Who Sank The Deepwater Horizon?

The government response was under-resourced and poorly led; later the President misled the nation about the botched government role.

You just know this is the sort of story our aspiring Woodwards and Bernsteins out there will sink their teeth into.  Right?  Almost!  The Times waltzed past it with this probing coverage of a May 12 hearing:

KENNER, La. -- As the Congressional hearings into offshore drilling began in Washington, a more intimate inquiry into what went wrong three weeks ago on the fallen Deepwater Horizon drilling rig began in this suburb of New Orleans, with members of the Coast Guard and the Minerals Management Service demanding answers -- often from within their own agencies.

Testimony on the April 20 rig explosion included descriptions of a night of chaos set against the backdrop of an inferno. The witnesses revealed a disorganized firefighting effort in the first crucial hours of the disaster.

Kevin M. Robb, a search and rescue specialist for the Coast Guard on duty at a New Orleans command center after the rig exploded, testified that he saw no coordination among those involved in the initial firefighting response. Mr. Robb also noted, repeatedly, that firefighting was not the Coast Guard's primary responsibility, particularly at the beginning of a complicated search and rescue operation.

''We're not the lead on firefighting,'' Mr. Robb said.

When asked who would have been the lead, Mr. Robb said, ''I do not know if there was a formal entity out there.''

Capt. Hung Nguyen of the Coast Guard, a co-chairman of the investigation, asked whether uncoordinated action in fighting the fire could have led to the sinking of the rig. Mr. Robb did not directly answer that question, saying that it was beyond the Coast Guard's scope of duties.

And that was all the Times wanted to know about that.

ABC News has covered the latest release from the Center for Public Integrity, which includes this May 11 hearing transcript.

Could a better response have led to a better outcome?  Maybe not, per experts cited by ABC:

Experts agreed that salt water can affect the balance of a rig but they disagreed whether it would have mattered in the case of the Deepwater Horizon, since the explosion was so severe.

Dr. Benton Baugh, president of the oil engineering firm Radoil , said it is possible that the seals that protect the buoyancy chambers failed, and that the massive amounts of water being used to put out the fire found their way inside.

"I and others have speculated that the access to the buoyancy chambers was compromised, potentially by heat, and the fire boats simply flooded the buoyancy chambers and caused the rig to sink," he told the Center.

Dr. Paul Bommer, a 25 year vet of the oil industry and now a senior lecturer at the University of Texas at Austin, thinks the rig was doomed by the fire, regardless of uncoordinated firefighting attack.

"I do not believe anyone thought they could put the fire out with foam or water – it was too big and too hot," he said. "Without putting the fire out – which was impossible – there was no way to save this vessel."

His belief is that the fire "simply melted away enough of the structure and support systems" on the rig, causing the buoyancy system to fail.

Comments

[Clarice]

Oh to be an "expert".
Do you suppose BP will sue to get its $20 billion back?

[narciso the harpoon]

'what do they mean it's possible the rig could have sank that way, in four months
they didn't bother to check. Nguyen was the one who wanted to lay all the responsiblity
on TransOcean not BP, by the way

[Jane]

I would.

[PD]

His belief is that the fire "simply melted away enough of the structure and support systems" on the rig, causing the buoyancy system to fail.

C'mon now. Everyone knows steel doesn't melt. Rosie told us so.

[Jeff]

but wait ... didn't Van Jones tell us that a fire can't melt steel ?

I call BS on the professor ... for one thing THE RIG SANK ... it didn't burn down to the waterline and then sink ...

Maybe the fire couldn't have been put out, again I doubt that is true ... I spent a few years in the Navy and the one thing they talked about when fighting a fire onboard your ship was that you can throw alot of water at a fire to put it out as long as you don't upset the balance of the ships bouancy ... in other words you can always pump out the water but if the fire gets to the fuel or munitions you all die ...

again THE RIG SANK ... maybe the seals went, maybe not ... someone needs to do a REAL investigation ...

[Pofarmer]

Maybe the fire couldn't have been put out, again I doubt that is true ...

You've got an 8" pipe with oil and Nat gas and whatever else coming out of it at over 4000psi. That kinda complicates teh putting out part.

[Pofarmer]

BTW, I remember reading an article way back when, that the hopes was that they could get the fire out so that they could get on board and secure the well head, knowing that it was a tremendous long shot.

