6:16 am - We are getting closer, Betty Nguyen offered a verbal intro to the Bird Flu issue on NewsNight with Aaron Brown tonight. That was preceded by a tough guy body builder commercial. Maybe Arnie's picture and oversight in legislature prohibiting violence against women and children while controlling sexual predators does belong here.
6:20 am - A complete announce with Aaron hosting along with the space invader Anderson Cooper.
7:20 am - "NewsNight at 10PM with Aaron Brown and Anderson Cooper" - the black and white photos are balanced in Anderson's favor. Anderson who has found an identity as an icon to entice young American men into a world of hell in Iraq. Service to humanity in New Orleans and the Gulf Coast is supposed to entitle him to an exclusive hour for the east coast at 7PM and additional two hours of 7PM and 8PM Pacific Coast Time. This while Aaron's exclusive hour of news for his viewership is GONE. CNN is bankrolling their anchors into characatures; Carol Costello is always the sexy widow, Soledad the pregnant and nursing mother, Paula Zahn the forever frightened and anxious woman so frail she must be on something to help her through her day and Ambien as beddy bye time. Kera Phillips is the tough but polite military broad. It is primarily the women that are toyed with but Anderson Cooper has been promoted to take on the 'Save Our Souls' young man who rises to every occassion of sad reality this country is destined to have as a heritage without end.
7:50 am - "NewsNight with Aaron Brown and Anderson Cooper at 10 PM" I don't know if I got the words in the exact order I went to fill my coffee cup. I probably need to move it right next to me no matter the room. Well, that 's just logistics. The timing above is manipulative if one will note: 6:20 am and 7:20 am to cause a 'weak minded view' to be in front of the screen only once an hour. This commercial was much better, I actually thought for a fleeting moment Aaron was anchoring alone. The colored pictures were great. Much better. There was a volume difference in the voice when names were stated. But, the variable there could be my television. I don't hve that problem otherwise though. There is that tell-tale Anderson thing and one has to wonder why his one hour at 7PM eastern isn't as promoted as the 10PM hour. I have my theory.
8:14 am - ditto - the verbiage is a little more detailed. It's a good promotion unfortunately it removes an exclusive hour for Aaron. I don't mean that as glibly as the CNN Executives take it. I am dead serious about the fact I find Anderson Cooper a drop in expertise and focus. Aaron was and is always 'pleasant' and consistently so during his news hour but he was never really jovial. Anderson seeks to bring a sense of friendliness and chummy understanding to a news hour where he plays the role of perfected male demeanor seeking acceptance without compromise. It is rather slick, really. It's silly. A news hour is supposed to deliver the news with editorial anaylsis which Aaron Brown can do when he is broadcasting live and left to his own resources. I think the best one can expect of Anderson Cooper is intense stares at contributing journalists making it notable anyone who cares always pays deep attention to others. Anderson receives such empathy, even sympahthy regarding critique of his persona that, oh want's her name, Hill, Jessica? I forget, but, she brought insight to Anderson during his 7 pm edt hour on Friday an article where he was made/awarded some kind of Who's Who or some darn thing. It's pathetic. Sorry, Andy, I call it the way I see it. Was I just sympathetic? Well, that won't happen again. There are nearly 2000 dead Americans that received no sympathy and no longer receives respect by this news team. Anderson needs to develop the personality structure of his older, sponsoring Anchor in Aaron Brown and realize in dealing with the public it is a matter of 'water off a duck's back' especially when one ALLOWS himself to be used as an icon and not a news anchor.
9:14 am - another
10:18 am - again
10:52 am - ditto - remains impersonal as Aaron is oppressed in appearing personally as he once did on American Morning. He is also limited to a program of two hours where Anderson is given his exclusive 7 PM hour competing for East Coast recruits.
11:11 am - subtext ad for Anderson Cooper 350 in red and white letters.
11:23 am - ditto of visual NewsNight with Aaron Brown ad
Russia should take note. The Russian Bear may become endangered.
It Could Be Worse Than the Exxon Valdez
Drilling and Spilling in ANWR
By JASON LEOPOLD
It’s true that thousands of caribou and other types of wildlife will be displaced if Washington D.C. lawmakers pass a measure to allow drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.
