Breaking News Thread

[Flynbyu]

CNN's website had photos of the bat clinging to the tank.

~Brian

[Flynbyu]

Jenna Jameson pulls two guys out of her




Jenna Jameson gave birth to twin boys Monday morning, according to Us Magazine:

"They're in very good health," her rep tells Us.

"She's been taking it easy and even had to be in a wheelchair during one of Tito's events in Las Vegas," a source told Us when Jameson was just shy of eight months pregnant. "She's very excited to be a mom."

Early reports say both babies were able to walk right out of the birth canal standing straight up. Doctors proclaimed it a miracle until Peter North backed his Mercedes out and drove to Starbucks. So that's where he's been....



~Brian

[Krandall]

The botox in her face is going to ruin her in 10 years.

[Flynbyu]

Mother f*ckers.

Crude closed at $33.87 a barrel earlier this winter, and that's likely the lowest we'll see for some time.

Oil prices crossed the $50 a barrel mark Thursday, the first time since early January. Thursday's uptick is largely due to the falling dollar, but the underlying fundamentals in the oil market indicate low prices are behind us.

While demand remains abysmal, production cuts from OPEC and scaled-back investments from oil companies are beginning to curtail supplies.

That, say analysts, means crude prices won't likely trade below the $40 range they've been locked in for the last three weeks.

"OPEC cuts are taking hold," Adam Sieminski, chief energy economist at Deutsche Bank, wrote in a recent research note. "Looking into the second quarter we believe oil prices are starting to find a floor."

OPEC has been ratcheting back production since late last year. While the cartel often has trouble making some cash-strapped members actually comply with the production cuts, this time around nearly everyone is on board.

OPEC has announced production cuts totaling 4.2 million barrels a day, and is thought to have achieved at least 80% of that so far, according to the research firm Platts.

Production in non-OPEC countries has also tightened, as deteriorating economic conditions force companies to cut back their exploration and production efforts.

0:00 /4:29Shell's offshore priorities
All this is beginning to show up in U.S. inventories.

During the first part of the year, crude oil stored at refineries, tank farms and other places in the U.S. soared, often swelling by 5 or 6 million barrels a week, according to the government's Energy Information Administration.

Now those gains have been cut way back. Wednesday showed a gain of 2 million barrels, but the week before inventories dropped by 200,000 barrels.

"All these are signs that the physical market is tightening," said Nauman Barakat, an energy trader at Macquarie Futures, the trading arm of Macquarie investment bank.

Demand is the other side of the oil price equation.

At first glance the numbers seem terrible.

February demand for oil in the U.S. was at its lowest level since 1999, according to the American Petroleum Institute.

Diesel, used in trucks and trains, was particularly hard hit as freight shipments have been slashed during the recession, dropped a staggering 12%, according to API.

But that's not the whole story.

Gasoline demand in the U.S. actually rose 2%, which API said may be attributed to lower gas prices.

And overseas much has been made of China's drop in oil imports. But Barakat said those numbers may be misleading, as they compare to a period last year when the country was stockpiling oil ahead of the Olympic games.

"You could make a compelling case for stability, maybe even higher prices" in the coming months, said Paul Smith, chief risk officer for Mobius Risk Group, which secures energy contracts for producers and users of oil.

Long way from $147
But if prices may creep higher over the next several months, no one is calling for a return to last summer's record prices anytime soon.

First off, when OPEC decided to hold off on another production cut at its meeting last weekend, analysts took it as a sign that the cartel is keen to keep prices low to protect the economy.

"Leading OPEC members, particularly Saudi Arabia, do not want to risk - even if a low probability - a potential over-tightening of production which could send prices quickly back above $60 per barrel," Greg Priddy, global oil analyst at the consultancy Eurasia Group, wrote in a research report earlier this week.

But more important is the amount of capacity the world now has. When oil passed $147 last summer, the difference between what the world could produce and what it consumed had narrowed to 1 or 2 million barrels a day.

