First Looks category archive

That’s part of the title of an editorial in the Guardian. A nugget:

BP was in the forefront of lobbying to contain the regulatory framework within which it had to operate in the Gulf of Mexico. Last year it spent $15.9m on federal lobbying on issues like drilling on the outer continental shelf. Even as this disaster unfolds, BP continues to oppose tougher rules of safety auditing, arguing that voluntary compliance is enough. However, this catastrophe is not unfolding off the coast of Nigeria or Azerbaijan, but on home turf and on primetime television. Maybe this time, it will change minds.

Addendum:

Rick Perry (R–Loony Bin) thinks the gusher was an act of God.

Guess he worships at the Church of BP.

I need a drink.

Scientific Blogging, where I found this picture, has links for keeping up with the damage.

As Brendan points out, “gusher” would be a more accurate description than “spill” in this case.

’nuff said:

A private bus that ferries passengers to Shockoe Bottom nightspots to help people avoid drinking and driving was struck early yesterday by a vehicle whose driver was charged with driving under the influence and driving without an operator’s license, officials said.

It’s revolutionary!

Glenn Greenwald has a post about unhappiness amongst the White House Press Corps.

Depending on who exactly is telling the story,

• the reporters think that they are not treated with enough respect,
• the Obama White House is not transparent enough,
• the administration is more likely to give scoops to reporters they like (surprise, surprise),
• Robert Gibbs should make massaging their egos returning their phone calls and emails his A-Number-One priority and not delegate anything to his staff, or
• what-EVUH.

Indeed, the topic came up on Diane Rehm’s Friday News Round-Up last week and was rapidly laughed off when one of the guests, a reporter, pointed out that he or she (I can’t remember which) suspected that the American people really don’t care if the White House Press Corps’ noses are a little out of joint.

I lost patience when they were complaining that Mr. Obama dared attend his daughter’s soccer game before a lot of them had shown up for work, rather than commending him for trying to make a moment for fatherhood. (See Note) Let the man have some privacy (well, as much privacy as the Secret Service would allow) with his kid, for Heaven’s sake).

Greenwald points out that, according to several reports he has heard, reporters are afraid to complain publically for fear of retaliation (that is, someone else might get the scoop) and wonders

National political reporters are furious over various White House practices involving transparency and information control, but are unwilling to say so for attribution due to fear of “retaliation,” instead insisting on hiding behind a wall of anonymity (which Politico, needless to say, happily provides). Isn’t that a rather serious problem: that the White House press corps is afraid to criticize the President and the White House for fear of losing access and suffering other forms of retribution? What does that say about their “journalism”? It’s the flip side of those White House reporters who need the good graces of Obama aides for their behind-the-scenes books and thus desperately do their bidding: what kind of reporter covering the White House would possibly admit that they’re afraid to say anything with their names attached that might anger the President and his aides? How could you possibly be a minimally credible White House reporter if you have that fear? Doesn’t that unwillingness rather obviously render their reporting worthless?

They are called “Villagers” because they think it’s all about them.

Note:

According to the story at the link, which seems sane compared to the loonies were tried to claim there was no game, most of them were planning to show up by 11:30 to be with Mr. Obama for something else on the schedule. Mr. Obama decided at the last minute to attend the 9:30 game. By the time the White House staff had rounded up the reporters who were present and loaded them in a van, the game was over.

This makes much more sense than the reports from the wingnut loony bin claiming there was no game.

Speaking of the wingnut loony bin, Shaun Mullen has another round up of the week in wingnuttery.

Someone’s unhappy:

Disturbing? Yes. Illegal? Probably not.

That’s what police, residents and free-speech experts say about a truck seen driving around the city displaying handmade signs disparaging women. The placards, stuck to the back of the dark purple pickup, include messages such as “All women are Satan” and “A perfect woman is a dead woman.”

The display is protected as free speech, according to prosecutors and state and local police.

Follow the link for a picture and a rather good discussion of the difference between obnoxious speech and threatening speech.

What I suspect to be most persons’ immediate question–What’s bugging him anyway?–is not answered.

In other news, the owner of license plate 14CV88, who was in the news last week, explains his choice of the plate. I updated my original post to include his explanation, . . .

Addendum:

. . . as well as a link to Raw Story’s deconstruction of his explanation; it is, er, rather shaky on several points.

