Candidate Outreach On Glass-Steagall

June 8, 2010 (LPAC)—Several Congressional candidates in New Jersey and Massachusetts, contacted by LaRouche PAC from Virginia, have responded favorably to the re-instatement of Glass-Steagall.

Bruce Baker, primary candidate in New Jersey's 7th Congressional Reublican primary, stated unequivocally he supports reinstatement of Glass-Steagall.

Gary Stein, Democratic candidate seeking the New Jersey 2nd District seat now held by Republican Frank Lobiondo, answered the LPAC query by pointing to his published attack on Lobiondo's perfidy in voting for the repeal of Glass-Steagall in 1999.

Gerry Demobrowski, Republican primary candidate for the Massachusetts 7th CD seat now held by Democrat Ed Markey, said he would support the reinstatement of Glass-Steagall "as long as it wasn't watered down, [or] ladened with earmarks and amendments amending other laws," and if it has teeth in it to punish use of depositors' funds for speculation.

Three other New Jersey Congressional candidates, a Republican, a Democrat and a Constitution Party nominee, and another Massachusetts Republican candidate, indicated support for Glass-Steagall and wanted to educate themselves on the measure as a decisive step to solving the collapse.

LaRouche Replies to a Questioner Who Opposes Nationalization of BP

June 7, 2010 (LPAC)-- Below is Lyndon LaRouche response to a questioner who opposes the expropriation of British Petroleum.

The action which I have proposed is a necessary defense of our republic against an organization which has been frequently found guilty of major crimes of willful negligence against our law, our territory, and our citizens. The current crisis in the waters of the Caribbean and probably the Gulf Stream area, are the worse of such BP negligence against our U.S.A. thus far. Matters have reached the point, currently, at which it may be urgent that we be prepared to use existing PNE technologies within our scientific capabilities, to effect measures which have the quality of finality, to prevent a presently accelerating threat of capital damage of long duration, to not only our national waters, but to other nations bordering the Atlantic coasts.

This damage has been unloosed upon us and others by an enterprise, BP, which is already known for repeated flagrancy carrying criminal charges, and has conducted itself with a quality of criminal negligence in the current matter which is an immediate great danger to our own and other affected and probably affected nations.

Admittedly, this problem has been greatly aggravated by a U.S. President who has acted, repeatedly, in this and comparable forms of action or willful inaction, actions which must be judged as complicity with a foreign power, the avowed, global British Empire declared to be such by its current monarch.

Short of the summary impeaching of that U.S. President, the fact of this matter is, that we can not reasonably expect any competently patriotic action in this matter by that President.

In the meanwhile, the U.S.A. must take over controlling supervision of BP's operations in this and functionally related matters represented by this case's sovereign cause for U.S.A. sovereign action. We must do whatever is necessary to bring about a needed solution to that end.

BP Accounts for 97% of Flagrant Violations At U.S. Refineries in Last 3 Years

June 7, 2010 (LPAC)—In an article entitled "Renegade Refiner: OSHA Says BP Has Systemic Safety Problem" by Jim Morris and M.B. Pell, written on May 16 for the Center for Public Integrity, the willful criminal negligence of BP is documented with a vengeance. According to OSHA, two refineries owned by oil giant BP account for 97 percent of all flagrant violations found in the refining industry by government safety inspectors over the past 3 years. Most of BP's citations were classified as "egregious willful" by OSHA. Refinery inspection data obtained by the Center under FOIA for OSHA's nationwide refinery inspection program launched in June 2007, show that BP received a total of 862 citations between June 2007 and February 2010 for alleged violations at its refineries in Texas City, Ohio, and Toledo, Ohio. Of those, 760 were classified as "egregious willful" and 69 were classified as "willful." Thirty of the BP citations were deemed "serious" and three were unclassified.

BP accounted for 829 of the 851 willful violations among all refiners cited by OSHA during the period. It was cited for more "egregious willful" violations than other refiners because it failed to correct the types of problems that led to the 2005 Texas City accident even after OSHA pointed them out. That accident resulted in multiple deaths.

