Maley's Energy Blog

http://www.wwltv.com/news/eyewitness/brendanmccarthy/Ambulance-gets-booted-while-tending-to-emergency-181631351.html

About 4 p.m. Friday, New Orleans paramedics rushed inside the [convenience] store for a man with a life-threatening medical issue.
They worked on the patient with chest pain, put him inside the vehicle, then started to speed off.
The paramedics “heard a loud noise,” and the vehicle came to a screeching halt, according to Jeb Tate, spokesman for New Orleans Emergency Medical Services. The medics stepped out and found a boot on their ambulance.
Convenience store employees allegedly put a restrictive parking boot on the ambulance. And now it was stuck. The paramedics were perplexed.
Tate said the ambulance had its emergency lights on the whole time.
Store employees didn’t want to talk about it. They declined requests for comment. Apparently one of the employees took the boot off. The tire was left flat. And so the paramedics and the man with the emergency waited.
“We actually had to delay that patient’s care by calling another ambulance out here to come transport this patient,” Tate said.
Signs on the convenience store make clear that parking is for customers only. The signs state: “If you leave the property for any reason your vehicle will be booted.”

http://www.ibtimes.com/north-korea-claims-have-discovered-unicorns-seriously-912616

“The North Korean media out said the unicorn’s lair was discovered “200 meters from the Yongmyong Temple in Moran Hill in Pyongyang City. A rectangular rock carved with words ‘Unicorn Lair’ stands in front of the lair.”

“And, as we all know, if the words “Unicorn Lair” are written on a rock somewhere, then there’s no way you can doubt that. That’s just science.

“The KCNA maintained that the discovery of the unicorn’s lair “proves that Pyongyang was a capital city of Ancient Korea as well as [the] Koguryo Kingdom,” apparently giving North Korea an even greater sense of manufactured legitimacy over South Korea. “

Supreme Court refuses William Jefferson’s appeal; 13 year prison sentence upheld

“WASHINGTON – The U.S. Supreme Court Monday refused to take former Rep. William Jefferson’s appeal of his 2009 corruption appeal, likely spelling the end of the line for his efforts to overturn his record 13-year prison sentence.

“As usual in such matters, the High Court didn’t give a reason. It would have taken affirmative votes by four of the nine justices to schedule oral arguments on the motion by Jefferson’s lawyers to throw out his conviction and schedule a new trial.

“The court said that Justice Elena Kagan, who served as the Justice Department’s solicitor generator for part of the Jefferson case, did not participate in the deliberations.

“Unless Jefferson’s lawyers uncover significant abuses by prosecutors, the former congressman’s fate now appears certain. The 65-year-old Harvard Law School graduate, who began serving his sentence at the low security Beaumont (Texas) Federal Correctional Institution in May, won’t win his release from prison until Aug. 30, 2023.

“His lawyers had argued that trial Judge T.S. Ellis III erred when he instructed the jury that official acts include "those activities that have been ‘clearly established by settled practice’ as part of his office."

“At issue was whether Jefferson’s conduct, demanding and accepting money and stocks in return for his help influencing leaders in western Africa to approve certain contracts, were part of his official acts as a member of Congress and therefore represented violations of federal bribery and related criminal statutes.”

http://www.latimes.com/news/nation/nationnow/la-na-nn-gas-explosion-massachusetts-20121123,0,5073752.story

Natural gas explosion levels strip club in Springfield, Mass. – latimes.com

“Debbie, a dancer at Scores who didn’t want her last name used, told the Massachusetts newspaper the Republican that she was performing on stage when she was told to evacuate.

“As she gathered her clothes to leave, the manager came up and said, “I don’t care if you’re [expletive] naked or not, get out,” Debbie told the Republican.

“The manager hurried people over to the Mardi Gras Champagne Room across the street, the Republican reported.

“ ‘I feel lucky we got out,’ Debbie told the paper. She said all her work clothes were lost.”

http://wattsupwiththat.com/2012/11/17/epa-under-inestigation-for-skirting-email-transparency/#more-74369

EPA under investigation for skirting email transparency | Watts Up With That?

From the Washington Times:

“A House committee has launched an investigation into whether EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson used an email alias to try to hide correspondence from open-government requests and her agency’s own internal watchdog — something that Republican lawmakers said could run afoul of the law.

“The science committee has asked Ms. Jackson to turn over all information related to an email account under the name of “Richard Windsor,” which is one of the aliases identified by a researcher looking into the EPA.

“The committee has also asked the White House’s lawyer and EPA’s inspector general to look into the matter and report back by the end of this month, saying that the secret email accounts could have been used to keep key information from official watchdogs as well as the public.”

Saudis Warn of Retaliation If Iran Continues to Intrude on Oil Facilities

"LONDON – Saudi Arabia has reportedly warned it will retaliate if Iran continues to intrude on the airspace and waters around its offshore oil facilities in the Persian Gulf, and reserves the right to retaliate, as Tehran’s firing at a U.S. drone last week raises concerns about an escalation in tensions in the region.

"Saudi Arabia’s envoy to the United Nations, Abdallah Al-Mouallimi, has written to UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon about Iranian intrusions on its offshore oil facilities, the official Kuwait News Agency reported this week.

"’The Government of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia reserves its right to take any action it deems fit in order to protect its waters and oil installations, and holds the Iranian authorities fully responsible for all possible consequences,’ he wrote, according to the report.

"In the letter, the Saudi envoy said that in July an Iranian helicopter hovered several times over oil-rig sites in the Hasba field, and on another occasion two Iranian military launches intercepted and stopped a vessel belonging to a Saudi Aramco contractor in the Arabia field area."