Wednesday, January 31, 2018
the physical beauty of fascism
"Just 17 days before the United States announced a fresh round of sanctions against Venezuela, two American drilling executives stood in the presidential palace alongside President Nicolas Maduro.
CEO Todd Swanson and general counsel Brent Mills were there to sign a memorandum of understanding between their little-known drilling company, Horizontal Well Drillers, and Venezuela's state-owned oil company, Petroleos de Venezuela S.A.
Swanson, who once served on the board of Massey Energy for Dan Loeb when he worked for Loeb's hedge fund Third Point, made a speech at the event.
"I first came to Venezuela in 1996,
and I immediately fell in love with the country
because of the spirit of the people
and the physical beauty
of the landscape," Swanson said.
https://www.cnbc.com/2017/11/10/an-oklahoma-oil-companys-deal-in-venezuela-raises-questions.html
dignity after mayhem
"On June 5, 1568, both men were beheaded
in the Grand Place in Brussels,
Egmont's uncomplaining dignity
on the occasion
being widely noted"
Egmont, at the head of his horsemen,
decided to attack the French center
with his cavalry
The Battle of Gravelines was fought on 13 July 1558 at Gravelines, near Calais, France. It occurred during the twelve-year war between France and Spain (1547–1559).
The battle resulted in a victory by the Spanish forces, led by Lamoral, Count of Egmont, over the French, led by Marshal Paul de Thermes.
The Spanish were supported by the English Navy, who opened fire on the French as they reached the sand dunes at Gravelines
The Duke of Savoy and Philip met an army of 15,000 infantry and 3,000 cavalry, giving the command to the Count of Egmont.
Sighting the French positions,
Egmont placed his troops in a crescent,
with the light cavalry on the flanks
and the Spanish troops,
together with the German and Flemish units,
in the center.
50 rings
half a century isn't very much
once you've done it.
it isn't hard to imagine
doing a couple more,
if time said ok.
yelp ad for earth,
to be continued.
Greenbrier Bunker, Jim Justice,
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Greenbrier
"The Greenbrier is also the site of a massive underground bunker that was meant to serve as an emergency shelter for the United States Congress during the Cold War.
Civil War, the property changed hands between forces of the Confederate Army and the Union Army, who almost burned the resort to the ground.
Following the Civil War, the resort reopened. In 1858, they built a huge hotel building on the property.
The Grand Central Hotel came to be known by the moniker "The White" and, later, "The Old White".
The "White Sulphur Manifesto", the only political paper published by Confederate General Robert E. Lee after the Civil War, advocated the merging of the two societies.
___________
Under the state's regulations, only "guests" of the Greenbrier may visit the casino.
The hotel and state regulators have differed over the definition of "guest", as the casino allows persons taking a tour or dining at the resort to visit, without being registered to stay overnight in the hotel."
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/dr-gridlock/wp/2018/01/31/gop-retreat-train-collides-with-truck-no-serious-injuries-reported/?utm_term=.811b9b7d2d6b
Same CENSORSHIP at Washington Post.
_________
"James Conley Justice II (born April 27, 1951) is an American coal mining and agriculture businessman and politician who is the 36th and current Governor of West Virginia.
An owner of over 50 companies, including The Greenbrier, a luxury resort, Justice is one of the few billionaires from the state of West Virginia
After the death of his father in 1993, Justice inherited ownership of Bluestone Industries and Bluestone Coal Corporation.
In 2009, he sold some of his coal business to the Russian company Mechel for $568 million.
Justice's mining companies have a history of safety violation and unpaid taxes; in 2016, NPR called him the "top mine safety delinquent" in the United States.[9]
Justice owes millions of dollars to the government in back taxes, and unpaid coal mining fees and fines:
"His mining companies owe $15 million in six states, including property and minerals taxes, state coal severance and withholding taxes, and federal income, excise and unemployment taxes, as well as mine safety penalties, according to county, state and federal records."
Tuesday, January 30, 2018
Boudica sang too
lucky to begin with Boudica the bloody defender
who released the hare from her flowing rainment
to divine its direction into a message from
victory itself, and to skip the gibbets
and sack of londonium to
end up listening to waves of enya
on youtube which is where i
found that the fugees sampled her song Boudica
gonna find you ready or not
there in enya's wine cellar castle
just please stop the minecraft popup ads
during her lullaby-swoon
blood-letting heart siege well what
do you do with a roman army
who flogged a pagan queen and ravaged
her me-too daughters but lead
a hundred thousand crazy army orchestra
of survival harmony din
produce it without the fire and torn limbs
soaring anthems of modern invasion
the romans the coalitions willing
the boudicas
the refugees
Monday, January 29, 2018
thumb crust
some things don't mix
they're incongruent like my thumb and my dinner
they stay separate, there is a line
that got crossed, my knife on the spinach ends
took my thumb top
nice and deep as i was finishing the pizza
it was some good pizza
i fed the crust to crows the next day,
that part mixed.
National Public Radio runs an Ad for Lumber Liquidators
Notice the Shift in Reporting on NPR in the Trump Era? (just heard a Lumber Liquidator Ad)
___________
A 2013 report by the Environmental Investigation Agency revealed that Lumber Liquidators' indiscriminate and poor sourcing practices resulted in the destruction of critically endangered tiger habitats and forests.[6]
Further investigation led to the conviction of a Russian supplier in 2014. Shortly after the conviction Lumber Liquidators lost about twenty percent in stock value for potential violation of the Lacey Act. During 2015, the company was involved in controversy regarding the level of formaldehyde in the Chinese-made laminate flooring that it was selling.[7] A number of class action lawsuits were brought on by customers, due to the formaldehyde issue and other customer service issues.