BP Hires 'Go Fuck Yourself' Spokesman as PR Flak

June 7, 2010 (LPAC)—British Petroleum has hired as its new public relations flak the spokeswoman for the Vice President who conducted secret meetings with energy companies, including BP, to come up with the Bush, Jr. regime's energy policy. With its stock tanking, its lying ever more outraging Americans, and its Gulf oil still gushing out of control, BP has hired Anne Womack-Kolton away from the Brunswick Group, the international communications and crisis management firm which BP has been paying to come up with its lies-for-the-rubes campaign since the April 20 spill. Kolton had been a press assistant in the Bush-Cheney White House, starting in 2001, after flakking for the George-Dick campaign show, and in 2004 became press secretary for the Man from the Dark Side. From 2005 to 2007, she was public affairs director at the Department of Energy. Before that, Kolton was director of public affairs at the Department of the Treasury, and previously served as senior advisor to chairman William H. Donaldson at the Securities and Exchange Commission. Hardly your consummate outsider.

Obama: Still Covering For BP's Crimes

June 6, 2010 (LPAC)—As oil from the blown out well in the Gulf of Mexico washes up on beaches as far away as Florida, President Obama can still do no more than defend himself. In his Saturday radio address, Obama declared "We are prepared for the worst, even as we hope that BP's efforts bring better news than we've received before." He then reeled off reams to statistics to "demonstrate" how much the government has done in response to the ever growing disaster. For its part, BP continues to be as concerned, if not more so, about its public image than the impact of the disaster. CEO Tony Hayward announced, that BP has hired American business executive Robert Dudley to guide the company's response to the disaster. Hayward said, in a conference call, that Dudley's job will be, among other things, to "help manage" the impact of the disaster on BP's reputation and "restore trust and confidence of BP in America." In point of fact, recent polling conducted at the behest of the Obama White House reveals that, as the result of the BP disaster, a large majority of Americans hate the British with a passion. How effective Dudley will be in deflecting that hatred is questionable. In 2008 he was booted out of Russia, while over there running a joint venture between BP and a Russian oil company, and he has been declared persona non grata by Moscow.

Not everyone is impressed with the President's latest efforts to show that he cares. When Obama arrived in Grand Isle, Louisiana, yesterday, he was greeted by one of his old campaign posters. Except instead of saying "Hope," it said, "What now?"

BP Keeps Lying, Claims Progress on Efforts to Cap Well

June 6, 2010 (LPAC)—BP officials and Coast Guard Adm. Thad Allen reported this morning that the containment cap that was lowered onto the runway oil well in the Gulf of Mexico is beginning to work. Allen reported, this morning, that engineers had so far been able to bring up about 6,000 barrels of oil (hardly a drop in the bucket), but that the vents on the cap were still open. The admiral said the engineers are hesitant to close the vents because they're afraid that the cap will then clog with hydrates, solids that form from the oil under pressure and in the cold temperature at the 5,000 foot depth. The formation of hydrates fouled an earlier attempt to cap the well about a month ago. In other words, they have no idea whether the latest effort to cap the well will actually succeed—and won't know for several more days.

Estimates for how much oil the cap is collecting range from 5 to 10% of the oil leaking out of the well, although BP officials say their "goal" is to get that to 90%. So far, the latest effort by BP has managed to capture about 1,000 barrels of oil a day—out of an estimated 12-19,000 barrels a day gushing from the well.

Meanwhile, oil is now washing up on beaches as far away as Pensacola, Florida. Computer simulations by the National Center for Atmospheric Research suggest that the oil, once it becomes entrained in the fast moving Loop Current around Florida, could then be carried up the East Coast as far north as the Cape Hatteras before turning eastwards into the central Atlantic, though no one knows what its impact will be.

And still, President Obama, while madly searching for some emotions to display to the American people, has still refused to declare a national emergency, now entering week seven of the disaster in the Gulf.

Israeli Massacre at Sea Was Pre-Planned and Premeditated

June 6, 2010 (LPAC)—A careful review of Israeli and other media coverage prior to the May 31 pre-dawn Israeli commando assault on the Gaza aid flotilla, reveals that the operation was not a bungled mistake, but a carefully planned, politically-driven heavy military operation, involving one of Israel's top special operations units, Unit 13. All of the elements of the attack were prepared in advance, and a detention facility, with emergency medical capabilities, was set up in the Israeli port of Ashdod near Gaza. Israeli journalists were given a tour of the detention/medical facility several days prior to the commando assault, and at least one major Israeli daily newspaper, Ma'ariv, was given a summary of the military plans, which they published on May 28—nearly 72 hours before the assault on the flotilla began. And written into the Israeli plan was a military propaganda program, labeling the protesters as armed terrorists.

