Mashed Report

Surpassing 20 Million Gallons and No End in Sight for Months!

2010-06-04T05:22:02Z

Major oil spills shave occurred in the oil industry since many years and some have had devastating effects on the environment, local climate and habitat of animals. Oil spills are the accidental release of oil in environment due human activity on oil riggs and containerships. This oil cargo can be of different types including crude oil, natural gases, refined petroleum or any other type of petroleum product. Sometimes it is also releases by natural geologic seeps in the sea floors. Most oil spills occurre due to large oil carrying tankers on sea but there have been also cases of oil disasters on land. Like the confrontation in Nigeria with rebels which has led to closing down refinery stations because several oil pipelines were on fire.

Environment studies have proved that effect of oil spill can be more than it is expected to be in some places. Petrochemical products can harm the marine life in the oceans as well as degrade the air quality in the atmosphere. Some variants of oil are highly toxic which can create a huge dent in the ecosystem once they are faced to the open air. The oil is thought to be evaporating quickly once they are opened in air but some types are less volatile and remain for longer period of time in the air. These types gasses are serious threats as they posses longer effect in the ecosystem. Moreover if the oil spill is not cleared and cleaned in short time of period then it mixes up with pebble and sandy beaches and pose danger even to human society living around the sea shores.

Many countries have spent million of dollars in cleaning their sea shores due to the accidental fault of oil tankers. The major oil spills in history are mostly found in middle east countries like in Gulf War oil spill which occurred in Persian Gulf in the year January 23, 1991, Nowruz oil field in Persian Gulf in the year February 1983 and more in recent times. This oil spills effect a large number of area which has to be cleared by a army of people. Many different methods including skimming, Bioremediation, Burning, etc are used to clear the oil spill but that really fails in times when the operation is not started in quick response of oil spill.

Update: Gulf of Mexico oil rig disaster 2010:

Experts have warned that the Gulf of Mexico oil rig disaster caused by BP could develop into one of the worst spills in WORLD history if the well is not sealed quick. Currently there are about 20,00,000 gallons, spewing every day into the Gulf of Mexico.

5 Largest oil rig spills

Gulf War oil spill
Location: Persian Gulf
Date: January 23, 1991
volume spilled: 136,000 - 1,500,000 tons
Ixtoc oil well
Date: June 3, 1979- March 23, 1980
volume spilled 454,000 - 480,000 tons
Atlantic Empress / Aegean Captain
Location: Trinidad and Tobago
Date: July 19, 1979
Volume spilled: 287,000
Fergana Valley
Location: Uzbekistan
Date: March 2, 1992
Volume spilled: 285,000 tons
Nowruz oil field
Location: Persian Gulf
Date: February 1983
Volume spilled: 260,000 tons

Obama Returns to the Gulf Coast to View Ongoing Effects of Disaster.

2010-06-03T01:15:04Z

Posted by Jesse Lee

Following up on his press conference discussing the BP oil spill, the President travelled to the Gulf Coast to get another first-hand look at the progress and to be briefed by those on the ground. At the U.S. Coast Guard Station in Grande Isle, Louisiana, the President spoke to the frustration those in the local community and across America feel watching the BP oil leak:

    Understandably, the feelings of frustration and anger, the sense that any response is inadequate -- we expect that frustration and anger to continue until we actually solve this problem. But in the meantime, we've got to make sure that everybody is working in concert, that everybody is moving in the same direction. And I want everybody to know that everybody here -- at every level -- is working night and day to end this crisis. We're considering every single idea out there, especially from folks who know these communities best.

The President commended those in the area who have "rolled up their sleeves" to help with the clean up, saying that "we're in this together." He warned that as frustrating as it is now, the clean-up will be a monumental and lengthy process, but he pledged to ensure that BP compensates those whose livelihoods have suffered and directed small business owners and others in need of help to the resources at WhiteHouse.gov.

He spoke extensively of what he saw touring the tragedy this morning:

    And our response treats this event for what it is: It's an assault on our shores, on our people, on the regional economy, and on communities like this one. This isn't just a mess that we've got to mop up. People are watching their livelihoods wash up on the beach. Parents are worried about the implications for their children's health. Every resident of this community has watched this nightmare threaten the dreams that they've worked so hard to build. And they want it made right, and they want to make it right now.

    I just had a chance to listen to Mayor David Carmadelle of Grande Isle, our host here, telling us heartbreaking stories about fishermen who are trying to figure out where the next paycheck is going to come from, how are they going to pay a mortgage or a note on their boat. And he is having to dig into his pocket at this point to make sure that some of them are able to deal with the economic impact. So this is something that has to be dealt with immediately, not sometime later. And that's everybody's driving focus -- everybody who is standing behind me. This is our highest priority and it deserves a response that is equal to the task.

