ya know the chips on the passports supposedly to help with "tamper proof". These idiots awarded the contract to an unsecure plant in Thailand. They claimed no one in the U.S. could do it. That is B.S. There are all sorts of FABS around the U.S., many closed down. Oh gee, they might have had to retool but I sincerely doubt no U.S. company bid on that or they couldn't dig out a U.S. company.

Just beyond pathetic!

Well, at least BP had one engineer!

BP took measures to cut costs in the weeks before the catastrophic blowout in the Gulf of Mexico as it dealt with one problem after another, prompting a BP engineer to describe the doomed rig as a "nightmare well," according to internal documents released Monday.

The comment by BP engineer Brian Morel came in an e-mail April 14, six days before the Deepwater Horizon rig explosion that killed 11 people and has sent tens of millions of gallons of oil into the Gulf in the nation's worst environmental disaster.

But I disagree with you --- they've gotten it all figured out in this country.

Look at Richard Clarke, the former National Security Director for the Clinton Administration (when they transferred the most sensitive and classified military technology to China) and the Bush Administration (when they transferred the most sensitive and classified military technology to China).

Beginning to see a pattern here?? And, Clarke than writes a book complaining about (the obvious?) this, while claiming the very same corporations -- who offshored the technology and jobs to China -- are also worried about Internet security and the Chinese.

What's wrong with this picture?

Nope, you're right, Dorgan's amendment never made it to the vote!

And I have absolute suspicious about Lincoln's (Arkansas) supposed derivatives regulation amendment --- I'm almost certain that was one of those false-front deals whereby she told the powers-that-be she was proposing it for her own election self-promotion.

Just like Senator Cantwell and Senator Feingold's recent vote against this so-called finacial regulation reform: Sen. Feingold's vote rings true -- it is absolutely consistent with his voting record!

Cantwell's vote against it DOESN'T RING AT ALL -- her record is completely inconsistent with her vote against it!

Just like Dorgan's amendment -- the closest thing to a public option on that Health Insurance Reform -- to come out of the Senate: Both Washington senators (Murray and Cantwell) voted against it -- completely consistent with their Bush-dog dem voting records!

Dorgan was one of the last, few hopes left in the Senate (along with Feingold, and possibly Sanders and what's-his-face from Minnesota, Al?? -- and in the House it's only Kucinich, DeFazio, Kaptur??).

Considering how much of the world, from national security to billions in profits is completely dependent upon Science and Technology, this is a fundamental issue of these people trying to make money off of engineers all the while screwing them over not only in terms of money but in terms of power.

China, on their economic policy committee, almost all of them have an engineering background....so while the U.S. is stuck on stupid, flaying their arms around on a host of things, China is busy engineering an economic global takeover.

I just read the latest which will come out in the hearing. BP is so negligent, so beyond the pale stupid, just ignoring physics and technical realities. They blew up those guys, bottom line, plus all of this was so avoidable and that's with the technology they had, not even what they should have.

But this goes to a host of things. Stupid crap which just now the U.S. is figuring it out....which I wrote up so many times...uh, sending your R&D in engineering overseas will guarantee sabotage and industrial espionage..lo, behold, they are finding all sorts of code bombs, worms etc. in various COTS hardware components which are now made overseas.

Duh. It's not just BP, this is rampant.

I have to agree with you this time --- but I cribbed from a bunch of people and experts this time, so I had to give them credit, after all....

But the fundamental point with BP, and the vast majority of other companies, is exactly WHEN has engineering had any input into anything?????

From BP's ripe history, it would appear very little to never. A union shop, with sound engineers running things, would have had multiple contingency plans in place in such circumstances, as well as have taken pressure readings from the get-go.

They are going to try to pump up additional oil/gas temporarily through a choke line attached to the damaged BOP to increase the flow.

hmmmm, that sounds scary. There are so many variables and while some bloggers made a huge deal of ruptured well disks, which I noted a long time ago, why people assume everything down there is known, stable, just find and dandy is ridiculous. The damn thing blew up, the damn 5 story BOP failed. it's damaged, there is something wrong with this and nobody even knows what that is.

Again, this is not to say BP is not evil, of course they are, but the engineering of this, from which all things flow, is nasty and having politicians or even management tell engineers what to do, can lead to disaster. Think NASA Challenger and O-rings.

The Obama administration wants a $20 billion dollar escrow fund from BP, which sent it's shares further in the tank. The Oil Drum has some additional cost calculations from the ban on deepsea offshore oil drilling.

Roughly 33% of nation’s domestically produced oil comes from the Gulf of Mexico, and 10% of the nation’s natural gas.

80% of the Gulf’s oil, and 45% of its natural gas comes from operations in more than 1000 feet of water – the deepwater (2009 data).

Suspension of operations means roughly 33 floating drilling rigs – typically leased for hundreds of thousands of dollars per day – will be idled for six months or longer.

$250,000 to $500,000 per day, per rig – results in roughly $8,250,000 to $16,500,000 per day in costs for idle rigs;
Secondary impacts include:
• Supply boats – 2 boats per rig with day rates of $15,000/day per boat - $30,000/day for 33 rigs – nearly $1 million/day
• Impacts to other supplies and related support services (i.e., welders, divers, caterers, transportation, etc.)

Jobs –

Each drilling platform averages 90 to 140 employees at any one time (2 shifts per day), and 180 to 280 for 2 2-week shifts
Each E&P job supports 4 other positions

Therefore, 800 to 1400 jobs per idle rig platform are at risk
Wages for those jobs average $1,804/weekly; potential for lost wages is huge, over $5 to $10 million for 1 month – per platform.
Wages lost could be over $165 to $330 million/month for all 33 platforms

On the other hand, another disaster is way more costly than the above.

These are blood pressure medications in the ARB class and there is a new study, which of course big pharma is trying to debunk, showing a 1.5% cancer risk increase.

It sure seems to me Medical Doctors and big Pharma are not in the business of saving lives anymore but they sure are in the business of making money.

Anyone notice that we could use a study on how many lives are saved when a nation has socialized, not for profit medical/dental vs. this. We have life expectancy numbers quoted all of the time, but per year, what's the rate of screw ups, deaths, disfigurements and the rest of these things, attributed to someone making a buck off of someone claiming they are providing medical care vs. a socialized medicine country?

We know the costs themselves are much lower in socialized medicine nations but what's the above?

(and yes, considering our government incompetent, ineffective government, I do understand the argument against government run anything, on the other hand, ya have to look to the VA and Medicaid/Medicare as good examples of socialized medicine in the U.S.)