The Monster has erupted again?

Perhaps.

Just when you thought it was over- it wasn't.

The same geologic forces that caused biblical damage in Japan, perhaps has ruptured whatever tenuous seal as had been placed on the Macondo well by those very important people who screwed up the gulf in the first place and no one has been charged or has even gone to jail yet.

Now as the BP explanatory machine flips to full on exculpatory mode, oil begins gushing to the surface and washing ashore in Grand Isle, uh-gin!

Of course at this point all those wearied officials in officialdom are prepared to say, are prepared to call it, is "a substance" as if they were piercing ancient magnetite boulders on mars. Other curiously reminiscent modifiers are making their way to the verbal stage as well "a sheen" and "light coating" of said "substance."

However there are reports that a full on slick is five miles wide and extends from three miles off Grand Isle pointing just as curiously to the direction of you know where.

The We Agree Commercial

Nothing is more heinous than the Chevron "we agree" commercial, which if you watch, you assume the pair, one a Chevron engineer named Steve, and the other a teacher, are either dating or thinking about it.



But listen to what he is saying. She speaks and he shakes his head then sloughs off with the bland non-starter "renewable energy is vital to our planet."

She"you hear about alternative energy wind, solar algae..."

He: " I think it has to work on a big scale and I think it's got to be affordable (smirk? Did he smirk there? a little shrug thrown in? What?)"

She: " so, where are they?"

He "I think it has to work in the real world. We're investing millions in solar and biolfuel..."

(Did he say millions, wow, like how many? One or is it two million? Is it two whole million dollars? Is that, like, total or, what? Is that like how much in the last ten years? Like, two whole million? Wow, you can buy an apartment in Venice Beach for that. Gosh!)

"We agree"

Okay? But, what? What's the end result Steve? Goddamnit Steve? What? C'mon man! Tell me something!

Steve?

Support Rick Scott Watch by Liking it! RIGHT NOW!

Those who read this page know we're pretty passionate about it.

We want big oil stopped,: now. Big oil has dragged us into wars, and has fueled a runaway defense industry both of which are destroying us. Oil is destroying our Constitution which some of us claim to love. It is destroying our image abroad.

Aside example: I went to Ireland in 2007 - Ireland for Chrissakes! - and some folks were a bit stand offish with us because we were American. IRISH AMERICANS! Okay, Fucking Ireland!? They hate us in IRELAND now!? When you are hated by Irish people, who may be blood relatives for all you know, you know it's bad! Oh, there's a problem! Especially when some of them hate you more than they hate the British!

Rick Scott beamed into our political landscape as if sent to us here, in Florida, from Mars. He even looks like he's from another planet. He claims to have been a resident for the required seven years. Even harder to dispute than the President's birth certificate.

We all know the story, how he ran Colombia HCA; how that company was charged in one of the biggest Medicare fraud cases in fuh-hucking HISTORY! But, Rick managed to bail out before the S-house came tumbling down. He wasn't even indicted.




Feel better? Good. Now, continuing. Rick has shown himself to be all about two things, 1. Money, and 2. furthering the political aspirations of one Rick Scott.

We can safely predict he will ally himself with 1. Big Defense. 2. Big Oil 3. Big Medicine/Pharma/ Insurance and 4. Big corporate privatized corrections and security.

He is already set his sights on Washington D.C. , either a senate seat or the White House, and so he needs to start building his war chest now. And that means, boys and girls, he needs to begin making those decisions, that will make his face sweet like candy, to those corporate interests.

In short he will whore the resources of this state and deregulate its environment, in order to make that happen. I predict he will not care if he leaves ruin in his wake. Such people seldom do.

Why should you give a damn? Well, as we are finding out, all water in the Gulf is connected. Yes, and that water is also connected to all water in the Atlantic Ocean, and that water also impacts the wordwide current systems and the world's ecology... as we are finding out.

These people, and I am talking about Big Oil here, simply will not be happy until they have turned the Gulf of Mexico into their own private, black pool of filth, from which to extract oil. They don't view the Gulf as anything but resource to do precisely that.

Do you fish? F U! It isn't about that. It's about the oil.

Do you surf? Same answer.

How about kayaking? You get the drill.

Each state along the Gulf needs to whore itself in unison for their plans to work.

One of the reasons Charlie Crist was shown the door was his inability to sell Florida out to the Big Oil interests. Today he and former gubinatorial candidate Alex Sink are attempting to make an oil drilling ban part of the state's constitution.

Governor RILAB (Run it Like a Business) is already mush mouthing his waning support for such a measure, issuing caveats that drilling can be safe, and "we'll even use Solar" you know, that bullshit. As if solar were the impossible red headed stepchild.

By the way, I think we need to ask the Arnesans how they feel about drilling being safe? How about all the people who fish for shrimp, oysters, and so on around Louisiana? How do they feel about further assurances that drilling for oil offshore, especially in the deep offshore, is safe?

It is for these reasons we must unify. We must watch every damned thing Rick Scott does. These efforts are connected. It is for these reasons I need you to go to Rick Scott Watch and press "like" That's all I am asking you to do for the moment.

No one doing this loves Florida more than I do. No one who opposes Big Oil knows more about this state, its waters, and its environment, than I do. I have a degree in oceanography from Florida Tech. I spent my formative years diving in the keys, I surf at least twice a week and I was newspaper reporter for the better part of a decade. I also taught chemistry, oceanography and math to high school students and I hate what these damned budget cuts are also doing to education.

