| Q1 2007 | Q1 2006 | % INCR | |
| ExxonMobile | $9.280B | $8.400B | 10% |
| Chevron | $4.715B | $3.996B | 18% |
| ConocoPhillips | $3.546B | $3.291B | 8% |
| National Avg. Regular | $3.191 | $2.848 | 12% |
Labels: economy, energy policy
In a column that appeared in The Elberton Star, Whitehead admitted suggesting that someone "probably ought to bomb" the University of Georgia ... Then, in a March 26 letter to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Whitehead claimed that liberals have been registering "known al-Qaida terrorists" to vote.The lead Democrat in the fray is ex-Yahoo! executive Jim Marlow, who in the GOP-leaning district is mostly hoping to squeeze into a run-off with Whitehead, and from there bank on Whitehead's "self-destruction."
The other House seat likely to open up is Rep. Bobby Jindal's (R) LA-1 district, which many believe will be vacant if/when Jindal wins the 2007 Louisiana gubernatorial race. Jindal is such a formidable candidate in the contest to replace outgoing Gov. Kathleen Blanco that no major Democrat has risen to challenge him.Already, Democrats are subtly undermining Jindal by referring to him as "Piyush," his middle name. Actually, it isn't subtle at all: the goal of using his foreign sounding middle name is blatantly obvious, and smacks of racism, a tactic that should be condemned whether the insult is being hurled by Democrats or Republicans. We'll still bet on Jindal, just not heavily at this stage. He will need weak opponents and a strong aura of invincibility all the way to October in order to win.UPDATE: Wood and Sabato are wrong -- Piyush is Jindal's given first name, not "middle name." But they're right about the intention, which is much the same as Fox News highlighting that Barak Obama's middle name is "Hussein." See here for a story in the New Orleans Times-Picayune about the issue.
Labels: Georgia, louisiana, Southern Politics
Labels: Florida, Gulf Coast Reconstruction Watch, north carolina, texas
At a hearing of the House Homeland Security Committee on hurricane readiness held earlier this month, Chair Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.) asked Federal Emergency Management Agency Director David Paulison to address complaints that trailers housing Katrina and Rita survivors have dangerous levels of formaldehyde, the Mississippi Clarion-Ledger reports:Paulison said he was unaware the trailers posed any health threats.So apparently Paulison wasn't paying attention when Sierra Club issued a warning a year ago in the form of a fact sheet titled "Toxic Trailers?: Tests reveal high formaldehyde levels in FEMA trailers." Samples taken by the environmental advocacy group found that 83 percent of FEMA trailers tested in Alabama, Louisiana and Mississippi had levels of the chemical that exceeded recommended limits, with some of the trailers showing levels three times the safe limit.
After the hearing, Paulison told reporters he was aware some trailers and mobile homes have high levels of formaldehyde gas. But he said it is the responsibility of hurricane victims to rid themselves of the danger.If only it were so easy. In fact, Becky Gillette, vice chair of the Sierra Club's Mississippi chapter, says tests found elevated formaldehyde levels in trailers that were 20 months old and have been aired out.
"We've told people they can air those trailers out," Paulison said.
Labels: Gulf Coast Reconstruction Watch
"And Mark Corallo and Ed McFadden had that camera there in 40 minutes," Jeri, who is sitting in on the interview, breaks in. Corallo and McFadden, aides to John Ashcroft when he was U.S. attorney general, have been helping Thompson behind the scenes.Andy continues:
So, Mr. Former Senator (resident of McLean, VA and employee of NYC-based Dick Wolf Productions) has Mr. "former RNC communications director for Victory 2000" and Mr. "former speechwriter for John Ashcroft" already on speed dial. Hmm. Continuing DC experience... DC hacks on board... Where do the outsider bonafides begin?He notes that Tennessee D.C. insiders Rep. Zach Wamp and former Senator Howard Baker, Jr. are on board. (The article says they were, in fact, the ones who first encouraged Thompson to run.)