But there’s an even bigger issue floating under the radar: the very real possibility of an environmental tragedy that could be as catastrophic as the 1989 oil spill caused by the Exxon Valdez oil tanker if swift measures aren’t taken to address severe safety and maintenance issues plaguing drilling operations in nearby Prudhoe Bay—North America’s biggest oil field, 60 miles west of ANWR—and other areas on Alaska’s North Slope.
That’s just one of many alarming claims that employees working for BP, the parent of BP Exploration (Alaska) Inc., the Anchorage company that runs the 24-year-old Prudhoe Bay on behalf of Phillips Alaska Inc., Exxon Mobil and other oil companies, have made over the years as a way of drawing attention to the dozens of oil spills—three of which occurred between March and April alone—that could boil over and happen at ANWR if BP continues to neglect safety issues and the area is opened up to further oil and gas exploration.
Now, as President Bush renews his calls for opening up ANWR to development, some of those very same BP employees are blowing the whistle on their company yet again and are turning to the one person who helped them expose oil companies’ cover ups on Alaska’s North Slope.
Chuck Hamel, an Alexandria, Va., oil industry watchdog has been leading the fight for the past 15 years against corporations’ BP, Conoco Phillips and ExxonMobil shoddy crude oil operations in Alaska. The safety and maintenance issues that Hamel and the BP whistleblowers brought to the attention of Congress and the public four years ago were supposed to be addressed by the oil company. Back in the 1980s, Hamel was the first person to expose weak pollution laws at the Valdez tanker port and electrical and maintenance problems with the trans-Alaska oil pipeline.
Hamel, who is protecting the identities of the current whistleblowers, says not only do oil spills continue on the North Slope because BP neglects to address maintenance issues, but the oil behemoth’s executives routinely lie to Alaskan state representatives and members of the United States Senate and Congress about the steps they’re taking to correct the problems.
The company also denies its employees claims of safety issues at its crude oil production facilities on the North Slope.Hamel, however, has got some damning evidence on BP: photographs showing oil wells spewing a brown substance known as drilling muds, which contain traces of crude oil, on two separate occasions. Hamel says he’s determined to expose BP’s shoddy operations and throw a wrench in President Bush’s plans to open up ANWR to drilling.
“I am going to throw a hiccup into the ANWR legislation,” Hamel said in an interview. “Until these oil companies clean up their act they can’t drill in ANWR because they are spilling oil in the North Slope.” If oil companies continue to fail to address safety problems at the North Slope “they’ll have another Exxon Valdez” type of oil spill on their hands, Hamel said.
On April 15, Hamel sent a letter to Senator Pete Domenici, chairman of the Senate energy and natural resources committee, saying there have been three spills between late March and early April, at a time when BP and two of its drilling contractors are under investigation for charges of failing to report other oil spills in late 2004 and in January of this year.
"You obviously are unaware of the cheating by some producers and drilling companies," Hamel said in the letter to Domenici, an arch proponent of drilling in ANWR. "Your official Senate tour” of Alaska in March “was masked by the orchestrated 'dog and pony show' provided you at the new Alpine Field, away from the real world of the Slope's dangerously unregulated operations."
Domenici’s office said the senator is reviewing Hamel’s letter. In that letter, Hamel also claimed that whistleblowers had told of another cover-up, dating back to 2003, in which Pioneer Natural Resources and its drilling contractor, Nabors Alaska Drilling, allegedly disposed of more than 2,000 gallons of toxic drilling mud and fluids through the ice "to save the cost of proper disposal on shore.”
Hamel has had his share of detractors, notably BP and several Alaskan state officials, who said he’s a conspiracy theorist, and the federal Environmental Protection Agency.
But Hamel was vindicated in March when Alaska’s Department of Environmental Conservation confirmed Hamel’s claims of major spills in December 2004 and July 2003 at the oil well owned by BP and operated by its drilling contractor, Nabors, on the North Slope, which the company never reported as required by state law.
Hamel filed a formal complaint in January with the EPA, claiming he had pictures showing a gusher spewing a brown substance. An investigation by Alaska’s Department of Environmental Conservation determined that as much as 294 gallons of drilling mud was spilled when gas was sucked into wells, causing sprays of drilling muds and oil that shot up as high as 85 feet into the air.