[matt]

This is a project for the forensic engineers, I think.They're going to have to send ROV's down and do a complete scan of the wreckage if they want to get it right.

Thousands of hours of mathematical models. Structural analysis. blah, blah, blah....otherwise it's speculation.I would hope this work is being done as we speak.I would think it obligatory for both Transocean and the rigs builders.

[Clarice]

and then, matt, it will be heard by a jury of people willing to sit through month of this testimony--that is to say, cretins, who will not understand one bit of it and will be swayed by some clown like John Edwards.

[matt]

wouldn't something like this go to Admiralty Court, clarice?

[Clarice]

Hadn't thought of that. You might be right but then I've no idea about Admiralty law.

[matt]

I like their hats.

OT, but the LAT has an article about Obama as the Velcro president. I had to swallow a little vomit back down my throat.

According to the Times, Bammers gets blamed for everything and Reagan was blamed for nothing. Funny, in reading the LAT back then I used to fume at the outrageous claims and slanders.

Now the man who blames Bush when his shoes are untied is wondering why people hold him accountable for the takeover of 60% of the economy; the health care mess, the screwed up response to the oil spill, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera....talk about a serious disconnect with reality....I guess it must be related to all of the pot being smoked.

The BBC had an article on $1.7 Billion in marijuana chopped down in the foothills of the Sierras over the past month. All of it was being grown on federal and state lands by the Mexican drug cartels. Funny it hasn't made the US papers. I guess it just doesn't fit their whole human rights narrative on illegal immigration and border control.I blogged it. LUN.

That, by the way, is 1,200,000 ounces of prime grade weed, or enough for the entire DNC, Journo List, and MSM.

[narciso the harpoon]

Does that explain Proposition 19 Matt, and now I don't think that is nearly enough. I'm struck how nearly four months in, they are still speculating over how the whole thing came about. All those submersible cameras didn't give them a clue.

[Rob Crawford]

That, by the way, is 1,200,000 ounces of prime grade weed, or enough for the entire DNC, Journo List, and MSM.

For about a week.

[matt]

well, it does explain a lot about our society, doesn't it, Rob? perhaps we should start charting the consumption of cheetos versus GNP.

[Old Lurker]

Posting here only because it is the top thread...before I embark on the trek north, leaving DC in the dust until September, two comments from last night's JOMers:

1. Yay Cap'n! (More tax money for the idiots to waste.)

2. We were wondering about Jim Ryan and presto...he's back! Good to see you Jim.

[narciso the harpoon]

then again, after this EJ Epstein piece on the Iran brouhaha nothing surprises me, in the LUN.

OT, what the heck is going on in the Senate race, in Illinois, with the special election
occuring right after the other one

[Clarice]

Have fun,OL. Remember--dinner on us when you return.

[Clarice]

Gosh, matt, a more entrepreneurial administration would have auctioned it off in states where it's legal and use the proceeds to pay down the debt. That would make everyone happy.

[Porchlight]

Bon voyage, OL! Enjoy...

[MikeS]

I'm thinking that a group of doctors became disgruntled when Obama wouldn't let them amputate our feet. So, they got together with some "fat cats" and Cheneyburton and conspired to let the drill rig burn.

As Charly Sheen might say, "Those fire boats didnt' look like any fire boats I've ever seen."

[glasater]

OL--there are such things as laptop computers or iPads to keep in touch...
Is this a trip to get away from all those annoyances?

In any event hope your vacation days are wonderful:-)

[Ranger]

OT, what the heck is going on in the Senate race, in Illinois, with the special election
occuring right after the other one

Posted by: narciso the harpoon | July 30, 2010 at 04:16 PM

Illinois law says that the appointment for replacement Senators ends "upon the election" of someone for the full term. Someone took it to court, and the court found that this wording means that Burris' term ends on election day, and that if the state wants the senate seat filled until the new Senate term begins, there has to be a special election to fill the seat from November until January.

[narciso the harpoon]

Does that make sense, or is that some more malarkey like West Virginia the other day

[Old Lurker]

Oh Glasater, you know I am a worrier... One of the first phrases the girls recall my saying was "belts and suspenders". When we go away for August, we always take a pretty hefty laptop so I can keep some of my business stuff flowing. On short trips I take a much lighter but full featured laptop. Since DrJ has taught me to doubt all technology and to trust nothing, this year we are taking both just in case.

