The Oil in the Gulf !

Global protest planned over BP's handling of oil disaster

from : http://www.sott.net

CNN
Sat, 12 Jun 2010 12:51 EDT

Environmentalists plan to stage a worldwide protest against BP on Saturday as the petroleum giant takes hits from politicians and Gulf residents.

Worldwide BP Protest Day claims demonstrations will take place in more than 50 cities across five continents from Pensacola, Florida, to Christchurch, New Zealand.

"Let the world know YOU care," says a flyer on the group's Facebook page, which translates BP's initials to mean British Predator. "We need to let BP know that we are NOT okay with what they are putting in OUR oceans."

The protests come as politicians and Gulf residents slammed BP on Friday over its efforts to end the spew of oil into the Gulf of Mexico and make whole those who have been hurt.

"BP misrepresented what their technology could do," House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Friday. "They misrepresented the amount of oil that was being spewed forth into the Gulf and continued to do so."

She was referring to Thursday's announcement by researchers that doubled estimates of how much oil has been gushing from the ruptured well: About 40,000 barrels (1.7 million gallons) a day may have escaped for weeks.

Pelosi said she met with President Obama on the matter and was pleased to hear that he had ordered the attorney general to look into whether there was negligence on BP's part.

"This is a matter of integrity," Pelosi said. "BP stated that they had the technology to drill deep, to prevent a blowout and that they had the technology to clean up, and none of these things happened to be a fact."

But the multibillion-dollar, multinational company found support for its efforts. In New York, that support came from billionaire Mayor Michael Bloomberg.

"The guy that runs BP didn't exactly go down there and blow up the well," he told a radio program. "And what's more, if you want them to fix it and they are the ones with the expertise, I think I might wait to assign blame until we get it fixed."

In London, England, a Downing Street spokesman said Prime Minister David Cameron spoke Friday with BP Chairman Carl-Henric Svanberg.

"The prime minister explained that he was frustrated and concerned about the environmental damage caused by the leak, but made clear his view that BP is an economically important company in the UK, US and other countries," the spokesman said in a news release.

"He said that it is in everyone's interests that BP continues to be a financially strong and stable company."

Svanberg, who is to meet Wednesday with Obama at the White House, "made clear that BP will continue to do all that it can to stop the oil spill, clean up the damage and meet all legitimate claims for compensation," it said.

British Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg appealed for a reduction in the vitriol that has gripped many observers. "I don't, frankly, think we're going to reach a solution stopping the release of oil into the Gulf any quicker by allowing this to spiral into a tit-for-tat political, diplomatic spat," he said.

That comment elicited no sympathy from Plaquemines Parish President Billy Nungesser. "Obviously, Nick hasn't been over here and touched the oil," he told CNN. "We get a tropical storm that brings that oil and lays it across coastal Louisiana, we're wiped out for the next 20 years. This community will be dead, and they're talking like we're being too tough?"

By law, the company is responsible for paying all the costs to stop the leak and clean the oil off the shore. That's likely to be the small bill: in the single-digit billions.

A bigger concern will be claims of economic damage from fishermen, hoteliers and other businesses who report losses. BP has said it will pay "all reasonable claims" but has been vague on what "reasonable" means.

BP said that nearly 42,000 claims have been submitted and more than 20,000 payments made, totaling more than $53 million.

So far, the cost of the response is $1.43 billion, it said.

Lawmakers want to make sure the company has enough money not only to remove the oil but to reimburse residents for lost wages and other damage to the economy.

BP has argued that the company has plenty of money to do both. Executives noted last week that BP had a cash flow last year exceeding $30 billion.

The government's response manager offered a new round of numbers as well on what it takes to clean a spill of this magnitude: an Exxon Valdez-like spill every few days that has now gone on for 55 days.

Coast Guard Adm. Thad Allen said that more than 25,000 people -- contractors, volunteers and members of the military -- were involved on the ground.

Some 3.8 million gallons of oil burned, he said. About 1 million gallons of dispersant has been used to break up the slick. That has taken more than 500 skimmers, barges, ships and aircraft.

Piecemeal efforts to slow the flow are continuing.

As early as Monday, BP plans to deploy "Q4000 Direct Connect," the company's name for a containment device secondary to a primary cap that was put in place over the leaking well last week.

Allen has said he expects that the Q4000 will be able to take an additional 5,000 to 10,000 barrels per day.

