Profits Pour in at BP; Chief Sets Exit
John Browne, the chief executive of BP, confirmed today that he would leave the giant oil company at the end of 2008, after reaching its mandatory retirement age of 60. At the same time, the company announced a profit of $7.27 billion in the second quarter, 30 percent more than the comparable period a year ago and the equivalent of more than $55,000 a minute.
Judge dismisses lawsuit over phone records
Citing national security, a federal judge Tuesday threw out a lawsuit aimed at blocking AT&T Inc. from giving telephone records to the government for use in the war on terror.
'The court is persuaded that requiring AT&T to confirm or deny whether it has disclosed large quantities of telephone records to the federal government could give adversaries of this country valuable insight into the government's intelligence activities,' U.S. District Judge Matthew F. Kennelly said.
Kennelly ruled in a lawsuit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union of Illinois on behalf of author Studs Terkel and other activists who said their constitutional rights were violated because of a National Security Agency program of gathering phone company records illegally.
SNOW: The president will, however, before he delivers remarks this afternoon, veto the Castle bill.
Here's how it works, because I know a lot of you have had questions. There will be no photographers, no ceremony. What the president will do is, in his office, he will sign a veto message, he will hand it to a clerk, who will convey it to a clerk of the House, and then you go through the formalities of announcing a message from the president, and at some point the House will vote on the veto.
QUESTION: Is there a reason why he's not having photographers in, at least?
SNOW: Because he doesn't feel it's appropriate. He's signing a veto.
What I found to be the most damning is the least quoted part of Bush's comments. As you read this transcript, remember that this is not a small child talking, but the President of the United States of America:
------------------------------------
The camera is focused elsewhere and it is not clear whom Bush is talking to, but possibly Chinese President Hu Jintao, a guest at the summit.
Bush: 'Gotta go home. Got something to do tonight. Go to the airport, get on the airplane and go home. How about you? Where are you going? Home?
Bush: 'This is your neighborhood. It doesn't take you long to get home. How long does it take you to get home?'
Reply is inaudible.
Bush: 'Eight hours? Me too. Russia's a big country and you're a big country.'
At this point, the president seems to bring someone else into the conversation.
Bush: 'It takes him eight hours to fly home.'
He turns his attention to a server.
Bush: 'No, Diet Coke, Diet Coke.'
He turns back to whomever he was talking with.
Bush: 'It takes him eight hours to fly home. Eight hours. Russia's big and so is China.'
------------------------------------
Russia's big and so is China??????? This guys sounds like a third grader. Do you know anyone who would have a conversation like this with their neighbor, let alone a business associate, let alone a world leader? Who's proud to know that Russia is big and so is China?
Can anyone now credibly claim that Bush is secretly working on a master plan behind the scenes and that he's just playing cowboy for the cameras? I hope the master plan doesn't involve figuring out how long it takes to get to China.
Uncrate: The Buyer's Guide For Men, is a web magazine for guys who love stuff. Our team finds the best gadgets, clothes, cars and more so you can blow your rent money easier. Updated daily.
Firefox's share of the Web browser market has surpassed 15% in the U.S. and 12% globally, according to Web analytics company OneStat.com.
Firefox 2.0 Beta 1 Release Candidate 1 (RC1) can be downloaded from Mozilla's FTP site, although the official Beta 1 won't be released until July 11, according to notes published by the open-source developer.
Here’s the top five budget deficits of all time:
1. 2004 (George W. Bush) $413 billion
2. 2003 (George W. Bush) $378 billion
3. 2005 (George W. Bush) $318 billion
4. 2006 (George W. Bush) $296 billion (projected)
5. 1992 (George H. W. Bush) $290 billion
Consult the Declaration of Independence. Among the greivances the signers aired against King George:
- He has made Judges dependent on his Will alone for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries.
- He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harass our people and eat out their substance.
- He has kept among us, in times of peace, Standing Armies without the Consent of our legislatures.
- He has affected to render the Military independent of and superior to the Civil Power.
[...]
- For quartering large bodies of armed troops among us:
- For protecting them, by a mock Trial from punishment for any Murders which they should commit on the Inhabitants of these States...
- For depriving us in many cases, of the benefit of Trial by Jury:
- For transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended offences:
[...]
- He has plundered our seas, ravaged our coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people.
- He is at this time transporting large Armies of foreign Mercenaries to compleat the works of death, desolation, and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of Cruelty & Perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the Head of a civilized nation.