It gets better.

Mrs. L complains that her perfectly good computer is "broken" because it is so slow. When I check into it, I find a gazillion shopping and facebook sites open at the same time and she seems to get "important" junk mail by the dozens and she opens them all...not to mention the texting and IM windows she keeps open for the girls. So her computer is a toxic waste dump but she blames it on Windows. (Don't tell he whose name must not be mentioned) And the girls have convinced her everything will be fine if she has a Mac. So today I ordered a Mac to be delivered to Nantucket so she can get to know it without stress (HA!).

While dealing with Apple for Mrs. L., the nice young man explained that any husband buying a Mac for his wife would be given a free iPad for his own use - with the works - and since she has no clue how much her Mac was supposed to cost, I might get away with the free gift line? Was it Mel who complained about guys and tools?

So anyway. Assuming FedEx does their thing, we should have four working devices so I can keep all threads open at the same time!

Stay tuned for progress reports. :-)

PS...yes Clarice, dinner on you in September for sure. Jane and Caro promise to visit us in August and that dinner is on me.

[centralcal]

What has happened to the comments sections - is there a new format?

[Rick Ballard]

For any who may have had difficulty in interpreting the import of the Bullard paper which Mel linked yesterday, Barron's provides a Cliff Notes interpretation which would be more fittingly entitled "Screw the Helicopters, Fire Up the B52s".

The article is very clear about Bullard's change of heart - but it doesn't refer to the proposed direct Treasury purchases by the correct term of monetization. With bank vaults bulging with $1.7 trillion hot off the presses BenjiBucks it's sort of difficult to talk about liquidity as "the problem" any more. It's a pity about the money supply and velocity thingies not meaning anything in this Brave New World. It almost seems as if they might have some utility in describing what's happening today.

[matt]

I can't believe no one is talking about Chelsea's wedding! I have decided just the present for the lovely young pair of oligarchs, carbon offsets! LUN

[Old Lurker]

My format is different too, CC. Don't they know I dislike change?

[Nantucket, Nantucket, Goin'na Go Off There in my Old Bucket.]

Bon Voyage, OL, and check #100 on the apocalyptic thread. I started with the first Mac, brain damaged to 512K and traded from my sister for a Corolla.
======================

[Bill in AZ sez it's time for Zero to resign]

Rick, both links are the same...

[Bill in AZ sez it's time for Zero to resign]

...but easy enough to find. "Helicopters" in the title.

[Melinda Romanoff]

There are two reasons for no lending, Rick. Leaving aside that most of the bailouts went to GS, MS, BAC, and the like and that they prefer to lend to active customers (meaning hedge funds who clear through them), there is little "qualified" demand and the regulators are constantly moving the goalposts.

As explained by the Minneapolis Fed. This all unfolding just the same as it did in Amity Shlaes' The Forgotten Man.

I still think the first sentence of his paper said "In this paper I discuss the possibility that the US economy may become enmeshed in a Japanese-style, deflationary outcome within the next several years." His methodology for the remedy of this is QE2, which means QE1 was a bust. I don't think it was, but not yet. Congress, with the administration's willing help, is doing it's best to swipe the money. Thereby guaranteeing hyperinflation in their acts of deep wisdom. I think he's a bit late to the party, we are already in a deflationary slide and Unca Ben's first load of QE should have done it. No need for load two, and I think he'll get there, eventually.

Congress and 1600 are the ones screwing up the results.

And that's my take.

[Rick Ballard]

Sorry, Bill.

Barron's link

[Jim Ryan]

Rick's link.

[hit and run]

OL,have a wonderful time.

Ok,everyone play it cool and maybe we'll suck Jim Ryan back in for good........

[Melinda Romanoff]

Rick, thanks for Forsyth's take, at least he has the access to the guy and asks better questions than Joe Kernan or, god forbid, Becky Quick(who isn't at all) like this morning. Almost lost a TV throwing things.

[This is Katharsis.]

L!ink U!nder N!ame for Tom Fuller flaunting his journalistic skill about Judith Curry being burned at the stake by the true believer alarmists.
======================

[Jim Ryan]

Hi, OL!

