Stephen Lendman

From the start, Obama administration and BP officials lied and deceived the public about the Gulf spill's severity, BP CEO Tony Hayward saying (on May 18) its environmental effect will be "very modest," when, in fact, it's already catastrophic, spreading, causing long-term or permanent ecological destruction over a vast area, will likely persist for months, and, according to some experts perhaps years if nothing tried to stop it works.

Initially, BP reported a 1,000 barrels per day leak, then 5,000 after the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's (NOAA) estimate, while independent analysis of company supplied video and satellite imagery suggest somewhere between 50 - 100,000 barrels, the consensus settling on 70,000 or an Exxon Valdez equivalent every 3.5 days - by far, America's greatest ever environmental disaster, worsening daily.

On May 19, McClatchy Newspapers Marisa Taylor and Renee Schoof headlined, "BP Withholds Oil Spill Facts - and Government Lets It," saying:

It "hasn't publicly divulged the results of tests on the extent of workers' exposure to evaporating oil or from the burning of crude....even though researchers say that data is crucial in determining whether the conditions are safe."

Further, BP isn't monitoring conditions or releasing videos, and the Obama administration isn't pressing it despite experts, like University of Miami's fisheries biologist Peter Ortner saying "We have been screaming from day one for" it.

Eric Peters

You never who you are dealing with during a traffic stop. That goes for the person being pulled as much as it does for the cop doing the pulling-over.

Motorcyclist Michael McCloskey, Jr. found that out earlier this month when he was shot in the back by Ottawa Hills, Ohio police officer Thomas White after a not-so-routine traffic stop.

White claims McCloskey (and his riding buddy) committed several moving violations, which prompted him to turn on his flashing lights and attempt a traffic stop. The bikes pull over (video here) and so far, all seems straightforward. McCloskey can be seen rotating his torso while seated on his bike to face the cop, apparently trying (reasonably) to find out what he wants. McCloskey then reaches into his jacket—another normal, reasonable thing to do—probably for his wallet and paperwork. At this precise moment, White suddenly opens fire, striking McCloskey at least once—severing his spine. In the video you see the biker toppling to the pavement with White rushing over, weapon still aimed directly at him.

Officer White was subsequently charged with felonious assault with a gun; he was found guilty and faces the possibility of up to 11 years in prison. [Jury: Ottawa Hills Officer White guilty, May 14 2010.]

McCloskey is recovering in the hospital. He is reportedly paralyzed from the waist down. His sentence will last much longer than 11 years.

Kirk Myers

In the following interview, Dr. Willie Soon, a solar and climate scientist at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, questions the prevailing dogma of man-made global warming and challenges his peers to “take back climate science.” His remarks are his personal opinion based upon 19 years of scientific research.

Examiner.com: What drives climate change on Earth?

Dr. Soon: Most of the weather and climate variations we observed are essentially related to the sun and the changing seasons – not by CO2 radiative forcing and feedback. The climate system is constantly readjusting naturally in a large way – more than we would ever see from CO2. The CO2 kick [impact of CO2 emissions] is extremely small compared to what is happening in a natural way. Within the framework of a proper study of the sun-climate connection, you don’t need CO2 to explain anything.

Examiner.com: What is your opinion of the anthropogenic (man-caused) global warming theory?

Dr. Soon: It’s never been about the science – even from the very beginning. It’s based on confusion and a mixture of ideology. We should deal only in the facts that we do know.