The company appointed John M. Presley as Chief Executive Officer.[8] The company's founder, Tom Sullivan, served as interim CEO following the resignation and was replaced in November 2015 by John Presley.[9]
On October 22, 2015, Lumber Liquidators pleaded guilty in federal court to the illegal importation of hardwood flooring.[10] In February 2016, a federal judge sentenced the company to $13.15 million in penalties, consisting of $7.8 million in criminal fines, $3.15 million in civil forfeiture, $1 million in criminal forfeiture, and $1.2 million to conservation organizations.[11]
It was the largest financial penalty ever issued for violating the Lacey Act of 1900
Boring Oregon Lava Tubes
The Boring Lava Field is an extinct Plio-Pleistocene volcanic field zone with at least 32 cinder cones and small shield volcanoes lying within a radius of 13 miles (21 km) of Kelly Butte, which is approximately 4 miles (6 km) east of downtown Portland, Oregon, in the United States.
Astrobleme Planet Seeds
The Yucatán Peninsula is a limestone plain, with no rivers or streams. The region is pockmarked with natural sinkholes, called cenotes, which expose the water table to the surface. One of the most impressive of these is the Cenote Sagrado, which is 60 metres (200 ft) in diameter[54] and surrounded by sheer cliffs that drop to the water table some 27 metres (89 ft) below.
M
Buried under a thick layer of sediment, it was not discovered until 1991.
Subsequent drilling within the crater, found a large amount of oil and gas.
It is one of the largest of six meteor craters associated with oil-producing formations in the States.
r
Sunday, January 28, 2018
champlin fina total
The Champlin Refining Company, which for many years held the distinction of being the nation's largest fully integrated oil company under private ownership, was based at Enid, Oklahoma.
In 1916 Enid banker and entrepreneur Herbert Hiram Champlin (1868–1944) bought a lapsed oil lease on the Beggs farm in the fledgling Garber Field about fifteen miles east of Enid.
http://www.okhistory.org/publications/enc/entry.php?entry=CH001
When Herbert H. Champlin died on April 30, 1944, his company employed more than eight hundred people in Enid, operated service stations and wholesale outlets in twenty midwestern states, had a strong drilling and production presence in Oklahoma, Texas, Colorado, and New Mexico, and continued a major refining operation supported by one of the largest pipeline complexes in Oklahoma.
The company continued under family ownership until its stock went public in 1953.
In 1954 the Champlin Refining Company was bought by the Chicago Corporation of Chicago, Illinois. This $55 million deal allowed the company to operate as a subsidiary until the Chicago Corporation changed its name to the Champlin Refining Company in 1956.
In 1964 the Celanese Corporation bought the company*
and at the beginning of 1970 Celanese sold Champlin to the Union Pacific Resources Company, a division of the Union Pacific Corporation.
They operated the Champlin Refining Company in much the same manner as before
" in 1984, American Petrofina purchased several thousand service stations from Oklahoma-based Champlin Refining
Company "
"
Since the Total-Petrofina merger in 1999, all of FINA's former marketing assets and the Big Spring refinery have been owned by Texas-based Alon USA.
In July 2017, Delek US Holdings purchased Alon USA in an all-stock transaction.
Delek Group is an Israeli conglomerate and one of Israel's largest companies, majority owned by[clarification needed] Yitzhak Tshuva[3][4] a self-made multi-billionaire.
Delek Group is involved in the energy and infrastructure, with investments in upstream and downstream energy, water desalination and power plants
"
********************
1990 CITGO became wholly owned by PDVSA.
1990 The former Champlin Refinery in Corpus Christi, Texas, which was purchased by PDVSA from Union Pacific was integrated into the CITGO refining network.
In 2000: Anadarko Petroleum Corporation and Union Pacific Resources merged:
"In April 2000, the company acquired Union Pacific Resources in a $4.4 billion transaction.[8][9]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anadarko_Petroleum
The Anadarko name survived going forward.
"Anadarko owned a 25% non-operating minority interest in the Macondo Prospect, which was owned 65% by and operated by BP and was affected by the Deepwater Horizon oil spill."
In April 2014, Anadarko settled with the U.S. Department of Justice and the Environmental Protection Agency to pay $5.15 billion to clean up environmental waste sites around the country.
It was the largest environmental contamination settlement in American history
___________
* Celanese has a process to make ethanol from natural gas, or coal.
_______
"The resulting company achieved vertical integration, owning assets in all phases of the petrol business from exploration and production to the filling station"
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elf_Aquitaine
In 1993 Elf was awarded the exclusive contract to the Iraqi oil fields by Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein.[2]
In 1996 the French government sold its stake, retaining a golden share.
In 2000: Elf Aquitaine merged with Total Fina to form TotalFinaElf, which changed its name to Total in 2003.
1990 IMF "genocide workers in the pay of economic totalitarianism" CITGO, PVDSA, Champlin assets
CITGO Becomes Wholly Owned by PDVSA
1990 Fox Television’s animated program “The Simpsons” made its television debut; “America’s Funniest Home Videos” was the most popular television show.
1990 CITGO became wholly owned by PDVSA.
1990 The former Champlin Refinery in Corpus Christi, Texas, which was purchased by PDVSA from Union Pacific was integrated into the CITGO refining network.
