Tag Archives: mexico

First Amendment suspended in the Gulf of Mexico as spill cover-up goes Orwellian

As CNN is now reporting, the U.S. government has issued a new rule that would make it a felony crime for any journalist, reporter, blogger or photographer to approach any oil cleanup operation, equipment or vessel in the Gulf of Mexico. Anyone caught is subject to arrest, a $40,000 fine and prosecution for a federal felony crime. CNN reporter Anderson Cooper says, “A new law passed today, and back by the force of law and the threat of fines and felony charges, … will prevent reporters and photographers from getting anywhere close to booms and oil-soaked wildlife just about any place we need to be. By now you’re probably familiar with cleanup crews stiff-arming the media, private security blocking cameras, ordinary workers clamming up, some not even saying who they’re working for because they’re afraid of losing their jobs.” See the video yourself at: http://naturalnews.tv/v.asp?v=203 Welcome to the (censored) club All I can say to CNN is: Welcome to the club! This kind of censorship, intimidation and tyranny has been going on for decades in the field of health, where the Orwellian FDA has treated the entire U.S. public to a nationwide blackout on truthful health information about healing foods and nutritional supplements. CNN has never covered that story, by the way. Most of the mainstream media has, in fact, gone right along with censorship of truthful health information by the FDA and FTC. Now they’re suddenly crying wolf. But where was the media when the FDA was raiding nutritional supplement companies and arresting people who dared to sell healing foods with honest descriptions about how they might help protect your health? The media went right along with the cover-up and never bothered to even tell its viewers a cover-up was taking place. You see, even CNN is willing to tolerate some Orwellian censorship, as long as its advertisers are okay with it. The only reason they’re talking about censorship in the Gulf of Mexico right now is because oil companies don’t influence enough of their advertising budget to yank the story. Censorship is not okay in a free society I like the fact that CNN is finding the courage to speak up now about this censorship in the Gulf, but I wish they wouldn’t stay silent on the other media blackouts in which they have long participated. Media censorship is bad for any nation, and it should be challenged regardless of the topic at hand. When the media is not allowed to report the truth on a subject — any subject! — the nation suffers some loss as a result. Without the light of media scrutiny, corporations and government will get away with unimaginable crimes against both humanity and nature. That’s what’s happening right now in the Gulf of Mexico: A crime against nature. Obama doesn’t want you to see that crime. He’s covering it up to the benefit of BP. He’s keeping you in the dark by threatening reporters and photographers with arrest. How’s that for “total transparency?” The only thing transparent here is that President Barack Obama has violated his own oath of office by refusing to defend the Constitution.(cont) http://bizgov.files.wordpress.com/2009/12/adm-allen-22.jpg added by: samantha420

MSM Wall Protecting Obama Gulf Oil Spill Response Cracks With Latest AP Report

Perhaps it is frustration, as expressed by Anderson Cooper , with the new White House rules inhibiting reports about the Gulf of Mexico oil spill that is now causing a big crack in the Mainstream Media wall which until recently mostly avoided direct criticism of the Obama administration response. However that crack has now turned into a flood of surprising criticism coming from formerly friendly outlets such as the Associated Press. Read this amazing AP report and keep in mind that it is no longer just conservative sources that are harsh in their criticisms of the Obama Gulf oil containment efforts: NEW ORLEANS — BP and the Obama administration face mounting complaints that they are ignoring foreign offers of equipment and making little use of the fishing boats and volunteers available to help clean up what may now be the biggest spill ever in the Gulf of Mexico. The Coast Guard said there have been 107 offers of help from 44 nations, ranging from technical advice to skimmer boats and booms. But many of those offers are weeks old, and only a small number have been accepted. The vast majority are still under review, according to a list kept by the State Department. Ouch! But the criticism of the poor reponse of the Obama administration response to this crises becomes even more heated: A report prepared by investigators with the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform for Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., detailed one case in which the Dutch government offered April 30 to provide four oil skimmers that collectively could process more than 6 million gallons of oily water a day. It took seven weeks for the U.S. to approve the offer. Even the credibility of the Coast Guard is being called into question: Billy Nungesser, president of Louisiana’s hard-hit Plaquemines Parish, said BP and the Coast Guard provided a map of the exact locations of 140 skimmers that were supposedly cleaning up the oil. But he said that after he repeatedly asked to be flown over the area so he could see them at work, officials told him only 31 skimmers were on the job. Something seems to have shifted dramatically in the past few days in MSM coverage of this crises.  And was this the reason for the “transparent” Obama administration attempting to inhibit coverage of the Gulf oil spill?