Because both spills exceeded 55 gallons, BP and Nabors were obligated under a 2003 compliance agreement that BP signed with Alaska to immediately report the spills. That didn't occur, said Leslie Pearson, the agency's spill prevention and emergency response manager.
BP spokesman Daren Beaudo said the company did report the spills after learning about it and said the spill wasn’t that big of a deal.
"In this case, the drilling rig operators did not feel this type of event qualified for reporting," Beaudo told the Anchorage Daily News in March. "Obviously the Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation felt otherwise and that's what they're saying as a result of their investigation. It's a matter of interpretation."Beaudo said the agency’s findings are in line with BP's own investigation that the spills did not cause any harm to the environment, aside from some speckles on the snow.
But what’s troubling to Hamel is that Alaska’s Department of Environmental Conservation has let BP off with a slap on the wrist. The agency is not penalizing BP; rather it said that it will ensure that the company reports other spills in a timely manner.
That plays into Hamel’s other theory: that the state of Alaska is in cahoots with the oil industry and routinely fails to enforce laws that would hold those companies liable for violating environmental regulations.
Safety Issues and Poor Maintenance at North Slope Oil Facilities Ongoing For Years
In April of 2001, whistleblowers informed Hamel and Interior Secretary Gale Norton, who at the time was touring the Prudhoe Bay oil fields that the safety valves at Prudhoe Bay, which kick in the event of a pipeline rupture, failed to close. Secondary valves that connect the oil platforms with processing plants also failed to close. And because the technology at Prudhoe Bay would be duplicated at ANWR that means that the potential for a massive explosion and huge spills are very real.
"A major spill or fire at one of our [processing centers] will exit the piping at high pressure, and leave a half-mile-wide oil slick on the white snow all the way" Hamel said at the time in an interview with the Wall Street Journal
That type of catastrophic scenario was wiped out of everyone’s minds after 9/11 happened.
But then in March of 2002, a BP whistleblower brought up the very same issues and went public with his claims of maintenance backlogs and employee shortages at Prudhoe Bay that he said could worsen spills on the North Slope, particularly if ANWR is opened up to exploration.
The whistleblower, Robert Brian, who worked as an instrument technician at Prudhoe Bay for 22 years, had a lengthy meeting with aides to Senators Jospeh Lieberman and Bob Graham, both Democrats, to discuss his claims.
At the time, Brian said he supported opening up ANWR to oil exploration but said BP has imperiled that goal because it is ''putting Prudhoe workers and the environment at risk.”
''We are trying to change that so we don't have a catastrophe that ends up on CNN and stops us from getting into ANWR,'' according to a March 13, 2002 report in the Anchorage Daily News.
In 2001, the Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission found high failure rates on some Prudhoe wellhead safety valves. The company was put on federal criminal probation after one of its contractors dumped thousands of gallons of toxic material underground at BP's Endicott oil field in the 1990s. BP pleaded guilty to the charges in 2000 and paid a $6.5 million fine, and agreed to set up a nationwide environmental management program that has cost more than $20 million.
But Hamel and the whistleblowers’, including Brian, said BP continued to violate environmental rules and then attempted to cover it up.
A BP spokesman said those claims “are an outright lie.”
Still, despite the charges leveled against BP by the whistleblowers, which were aired as early as April 2001, the Senate never held hearings on the safety issues that over the years have caused dozens of oil spills at oil production facilities on the North Slope. Drilling in ANWR and President Bush’s energy bill took a backseat following the 9/11 terrorist attacks and the ensuing war in Iraq. Now, with gasoline prices soaring and Bush’s claims that drilling in ANWR would reduce this country’s dependence on foreign oil lawmakers are being urged to once again investigate the issue and hold hearings before approving any legislation that would open up ANWR to development.
BP has long been criticized for poorly managing the North Slope’s aging pipelines, safety valves and other critical components of its oil production infrastructure. The company has in the past made minor improvements to its valves and fire detection systems and hired additional employees but has dropped the ball and neglected to maintain a level of safety at its facilities on the North Slope, Hamel said.
"Contrary to what President Bush has been saying, the current BP Prudhoe Bay operations -- particularly the dysfunctional safety valves -- are deeply flawed and place the environment, the safety of the operations staff and the integrity of the facility at risk. The president should delay legislation calling for drilling at the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge,” Hamel told the Wall Street Journal.
