US accepts international assistance for Gulf spill

Finally!!

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The United States is accepting help from 12 countries and international organizations in dealing with the massive oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.

The State Department said in a statement Tuesday that the U.S. is working out the particulars of the help that's been accepted.

U.S. Beaches That The Oil Spill May Ruin Forever

If Obama had done his job, much of this need not happen.

The First OILCANE Will Be Worse Than Anything We've Seen

Obama is making things much worse.

The gulf oil spill is bad but it could become much, much worse and soon. The threat is a hurricane moving over the spill. If a hurricane’s violent winds track over the spill, we could witness a natural and economic calamity that history has never recorded anywhere or anytime. We will literally be in oil-soaked waters. We will have witnessed the first oilicane.

Obama aide 'forgot' 37G in union pay

Amazing how often this happens to Obama aids and appointees. Just bad luck, eh?

WASHINGTON -- A former top official for a huge New York union who is now the White House political director failed to disclose more than $37,000 in income from the union last year, it was reported yesterday.

As the former public-affairs executive for Service Employees International Union Local 1199, Patrick Gaspard earned $37,191 in carried-over pay while on the White House payroll.

He failed to disclose the income on financial-disclosure forms, Politico reported. Where arrangements for payment by a former employer must be listed on the form, he checked a box indicating he had nothing to report.

Michael Mann says hockey stick should not have become 'climate change icon'

He was for it before he was against it.

But the graph was questioned by sceptics who pointed out that is it impossible to know for certain the global temperature going back beyond modern times because there were no accurate readings.

The issue became a central argument in the climate change debate and was dragged into the 'climategate' scandal, as the sceptics accused Prof Mann and his supporters of exaggerating the extent of global warming.

However, speaking to the BBC recently, Prof Mann, a climatologist at Pennsylvania State University, said he had always made clear there were "uncertainties" in his work.

"I always thought it was somewhat misplaced to make it a central icon of the climate change debate," he said.

Really? I never heard him say it.

Hubris and Humility: David Weigel Comes Clean on Washington Post, the D.C. Bubble, & the ‘Journolist’

As I always say, how much different and better would America be if the media just did their job?

The Side Effects of the Afghanistan Rules of Engagement

If you're going to fight a war...

Many Afghans are not happy with this policy, with foreign troops increasingly encountering angry Afghan civilians, who demand that NATO act more decisively in pursuing and killing Taliban gunman. Even if it puts Afghan civilians at risk. This is an unexpected side effect to the change in NATO rules of engagement (ROE) in Afghanistan. The ROE change was partly in response to popular (or at least media) anger at civilians killed by American smart bombs. As a result of the new ROE, it became much more difficult to get permission drop a smart bomb when there might be civilians nearby. Now American commanders have to decide who they shall respond too; Afghan civilians asking for relief from Taliban oppression, or Taliban influenced media condemning the U.S. for any Afghan civilians killed, or thought to be killed, by American firepower. What to do? So far, the decision often favors the survival of the Taliban.

Sex complaint against Gore is detailed, credible

This isn't over yet.

The allegation that Al Gore sexually assaulted a woman in a Portland, Ore., hotel room nearly four years ago has dealt a serious blow to the former vice president's story that he and wife Tipper simply "grew apart" after 40 years of marriage.

The police report of the masseuse's complaint is 73 pages long and extremely detailed. According to the document, she got a call from the front desk of the trendy Hotel Lucia on the night of Oct. 24, 2006. The hotel had a special guest. Could she come at 10:30 p.m.?

Santelli goes nuclear: “Stop spending! Stop spending! Stop spending!” - video

This is the guy who inspired the teaparty.

No skimmers in sight as oil floods into Mississippi waters

Another Obama epic fail.

GULFPORT, Miss. — A morning flight over the Mississippi Sound showed long, wide ribbons of orange-colored oil for as far as the eye could see and acres of both heavy and light sheen moving into the Sound between the barrier islands. What was missing was any sign of skimming operations from Horn Island to Pass Christian.

U.S. Rep. Gene Taylor got off the flight angry.

"It’s criminal what’s going on out there," Taylor said minutes later. "This doesn’t have to happen.”

A scientist onboard, Mike Carron with the Northern Gulf Institute, said with this scenario, there will be oil on the beaches of the mainland.

“There’s oil in the Sound and there was no skimming,” Carron said. “No coordinated effort.”

Apple iPhone 4 may be recalled, says Steve Jobs

Oops!

The much-vaunted new iPhone 4 may be recalled, Apple boss Steve Jobs revealed last night.

Posting a message on the social networking site Twitter, the tycoon said: ‘We may have to recall the new iPhone. This I did not expect.’

Launched in Britain last week, the £500 handset has been dogged by technical problems.

Muslims rally for Sharia law in UK, prompting nationalist protests

Petraeus Makes First Moves To Change Afghanistan Rules Of Engagement

Good for him.