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MSM Wall Protecting Obama Gulf Oil Spill Response Cracks With Latest AP Report

Underreported: The Irony of BP’s ‘Beyond Petroleum’ PR Crusade

One narrative the liberal media has strenuously failed to develop is the incredible irony of BP presenting itself as the greenest oil company, the “Beyond Petroleum” folks who recognized they were boiling the planet with oil. In Friday’s Wall Street Journal , Mark Mills reviewed a new book, Oil, by Tom Bower:   But the most interesting figure in Mr. Bower’s narrative is not Mr. Putin but BP’s Lord Browne, who understood cultural politics better than his peers. In the 1990s, BP launched what was arguably the oil industry’s most successful public-relations campaign, for all the good it is doing the company now. The campaign transformed BP into a shining example of a progressive company—one supposedly “Beyond Petroleum.” It is clear from Mr. Bower’s account that, while BP remained first and foremost an oil company, Lord Browne drank his own Kool-Aid, basking in encomia from the media and green mavens. He gave lectures at Stanford, appeared on “Charlie Rose,” cozied up to Greenpeace and promised to spend $1 billion on solar technology. The Beyond Petroleum campaign, conceived by PR masters Ogilvy & Mather, was originally intended as an internal strategy, aimed at making the company appear more green-sensitive. But it so excited Lord Browne that he delivered a May 1997 speech proclaiming BP the first “green” oil major. The company produced a 200-page “Reputation Manual” with facts about BP’s greenness, formed a political-style “war room” in Houston, and launched a multiyear media blitz. Mr. Bower claims that the rebranding cost BP $200 million. The cost is now measurable in irony, as the Gulf of Mexico grows ever more slick and BP ever more hated. But the campaign was hokum from the start. At this point in history it is almost impossible to find a place “beyond” petroleum. It’s not just the scale of the task but its nature. Energy-dense liquids are valuable, and oil is uniquely valuable in its combination of density, ease of storage and transport, and, believe it or not, safety. Every alternative is worse on all metrics, including cost, even at twice today’s oil price. If liquid hydrocarbons didn’t exist, we would have to invent them

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Underreported: The Irony of BP’s ‘Beyond Petroleum’ PR Crusade

Glenn Beck Uses Military Charity To Fund His Book Launch – Tax Free

By now, unless you've been living under a rock, or below the surface of the Gulf of Mexico, you know that Glenn Beck is about the lowest common denominator when it comes to corporate teevee and radio. Despite his ratings dive and a lack of sponsors, he still considers himself to be a winner. Well, he's really stepping in it this time. He's asking his fans to make donations to a military charity to fund a rally in Washington D.C. – the only problem is that the rally is nothing more than a release party for his new book and well…I'll let GottaLaff tell the rest of the story, keying off this audio report from Bill Press: http://crooksandliars.com/logan-murphy/glenn-beck-uses-military-charity-fun Yes, you heard right. Beck doesn’t even have a permit for The Big Rally yet. They’ve applied, but they’re still in negotiations. Yet, they’re selling merchandise as if it’s a done deal. He’s selling stuff for an event that may never take place. It’s also not being held at the Lincoln Memorial, but at the reflecting pool, across the street. Glenn Beck is lying about the location of the rally. And finally, he’s exploiting a charity by soliciting contributions to the Special Operations Warrior Foundation. But see, the fine print says all contributions will first be applied to the rally, the one with Sarah Palin. All contributions in excess of the costs will go to the troops. Let’s recap: –He’s desecrating the memory of Martin Luther King and Abraham Lincoln; –He’s lying to the (gullible) American people who still choose to give him an ounce of credibility, and –He’s using a charity set up to raise money for members of the military, and then stealing the money he raises to pay for his little get together. I am flabbergasted that Glenn Beck would try to freeload like that! /snark WTF is wrong with pukes like Beck and Hannity, who claim to be sooo patriotic, yet use military charities to enrich themselves? Oh wait…they're Republicans…. added by: Stoneyroad