Please get me some fans. Start by being one yourself. The button is located in the top right corner of the page at the right labeled "Rick Scott Watch" It's right next to the eyeball.

Thank you.

Jessee Ventura's Conspiracy Theory and the Gulf

Cheesy, Fake, "Oil Company going green" ads.

"We're on it! We swear we are! Oh, we're not? Well you can bet it's rrrrright around the corner. And you believe that, don't you?"

Solar/Alternative energy ideas and campaign promises go back as far as 1886

Nothing rounds out a democratic ticket campaign pledge like these two words together "clean" and "energy."

And nothing satisfies like feigned industry. That cheery commercial that sticks a pacifier in your mouth and tells you "go back to sleep, little one. It's okay, the oil companies mean you no harm. They're on it, solving the problems of tomorrow with clean energy.

Ah, and they're so sexy, these people quietly working "behind the scenes" to "make a brighter tomorrow." Damn! Can I work on her team?

Here's Phil Mikelson, working with Exxon Mobile to help little children learn more. If you watched this video you come to the conclusion that Exxon Mobile is really no different than the Peace Corps.

Here's an explanation of Peak Oil. You'll note the line graph regarding prices. THAT'S why we never hear serious talk about alternative energy.

No, what we hear is everything that makes sense is a myth. Strangely, those spouting this nonsense usually work with a large company either directly or indirectly tied in with the oil lobby. Why do we always listen to the congenitally insane? John Stossel, who has the mental capacity of your average Palmetto bug, delivers the good news in Howdy Doody cadence.

This is how bad the media debate gets.

And so it goes, children. And so it goes.

Claims Czar Ken Feinberg's metamorphosis

A Louisiana U.S. District Court judge ruled yesterday that Gulf Coast Claims Czar and attorney Ken Feinberg, gosh golly, can't really call himself impartial from BP since his firm is paid $850,000 a month for his services. Though the judge didn't order strong-arm tactics used to prevent future lawsuits, to stop.

Anyhoo, let's see if we can sense a change of tone in Mr. Feinberg take hold through time lapse YouTubery.

At the beginning.

President Obama: "administrated by AN IMPARTIAL and INDEPENDENT party."

"Ken Feinberg will run THE INDEPENDENT PROCESS!"

Ken Feinberg:

"I am serious about helping these people!!" (June)

"Expedite!"

Note: "Minimally corroborated ellegible claims will be paid promptly. Where we need to accelerate the process is business interruption....in a matter of days."

"I am determined to make sure the process is transparent"

"Come on in and file" Here on Aug. 24, is he beginning to morph?

NOTE the following quotes: "I think BP deserves a lot of credit."

"You've got to be elligible and you've got to document your claim."

"Things are rapidly improving. One thing I have to do is separate the damage and come up with a plan."

"I am grateful to BP for the work it did."

"I have been living down here."

"One can reasonably question the long-term impact..."

Remember the date of this video is Aug. 24. The well wouldn't be declared officially dead for another month. The "leak" hadn't stopped yet. And he his questioning whether there even is a long-term impact of all the oil." (hmmmmn?)

"How FAIR in principle the program is."

"Too many fraudulent claims"

"Gulf will recover by 2012 and here's a lump sum payout if you don't sue BP"

(Bloomberg VIDEO DISABLE FOR EMBEDDING.)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8h0s_w15S8I

Ed Schultz/Mike Papantonio's take on it.

Release of the news that the Gulf will recover by 2012

Meanwhile, those seeking their claims say their claim forms have been lost four times, and they are now forced to eat their pets.

Open Letter to Julian Assange

You say you have documents pertaining to BP, other oil companies, and the American government. Then, nothing. Poof. You're gone. Not a peep follows.

You see, sometimes I really admire what you've done; I consider you downright heroic. Then at other times, I think maybe you're a bit of a poser. A little man with a toy gun.

Which are you?

The information you say belongs to the world? Then why do you withhold it, if indeed it truly exists? Don't wait. Don't mince. Let it go. We need that information. We need to shake it like a fist in the faces of our corrupt governments, worldwide.

You've said it yourself, no matter how you got it, it doesn't belong to you. You said it just before the camera flashed, when you looked so serious and humble. A few flashes on though, and we could see it was all getting to you. The cover of this magazine and that. All the sudden your a personality; a bit of avant garde humor like Andy Warhol. A little boy with a secret.

Seriously, man, you can't expect to prance around like a rock star and call yourself a great humanitarian as well, can you? You can't have it both ways. It doesn't work like that.

I'll give you an example of what I am talking about. Put Gandhi in your shoes. What would he do, or perhaps Martin Luther King Jr.? Let the scenario play a bit. Now picture them. Are they behaving as you are doing now? Are they preening for cameras when there is real and vital truth that needs to be shared, or are the quietly just doing it?

There's a BP on every corner in my town. Every day I go about my business surrounded by the offending green and yellow signs. They are everywhere now. Look, they've opened another even as I was boycotting. And here's another and another. Bloody monopoly is what they're building, while they're moaning about losing money, boo-hoo, to their oil spill.

I'm no different than the next guy in whatever town, in Australia, in the UK or in the United States. These oil companies are ubiquitous, and there's none more so than BP, a worldwide mega conglomerate. It's note even really British anymore, is it. It's become something more than that, something monstrous and ugly. More powerful than the British Raj ever was, populated in the upper realms by the worst sort of pencil pushers. Nothing heroic about steamrolling over "the little people" then feigning like you'll make them whole again. And it's not just here in the hated USA is it. They've moved on to your neck of the woods: Australia. How do you like them apples?

