Fires in the Gulf of Mexico at two offshore oil facilities in less than five months has spurred environmental groups and some lawmakers to pressure the Obama administration to extend its six-month ban on deepwater drilling.

Thursday's fire at the Mariner Energy platform 100 miles south of Louisiana came on the heels of the massive BP oil spill sparked by an explosion at the Deepwater Horizon rig -- and as the Obama administration appeared ready to lift the unpopular drilling ban.

"How many accidents are needed and how much environmental and economic damage must we suffer before we act to contain and control the source of the danger: offshore drilling?" said Rep. Frank Pallone, a New Jersey Democrat.

How many accidents are needed? I guess the first explosion wasn't enough to get people to not need oil. Maybe if we blow up a few more rigs they'll get the picture.

I'm not entirely against the ban though. Most of the time foreign companies are able to do things cheaper and better than we can. Everyone knows the amount of rigs won't go down, just who operates them (and where). Hell, maybe gas prices will go down if we can outsource all our energy industry jobs to China. WalMart can open gas stations too.

4 dozen names would launch Obamacare repeal

House plan could undermine entire nationalization program

"Once the discharge petition reaches 218 signatures, Speaker Pelosi will not be able to prevent the repeal legislation from receiving, and passing, a vote on the floor," King's announcement said.

The congressman said the process may be a little complicated to rid the nation of thousands of pages of laws that a majority of voters oppose, but it can be done.

The discharge petition is first, which then can be used as a litmus test against Democrats in November. The likelihood is that the GOP returns to a majority in the House in November, and while President Obama still could veto a complete repeal, the House simply could shut off funding for the program until a new president is elected in 2012, he explained.

212 representatives voted against the healthcare scam bill a few months ago. All we need is for 4 more Democrats to turn and sign the petition. Once the majority is signed, the bill will be up for a re-vote. Hopefully the slaughter that's staring them in the eye this November will scare a few into switching sides.

My fingers are crossed. I'll lay money that if it's repealed, the economy will rebound almost overnight.

Education secretary urged his employees to go to Sharpton's rally


President Obama's top education official urged government employees to attend a rally that the Rev. Al Sharpton organized to counter a larger conservative event on the Mall.

"ED staff are invited to join Secretary Arne Duncan, the Reverend Al Sharpton, and other leaders on Saturday, Aug. 28, for the 'Reclaim the Dream' rally and march," began an internal e-mail sent to more than 4,000 employees of the Department of Education on Wednesday.

Sharpton created the event after Glenn Beck announced a massive Tea Party "Restoring Honor" rally at the Lincoln Memorial, where King spoke in 1963.

The Washington Examiner learned of the e-mail from a Department of Education employee who felt uncomfortable with Duncan's request.

Although the e-mail does not violate the Hatch Act, which forbids federal employees from participating in political campaigns, Education Department workers should feel uneasy, said David Boaz, executive vice president of the libertarian Cato Institute.

"It sends a signal that activity on behalf of one side of a political debate is expected within a department. It's highly inappropriate ... even in the absence of a direct threat," Boaz said. "If we think of a Bush cabinet official sending an e-mail to civil servants asking them to attend a Glenn Beck rally, there would be a lot of outrage over that."

I'm shocked.

Huffington Post Offers $100,000 for Sex Tapes, Phone Records to Destroy Glenn Beck

It is time to pop the tea baggers' favorite balloon (so what if it will be replaced by another?), and with that in mind I hereby offer to negotiate a $100,000 payday to the person who will come forward with a sex tape or phone records or anything else that succeeds in removing Glenn Beck from the public eye forever. I am not offering the cash myself, but I will broker the deal and/or raise the money for what you bring to the table. (And it better be good.)

If you have the goods, or if you want to contribute to a slush fund to buy more takedowns (probably not tax deductible), please contact me at: glennbecksextape@gmail.com.

Lol. Seriously? Instead of matching ideas and competing on the merits of your argument, you'd rather "remove" the opponent from the public eye? Your ideology is so weak that Glen Beck threatens it so? What a loser.

US pay law branded ‘logistical nightmare’

US companies face a “logistical nightmare” from a new rule forcing them to disclose the ratio between their chief executive’s pay package and that of the typical employee, lawyers have warned.

The mandatory disclosure will provide ammunition for activists seeking to target perceived examples of excessive pay and perks. The law taps into public anger at the increasing disparity between the faltering incomes of middle America and the largely recession-proof multimillion-dollar remuneration of the typical corporate chief.

Who cares about the "logistical nightmare"? This regulation is designed solely to boost the typical liberal class warfare propaganda that some people get paid more than others. Who cares? People who take all the risk should get paid more than the typical union hack that relies on union rules to remove ALL risk from his job.

ABC News ‘Reprimanded’ Cameraman Who Tired to Provoke Ground Zero Mosque Protesters, but They Haven’t Gone Far Enough

As Big Peace readers–and Rush Limbaugh listeners–know, at last Sunday’s Coalition to Honor Ground Zero’s rally, I watched  an ABC News crew stand by, ready to film, while one of their co-workers tried to provoke an angry or violent reaction at a New York rally protesting the Ground Zero mosque.abc_news_logo

ABC News announced late yesterday that they had “reprimanded” the still unnamed audio man who was representing ABC News at the Ground Zero rally. Transparency is an elusive quality at ABC.

ABC News spokesman Jeffrey Schneider tells TVNewser the network has looked into Lafferty’s complaint and agrees that the tech “aggressively” questioned members of the crowd with his personal camera.

After a lengthy conversation with Jeffrey Schneider myself, I am even more alarmed at how casually ABC treats its responsibility to attempt to be truthful and accurate. In covering the Ground Zero rally, the ABC News representatives were neither.

Mr. Schneider’s bottom line was to argue that no  footage which was the product of ABC’s harassing effort appeared in their final coverage. I asked: what if the ABC News harassment of the people at the rally had been successful, would footage of “an angry mob” have been included in that night’s news program?

“I don’t deal in hypothetical situations,” was Mr. Schneider’s response.

There was a post here a couple of days ago about how the public doesn't trust the broadcast news media. It's easy to see why. How can we trust a news organization that goes beyond taking sides, and has actually joined a side by trying to provoke an incident? These guys are no longer reporting what news benefits their agenda, they're actually working for the left to create news that benefits their agenda!