That narrow margin brought geopolitics into play, as a supply disruption from one part of the world would mean there may suddenly be a shortage of oil.

The specter of an actual shortage - and the surge in prices that would surely follow - attracted investors, who at the time could borrow vast sums of money and push prices even higher.

A return to all those conditions is needed before anyone thinks crude will test those old highs. Most importantly, that margin of production must return to the 1 or 2 million barrels a day range from its current fluffy cushion of 4 or 5 million barrels a day.

For that to happen, the world's economy needs to start humming again. 



~Brian

[Krandall]

I have no problem w/ gas being @ $2.... honestly.. But if it gets above 2.00 you bet people will start screaming.

[robkd]

too late here.........we are expected to get back to $3 a gallon by the end of the summer if it keeps rising the way it is

[Krandall]

2 US Navy vessels collide in Strait of Hormuz
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090320/ap_on_re_mi_ea/ml_us_navy_ships_collide


MANAMA, Bahrain – Two U.S. Navy vessels — a nuclear-powered submarine and an amphibious ship — collided before dawn Friday in the mouth of the Persian Gulf, one of the world's most important sea passages for oil supplies.

There was no damage to the sub's nuclear propulsion system and no disruption to shipping in the strategic Strait of Hormuz, through which a fifth of the world's oil passes, said Navy spokesman Lt. Nate Christensen, with the Bahrain-based 5th Fleet.

Still, the unusual collision between members of the same navy sparked a sudden rise in oil prices — which had been declining on the day — even though the strait remained open.

Benchmark crude for April delivery had traded lower for most of the morning, but then erased those losses and rose 39 cents to $52 on the New York Mercantile Exchange. In London, Brent prices rose 50 cents to $51.17 on the ICE Futures exchange.

Still, with pressure pulling prices down in the financial crisis, the rise was nowhere near what would have been expected months ago, when such a collision would likely have sent prices skyrocketing.

The incident occurred around 1:00 a.m. local time Friday (5 p.m. EDT, Thursday), when the USS Hartford, a submarine, and the USS New Orleans, an amphibious ship, collided into each other in the narrow Strait of Hormuz, the 5th Fleet said in a statement.

The New Orleans suffered a ruptured fuel tank, resulting in an oil spill of approximately 25,000 gallons (95,000 liters) of diesel fuel, Christensen said.

According to the Bahrain-based 5th Fleet, 15 sailors aboard the Hartford were slightly injured but able to return to duty. No injuries were reported aboard the New Orleans and both ships are currently operating under their own power.

"The spill is closely monitored," Christensen said. "The lightweight diesel, although obviously a fairly substantial amount of gasoline, likely dissipated in the ocean."

Military analyst Loren Thompson of the U.S.-based Lexington Institute said a collision between two vessels in the world's most sophisticated navy is nearly unheard of. It's more common for ships of different navies to collide, or military vessels and commercial ships, he said.

"It's almost inevitable that people are relieved of duty pending investigation," Thomson told The Associated Press by phone. "These sort of accidents are so uncommon that you have to take it for granted that a major mistake occured by one of the vessels' captains."

Both ships were heading to port and were going in the same direction when the incident occurred in the narrow Hormuz, said Christensen. He said the submarine was submerged at the time but that he could give no further details as the collision is still under investigation.

Later Friday, the vessels were on their way to port for repairs and evaluation, added Christensen. Following standard security procedures he could not say where the vessels were headed.

Hormuz at its narrowest is 34 miles (54 kilometers) wide but the location of the collision was not disclosed.

The two ships were on regularly scheduled deployments to the region and conducting security operations, the Navy said. The Hartford is based in Groton, Conn. and the New Orleans is based in San Diego, Calif. As all U.S. submarines, the Hartford is nuclear powered. The New Orleans is an amphibious transport dock ship.