I'll level with you mate, I would really like to know what these guys are up to behind the scenes. You know what I mean?

This firm freaking OWNS my Pentagon, my congress people, my president, for Chrissakes. They OWN the war! They and others like them keep priming the pump and supplying the gas. Isn't this precisely what you're on about? The injustice and so on? Directly or indirectly these firms are killing our children, Australian, British, America, Iraqi... Killing us. They are polluting our collective environment, and they simply don't give a fuck, because they are rock stars too, baby.

They're the reason, along with all the other oil barons, the world hates my nation's everlasting guts. They're the reason why fossil fuels are always chosen as the way to go over a fledgling solar industry that, ah shucks, just never quite seems to get off the ground.

So don't trivialize what's happening. Release what you know, now. If you don't, God, or Karma, or whatever you want to call it will come knocking. And it will not be pleased.

No one saying you can't enjoy the ride you're on. Go for it. Live it up. Lap it up. Love it. But nothing excuses you from the duty of disseminating that information that just might change the world for the better. If indeed you really do have it.

Karma has placed you where you are today for a reason.

Don't screw it up. Tell us what you know.

BP Begins Paying Dividends AGAIN!!!

Wake up sleepy head!!

Day before yesterday we heard news that BP's fourth quarter net income was $5.6 billion, over $4.3 billion, same quarter, previous year, because of recent high prices for oil.

Big surprise here is that we are surprised at high oil prices as we approach the presidential election cycle again and a busy, soft recovery holiday season. (They are all gouging us to get their money back)

Thus, BP are making more money this year over last year, during the same time frame.

That news didn't sit well out there in opinion land.

So today we learn via gigantic splash "boo hoo" big bad BP had a net loss over the entire year of some $5 billion. Essentially the same number, different context. The unwary observer might not know what in hell to think. Which is rather the point of modern media, anyway, to generate a confusing shell game. Mission accomplished.

The net loss comes, according to CNN, after booking $41 billion in damages and reparations, expenses along the Gulf Coast due to their oil spill.

Boo hoo. Poor dears.

But CNN again fails to mention that the $20 billion escrow, part of the write down, is fungible just as their commodity is.

That means it is a set-aside in theory, on the books. But, it isn't an account that is filled, sitting there waiting for sums to be withdrawn from it. No. It is a "pledge" administrated by a paid employee Ken Feinberg who states that only half of this $20 billion - that being $10! - should suffice for total reparations to oil spill victims.

So, do these numbers really mean anything? Is BP, boo hoo, actually losing money?

Not likely. In fact, the loss on paper surely enables the oil giant to ask for an ungodly reduction in taxes all round.

And is BP hurting from all this?

Not nearly enough, apparently.

Witness the fact (and funny ole world, innit?) that BP has quietly begun paying dividends again. It made huge news months back that BP shareholders were still getting paid dividends - essentially bribed with gifts to stick around, or profiting from doom, depending on your point of view - for owning shares of the oil giant.

This didn't sit well with public opinion either and so, those payments stopped until the mess was sorted out. Well, with the release of the Boo Hoo news, there was the simultaneous, ever so quiet announcement that dividends would resume, albeit at only half the margin experienced by lucky shareholders before the oil spill.

Note that the $5 billion net loss isn't so great on paper as to disrupt BPs recent stock value appreciably. Just enough so some of us who are watching should feel some sense of relief that at the very least BP felt their own egregious negligence in the pocket book.

In my view, not nearly enough.

This company needs to be made an example of. A reduction of stock value of 0.3 percent on the news of a year to year loss, and a $41 billion write down, is little more than a speed bump.

This is a company that takes in $240 billion annually. It operates at a net operating profit year to year of $33 billion. It lists $0 spent in research and development in this report. Research and development into safer operations? Can this be right?

What can we do? Urge everyone you know to STOP using BP gas stations. Shame them using whatever techniques you have at your disposal.

The rinky dink commission is apparently, all we the people are going to get in the form of justice for this oil spill. People have experienced massive health issues, their businesses have been wiped out, the environment has suffered and incalculable calamity.

The government officials who sold their positions haven't even been fired.

To date not one criminal charge has been filed, not even for negligence.

When Bob Graham says it's okay to open up drilling again in the Gulf of Mexico as long as the little chillins are good and the government "gosh golly" looks into ways of making things safe again, meanwhile people with legitimate claims are being ground down with innumerable hassle and paperwork, these are roadsigns that NOTHING IS BEING DONE.

The only legal weapon that remains is a boycott deterrence for other companies to learn from.

Now is the time to squeeze BP

Machiavelli said it best: there is very little difference between a problem and an opportunity.

That being said, what have we here with the Egypt situation?

An opportunity. Right now oil prices are rising. Why? Because Egypt contains both the Suez canal and the pipeline connecting the Saudi oil fields to tanker supply lines through the Mediterranean Sea. Without these two crucial elements, said tankers must travel some 6,000 miles out of their way to make the same deliveries.

Thus, oil giant BP has already begun gouging the consumer in addition to the rising price of oil attached to the futures market of that commodity. Do you love it? It was also recently announced BP had posted record profits due to inflated prices.