Let's see. By my count, you've got your 'military tribunals,' your 'indefinite detentions,' your 'black sites,' and your 'militarization of police' all neatly tucked into that passage, the whole of which sounds as if it goes quite a bit further than mere 'money and taxes,' no?
QUESTION: On Agreeing to the Resolution
BILL TITLE: Supporting intelligence and law enforcement programs to track terrorists and terrorist finances conducted consistent with Federal law and with appropriate Congressional consultation and specifically condemning the disclosure and publication of classified information that impairs the international fight against, etc.
Today, Senate Coverup Committee chairman Pat Roberts (R-KS) attacked the media for writing about the SWIFT bank records tracking program, and he called for a “formal damage assessment” to be done by Director of National Intelligence John Negroponte. (Dan Froomkin today explained how the “existence of SWIFT itself has not exactly been a secret.”)
Roberts began his attack on the media yesterday:
If another attack occurs because of this information going out…the people who have written these stories and the people who have made their decisions should look in the mirror.
But Roberts is the one who needs to “look in the mirror” about the effects leaks have on national security. The National Journal’s Murray Waas reported in April that during the start of the Iraq war, Roberts disclosed sensitive intelligence in a speech he delivered (ironically enough) to the National Newspaper Association:
[T]hree years ago on the eve of the invasion of Iraq, Roberts himself was involved in disclosing sensitive intelligence information that, according to four former senior intelligence officers, impaired efforts to capture Saddam Hussein and potentially threatened the lives of Iraqis who were spying for the United States.
On March 20, 2003, at the onset of military hostilities between U.S. and Iraqi forces, Roberts said in a speech to the National Newspaper Association that he had “been in touch with our intelligence community” and that the CIA had informed President Bush and the National Security Council “of intelligence information from what we call human intelligence that indicated the location of Saddam Hussein and his leadership in a bunker in the suburbs of Baghdad.”
The former intelligence officials said in interviews that Roberts was never held accountable for his comments, which bore directly on the issue of intelligence-gathering sources and methods, and revealed that Iraqis close to Hussein were probably talking to the United States.
As former intelligence officials told Waas, the incident showed “how rank and file intelligence professionals now have much to fear from legitimate and even inadvertent contacts with journalists, while senior executive branch officials and members of Congress are almost never held accountable when they seriously breach national security through leaks of information.
Via Daily Kos
You can contact the members of the Senate Commerce Committee via the main switchboard toll free at 1-888-355-3588. Or you can contact them individually at the following phone and fax numbers:
GOP Members
* Chairman Ted Stevens (AK): (202) 224-3004; (202) 224-2354 FAX
* John McCain (AZ): (202) 224-2235; Fax: (202) 228-2862
* Conrad Burns (MT): 202-224-2644; Fax: 202-224-8594
* Trent Lott (MS): (202) 224-6253; Fax: (202) 224-2262
* Kay Bailey Hutchison (TX): 202-224-5922; 202-224-0776 (FAX)
* Olympia J. Snowe (ME): (202) 224-5344; FAX (202) 224-1946
* Gordon H. Smith (OR): 202.224.3753; Fax: 202.228.3997
* John Ensign (NV): (202) 224-6244; Fax: (202) 228-2193
* George Allen (VA): (202) 224-4024; Fax: (202) 224-5432
* John E. Sununu (NH): (202) 224-2841; FAX (202) 228-4131
* Jim DeMint (SC): 202-224-6121; Fax: 202-228-5143
* David Vitter (LA): (202) 224-4623; Fax: (202) 228-5061
Dem Members
* Co-Chairman Daniel K. Inouye (HI): 202-224-3934; Fax: 202-224-6747
* John D. Rockefeller (WV): (202) 224-6472; (202) 224-7665 Fax
* John F. Kerry (MA): (202) 224-2742 - Phone; (202) 224-8525 - Fax
* Byron L. Dorgan (ND): 202-224-2551; Fax: 202-224-1193
* Barbara Boxer (CA): 202-224-3553
* Bill Nelson (FL): 202-224-5274; Fax: 202-228-2183
* Maria Cantwell (WA): 202-224-3441; 202-228-0514 - FAX
* Frank R. Lautenberg (NJ): (202) 224-3224; Fax: (202) 228-4054
* E. Benjamin Nelson (NE): Tel: (202) 224-6551; Fax: (202) 228-0012
* Mark Pryor (AR): (202) 224-2353; Fax: (202) 228-0908
AT&T has issued an updated privacy policy that takes effect Friday. The changes are significant because they appear to give the telecom giant more latitude when it comes to sharing customers' personal data with government officials.