[Whoops, didn't change the LUN. Try this one for the inferno.]

Drat.
===

[Frau Edith Steingehirn]

His and Hers carbon credits! Just the ticket, matt.

Good line in your link, Kim: "Michael Mann is a saint and the Hockey Stick chart is a holy relic."

[Bill in AZ sez it's time for Zero to resign]

RealSheriffJoe dealing with protestors happy about ruling on SB1070:

RealSheriffJoe (1 hr ago)
Looks like Raeza and his gang are out of my jail and just showed up to protest my operation.

RealSheriffJoe (39 minutes ago)
And now they are blocking my deputies from pulling out, looks like they enjoy being in my jail

RealSheriffJoe (16 minutes ago)
And now Mr Raeza is under arrest again

[Better than being there.]

Liveblogging uncivil disobedience.
==================

[glasater]

Bullard's final thoughts on Squawk

And Becky Quick left early--thank goodness:-)

Had a little fit this AM with Erin Burnett on Squawk on the Street by sending a few pointed emails to her regarding her vapid comments on how "fit" Zero looked leaving the helicopter for Air Force One.
Zero could never keep up with President Bush on a mountain bike...

[narciso the harpoon]

Erin started working at Goldman first, so pretense comes naturally to her

[Ignatz]

Yeah glasater, I considered that a pretty stupid statement by Burnett. Barry is skinny; that doesn't mean he's fit.

What's weird is only some of the threads are formatted strangely.

[Rick Ballard]

My pencil must be broke. Turbo has issued $3.6 trillion in new debt since September 16, 2008. Uncle Ben mopped up $1.7 trillion with brand new, never been touched money and the Fed called it "quantitative easing". What quantity was eased?

The quantity of interest earned by folks who had their money in bank deposits and CDs?

Could it be that Bullard is simply providing the rationale for Fed maintenance of BOzo and Turbo's debt Jones?

[centralcal]

Typhuspad is acting up and I think T.M. is away and unaware.

The comment formatting is just all fubar.

[glasater]

I pointed out the "fit" versus skinny to Ms Burnett in one email. And Mark Haines is out of his mind. I can't take it any more. It's either Fox Business or Bloomberg for me whenever they're on the tube.

[narciso the harpoon]

Seeing that Mediate did get the Sherrod story
right, after much prodding, they earned the
poison dart for this bit of Minitrue spin, in the LUN

[Old Lurker]

"I started with the first Mac, brain damaged to 512K and traded from my sister for a Corolla."

Kim, I will trade you my sister and Iggy's brother for that now very used Corolla...if it doesn't run, that's OK. The swap stands.

[matt]

getting back to the question of who sank the Deepwater Horizon, my bet is on U-571.

[I think it died in Rhode Island. Went to sister then sister-in-law's sister. Whew.]

Toyopet rules.
=======

[Clarice]

Here's some news:
Waters chooses ethics trial
Politico, by Jonathan Allen Original Article

Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.) has chosen to go through an ethics trial, like the one lined up for New York Rep. Charles Rangel, rather than accepting charges made by an ethics subcommittee, a source familiar with the process tells POLITICO. The back-to-back trials of a pair of black lawmakers represent an unprecedented use of an ethics adjudication system that has rarely been used by House members accused of breaking House rules. Waters' case revolves around allegations that she improperly intervened with federal regulators to help a bank that her husband owned stock in and on whose board he once served.

[Ann Mongrel]

Malkin Tweet:

9th Circuit just denied AZ request for *expedited* hearing on SB1070

[Ann Mongrel]

Friday Night News Dump:

Treasury Emails Suggest Rep. Barney Frank Called Former Treasury Secretary Paulson to Obtain TARP Cash for OneUnited Bank

Tee Hee

[Melinda Romanoff]

Well put, but try this.

TARP floats the money center and "shadow" banks, then the Fed QE's the Fannie, Freddie and Maiden Lane(newly created trio I, II, and III) load that drained the system in the beginning via Bear and Lehman (at the start, we now know differently via Anton Valukas), and so endeth 2008.

The new 60 load Senate and reloaded Pelosi House venture out with an $800B Porkulous to reward their constiuents arguing it's just as vital as TARP, it just happens to have a back loaded delivery arriving in late summer, just in time for Labor Day, 2010, the start of real advertising season.