As much as 17 million barrels of oil a day went through the narrow strait in the first half of 2008, or about 40 percent of all seaborne traded oil or 20 percent of all oil traded globally.

[Krandall]

Gmail Gets A Panic Button
http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/03/19/gmail-gets-a-panic-button/

Have you ever sent an email, and just as it was going on its merry way, you realize you misspelled something or you sent it to the wrong person. This happens to me a lot on Gmail because sending an email is not always instant. And you have more chances to experience email regret as you are waiting for one to send.

Well, now you can take advantage of that delay to "undo" the message. (Not to be confused with Gmail Goggles, which is geared more at preventing drunken emails from ever being sent out in the first place). Just enable the feature in Gmail Labs in Settings (Scroll down, it is not at the top for some reason). It only works during that 5 second delay between the time you hit send and the time that Gmail actually sends the message.

What I like about this option is that it turns a bug into a feature. Gmail is really too slow, but now you can occasionally use that to your advantage.

[Flynbyu]

Undo option. That would be a good idea.

~Brian

[Krandall]

Pure awesome.
Senate Tackles AIG Bonus Bill After House Approves Its Version
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2009/03/19/house-vote-taxing-aig-bonus-bonanza/


WASHINGTON -- The Senate's first attempt to pass a bill designed to recoup some $165 million in bonuses paid to AIG was blocked Thursday by Sen. Jon Kyl, R-Ariz.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid tried to pass a Senate version to recoup the bonuses by unanimous consent but Kyl said not so fast, arguing more time was needed to review the legislation which was introduced earlier Thursday.

"I don't believe that Congress should rush to pass yet another piece of hastily crafted legislation in this very toxic atmosphere, at least without understanding the facts and the potential unintended consequences," he said.

"Frankly, I think that's how we got into the current mess," he added.

A spokesman for Reid said the Senate will try to get to the measure next week, before lawmakers head out of town for a two-week Easter recess.

House lawmakers passed their version Thursday to slap heavy taxes on employee bonuses at AIG and at other companies that have received large bailout packages from the government.

The House voted 328-93, receiving the two-thirds majority required to pass despite vocal opposition by Republicans and some Democrats.

The House measure will levy a 90 percent tax on bonuses paid to employees with family incomes above $250,000 at companies that have received at least $5 billion in government bailout money.

"We figured that the local and state governments would take care of the other 10 percent," said Rep. Charles Rangel of New York, chairman of the tax-writing House Ways and Means Committee.

The bill applies to mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, among others, while excluding community banks and other smaller companies that have received less bailout money, Rangel said.

House Democratic leaders unveiled the bill as the head of embattled American International Group Inc., which has received $182 billion in bailout money, testified about $165 million in bonuses paid out in the past week to about 400 employees in its Financial Products unit.

Votes on either side of the argument Thursday were fraught with political peril.

House leaders brought the bill under a special provision that requires a two-thirds vote for passage. With 421 lawmakers voting, 281 yeas were required to approve the measure.

Democrats had two reasons to rush the vote: to force the hand of skeptical Republicans and make them vote for the plan. And to set up a public relations nightmare for the GOP and potentially blame them for killing the measure if the House defeated it.

In the end, that may have forced Republicans to vote for the measure.

The Republican leadership team was split: House Minority Leader John Boehner, R-Ohio, voted no. But his whip, Rep. Eric Cantor, R-Va., and former whip Roy Blunt, R-Mo., voted yes. Democratic aides could hardly contain their glee.

"It just shows that the message that Boehner and Cantor tried to sell to their conference didn't work," one Democratic aide said.

This legislation is known as a "suspension" because it "suspends the rules" that require a simple majority to approve a bill. Typically the House can only debate suspensions on Mondays and Tuesdays.

But Democrats went out of their way to receive a special dispensation from the Rules Committee to bring up the bill Thursday in an effort to challenge Republicans to vote for the measure.