Ma'ariv of May 28 reported, "The sea encounter that will occur at the end of the weekend is already planned detail by detail. From the moment that the ships will pass the 'red line' on their way to Gaza, the fighters of Unit 13 will take control and transfer 800 passengers from their boats back to where they came from. And special arrest units were set up."

The Ma'ariv report continued, "This operation was approved by Prime Minister Netanyahu and Defense Minister Barak and will be led by the commander of the Navy, Lt. Col. Eliezer Maron, who is nicknamed 'Cheney.' If the people aboard the boats will not agree to turn around, the operation will transfer to the stage of force. 'We are afraid that there will be a terror attack by the boats,' said a high-ranking officer. 'If terrorists have gotten on the boats or if there is an intention to use hot weapons against our forces, we will use full seriousness and caution. We want to avoid using force but as soon as there will be danger to the life of our forces we will be forced to use live fire as a last resort.... After our fighters take over the boats, OKETZ unit dogs and forces of the IHLM unit corps of engineers will inspect them looking for sabotage materials and fighting tools.'"

And the coverage of the looming Israeli military assault on the aid flotilla was not restricted to the Israeli media.

* On May 28, Al Jazeera announced "Israel To Stop Gaza Aid Ships," quoting from the Ma'ariv account, and reporting that "The Israeli army also took journalists on a tour of a detention centre being prepared at Ashdod port for holding the aid activists." "Israel says it will prevent, if necessary by force, a nine-ship flotilla of peace activists and humanitarian aid from reaching the Gaza strip."

Britain's Guardian, the same day, reported: "The Israeli military has declared its intentions to block the flotilla's progress as soon as it attempts to cross from international waters into the 20-mile exclusion zone Israel maintains off Gaza's coast. The military declined to confirm a report in the Israeli daily Ma'ariv detailing a five-point plan for the confrontation, including warnings, takeover by force, and the detention and deportation of the activists on board... The activists were braced for a violent confrontation, said [Greta] Berlin [of the Free Gaza Movement], pointing to a previous incident in December 2008 when a similar attempt to reach Gaza by sea ended in the activists' boat being rammed by the Israeli Navy. She claimed the navy was attempting to stop the eight boats converging into a flotilla by threatening to attack one of their number, a Turkish passenger ship carrying around 650 people... Israel had jammed satellite phones and radars on board the ships, she claimed... The Ma'ariv report said the military feared that there could be 'terror activists,' explosives and weapons on board the ships."

The Age of Australia, on May 29, reported, "Thousands of Israeli troops were preparing last night to prevent a flotilla of 10 ships carrying 800 international protesters and tonnes of supplies from breaking Israel's blockage of Gaza Strip... After leading a series of meetings of Israel's security establishment, which also included calls on several foreign ministers of countries whose citizens are on board the flotilla, Mr. Barak authorised an action plan. When the ships reach what Israel has determined to be a 'red line,' navy missile boats and other warships will surround them and warn the people on board that going any further will be in contravention of Israeli law. If the ships ignore the request to turn around, navy commandos wearing black masks to prevent identification will board the ships and redirect them to Israeli waters... 'We wish to avoid using force, but the moment that there is danger to the lives of the troops, we will be forced to use live fire as a last resort,' [an Israeli] officer said."

The Al Jazeera coverage of the Israeli commando assault plans added a further dimension to the premeditated nature of the Israeli attack. Yigal Palmor, a spokesman for the Israeli Foreign Ministry admitted to Al Jazeera, "We can't win on this one in terms of PR. If we let them throw egg at us, we appear stupid with egg on our face. If we try to prevent them by force, we appear as brutes." The Netanyahu government made a calculated decision to take the brutish path. The fact that the Israeli commandos performed poorly under the fog of war, once the assault on the Mavi Marmara began, does not explain away or excuse the fact that the Israeli Cabinet, at the top, made a calculated decision to use force to maintain the Gaza blockade—at whatever cost to Israel's international standing.