1990 CITGO acquires the Seaview Asphalt Company, headquartered in Blue Bell, PA with a refinery in Paulsboro, NJ.
1990 CITGO honored with the prestigious Petroleum Marketers Association of America Supplier Cup.
1991 Soviet Union collapses.
*******************************
https://www.citgo.com/AboutCITGO/CITGOHeritage/CITGOHeritage1990s.jsp
https://www.citgo.com/AboutCITGO/CITGOHeritage/CITGOHeritage1990s.jsp
******************************
While George H. Bush was President of the USA, CITGO and a major US refinery was sold to Venezuela.
Main article: Second Presidency of Carlos Andrés Pérez
"In February 1989, at the beginning of his second term as president, he accepted an International Monetary Fund proposal known as the Washington consensus. In return for accepting this proposal, the International Monetary Fund offered Venezuela a loan for 4.5 billion US dollars.
This cooperation with the IMF came about weeks after his victory in the 1988 presidential election, and a populist, anti-neoliberal campaign during which he described the IMF as
"a neutron bomb that killed people, but left buildings standing" and said that World Bank economists were "genocide workers in the pay of economic totalitarianism".[5]
In 1992, his government survived two coup attempts.
The first attempt took place February 4, 1992, and was led by Lieutenant-Colonel Hugo Chávez, who was later elected president"
_________
" March 20, 1993, Attorney General Ramón Escovar Salom introduced action against Pérez for the embezzlement of 250 million bolivars belonging to a presidential discretionary fund, or partida secreta"
Trump favors CITGO and raids 7-11 Stores
" Another expansion of FINA's marketing operations came in 1984, when American Petrofina purchased several thousand service stations from Oklahoma-based Champlin Refining Company following that firm's closing of its Enid, Oklahoma refinery.
The Champlin assets were rebranded as FINA stations in several Mid-Continent states including Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, Nebraska and Iowa among others."
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Petrofina
Since the Total-Petrofina merger in 1999, all of FINA's former marketing assets and the Big Spring refinery have been owned by Texas-based Alon USA.
ALON assets include the former FINA refinery at Big Spring, Texas and the FINA brand name.
ALON supplies gasoline and other petroleum products to 1,200 FINA stations directly and through distributors in seven Southwestern states including Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Louisiana, New Mexico, Arizona and the southern portion of Colorado.
ALON also owns Southwest Convenience Stores, LLC, which is the largest franchiser of 7-Eleven convenience stores in the United States.
Southwest owns and operates 160 7-Eleven stores in West Texas and New Mexico, each of which sell FINA gasoline.
_____________________
"U.S. immigration agents raided dozens of 7-Eleven stores before dawn Wednesday and arrested 21 people in the biggest crackdown on a company suspected of hiring undocumented workers since President Donald Trump took office.
Some 98 of the convenience stores nationwide — from Los Angeles to New York — were targeted by agents from Immigration and Customs Enforcement"
Homan did not say why ICE went after the Irving, Texas-based convenience store chain, which has 60,000 franchises worldwide and is famous for its Slurpee drinks. ICE hit stores in 17 states and Washington, D.C.
_________
WHY? Um, CITGO lobbyists, including Corey Lewandowski, working for PVDSA Maduro Rosneft Putin.
The vertically integrated Retail operations, a key part of Racketeering and power.
___________
Five of six executives of U.S.-based refiner Citgo [PDVSAC.UL] who were arrested in Caracas this week are U.S. citizens, according to a source familiar with the matter, possibly complicating Venezuela’s corruption sweep of the oil industry.
The six executives included acting Citgo President Jose Pereira, who has Venezuelan citizenship and U.S. permanent residency, the source said. Citgo did not respond to requests for comment.
Late on Wednesday, Maduro tapped Asdrubal Chavez, a former oil minister and cousin of the late president Hugo Chavez, to replace Pereira.
Military intelligence agents detained the Texas-based executives during an event at state oil company PDVSA’s headquarters in Caracas on Tuesday, two sources told Reuters. U.S.-based Citgo Petroleum Corp (Citgo) is a Venezuelan-owned refiner and marketer of oil and petrochemical products."
ALON supplies gasoline and other petroleum products to 1,200 FINA stations directly and through distributors in seven Southwestern states including Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Louisiana, New Mexico, Arizona and the southern portion of Colorado.
ALON also owns Southwest Convenience Stores, LLC, which is the largest franchiser of 7-Eleven convenience stores in the United States.
Southwest owns and operates 160 7-Eleven stores in West Texas and New Mexico, each of which sell FINA gasoline.
_____________________
"U.S. immigration agents raided dozens of 7-Eleven stores before dawn Wednesday and arrested 21 people in the biggest crackdown on a company suspected of hiring undocumented workers since President Donald Trump took office.
Some 98 of the convenience stores nationwide — from Los Angeles to New York — were targeted by agents from Immigration and Customs Enforcement"
Homan did not say why ICE went after the Irving, Texas-based convenience store chain, which has 60,000 franchises worldwide and is famous for its Slurpee drinks. ICE hit stores in 17 states and Washington, D.C.
_________
WHY? Um, CITGO lobbyists, including Corey Lewandowski, working for PVDSA Maduro Rosneft Putin.
The vertically integrated Retail operations, a key part of Racketeering and power.
___________
Five of six executives of U.S.-based refiner Citgo [PDVSAC.UL] who were arrested in Caracas this week are U.S. citizens, according to a source familiar with the matter, possibly complicating Venezuela’s corruption sweep of the oil industry.
The six executives included acting Citgo President Jose Pereira, who has Venezuelan citizenship and U.S. permanent residency, the source said. Citgo did not respond to requests for comment.
