Hard to believe Halliburton manages to not screw up something once in a while.

If we all stand together, we can turn around a horrific status-quo by putting cannabis in the realm of health, not law enforcement. Persuade our community leaders to stand up and speak for humanity and humane practices. For voters unsure of the result of legalization, let’s demand an immediate cease fire in the War on Drugs, to show that all hell will not break loose.

Even before the BP disaster in the Gulf of Mexico, oil has been an issue in the race between Democrat Robin Carnahan and Republican Roy Blunt to replace the retiring Kit Bond in the US Senate. With the spill, things have gotten so bad for Blunt that he’s having to turn on his old pals in Big Oil. Awwwwww . . .

With all the concern about the oil disaster in the Gulf of Mexico, I thought it would be helpful to put the corporate citizenship of BP, Transocean, and Halliburton into perspective. This isn’t the first disaster with corporate sponsorship, after all.

Global Green has a video of the fishermen of Shell Beach, Louisiana, who know that the BP oil spill will probably soon put them out of business: Anthony Greco III: I’ve been fishing all my life. Robert Campo: I don’t have Type A blood, I’ve got type saltwater. My family’s been at this four generations. [...]

Committee hearings Tuesday contained no explicit admissions that anyone had done something wrong, but the second hearing helped focus on the breakdown in the environmental review process. That’s a legal timebomb.

A brief look at what’s happening in the news on the morning of May 12th, 2010.

As Obama may be proposing the first real and positive change at the Federal level to address the extraction industry in a very long time, Senator Mary Landrieu (D-Oil) continues to demand more drilling.

What does the four-million-and-counting gallon leak tell us about the safety of domestic oil production? Why were safety procedures left in the hands of the companies doing the drilling and not the regulators? Why did the Deepwater Horizon not include the emergency shut-off valve that could have averted this disaster? Exactly what is contained in the dispersant stew you’re dropping into the Gulf? What are the chances of, in trying to stop the leak, blowing off the wellhead and causing an even greater gusher?

A brief look at what’s happening in the news on Tuesday, May 11th, 2010.