Fmota News

From Toni Marshall:

The About page at Adv Engl Grammar says author is Todd Pekel, an American married to a Greek woman. Together they own and administer 5 English language schools in Greece:

http://www.advanced-english-grammar.com/about-advanced-english-grammar.html

Lots of google results for Todd Pekel.

Here is a hint about his bias against Obama–his article, “I follow the thing that good is,” the website read-bible.com:

http://www.read-bible.org/articles/latest/i-follow-the-thing-that-good-is.html

toni http://www.cfsnova.com/ from iPodTouch

On Apr 30, 2010, at 2:13 PM, Mark Crispin Miller wrote

*Halliburton May Be Culprit In Oil Rig Explosion*

/*This story has been updated*/ http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/04/30/halliburton-may-be-culpri_n_558481.html

Giant oil-services provider Halliburton may be a primary suspect in the investigation into the oil rig explosion that has devastated the Gulf Coast, the/ Wall Street Journal/ reports. Though the investigation into the explosion that sank the Deepwater Horizon site is still in its early stages, drilling experts agree that blame probably lies with flaws in the “cementing” process — that is, plugging holes in the pipeline seal by pumping cement into it from the rig. Halliburton was in charge of cementing for Deepwater Horizon.

“The initial likely cause of gas coming to the surface had something to do with the cement,” said Robert MacKenzie, managing director of energy and natural resources at FBR Capital Markets and a former cementing engineer in the oil industry.

The problem could have been a faulty cement plug at the bottom of the well, he said. Another possibility would be that cement between the pipe and well walls didn’t harden properly and allowed gas to pass through it.

The possibility of Halliburton’s culpability was first reported Monday by HuffPost’s Marcus Baram. According to a lawsuit filed in federal court by Natalie Roshto, whose husband Shane, a deck floor hand, was thrown overboard by the force of the explosion and whose body has not yet been located, Halliburton is culpable for its actions prior to the incident. The suit claims that the company “prior to the explosion, was engaged in cementing operations of the well and well cap and, upon information and belief, improperly and negligently performed these duties, which was a cause of the explosion.” And Congressman Henry Waxman, the chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, sent a tough letter on Friday to Halliburton, asking for an explanation of its work on the rig, according to a spokesperson for the committee. Last year, Halliburton was also implicated for its cementing work prior to a massive blowout off the coast of Australia, where a rig caught on fire and spewed hundreds of thousands of gallons into the sea for ten weeks. In that incident, workers apparently failed to properly pump cement into the well, according to Elmer Danenberger, former head of regulatory affairs for the U.S. Minerals Management Service, who testified to an Australian commission probing that accident. “The problem with the cementing job was one of the root causes in the Australian blowout,” Danenberger told Huffington Post, adding that the rig crew didn’t pick up on indications of an influx of fluids coming back in after they cemented the casing. “The crew didn’t pick up on them and didn’t take action.” Halliburton declined to return a detailed request for comment from Huffington Post. *Here is the letter from Waxman to Halliburton:*

Lesar.Halliburton.2010.4.30

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/04/30/the-dirty-secrets-of-offs_n_557090.html *The Dirty Secrets Of Offshore Drilling (PHOTOS)* *The Huffington Post* | Travis Walter Donovan First Posted: 04-30-10 08:23 AM | Updated: 04-30-10 12:44 PM http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/04/30/the-dirty-secrets-of-offs_n_557090.html

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/rep-charlie-melancon/a-firsthand-look-at-the-l_b_557746.html *Rep. Charlie Melancon* U.S. Congressman and 2010 Democratic senatorial candidate Posted: April 29, 2010 06:41 PM *AFirsthand Look at the Louisiana Oil Spill [Update]* http://www.huffingtonpost.com/rep-charlie-melancon/a-firsthand-look-at-the-l_b_557746.html digg Huffpost – stumble reddit del.ico.us