    That's why this has already been the largest cleanup effort in U.S. history. On the day this disaster began, even as we launched a search and rescue effort for workers on the drilling rig, we were already staging equipment in the event of a larger-scale spill. By the time we discovered the third breach, a week after the Deepwater Horizon platform sank, we had already stationed more than 70 vessels and hundreds of thousands of feet of protective boom on site.

    Today, there are more than 20,000 people in the region working around the clock to contain and clean up this spill. We've activated about 1,400 members of the National Guard across four states. Nearly 1,400 vessels are aiding in the containment and cleanup effort. And we deployed more than 3 million feet of hard and sorbent boom, including an additional 100,000 just yesterday for these parishes in Louisiana that face the greatest threat.

    Now, I've made clear to Admiral Allen and I did so again today that he should get whatever he needs to deal with this crisis. Whatever he needs, he will get.

    Right now, we're still within the window where we don't yet know the outcome of the highly complex top kill procedure that the federal government authorized BP to use to try to stop the leak. If it is successful, it would obviously be welcome news. If it's not, a team of some of the world's top scientists, engineers and experts, led by our Energy Secretary and Nobel Prize-winning physicist Steven Chu, has for some time being -- has for some time been exploring any and all reasonable contingency plans.

    But our response will continue with its full force regardless of the outcome of the top kill approach -- because even if the leak was stopped today it wouldn't change the fact that these waters still contain oil from what is now the largest spill in American history. And more of it will come ashore.

    To ensure that we're fully prepared for that, and in accordance with input from folks down here, I've directed Secretary Napolitano and Admiral Allen to triple the manpower in places where oil has hit the shore or is within 24 hours of impact. This increase will allow us to further intensify this already historic response, contain and remove oil more quickly, and help minimize the time that any oil comes into contact with our coastline. That means deploying more boom, cleaning more beaches, performing more monitoring of wildlife and impact to this ecosystem.

    We're also going to continue to do whatever it takes to help Americans whose livelihoods have been upended by this spill. Gulf Coast residents should know that we've gathered all pertinent information regarding available assistance and the federal response in one place at whitehouse.gov.

    We have ordered BP to pay economic injury claims, and we will make sure they deliver. And the parish presidents and governors here in Louisiana were already giving us some sense of some of the bureaucratic problems that we're going to have to cut through, but we are going to cut through them. And for those who are in economic distress, if you've already filed a claim and you're not satisfied with the resolution, then whitehouse.gov will point you in the right direction.

    As I said yesterday, the Small Business Administration has stepped in to help businesses by approving loans, but also as important, allowing many to defer existing loan payments. A lot of folks are still loaded up with loans that they had from Katrina and other natural disasters down here, so they may need some additional help.

    If you're a small business owner and you weren't aware of some of the programs that have been put in place or haven't participated, then, again, the White House website will connect you to the resources you need. And we are making sure that all the parish presidents know, and folks like the mayor, other local officials are going to be aware of how they can get immediate help from us.

    What's more, we've stationed doctors and scientists across the five Gulf States to look out for people's health and then to monitor any ill effects felt by cleanup workers and local residents. And we've begun setting up a system to track these efforts -- excuse me, to track these effects -- and ensure folks get the care that they need. And we've told BP that we expect them to pay for that, too.

    As I've said before, BP is the responsible party for this disaster. What that means is they're legally responsible for stopping the leak and they're financially responsible for the enormous damage that they've created. And we're going to hold them accountable, along with any other party responsible for the initial explosion and loss of life on that platform.

    But as I said yesterday, and as I repeated in the meeting that we just left, I ultimately take responsibility for solving this crisis. I'm the President and the buck stops with me. So I give the people of this community and the entire Gulf my word that we're going to hold ourselves accountable to do whatever it takes for as long as it takes to stop this catastrophe, to defend our natural resources, to repair the damage, and to keep this region on its feet. Justice will be done for those whose lives have been upended by this disaster, for the families of those whose lives have been lost -- that is a solemn pledge that I am making.

"A Full and Vigorous Accounting of the Events"

2010-06-01T23:32:15Z

Today, President Obama met with former Senator Bob Graham and former EPA Administrator Bill Reilly who will serve as co-chairs of the bi-partisan BP Oil Spill Commission. Senator Graham served two terms as Governor of Florida and represented the state in the United States Senate for nearly 20 years. William Reilly served as the Administrator of the EPA under the first Bush administration and served during the Exxon Valdez Disaster.

The Commission is tasked with investigating the cause of the spill to determine what went wrong and what reforms must be made to ensure that a crisis like this one never happens again. In his remarks today, President Obama underscored the importance of this investigation, emphasizing that the Commission would have his "full support to follow the facts wherever they may lead -- without fear or favor."

We have an obligation to investigate what went wrong and to determine what reforms are needed so that we never have to experience a crisis like this again. If the laws on our books are insufficient to prevent such a spill, the laws must change. If oversight was inadequate to enforce these laws, oversight has to be reformed.
If our laws were broken, leading to this death and destruction, my solemn pledge is that we will bring those responsible to justice on behalf of the victims of this catastrophe and the people of the Gulf region.