A second Transocean drill ship is expected to arrive in mid- to late June, bringing an added capacity of 10,000 barrels per day, the company said.

By mid-July, the current cap will be replaced with a larger device that will provide a tighter seal, the company said.

The cap will be connected to another manifold and hose system to a free-floating riser 300 feet below sea level. The hose attached to the riser will connect with the containment vessel on the surface, giving cleanup workers the option of disconnecting from and then reconnecting to the riser should the ships need to return to port in the event of a hurricane.

The riser would remain in place at all times. This system could contain up to 50,000 barrels per day, according to BP.

The ultimate containment plan would insert mud and cement 18,000 feet under the seabed, effectively stopping the flow of oil, the company said.

Two such wells, one of which would be a backup, are under way and are slated for completion in August.

Meanwhile, a delegation of U.S. senators traveled Friday to the heart of coastal Louisiana to assess the damage.

"Until you see if firsthand, until you really smell it, get a sense of it, you can't understand it fully," said Sen. David Vitter, R-Louisiana.

They were the latest in a virtual parade of officials from Washington to make the trip to the coast. Labor Secretary Hilda Solis was in the region Thursday, and Obama is scheduled to make his fourth trip next week.

The views expressed in this article are the sole responsibility of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of this website.


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THE BIG LIE SELLING YOU WAR WITH NORTH KOREA

from : http://whatreallyhappened.com

STORY GOES HERE What can I say; here we go again! I hardly need to go down the list of lies used to start US wars. We have been though that over and over again. Nor do I need to elucidate on the many reasons why the US Government is in desperate need for yet another war with which to scare the American people into acceptance of more takes and fewer rights and freedoms. Anyone with half a brain realizes that the US Government, unable to gain support for an invasion of Iran, has changed gears and decided that North Korea will be the next step towards World War III. Here is the big lie... Let us start with a cloned copy of the official South Korean website detailing the sinking of the Cheosan. From that website we get the following picture of the remains of a torpedo dredged from the bottom of the ocean. The official claim that North Korea fired this torpedo at a South Korean warship is based on the following blueprint of a North Korean torpedo claimed to be the weapon recovered from the ocean floor. There are several differences between the torpedo plans and the actual torpedo recovered from the floor of the ocean. But I am going to focus on just one. Take a close look where the tail cone assembly (indicated by the bulkhead at the leading edge of the fins) attaches to the torpedo main hull. A major component of all modern torpedoes are the fin actuators. These are the small motors that adjust the rudder and dive planes of the torpedo in order to maintain the intended depth and course to target. Note that the blueprints of the North Korean torpedo show these actuators forward of the tail cone assembly, that is to say in front of the bulkhead that marks where the fin assembly attaches to the torpedo. Now let us look at the torpedo actually recovered from the bottom of the ocean near where the Cheosan was attacked. Note that the recovered torpedo these actuators are built INSIDE the tail cone assembly, that is to say to the REAR of the bulkhead that marks where the fin assembly attaches to the torpedo. And again, as seen in the official released photo of the recovered torpedo. In short, the torpedo recovered from the ocean where Cheosan was attacked is NOT the same torpedo shown in the North Korean plans. As I stated above, there are additional differences as well between the blueprints and the actual torpedo, but the actuators are the clincher. The torpedo recovered fronm the oceasn where the Cheosan was sunk is not the North Korean torpedo shown in the blueprints.

The views expressed in this article are the sole responsibility of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of this website.

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Robert F. Kennedy Jr. : Sex, Lies and Oil Spills

from : http://www.huffingtonpost.com

A common spin in the right wing coverage of BP's oil spill is a gleeful suggestion that the gulf blowout is Obama's Katrina.

In truth, culpability for the disaster can more accurately be laid at the Bush Administration's doorstep. For eight years, George Bush's presidency infected the oil industry's oversight agency, the Minerals Management Service, with a septic culture of corruption from which it has yet to recover. Oil patch alumnae in the White House encouraged agency personnel to engineer weakened safeguards that directly contributed to the gulf catastrophe.

The absence of an acoustical regulator -- a remotely triggered dead man's switch that might have closed off BP's gushing pipe at its sea floor wellhead when the manual switch failed (the fire and explosion on the drilling platform may have prevented the dying workers from pushing the button) -- was directly attributable to industry pandering by the Bush team. Acoustic switches are required by law for all offshore rigs off Brazil and in Norway's North Sea operations. BP uses the device voluntarily in Britain's North Sea and elsewhere in the world as do other big players like Holland's Shell and France's Total. In 2000, the Minerals Management Service while weighing a comprehensive rulemaking for drilling safety, deemed the acoustic mechanism "essential" and proposed to mandate the mechanism on all gulf rigs.

