Good morning twolf1. Full of good news this morning, I see.

One month Google Finance chart chart of Hal shows a high around $35 and current price $27.59

http://www.google.com/finance?q=NYSE:HAL

Sigh, yeah. I wanted to end on a positive note, but as you see, I didn’t. Was going to finish with a link to a slideshow about animals in the news, but there were dead elephants involved, so I didn’t. :(

One analyst report, issued by Citigroup, even declared in its title, “Reaction to the Gulf of Mexico oil leak is a buying opportunity.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/05/10/AR2010051004664.html

Does Citi have any money invested in BP? How many times have investors seen big companies get protected by the financial analysts and press even when they had no interest in the company?
The old boy’s network is calling in the favors.

Hey, twolf! Have you taken over morning swim or is BT on vacation?

Will this help? (Via Ezra)

BT is on vacation.

Mornin’, twolf, pups

Are the Israelis gonna make the Palestinians wear some sort of cloth badge to identify them as legal residents in their own country?

I’ll add a cute animal clip for ya.

I have to absent myself from politics & world events for most of the day. It’s just too depressing. I am overwhelmed.

On a “fun” note (just to let you know how low the bar is for political fun), Rep Hinchey is supposed to appear at a Gardiner D wine tasting on Saturday. Hinchey is another one of those Ds who used to be totally progressive but is now in the veal pen. I intend to tell him so to his face. If he shows up, I should get a chance, as these kinds of events are usually relatively small, i.e., less than 50 people.

New Israeli Military order “defines anyone not holding an Israeli-issued permit to reside in the West Bank as an ‘infiltrator.’ Violators could face up to seven years in prison or deportation.”

Now. Can there be any doubt that Joe Lieberman is taking orders from these people?

Yes to the cloth badges and then they will herd the Palestinians into concentration camps and gas them all. After all it is the humane thing to do as the world must be cleansed of all but the pure Israelis. (And just in case it was not obvious /s)

On Monday, BP said it spent $350 million in the first 20 days of the spill response, about $17.5 million a day. It has paid 295 of the 4,700 claims received, for a total of $3.5 million. By contrast, in the first quarter of the year, the London-based oil giant’s profits averaged $93 million a day.

Now, cleanup costs must be added. Relief wells being drilled to intercept the damaged one could cost more than $100 million each. Scores of lawsuits have been filed. Legislation passed in 1990 after the Exxon Valdez accident makes BP and its partners responsible for cleanup costs and up to $75 million in damages.

BP officials said Monday that they expect to exceed that. “A $75 million liability is not where our head is at this moment,

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/05/10/AR2010051004664.html

Unlike Alaska which is an oil company state can the same be said of Florida? Florida of the beachfront homes and beachfront tourist hotels?
Unlike Alaska the this spill is not in just one bay the entire Gulf is likely threatened where will these fishermen move to catch fish?

The AZ immigration law people!

Where the defense department,FEMA and the assorted government agencies?

This is a direct attack on our mainland and some corporation is in command and control?
1/3 of the seafood comes from the Gulf and the attendant support for other land based life systems also is involved. Food prices will explode from this excuse.

Good night and as for luck it ran out.

Cute little guys :)

Sweet.

Love those. Forgot to tell you in Caturday.

Shrimp fishing has already been banned in the Gulf. All the shrimpers have to do is sign up for new training. It worked great for all those workers in the U.S. that lost their jobs to NAFTA and worked wonders for all the farmers in Mexico that lost their livelihoods.

I heard a spokesman from U of Texas this morning say that the oil deposit is estimated to hold 100 million gallons of crude. At a rate of at least 210,000 gallons/day the deposit will empty out in under a year and a half if the gusher can’t be plugged. The Gulf of Mexico will be dead long before that.

There will be plenty of jobs for hazwipers for generations to come.

I’m not convinced these relief wells are going to do the job either. Since it was probably the expansion of previously frozen methane gas that caused the first explosion, why do they think it won’t happen the second time around? It’s the water pressure at that depth, not the temperature, that keeps methane in it’s frozen state. People have tried to mine frozen methane from the ocean floor before. Even though that was just a cover story for the construction of Glomar Explorer, serious attempts at recovering it were made and it was discovered that it just expands too fast when exposed to atmosphere to be done safely and economically. Since RELIEVING the pressure is the point of a relief well, why wouldn’t the frozen methane just expand up the drill stem when the mud is pumped out all over again? Worst case scenario: TWO leaks that can’t be stopped instead of just one

Yep. Those too.