The President also underscored the Administration's commitment to stopping the leak, cleaning up the oil spill and restoring the lives and livelihoods of those living in the Gulf Coast region:

We're continuing our efforts on all fronts to contain the damage from this disaster and extend to the people of the Gulf the help they need to confront this ordeal. We've already mounted the largest cleanup effort in the nation's history, and continue to monitor -- minute to minute -- the efforts to halt or capture the flow of oil from the wrecked BP well. Until the well is stopped, we'll multiply our efforts to meet the growing threat and to address the widespread and unbelievably painful losses experienced by the people along the Gulf Coast. What's being threatened -- what's being lost -- isn't just the source of income, but a way of life; not just fishable waters, but a national treasure.

There are now more than 20,000 men and women in the region working around the clock to contain and clean up the oil. We've authorized more than 17,000 National Guard members to respond across four states. More than 1,700 vessels are currently aiding in the response. And we'll ensure that any and all responsible means of containing this leak are pursued as we await the completion of the two relief wells. I've also directed Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano and Admiral Thad Allen, who is the National Incident Commander, to triple the manpower in those places where oil has hit shore or is within 24 hours of impact.

The Administration will ensure that BP will be held financially liable not only for the cost of the clean up, but also for the financial damages of those whose livelihoods have been impacted by the oil spill. The President vowed to "hold BP and any other responsible parties accountable for financial losses borne by the people in the region."

As a result of this disaster, lives have been lost. Businesses have been decimated. Communities that had already known great hardship now face the specter of sudden and painful economic dislocations. Untold damage is being done to the environment -- damage that could last for decades. We owe all those who've been harmed, as well as future generations, a full and vigorous accounting of the events that led to what has now become the worst oil spill in U.S. history. Only then can we be assured that deepwater drilling can take place safely. Only then can we accept further development of these resources as we transition to a clean energy economy. Only then can we be confident that we've done what's necessary to prevent history from repeating itself.

Obama calls in lawyers over BP oil spill

2010-06-01T15:47:02Z

STRUGGLING to convey command of the worsening Gulf of Mexico oil spill, the Obama administration is distancing itself from BP and dispatching the Attorney-General to meet federal and state prosecutors.

Eric Holder's trip could signal that the environmental calamity might become the subject of a criminal investigation. He has said Justice Department lawyers are examining whether there was any ''malfeasance'' related to the leaking oil well, and investigators have sent letters to BP instructing the company to preserve its relevant records.

An avalanche of class action lawsuits are already descending upon the oil giant in courthouses from Texas to Louisiana, Alabama, Mississippi and Florida.

Estimates of the potential cost vary widely. Including the clean-up, compensation and fines, BP could face a bill of $US12 billion ($A14.2 billion), investment bank UBS has suggested.

Jason Kenney, an analyst at ING Commercial, estimates the cost could rise to $US22 billion if the spill continues until August.

Mark Lanier, a Houston lawyer for one group of plaintiffs, said the litigation would make the Exxon Valdez spill in Alaska look like ''an oil leak in a car''.

''This is going to be, in my estimation, the largest tort we've had in this country,'' he told Texas Lawyer magazine.

BP spokesman Andrew Gowers said on Monday: ''We're co-operating fully with all inquiries, and we're doing everything we need to do and more in terms of preserving records.''

The relationship between the federal government and the oil company has been an awkward collaboration all along. But it reached a turning point when the administration said it no longer wanted to share a podium with BP at the daily briefing in Louisiana.

''We've been increasingly frustrated with BP on matters of transparency,'' said an administration official.

It has emerged that BP said in permit applications for drilling in the Gulf that it was prepared to handle an oil spill that released 250,000 barrels a day.

Bob Deans, a spokesman for environmental group the Natural Resources Defence Council, said: ''They told us they had a plan that could deal with the consequences of a worst-case scenario. They don't.''

BP has challenged widespread scientific claims that vast plumes of oil are spreading underwater in the Gulf. BP chief executive Tony Hayward said it had no evidence of underwater oil clouds.

''The oil is on the surface,'' he said. ''Oil has a specific gravity that's about half that of water. It wants to get to the surface because of the difference in specific gravity.''

Dr Hayward's assertion flies in the face of studies by scientists at universities in Florida, Georgia and Mississippi, who say they have detected huge underwater plumes of oil, including one about 80 kilometres from the destroyed rig.

BP's claim is likely to further anger environmentalists and the White House.

Obamas plan casual Chicago Memorial Day weekend with friends

2010-05-28T07:01:00Z

WASHINGTON--The Obama family, finally, return to Sweet Home Chicago for the Memorial Day weekend.

The last time the family -- Obama, first lady Michelle, Malia, 11 and Sasha, 8 -- were back at their home on South Greenwood was over Valentine's Day weekend 2009. Obama made two quick day trips last summer, not staying overnight.