Late on Wednesday, Maduro tapped Asdrubal Chavez, a former oil minister and cousin of the late president Hugo Chavez, to replace Pereira.
Military intelligence agents detained the Texas-based executives during an event at state oil company PDVSA’s headquarters in Caracas on Tuesday, two sources told Reuters. U.S.-based Citgo Petroleum Corp (Citgo) is a Venezuelan-owned refiner and marketer of oil and petrochemical products."
Merger of Fossil Fuels, Money Laundering, and Cryptocurrency Planetary Holocaust
Concerns mount as Venezuela closes in on petro, an oil-backed cryptocurrency
https://www.cnbc.com/2018/01/08/concerns-mount-as-venezuela-closes-in-on-petro-an-oil-backed-cryptocurrency.html
Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro says each petro will be worth the equivalent of one barrel of oil, and he has specifically designated the oil from field one of the Ayacucho block in the Orinoco region of Venezuela, which contains more than 5 billion barrels.
The government's explicit desire to evade sanctions bothers those who want to legitimize blockchain.
Ultimately, Satten says what Venezuela is trying to achieve isn't a cryptocurrency, but "a digitized barter system that sidesteps the global financial system
__________
"Rafael Ramirez, the former head of the PDVSA state oil company, is wanted on suspicion of money laundering and embezzlement, Attorney General Tarek William Saab said.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/the_americas/venezuela-prosecutor-orders-arrest-of-former-state-oil-chief/2018/01/25/da178b72-021a-11e8-86b9-8908743c79dd_story.html?utm_term=.dcae57291689
Ramirez’s associates have been a target of the Saab-led crackdown on corruption at the troubled PDVSA that began late last year. Dozens of officials have been arrested, including two former oil ministers and Ramirez’s cousin, Diego Salazar.
Salazar is jailed on suspicion of helping siphon off $1.6 billion to banks in the European principality of Andorra.
Ramirez, who ran PDVSA for more than a decade, resigned from his three-year U.N. post in early December on orders from Maduro. Both were close to the late President Hugo Chavez,"
____________
Citgo is a U.S. company with a more than 100-year history that was acquired by Venezuela's state-run oil company nearly 30 years ago.
Citgo now acts as the U.S. refining and gasoline marketing arm of Venezuela.
https://www.chron.com/business/energy/article/Citgo-says-it-will-keep-its-headquarters-in-12498764.php
_____________
Sarayaku also has an initiative, known as Kawsak Sacha,
or ‘Living Forest’, to protect their territory and resources
based on their traditional wisdom and worldview.
This groundbreaking concept that redefines what is currently
understood as a ‘forest’, bridging biological function with
unique indigenous cosmovision of the relationship between
ecosystem and the humans who inhabit it. Kawsak
Sacha recognizes that the forest is made up entirely of
living beings and the communicative relations they have
with each other.
Efforts are under way to obtain international
recognition for Sarayaku’s ‘living forest’ as a sacred
natural area free from extraction before the IUCN, U.N.
Convention on Biological Diversity among others.
https://www.cnbc.com/2018/01/08/concerns-mount-as-venezuela-closes-in-on-petro-an-oil-backed-cryptocurrency.html
Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro says each petro will be worth the equivalent of one barrel of oil, and he has specifically designated the oil from field one of the Ayacucho block in the Orinoco region of Venezuela, which contains more than 5 billion barrels.
The government's explicit desire to evade sanctions bothers those who want to legitimize blockchain.
Ultimately, Satten says what Venezuela is trying to achieve isn't a cryptocurrency, but "a digitized barter system that sidesteps the global financial system
__________
"Rafael Ramirez, the former head of the PDVSA state oil company, is wanted on suspicion of money laundering and embezzlement, Attorney General Tarek William Saab said.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/the_americas/venezuela-prosecutor-orders-arrest-of-former-state-oil-chief/2018/01/25/da178b72-021a-11e8-86b9-8908743c79dd_story.html?utm_term=.dcae57291689
Ramirez’s associates have been a target of the Saab-led crackdown on corruption at the troubled PDVSA that began late last year. Dozens of officials have been arrested, including two former oil ministers and Ramirez’s cousin, Diego Salazar.
Salazar is jailed on suspicion of helping siphon off $1.6 billion to banks in the European principality of Andorra.
Ramirez, who ran PDVSA for more than a decade, resigned from his three-year U.N. post in early December on orders from Maduro. Both were close to the late President Hugo Chavez,"
____________
Citgo is a U.S. company with a more than 100-year history that was acquired by Venezuela's state-run oil company nearly 30 years ago.
Citgo now acts as the U.S. refining and gasoline marketing arm of Venezuela.
https://www.chron.com/business/energy/article/Citgo-says-it-will-keep-its-headquarters-in-12498764.php
_____________
Sarayaku also has an initiative, known as Kawsak Sacha,
or ‘Living Forest’, to protect their territory and resources
based on their traditional wisdom and worldview.
This groundbreaking concept that redefines what is currently
understood as a ‘forest’, bridging biological function with
unique indigenous cosmovision of the relationship between
ecosystem and the humans who inhabit it. Kawsak
Sacha recognizes that the forest is made up entirely of
living beings and the communicative relations they have
with each other.
Efforts are under way to obtain international
recognition for Sarayaku’s ‘living forest’ as a sacred
natural area free from extraction before the IUCN, U.N.
Convention on Biological Diversity among others.