Think back to the days when the Big Oil apologists were urging you not to boycott BP because the oil giant wouldn't be able to pay reparations to the Gulf Coast. Witness how they have bought off the process through Ken Feinberg, who thinks BP should skate on half the tab.

The only way to combat rising prices is to select one oil company and boycott the shit out of that one producer, or retailer, thereby forcing the others to come down in price to compete with it.

You didn't create the situation in Egypt, at least not directly. But there's no excuse for you NOT to use it to your advantage. The best defense is a good offense. Go on the attack against BP because you can bet your ass they are going on the attack against you, the end user.

It's not enough anymore to simply stop using BP yourself. It's time you got out, got aggressive and urged others not to as well.

Corporate Controlled News

CCN: what news will look and sound like in just a few short years

Clean Energy by 2035

"We choose to go to the moon and the other things not because they are easy but because they are hard."

Who said that? John F. Kennedy.

President Barrack Obama at the very least, now has put a time-table on a Clean Energy Bill becoming the reality of a bright shiny new future. Or was he saying the bill would be passed by 2035, or would it just make it through the house at that point?

History recap: "Clean energy! Solar power!"

I feel confident that somewhere in the speeches of George Washington can be found a snippet of a promise or two about clean energy.

This has become embedded within the tradition of the State of the Union Address; the nod to self sustaining, clean and reliable energy for the future that does not depend on a resource that causes so many wars and heartache as well as the release of so much greenhouse gas.
Trouble is, energy is life. You can't grow or transport food without it. You can't stay alive in winter, and in some places during summer, sans that stuff which makes it.

Oil.

Gasoline, and oil. Oil is found at certain depths pressures in the rock strata. It only happens after millions of years of time which can't be recreated in a lab. Thus, there's only so much of it.

You can't ask Jesus to change this fact. You can't call it a Liberal or a commie or a socialist or hint that this fact isn't Christian, or that it is unpatriotic.

And most assuredly, if you wish to understand this resource - very inconvenient for some to admit - you have to accept that the world is a good bit older than 4,000 years.

The "only so much of it" nature of this stuff is what's killing us. Because before the greenhouse gas does the rest we will run out of it. And since we have not planned for this, there will be chaos.

It'ls like a drug that way.

The hydrocarbon molecule is just so damned good at making energy. Long flowing chains of hydrogen and carbon and a few oxygens thrown in for good measure. Carbon can bond at four places. It can triple bond with itself, double bond with oxygen, if memory serves. Carbon bonds, when they break, release a lot of energy. Thereforethe combustion of long flowing chains of hydrocarbons as is found in gasoline is a very efficient explosion, doing more work than coal, or alcohol or synthetic or bio-fuel.

Well, scratch that: gasoline, light sweet crude, (oooh baby) ARE biofuels, in that they came from living matter. Only, they have been given that sweet essence of time and deep pressure and simmering heat so that those long chains can form.

Imagine nature creating a Barry White song, and all the little chains hooking up and the song going on and on. Beautiful really.

Between now and 2035, when Obama has set forth his mandated time for clean energy, absolutely NO new light sweet crude will have been created by nature. In fact, if you took that time and raised it to the power of 8?.....no new light sweet crude will have been created. Not enough time.

But, the energy needs of the world will have exploded exponentially.

So when Rep. Paul Ryan, and Rep. Michelle Bachman talk about "job killing" proposals for clean energy, really listen to what they are saying.

Sure, they'll talk about the flag, they'll say "God Bless America" they might even quote scripture. But that isn't a plan.

Peak oil is what they call it; concerned scientists who think that owing to finite nature of the juice from the ground, there comes a point where we have drank up half of it already. That we can pour more and more money into digging deeper and deeper and in different places but still, we won't be able to get anymore out, that the end of the curve approaches. Can't get blood from a stone.

Some said in 1986 Peal Oil was here. Some said it happened in the late 1990s. Some say it's here now.

No matter. The science is pretty sound and in the geologic time frame, 1986 the late 1990s and 2011, are all essentially the same time.

So, whats the move?

Well yeah, we've got to get on that, like the president says. Oh hell yeah. Let's do that. Let's DO exactly THAT, as in NOW!

Errr, back up. Who are we talking about?

More than half the people in that room, including President Barrack Obama, have taken money from the oil lobby, which is why, uh-gin, the mention of clean energy gained a smattering of feigned delayed applause which lasted precisely .7 seconds. Don't bother running the tape, I checked. Just over half a second.

Oil lobby folks want you to go right on believing, just like that Journey song, that somehow everything is gonna be alright. They want education budgets cut nationwide, so that smart young chillin' never get edumaketed enough to see what's going on.

They want you to go right on believing the world is 4000 years old and that God invented the V-8 so that man could slurp up just as much damned gas as he wanted to.

Why?

Because THEY WANT the end of the curve to come. Because as it draws closer, they will become THE most powerful consortium, or cartel in the history of the world. They are very nearly there as it is.

Look at the horror that was visited on us last summer.

Not one criminal charge has been filed.

Obama gives a marvelous speech. Really and truly he does.

The challenge is every bit as difficult as going to the moon inside a decade. As with Apollo 13 "failure is not an option."

MSNBC Fires Keith Olbermann

Yes, it's true. MSNBC makes it official. The corporate state has spoken. Big brother is watching and listening.

The take away?

Make sure, pundits, that you don't question the large, monolithic corporate construct. That you don't too deeply touch upon oil spills, corporate corruption, war profiteering and especially don't question Halliburton, and Poppa Dick.