If anyone thought that the Kenwood community would host a Chicago White House -- and some people did -- well, they were very disappointed.

I'm told the Obama family is planning a casual weekend with friends. President Obama will throw in some work; on Monday, Obama will deliver a Memorial Day address at the Abraham Lincoln National Cemetery in Elwood, near Joliet, about 50 miles south of Chicago.

When Obama was elected, he envisioned frequent visits back home that never materialized. In December 2008, then President-elect Obama said he expected to return "as often as possible, my expectation would be that, depending on what my schedule looks like, you know, we're going to try to get back here at least once every six weeks or couple of months."

It turned out that the first couple was so eager to embrace Washington -- and get Sasha and Malia settled in a new school with new friends -- that Chicago visits just never happened. Besides, the Chicago pals -- of the Obamas and their kids' friends -- were just as happy to hang at the White House or Camp David, the presidential retreat. Last summer, Chicago buddy Marty Nesbitt and his family even rented a place in Washington for a short time just to be nearby.

The Obama home will be a historic site whether or not the Obamas ever live there full time again. Last January, I asked Mrs. Obama why they never came home. She said, "Just tell Chicago, 'nothing personal.' It's kids."

Three trains collide after blast in India.

2010-05-28T02:50:44Z

NEW DELHI: Two trains collided after a blast hit a passenger train and flung it into the path of a speeding goods train in eastern India on Friday, killing at least 25 people, government officials said, reports Reuters.

One local government official said the toll could go up to "anywhere around 50-60" because many passengers were trapped inside mangled coaches.

The incident occurred in an area known to be a stronghold of Maoist rebels. A railway spokesman said sabotage was suspected, but the involvement of the Maoists has yet to be confirmed.

"At this stage I can confirm 25 deaths," Manoj Kumar, a railway official, told Reuters.

"The toll will be much higher. We can give a final figure only after rescue operations are complete. We have to cut open the compartments and bring out bodies."

A reporter of the Telegraph newspaper described a scene of chaos and panic at the site.

"People are crying. Rescuers are struggling to save the survivors and get the bodies out," Naresh Jana told Reuters.

"I can see body parts hanging out of the compartments and under the wheels. I can hear people, women, crying for help from inside the affected coaches."

The incident comes days after a passenger airliner crashed in southern India, killing 158 people.

The passenger train was going to Mumbai from the eastern metropolis of Kolkata in West Bengal state. The incident occurred in the state's Jhargram area.

"The blast derailed 13 coaches of the Gyaneshwari Express. These coaches then fell on the other track where a goods train rammed into some of them," Soumitra Majumdar, a railway spokesman told Reuters.

Majumdar said sabotage was suspected because the passenger train had been hit by a blast.

The Maoist rebels, who often attack police, government buildings and infrastructure such as railway stations, have in recent months stepped up attacks in response to a government security offensive to clear them out of their jungle bases.

The rebels blew up a bus in the mineral-rich state of Chhattisgarh this month, killing 35 people, about a month after 76 police were killed in another attack.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has described the insurgency as India's biggest internal security challenge.

The decades-old movement is now present in a third of the country and while they have made few inroads into cities, they have spread into rural pockets of up to 28 states and hurt potential business worth billions of dollars.

Stock Market is Pure Insanity!!!

2010-05-27T07:01:00Z

Stocks have been sliding for most of the month on worries about how the European debt crisis will impact global growth. Meanwhile, the euro has been plunging, with the shared European currency dropping Tuesday to levels just above a four-year low that it hit earlier in May.

Greece's debt crisis sparked the initial worries about Europe that now encompass the other so-called PIIGS - Portugal, Italy, Ireland and Spain. Spain has been in the news most recently after the country's central bank had to take over a long-established savings bank last weekend.

How much longer will this roller coaster continue? Well, hold on tight and enjoy the ride, because I dont think it is going to end anytime soon.

North Korea cuts all ties with the South

2010-05-27T07:01:00Z

North Korea today hit back at Seoul by announcing it would sever all links, escalating the standoff over accusations that the North sank a South's warship.

North Korea's state news agency KCNA also reported that Pyongyang would expel all South Koreans from a joint-industrial zone in Kaesong, near the border.

The announcement, leaves relations at their worst point for years. It came as a monitoring group in Seoul reported that the North Korean leader, Kim Jong-il, last week ordered his military to prepare for war in case the South attacks. Military officials in Seoul were unable to confirm the report, and said they had detected no unusual troop movements.

The North's statement followed and announcement by South Korea's president, Lee Myong-bak, that Seoul would suspend trade, ban Northern ships from its waters and take Pyongyang to the UN security council. This, he announced that Seoul would redesignate the North as its "main enemy" - a term it dropped six years ago, when relations were thawing.

Citing the Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of Korea, KCNA said Pyongyang would engage in no dialogue or contact while Lee was in power; he is due to leave office in 2013.