Now for the math, the $1.7T injected by the Fed plugged most of the hole left in the deflationary destruction that was securitized mortgage debt and stopped the hemorraging of the "shadow" system (corporate money markets). The $1.9T difference in issuance by Timmeh is the Congressional cash grab to force the Fed's efforts on to the permanent Congressional Budget rolls.

This is precisely why this Democratic Congress will not introduce a budget until after the election, where they can try and hang it on the incoming Republican majority.

There is some separation between the Fed and the Treasury Department, and it's getting wider. I expect media coverage of the Fed to start to dry up. Ben doesn't have to testify until February and I would expect he'll be falling off the "speaker" circuit soon.

This is my opinion only and I'm not trying to convince anyone to follow it, but if the 5yr TIP trades to yield -.02%, as it did today. People are willing to overpay for non-existant inflation protection, so long as they get 99.98% of their money back.

That, is fear.

And I do not own 5yr TIPs.

[Melinda Romanoff]

OL-

Please have a Sauvignon Blanc at The Ropewalk for my bride and I, before a leisurely dinner at 21 Federal (so long as you stay out of the bar).

If that's too big a drive, take the last seating for us at the 'Sconset Cafe, after a glass on the "veranda" (porch, deck, patio, we encountered all three) at home and enjoy the walk there.

Oh, and could you stop by the market for the bread for dinner tomorrow night, when it comes out of the oven, say, at about 4:30?

I'm not even going to bring up the tomatoes.

Enjoy, I am so jealous.

[Ann Mongrel]

U.S. President Barack Obama holds his wife first lady Michelle Obama after returning to the White House from a visit to the International Spy Museum tonight.

________________________________________
Clarice, do they serve drinks at the International Spy Museum in D.C.? :)

[Melinda Romanoff]

ann-

Roadies!

[Melinda Romanoff]

And I keep picturing Ann Margret when I see your tag now a days.

[Melinda Romanoff]

OL-

The Ropewalk, outside, at the bar, BTW.

[Melinda Romanoff]

Oooh, that's too many in a row.

G'night all.

[RichatUF]

Ann you need to warn me before you post a picture like that. Whoa.

Mel-

Wanted to let you know that I picked up a copy of "This Time its Different" and finished. Great read. Pretty thick though and I haven't had time to really study it. Didn't know that US states have had 2 waves of defaults (maybe gearing up for a third).

Looked over at zerohedge and the place makes my head hurt.

[jimmyk]

Treasury Emails Suggest Rep. Barney Frank Called Former Treasury Secretary Paulson to Obtain TARP Cash for OneUnited Bank

While this should be an embarrassment, and further grounds for the good people of the Bay State to give BF is walking papers (not to mention giving a black eye to the whole notion of benevolent government intervention), is it illegal? Is it unethical by the low bar set by Congress? Isn't just "constituent service"? IANAL, so I need some help here.

[Melinda Romanoff]

Rich-

The last 96 some pages scared the carp out of me, you'll know the section. The parallels are just too scary. The first bit just cements their credentials, firmly.

Good luck on the move, as an experienced mover (grandfather was an antique dealer and mom's a decorator) I would be more than willing to help, except for that pesky 12 hour drive.

And I got sidetracked watching Weiner weiner-whip the party line on Peter King, talk about an arrogant little weenie.

Sheesh.

Now I'll fade, for real.

G'night all.

[RichatUF]

Mel-

Thanks. I should have everything lined up by Monday.

Goodnight.

[daddy]

Kim

Tthanks for that link to the charge of "heresy" being directed at anyone who reads "The Hockey Stick Illusion."

Not surprisingly, that is the only Climate related book I have been intentionally looking for these last 2-3 months at my Library, yet it never arrives among the new book stacks, which is cluttered with multiple editions of hysterical tomes from Al Gore and the Kerry's and any dozen other publications touting AGW.

And even at our best local non-franchise new/used local bookstore (Titlewave) it never shows up either. It is almost as if a conscious effort has been made to stifle Andrew Montford's dissection of Mann's Hockey Stick.