Friday we posted something on the resurrection of the anti-Lazarus Dick Cheney through the wonders of the modern pay-for play, forgive and forget, BigMediaCorp "I love Dick" fest.

Whether it is related or not, Keith Olbermann DID have the guts to bring up the serious issues with regard to Halliburton, Cheney, Big Oil and the Deepwater Horizon oil spill.

He was fired Friday. At the end of my last missive, boys and girls, I said the following of BigMediaCorp:

"Watch them, read them with an eye toward what they DON'T ask, and how hard they stretch NOT to ask it. Then come talk to me about how we still have a free press in this country. If such talk keeps you up at night, it should."

Here's the Judas version: that being, the official story that the Associated Press ran:

Note the words "combative" and "liberal"?

"Ooo. Uhm....yeah. Big no-no. Mmmmm. See? We're not gonna be able to keep someone on who is, uh, doing that."

Translation. Liberal =bad.

"Campaign contributions". Yeah. Joe Scarborough did the same thing. Didn't he?

"Yeah, but, uhm....well. (stammer) I mean, c'mon, right?"

Now let's look at the real reason. Olbermann, as much as he was able to, didn't pull any punches against the monstrously huge, corporate dildo attempting to fornicate all of us into slavery, or reduce civilization to rubble, or send all of us, minus the elites, back into the stone age; or whatever the hell it is, precisely, they have planned for us all. And surely, it can't be pretty.

In honor of someone who dared to speak out and now joins the ranks of we lowly basement bloggers, I have randomly gathered some highlights from his take on Big Corp, Big Oil and the oil spill. If you gain the sense there might be a correlation between his termination, and these clips, then you are not alone.

On Halliburton's Move to Dubai and War Profiteering.

His guest, there, a former CIA officer and investigative journalist, said it best, perhaps

"These companies are not interested in what's good for the United States they are interested in what's good for themselves." But I guess that makes him a liberal, and combative as well.

Here's another one on Halliburton receiving twenty five percent of the overbilling charges during the Iraq war.

Snippets:

"Corporate CEOs knowingly happily stealing millions in profits off the backs of Americans and even our troops." - great quote.

"Should corporations be making millions and millions when Iraqis and Americans are being killed?" - What a great question.

"Are they (corporations) actively getting pro war candidates elected?"- Olbermann.

Here's a link to a video that MSNBC has disable for embedding. Excellent presentation.

The link discusses all the issues, BP, MMS, "voluntary self audits", Halliburton. He also discusses the mandatory acoustic cut-off switch.

Of course there's no doubt Olbermann's attacks on FOX are part of the reason he's been let go.

But remind yourself of one thing here:

THIS is permitted to remain:

And THIS was taken off the air:As Marvin Gaye said, "what's goin' on?"

Cheney's Whitewash In Virtual Journalism

Used to be, you asked God to forgive you. You confessed, and you were all clean again.

Now, apparently, the worst sins of this world can be washed away by corporate media.

Offending puff pieces fall into two categories. 1. Those that talk about his heart, and what a loveable old bear he is. 2. Those that Disneyfy the Dickmeister by referring to his "dark" public image without ever actually looking at the specifics.

The second tactic of BigMediaCorp schlebs is the naked attempt to get themselves around the issue of behaving like actual journalists.

The journalism of the virtual.

Here's one of the former variety. "Cheney Reaches a Truce" What utter vomit, ending with a quip from former Secretary of State James Baker, agreeing to go hunting with Cheney after donning some "good body armor".

Okay? We all know this story: Cheney shot a man in the face in 2006. Tea Party republicans, who as former Rep. Alan Grayson said "show a strong resilience to the suffering of others" love this story. They love it! But, I want you to think of the pain of getting shot in the face from one or two paces with bird shot!

No? Nothing? Whatever, moving on.

I have nattered on about the man's misdeeds enough. See former posts for greater detail. Let's look more closely at the vomit and excrement from corporate fawning and blithely indifferent to actual news media, as they tout Cheney emergence from his lair while he shows off the scars from his SHT, Strategic Heart Trouble.

Here's Brian Williams going over what everyone already knows about Dick Cheney. He has heart trouble. Watch innocent young Brian thoughtfully tell you with his girlish straight face, all about these medical facts, as though relating news of an impending air strike.

How do you sleep, Brian?

Brian is a former journalist. He has joined the pantheon of former journalists who don't actually do anything. They don't actually uncover the news, nor even review newsworthy issues. His face, his voice, give credibility to soft gibberish. It gives you the sense you are being informed, that tough issues are being looked into, without actually providing any information.

And the media gods pay handsomely for it. Others of course, in this pantheon include, Wolf Blitzer. Wolf was doing well in this interview, really getting to the nut of the matters with regard to the war in Iraq, when, mid-stream, he went on a personal attack. Undoubtedly urged there by his corporate masters, better to discredit himself and the previous honest questions a journalist might ask.

Since then, Blitzer has been working hard to rebuild his credibility.

Here's the NBC piece of fawnorama of course.

Olbermann of MSNBC needs some credit here for bringing up the Nigerian bribery case, but of course, he muddies the issue by satirizing the country of Nigeria, from whence come many internet scams, then morphing into one of his network's pet, hotbutton issues,waterboarding.