Relations on the divided peninsula deteriorated sharply after he became president last year, ending his predecessor's "sunshine policy" of free-flowing aid to the North.

KCNA described the retaliation as a response to Seoul's "smear campaign" - the accusation, based on a report by an international team, that a Northern torpedo caused the sinking in March of the Cheonan, which killed 46 people. Pyongyang denies any involvement.

Scott Snyder, director of the centre for US-Korea policy at the Asia Foundation, in Washington, said: "This is really the last phase of unwinding of this policy of engagement that had been in place between the Koreas since 1998. There is a level of hostility and lack of interaction that is unprecedented in that [12-year] period." .

He added: "The North Koreans view Lee Myong-bak's lack of commitment to the policy as the main source of conflict [that] has led to this set of events. That view is obviously not shared in South Korea."

Despite rising alarm at the tit-for-tat developments, analysts believe neither side wants military action, fearing the cost would prove too great. But they warn there is a risk of skirmishes, and that these could get out of hand.

Professor Hazel Smith, a North Korea expert at Cranfield University, said: "Wars sometimes happen by accident, or because you have escalation and no one can control it. It's a very dangerous position that everyone is in. .

"With all the communications channels being closed down, there is a lot of room for escalation by default."

American Idol Season End is upon us! Team Sox or DeWyze?

2010-05-26T07:01:00Z

Now the competition is down to just the two of these Midwestern natives -- and they have only one more shot to win the hearts (and text messages) of America. On the performance finale, each singer will have the chance to sing three songs: two tunes are up to them -- either new ones or faves from any point in the season -- and one brand-new single penned especially for the occasion.

Bowersox and DeWyze better make their choices good ones, because they probably won't get a lot of help from the "Idol" original single, a song that each year strives for an over-the-top inspirational theme and almost always falls ear-gratingly shot. Remember 2007's "This Is My Now"? Neither do we. Last year's Kara DioGuardi-co-written tune, "No Boundaries," for instance, contained lyrics hampered by mixed metaphor-itis (Mountains! Dreams! Bridges! Hurricanes!) and built toward an unwieldy chorus that not even talents like Kris Allen and Adam Lambert could pleasingly deliver.

So it's up to Bowersox and DeWyze to pick the right songs. Here's what we'd like to hear them sing -- one recycled tune, one fresh one -- the songs that give them each the best chance to be crowned season-nine "Idol" champ Wednesday night.

Crystal Bowersox
MamaSox could return to either "Me and Bobby McGee" or "Long As I Can See the Light" and blow viewers away, but here's why we favor the latter choice. The Creedence Clearwater Revival tune seems more calibrated for a "moment," and we know how obsessed the judges are when it comes to such things. Randy Jackson called Bowersox "the truth" after her performance of the song back in March. Her vocals were sultry and soulful, and the presence of the backup singers allowed her to riff freely in the second half. Plus, we love the song's message: "I won't be losing my way, long as I can see the light."

When it comes to selecting a new song, we'll return to our pick from last week, because the reasoning behind it is even more apt now. Bowersox needs to make clear that she can sing contemporary music. Her rendition last week of Melissa Etheridge's "Come to My Window" was predictable and borderline uninteresting (as lovely as it sounded). Crystal needs to go in an unexpected direction and rework a hit single in a way that works for her style. The perfect "Idol"-winning song? Lady Gaga's "Bad Romance"! Seriously.

Lee DeWyze
Last week's stellar double bill of Lynyrd Skynyrd's "Simple Man" and Leonard Cohen's "Hallelujah" made one thing clear: This is anyone's competition to win. And we'd urge DeWyze to bust out Skynyrd's tune again if he hadn't just done it. Instead, we suggest another go at "The Boxer." Never mind that it was featured so prominently during his hometown-visit video package. It was his second-best performance of the season, and he can knock it out of the Nokia Theatre.

For his other performance, we turn our attention back to Songs of the Cinema night earlier this month. In a surprising development, Prince's "Purple Rain" landed on the approved song list, and then, even more surprisingly, no one performed it. And man, would it be killer in DeWyze's hands! The 24-year-old has had his biggest successes with slow, expressive rock tunes. "Purple Rain" is just funky enough to mesh well with the DeWyze we've come to know while also showing us some welcome range. If the singer wants another "moment," Prince's hit is the way to go.

Obama to deploy 1,200 more National Guard troops to border

2010-05-25T19:29:06Z

PHOENIX -- The Obama administration plans to announce Tuesday that it will send as many as 1,200 National Guard troops to the U.S.-Mexico border to improve border security, an Arizona congresswoman said.

Democratic Rep. Gabrielle Giffords also said in a statement released Tuesday that President Barack Obama will request $500 million in funding for border security.

Part of Giffords' district borders Mexico.

Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer's spokesman said the governor hadn't been told of the move prior to her office being contacted by The Associated Press and had no immediate comment.