Obama: Still Covering For BP's Crimes

June 6, 2010 (LPAC)—As oil from the blown out well in the Gulf of Mexico washes up on beaches as far away as Florida, President Obama can still do no more than defend himself. In his Saturday radio address, Obama declared "We are prepared for the worst, even as we hope that BP's efforts bring better news than we've received before." He then reeled off reams to statistics to "demonstrate" how much the government has done in response to the ever growing disaster. For its part, BP continues to be as concerned, if not more so, about its public image than the impact of the disaster. CEO Tony Hayward announced, that BP has hired American business executive Robert Dudley to guide the company's response to the disaster. Hayward said, in a conference call, that Dudley's job will be, among other things, to "help manage" the impact of the disaster on BP's reputation and "restore trust and confidence of BP in America." In point of fact, recent polling conducted at the behest of the Obama White House reveals that, as the result of the BP disaster, a large majority of Americans hate the British with a passion. How effective Dudley will be in deflecting that hatred is questionable. In 2008 he was booted out of Russia, while over there running a joint venture between BP and a Russian oil company, and he has been declared persona non grata by Moscow.

Not everyone is impressed with the President's latest efforts to show that he cares. When Obama arrived in Grand Isle, Louisiana, yesterday, he was greeted by one of his old campaign posters. Except instead of saying "Hope," it said, "What now?"

BP Keeps Lying, Claims Progress on Efforts to Cap Well

June 6, 2010 (LPAC)—BP officials and Coast Guard Adm. Thad Allen reported this morning that the containment cap that was lowered onto the runway oil well in the Gulf of Mexico is beginning to work. Allen reported, this morning, that engineers had so far been able to bring up about 6,000 barrels of oil (hardly a drop in the bucket), but that the vents on the cap were still open. The admiral said the engineers are hesitant to close the vents because they're afraid that the cap will then clog with hydrates, solids that form from the oil under pressure and in the cold temperature at the 5,000 foot depth. The formation of hydrates fouled an earlier attempt to cap the well about a month ago. In other words, they have no idea whether the latest effort to cap the well will actually succeed—and won't know for several more days.

Estimates for how much oil the cap is collecting range from 5 to 10% of the oil leaking out of the well, although BP officials say their "goal" is to get that to 90%. So far, the latest effort by BP has managed to capture about 1,000 barrels of oil a day—out of an estimated 12-19,000 barrels a day gushing from the well.

Meanwhile, oil is now washing up on beaches as far away as Pensacola, Florida. Computer simulations by the National Center for Atmospheric Research suggest that the oil, once it becomes entrained in the fast moving Loop Current around Florida, could then be carried up the East Coast as far north as the Cape Hatteras before turning eastwards into the central Atlantic, though no one knows what its impact will be.

And still, President Obama, while madly searching for some emotions to display to the American people, has still refused to declare a national emergency, now entering week seven of the disaster in the Gulf.

If We Had a President... What We Should Do About the Gulf Disaster

June 5, 2010 (LPAC)—As predicted, the Gulf of Mexico oil "spill" has hit the Florida Panhandle, and a widely circulated computer animation from the National Center for Atmospheric Research is now forecasting that the oil will reach Florida's east coast within weeks, and then enter the Gulf Stream, to spread across the Atlantic Ocean. Whether this potential trajectory can be stopped at this late date, is not clear.

Given the absence of a patriotic President, representatives of Twenty-First Century Science & Technology magazine have begun to mobilize questions among scientific professionals on what emergency steps need to be taken to stem the disaster. The following recommendations are the result of the first discussions with experts in the engineering field, including offshore oil drilling. None of the proposed steps, many of them totally obvious, have been done. There will be more to follow:

* Replace BP with a government/military Tiger Response Team if BP fails to stop the flow of oil with its current measures.

* Activate at least three super tankers with oily water separators to track down the underwater plumes—there's a ton of qualified manpower available, including from the Navy, but nothing is being done.

* Initiate a major effort by the National Labs, to concentrate on finding solutions to stop the wellhead flow.

* Start emergency purchasing of hundreds of additional boom/microbes/organic oil cleanup compounds for deployment, and prepare to mobilize the manpower to use them, from the National Guard to high school students needing summer jobs.

* Declare a National Emergency now—already we're facing decades of impact and 70% of the problem is still underwater.

* Centralize the command in a high level "muckety muck" (with a big Checkbook from Congress), and get moving.

Gulf of Mexico Oil Spill: http://www.google.com/crisisresponse/oilspill/