11:58 am ditto
12:48 pm ditto
Oddly, CNN has not recognized the Economic Nobel as it also includes an American.
Israeli, American share 2005 Economics Nobel prizeMatt Moore (AP)Stockholm (Sweden), October 10, 2005
Israeli and US citizen Robert J Aumann and American Thomas C Schelling won the 2005 Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences on Monday for their work in game-theory analysis.
The pair won the prize "for having enhanced our understanding of conflict and cooperation through game-theory analysis," the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences said.
Aumann, 75, and Schelling, 84, have helped to "explain economic conflicts such as price wars and trade wars, as well as why some communities are more successful than others in managing common-pool resources," the academy said in its citation. "The repeated-games approach clarifies the raison d'etre of many institutions, ranging from merchant guilds and organised crime to wage negotiations
http://www.hindustantimes.com/news/181_1515043,001301370000.htm
Israeli researcher wins Nobel Prize
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1128864032218&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull
Israeli-American economist Robert J. Aumann said Monday he was elated after learning in a phone call from the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences that he and a fellow scientist had won the 2005 Nobel prize in economics for their game theory analysis.
"I feel great," Aumann told The Associated Press half an hour after getting the call from Sweden. He said he would not say more until a news conference later in the day.
Aumann, 75, of the Hebrew University and American Thomas C. Schelling, 84, of the University of Maryland were awarded the prize for their work on game theories that help explain economic
US, Israeli "Game Theory" Duo Win Economics Nobel
Published: October 10, 2005
Filed at 8:25 a.m. ET
STOCKHOLM (Reuters) - An American and an Israeli won the 2005 Nobel prize for economics on Monday for their work on the ''game theory'' analysis of strategic options, which can help resolve conflicts in trade and business -- and even avoid war.
http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/news/news-nobel-economics.html
Not even on their website.
There was an announcement of the last Nobel today 10/13/05 on the aire. I never heard this one spoken of once during the day. It was never announced on any news announcement on NewsNight.
In looking today for an entry ANYWHERE, a reference showed up under 'Economics.' I don't like being unfair or unjust and I don't like such accomplishments by Americans and Jews that cooperate in achievement assigned to the back pages either.
Game theory experts win Nobel nod
Monday, October 10, 2005; Posted: 10:49 a.m. EDT (14:49 GMT)
STOCKHOLM, Sweden (AP) -- Robert J. Aumann and Thomas C. Schelling won the 2005 Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences on Monday for their work in game theory that explains political and economic conflicts, arms races and even preventing warfare.
Game theory, which is often used in a political or military context to explain conflicts between countries, can also be applied to the business world.
"The understanding of game theory helps explain economic conflicts like price competition and commerce wars," said Jorgen Weibull, chairman of the prize committee.
"I think the main impact is on economics, but it also applies to other social sciences."
Aumann, 75, and Schelling, 84, have helped to "explain economic conflicts such as price wars and trade wars, as well as why some communities are more successful than others in managing common-pool resources," the academy said in its citation.
http://www.cnn.com/2005/BUSINESS/10/10/nobel.economics.ap/index.html
1:16 pm ditto
2:19 pm ditto
THIS SHOULD WARM EVERYONE'S HEART.
The Anderson Cooper Home Page - Where men are hunks
http://andersoncooper.worldbreak.com/
CNN are assholes. They attack the priorities of simple people to benefit Bush's draconian values.
3:22 pm ditto
3:49 pm ditto
4:14 pm ditto
4:47 pm ditto
5:23 pm ditto
Don't stop now you still have a long way to go to prove you aren't interested in terrifying women.
6:19 pm ditto
7:00 pm to 8:00 pm - There was no advertisements for NewsNight including Aaron Brown during the "Anderson Cooper 360" hour where Aaron Brown has never appeared and is solely a worship of the Gray Haired wonder.
There were not any commercials after that until the program hour start time of 10PM.