Then, between January and March of 2001, incoming Vice President Dick Cheney conducted secret meetings with over 100 oil industry officials allowing them to draft a wish list of industry demands to be implemented by the oil friendly administration. Cheney also used that time to re-staff the Minerals Management Service with oil industry toadies including a cabal of his Wyoming carbon cronies. In 2003, newly reconstituted Minerals Management Service genuflected to the oil cartel by recommending the removal of the proposed requirement for acoustic switches. The Minerals Management Service's 2003 study concluded that "acoustic systems are not recommended because they tend to be very costly."

The acoustic trigger costs about $500,000. Estimated costs of the oil spill to Gulf Coast residents are now upward of $14 billion to gulf state communities. Bush's 2005 energy bill officially dropped the requirement for the acoustic switch off devices explaining that the industry's existing practices are "failsafe."

Bending over for Big Oil became the ideological posture of the Bush White House, and, under Cheney's cruel whip, the practice trickled down through the regulatory bureaucracy. The Minerals Management Service -- the poster child for "agency capture phenomena" -- hopped into bed with the regulated industry -- literally. A 2009 investigation of the Minerals Management Service found that agency officials "frequently consumed alcohol at industry functions, had used cocaine and marijuana and had sexual relationships with oil and gas company representatives." Three reports by the Inspector General describe an open bazaar of payoffs, bribes and kickbacks spiced with scenes of female employees providing sexual favors to industry big wigs who in turn rewarded government workers with illegal contracts. In one incident reported by the Inspector General, agency employees got so drunk at a Shell sponsored golf event that they could not drive home and had to sleep in hotel rooms paid for by Shell.

Pervasive intercourse also characterized their financial relations. Industry lobbyists underwrote lavish parties and showered agency employees with illegal gifts, and lucrative personal contracts and treated them to regular golf, ski, and paintball outings, trips to rock concerts and professional sports events. The Inspector General characterized this orgy of wheeling and dealing as "a culture of ethical failure" that cost taxpayers millions in royalty fees and produced reams of bad science to justify unregulated deep water drilling in the gulf.

It is charitable to characterize the ethics of these government officials as "elastic." They seemed not to have existed at all. The Inspector General reported with some astonishment that Bush's crew at the MMS, when confronted with the laundry list of bribery, public theft and sexual and financial favors to and from industry "showed no remorse."

BP's confidence in lax government oversight by a badly compromised agency still staffed with Bush era holdovers may have prompted the company to take two other dangerous shortcuts. First, BP failed to install a deep hole shut off valve -- another fail-safe that might have averted the spill. And second, BP's reported willingness to violate the law by drilling to depths of 22,000-25,000 feet instead of the 18,000 feet maximum depth allowed by its permit may have contributed to this catastrophe.

And wherever there's a national tragedy involving oil, Cheney's offshore company Halliburton is never far afield. In fact, stay tuned; Halliburton may emerge as the primary villain in this caper. The blow out occurred shortly after Halliburton completed an operation to reinforce drilling hole casing with concrete slurry. This is a sensitive process that, according to government experts, can trigger catastrophic blowouts if not performed attentively. According to the Minerals Management Service, 18 of 39 blowouts in the Gulf of Mexico since 1996 were attributed to poor workmanship injecting cement around the metal pipe. Halliburton is currently under investigation by the Australian government for a massive blowout in the Timor Sea in 2005 caused by its faulty application of concrete casing.

The Obama administration has assigned nearly 2,000 federal personnel from the Coast Guard, the Corps of Engineers, the Department of Defense, the Department of Commerce, EPA, NOAA and Department of Interior to deal with the spill -- an impressive response. Still, the current White House is not without fault -- the government should, for example, be requiring a far greater deployment of absorbent booms. But the real culprit in this villainy is a negligent industry, the festering ethics of the Bush Administration and poor oversight by an agency corrupted by eight years of grotesque subservience to Big Oil.

The views expressed in this article are the sole responsibility of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of this website.