*Read More:* Charlie Melancon , Louisiana , Mississippi River , New Orleans , Oil Spill , Oil Spill Gulf Of Mexico 2010 , Politics News *This is an updated version of Rep. Melancon’s earlier post.* /Friday, 11:31 AM:/ Got up early this morning to get up to speed on the latest from the oil spill disaster. Some reports are saying that the oil slick is already hitting the coast, which has everyone here very concerned. Three cabinet-level administration officials–Secretaries Janet Napolitano, Ken Salazar, and Lisa Jackson–are in Louisiana today to meet with leaders of the response effort. I’ll be traveling with them and trying to underscore the importance of mustering every available resource to minimize the effects of this disaster on Louisiana’s environment and economy. People I’ve talked to are very worried that like Hurricane Katrina, this oil spill disaster may once again wipe out their livelihoods. 2010-04-30-IMG000242010043.jpeg Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano arrives in Louisiana to view the spill disaster.

The forecast on the severity of the disaster seems to have grown more pessimistic overnight. Folks are worried that this disaster may rival the Exxon Valdez spill in its scope and impact. Much depends on the ability of BP to shut off the flow of the leaking oil from the Deepwater Horizon site. Also, the rough seas in the Gulf today are impeding the ability of crews to burn off or collect the oil. It’s obvious that we need to use every available resource to cut off the flow of oil under the surface. The more it leaks, the more trouble we’re going to have.

*11:24 PM:* I just spent the afternoon and evening in and around Venice, Louisiana, the town at the end of the Mississippi River and the staging area for many of the protection efforts going on. Venice is the epicenter for workers and volunteers going out in boats laying booms to protect the shore and marsh areas. In addition to oil workers and contractors, there were fishermen taking their own boats out into the Gulf to help. Just about everyone living around here realizes the grave threat the oil slick poses to their livelihoods and the environment. Many locals are involved in commercial fishing, shrimping, and oysters, and as the oil slick moves up the coast it will quickly threaten seafood that this industry depends on. It’s good to see so many dedicated people working hard to minimize the damage from this disaster, but officials are still projecting the oil slick to have a significant impact on the marsh here. Due to the wind strength and direction coming off of the Gulf, we’re concerned that the oil slick will penetrate deep into the marsh. This is going to make prevention and cleanup much more difficult. We need to make sure all the resources of the federal government, private industry, and local volunteers are working together as smoothly as possible to help address this disaster.

2010-04-30-IMG0001920100429.jpg Getting onto the helicopter with Plaquemines Parish President Billy Nungesser.

2010-04-30-BudsMarina.jpg In Venice, Louisiana. You can see workers in the background loading lengths of boom onto a boat. These will be placed in the Gulf to help contain the spill. * 6:40 PM:* This morning I returned to Louisiana to help local officials deal with the growing oil spill from the Deepwater Horizon oil rig disaster. I represent the Third Congressional District of Louisiana, which includes much of the area most immediately threatened by the oil washing ashore. The oil spill presents a very serious threat to the fragile ecosystems that support Louisiana’s oyster, shrimp, and fishing industries — a major source of jobs and a huge part of the economy here in southeast Louisiana. Southeast Louisiana was hard hit by Hurricane Katrina in 2005. Many communities are still recovering from the impact of that disaster, and this oil spill’s impact on jobs could be a major step backward on our road to recovery. Katrina also taught us an important lesson about a swift response and minimizing the effects of a disaster. We need to marshal every possible resource to fight the oil spill — from Coast Guard ships to volunteers to state and federal agencies. I just stopped by the Plaquemines Parish Emergency Operations Center in Belle Chasse, LA, en route to Boothville, LA, near the end of the Mississippi delta to tour the disaster area by helicopter. BP is urging Louisiana boat owners who want to volunteer to help in the oil spill cleanup to contact Vince Mitchell at vince.mitchell@lamor.com or (425) 745-8017. Regardless of how many barrels of oil are leaking every hour, the oil sheen seems endless on the water. We know that weather conditions are pushing oil north toward the coastal wetlands near Venice, LA — and projections are that it may come ashore as early as this evening. You can see from the air the massive “booming” operation trying to contain the spill. The effort now is to pull these booms by boat to block oil from reaching the most sensitive areas of our coast. Every hour that goes by that BP can’t shut down that well, experts here are revising their predictions and redefining our worst case scenario. I’ll try to post updates as often as I can as I travel around the affected areas. *Follow Rep. Charlie Melancon on Twitter:* * www.twitter.com/melancon2010*

From Steve Brant:

Mark,

I found the NYTimes coverage by searching Google News on “march on wall street april 2010″:

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/30/business/30protest.html?src=busln

However, I could not find the story by searching the Times website in the ordinary way–by going through the home page to the Business and NY/Metro pages.