Thank you too many times I am accused of being to optimistic and need someone to bring me down/s :)

Seriously this well has enough pressure in it so even if its not capped it will all go to the surface? Or is it the oil floats on water thing pushing the oil up?

If you pop off fire crackers in Times Square, Obama will drop a dozen missiles on your head.

It has to be the gas expanding out of the well. At over 210,000 gallons a day minimum and almost a mile of depth, something is pushing it hard.

Trained for what there are no jobs here? I wonder how the oil spill will effect unemployment? Florida’s tourist industry should suffer as well as a certain cartoon mouse.
We need a jobs plan. That and maybe fish farms lots of fish farms.

I can agree with that. But given the amounts, well does Canada have to worry about their coast?

My understanding is that some components of the oil will break down in the salt water, loading the Gulf with toxic chemicals separate from the oil itself. The majority of the oil will float to the surface on its own. The rest will become tar balls, which kill any sea creature that ventures to eat them.

It was meant as sarcasm. Every time the plutocracy makes a move to destroy the jobs of U.S. workers they say the losses will be made up with “new job training.”

I would have thought that the output might diminish over time as the pressure gradient between the Gulf waters and the emerging oil lessened. Wouldn’t this come into play long before the deposit emptied out? Not that this is any great comfort, mind you.

From the fellow a FSU (?), add a zero to both numbers.
He’s guessing a million a day 25,000 barrels and maybe a billion gallons in the reserve.
100 million @ a million a day would drain it in 100 days.
Scouring is also occurring where sand and rocks in the oil are wearing out the pipe that is restricting the flow. This is why they won’t cut the riser and place a slightly larger diameter pipe over the leaky one.

The whole world does. Oil is not water soluble and as soon as it drifts into the Gulf Stream, which is like right next door, it will be coming to an environment near you.

“We need a jobs plan.” You must not have gotten the memo. The U.S. doesn’t need a jobs plan. The “free market” will create the jobs. You’re talking like a socialist.

I know it was sarcasm wait are you saying Obama hasn’t offered them job training yet?
Why don’t bankers ever get job training?
We can hire Chinese to gamble and lose at a far cheaper rate:)

What its not obvious? If Capitalism is Right then I want to be wrong. Left!

and if it reaches the Gulf Stream the next stop will be Europe. Europeans will not be pleased.

That’s what the guy on the radio said this morning. What they don’t know is when that drop in pressure will occur. Using the 100 million gallon figure we’ve only reached the 4% mark as of today.

I’m gonna add the daily total, by my count, to my other daily counts. There was a picture of a live oil covered bird next to one of the supply ships at the site. Broke my heart.

Try the weight of three miles of rock on top of the mile of ocean water.

There is no such thing as too big to fail or a well that can’t be capped.

All bankers are deserving of are long jail terms.

Ocean plants absorb CO2 a greenhouse gas since we are killing the gulf just how much are CO2 rates expected to rise?

Salmon is farmed in the ocean close to shore in large, overcrowded, netted pens overflowing with feces.

According to the Sierra Club web site, “The intense accumulation of wastes from these operations can spoil the local marine environment and spread disease.”

These penned up farmed Salmon breed so rapaciously, while confined so closely together, that it necessitates the use of huge quantities of antibiotics, artificial colorants, pesticides and various other drugs to keep the salmon healthy.

Because the farmed salmon do not get the same nutrients as wild salmon, their meat remains a nasty grey looking color. To make the fish marketable and to look like their wild free ranging cousins, farmed salmon are fed lots of artificial colorants.

Beyond the questionable “nutrition” that one might get from artificially colored salmon (with a side of antibiotics and pesticides), there’s a larger environmental issue.

Although the farm industry denies it, another issue is that farmed salmon do escape and breed with wild salmon. Cross breeding with wild species weakens the wild species’ ability to survive in the wild contributing to its extinction.

And this

Despite widespread public opposition, on September 3, 2009 the Department of Commerce enabled a controversial plan that allows ocean fish farming, the mass production of fish in huge floating cages or net pens in open ocean waters, in the Gulf of Mexico to pass into effect. The plan makes the Gulf the first federally managed waters to allow open ocean fish farming. Given the concerns of pollution from fish feed and wastes, potential negative impacts on commercial and recreational fishermen, and increased stress on marine life from this form of farming, it‚ not a distinction to be proud of.

There is no such thing as too big to fail or a well that can’t be capped.

Well, I’m glad to hear an optimist at least. Still, they haven’t figured it out yet and I’m not sure they will. It’s already too late to prevent massive environmental damage on a scale that will make Prince William Sound look like a leaky oil pan.

That bird pic was in the unlinked slideshow too :(

All fish farms use unbelievable amounts of antibiotics. I refuse to eat fish from farms.