Venezuela Oil Bribery of Trump, Oklahoma Usual Suspects, Massey
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Massey_Energy
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Massey_Energy
____________
"Venezuela's state oil company PDVSA said on Sept. 21 it has awarded $3.2 billion in contracts to drill wells in the Orinoco Belt
This time around, Schlumberger Ltd. (NYSE: SLB), Okla.-based contractor Horizontal Well Drillers and Venezuelan contractor Y&V won contracts to service three joint ventures (JV) between PDVSA and foreign partners, PDVSA said."
https://www.epmag.com/venezuelas-pdvsa-awards-32-billion-oil-service-contracts-1364192
__________________
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-08-09/no-name-u-s-oil-driller-gets-shot-at-world-s-biggest-reserves
"Not only is Horizontal an unfamiliar player in the industry, few people seem to know much about it in its own hometown of Purcell, Oklahoma, population 6,442.
The head of the local chamber of commerce, who works just down the road, said she’s never heard of the rig contractor.
A city councilman who owns an exploration and production company said he wasn’t even aware Horizontal’s founder had sold it about four years ago to new owners.
Officials at PDVSA declined to comment for this story. Swanson, 42, who has an MBA from Stanford University, didn’t respond to phone calls.
He has worked previously as an analyst, including for Dan Loeb’s activist hedge fund Third Point LLC.
He served for about 11 months with Loeb
on the board of Massey Energy Co.
when Third Point was agitating for change at the coal company in 2006 and 2007.
Four years ago Swanson married Maria Taft, the great-great granddaughter of President William Howard Taft.
Maduro congratulated Swanson for “a win-win association.” He also asked the CEO to share something with President Donald Trump.
“Tell Trump that one day I hope to give him my hand and talk face to face, with respect,” Maduro said.
“I want good relations with Trump.”
Whether Swanson has any ties to Trump is unclear
_________________
"The timing of the deal is curious considering the country is on the verge of economic collapse.
Numerous corporations have stopped doing business there.
More than 20 have filed cases against the Venezuelan government at the World Bank after their assets were seized by the socialist government.
And when it comes to oil, Venezuela's most important sector, the country is struggling to pay its bills — issuing promissory notes because it can't come up with the cash.
According to their latest quarterly reports, Halliburton has $429 million in outstanding bills; Schlumberger has about $700 million. Baker Hughes has $100 million in receivables and inventory at risk in Venezuela.
And the red flags don't end there. PDVSA is also at the center of an ongoing bribery investigation by the U.S. Department of Justice.
https://www.cnbc.com/2017/11/10/an-oklahoma-oil-companys-deal-in-venezuela-raises-questions.html
_________
Board of directors[edit]
Baxter F. Phillips Jr., president and CEO, Massey Energy
James B. Crawford, former chairman and CEO, James River Coal Company
General Robert H. Foglesong, retired four-star general, U.S. Air Force
Richard M. Gabrys, former vice chairman, Deloitte & Touche LLP
Robert B. Holland, former director, Financial Guaranty Insurance Corporation
Admiral Bobby Inman, former director, National Security Agency
Dan R. Moore, chairman, Moore Group, Inc.
Stanley C. Suboleski, former commissioner, Federal Mine Safety and Health Review Commission
Linda J. Welty, former president and Chief Operating Officer, H. B. Fuller and Flint Ink
In October 2000, a coal slurry impoundment owned by Martin County Coal Company, a Massey Energy subsidiary in Martin County, Kentucky, suddenly breached and released over 200 million gallons of coal slurry into two mountain streams, Coldwater Creek and Wolf Creek.[29]
The Martin County coal slurry spill was called the worst ever environmental disaster in the southeastern United States by the EPA.
The spill smothered all aquatic life in the streams and left residents with contaminated drinking water. Cleanup costs for the spill were approximately $50 million
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Massey_Energy
"On April 5, 2010, an explosion at Massey owned Performance Coal Co. mine in Montcoal, West Virginia resulted in the deaths of 29 miners.
The explosion, which has become known as the Upper Big Branch Mine disaster, is the worst mining disaster in 40 years, with a greater loss of life than in any mining accident since the 1970s.
The federal Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) released its final report on December 6, 2011, concluding that flagrant safety violations contributed to a coal dust explosion.
It issued 369 citations at that time, assessing $10.8 million in penalties.
________
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Massey_Energy
____________
"Venezuela's state oil company PDVSA said on Sept. 21 it has awarded $3.2 billion in contracts to drill wells in the Orinoco Belt
This time around, Schlumberger Ltd. (NYSE: SLB), Okla.-based contractor Horizontal Well Drillers and Venezuelan contractor Y&V won contracts to service three joint ventures (JV) between PDVSA and foreign partners, PDVSA said."
https://www.epmag.com/venezuelas-pdvsa-awards-32-billion-oil-service-contracts-1364192
__________________
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-08-09/no-name-u-s-oil-driller-gets-shot-at-world-s-biggest-reserves
"Not only is Horizontal an unfamiliar player in the industry, few people seem to know much about it in its own hometown of Purcell, Oklahoma, population 6,442.
The head of the local chamber of commerce, who works just down the road, said she’s never heard of the rig contractor.
A city councilman who owns an exploration and production company said he wasn’t even aware Horizontal’s founder had sold it about four years ago to new owners.
Officials at PDVSA declined to comment for this story. Swanson, 42, who has an MBA from Stanford University, didn’t respond to phone calls.
He has worked previously as an analyst, including for Dan Loeb’s activist hedge fund Third Point LLC.
He served for about 11 months with Loeb
on the board of Massey Energy Co.
when Third Point was agitating for change at the coal company in 2006 and 2007.