In 2006, President George W. Bush sent thousands of troops to the border to perform support duties that tie up immigration agents. The troops wouldn't perform significant law enforcement duties.

Kagan's words may return to haunt her

2010-05-10T15:09:15Z

As a law professor in 1995, she described Supreme Court confirmation hearings as 'a vapid and hollow charade.' The remarks would be a likely focus if she became a nominee herself.The Senate confirmation hearings for the Supreme Court have become "a vapid and hollow charade," a Chicago law professor complained, because the nominees are not forced to say what they think about disputed issues such as abortion, affirmative action and privacy.

It is "an embarrassment," she said, that "senators today do not insist that any nominee reveal what kind of Justice she would make, by disclosing her views on important legal issues." Justice Clarence Thomas won confirmation, she said, even "after his substantive testimony had become a national laughingstock."

These comments from a 1995 article are likely to be a focus of the next Supreme Court hearing if their author -- Elena Kagan -- emerges as President Obama's nominee. White House aides say the president is near making a decision, perhaps as soon as Monday.
A former dean of Harvard Law School and currently the U.S. solicitor general, Kagan has generally avoided taking stands on controversial legal issues. But as a young University of Chicago law professor, she voiced frustration that nominees for a life-term seat on the nation's highest court were allowed to "stonewall" senators and refuse to discuss not only their "broad judicial philosophy," but their "views on particular constitutional issues."

Friends of Kagan say the article may prove a brief embarrassment if she is nominated, but they expect she can disavow it as the untested views of a young academic.

"I think she would say what every nominee says, that it is improper for a judicial candidate to speak in detail about issues that will come before the court," said Harvard Law Professor Carol Steiker, who has been friends with Kagan since the year they spent as clerks for Justice Thurgood Marshall.

Kagan declined to comment on the article through a spokeswoman.

Last year, when asked about the article in her Senate confirmation hearing, Kagan tried to explain away her statements as the brash words of a young judiciary committee staffer when it was chaired by then- Sen. Joe Biden.

"I wrote that when I was in the position of sitting where the staff is now sitting and feeling a little bit frustrated that I really wasn't understanding completely what the judicial nominee in front of me meant and what she thought," she replied.

The article began as a review of a book by Yale law professor Stephen Carter, "The Confirmation Mess," which focused on the battle over Judge Robert H. Bork's nomination in 1987 and how it transformed subsequent hearings.

Bork, a Yale professor, had written conservative critiques of Supreme Court rulings on abortion, civil rights and the 1st Amendment, and senators pressed him to explain his views. He tried to do so, but contentious exchanges followed, and he was voted down by the Senate.

Times Square bombing suspect's life had unraveled

2010-05-05T19:57:23Z

BRIDGEPORT, Conn. - Not long ago, Faisal Shahzad had a pretty enviable life: He became an American citizen after emigrating from Pakistan, where he came from a wealthy family. He earned an MBA. He had a well-educated wife and two kids and owned a house in a middle-class Connecticut suburb.

In the past couple of years, though, his life seemed to unravel: He left a job at a global marketing firm he'd held for three years, lost his home to foreclosure and moved into an apartment in an impoverished neighborhood in Bridgeport. And last weekend, authorities say, he drove an SUV loaded with explosives into Times Square intent on blowing it up.

The bomb didn't go off, and Shahzad was arrested on a plane in New York as he tried to leave the country. He was in custody Tuesday and couldn't be reached for comment. Authorities say he is cooperating and has admitted getting explosives training in his native Pakistan.

Shahzad's behavior sometimes seemed odd to his neighbors, and he surprised a real estate broker he hardly knew with his outspokenness about President George W. Bush and the Iraq war.

"He mentioned that he didn't like Bush policies in Iraq," said Igor Djuric, who represented Shahzad in 2004 when he was buying a home.

Djuric said he couldn't remember the exact words Shahzad used about Bush but "something to the effect of he doesn't know what he's doing and it's the wrong thing that he's doing."

"I don't know if he mentioned 9/11," Djuric said, "but something like that, Iraq has nothing to do with anything."

Shahzad, 30, is the son of a former top Pakistani air force officer, according to Kifyat Ali, a cousin of Shahzad's father. He came to the United States in late 1998 on a student visa, according to an official who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity due to the sensitive nature of the investigation into Saturday's failed car bombing.

He took classes at the now-defunct Southeastern University in Washington, D.C., then enrolled at the University of Bridgeport, where he received a bachelor's degree in computer applications and information systems in 2000.

"He was personable, a nice guy, but unremarkable," said William Greenspan, adviser for undergraduate business students at the University of Bridgeport. "He would just come in and take the course as needed so he could graduate in a timely manner."

"If this didn't happen, I probably would have forgotten him," Greenspan said. "He didn't stand out."

Shahzad was granted an H1-B visa for skilled workers in 2002, according to the official who spoke to the AP. He later returned to the University of Bridgeport to earn a master's in business administration, awarded in 2005.