It also retards evaporation, which largely drives summer rain patterns in the south. If it gets big enough, look for drought.

Take away their pride first I want them to see that not only are the replaceable but that anyone could do their job.
If a riveter on the Titanic has a bad day thousands die. If a Banker has a bad day millions of tax payers lose healthcare and it looks like SS. Anyone can lose money bankers and riveters both need to get the job done right the first time.
The thing is we need ships. I could care less if big companies can buy each other in billion dollar mergers.

Despite widespread public opposition, on September 3, 2009 the Department of Commerce enabled a controversial plan that allows ocean fish farming, the mass production of fish in huge floating cages or net pens in open ocean waters, in the Gulf of Mexico to pass into effect. The plan makes the Gulf the first federally managed waters to allow open ocean fish farming. Given the concerns of pollution from fish feed and wastes, potential negative impacts on commercial and recreational fishermen, and increased stress on marine life from this form of farming, it‚ not a distinction to be proud of.

All plans for fish farms in the gulf are dead now. But maybe farming oysters would not be so polluting?

Didn’t the Asian carp escape from a fish farm in Arkansas that was destroyed by a flood? In the upper midwest it’s called the “Monster Fish” because if it should enter the Great Lakes it will destroy that ecosystem. Kind of like the oil spill has the potential of destroying the Gulf ecosystem. Plutocrats care little for ecosystems but care mightily for profits.

Off to swim in the great oily capitalist cesspool.

US KIA Irak: 4,397

US KIA Afghanistan: 1,063

Iraki and Afghan casualties: estimates vary to over 1.5M

US MBS 2010: 16,120 and counting

Crude in the Gulf: 4.2M gallons and counting

Be good to yourselves, and all other living things.

Namaste

Iceland volcano blocks light crops need but so far not enough to counter act global warming. More CO2 should help crops but plants need light now we face drought plus I’ve read Round Up just breed super weeds that are resistant to chemicals.

Wary of environmental disasters like the Dust Bowl, when deep plowing caused soil to uproot and fly about the country in giant wind storms, some farmers have longed embraced the practice of no-till agriculture. However, this environmentally friendly practice is no more for many farmers. A superweed has taken hold in America’s field, and farmers are being forced to kill it by plowing stronger herbicides into the soil. The New York Times reports that a new generation of superweeds is resistant to famed weed killer Roundup. Further, the weeds have evolved to become resistant to the herbicide, just as germs evolve to become resistant to bacteria.

Read more: http://www.kansascity.com/2010/05/10/1935404/roundup-resistant-weeds-plague.html#ixzz0ncr87CED

I suggest everyone start a garden this year.

Nearly three of every four incidents that triggered federal investigations of deepwater oil rigs in the Gulf of Mexico since 2008 have been on rigs operated by Transocean, the company that owned the rig responsible for massive spill there, a Wall Street Journal analysis found. Executives from Transocean, BP, and Halliburton will appear before two Senate committees investigating the disaster today.

Preceded and followed by open checkbook activities just off the floor.

I’m workin’ on that. Got to dig up the patch of Bahia some idiot planted in my back yard years ago. I’ll be thinking of the govt and the capitalists as I rip it out.

Got that right.

Given this much oil leaking out fumes should effect everyone on the coast. I think New Orleans might end up being evacuated.

Hal is Cheney’s, BP is English, does Transocean have any political clout?

New post up top…

Well, they’re still operating in US waters despite their record so I can only assume that they must.

I sent a story like this a week ago to a friend of mine that worked a bit more than ten years ago for Monsanto with the title “No one could have predicted evolution.” His response was that he and others had made this case as Roundup was being introduced but the reply was that it wouldn’t happen. Super strains are the next step for plenty of plant and animal diseases as we cull the gene pool. Maybe this is why conservatives don’t want to believe in evolution.

“Does Citi have any money invested in BP? How many times have investors seen big companies get protected by the financial analysts and press even when they had no interest in the company? The old boy’s network is calling in the favors.”

Though I think Citi is proclaiming BP a buying opportunity too soon, quite often it is true with companies that get lots of really bad publicity that result in the company stock being oversold. I saw that with Toyota where Toyota became way oversold at $70 after falling from $90 and then once the heavy negatively daily news stopped on Toyota the stock went up to $80 and has continued to be above its recent lows during the heavy negative news. Contrarian bulls do this kind of investing where they buy a stock when it is being hammered in expectation that things will turn around.

Yet the Obama administration gave Transocean an award:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/05/04/transocean-deepwater-hori_n_563042.html

Exactly.