Four years ago Swanson married Maria Taft, the great-great granddaughter of President William Howard Taft.
Maduro congratulated Swanson for “a win-win association.” He also asked the CEO to share something with President Donald Trump.
“Tell Trump that one day I hope to give him my hand and talk face to face, with respect,” Maduro said.
“I want good relations with Trump.”
Whether Swanson has any ties to Trump is unclear
_________________
"The timing of the deal is curious considering the country is on the verge of economic collapse.
Numerous corporations have stopped doing business there.
More than 20 have filed cases against the Venezuelan government at the World Bank after their assets were seized by the socialist government.
And when it comes to oil, Venezuela's most important sector, the country is struggling to pay its bills — issuing promissory notes because it can't come up with the cash.
According to their latest quarterly reports, Halliburton has $429 million in outstanding bills; Schlumberger has about $700 million. Baker Hughes has $100 million in receivables and inventory at risk in Venezuela.
And the red flags don't end there. PDVSA is also at the center of an ongoing bribery investigation by the U.S. Department of Justice.
https://www.cnbc.com/2017/11/10/an-oklahoma-oil-companys-deal-in-venezuela-raises-questions.html
_________
Board of directors[edit]
Baxter F. Phillips Jr., president and CEO, Massey Energy
James B. Crawford, former chairman and CEO, James River Coal Company
General Robert H. Foglesong, retired four-star general, U.S. Air Force
Richard M. Gabrys, former vice chairman, Deloitte & Touche LLP
Robert B. Holland, former director, Financial Guaranty Insurance Corporation
Admiral Bobby Inman, former director, National Security Agency
Dan R. Moore, chairman, Moore Group, Inc.
Stanley C. Suboleski, former commissioner, Federal Mine Safety and Health Review Commission
Linda J. Welty, former president and Chief Operating Officer, H. B. Fuller and Flint Ink
In October 2000, a coal slurry impoundment owned by Martin County Coal Company, a Massey Energy subsidiary in Martin County, Kentucky, suddenly breached and released over 200 million gallons of coal slurry into two mountain streams, Coldwater Creek and Wolf Creek.[29]
The Martin County coal slurry spill was called the worst ever environmental disaster in the southeastern United States by the EPA.
The spill smothered all aquatic life in the streams and left residents with contaminated drinking water. Cleanup costs for the spill were approximately $50 million
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Massey_Energy
"On April 5, 2010, an explosion at Massey owned Performance Coal Co. mine in Montcoal, West Virginia resulted in the deaths of 29 miners.
The explosion, which has become known as the Upper Big Branch Mine disaster, is the worst mining disaster in 40 years, with a greater loss of life than in any mining accident since the 1970s.
The federal Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) released its final report on December 6, 2011, concluding that flagrant safety violations contributed to a coal dust explosion.
It issued 369 citations at that time, assessing $10.8 million in penalties.
________
Cryptocurrency Eats the Planet Earth
"SAN FRANCISCO — Creating a new Bitcoin requires electricity. A lot of it.
In the virtual currency world this creation process is called “mining.” There is no physical digging, since Bitcoins are purely digital.
But the computer power needed to create each digital token consumes at least as much electricity as the average American household burns through in two years, according to figures from Morgan Stanley and Alex de Vries, an economist who tracks energy use in the industry.
The total network of computers plugged into the Bitcoin network consumes as much energy each day as some medium-size countries — which country depends on whose estimates you believe.
And the network supporting Ethereum, the second-most valuable virtual currency, gobbles up another country’s worth of electricity each day.
The energy consumption of these systems has risen as the prices of virtual currencies have skyrocketed, leading to a vigorous debate among Bitcoin and Ethereum enthusiasts about burning so much electricity."
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/01/21/technology/bitcoin-mining-energy-consumption.html
_____________
Saturday, January 27, 2018
Woody Guthrie, Deportee, Fascism
Guthrie saw the battle against fascism as the ultimate battle of good versus evil.
Deportee
The crops are all in
And the peaches are rotting
The oranges piled up
In their creosote dumps
You're flying 'em back
To the Mexican border
To spend all their money
To wade back again
Good bye to my Juan
Goodbye Rosalita
Adios mis amigos Jesus why Maria
You won't have a name
When you ride the big airplane
All they will call you
Will be "deportees"
Some of us are illegal
And others not wanted
Our work contract's up
And we have to move on
Six hundred miles to that Mexican border
They chase us like outlaws
Like rustlers, like thieves
Good bye to my Juan
Goodbye Rosalita
Adios mis amigos Jesus why Maria
You won't have a name
When you ride the big airplane
All they will call you
Will be "deportees"
The skyplane caught fire
Over Los Gatos Canyon
A fireball of lightning
Shook all our hills
Who are all these friends
Who are scattered like dried leaves
The radio said
They were just "deportees"
Good bye to my Juan
Goodbye Rosalita
Adios mis amigos Jesus why Maria
You won't have a name
When you ride the big airplane
All they will call you
Will be "deportees"
In Guthrie's opposition to fascism, he conceptualized the ideology "as a form of economic exploitation similar to slavery," straightforwardly denouncing the fascists - particularly their leaders - as a group of gangsters who set out to 'rob the world'."
_________
"Portland is a place where rich ones run away to settle down and grow flowers and shrubbery to hide them from the massacres they've caused.
Portland is the rose garden town where the red, brown, blackshirt cops ride up and down to show you their finest horses and saddles and gunmetal.