Oh, but here Olbermann wraps up his take on Cheney and the Nigeria connection - moving on, now people! - with a nice send up on "Not Really Worst Person in the World." Cheney's Halliburton's pay off to the Nigerian government was sandwiched between a blooper made headline and a comedy routine that was mistaken for news.

In an earlier time, the story would have graced the front page of every newspaper in the country "Former VP's Halliburton Pays Off Nigeria to Kill Bribery Charge". Now, such news is trivialized. And we then permit the center of the story to rehabilitate his image via corporate fluff pieces with all the bite of the comfy chair.

Since Cheney's resurrection, Olbermann has been silent on Cheney as an entire subject matter. Of course there is no reason whatsoever to suspect coercion from his corporate masters.

Totally forgotten is Cheney's alleged 100 day meeting with oil executives in the White House. Also forgotten are the allegations that Cheney himself put the rubber stamps all over the gelded Minerals Management Service, turning that regulatory agency into a romper room of position selling and free for all, leading up the Deepwater Horizon Oil spill.

If you can stomach Cheney's new debut as kindly old Yoda archetype who really is just a cuddly, misunderstand man, then watch them. Watch them, read them with an eye toward what they DON'T ask, and how hard they stretch NOT to ask it.

Then come talk to me about how we still have a free press in this country. If such talk keeps you up at night, it should.

The Cheney Interview Installment 1

NBC/Today Show national correspondent Jamie Gangel recently interviewed the Dickmeister. It ran on MSNBC this morning.

The self-congratulatory softball fest, billing itself as news, ran for slightly less than six minutes. If you wade through about a thousand car commercials today and don't blink, you might catch it again. They've promised to replay it.

Poppa Dick was shielded from tougher questions by handlers, no doubt, as well as his on-going Strategic Heart Trouble (SHT). One fifth of this morning's installment was devoted to talk about Cheney's heart; plaguing him since the 1980s when people began asking him serious questions about his role in some of the darker episodes in American history. You may recall some of them; Iran Contra, Panama, Gulf War I, Gulf War II, Valerie Plame, his take on water-boarding, the rendition program, and his involvement with Halliburton?

No? Nothing?

Throughout his career there has been a growing trend. The more serious the questions become, the more serious his ailment grows. It's so serious now, in fact, he wears electrical devices to keep himself alive.

"Liz! I am your father! Let's do a book!"

One notes Cheney's easy willingness to even consider a heart transplant. That's telling. Any other senior citizen would be coached to understand, it is not medically wise, and perhaps shading toward the unethical, to donate a heart to someone not expect to live much longer, when the organ can be given to a younger candidate with a great chance of success.

A human heart he's talking about here. An organ so rare, precious and complex, it cannot be supplanted by any known mechanical device, with any measure of meaningful success. He's comfortable with taking one from someone younger on the list. Sure. Did you expect less from Poppa Dick?

Not once in this segment did Gangel ask Cheney about Halliburton. Nor did she pester him with questions about the 100 day meeting with Big Oil executives which, perhaps, led to the fatal deregulation, which resulted in the BP oil spill. Chances are, in that she has chosen the non-neutral ground of Cheney's home for the interview, she never got round to it, and such honest inquiry befitting actual journalism will never be aired.

We wouldn't want to be impolite, of course. Wouldn't want to upset Poppa Dick in the confines of his lair, especially with his heart trouble.

Breaking it down. The vice president was charged with bribery in a Nigerian court. His former employer promised to pay the Nigerian government $250 million to make the charge go away. This didn't rate a question and likely won't in the upcoming segment of the interview.

We can safely predict this issue will be glazed right over, covered under the broader, gelded heading of "more controversial decisions?" or perhaps another softball, the like of which we heard this morning, namely "any regrets?"

Rating higher on the importance list this morning?Cheney's take on Sarah Palin's reality TV show; the attack in Tuscon and Obama's treatment of it, and the over all political landscape.

Remember Frost/Nixon? So far, this ain't it.

Corporate media strikes again?

Well, there's always tomorrow's segment.

Pffft....

Stanley Morton Diaries: Talk to the Dog

Dr. Chu Wants to HEAR from YOU!

Leave it to a democratic administration intimately dialed into Big Oil, on the one hand, while playing the Green Card, on the other, to come up with a solution to all the ills of the runaway oil industry, and a disaster of biblical proportions swept under the rug!

"Hey Gang! We want to hear from you! And, boys and girls, we've updated our website! Yaaaaaay!

Gosh golly, why, THAT'S PROGRESS!

Thanks Dr. Chu, your little pep-talk went a long way to assure us all is well, and that everything is Hunky-Dory.

Well, that's it from here, kids. Until next time.

And now a word from our sponsor.

Fox News Had NNNNNOTHING TO DO WITH THE TRAGEDY IN Arizona

Rupert Murdoch's Fox News has been working hard to destabilize this country. And he is succeeding.

We have to ask whether Beck will begin to "hate" the victims of this tragedy.

Here's Fox New paid contributor Sarah Palin during some down-time from her busy life.

Remember? "Don't retreat, reload!"

But today, Fox News issued a statement that there is no evidence to suggest the shooting in Arizona in which 6 people died and a congresswoman was critically wounded, was politically motivated, or that they had anything to do with it. Sure. As if.

Dead birds, NOW ZOMBIES!?

Zombies were reported in five cities today.

Chicago Department of Health Director, Dr. Stanley F. Lubbeck said "our zombies are not related to the zombie outbreak noticed in Indiana."