In 2004, he and his wife, Huma Mian, bought a newly built home for $273,000 at the height of the market in Shelton, a Fairfield County town that in recent years has attracted companies relocating to Connecticut's Gold Coast.

Like her husband, Mian was well educated. She graduated from the University of Colorado at Boulder in 2004 with a bachelor of science in business with an emphasis in accounting, the school said.

On her profile on the social networking site Orkut, she described herself as "not political" and said she spoke English, Pashto, Urdu and French. She listed her passions as "fashion, shoes, bags, shopping!! And of course, Faisal." She posted a picture of Shahzad, smiling, with the caption, "what can I say ... he's my everything."

Last year, the couple abandoned the home.

The tea party's exaggerated importance

2010-04-23T14:53:21Z

2009 was the year when many journalists concluded they were slow to recognize the anti-government, anti-Obama rage that gave birth to the tea party movement.

2010 is the year when news organizations have decided to prove they get it.

And get it. And get it some more.

Part of the reason is the timeless truth in media that nothing succeeds like excess. But part of the reason is a convergence of incentives for journalists and activists on left and right alike to exaggerate both the influence and exotic traits of the tea-party movement. In fact, there is a word for what poll after poll depicts as a group of largely white, middle-class, middle-aged voters who are aggrieved: Republicans.

But just read the succession of New York Times stories, profiling newly energized activists who are "bracing for tyranny." Or follow the dispatches of the CNN crews who went along with two national Tea Party Express bus tours. Or delve into the crosstabs of polls conducted in the past few weeks by the Times, CNN, and, POLITICO about the opinions and demographic characteristics of tea partiers. Or check out the blogger the Washington Post hired to chronicle their movement.

The findings have been unveiled with the earnest detachment of Margaret Mead reporting her findings among teenage girls in Samoa.

Indifference has given way to curiosity, and --in recent weeks especially-- to a nearly manic obsession that sometimes seems to place the tea partiers somewhere near the suffragettes and the America-Firsters in the historical ranking of mass political movements.

Pew's Project for Excellence in Journalism, which tracks media reports, found that the tea parties consumed a steady measure of news for most of this year before exploding during tax week to compete with the Icelandic volcano for attention and outstripping health care with 6% of all media reports that week.

But various sides have their own reasons for finding something new and arresting in the spasms of outrage personified by the tea partiers. The right sees the protests as evidence of a popular revolt against President Barack Obama--proof of a changing tide they believe will bring massive victories in 2010 and 2012. The left sees them as evidence of incipient fascism and an opposition to Obama rooted in racism--proof of the beyond-the-pale illegitimacy of large swaths of the conservative moment.

The tea party "movement," meanwhile, has little organizational structure to speak of. True tea party candidates - as opposed to establishment figures like former Florida House Speaker Marco Rubio who have gladly adopted the label - have failed to make a dent so far in Republican primaries. The one true tea partier poised to make a splash, Kentucky GOP Senate candidate Rand Paul, is an imperfect example thanks to his being the son of Rep. Ron Paul (R-Texas), who still commands a national following after his quixotic presidential race.

Obama Stronger Role on Wall Street reform

2010-04-22T14:47:27Z

Washington (CNN) -- President Obama appears to have learned one lesson from the bruising fight over health care reform.

Some Democrats criticized Obama for failing to assume a leading role in shaping the health care legislation, which they said extended the congressional wrangling needed to get the bill passed.

Now pushing the second major reform initiative of his presidency -- this time to strengthen regulations on the financial industry -- Obama is taking a more visible leadership role. In recent days, the president has pushed hard for the measure by backing specific provisions and criticizing the Senate's top Republican for what Obama called spreading misinformation.

On Thursday, Obama heads to New York for a speech at historic Cooper Union to call for quick congressional approval of financial regulation reforms to prevent another Wall Street meltdown like the one in 2008 that helped cause the widespread recession.

Obama's public role on financial regulation reform is "very different from health care reform," noted CNN senior political analyst Gloria Borger.

"On health care reform, it took the president quite some time to start getting involved," Borger said. For financial reform, Obama is going to Wall Street, the White House has hinted at a compromise on a $50 billion liquidation fund opposed by Republicans and Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner has been involved in negotiations, she said.

"This is a White House that wants to get this done, and the president will be out there personally doing it," Borger said.

In general, the issue of tightening regulations on risky Wall Street practices that led to a recession is more popular politically than the comprehensive health care reform effort, which endured months of tortuous legislative maneuvering before finally passing.

Obama's hands-on role in shaping the financial reform legislation, including threats to veto a watered-down proposal, has helped Democratic colleagues hammering out the details with Republicans.

In addition, Obama's more aggressive approach seeks to better control the messaging around the issue to avoid a repeat of the public backlash against the health care reform bill that was fueled in part by Republicans and the insurance industry.