Gen David Petraeus, the new US commander in Afghanistan, is to review the controversial doctrine of “courageous restraint”, according to Pentagon sources.

He is to re-examine the rules which some soldiers believe have prevented them from defending themselves.

“There will be no change in overall policy but all aspects of tactics and implementation will be looked at afresh,” a Pentagon official told The Daily Telegraph. “The issue of ‘courageous restraint’ is a controversial one on the ground and there may be ways it can be modified.”

Florida closes down oil-stained Pensacola beaches

Terrible, just terrible.

Oil from the massive Gulf of Mexico spill reached the white sands of Pensacola in north-eastern Florida, forcing local authorities Thursday to close down area beaches to swimming at the height of summer.

"There's oil both in the water and in the sand," said Warren Bielenberg, an official with the Gulf Islands National Seashore, one of the areas affected by the spill.

WaPo's Weigel attacks conservatives With Scathing E-mails on Liberal Listserv

Fire his ass.

•"This would be a vastly better world to live in if Matt Drudge decided to handle his emotional problems more responsibly, and set himself on fire."

•"Follow-up to one hell of a day: Apparently, the Washington Examiner thought it would be fun to write up an item about my dancing at the wedding of Megan McArdle and Peter Suderman. Said item included the name and job of my girlfriend, who was not even there -- nor in DC at all."

•"I'd politely encourage everyone to think twice about rewarding the Examiner with any traffic or links for a while. I know the temptation is high to follow up hot hot Byron York scoops, but please resist it."

Youths attack Jewish dance group in Germany

This is the place Helen Thomas wanted them to "go back" to.

BERLIN – Arab youths threw stones at a Jewish dance group during a street festival in Hannover, injuring one dancer and forcing the group to cancel its performance, German police and dance officials said Thursday.

The teenagers also used a megaphone to shout anti-Semitic slurs during the attack Saturday, Hannover police spokesman Thorsten Schiewe said.

Harris: Obama knew of Blagojevich plot

Sounds kind of weak to me.

A top aide to former Gov. Rod Blagojevich said he believed Barack Obama knew of Blagojevich's plot to win himself a presidential Cabinet post in exchange for appointing Valerie Jarrett to the U.S. Senate.

John Harris, Blagojevich's former chief of staff, testified Wednesday in the former governor's corruption trial that three days after the Nov. 4, 2008, presidential election, the ex-governor told Harris he felt confident Obama knew he wanted to swap perks.

"The president understands that the governor would be willing to make the appointment of Valerie Jarrett as long as he gets what he's asked for. . . . The governor gets the Cabinet appointment he's asked for," Harris said, explaining a recorded call.

Harris said Blagojevich came away believing Obama knew what he wanted after having a conversation with a local union representative, who in turn spoke with labor leader Tom Balanoff, with whom Blagojevich met to discuss a Jarrett appointment. Jarrett, now a White House adviser, was seeking the appointment to Obama's Senate seat.

Spain’s vaunted green jobs vaporizing

And yet Obama wants us to follow them.

June 22 (Bloomberg) — Spanish factories making solar panels operated at 25 percent of capacity last year as domestic demand for solar generators evaporated, the Photovoltaic Industry Association said.

Three quarters of the panels produced in Spain were exported as installation of new photovoltaic plants in the country declined by 99 percent compared with 2008, the Madrid- based lobby group said in a press note today.

This sort of deflates Obama’s talk, looking to Spain as an inspiration for green jobs.

TV Journalists Praise Obama's 'Brilliant' Handling of McChrystal Controversy

So, no more "Gen Betrayus" then?

During live special coverage leading up to the announcement in the 1PM ET hour on CBS, White House correspondent Chip Reid proclaimed "it sounds like a pretty brilliant decision really." At the same time on NBC, correspondent Jim Miklaszewski described it as a "stunning development" and added "at a quick glance, almost brilliant." Minutes later, White House correspondent Chuck Todd declared: "Politically, in this town, it's going to be seen as a brilliant choice by the President."

Over on CNN, moments after Obama finished speaking, anchor Wolf Blitzer remarked that it was a "major moment for this President" and later hailed "a very brilliant move to tap General Petraeus." Finally, in the 2PM ET hour on MSNBC, Meet the Press host David Gregory concluded: "I think he took swift and decisive action. I think that's how it's going to be read."

Everyone should blog, tweet or facebook this and remind them of what they said when Bush picked him.

Gore implicated in sex assault on Portland masseuse

This would be huge news if he were a Republican.

PORTLAND, Ore. -- Vice President Al Gore was accused of repeated, unwanted sexual contact with a massage therapist at a Portland hotel room in 2006, according to police reports.

The woman told police she was "repeatedly subjected to unwanted sexual touching" in Gore's hotel room at the Hotel Lucia, according to the police report.