Dr. Lubbeck said City of Chicago authorities have noticed zombies before. The zombification of corpses has been ongoing for quite some time in Chicago, he said.

"We've always had zombies, so I don't know what everyone is worried about" Dr. Lubbeck said. "It's just now, with the internet; Twitter and Facebook, people are knowing about it more. The media is to blame for a lot of the panic. If everyone would calm down the problem will quietly go away."

Miriam Johnston of Indianapolis, Indiana isn't so sure; "You can't trust what the government people tell you. They don't want to admit this is bad. I mean, c'mon (expletive) zombies? Zombies? This is normal? What the (expletive) is wrong with you people?"

Last week she was approached by a small crowd of walking corpses near her home. She said one tried to bite her but there were no witnesses to back up her claim.

"I've never seen zombies before this. I wouldn't have moved here if there had been zombies. I've never even heard of zombies, except for in the movies."

What's more, she doesn't believe that zombies aren't potentially toxic.

"I don't like the way they look at us. And the smell," she said.

For now, federal authorities have said there is no evidence zombies are poisonous, or that they devour human flesh, as rumors have reported.

"Zombies are perfectly harmless," said Bud Styles an assistant to Ken Salazar, Interior Secretary.

Styles was interviewed in Yellowstone National Park, a zombie staging point for mass relocation and disposal.

He spoke via SKYPE as teams of federal workers in full HAZMAT gear escorted zombies into paddocks for eventual transportation to an incineration facility at an undisclosed location.

Styles said the HAZMAT gear was standard precautionary.

Test of Zombie flesh has revealed nothing out of the ordinary but more tests are being conducted, he said.

"Those tests will take a few weeks," he said.

Speaker of the House of Representatives John Boehner said rumors of preferential zombie-disposal contract letting are untrue.

"No members of my party have been unduly influenced in contract letting for zombie removal," he said.

ZombieCorp has contributed more than $5.9 million in campaign contributions to several key members of the House and Senate.

Some members of congress are listed on the ZombieCorp board of directors.

"There is no connection," said Boehner, refusing further comment.

President Barrack Obama has appointed a special investigatory committee to look into the problem and the allegations of contract letting.

"We understand (pause) that people are upset. (look out over audience with calm demeanor.) (pause) Listen, my family is concerned about zombies too. (smile charmingly). We will get to the bottom of this question. The important thing to remember is, we are all Americans. Even zombies."

(file it under satire!)

DEAD BIRDS! Nothing to see here folks, just thousands of them

Now in Kentucky, in addition to Louisiana and Arkansas.

CNN sent a reporter to the University of Georgia who in 3 minutes at the bottom of the hour between 5:57 and 6:00 EST rehashed the same story as yesterday. The blunt trauma theory rides again.

Without mentioning the state of Kentucky, CNN again assures us that birds, all in unison, mostly red wing blackbirds, with a smattering of starling, now, and other delicate creatures, for some reason or other, began driving themselves into phone poles, power lines, and the ground on New Years, presumably due to sensory overload from fireworks.

In this BBC video, you see the birds didn't even wait for the fireworks in Beebe, Arkansas before becoming "disoriented" by loud noises and explosions, they began their death spirals at 7 p.m. Dec. 31.

CNN calmly informs us there is no reason to suspect chemical poisoning, even though chemical tests to rule out chemical poisoning, could take "a couple of weeks." They nod, and ask no further probing questions.

It should be noted that hard-hitting, gruff and tough journalist Wolf "take no shit" Blitzer and company spent a roughly equal amount of time near the TOP of the hour, on their courageous story on Starbucks (tm) changing their logo on their coffee cups. (NO LIE!)

Sometimes the courage and fortitude of CNN in their in-depth coverage makes me weep with pride that I was once a journalist, and that we have a truly free press in these United States of America(tm). God Bless the mighty 4th Estate.

Pffft....

Add this to yesterday's little ditty on the matter if you missed it.

Stanley Morton Diaries: "Let's get back after the BOYCOTT!"

Corporations

First they came for the farmers,

But t'was nothing to me, I don't farm.

That they next robbed the craftsmen and workers?

To me, was no cause for alarm.

When after they came for the fishermen,

T'was the same old story, you see.

As I don't ply waters for riches,

I only fish sport by the sea.

Soon after they came for the environment,

But here too, I made not a peep.

For am I to be an extremist,

When t'is safer the silence of sheep?

After which, came they for the markets,

And with it, our housing, our jobs.

Which we learned were all sent to China,

While our cheeks ran runny with sobs.

T'was then (much too late) I to Washington made,

With a hat, and waiving I sign.

On a bus owned by my captors,

I was driven in comfort sublime.

Through all of it I remained trapped,

encased in my fear and my dread,

of being seen as alarmist?

I'd sooner be thought of as dead.

And as they took the courts and the judges,

We were blithely given our due.

There wasn't a word of protest,

Nor even the right to sue.

Now t'is slavery all that I am left with,

My chains and my bowl by my side.

This I leave to my namesake,

With barely enough to survive.

By David Anthony Kearns

Blackbird DIE! Can you say 'COREXIT?'

You remember growing up, every time you lit off a firework on the 4th of July or on New Year's Eve, you hit a red wing black bird?

Yeah. And neither THE FUCK!!!! do I.

But to believe the state wildlife officials in Arkansas, that is precisely what happened to thousands of red wing black birds (Agelaius phoeniceus) over the past week. No word of a similar explanation coming from Louisiana. Yet.