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Germany set to sell Israel submarines

from : http://www.presstv.ir

Germany set to sell Israel submarines

Thu, 22 Apr 2010 01:18:28 GMT

Font size :

New reports say Israel is planning to establish a deep-sea navy and is negotiating with Germany over the purchase warships and submarines.

According to a report published by United Press International, Germany will supply Israel with three more Dolphin class attack submarines, several warships, and possibly two MEKO A-100 corvettes.

The MEKO variant sought by the Tel Aviv regime costs an estimated $300 million.

The warship, with a range of 4,635 miles, can carry one medium-size helicopter and 24 weapons systems — 16 ship-to-shore and eight anti-ship missile launchers adapted to US weapons as well as air-defense missiles and automatic cannon.

Citing an unnamed Israeli source, the UPI report said that the Israeli navy would like even more Dolphins.

"Our ideal number would be nine — enough to ensure we have the necessary assets at sea to cover all relevant threats and targets," UPI quoted the source as saying.

Israel had begun the negotiations over the program in October 2007 when the Israel Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Gabi Ashkenazi visited Berlin.

The expansion program, which will transform the regime's navy into a deep-water navy, has provoked outrage among German opposition parties, including the Social Democrats, who say weapons should not be sent to "crisis zones."

However, Germany has provided special discounts on arms sales to Israel in the past. The Tel Aviv regime's 2006 order for two Dolphin class submarines was approved despite the Social Democrats' opposition to the deal.

SB/HGL

Related Stories:

• Israel launches fresh Gaza strike
• Israel threatens Syria with war
• Israeli jets violate Lebanese airspace

The views expressed in this article are the sole responsibility of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of this website.

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NATO’s Afghanistan: The Champion of Drugs Production

from : http://uruknet.com

Timothy Bancroft-Hinchey

April 2, 2010 – Pravda.ru We really have to take our hats off to NATO. This clique of arms lobbyists and defender of jobs for the boys invaded Afghanistan in 2001 on the pretext that Osama bin Laden was using the country to attack western interests. Almost a decade after the Taleban declared war on drugs production, NATO’s Afghanistan is not only the world’s largest producer of opium but now, of hashish also. Mullah Omar, the leader of the Taleban, had stated in an interview with Pakistan’s Dawn newspaper in 1998 that the USA would invade Afghanistan because he had refused to let them build a gas pipeline across his country in exchange for 5 billion USD. He was right. The invasion came three years later after those two jets flew into the Twin Towers, that one jet crash-landed in the Pentagon, managing to avoid two lamp posts with its wings and to fail to produce a single piece of evidence either on camera or otherwise and then there was the other one that simply disintegrated without trace. Like 200 tonnes of metal vaporised. No, really. And nearly ten years later, NATO’s considerable coalition has not managed to gain control of the country, the NATO-installed President, Karzai, is railing against his NATO masters because he has been accused of corruption and considers it is their fault (no really) and now we learn from the United Nations Organization that NATO’s Afghanistan, already the world’s leading supplier of opium, has now become the record-breaking producer of hashish as well. Wow, NATO 2 world population 0. Is this why they insisted on expanding eastwards (after saying they wouldn’t) to create new markets? The UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), in its report Afghanistan Cannabis Survey, released on Wednesday, estimated that between 10 and 24 thousand hectares of cannabis per year are cultivated in Afghanistan. Not only is the figure shocking, worse still is the affirmation that this production takes place in half of the country’s 34 provinces. UNODC Executive Director Antonio Maria Costa declared in the report that "the astonishing yield of the Afghan cannabis crop makes Afghanistan the world’s biggest producer of hashish, estimated at between 1,500 and 3,500 tons a year," being 145 kg per hectare, compared with Morocco’s 40 kg. Cannabis fetches 3,900 USD in income per hectare, compared with opium’s 3,600 USD. The UN report states that there are both cannabis and opium trading centres throughout the country. So what exactly is NATO doing in Afghanistan, where the Taleban was supposed to surrender ten years ago and still has not, where heroin production has risen no less than 40 times in the same period and now Afghanistan’s claim to fame is world record holder of opium and cannabis production?

The views expressed in this article are the sole responsibility of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of this website.

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Strong support behind Argentina for Falklands

from : http://www.presstv.ir

Tue, 23 Feb 2010 07:33:42 GMT

Argentina's neighbors have expressed support for Buenos Aires' ownership of the Falkland Islands despite Britain's plans for offshore oil drilling there.

