The Oil Drum

Something to keep your mind off the endless misery of samsara?

Nope.

The Oil Drum.

Topkill Fails

BP announces the failure of its "topkill" plan to plug the Oilmaggedon leak.

BP began a risky operation known as "top kill" on Wednesday. The procedure involves pumping heavy drilling mud into the crippled well in a bid to stop the oil. It's never been tried in 5,000 feet of water.

The oil spill began after the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig exploded last month, killing 11 people. It's the worst spill in U.S. history, dumping between 18 million and 40 million gallons into the Gulf.

Um, This Is Fun

VastLeft dialogue with Lotus at whoviating.

Smearing Elena Kagan: Grey Lady Smear-Sandwich Edition

I read the NYT this AM and realized that I was actually reading the National Enquirer.

No, really.

On the front page, to which I shall not link, is a charming piece smearing Kagan with the "A" word -- gentle readers, you must know what that one is, the thing that uppity women must not be -- (whispers) ambitiouss -- ooooooooooooo so scarey --- and on the inside back page, NYT features comments on Kagan's views of executive powers as parsed by --- insert drum roll here --- pro-torturer-in-chief John Yoo.

Oh, my. Who thought that one up? The Heathers? ("Hey, whatcha say we ask John Yoo what he thinks about Kagan's views on executive power?" [Crowd chortles, all dig elbows into one another's ribs.] "Hyuk, hyuk!" "Do it! Do it!")

Really I do get sick of this sh*t.

But -- why am I so alone?

So lucky that early adopter Goldman-Sachs-slayer Obama Afghanistan-surge non-supporter public optionist Martha Coakley didn't win over uber-charmer Scott Brown, isn't it?

Brown? Coakley? [Insert The Big Shrug.]

It really doesn't make any difference, does it? It's all hopeless, so who cares?

And then we have a wonderful blogger to whom I shall not link who's very generally wonderful save for relatively rare spasms of bad madness who's spending his precious time on earth helpfully calling Hillary Clinton a war criminal.


Jeez, people.

Wake the f*ck up.

Domestic Violence Homicides Up, Way Up, in MA

Interesting story, save for the unbelievable blame-the-victim-ism.

It's never too late to keep victimizing victims, is it?

I Dunno About All This

I love the Daily Howler.

But I don't love this.


The Kagan pie-fight has nothing to do with Kagan any more, it's a pie fight about having pie fights, and about having had pie fights, and having lost them.

And about being righteously enraged that liberal-progressive-green-socialdem-whatever you call them, keep on losing the actual serious fights, and not winning even when we should have won, and not winning when we have (supposedly) won.

Beyond the meta-piefight, it's rage about the machine, even about the continuing existence of suffering in samsara. One had been expecting a reprieve, perhaps, had one? Good luck with that.

Uh-oh. It's the Old Tribalism Thing Again. Pile On Kagan NOW, or Or Else!

What can I say?

I'm with Larry Lessig.

Lessig Calls Greenwald's Take on Kagan "Absurd"

Harvard Law Professor Lawrence Lessig took Salon blogger Glenn Greenwald to task for his opposition to Kagan, the current U.S. Solicitor General. Lessig took particular exception to Greenwald's contention that Kagan lacks a clear judicial record.

"The hyperbole in what Glenn is saying here is something we really have to check. He said right at the top of your show that there's a complete blank slate here. That every substantive legal question she has left unanswered," Lessig told Maddow Monday night. "That is just absurd."

And I think those who are getting all hysterical need to recognize their own groupthink hysteria. It's pretty hopey-change, with us or agin' us, rabid mob rule kinda thing.

Not pretty.

Happy Mother's Day, Ladies: Celebrating the Fact That It's Never Too Early to Start Making Fun of a Female's Appearance

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Hey, let's hear it for diversity! Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan's taking flak from all sides! And she deserves it! The ever-compassionate HuffPo started it last week, posting arguably the most unattractive pic of Kagan ever. (Not the pic above. It was waaay worse).

BUT--this morning on my local TV that one was topped by an even MORE unattractive pic of Kagan, ever, because she was looking unattractive AND scowling!! Scare-y!

Wow, let's talk about Hillary's thick ankles! Let's talk about Obama saying she was only "likable enough"! Let's talk about Menino not supporting Goldman-Sachs-slayer AG Martha Coakley because "no one" (meaning Menino) likes her"?

Yes, Virginia, girls R fair game!

We smear them on their girly appearances and likeability and scariness/non-scariness factor -- because that's just how it is! And because -- we can!



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Note non-scary pic of Elena Kagan, above, which was not chosen by the bostonchannel.com

AG Martha Coakley Expands Jobs Programs for Youth

Thinking outside the box, AG Coakley expands jobs for youth program with monies from her successful suits against Big Pharma and Big "Health."

Shame on us for failing to elect her to the US Senate.

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From the Boston Globe:

"With the economic crunch squeezing the number of jobs available for young people, Attorney General Martha Coakley announced yesterday that her office would devote another $100,000 to employment programs, creating 64 more positions for at-risk youths in programs across Massachusetts.

The funding — which came from settlements of cases against health care and pharmaceutical companies — will boost the $1.5 million the attorney general’s office already committed to 16 programs through Project YES, or Youth Employment Solutions. The grants were open to municipalities, public school districts, and nonprofit groups that serve low-income or at-risk youth and include physical fitness in their programs.

With yesterday’s announcement, the program is now expected to create a total of 225 jobs.

“It’s not enough. But it’s a good start,’’ Coakley told about 100 teenagers assembled in the gym at the Catholic Charities Teen Center at St. Peter in Dorchester, where she was joined by Suffolk District Attorney Daniel F. Conley and Mayor Thomas M. Menino. . . "

Considering how he backstabbed her in the election by failing to turn out his machine on her behalf, it must be challenging to share a stage with Menino.

Talibangelical Anti-Homosexual Evangelist Snagged Hiring Hired Hand at Rentboy.com

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Swiftingboating Martha Coakley

Using Twitter.

And let's keep in mind that Attorney General Coakley's going after Goldman Sachs pretty much right after her 2007 election as AG had absolutely nothing to do with [insert special interest here] needing her to be smeared into defeat in 2010. That was just because she spent too much time with her family and didn't know the name of a conservative Republican baseball player and was both too feeble and too ambitious. Ok?