I am trying to become a "Heretic" myself but it's tough when you can't actually get a hold of the book to read it, so currently am only a "Heretic in intention, not in fact." Heck, I think it was easier to get a forbidden copy of Playboy as an 11 year old from my buddies Rusty and Scooter, than it is to get a hold of Lord Moncton's "Hockey Stick Illusion".

Any of you pseudo-heretics having similar trouble?

[matt]

one word for you daddy.....Amazon. And why am I not surprised your boyhood friends were Rusty and Scooter? Sounds like someone was digging in cricks for salamanders and crayfish and frogs.

[Ann Mongrel]

Friday Happy Hour?

No, that is a kick ass picture, right?

:)

[daddy]

Matt,

Rusty's old man had this stash (woo hoo!) that was legendary amongst the rougher crowd on the playgrounds of Stonewall Jackson Elementary.

And concerning the "Jews never marry Christians in America" until Chelsea Clinton:

The example of young Jew Irving Berlin and his socialite Christian wife immediately came to my mind, as it was a huge story in the 1920's and lasted for 60 plus years, and who the heck in America didn't know it, especially when Berlin was belting out wonderful tunes about it like "They All Laughed" for the next 60 years. What a pant-load that new meme the media is foisting is.

For fun I thought I'd google "Famous American Weddings between Jews and Christians". Up popped this site:
">http://www.adherents.com/largecom/fam_jewish_catholics.html"> Famous Jewish Catholics
(or Catholic Jews)

Obviously not definitive, but instantly my eye falls upon a few famous children in America of Jew/Christian weddings, (which of course never happened until Chelsea)

Fer instance:

Sean Penn
Oliver Stone
Bill Maher
Harrison Ford
Dick Morris
Wesley Clark
Robert De Niro.
John Kerry

Too recent you say?

Christopher Columbus
Douglas Fairbanks
Fiorello LaGuardia (crappy airport)
Hedy Lamarr
J. D. Salinger
Wolfgang Pauli
Roman Polanski (if you want to include him---I don't)
George and Gracie
Heck, probably even Henny Youngman's wife "take her...please."

Anyhow, just thought I'd throw that out there for giggles.

Courtney Love
Neve Campbell
Bob Novak
Arlo Guthrie
Rusty's old man with the Legendary stash of Playboys...

Yep, it's obvious Chelsea's a trend breaker, by Gawd.
Let's give her a Civil Rights Medal:)

[Strawman Cometh]

I saw that Peter King had many opportunities to say why Rep's didn't vote for the 9/11 responders health care bill, if I'm characterizing it correctly, but he didn't enunciate one, beyond a "phony procedure". I read elsewhere that it had to do with nefarious amendments added for undocumented amnesty, but, if so why wouldn't PK just say so? Or have I answered my own question?

[daddy the wanna'be heretic]

"Little Joe" Cartwright
Dr Who
Will and Ariel Durant
Liz Hurley (no, carp I take it back. She married a Hindu)
Tevye's 3rd daughter from Fiddler on the Roof, Chava. Oy, she married the Russian peasant.
Larry King and wives numbers 2, 5, 7 and (I think) 9, but the last one's a Mormon. Judges, a ruling please. Does that count? Or are they a sect like Scientology, in which case scratch Tom Cruz and what'shername.

Hey, this is fun. Here's more ">http://www.chron.com/channel/houstonbelief/photogallery/Famous_interfaith_couples.html#21177176"> Interfaither's for your viewing pleasure.

[daddy the wanna'be heretic]

Cecil B. DeMille
Marilyn Monroe
">http://lh6.ggpht.com/_Enhom_u6Rl8/SPJrM63MfWI/AAAAAAAABKw/QkTOkgT5KIc/s640/barbibenton01.jpg"> Miss March 1970 (SFW)
Cary Grant
Paulette Goddard
Bab's Streisand
Richard Feynman

"Why I'm shocked, shocked, that there has been gambling and ">http://www.adherents.com/largecom/fam_jewish_anglicans.html"> Jewish/Episcopalian marriages going on here in Casablanca since before Chelsea Clinton." "Round up the usual suspects, starting with Rick, err Bogie, and Lauren Bacall.

[Extraneus]

Apparently it's much rarer in "state" weddings, daddy.