The [Thompson campaign] chief operations officer will be Thomas J. Collamore, a former aide to Vice President George H.W. Bush and former vice president of public affairs for Philip Morris Companies Inc. In the George H.W. Bush administration, Collamore was an assistant secretary of commerce under Commerce Secretary Robert Mosbacher. In the Reagan administration, he was special assistant to Commerce Secretary Malcolm Baldrige.But wait, there's more:
That reflects the pedigrees of some of the key Republicans who are likely to join the campaign, advisers say. Republicans from the grass-roots level to President Bush's inner circle have expressed frustration with the current field of candidates, and so Thompson initially will likely get a lot of fawning attention from party leaders and the news media.
Another rumored top Thompson staffer is Tim Griffin, the RNC operative who Karl Rove recently installed as US Attorney for Eastern Arkansas as part of Attorneygate [As Chris mentioned yesterday].Other "outside" inside-the-beltway baseball on Sen. Thompson's resume includes being a federal prosecutor and Watergate counsel, and a little moonlighting as a lobbyist on the side:
His spokesman is Mark Corallo [mentioned above], the former press flack for Karl Rove during the Scooter Libby trial.
In case you were curious, Thompson represented Westinghouse and General Electric in the deregulation of the savings and loan industry, which eventually led to the S&L crisis of the 1980s. After leaving the Senate in 2002, he was paid $760,000 to protect the British reinsurance company Equitas from asbestos claims. He registered to represent foreign clients such as deposed Haitian leader Jean Baptiste Aristide, Toyota and a German mining company.Aw, shucks. That's just Ol' Fred bein' Fred, the down-to-earth "outsider" candidate.
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In 1994, Thompson's Democratic opponent, Congressman Jim Cooper, called him "a Gucci-wearing, Lincoln-driving, Perrier-drinking, Grey Poupon-spreading millionaire Washington special interest lobbyist."
Labels: Election 2008, Southern Politics
So if Louisianans are looking for consolation in the wake of "losing" this smokestack-chasing contest, try this on: maybe this is a race they couldn't have afforded to win. And maybe Alabama will find they can't afford it either.
Back in March, R. Neal here at Facing South predicted that a "dark horse" candidate from the South -- especially someone like former Sen. Fred Thompson (R-TN) -- could change the 2008 presidential elections.Mr. Thompson has generated a lot of excitement as a potential candidate, especially among conservative Republicans who have expressed dissatisfaction with the current group of 2008 G.O.P. contenders.We've all seen Thompson on TV (it's impossible to avoid a L&O re-run in a round of channel-surfing), but what kind of politician is he? The most common comparison -- both for his screen-savvy charm and his seemingly-nebulous politics -- is Ronald Reagan.
In a database of congressional voting records maintained by the non-partisan Project Vote Smart, Thompson shares the No. 1 spot with a handful of senators who most consistently vote the Republican party line. And in a November 1995 analysis, Vote Smart lists him as having supported Contract With America items 100 percent of the time. So Thompson may be seen as a moderate, but his voting record has made him a darling of the far right. 'When Thompson was first elected, we were afraid he would prove to be a liberal Republican like Howard Baker," says John Davies, head of the Tennessee Conservative Union, "but we've been extremely pleased with his voting record so far."That being said, it is surprising that he's seen as the champion for social conservatives: as Cottle notes, one of the few issues where he actually has "bucked the party line" is abortion. He identified himself in the 1990s as "pro-choice."
Labels: Election 2008
"This was a landmark vote for south Louisiana's continued recovery from Hurricanes Katrina and Rita and the flooding that followed," Sen. Landrieu said. "The local match requirement costs our communities millions of dollars while drowning them in thousands of forms and regulations. Louisiana needs more money and less paper. The insurmountable red tape slows recovery to a crawl, and this bill is a key step to cutting through it."The measure also offers about $3 billion in assistance to hurricane-affected areas throughout the Gulf Region, including:
Labels: Gulf Coast Reconstruction Watch
In order to increase the likelihood that pumping capacity would be in place when needed, the Corps utilized several tools to expedite and streamline the acquisition process. The Corps appears to have had a valid reason for each of the iterative decisions it made at each stage of the procurement process. The cumulative effect of these decisions resulted in one supplier -- Moving Water Industries Corporation -- being in the strongest competitive position to receive the contract for the pumping systems.A Florida firm headed by a major Republican donor and former business partner of Jeb Bush, MWI is currently being sued by the U.S. Justice Department over allegations of corrupt taxpayer-backed dealings in Nigeria.