The new policy says that AT&T -- not customers -- owns customers' confidential info and can use it 'to protect its legitimate business interests, safeguard others, or respond to legal process.'
In a pivotal network operations center in metropolitan St. Louis, AT&T has maintained a secret, highly secured room since 2002 where government work is being conducted, according to two former AT&T workers once employed at the center.
(Photo via AP)President George W. Bush has reassured Saudi Arabia's king that he will continue to cooperate with the kingdom on energy issues even after his pledge to wean America off Middle East oil, Saudi Arabia's ambassador to the United States said on Tuesday.
Bush's pledge in January to cut U.S. oil imports from the Middle East rankled some kingdom officials, because Saudi Arabia had announced plans to spend $50 billion expanding oil production to meet rising global demand.
'When that statement came out we got in touch with the White House,' Saudi Ambassador Prince Turki Al-Faisal told reporters at a news conference hosted by the United States Energy Association.
Bush later sent a letter to Saudi King Abdullah pledging to honor a 2005 agreement the two reached at Bush's ranch in Crawford, Texas, Al-Faisal said. His remarks provided new details on how the White House smoothed relations with the Saudis after Bush's speech.
Saudi Arabia is the world's largest crude oil exporter and the leading voice within the OPEC cartel, and the United States is the world's biggest oil guzzler.
The ol' switcheroo continues.
With the 2006 filing deadline just hours away, Kansas Democrats today claimed a total of eight Republicans who have switched to the Democratic Party to run for office this year.
That list, of course, is headed by Mark Parkinson, the former GOP chair who is running as Gov. Kathleen Sebelius' running mate, and Paul Morrison, the Johnson County district attorney running for attorney general.
The other six:
Steve Lukert, seeking re-election in the 62nd House District.
Cindy Neighbor, former GOP lawmaker running to again represent the 18th House District Shawnee area.
Duane Mathes, current Edwards County Commissioner, in the 117th House District.
Judy Leyerzapf, current Abilene City Commissioner, in the 68th House District.
Kent Goyen in the 114th House District.
Walt Chappell in the 91st House District.
What Really Matters...
Sometimes you can tell what a society truly values by the penalties it places on certain crimes. Take today's paper, for example:
Stiff Overhaul of Mine Safety Rules Passes Congress
The maximum civil penalty for violations of mine-safety regulations will rise to $220,000, from $60,000.
And then there was this:
Congress Increases Indecency Fines Tenfold
The bill would increase the maximum fines the Federal Communications Commission may levy for indecent content from the current $32,500 to $325,000 per incident.
A last-minute deal Tuesday with Vice President Cheney averted a possible confrontation between the Senate Judiciary Committee and U.S. telephone companies about the National Security Agency's database of customer calling records.
The deal was announced by Sen. Arlen Specter, R-Pa., the committee chairman, and Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah. They said Cheney, who plays a key role supervising NSA counterterrorism efforts, promised that the Bush administration would consider legislation proposed by Specter that would place a domestic surveillance program under scrutiny of a special federal court.
In return, Specter agreed to postpone indefinitely asking executives from the nation's telecommunication companies to testify about another program in which the NSA collects records of domestic calls.
Top Twelve Reasons Homosexual Marriage Should Not Be Legal:
1. Homosexuality is not natural, much like eyeglasses, polyester, and birth control.
2. Heterosexual marriages are valid because they produce children. Infertile couples and old people can't legally get married because the world needs more children.
3. Obviously gay parents will raise gay children, since straight parents only raise straight children.
4. Straight marriage will be less meaningful, since Britney Spears' 55-hour just-for-fun marriage was meaningful.
5. Heterosexual marriage has been around a long time and hasn't changed at all; women are property, blacks can't marry whites, and divorce is illegal.
6. Gay marriage should be decided by people not the courts, because the majority-elected legislatures, not courts, have historically protected the rights of the minorities.
7. Gay marriage is not supported by religion. In a theocracy like ours, the values of one religion are imposed on the entire country. That's why we have only one religion in America.
8. Gay marriage will encourage people to be gay, in the same way that hanging around tall people will make you tall.
9. Legalizing gay marriage will open the door to all kinds of crazy behavior. People may even wish to marry their pets because a dog has legal standing and can sign a marriage contract.
10. Children can never succeed without a male and a female role model at home. That's why single parents are forbidden to raise children.