[Chubby]

Daddy

I watched the movie The Painted Veil on YouTube yesterday. Stunning China landscapes. Have you seen it?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AFktc6WgpQs&feature=related

[Old Lurker]

Mel...you nailed our list to a T. Except for the part about staying OUT of the bar at 21 Fed. We will hoist several for you and Mrs. Melinda.

[daddy the wanna'be heretic]

Chubby I have not but that looks interesting.

Today I am on Hotel Standby period in an Airport China hotel that refuses to allow access to YouTube, but "The Painted Veil" looks interesting on Google. There are always many movies on the local China channels now and no longer are they all goofy Kung Fu sort of things, but now are very well shot stories that look well acted and seem interesting. Wish I knew the language. The Hotel is at the Guangzhou Airport, very fancy but very isolated. (miles from anything else) so for sightseeing today all I've done is go for long walks through the enormous, climate controlled terminal buildings of the humongous new Airport. It has a Cinema, McDonald's, 7/11's, and a massage parlor. (Al gore would love it!) The place was bustling with travelers (mostly Chinese) and there had to be at minimum a hundred small designer shops selling everything from high-tech electronics, (I-Phones-Laptops, etc) to Scotches and Herbal Teas and Haagen Daas, etc. Just about everything.

It's all extremely clean, modern, and very up to date. The changes I have seen in this country over the last 15 years are stunning. Yesterdays paper said construction for 2 new Nuke Reactors in North China (Harbin?) just got started yesterday and that they expect that by 2016 they will be producing somewhere between something like 45 to 100 kilo/giga/mega something units per plant. It used to be that I'd look at something impressive and think "Potemkin Village", but now I see so much Potemkin Village, it's no longer applicable---it's simply what it is. From my anecdotal view, this place is booming, so believe it or not, even a tour through the concrete and metal and soaring, flowing architecture of a modern Chinese Airport has been interesting today---just as long as I don't have to do it more than once every 6 months or so. A Fascinating country, who, if my anecdotal read of it's people's mood is correct, are optimistic and positive about their future. Wish I could say the same for my read of the mood of our fellow citizens.

[Dorothy Sayers fans: Ten Hut!]

Hey, Daddio, make that typo and buy the book. It will be classic; it's getting dynamite reviews, and being cited by Oxford law professors. Apparently, Andrew Montford, who must be distinguished from the also eminent Lord Monckton of Brenchley, is a remarkable writer and was blessed with the miracle of timing. This book, 'The Hockey Stick Illusion' was going to press when ClimateGate broke, and he had the opportunity to add a last chapter which is basically references in the emails which illustrate the facts of the plot. It is most often compared to a mystery novel, but has also been compared to a scientific treatise.
=====================

[Chubby]

Yes, it is an excellent movie and was a co-production with China.

Is YouTube blocked just in some places in China?

I have watched quite a few good subtitled Chinese movies on YouTube. The first one I stumbled on was the "God of Gamblers" -- a crazy, manic comedy but also has moments of real pathos. I think it is a cult series of more than one movie, but I could only get into the first one.

I love your travel posts Daddy. If you compiled them into a book it would be a bestseller. And that's the truth.

[Jane]

I thought Maxine and Barney were both shilling for the same bank. I can't wait to hear all the calls of racism now that 2 blacks and a gay men have been identified as criminals. How dare they?

[Chubby]

I'm not at all fond of the new page format.

[Jane]

Okay I just read it, it was the same bank.

I don't have a new format. Are you in firefox?

[Chubby]

homophobic racists are the worst

[Chubby]

if that was for me Jane, no I still use Explorer ... when I tried Firefox but had problems with it

[Oh my Gaia'd.]

We're all heretics, now.
============

[Extraneus]

I use Firefox (for the narcisolator and spell check), but just opened this thread in IE, still not seeing the changes people are talking about.

What's different?

[hit and run]

OL:
We will hoist several for you and Mrs. Melinda.

So Melinda's a lesbian. Who knew?

[Extraneus]

I wonder if Obama thinks the Waters charges are as "very troubling" as Rangle's. 'Cause if so, shouldn't she get the Fredo kiss, too?

“I think Charlie Rangel served a very long time and served– his constituents very well. But these– allegations are very troubling,” Obama told Harry Smith in an interview to be aired on the “Early Show.” and first broadcast on the CBS Evening News with Katie Couric.