"Our recovery depends on confidence in our flood-control system," Sen. Landrieu said. "Reports that the Corps of Engineers installed faulty and untested pumps are gravely troubling. The supplemental spending bill will allow a technical review that will demonstrate what needs to be fixed so that we can make sure our communities are safe from flooding during future disasters."
Labels: Gulf Coast Reconstruction Watch
National pundits may be writing off the South in 2008, but don't tell Southern states that. In a bid to shake off being treated as the neglected stray dogs of presidential politics, state leaders are battling to put the South back on the electoral map.Labels: Election 2008, Georgia
Labels: immigration
Since Katrina, Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour has received heaps of praise for his political savvy -- and ability to use his GOP connections to get a lion's share of federal relief funds for his state.Consider the Gulf Coast housing crisis, one of the key issues that has kept nearly half the population of New Orleans from returning to the city since Katrina. More than 75 percent of the housing damage from the storm was in Louisiana, but Mississippi has received 70 percent of the funds through FEMA's Alternative Housing Pilot Program. Of the $388 million available, FEMA gave a Mississippi program offering upgraded trailers more than $275 million. Meanwhile, the agency awarded Louisiana's "Katrina Cottage" program, which features more permanent modular homes for storm victims, a mere $75 million.Barbour insists that Congress is "getting its money's worth" for all it's given to Mississippi -- but how is the state's recovery really going?
It's not just housing. Mississippi is also slated to get 38 percent of federal hospital recovery funds, even though it lost just 79 beds compared to 2,600 lost in southern Louisiana, which will get 45 percent of the funds. Mississippi and Louisiana both received $95 million to offset losses in higher education, even though Louisiana was home to 75 percent of displaced students. The states also received $100 million each for K-12 students affected by the storms, despite the fact that 69 percent resided in Louisiana.
For the residents of Hancock County, Barbour and Mississippi's ability to capture the lion's share of Katrina relief dollars makes the slow progress in their area all the more demoralizing. The county's 911 system still operates out of a trailer. Damaged wastewater and drainage systems frustrate hopes of a return to normalcy; earlier this month in Waveland, 16 miles east of Pearlington, a 9-and-a-half-foot alligator was found swimming in a drainage ditch next to a bus stop at 8 o'clock in the morning. Mayor Tommy Longo says the creatures freely roam throughout devastated residential areas.As we point out, even worse is the fact that Barbour won't use Mississippi's recent tax windfall to help devastated coastal communities that are drowning in $79 million of debt. It's so bad, some towns are afraid they'll go bankrupt entirely:
"One thing you continually hear from officials from FEMA to the state level is that -- and they love this phrase -- they've 'never seen a city go under because of a natural disaster,'" [Waveland mayor] Longo says. "But there have been so many firsts in Katrina."
"We were always very clear that the federal government would not fund state housing programs to cover wind damage," he said.Kopplin disputed the claim that the state agreed to limit the program to wind damage, saying Louisiana always intended to help residents with uncompensated storm damage, regardless of its cause.
"When the president said he would do what it takes, and stay as long as it takes, he didn't say 'except if you had wind damage,'" Kopplin said.In many cases, the reason Road Home is paying for wind damage is because insurance companies did not -- either because homeowners lacked sufficient coverage or because the companies did not meet their obligations, according to a story that appeared in yesterday's Times-Picayune:
An LRA report says lower-than-expected insurance payouts have caused the Road Home to pay $1.3 billion that the state thought private insurers would have handled. It finds that insurance companies covered an average of 61 percent of all inspected damage, rather than the 76 percent payout rate the state expected when it set the Road Home budget. The report also finds that 37 percent of a sample of 46,223 insured Road Home applicants collected private insurance on less than half of their damage. And 11 percent got less than 10 percent of their total damage paid by insurance.In that same article, Kopplin asked why if there was a federal directive against covering wind damage the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development approved the state's plan. Federal officials said HUD lacked the legal power to reject it.