Mentally Portland is the deadest spot you ever walked through. She's a good 30 years behind Seattle"
http://www.oregonlive.com/history/2016/05/woody_guthries_tiny_portland_a.html
"With guitar slung over his shoulder, the folk singer walked out of 6111 S.E. 92nd Ave. alone and started hitchhiking east.
Portland lawyer Gus Solomon, namesake of Portland's federal courthouse, picked up the hitchhiker and drove Guthrie as far as The Dalles."
Fugs Grope Trump
The Fugs indoctrinated the young Don Trump in his formative bohemian youth, in the sewers of SOHO where his carnal whims and silk underwear made no one question his swastika armband.
"You ask about my philosophy, baby, yeah
Dope, peace, magic
And gods in the tree trunks and a
Group grope, baby
Group grope, baby
Group Grope, baby
Back seat boogie for high school kids
Students fuck the teach
Daughters fuck the preach and
Group grope, baby
Group grope, baby
Group grope group grope baby
Down on that Kataleptic Farm
Where we farm that old asparagus
We have that K-Y community
Down on that Kataleptic Farm
And baby
Group Grope, baby
Group Grope, baby
Group grope group grope baby
It feels so good!
You ask about my philosophy, baby, yeah
Dope, peace, magic
And gods in the tree trunks and a
Group grope, baby
Group grope, baby
Group grope group grope baby
Back seat boogie for high school kids
Students fuck the teach
Daughters fuck the preach and
Group grope, baby
Group grope, baby
Group grope group grope baby
Come on Fugs, let's roll!
"Oh baby does it feel so good inside you, baby!"
"Oh, you want it, do you want more? Do you want more?"
It feels so good, I want it, I want it! Oh!"
You ask about my philosophy, baby, yeah
Dope, peace, magic
And gods in the tree trunks and a
Group grope, baby
Group grope, baby
Group grope group grope baby
It feels so good!
It feels so very good!
It feels so good!
All night long!
All night long!
All night long!
All night long!
All night long!"
[fade]https://genius.com/The-fugs-group-grope-lyrics
"You ask about my philosophy, baby, yeah
Dope, peace, magic
And gods in the tree trunks and a
Group grope, baby
Group grope, baby
Group Grope, baby
Back seat boogie for high school kids
Students fuck the teach
Daughters fuck the preach and
Group grope, baby
Group grope, baby
Group grope group grope baby
Down on that Kataleptic Farm
Where we farm that old asparagus
We have that K-Y community
Down on that Kataleptic Farm
And baby
Group Grope, baby
Group Grope, baby
Group grope group grope baby
It feels so good!
You ask about my philosophy, baby, yeah
Dope, peace, magic
And gods in the tree trunks and a
Group grope, baby
Group grope, baby
Group grope group grope baby
Back seat boogie for high school kids
Students fuck the teach
Daughters fuck the preach and
Group grope, baby
Group grope, baby
Group grope group grope baby
Come on Fugs, let's roll!
"Oh baby does it feel so good inside you, baby!"
"Oh, you want it, do you want more? Do you want more?"
It feels so good, I want it, I want it! Oh!"
You ask about my philosophy, baby, yeah
Dope, peace, magic
And gods in the tree trunks and a
Group grope, baby
Group grope, baby
Group grope group grope baby
It feels so good!
It feels so very good!
It feels so good!
All night long!
All night long!
All night long!
All night long!
All night long!"
[fade]https://genius.com/The-fugs-group-grope-lyrics
Will Rogers State of the Trump Burlesque
Wll said, "There are three kinds of men.
The one that learns by reading.
The few who learn by observation.
The rest of them have to pee on the Moscow Ritz electric fence for themselves.
____________________
"William Penn Adair "Will" Rogers (November 4, 1879 – August 15, 1935) was a stage and motion picture actor, vaudeville performer, American cowboy, humorist, newspaper columnist, and social commentator from Oklahoma.
Of mixed race, he identified as Cherokee, as his parents did.
His father, Clement, was a leader in the Cherokee Nation. An attorney and Cherokee judge, he was a Confederate veteran.
"Good judgment comes from experience, and a lot of that comes from bad judgment."
He served as a delegate to the Oklahoma Constitutional Convention. Rogers County, Oklahoma, is named in honor of him. He served several terms in the Cherokee Senate.
Clement Rogers achieved financial success as a rancher and used his influence to help soften the negative effects of white acculturation on his people."
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Will_Rogers
Rogers quipped that his ancestors did not come over on the Mayflower, but they "met the boat".
___________
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paradise_Roof_Garden
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paradise_Roof_Garden
Rogers later recalled these early years:
I got a job on Hammerstein's Roof at $140 a week for myself, my horse, and the man who looked after it.
I remained on the roof for eight weeks, always getting another two week extension when Willie Hammerstein would say to me after the Monday matinee, 'you're good for two weeks more'...
Marty Shea, the booking agent for the Columbia, came to me and asked if I wanted to play burlesque.
__________
Before his death, the state of Oklahoma commissioned a statue of Rogers, to be displayed as one of the two it has in the National Statuary Hall Collection of the United States Capitol.
Rogers agreed on the condition that his image would be placed facing the House Chamber, supposedly so he could "keep an eye on Congress".
Of the statues in this part of the Capitol, the Rogers sculpture is the only one facing the Chamber entrance.