11. Gay marriage will change the foundation of society. Heterosexual marriage has been around for a long time, and we could never adapt to new social norms because we haven't adapted to cars or longer life spans.
12. Civil unions, providing most of the same benefits as marriage with a different name are better, because a 'separate but equal' institution is always constitutional. Separate schools for Africn-Americans worked just as well as separate marriages for gays and lesbians will.
"God wrote the Bible in English for a reason: So it could be taught in our public schools." - Stephen Colbert
Imagine: you are a foot soldier in a paramilitary group whose purpose is to remake America as a Christian theocracy, and establish its worldly vision of the dominion of Christ over all aspects of life. You are issued high-tech military weaponry, and instructed to engage the infidel on the streets of New York City. You are on a mission - both a religious mission and a military mission -- to convert or kill Catholics, Jews, Muslims, Buddhists, gays, and anyone who advocates the separation of church and state - especially moderate, mainstream Christians. Your mission is 'to conduct physical and spiritual warfare'; all who resist must be taken out with extreme prejudice. You have never felt so powerful, so driven by a purpose: you are 13 years old. You are playing a real-time strategy video game whose creators are linked to the empire of mega-church pastor Rick Warren, best selling author of The Purpose Driven Life.
On Tuesday, Rep. James Sensenbrenner held hearings titled, “Reckless Justice: Did the Saturday Night Raid of Congress Trample the Constitution?” At those hearings, Sensenbrenner announced his intention to introduce legislation protecting Congress from future, similar police searches.
Funny. Congress—especially GOP leaders like Hastert and Sensenbrenner—don’t seem nearly as concerned when much more violent, confrontational raids happen to their own constituents.
Funny. Congress—especially GOP leaders like Hastert and Sensenbrenner—don’t seem nearly as concerned when much more violent, confrontational raids happen to their own constituents.
Federal authorities are actively investigating dozens of American television stations for broadcasting items produced by the Bush administration and major corporations, and passing them off as normal news. Some of the fake news segments talked up success in the war in Iraq, or promoted the companies' products.
For those who may have missed Part I, the aim of this project was to build a completely custom-built computer case, out of stainless steel, that would look like the sort of atomic bomb that one sees in spy movies or on TV shows like 24. I tried not to base the design on any real or fictional bomb, but simply out of my imagination.
"When communications from and to a US person in the US are monitored, that’s domestic surveillance, no matter whether the party on the other end is inside or outside of the US. Since Bush believes that warrantless domestic surveillance is permissible regardless of FISA’s contrary provisions, we shouldn’t be surprised if the NSA has much more data (including content) than USA Today has uncovered."
"Among the big telecommunications companies, only Qwest has refused to help the NSA, the sources said. According to multiple sources, Qwest declined to participate because it was uneasy about the legal implications of handing over customer information to the government without warrants.
Qwest's refusal to participate has left the NSA with a hole in its database. Based in Denver, Qwest provides local phone service to 14 million customers in 14 states in the West and Northwest. But AT&T and Verizon also provide some services — primarily long-distance and wireless — to people who live in Qwest's region. Therefore, they can provide the NSA with at least some access in that area."
"The rating for the magnificent Elder Scrolls IV Oblivion has been changed from 'Teen' to 'Mature' by the Electronic Software Ratings Board, after the classification board was notified of a user-created mod that made female characters topless, as well as excessive blood and gore scenes that had previously been overlooked by the ratings committee."
"What made Enron so significant was what it revealed about the corruption of our political system -- about the unseemly link between big money donations and the influence those donations buy. And Bush and Cheney are standing smack dab in the middle of this neglected aspect of the story."
Bush to halt deposits to Strategic Petroleum Reserve
"President Bush is expected to deliver a four-point plan Tuesday to fight high gasoline prices."
"Superheroes like Superman and Spider-Man can save mankind from natural disasters, space aliens and evil mutants. But there's one thing they are powerless to stop: Advertisers shilling products within the pages of the comic books they call home."
"Creature’s picture irks Board of Ed member
WICHITA — State Board of Education member Connie Morris took exception Wednesday to a picture of a made-up creature that satirizes the state’s new science standards hanging on a Wichita middle school teacher’s door.
Fellow board member Sue Gamble of Shawnee told The Wichita Eagle that Morris asked for the picture to be removed.
The creature, called the Flying Spaghetti Monster, is the creation of Bobby Henderson of Corvallis, Ore. It looks like a clump of spaghetti with two eyes sticking out of the top and two meatballs flanking the eyes.