"I've called 30 or 40 times. Every time I call, someone says, 'We'll get back to you.' " But he said no one has.The subcommittee plans to release a report next month with findings and recommendations for improving the Road Home program.
"I've given up," Thomas said.
Labels: Gulf Coast Reconstruction Watch
Facility: BROWNS FERRYSCRAM means "The sudden shutting down of a nuclear reactor, usually by rapid insertion of control rods, either automatically or manually by the reactor operator. May also be called a reactor trip. It is actually an acronym for 'safety control rod axe man,' the worker assigned to insert the emergency rod on the first reactor (the Chicago Pile) in the U.S." (source).
Region: 2 State: AL
Unit: [1] [ ] [ ]
Notification Date: 05/24/2007
Notification Time: 04:42 [ET]
Event Date: 05/24/2007
Event Time: 02:11 [CDT]
Emergency Class: NON EMERGENCY
10 CFR Section:
50.72(b)(2)(iv)(B) - RPS ACTUATION - CRITICAL
50.72(b)(3)(iv)(A) - VALID SPECIF SYS ACTUATION
Unit SCRAM Code RX CRIT Initial PWR Initial RX Mode Current PWR Current RX Mode
1 M/R Y 3 Startup 0 Hot Shutdown
Event Text
MANUAL REACTOR SCRAM DUE TO ELECTRO-HYDRAULIC CONTROL (EHC) SYSTEM LEAK
"On 05/24/2007 at 0211 CDT Browns Ferry Unit 1 initiated a Manual reactor SCRAM due to an Electro-Hydraulic Control (EHC) System pressure lowering and reservoir level lowering due to an EHC system leak. The leak was from #6 Main Turbine Combined Intermediate Valve (CIV). All Systems responded as required to the manual SCRAM signal. No Emergency Core Cooling System (ECCS) initiations occurred as a result of the manual SCRAM signal. Reactor water level was maintained in the normal band during the SCRAM. There were no Primary Containment Isolation signals received during the SCRAM. The EHC leak was stopped due to reservoir level depletion and EHC pumps being secured. There were no indications of main steam relief valves (MSRVs) opening. Reactor pressure is being controlled using Main Steam Line Drains. Reactor Level is being maintained in band using Control Rod Drive pumps. Repair of the EHC leak is in progress."
The Scram was characterized as uncomplicated. All rods fully inserted. The only significant equipment out of service at the time was RCIC. When the leak was initially discovered, it was about 60 drops per minute. When repairs were attempted, the piping separated and approximately 600 gallons of EHC fluid was discharged out the break onto the turbine building floor. Cleanup of the EHC fluid is in progress and environmental monitoring is in place to assure no offsite release of the spill.
The licensee notified the NRC Resident Inspector.
Based on the information developed during the inspection, and the information presented at the conference, the NRC has determined that a violation of NRC requirements occurred. The violation is cited in the enclosed Notice of Violation (Notice), and the circumstances surrounding it are described in detail in the subject inspection report. The violation involves four examples of a failure to adhere to the requirements of 10 CFR 50, Appendix B, Criterion V. All four examples were associated with the BF1 Long-Term Torus Integrity Program, and involved: failure to evaluate or incorporate numerous deficient welds into Deficiency Fix Requests sketches; failure to perform numerous repairs on the correct welds; omission of numerous welds requiring repair from Work Orders, and failure of Quality Control (QC) to independently verify the correct location of numerous weld repairs. At the conference, TVA acknowledged the errors, discussed its root cause and extent of condition reviews, and corrective actions.Given that TVA's Browns Ferry restart has been under intense NRC scrutiny because of past problems there, "It's not until you pressurize the system that you'll find the leaks" (similar to what we used to call the "smoke test" in computers and electronics - plug it in and see if it smokes) may not be the best safety and quality control methodology.