“And he’ll– he’s somebody who’s at the end of his career. Eighty years old. I’m sure that– what he wants is to be able to– end his career with dignity. And my hope is that– it happens.”

Or maybe he hasn't had a Jesse Jackson-like "cut his nuts off" relationship with Maxine.

Something tells me there's trouble in the Black Caucus.

[centralcal]

Tom is back and has a new post up and I see comments are back to normal. hooray.

Ext: the left and right margins disappeared and comments spanned the whole width of the page. I didn't think to try Firefox, maybe it was just IE acting up.

[Rick Ballard]

"Something tells me there's trouble in the Black Caucus."

Running out of room in their freezers?

[Chubby]

it's back to normal now .. but it was showing all the sidebar links in one long running column on the left of screen, and then below that, the comments in full screen width

[Melinda Romanoff]

hit-

It just adds another layer as to why I have a "stump" axe.

[matt]

The president is hanging another person of color out to dry again. How racist.

As to Maxine, she is the Repnitzentative from "Tha Hood", so I don't know if there is another viable candidate except perhaps Snoop or Dre.Ice Cube is out cuz he's done time, but Ice T may be an alternative. Vanilla Ice is out.

And daddy, somewhere out in blogville is the story of arriving in far away Qinhuandao after 12 hours, a 3 hour train ride, and expectations crashed to the ground at Chairman Mao's Bunker hotel and spa. To top it off, after waking up somewhere around 0400 I turned on the people's television and got to watch "Die, You Running Dog Capitalist Roader!" in technicolor.

The best part was when the young, idealistic anti-imperialist, on his way to the Korean Front, won the tossing hand grenades into woven baskets prize. All the other good commies surrounded him and sang "The East is Red". I cried.

[daddy the wanna' be heretic]

Good tales Matt,

It's fun hanging out here isn't it.

10 years back did a nutty trip out to Taiyuan in Shanxii province to pick up some stuff after a satellite launch. I was right seat at the time, and had a 6 foot 2 black Captain and a 3rd guy who smoked a pipe constantly.

We decided to go on a long walk many miles through the city. There in the hinterlands they had obviously never seen a black guy before, and kids would stand goggle eyed with mouths agape simply staring. We must have stopped 20 times for folks to take photos' with my Captain, and the pipe-smoker startled them as well, because I believe his profligacy of stuffing his pipe full of expensive tobacco every few minutes and lighting up must have struck them as unbelievably expensive. We finally arrived at some outdoor amusement park where the kids rides were merry go rounds in Red Starred Chinese tanks, but the most interesting was a shooting gallery where you could shoot at the bad guys with some non offensive rifle---but the bad guys were us!!!---big cutouts of anglo guys in Chicago style gangster hats---Ka-blamo! It's an outdated old letter but when I get back I'll see if it'll work for Jane's website. Fun stuff---much like the old playground days of Stonewall Jackson Elementary:)

[Ignatz]

--IANAL, so I need some help here.--

I'll thank all the good people here to never use that acronym in a post regarding Barney Frank again. Thank you very much.

[Pagar]

" I can't wait to hear all the calls of racism now that 2 blacks and a gay men have been identified as criminals."

I think there are some more in the pipeline, at least there are still ongoing investigations to the best of my knowledge.

Back on the thread where we discussed Republican members of the ethics committee who were apparently approving soft reprimands.
There is still time to get some of those criminal enablers off the ballot at the primary. Rep Flake at the Arizona primary would be one that needs to get defeated IMO, maybe Bill in Arizona can give us more insight.

I found this Site gave good info on the upcoming elections by state.

[narciso the harpoon]

Well I've always disliked Flake from my neck of the woods, because he has always been such
a Castro booster, not just his opposition to the embargo

[Captain Hate]

Question: Presidential pardons seem to happen when somebody leaves office (at least it seems that way to me) but can't they be done at any time one is in office?

[jimmyk]

Apparently it's much rarer in "state" weddings, daddy.

Maybe, though Caroline Kennedy certainly broke that mold some 25 years ago. And I'm pretty sure there have been others before that.

LOL, ignatz. Thanks for the reminder. Any discussion of Barney Frank has to tread very lightly. Or maybe I shouldn't use that expression either.