Henderson created the entity and an accompanying mythology on the origin of mankind to make fun of Kansas’ recent debate over the teaching of criticisms of evolution, including intelligent design.
In November, the board voted 6-4 to allow criticisms of evolution to be taught in Kansas schools.
Morris, who voted for the new science standards, saw the picture during the tour of Stucky Middle School. She did not return phone calls for this report.
Gamble, who voted against the new standards and was also on the tour, said that Morris asked principal Kenneth Jantz to have the picture taken down."
The miniMinty MP3
# Uses SD cards for swappable storage
# 750 mAh LI-Pol battery for 12+ hours of juice
# Mounts as a Mass Storage Device - No drivers, No custom apps!
# Automatically charges over USB
# Easily update the firmware over USB
# Looks hotter than your grandmother's Buick Regal
“He has served our nation with integrity and honor,” said Majority Leader John Boehner, R-Ohio, who succeeded DeLay in his leadership post earlier this year.
"Uwe Boll Secures Rights to 'StarCraft' Movie Trilogy
The man who inspired gamers to hate film-makers secures one of Blizzard's finest."
| Pure Geek 43 % Nerd, 69% Geek, 43% Dork | |||||||||||
| You scored higher than 22% on nerdiness | ||
| You scored higher than 92% on geekosity | ||
| You scored higher than 79% on dork points |
| Link: The Nerd? Geek? or Dork? Test written by donathos on Ok Cupid, home of the 32-Type Dating Test |
"$9 TRILLION
...Is roughly four times Britain’s GDP
...Equates to $1,500 for every man, woman and child in the world
...Would buy all the tea in China. In fact it would buy all the tea in the world for the next 2,000 years.
...Is enough to solve the Palestinian crisis by rehousing every Israeli and Palestinian family in a £1.5m detached house in Henley-on-Thames
...Would build 28 Eiffel Towers — constructed out of gold."
“Can you believe it?” Self said as he turned to assistant Tim Jankovich. “We’re the best in the Big 12 — the best team in Big-Freakin’-12!”
Yes, Self really said ‘freakin’ — and, no, not many would have fathomed something like this could have happened in a season that seemed destined to be a rebuilding year.
But there it was on the American Airlines Center scoreboard: Kansas 80, Texas 68.
Kansas City Star | 03/10/2006 | He knows how close Hussein came to nukes: "He knows how close Hussein came to nukes
For years Saddam Hussein’s nuclear dreams lay like dormant mushrooms in the soil of Mahdi Obeidi’s garden.
Obeidi, a former Iraqi nuclear scientist, had buried blueprints, documents and parts for a centrifuge system “in a safe place” shortly after the 1991 Persian Gulf War.
The Iraqis had been only a few years from producing nukes then, with a little help from a surprising source, according to him.
“In the United States, we got some critical things (such as research papers and system programs).”
Through the black market?
“Not from the black market. We asked for it and got it, through normal channels.”
All came to a halt with the Kuwait invasion, the postwar sanctions and U.N. weapons inspectors.
Were there leftover WMDs when American forces invaded in 2003?
“No, no. … I would’ve known.”
There was his stash, however, which he turned over to the CIA. In return, he and his family got sanctuary on the East Coast.
And now, according to Hollywood reports, Johnny Depp has agreed to play Obeidi, 61, in a film project based on his book, The Bomb in My Garden: The Secrets of Saddam’s Nuclear Mastermind. He spoke in Lawrence this week."
USPS - 2006 Commemorative Stamps: "DC Comics Super Heroes
Ten comic book heroes will be saluted on the 'DC Comics Super Heroes' stamps next summer. Half of the pane of 20 will be portraits of the characters; the other half will show individual comic book covers devoted to their exploits. The characters include Aquaman, Batman, The Flash, Green Arrow, Green Lantern, Hawkman, Plastic Man, Supergirl, Superman and Wonder Woman."
Due to the popularity of the Survivor shows, Kansas is planning to do its own version, entitled "Survivor, Kansas Style."
The contestants will start in Lawrence, travel to Pttsburg, Winfield, Dodge City, Colby and then to Concordia, Atchison then on to Olathe and back into Lawrence.
Each will be driving a pink Lexus with a bumper sticker that reads, "I'm gay, I hate the Chiefs, I'm a vegetarian, I voted for Al Gore, and I'm here to confiscate your guns."
The first one to make it back to Lawrence alive wins.
