Three of four tests showed that the cement mixture used by Halliburton in the construction of BP’s ill-fated oil well in the Gulf was unstable, but the mixture was used anyway, a presidential commission investigating the disaster has found . The only successful test, which BP did not know about, has since come under suspicion. AP via Google: The panel said that of four tests done in February and April by Halliburton, only one—the last—showed the mix would hold. But the results of that single successful test were not shared with BP, and may not have reached Halliburton, before the cement was pumped, according to a letter sent to commissioners Thursday by chief investigative counsel Fred H. Bartlit Jr. BP had in hand at the time of the blowout the results of only one of the tests—a February analysis sent to BP by Halliburton in a March 8 e-mail that indicated the cement could fail. The slurry tested in that case was a slightly different blend, and assumed a slightly different well design, but there is no indication that Halliburton flagged the problem for BP, or that BP had concerns, the letter said. Independent tests conducted for the commission by Chevron on a nearly identical mixture were also released Thursday. The results concluded that the cement mix was unstable, raising questions about the validity of Halliburton’s final test. Read more Related Entries October 28, 2010 Joe Sestak’s Witching Hour October 26, 2010 Annoyer in Chief
Continue reading …Andrea Mitchell Slams Angle’s ‘Halloween Show’ Immigration Ad; It’s ‘Beyond the Pale’
October 28, 2010 No Comment
Andrea Mitchell on Thursday made no secret of the contempt she held for a new ad Republican Sharron Angle is running in Nevada, deriding it as “beyond the pale.” The MSNBC host announced that so many people are “outraged” over the campaign spot she slammed as a “Halloween show.” The commercial, which the senatorial nominee just began airing, features images of illegal immigrants crossing the border and complains about Harry Reid record. Mitchell, interviewing the Washington Post's Dan Balz, fretted, “A lot of people say that this is the closest thing we have this year to a Willie Horton or the Jesse Helms white hands ad from that North Carolina race back in the day.” read more
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Looks like Osama bin Laden is still around after all. The French Foreign Ministry said Thursday that video footage showing a man appearing to be bin Laden and threatening repercussions against France for recent actions he finds objectionable was, in fact, the man that no one seems capable of tracking down, even if his general whereabouts (ahem, Pakistan) are apparent by now.
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“Follow the money,” the left insisted when News Corporation donated $1 million to the Republican Governor's Association. The implication was that since News Corp. gave lots of money to Republicans (nearly 10 times as much as it did to Democrats), Fox News coverage that casted the GOP in a positive light could fairly be seen as a direct result of that contribution. By the standard much of the left advanced, National Public Radio's firing of Juan Williams can fairly be presented as a direct result of liberal billionaire George Soros's $1.8 million contribution to NPR two days before Williams's firing. read more
Continue reading …Joy Behar Chides: ‘Bitch’ Insult Was ‘Mistake,’ ‘I Reserve That Word for People I Know and Love’
October 28, 2010 No Comment
Joy Behar admits she made a “mistake,” sort of. After angrily denouncing Nevada Senate candidate Sharron Angle (R) as a “bitch” who will “go to Hell” for her “Hitler youth commercial” in which she criticizes Democrat Harry Reid's position on illegal immigration, “The View” co-host sarcastically retracted part of her joyless insult. “I really shouldn't have called her a bitch because to me that's a term of endearment,” snickered Behar. “I reserve that word for people that I know and love. That was a mistake and I take it back. I mean, the fact that she approved a racist ad, that is the point that I wanted to get through to the people – not the word bitch.” Video embedded after the page break: read more
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Alaskan underdog and U.S. Senate candidate Joe Miller scored a startling victory over incumbent Lisa Murkowski in August’s Republican primary, but in political time during an election year, August was eons ago, and now Miller needs another boost from Sarah Palin, Mike Huckabee and other tea-party-friendly conservatives to carry him through Tuesday.
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According to Sarah Palin, it’s still too early in the presidential election cycle for her to say for sure whether she’ll be putting the White House in her cross hairs for 2012. We’re not sure about that, but, regardless, Palin says she’ll take on the challenge if there’s “nobody willing to do it.”
Continue reading …CNN Guest Mischaracterizes Focus on the Family as Pro-’Mean’ Toward ‘Gay People’
October 28, 2010 No CommentWith the recent accounts of anti-gay bullying in the news, there has been a backlash against people and organizations that promote traditional values. Call it a relentless pursuit to find someone to blame. As politicians like Sen. Jim DeMint, R-S.C. , and organizations like Focus on the Family express their concerns over the promotion of homosexuality in the public square, they are regularly blamed for aggressive ignorant anti-gay bullying that results in horrible things, like the suicide of Tyler Clementi, a Rutgers University student .
Continue reading …SPUN-employment: Networks Twist Unemployment Reports to Boost Obama, Bash Bush
October 28, 2010 No CommentSpinning the Numbers When Conservatives in Charge: During the year leading up to the 2005-06 mid-term elections, the economy was strong and unemployment never went above 5 percent. That wasn’t how the media reported it. Negative reports and stories spun negatively accounted for 58 percent of the stories (38 out of 65). Spinning the Numbers When Left in Charge: Despite the near 10 percent unemployment throughout the year leading to the 2009-10 elections, positive reports and stories spun positively accounted for 52 percent of the stories (46 out of 88). Just days before the mid-term elections and jobs remain the major campaign issue. Unemployment stands at 9.6 percent with nearly 15 million people out of work. Gallup’s analysis argues things are even worse, with unemployment hitting 10 percent again – a number voters wouldn’t see until the Friday after the election. As Gallup explained , it’s “up sharply from 9.4% in mid-September and 9.3% at the end of August.” That means heartache and struggle across the United States. That’s not the story being told this election. What voters are left with are false impressions from the broadcast news shows – that somehow the worst unemployment in 25 years is not that bad. CNBC’s Steve Liesman called it “self-sustaining job growth,” on NBC’s April 2, 2010 “Nightly News.”That’s also exactly the opposite of how those same networks handled low unemployment during the last mid-term election. Then, with a Republican in the White House, journalists worked hard at undermining the positive news with the possibility that bad things might occur. read more
Continue reading …The front of Thursday's Washington Post shows Nancy Pelosi and Christine O'Donnell as witches with green faces, with the headline “A very scary midterm exam.” (To which we ask: Scary midterm
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