Last year, Obama and the Democrats were slow to respond to misleading claims about the health care proposal -- that it would force senior citizens off Medicare, provide coverage for illegal immigrants and create "death panels."

When Democratic members of Congress went home for their August break, they faced angry constituents further riled by the misinformation. It took months to overcome some of the false perceptions of the bill.

This time, Obama has counter-punched quickly.

When Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Kentucky, said last week that a proposed financial regulations reform bill passed by Democrats on the Senate Banking Committee would institutionalize federal bailouts of big banks, Obama singled him out in his weekly radio and Internet address.

Saying the reforms are opposed by those "who profit from the status quo" and their "allies in Washington," Obama told how "just the other day, in fact, the leader of the Senate Republicans and the chair of the Republican Senate campaign committee met with two dozen top Wall Street executives to talk about how to block progress on this issue."

"Lo and behold, when he returned to Washington, the Senate Republican leader came out against the common-sense reforms we've proposed," Obama said. "In doing so, he made the cynical and deceptive assertion that reform would somehow enable future bailouts when he knows that it would do just the opposite."

Such a direct attack, particularly in the traditional Saturday message to the nation, was unusual for Obama and firmly established him as a leading public player on the issue.

In response, McConnell was careful to say the bill would ensure continued government intervention in future financial crises, but not necessarily taxpayer-funded bailouts.

"We want to make sure that we don't set up a system whereby we empower the government to continue to do what it's been doing -- running banks, car companies," McConnell said Sunday on CNN's "State of the Union" program. "The American people are saying 'we don't want another bailout,' but they also don't want a kind of perpetual, government massive interventions across the board running private businesses."

GM Pays U.S. Back

2010-04-21T14:34:00Z

DETROIT -- General Motors Co. has repaid the $8.1 billion in loans it got from the U.S. and Canadian governments, a move its CEO says is a sign automaker is on the road to recovery.

GM CEO Whitacre will formally announce the loan paybacks Wednesday at the company's Fairfax Assembly Plant in Kansas City, Kansas, where he will also announce that GM is investing $257 million in that factory and the Detroit-Hamtramck plant, both of which will build the next generation of the midsize Chevrolet Malibu.

GM got a total of $52 billion from the U.S. government and $9.5 billion from the Canadian and Ontario governments as it went through bankruptcy protection last year. The U.S. considered as a loan $6.7 billion of the aid, while the Canadian governments held $1.4 billion in loans.

The U.S. government payments, made Tuesday, came five years ahead of schedule, and Whitacre said they are a sign that the automaker is on its way toward reducing government ownership of the company. The payments on the Canadian loans were also made Tuesday.

GM still owes $45.3 billion to the U.S. and $8.1 billion to Canada, money it received in exchange for large stakes in the company. The U.S. government now owns 61 percent of the company and Canada owns roughly 12 percent. GM plans to repay both with a public stock offering, perhaps later this year.

"Nobody was happy that GM needed government loans -- not the governments, not the taxpayers and, quite frankly, not the company," Whitacre wrote in an op-ed article that appeared on The Wall Street Journal's Web site Tuesday night. "We believe we can best thank the citizens of the U.S. and Canada by making sure that their investments are hard at work every day, building high quality, fuel-efficient vehicles."

The factory investments in Kansas and Michigan will not create any new jobs, but will preserve jobs at both plants. The Kansas plant, which employs 3,869 workers, also builds the midsize Buick LaCrosse luxury sedan. The Detroit-Hamtramck plant, which has 1,048 employees, now builds the Cadillac DTS and Buick Lucerne large sedans and is gearing up to make the Chevrolet Volt rechargeable electric car.

During the financial crisis that led to GM filing for bankruptcy protection last year, the automaker closed 14 factories and shed more than 65,000 blue-collar jobs in the U.S. through buyouts, early retirement offers and layoffs. The company now employs about 40,000 hourly workers in the U.S.

Preserving jobs at the two GM plants won't help the nation's unemployment picture, but it won't make it worse.

Employers nationwide in March added 162,000 jobs, the most in three years. But the pace of the economic recovery and job creation won't be robust enough to quickly drive down the unemployment rate. It's been stuck at 9.7 percent for three months, close to its highest levels since the 1980s.

GM had made about $2 billion in loan payments to the U.S. government and $384 million to Canada in December and March, and had promised to repay the full loans by June. But company officials have said its cash flow, mainly from the sales of newer models, has been better than expected, allowing it to make the remaining $5.8 billion in payments early.

Repaying the loans has been a top priority for Whitacre.

GM officials say the company's public stock offering will take place when the markets and the company are ready. They will not predict how much of the remaining government debt will be repaid from the stock offering, but said it likely will take years for the governments to divest themselves fully.

The stock offering hinges on GM posting a profit, which Whitacre has said could come this year. GM lost $3.4 billion in the fourth quarter of 2009 on revenues of $32.3 billion.