Banks Financing Mexico Gangs Admitted in Wells Fargo Deal

Michael Smith Bloomberg June 30, 2010 Just before sunset on April 10, 2006, a DC-9 jet landed at the international airport in the port city of Ciudad del Carmen, 500 miles east of Mexico City. As soldiers on the ground approached the plane, the crew tried to shoo them away, saying there was a dangerous oil leak. So the troops grew suspicious and searched the jet. They found 128 black suitcases, packed with 5.7 tons of cocaine, valued at $100 million. The stash was supposed to have been delivered from Caracas to drug traffickers in Toluca, near Mexico City, Mexican prosecutors later found. Law enforcement officials also discovered something else. The smugglers had bought the DC-9 with laundered funds they transferred through two of the biggest banks in the U.S.: Wachovia Corp. and Bank of America Corp., Bloomberg Markets magazine reports in its August 2010 issue. This was no isolated incident. Wachovia, it turns out, had made a habit of helping move money for Mexican drug smugglers. Wells Fargo & Co., which bought Wachovia in 2008, has admitted in court that its unit failed to monitor and report suspected money laundering by narcotics traffickers — including the cash used to buy four planes that shipped a total of 22 tons of cocaine. Full Article Here: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-06-29/banks-financing-mexico-s-drug-cartels-a… added by: im1mjrpain

‘Eclipse’ Fans Swarm Midnight Screenings Across Globe

Theaters from Finland to the Philippines held early screenings of ‘Twilight’ movie. By Eric Ditzian Robert Pattinson and Kristen Stewart in “Eclipse” Photo: Summit The wait ended at midnight, and as MTV News can attest, the lines fans eager to see “Eclipse” snaked around theaters in New York and Los Angeles. Those two metropolises weren’t the only places beset by “Twilight” fervor. Deadline Hollywood reports that theaters in Boston, Washington D.C., Detroit, Cleveland, Denver and Salt Lake City were mobbed at midnight. So too were the theaters holding early screenings in countries like Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Brazil, Mexico, the Philippines, Belgium, Netherlands, Poland, Hungary and Finland. At this point, “Eclipse” ranks as the widest domestic release in history as it opens in 4,416 theaters in North America — besting the record set by “Iron Man 2” earlier this year. Four thousand of those theaters held midnight screenings, Deadline reported, and several theater chains also had 3 a.m. screenings to meet public demand. IMAX was expected to hold 3 a.m. screenings in 120 of its theaters. In the run-up to release, fans were also taking precautions against widespread sellouts, as “Eclipse” pre-sales spiked. Fandango reported that the vampire flick accounted for 91 percent of ticket sales on Tuesday, after staying in the site’s top five since the pre-sale started in mid-May. By the end of the weekend, “Eclipse” should have a staggering box-office haul. Early tracking suggests a three-day-weekend gross of as much as $140 million, with a six-day purse of up to $180 million. Those are monster numbers, no doubt, but when you listen to how excited fans are, it’s really not that surprising at all. “I’m really excited,” Oladayo Idowu, told MTV News outside a theater in New York. “I’m here for [the midnight showing], so I’m surprised my mom even let me out! I’ve been waiting for this movie since I saw ‘Twilight.’ I’m going to see it again and again and again.” Check out everything we’ve got on “The Twilight Saga: Eclipse.” For young Hollywood news, fashion and “Twilight” updates around the clock, visit HollywoodCrush.MTV.com . Related Videos ‘Eclipse’ Hits New York City ‘The Twilight Saga: Eclipse’ Hollywood Premiere Brings Out The Stars Related Photos ‘The Twilight Saga: Eclipse’ ‘Eclipse’ Stars In New York “Eclipse” Premieres In Los Angeles

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‘Eclipse’ Fans Swarm Midnight Screenings Across Globe