My conclusion: They buried it somehow–under the heading “Business Day.” (I have no idea what that means.)

I suggest you ask all your readers to write to public@nytimes.com and demand to know why this story cannot be found using a “reasonable search procedure.” Why was it not featured?

We all know the expression “plausible deniability” from the Nixon days. I think that Clark Hoyt should be asked, Who made the decision to bury this story, and why?

Steve

Also, eople can contact the reporter through the Times web site. He may not know that his story

was buried. Maybe he had some ideas:

http://topics.nytimes.com/topics/reference/timestopics/people/g/steven_greenhouse/index.html?inline=nyt-per

*Vermont House Passes Single Payer Bill: Why It Can’t Opt-Out Of Federal Health Reform To Implement It** * http://wonkroom.thinkprogress.org/2010/04/27/single-payer-erisa-vermont/

Last Friday, the Vermont House approved “its own version of legislation passed earlier by the Senate” that would allow the state to_ design “a single-payer system_, in which a government agency would administer and make all payments for health care” or a public option. California_ passed similar legislation earlier this year_, and theoretically, under a provision added to the new health care law by Sen. Ron Wyden (D-OR), both states could opt-out of the requirements of federal health care reform and establish a single-payer structure.

But there are at least two problems that could deter states from leaving national reform and developing their own initiatives. First, sates can’t implement their own “innovative solutions” until 2017, after they’ve already spent time and energy establishing the new state-based exchanges and regulating insurers. Democrats may have moved back the date to allow for a smoother and more uniform implementation process, but delaying the opt-out date will only discourage states from establishing their own systems. States that still chose to pursue their own plan, will have to reconcile their programs with the federal requirements for Medicare, Medicaid, FEHBP, Indian Health Service and, most importantly ERISA – a 1974 law that, among other things, preempts states from enacting legislation that is “related to” employee benefit plans. Under Wyden’s provision, states could easily obtain a waiver from participating in the new federal exchanges if their innovative reform meets certain requirements, but states will have to go to Congress if their reform affects the health insurance offered by large employers. As the Center for Policy Analysis’ Ellen Shaffer_ suggests, this is a major set back for single-payer advocates_: Section 1332 [see text below] provides that they can apply to the Secretary of HHS to opt out of the Exchanges beginning in 2017, if they have a plan to provide comparable benefits to at least as many people as the Exchange would have been estimated to cover, at no greater cost.* At that point, if the Secretary grants the waiver, the states are guaranteed the transfer of federal funds that would have gone to pay for premium subsidies through the Exchanges. However, states have to apply to coordinate funds and programs with all the other federal programs. The bill offers each state a streamlined process to coordinate its waiver requests, but the Secretary can only grant funds for those programs where she has existing authority. For example, HHS does not have jurisdiction over ERISA, which is administered by the Department of Labor, so an ERISA waiver is not possible under this legislation.* Within HHS, the Secretary already has waiver authority for some programs, but not all. During the House Education and Labor Committee’s mark-up, Rep Dennis Kucinich (D-OH) introduced an amendment that would authorize and require “the Secretary of Labor, in consultation with the Secretary of Health and Human Services”_ to waive the ERISA pre-emption (Sec. 514)_ for states that have enacted a state single payer system. The committee adopted the amendment, but it was left out of the final House bill. Kucinich characterized health care reform as a “detour” from the single-payer cause when he publicly announced that he would support the bill; Vermont and California will soon learn that it’s certainly of no great help. * *