Sure, you remember how it went: the annual clean-up of thousands of dead and dying MIGRATORY birds, all from one particular species? Remember how birds fell from the sky in waves, after every thunder storm for the same reason, FRIGHT FROM A LOUD EXPLOSION?

Pfft....

"Norwegian Blue, he's just restin', is all. Sure that's it."

This is how quickly the government will lie to you. This is how fast the lie will be spread via the lightweight swill-heads in the televised media.

This excrementus journalisticus was being bandied about on CNN Sunday and Monday; that Arkansonian firework launchers on the eve of December 31 had specifically targeted the red wing black bird which resulted in a number of dead and dying creatures in one particular hamlet.

Apparently, and quite strangely, all of the firework enthusiasts living in the environs of the Beebe, Arkansas are descended from Annie Oakley and John James Audubon, and they don't cotton to no Agelaius phoeniceus around these-here parts!

All the birds showed signs of blunt-force trauma, officialdom said. Not that falling out of trees, or the sky would have anything to do with it.

But this morning it was announced that such trauma was also being reported in Morganza, Louisiana 300 miles to the south. And so, the geniuses at CNN had to revamp, then finally scrap their story regarding said fireworks as deathly fright mechanism. This, in snippets between their courageous, in-depth coverage of the Lindsey Lohan having an arm wrestle with a nurse during her drug and alcohol rehab.

This is what happens when you stop teaching science in the classroom; replacing it instead with swill, Walmart Jesus, and gobbletygook. You find a body public stupefied enough to actually entertain such notions.

Let's take a look at the red wing black bird, shall we?

Its migratory sex and feeding habits place it throughout the cat-tail and coastal marshes of these United States. One of its favorite haunts (wait for it!) is at the edges of the Gulf of Mexico.

The little bird is omnivorous. That means it can and will! eat just about anything. It enjoys is mosquitoes, flies, maggots, and dead things as well.

Repeating now, it enjoys dead things as well.

"Dead things?"

Sure, no problem. It will eat a dead thing. Yeppers.

"Dead, like fish?"

Oh hell yeah. It'll eat that. Good-to-go.

We spoke over the summer, if you've been reading, about something called "bio-accumulation," wherein a toxin is introduced into the environment at the lower levels, say in mosquito larvae, or shrimp larvae, and then it accumulates in a species that eats a whole mess of those smaller critters, or their larvae.

"The canary in the coal mine?"

Precisely. The canary was used to tell the miners when bad gases were building up BECAUSE IT WOULD DIE FIRST SO THEY COULD GET THE HELL OUT OF THE MINE AHEAD OF THE GAS!!

Yeah. Like that.

Corexit - and we really have not the first idea WHAT it does to human tissue AND the government won't speculate - has been shown to behave like a neurotoxin in some forms of critterdom. It attacks soft tissues, brain, the nerves, while it also goes after the muscles. It might render a little bird off-balance. Unable to fly, or even hold on to a branch should it decide to take a rest.

SILENCE! While I listen to an official from Arkansas, Dr. George P. Badley, stumble over his words as he is interviewed by CNN's genius in residence, Kira Phillips. (They'll get her too. You watch. They fire the smart ones right after they get rid of the back-sassers)

Dr George P. Badley notes that the red wing black bird is considered a "nuisance". He also said the 17 birds undergoing necropsy had suffered "internal hemorrhaging" which is precisely what would happen if you had some acute chemical poisoning.

But don't take my word for it. Continue believing it's the result of fireworks.

Dr. George P. Badley, he's the state veterinarian for Arkansas, also stated the bird has notoriously bad night vision.

Well you can see where this is going, can't you? Yep, blame the victim. And he's a blind nuisance. He contributes nothing to the economy. He pays no taxes, and liberals love him, so fuck him. Who needs Agelaius phoeniceus around these here parts!

Dr. George P. Badley, also (the interview just gets worse here) said he hasn't spoken to anyone in Louisiana but "he can't see" how the massive die off of the exact same species, the same weekend, under the same conditions, could be related to what went on on Beebe.

Beebe is north by northwest of Morganza, Louisiana, about 280 miles on the Google Earth. It is 80 miles north by west of the Mississippi River. Morganza is right on the Mississippi, and north of the Gulf of Mexico by 90 miles.

The bird flies in massive groups, and can cover more than 30 miles in a day. Its migration pulses back and forth over the delta from the Gulf into the heartland, over the course of the year. But don't take my word for it. Go to Google, type in "red wing black bird" and read all about it. See how wide the habitat is, covering much of these United States. Has the bird fallen from the sky in your town immediately after New Year's fireworks?

Is it Corexit, or something chemical in the water, killing the bird?

Could be. Smells like a chemical poisoning by the evidence. One species? Something it ate? Yep.

Will the government look into it?

Not likely. Lassez faire government likes the "go boom" explanation. Why sure, there's a government cheese grazer somewhere between coffee breaks, writing up a press release as you read these words. The release will undoubtedly employ the appropriate pseudo-sci lingo citing fireworks as the principle culprit.

Meanwhile, add this bird die-off to a thousand potential impacts of the spill, and the chemical dispersant, still reverberating in the environment. Still reverberating as the government tries to bribe, arm-twist, or entice innocent victims to give up their right to sue at a later date.

Net loss to life? Unknown.

Dollar value? Priceless.