According to Capitol guides, each US president rubs the left shoe of the Rogers statue for good luck before entering the House Chamber to give the State of the Union address.
http://thehill.com/capital-living/329753-will-rogers-still-watches-the-lawmakers-he-loved-to-spoof
Wa-Tho-Huk
The Associated Press named him the "greatest athlete" from the first 50 years of the 20th century,
Thorpe's parents were both of mixed-race ancestry. His father, Hiram Thorpe, had an Irish father and a Sac and Fox Indian mother.
His mother, Charlotte Vieux, had a French father and a Potawatomi mother, a descendant of Chief Louis Vieux. He was raised as a Sac and Fox, and his native name, Wa-Tho-Huk, translated as "path lit by great flash of lightning" or, more simply, "Bright Path".
As was the custom for Sac and Fox, he was named for something occurring around the time of his birth, in this case the light brightening the path to the cabin where he was born.
King Gustav said, "You, sir, are the greatest athlete in the world", to which Thorpe replied, "Thanks, King".
________
Future President Dwight Eisenhower, who played against him that season, recalled of Thorpe in a 1961 speech:
"Here and there, there are some people who are supremely endowed. My memory goes back to Jim Thorpe.
He never practiced in his life, and he could do anything better than any other football player I ever saw."
_______
Considered one of the most versatile athletes of modern sports, he won Olympic gold medals in the 1912 pentathlon and decathlon, and played American football (collegiate and professional), professional baseball, and basketball.
He lost his Olympic titles after it was found he had been paid for playing two seasons of semi-professional baseball before competing in the Olympics, thus violating the amateurism rules that were then in place.
In 1983, 30 years after his death, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) restored his Olympic medals.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jim_Thorpe
Thorpe's parents were both of mixed-race ancestry. His father, Hiram Thorpe, had an Irish father and a Sac and Fox Indian mother.
His mother, Charlotte Vieux, had a French father and a Potawatomi mother, a descendant of Chief Louis Vieux. He was raised as a Sac and Fox, and his native name, Wa-Tho-Huk, translated as "path lit by great flash of lightning" or, more simply, "Bright Path".
As was the custom for Sac and Fox, he was named for something occurring around the time of his birth, in this case the light brightening the path to the cabin where he was born.
King Gustav said, "You, sir, are the greatest athlete in the world", to which Thorpe replied, "Thanks, King".
________
Future President Dwight Eisenhower, who played against him that season, recalled of Thorpe in a 1961 speech:
"Here and there, there are some people who are supremely endowed. My memory goes back to Jim Thorpe.
He never practiced in his life, and he could do anything better than any other football player I ever saw."
_______
Considered one of the most versatile athletes of modern sports, he won Olympic gold medals in the 1912 pentathlon and decathlon, and played American football (collegiate and professional), professional baseball, and basketball.
He lost his Olympic titles after it was found he had been paid for playing two seasons of semi-professional baseball before competing in the Olympics, thus violating the amateurism rules that were then in place.
In 1983, 30 years after his death, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) restored his Olympic medals.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jim_Thorpe
kingfisher
The West Edmond Field was Oklahoma's most important oil discovery of the 1940s. It developed through the persistence of Ace Gutowsky, who claimed to know the location of potential oil fields by using so-called "doodlebug" techniques, a modification of the divining rod.
He was convinced that oil was located to the west of the Edmond, Britton, and Oklahoma City fields, but reputable petroleum geologists dismissed his claims due to a lack of adequate geological and geophysical evidence.
Gutowsky found a backer for his project in D. D. Bourland of San Antonio, Texas.
They spudded in on the Number One Wagner on January 2, 1943, in the NW 1/4 of the NW 1/4 of the SW 1/4 of Section 32, T14N-R4W, Oklahoma County, a few miles west of Edmond.
The well came in on April 28, 1943.
_________
Almost immediately pipeline service was established, with the bulk of the production going to the Champlin Oil Refinery at Enid.
The West Edmond Field produced 7,752,000 barrels of oil in 1944 to temporarily bring the state's sagging oil production to 1.5 million barrels more than the previous year. The field contributed to yet another statewide increase of 15 million barrels in 1945.
http://www.okhistory.org/publications/enc/entry.php?entry=WE013
_________
Gutowsky's father, Assaph "Ace" Gutowsky, was in the oil business.[19][20] He became convinced that a major petroleum deposit lay under the area north of Oklahoma City and scouted the area extensively.[21]
In 1942 or 1943, Gutowsky's father discovered an oil field at West Edmond, Oklahoma, that was estimated at 117,000,000 barrels.
[22] Gutowsky's father discovered the oil field using a "doodlebug," a "homemade divining rod"[22] and "struck it rich" as several major oil companies bought leases from him.[22][23]
By 1944, Time magazine called the West Edmond field the "greatest concentration of rotary drilling rigs in the world."[23]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ace_Gutowsky
purgatorial passage
doodlebugging presaged passage
between one monster
or the other,
i say feed Scylla a full gold platter
of putanesca,
lest she rage once more
her rocky Rococo shore
& arrange flowers for Charybdis,
upright and splayed
as axial teases for his whirling vortices
his board room of wine dealing illuminati
his slain sylvan collection
of salt water locked ship-skeletons
the maw of columbia and she who watches
concentric invitations to become sand,
the handshake deals of sheiks
&typhoons from out of state, that's par
south of the gold toilet bowl danger
flushes north, to melt ice in dunce fed anger
over a war on xmas,
its Rococo swiss village,
delegations lost in the scrum
tunnel to the gas chambers of fossil fuel
appetizers and hooks await
tack at one's own peril
and offer olives amidst weary glaciers,
making full hands lousy swimming accessories
thunk odysseus thunk joe sixpack
thunk USA
spin cycle cyclops