Dick Polman rounds up some strays.

Via Mudflats.

All about what he’s learned about controlling stink bugs in his garden, which isn’t much because there’s not much that can be done, but he can get you headed in the right direction.

I would suggest not conducting any experiments to determine whether the little stinkers are aptly named. They are and they do.

A little earthquake just up the river from here; I’d be surprised if anyone on the surface noticed it.

I was in a 4.something-I-think-4 once in San Francisco. I had traveled there by train for a conference. (One of the bennies in traveling on a business pass was being entitled to a private room in a sleeping car.)

It was my first night on the ground after three nights en route (leave Philly in the evening, arrive in Chicago in the morning, kill a day, leave in the late afternoon, arrive Oakland late the second morning–it is a big country).

I woke up dreaming I was back in the sleeping car rocking in the berth from crossing rough switches. It lasted about as long as it would take to cross two tracks at slow speed leaving a station.

I realized what had happened, figured it was over, and went back to sleep. The next morning, the desk clerk told me that a number of persons had come down at three o’clock and checked out.

I have always wondered, where did they go at three o’clock in the morning? Another hotel in downtown San Francisco?

More here.

In a follow-up story about the Philly-area road rage guy who killed himself this week:

Ferman said that in the first suicide note, Yannarell . . . professed his love to those close to him. Authorities were working to figure out who they were.

The newest one seems to be “epistemic closure.” It appeared out of nowhere this week and took the world like some kind of new Apple iYawn.

It must be a Very Important Phrase, for it has Lots of Syllables and Sounds Vaguely Scientific.

“Epistemic” is apparently related somehow to epistemology, the branch of philosophical inquiry that concerns itself with how we know things. “Closure” comes from closed minds. It seems to mean the phenomenon of deciding that one already knows all that one needs to know and therefore needs to learn nothing more.

Frankly, I prefer Anonymous Liberal’s phrase, “Bubble World”; it is pithier and much more descriptive, even though it doesn’t have as many syllables and doesn’t sound vaguely scientific.

A. L.’s description of Bubble World, excerpted from a much longer post that is well-worth one’s while (If you haven’t seen the Truman Show to which he refers in his post, do so; it is an excellent movie and good training for reading the news):

In its place, the Right has constructed its own Bubble World, a sort of political Truman Show complete with its own facts and rules (albeit facts and rules that are constantly changing based on political expediency). The writers, directors, and actors in this conservative version of Seahaven are the legions of GOP politicians, operatives, and conservative media outlets that relentlessly push this politically expedient alternative reality, and the Trumans are the millions of regular Americans who don’t realize the joke is on them.

A. L.’s follow up post on the Manzi mocking is also quite a good read.

John Cole enumerates the bubbles here. DougJ, also writing at Balloon Juice, has a nice starter collection of links on the Manzi mocking.

Full Disclosure: I haven’t read the Manzi post yet. There is room for only so many electrons in a day.

There’s got to be more to this:

A group of retired military officers says high-calorie school lunches are threatening national security.

A study by the group Mission: Readiness finds that school lunches are making American kids so fat that fewer of them can meet the military’s physical fitness standards. That, in turn, is putting recruitment in jeopardy.

The threat posed by school lunches must be minor compared to those horrible things called “breakfast sandwiches,” double-stuff pizzas, chips, and Double-Downs. I figured there was something missing in the news story.

Here’s an excerpt from the report’s executive summary. The report focuses on school lunches because they are controllable, not because they are the culprit, except to the extent they include Double-Downs (emphasis added):

We are calling on Congress to pass new child nutrition legislation that would (a) get the junk food out of our schools; (b) support increased funding to improve nutritional standards and the quality of meals served in schools; and (c) provide more children access to effective programs that cut obesity.

If we don’t take steps now to build a strong, healthy foundation for our young people, then it won’t just be our military that pays the price – our nation as a whole will suffer also.

The report itself is here (PDF).

Doing his (own) bidding:

Paul Barrett is facing a fine of up to £50,000 after using two separate eBay accounts to bid against himself.

North Yorkshire Trading Standards said those who bid on their own items, or who get friends and family to do it for them, are breaking the law.

I don’t want to know:

Read more »

More here.

Official website here.