At a meeting of Latin American and Caribbean countries, Argentina presented a statement that confirmed the backing of the present nations.

"The heads of state represented here reaffirm their support for the legitimate rights of the republic of Argentina in the sovereignty dispute with Great Britain," the statement read.

British oil exploration company, Desire Petroleum PLC, said Monday that it has started drilling for oil north of the islands, despite strong opposition from Argentina.

Earlier this week, Argentinean government formally objected to British-led drilling plans near the islands that lie around 500 kilometers off the coast of Argentina and almost 13,000 kilometers away from the UK.

Argentine President Cristina Fernandez said that her government has won the backing of regional leaders over the ownership of the South Atlantic islands, which Buenos Aires calls 'Las Malvinas.'

"In the name of our government and in the name of my people I am grateful ... for the support this meeting has given to our demands," Fernandez said.

Mexican President Felipe Calderon also confirmed the support of South American states, according to Argentine diplomatic sources.

Earlier on Sunday, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez called on Queen Elizabeth II of Britain to leave the islands to Argentina, saying that the time of empires has long expired.

Chavez also warned that in the event of a war over the islands, Argentina would not be alone.

"The English are still threatening Argentina. Things have changed," Chavez continued. "If conflict breaks out, be sure Argentina will not be alone like it was back then."


The views expressed in this article are the sole responsibility of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of this website.

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Wikileaks - We protect the world—but will you protect us?

from : http://wikileaks.org/

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Bombshell: Goldman Sachs Helped Greece Cover Up Its Huge Debt

from : http://www.economicpolicyjournal.com

NYT is out with a major story by Louise Story, Landon Thomas and Nelson D. Schwartz on how Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley and other investment banks have helped Greece hide the extent of its debt:

As worries over Greece rattle world markets, records and interviews show that with Wall Street’s help, the nation engaged in a decade-long effort to skirt European debt limits. One deal created by Goldman Sachs helped obscure billions in debt from the budget overseers in Brussels.

Even as the crisis was nearing the flashpoint, banks were searching for ways to help Greece forestall the day of reckoning. In early November — three months before Athens became the epicenter of global financial anxiety — a team from Goldman Sachs arrived in the ancient city with a very modern proposition for a government struggling to pay its bills, according to two people who were briefed on the meeting.

The bankers, led by Goldman’s president, Gary D. Cohn, held out a financing instrument that would have pushed debt from Greece’s health care system far into the future, much as when strapped homeowners take out second mortgages to pay off their credit cards.

It had worked before. In 2001, just after Greece was admitted to Europe’s monetary union, Goldman helped the government quietly borrow billions, people familiar with the transaction said. That deal, hidden from public view because it was treated as a currency trade rather than a loan, helped Athens to meet Europe’s deficit rules while continuing to spend beyond its means.

Athens did not pursue the latest Goldman proposal, but with Greece groaning under the weight of its debts and with its richer neighbors vowing to come to its aid, the deals over the last decade are raising questions about Wall Street’s role in the world’s latest financial drama.

As in the American subprime crisis and the implosion of the American International Group, financial derivatives played a role in the run-up of Greek debt. Instruments developed by Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan Chase and a wide range of other banks enabled politicians to mask additional borrowing in Greece, Italy and possibly elsewhere.

In dozens of deals across the Continent, banks provided cash upfront in return for government payments in the future, with those liabilities then left off the books. Greece, for example, traded away the rights to airport fees and lottery proceeds in years to come.

Critics say that such deals, because they are not recorded as loans, mislead investors and regulators about the depth of a country’s liabilities.

Some of the Greek deals were named after figures in Greek mythology. One of them, for instance, was called Aeolos, after the god of the winds.

Most alarming is the hint that this goes beyond Greece:

Such derivatives, which are not openly documented or disclosed, add to the uncertainty over how deep the troubles go in Greece and which other governments might have used similar off-balance sheet accounting.

Bottom line: It appears that Goldman Sachs has turned many governments throughout the world into Super-Enrons, with off-balance sheet shenanigans, financial sleight of hand and convoluted accounting. Governments generally don't need help in this kind of maneuvering, but Goldman with its collection of whiz kid derivative designers has taken the entire process to a new level. A new level so unique that it could very will collapse the financial structure of the manipulated world. Posted by Robert Wenzel at 1:17 PM



The views expressed in this article are the sole responsibility of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of this website.