Labels: nuclear power
With federal scientists this week announcing that they expect this year's hurricane season to be unusually intense, many Americans are wondering whether New Orleans -- one of the places that bore the brunt of Hurricane Katrina's devastation in 2005 -- is ready for what may lie ahead.Labels: Gulf Coast Reconstruction Watch
Labels: civil rights, race and racism
Children and schools were the subject of several bills in the House, including one against bullying and student harassment that the House tentatively approved Wednesday and planned a final vote Thursday. The chamber rejected by one vote an amendment that would have removed an entire list of characteristics of potential victims, including sexual orientation.That's an interesting message about protecting school kids from harm: Kids, don't taunt your fellow students. But teachers, whip the kids if you must.
The list is needed "because we know those people are far more likely to be the victims of bullying," said Rep. Rick Glazier, D-Cumberland, before it was approved by a vote of 72-45.
But the House voted 50-66 against a measure that would have eliminated the right of school districts to adopt policies permitting physical punishment of a student.
"If you're not a strong disciplinarian you're doing something very bad for children," said Rep. John Blust, R-Guilford, a bill opponent.
Labels: north carolina
Katrina, the U.S. Social Forum, and a new movement for changeLabels: u.s. social forum
By far, the one issue that dominates the recovery effort is housing -- that is, the lack of it. In all of the hard-hit areas -- even those where economies seem to be mending -- the problem of affordable housing continues to defy resolution. Many efforts now underway are the result of nonprofit and volunteer groups, and some developers willing to take a risk. But what is under construction or in the planning stages now is not nearly enough to meet the demand. Thousands remain in FEMA trailers across Louisiana and Mississippi, while thousands more are on the streets.Though the bill -- whose primary sponsor was Financial Services Committee Chair Barney Frank (D-Mass.) -- ultimately passed the House in a bipartisan 313-104 vote, it still generated considerable controversy, the New Orleans Times-Picayune reports:
With a sizable chunk of money in play, there were many hands grabbing at it. Rep. Kevin Brady, R-Texas, tried unsuccessfully to steer 10 percent of the money to his state, and Rep. Eric Cantor, R-Va., sought to spread it among all of the states that have suffered natural disasters. He too failed.To call Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac "private" corporations and leave it at that is rather misleading. In fact, the companies are what are known as "government-sponsored enterprises": While privately owned and operated by shareholders, they are protected financially by the federal government. They enjoy access to a line of credit through the U.S. Treasury, exemptions from state and local income taxes, and freedom from certain Securities and Exchange Commission registration requirements.
Rep. Spencer Bachus, R-Ala., said the House had spent enough recently on hurricane-damaged states.
"This bill creates $3 billion, much of which will go to Katrina. Well, it was only two months ago that we appropriated $3 billion for Katrina," Bachus said. "We didn't need $6 billion; we needed $3 billion."
The conservative Republican Study Committee took particular aim at the bill's affordable-housing fund. One member suggested it was tantamount to "socialism" to snatch profits from private corporations, and the group's briefing materials called it a "tax on consumers."
While the bill does prohibit the use of these grant funds for political activities, advocacy, lobbying, etc., many conservatives in the past have expressed concerns that the Fund could still be used by liberal entities to displace other funds. Money is fungible, so that if a group cannot use Fund grants for political activities, it could certainly have more money freed up for political activities because of the injection of Fund grants.The RSC points out that the largest organizations working on affordable housing issues include ACORN, the National Council of La Raza and Housing Works -- all of whom it criticizes for "partisan, liberal political activities." ACORN, it charges, "led voter registration efforts against Republicans, with allegations of voter fraud in Florida, Ohio, and North Carolina." The group is the nation's largest community-based organization representing low- and moderate-income people.
EPI, registered as a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt organization, has has been widely quoted in news stories regarding minimum wage issues, and although a few of those stories have correctly described it as a "think tank financed by business," most stories fail to provide any identification that would enable readers to identify the vested interests behind its pronouncements. Instead, it is usually described exactly the way it describes itself, as a "non-profit research organization dedicated to studying public policy issues surrounding employment growth" that "focuses on issues that affect entry-level employment." In reality, EPI's mission is to keep the minimum wage low so Berman's clients can continue to pay their workers as little as possible.Given that ACORN is an outspoken advocate for a living wage, it's no wonder EPI and its RSC allies would seek to discredit the group.