Before the vote, Democratic aides were non-committal about chances to coax Republicans to join them and get the two-thirds supermajority to approve the bill. But they were particularly happy after 85 Republicans joined 243 Democrats to approve the plan.

House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, D-Md, predicted Wednesday the bill would pass. But Boehner, described the legislation as "crap."

"This is nothing more than an attempt for everyone to cover their butt up here," Boehner said.

Nadeam Elshami, a spokesman for House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., indicated that Democrats "would be dumbfounded if (Republicans) didn't vote for it."

But some Democrats, including freshmen Reps. Jim Himes, D-Conn., and Michael McMahon, D-N.Y., had planned to vote against the bill because they believed lawmakers were "rushing through" the process.

Himes and McMahon represent many Wall Street constituents in Greenwich, Conn., and Staten Island. But in the end, Himes relented and voted for the bill.

McMahon was one of only six Democrats who voted against the bill. The others were Reps. Walt Minnick, D-Idaho, Harry Mitchell, D-Ariz., Vic Snyder, D-Ark., Melissa Bean, D-Ill., and Larry Kissell, D-N.C.

Edward Liddy, who was brought in last year by the government to run AIG, told a House subcommittee Wednesday that on Tuesday, he had "asked those who have received retention payments in excess of $100,000 or more to return at least half of those payments." Some have "already stepped forward and returned 100 percent," he added.

Lawmakers rushed to the microphones after word of the bonuses was leaked out by the government over the weekend. Bills were quickly drawn up in both the House and Senate to impose heavy new taxes on them.

The top two members of the Senate Finance Committee on Tuesday announced a bill that would impose a 35 percent excise tax on the companies paying the bonuses and a 35 percent excise tax on the employees receiving them. The taxes would apply to all companies receiving government bailout money, but they are clearly geared toward AIG.

House Financial Services Committee Chairman Barney Frank announced Thursday the committee will consider legislation to prohibit any bonus payments by companies who have received capital investments under the TARP program and the Housing and Economic Recovery Act until these investments are repaid in full.

The legislation will be "marked-up" in the Financial Services Committee on March 24 and the full House of Representatives will be able to consider the legislation the following week.

[Flynbyu]

Should they choose to keep the bonuses, tax the shit out of them!

~Brian

[Krandall]

Katy Perry's monkey trouble
http://www.list.co.uk/article/16697-katy-perrys-monkey-trouble/


Katy Perry was left red-faced when a chimpanzee "peed all over her" while she was posing for a magazine shoot.

Katy Perry was mortified when a chimpanzee urinated on her.

The 'I Kissed A Girl' singer was posing for a magazine shoot, when the lively animal - which was on the set for the photo shoot - relieved itself on her.

She wrote on her blog: "Jeremy Scott is one of my all time favourites and he shot the pictures while I got to prance around in his creations. I had a chimp on set with me that day. Fun fact, she peed all over me, I had to take a silkwood shower in the middle of shooting."

Katy is not the first celebrity to have an unfortunate encounter with a chimpanzee.

Last year, it was revealed Christina Ricci had been sexually assaulted by an animal on the set of her movie.

The actress, who already had a phobia of the animal, revealed Chim Chim grabbed her left breast while she was filming 'Penelope'.

Christina - who played a woman born with a pig's nose in the movie - said: "I'm afraid of monkeys, but I had decided not to be afraid of Chim Chim because no one else is. I thought, 'Everyone else thinks he's awesome so just be cool.'

"It's the first day of shooting and I have this kitchen scene where I'm sitting down and Chim Chim is sitting right next to me. Of course, it freaks out during the take and grabs my left breast and will not let go, and he's so strong."

[Peelz]

Should they choose to keep the bonuses, tax the shit out of them!

~Brian

Totally agree. If my business did that bad, I would be fired, let alone get no bonus. (like this year)

[Flynbyu]

Katy Perry.

Mmmmmm.

~Brian

[Krandall]

Katy Perry.

Mmmmmm.

~Brian

Indeed..