post in Massachusetts in 2002 and left for a comfortable new assignment in Rome in the midst of allegations that he covered up for several abusive priests in New England.
As cardinals, Mahony and Law are entitled to diplomatic protections from the Vatican.
“Mahony should be in jail for what he did,” Casteix told The Daily Beast. “I personally know of dozens of people who were molested because of decisions made by Roger Mahony—decisions that he made personally. If I were Mahony, I’d flee the country.”
Fran Drescher Shows That A Difficult Situation Can Be A Positive
I don't like to comment much on celebrities (there are a lot of sites for that). But a story about Fran Drescher shows that you can always try and turn a difficult situation into a positive.
Fran Drescher met her ex-husband, Peter Marc Jacobson, in high school, and they married in 1978, when she was just 21. They split after 21 years of marriage and remain close friends--and now both set each other up with men.
In Touch Weekly's press release follows:
In Touch Weekly's press release follows:
Fran Drescher has never been shy about voicing her support for gay rights: In 2008, she and her former husband co-hosted a cocktail party in LA to benefit an organization that has sought to block California's ban on same-sex marriage. But it turns out that the cause was even closer to the Nanny star's heart than her fans could have guessed -- as In Touch can now exclusively reveal, Peter Marc Jacobson, the man to whom Fran, 52, was married for more than two decades, is gay. "Peter and I met when we were 15," Fran tells In Touch. "We were just kids and didn't know who we truly were. We went through a lot together." The couple split for good in 1999, and according to an insider, Peter later came out of the closet to Fran. They continue to collaborate and are still "the best of friends. We love each other dearly," she says. "We have even fixed each other up! I more successfully than him, by the way." They're even working together on a new sitcom based on their relationship. "Peter and I feel so blessed to have met each other and to still have a caring, loving relationship," Fran says. "Love is what we're all about."
Mark Kirk's Comments On Military Service Questioned AGAIN: No Proof Plane Was Fired At In Iraq.
Does the man know how to tell the truth? And you really need to come up with better excuses.
Archived video of Rep. Mark Kirk surfaced Wednesday showing the Illinois Senate hopeful claiming that he was shot at while flying aboard an aircraft in Iraq.
But according to The Chicago Tribune, Kirk's claims might not be true because there's no record of whether the aircraft was ever fired at. Furthermore, the video contradicts Kirk's remarks to The Chicago Sun-Times that he "never said" that he was fired on in Iraq or Kosovo.
The video, posted on the YouTube account of Kirk's Democratic challenger, Illinois state Treasurer Alexi Giannoulis, is the latest instance of "misleading" and erroneous claims by Kirk about his military service.
Kirk, the Republican candidate for President Obama's former Senate seat, apologized this week for saying that an award he once touted as his own, was instead given to his unit. He also apologized for listing service in "Operation Iraqi Freedom" on his resume. He did not serve in Iraq during that operation. and that contrary to his resume, he did not serve in Iraq during "Operation Iraqi Freedom."
The video shows Kirk speaking on the floor of the U.S. House in October 2003.
Kirk argued that months into the Iraq War, conditions were improving. To prove his point, he contrasted his Iraq visits, "I just returned from Iraq and the trend is for the better," Kirk said. "The last time I was in Iraq, I was in uniform flying at 20,000 feet and the Iraqi Air Defense network was shooting at us."
What Kirk failed to mention is that his prior visit to Iraq was not during the Iraq War, which began March 20, 2003, but rather three years before the effort began, in 2000.
Story continues belowThe Sun-Times called Kirk's omission "misleading."
Kirk has apologized for the previous instances, saying "I need to be humble about my military record," and, "Going forward, the way I should conduct myself is to understate, and downplay."
Archived video of Rep. Mark Kirk surfaced Wednesday showing the Illinois Senate hopeful claiming that he was shot at while flying aboard an aircraft in Iraq.
But according to The Chicago Tribune, Kirk's claims might not be true because there's no record of whether the aircraft was ever fired at. Furthermore, the video contradicts Kirk's remarks to The Chicago Sun-Times that he "never said" that he was fired on in Iraq or Kosovo.
The video, posted on the YouTube account of Kirk's Democratic challenger, Illinois state Treasurer Alexi Giannoulis, is the latest instance of "misleading" and erroneous claims by Kirk about his military service.
Kirk, the Republican candidate for President Obama's former Senate seat, apologized this week for saying that an award he once touted as his own, was instead given to his unit. He also apologized for listing service in "Operation Iraqi Freedom" on his resume. He did not serve in Iraq during that operation. and that contrary to his resume, he did not serve in Iraq during "Operation Iraqi Freedom."
The video shows Kirk speaking on the floor of the U.S. House in October 2003.
Kirk argued that months into the Iraq War, conditions were improving. To prove his point, he contrasted his Iraq visits, "I just returned from Iraq and the trend is for the better," Kirk said. "The last time I was in Iraq, I was in uniform flying at 20,000 feet and the Iraqi Air Defense network was shooting at us."
What Kirk failed to mention is that his prior visit to Iraq was not during the Iraq War, which began March 20, 2003, but rather three years before the effort began, in 2000.
Story continues belowThe Sun-Times called Kirk's omission "misleading."
Kirk has apologized for the previous instances, saying "I need to be humble about my military record," and, "Going forward, the way I should conduct myself is to understate, and downplay."
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