Labels: Gulf Coast Reconstruction Watch
The American press is overwhelmingly owned and operated by Republicans who fix the rules of U.S. political debate. And I use the words "fix" advisedly.Who said that? Michael Moore? Noam Chomsky? Hugo Chavez? Find out after the jump ...
It is a press that has generally grown comfortable, fat and self-righteous; and which with some noteworthy exceptions voices the prejudices and preconceptions of entrenched wealth rather than those qualities of critical inquiry and rebellious spirits we associated with our noblest journalistic traditions.
It is a press that is generally more concerned with the tax privileges of any fat cat than with the care and feeding of any underdog.
It is a press that sanctimoniously boasts of its independence and means by that its right to do what its Republican owners damn please.
The press used to be regarded as a public trust, not a private playground.
Of course we have a one-party press n this country, and we shall have one as long as the press is big business, and as long as people with money continue to feel safer on the Republican side.
Labels: media
The politicians proposing "Interstate 3" tout it as a connection between the port of Savannah, Georgia and the numerous interstates running through Knoxville, Tennessee with connections to the industrial Midwest.In other nuclear news, TVA restarted Unit 1 at the Browns Ferry Nuclear Power Plant yesterday. The restart marks the first commercial nuclear power reactor startup in the U.S. since 1996.
However, a glance at the map of the proposed route shows that I-3 would go right by the massive Savannah River Site (SRS) nuclear complex in South Carolina across from Augusta, Georgia and would terminate, not in Knoxville itself, but at the recently completed I-140 spur running from Maryville-Alcoa to the nuclear facilities at Oak Ridge, Tennessee.
While rarely mentioned by I-3 proponents, it is likely that this nuclear connection is a key reason why this interstate project is being proposed. The nuclear weapons complex, composed of widely dispersed sites throughout the West and the Southeast, has for years depended on transporting dangerous radioactive materials, including plutonium and tritium, on our highways. The new nuclear weapons complex being planned will have production facilities concentrated at Oak Ridge, TN, Watts Bar, TN, Savannah River Site, SC, and the Pantex facility in Amarillo, Texas.
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Some specific examples of the traffic in deadly materials which now take place on I-26 and I-40 and would likely be shifted to I-3 if it is built:
• Weapons grade plutonium moves from Amarillo, Texas to SRS on unmarked trucks. At SRS, the plutonium will be worked over and then re-shipped, if the current proposals move forward. Destinations include Duke Power nuclear plants in NC and SC (experimental MOX plutonium fuel) and the Oak Ridge Y-12 Nuclear Weapons Plant (plutonium "pits", the triggers for nuclear bombs).
• Rods used to produce tritium, which is used for hydrogen bombs, are being shipped from the Watts Bar reactor in Tennessee to the Savannah River Site where the rods will be processed to produce tritium gas. The gas will then be shipped back to Oak Ridge in trucks.
• High level radioactive waste from commercial reactors is likely to be shipped along Interstate 3 to the Savannah River Site.
• So-called low level radioactive waste is trafficked both to Oak Ridge and SRS.
Labels: nuclear power, radioactive waste
So reveals a set of maps unveiled today by community groups working with the Nuclear Information and Resource Service, a national nuclear watchdog group with offices in suburban Washington and Asheville, N.C. The maps show possible transportation routes that high-level radioactive waste would take from nuclear power reactors to South Carolina's Savannah River site, a federal nuclear processing center located near Augusta, Ga. (The map at left shows potential road routes; click on it for a larger image.)Labels: environment, nuclear power, radioactive waste
Florida Gov. Charlie Crist (R) fired the starting gun that could set off another mad dash of states jostling for early dates to choose nominees for the White House.If the current lineup holds, only Iowa, Nevada, New Hampshire and Wyoming would have earlier primaries than Florida -- although Stateline reports t
Crist May 21 signed the Florida Legislature’s plan to move up the Sunshine State’s 2008 presidential primary to Jan. 29, leapfrogging a critical mass of states gravitating to primaries on what’s becoming known as “Super-Duper Tuesday” on Feb. 5.