I'm not sure there's much more I can say about this. In a similar manner to the Obama shooting game at a recent church carnival, this carnival game involves throwing beanbags at likenesses of President Obama, Nancy Pelosi, Saddam Hussein and a few random figures.
The likeness of Osama bin Laden next to the President is particularly disgusting.
Yes, the figures are caricatures and bad ones at that. Still, the combination of creepy targets and the dripping anger of the white guys throwing things at the President? Brrrrr.
Somewhere out there, carnival wingnuts are dancing.
For now, the well is closed. Oil is not gushing into the Gulf of Mexico at unprecedented rates, but this is far from over. No one can hear Drew Landry's BP Blues without feeling a small twinge of the pain caused by BPs destruction.
Sometimes my innate optimism fails me, and today is one of those times. I know corporations are made of people and investors, and serve their bottom line above all others, but even so, there should be at least the appearance of a care for the people and inhabitants of a place so ravaged by human misdeeds.
Not so for BP, evidently. The first story I have for you comes via The Political Carnival, telling the first-person tale with email support for BPs intentional effort to short the pay of qualified HazMat workers trained to handle disasters like this. BP has told the government they are hiring qualified workers, but as this string of emails proves, once they were out of the spotlight BP cut workers' pay and contract terms. From the email:
I had been scheduled to start working for an oil spill cleanup contractor but then got delayed when they called all of us to say that BP had changed the terms of the contract with them and was ordering them (as well as ALL other hiring agencies) to pay workers less money and with no more per diems, or housing offers (some were offering housing).
The original terms:
We are offering pay rate of $13-$14 / hr and per diem for those who live 55 miles or more outside of the work area.
Subsequent to that offer, changes were made. Specifically, the pay rates were dropped to $11/hr and all per diem allowances dropped.
When this worker pushed back on the hiring agency about the change to the terms of the contract, she received the following reply:
It made us sick when we heard. The coast guard is under what the federal govt calls ESF (Emergency Support Function) the coast guard is just monitoring the spill. Unfortunately the Govt has no say in the matter. BP is evil.
A look at the ESF structure tells an interesting tale. This is basically a command structure for various national emergencies, ranging from hurricanes to terrorist attacks. Last modified in January 2008 during the waning of the Bush Administration, it doesn't appear to really address a situation of this magnitude, but clearly assigns all decision-making concerning contractual arrangements to BP, rather than the government.
Are you screaming about deregulation yet? If not, now is a good time to start.
h/t to my friends at The Political Carnival with their cartoon of the day. So what do you think about Sister Sarah ever attempting to take a serious run for the presidency? I think the chance is somewhere between slim and none that she even lasts until the first debate. If she does throw her hat in there she'll quit just before that debate is scheduled and blame the media for demonizing her after she's raked in as many campaign contributions as possible from the suckers who don't know any better. Then she'll go back to ClusterFox and tell everyone how the "lamestream media" never gave her a chance so she just had to quit and John Ziegler can make another revisionist history excuse for a "documentary" and pretend he's relevant.
If not Palin, who might be the next GOP candidate for the presidency that would actually have a chance to win their nomination? I'm thinking someone who is on almost no one's radar screen right now, and that's David Petraeus. Your thoughts on that or anything else that has caught your attention today welcomed.
Yes, John Shadegg actually used an innocent infant as a prop, spoke baby talk, and provided us with nothing more than what was most likely in Maddy's diaper at the time. And for this, he got applause.
Henry Waxman made a joke and said: “That was a remarkable child,” “and a great ventriloquist.”
How could a father let his child be used as a prop like that? What would have happened if he hurt her in any way? The entire Republican Party is made up of fools, and I mean the staffers as well. And then there are the people who applauded this stunt ...