16 Burning Questions About The Oil Spill That We Deserve To Have Answered

The Gulf of Mexico oil spill is a national nightmare that seems to have no ending. Every day new details come out that are even more shocking than what we learned the day before. The truth is that life will never be the same in the Gulf of Mexico or for those who live along the Gulf coast. Now Barack Obama has made a big Oval Office speech and has tried to convince all of us that he is in charge of the crisis. Well, perhaps if he had tried to take decisive action a month ago the American people may have rallied around him. But right now the BP/government response to this disaster remains completely and totally chaotic. Nobody seems to be able to stop the leak, and BP has made the environmental nightmare far worse by dumping over a million gallons of highly toxic dispersants into the Gulf. U.S. government officials are running around holding press conferences and waiting for BP to do something. Meanwhile oil is pouring ashore and toxic gases are being detected at very alarming levels. The biggest environmental disaster in U.S. history is also quickly becoming one of the biggest economic disasters and potentially one of the biggest public health disasters. The truth is that the American people deserve some answers about what in the world is going on down there in the Gulf. BP does not own the Gulf of Mexico and they have no right to keep the American people from seeing what is happening. There are some very serious health and environmental questions that have been raised in the media recently, but both BP and the U.S. government are not giving us any answers. But we need some answers. People are getting sick. Crops are dying. Wildlife is being devastated. Birds are flocking north by the thousands. READ MORE AT THE LINK…………. http://beforeitsnews.com/news/88/246/16_Burning_Questions_About_The_Oil_Spill_Th… added by: TomTucker

Hurricane alex 2010

Palm trees move in the wind as a man walks on the shore in Chetumal June 26, 2010. Tropical Storm Alex was likely to become a hurricane on Tuesday, delaying BP Plc#39;s efforts to increase siphoning capacity at the gushing oil leak in the Gulf of Mexico. Tropical Storm Alex was set to strengthen into a hurricane on Tuesday, delaying BP Plc#39;s efforts to increase siphoning capacity at the gushing oil well in the Gulf of Mexico where some companies evacuated workers. Alex was forecast to move

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Hurricane alex 2010

Scientology compares itself to the Salvation Army in Senate inquiry

The Church of Scientology has compared itself to The Salvation Army, while defending its benefit to the community in a Senate inquiry. The organisation was scrutinised by an inquiry into legislation proposed by independent senator Nick Xenophon, which would require religious groups to prove what public benefit they provide, before getting tax breaks. Its representative, Virginia Stewart, told the committee its members lent a hand in times of disaster and promoted drug-free messages. “The church believes the proposed bill is inherently flawed and puts at risk the financial future of charities and religions in Australia,” she said. But a Church of Scientology officer from New Zealand, Mike Ferris, told the inquiry that a public interest test in his country had done no harm. Scientology has charitable status in New Zealand, where the Charity Commission of New Zealand was established in 2005. It demands charities clear a public benefit test, and makes them hand over financial statements, which are available publicly online. Mr Ferris said he believed the commission had been fair to the Church of Scientology. “I think the New Zealand Charities Commission has treated us fairly,” he said. “I think it's a fair process.” The inquiry also heard from ex-Scientologists who went public with their shocking experiences earlier this year, when Senator Xenophon twice failed in efforts to have an inquiry into abuse allegations. Among them was James Anderson, who claims he and his wife spent up to $1.2 million on Scientology materials, and Janette Vonthehoff, who says she was coerced into having abortions, and worked long hours for the organisation under duress. Both argued the organisation should not get tax-free status, because it was completely self-serving, and provided no benefit to taxpayers. Mr Ferris compared the glare on Scientology to that previously directed at The Salvation Army. “They weren't welcome here in Australia, they weren't welcome in New Zealand in the early 19th century because of their view against alcohol,” he said. “They were beaten up and they were persecuted, so where do you go?” Mr Ferris was asked why the records on the website of his country's charity commission showed the organisation went from an income of $2.6 million in 2007, to $374,000 in 2008. “I think that drop in income, was actually, from memory, was the exchange rate drop, absolutely,” he said, but later admitted he wasn't certain. The Church of Scientology also committed to handing over its books to the committee for further scrutiny. http://hiscrivener.files.wordpress.com/2009/06/tom-cruise-and-scientology.jpg http://digg.com/politics/Scientology_compares_itself_to_the_Salvation_Army added by: iamfree

20 States plan to copy Arizona immigration law

Arizona's sweeping new immigration law doesn't even take effect until next month, but lawmakers in nearly 20 other states are already clamoring to follow in its footsteps. Gubernatorial candidates in Florida and Minnesota are singing the law's praises, as are some lawmakers in other states far from the Mexico border such as Idaho and Nebraska. But states also are watching legal challenges to the new law, and whether boycotts over it will harm Arizona's economy. The law, set to take effect July 29, requires police to check the immigration status of anyone they think is in the country illegally. Violators face up to six months in jail and $2,500 in fines, in addition to federal deportation. http://www.thonline.com/article.cfm?id=287398 added by: ibrake4rappers13