The 'tone' of the program was totally different and Anderson Cooper dominated the beginning of both hours. The fraud of the show is that it's being touted as LIVE. That is inaccurate. There is a good amount of the 'aire time' spent on 'recorded/taped' messages. The messages still sets the tone for the delivary of what on occassion follows as a live discussion. There were inappropriate segments but the one that stuck out like a sore thumb was a 'blending' of several which TARGETED, the Reverend Jessie Jackson to quiet him and his criticism of the Bush Administration. This was my initial reaction. It's accurate. I should put the transcript here. Rev. Jessie Jackson is going through a great deal of trouble to find the survivors of these storms and bring them back to New Orleans. He is right to do so considering the FORMER Black Community of New Orleans is getting no assistance to come home. Quite the contrary they are MOVING into the neighborhoods they are finding themselves in some cases but certainly not being encouraged to come home. They are estranged away from a life they knew and according to Rev. Jackson in the cases he is finding they are not assimilating well into those neighborhoods.
The opposite statement to support the politics of wealth is Alfonso Jackson the HUD Secretary which he states the people whom are in shelters are happy to be there and won't go back. That is so far fetched. There is no one who understands there is a home in New Orleans to go home to would perfer a shelter. Alfonso Jackson has ONLY been to shelters for his biased opinion. I wouldn't want to go back to New Orleans either if there was no accommodations for me to go back to especially if I had a family.
It is a huge bigotry issues and the NewsNight staff attempted a Media Slight of Hand. It is to support the greed obsession of the Repuglicans masked in 'civil rights' to make their own decisions.
conti2005 - 11:49 PM ET October 10, 2005 (#5022 of 5022)
Impeach Bush and Cheney ! Rove is their 'Front Man'
Jessie Jackson has the basis of a lawsuit against CNN.
I think the episode of advocacy Jessie Jackson attempted to portray to Anderson Cooper tonight on NewsNight was toyed with in a way to ridicule.
Anderson Cooper the fair haired white man and precious son opened the segment before Jackson's interview with a ridicule of people HE DEFINED as conspiracy theorists. They were common folks who probably don't read well and hold superstition above all else which is not unusual in New Orleans.
Then Cooper turn to Brown who states the people in the taped segment by Gary Tuchman were malevolent. Anderson Cooper objects to Aaron's word of malevolent and goes on to pursue a definition without a word whereby these people are convinced beyond reason that the government has a plot or whoever they identify has a plot against them. The people in the segment by Tuchman were mostly minorities.
Anderson Cooper without missing a beat turns to an interview with Jessie Jackson regarding his complaints about RETURNING people to New Orleans. He then attempts to project the images of the previous conversation and the previous Tuchman segment onto Reverend Jackson for a long and low silent laugh. Reverend Jackson was supposed to sound like and appear like to be a conspiracy theorist who has no basis for his beliefs or his critique.
Reverend Jackson rightfully so was complaining about the lack of jobs in New Orleans and the lack of income to the city from the new construction and lack of housing that prevents people from returning.
He took offense and rightfully so of the HUD Secretary Alphonso Jackson who stated in a bigoted tone, even from a Bush Black Man of wealth and not poverty, that New Orleans will never be a black city again.
That statement alone is enough to raise a lot of questions and should. It is that statement Reverend Jackson and many in the Black Community are concerned about.
Anderson Cooper then turned to the fact there were a LOT of illegal aliens in New Orleans already WORKING HARD and why is that not adequate enough to settle Reverend Jackson's concerns over the availability of work.
Illegal Aliens are a reasonable entity to question the valid complaint of citizens seeking housing and work?
Hello, Anderson, but where the illegal aliens are occupying jobs it takes them away from American citizens. Maybe Lou Dobbs can explain it to you.
The MAIN POINT is that Reverend Jackson was good enough to come to CNN to talk to them regarding his very real concerns and was received with ridiculing racism. Needless to say Reverend Jackson was not HEARD so much as muffled by the pointed and planned assault by Cooper.
Anderson Cooper is a racist and a bigot. I think Reverend Jackson and his Rainbow Coalition has recourse for his crass treatment and victimization.
There is a lot of room to criticise Bush regarding the lack of preparation. That lack of preparation continues to extend beyond the storms into recovery and the fact some residents of New Orleans have been flung to the winds on buses and planes where they were not told their destination before they left. I defy anyone to tell me how someone sent to Alaska is easily going to return given their financial devastation along with the storm. I don't want to hear how everyone who applied to FEMA got $2000. That was money to help them reestablish their lives. That should not includ the burden of returning from Tim-Bush-Too where they never bargained to be sent in the first place.