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Members of U.S. Congress Ask President Obama to End the Blockade in Gaza

from : http://www.globalresearch.ca

Global Research, January 28, 2010

American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee - 2010-01-26

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Washington, D.C. www.adc.org | Last Thursday, 54 Members of the House of Representatives led by Congressman Ellison of Minnesota and Congressman McDermott from Washington State signed a letter to President Obama asking his Administration to lift the blockade on Gaza. In the letter to President Obama, the 54 Members of Congress said "the unabated suffering of Gazan civilians highlights the urgency of reaching a resolution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and we ask you to press for immediate relief for the citizens of Gaza as an urgent component of your broader Middle East Peace." Click here to read the full letter. ADC President Mary Rose Oakar said "Now is the time to hold our elected Officials accountable to work for a just and lasting peace in the Middle East . These 54 Members should be recognized for their courage in attempting to bring an end to the unfair treatment of the Palestinian people." The American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC) urges you to recognize and thank these 54 US House Representatives for exhibiting leadership by contacting them TODAY. Please see below for the list. Name State Phone # Raul Grijalva AZ (202) 225- 2435 Barbara Lee CA (202) 225- 2661 Bob Filner CA (202) 225- 8045 Diane Watson CA (202) 225- 7084 Fortney Pete Stark CA (202) 225- 5065 George Miller CA (202) 225- 2095 Jackie Speier CA (202) 225- 3531 Lois Capps CA (202) 225- 3601 Loretta Sanchez CA (202) 225- 2965 Lynn Woolsey CA (202) 225- 5161 Michael M. Honda CA (202) 225- 2631 Sam Farr CA (202) 225- 2861 Jim Himes CT (202) 225- 5541 Bruce D. Braley IA (202) 225- 2911 Andre Carson IN (202) 225- 4011 John A. Yarmuth KY (202) 225- 5401 James P. McGovern MA (202) 225- 6101 John Tierney MA (202) 225- 8020 John W. Oliver MA (202) 225- 5335 Michael E Capuano MA (202) 225- 5111 Stephen F. Lynch MA (202) 225- 8273 William D. Delahunt MA (202) 225- 3111 Donna F. Edwards MD (202) 225- 8699 Elijah E. Cummings MD (202) 225- 4741 Carolyn C. Kilpatrick MI (202) 225- 2261 John Conyers MI (202) 225- 5126 John D. Dingell MI (202) 225- 4071 Betty McCollum MN (202) 225- 6631 James L. Oberstar MN (202) 225- 6211 Keith Ellison MN (202) 225- 4755 David E. Price NC (202) 225- 1784 Bill Pascrell, Jr. NJ (202) 225- 5751 Donald M. Payne NJ (202) 225- 3436 Rush D. Holt NJ (202) 225- 5801 Eric Massa NY (202) 225- 3161 Maurice D. Hinchey NY (202) 225- 6335 Paul Tonko NY (202) 225- 5076 Yvette D. Clarke NY (202) 225- 6231 Marcy Kaptur OH (202) 225- 4146 Mary Jo Kilroy OH (202) 225- 2015 Earl Blumenauer OR (202) 225- 4811 Peter A. Defazio OR (202) 225- 6416 Chaka Fattah PA (202) 225- 4001 Joe Sestak PA (202) 225- 2011 Glenn C. Nye VA (202) 225- 4215 James P. Moran VA (202) 225- 4376 Peter Welch VT (202) 225- 4115 Adam Smith WA (202) 225- 8901 Brian Baird WA (202) 225- 3536 Jay Inslee WA (202) 225- 6311 Jim McDermott WA (202) 225- 3106 Gwen Moore WI (202) 225- 4572 Tammy Baldwin WI (202) 225- 2906 Nick J Rahall II WV (202) 225- 3452 The American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC), which is non sectarian and non partisan, is the largest Arab-American civil rights organization in the United States . It was founded in 1980, by former Senator James Abourezk to protect the civil rights of people of Arab descent in the United States and to promote the cultural heritage of the Arabs. ADC has 38 chapters nationwide, including chapters in every major city in the country, and members in all 50 states. The ADC Research Institute (ADC-RI), which was founded in 1981, is a Section 501(c)(3) educational organization that sponsors a wide range of programs on behalf of Arab Americans and of importance to all Americans. __________________________________________ Contact:Haythem Khalil, media@adc.org, 202-244-2990

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