acnnews 12

Cuba Demands Elimination of Nuclear Weapons

HAVANA, Cuba, Apr 30 (acn) Cuba declared on Friday at the United Nations Organization that the development of new types of nuclear weapons is unacceptable. Rodolfo Benitez, Cuba’s acting permanent representative at the UN, addressed participants in the Second Conference on Nuclear-Weapon-Free Zones underway in New York, the venue of the top international organization, the Prensa Latina news agency reports. The diplomat criticized the investment of astronomical amounts of money (millions of dollars) in the perfecting of these armaments, and contrasted that reality with the fact that more than 100 countries will not be able to meet the Millennium Development Goals due to lack of financial resources. Benitez expressed that, in spite of the economic crisis and the existence of millions of hungry people in the world, the military expenditure grows every year and reaches the figure of 1.464 trillion dollars. He advocated the adoption of a Plan of Action in the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty Review Conference, scheduled to begin on Monday at the United Nations, to ban and eliminate these weapons. The diplomat recalled that his country gave its support to the Treaty for the Proscription of Nuclear Weapons in Latin America and the Caribbean, in spite of the hostility of the United States, the only nuclear power in the Americas. Cuba continues firm in its commitment with multilateralism and nuclear disarmament, he underlined. He reiterated the island’s support for the establishment of Nuclear-Weapon-Free Zones in different regions of the world and for the creation of one in the Middle East, proposed since 1995. He demanded the states having nuclear weapons to give unconditional guarantee against their use and shared the concerns that they could be used in terrorist acts, affirming that the only way to prevent this was by eliminating all of them.

worldnews/trm/trm/trm

Exige Cuba eliminacion de armas nucleares

Cuban News Agency www.cubanews.ain.cu ainnews@ain.cu

http://www.opednews.com/articles/Voting-News-Imposter-on-F-by-Joyce-McCloy-100429-8.html

acnnews 11

Cuban Hospital Selected as Cooperation Center of the PAHO-WHO

CIENFUEGOS, Cuba, Apr 30 (acn) The Gustavo Aldereguia Hospital from Cienfuegos province was selected on Friday as a Cooperation Center of the World Health Organization (WHO) and the Pan- American Health Organization (PAHO). The PAHO-WHO representative in Cuba, Lea Guido Lopez, underlined that this is the first hospital in Cuba and the second in Latin America receiving this acknowledgement. The doctor pointed out that, in this case, the Cienfuegos center was selected for its performance in the areas for quality, management and patients’ safety. She added that the purpose of this distinction is the identification, on the part of international organizations, of reference centers in different fields related to hospital services. Moises Santos Peña, director for Epidemiology with the hospital, expressed the commitment of training personnel in this sector in the country, as well as in Latin America and other parts of the world, in the areas that were the object of the acknowledgement. He highlighted Cuba’s willingness to carry out research works responding to the solution of health problems and to publish outstanding results to spread the scientific knowledge acquired. The cooperation centers are organizations that due to their experience in training, research and technological development, among other fields, support PAHO and the WHO in the fulfilment of their tasks. Other PAHO-WHO cooperation centers in Cuba are the Pedro Kouri Tropical Medicine Institute, the Center for Research on the Third Age, and the National Institute of Hygiene and Epidemiology.

cubanews/health/trm/trm/trm

Confieren distincion internacional a hospital cubano

Cuban News Agency www.cubanews.ain.cu ainnews@ain.cu

acnnews 10

Djibouti Thanks Cuba for Cooperation in Various Fields

HAVANA, Cuba, Apr 30 (AIN) Parliament President Idriss Arnaud Ali, from the Republic of Djibouti, thanked Cuban voluntary workers for their cooperation with that African country, in the fields of health, sports, water resources and veterinary. Cuba’s ambassador to Djibouti, Clara Pulido, and Jorge Garcia, head of the Medical Brigade, participated in the meeting, during which Arnaud Ali highlighted the performance of sports trainers from the island, the disciples of which have won medals in regional competitions, the Prensa Latina news agency reports. Pulido referred to the support given by the African nation to Cuba at international organizations and provided information on the recently held partial elections in Cuba, the first round of which concluded on Sunday, and added that the second round will take place on May 2. The diplomat underlined the continuation of the US blockade against the Caribbean island for almost 50 years now, overwhelmingly condemned at the United Nations General Assembly.

worldnews/trm/trm/trm

Presidente del parlamento de Djibouti agradece ayuda cubana Cuban News Agency www.cubanews.ain.cu ainnews@ain.cu