It is not often that undocumented immigrants sneak into the United States and then alert authorities to their whereabouts, but three men trapped in a sweltering rail car had little choice and used a cell phone to call 911.

Smugglers had stashed two Mexicans and a Guatemalan in a grain hopper in the Rio Grande Valley and told them they would ride further north, said Daniel Doty, a spokesman for the Border Patrol’s McAllen Sector.

As the temperature climbed Tuesday, the dehydrating men feared for their lives and reached for the phone.

“It gets hot very fast in those places,” Doty said.”Once inside a grain hopper, you can’t get out; you have to be let out.”

Agents rescued the men Tuesday afternoon thanks to one of them providing a portion of the Union Pacific identification number listed in the car.

Two of the three spent the night in a Kingsville hospital and were releasted to the custody of the Border Patrol; a third is still hospitalized.

This is not the first time 911 has responded to border jumpers:

Illegal immigrants have previously used cell phones to call for help. Earlier this summer, three Chinese men lost in the South Texas brush lands called for rescue.

“We’re starting to see more and more of that, where smugglers or members of the group actually carry a cell phone just in case,” Doty said.

The humanitarian in us says we’re glad they had a phone, and wish the 18 people who smothered to death in an abandoned truck trailer in Victoria five years ago had had one.

The border enforcer in us would tell them that, next time, try the safe, legal way.

WASHINGTON - Some 90 billion barrels of oil and a third of the world’s undiscovered natural gas lie beneath an area north of the Arctic Circle, government scientists estimate in the largest-ever survey of the energy resources there.

The U.S. Geological Survey, which announced the findings Wednesday, called the region, which includes parts of the United States, Russia and Canada, “the largest unexplored prospective area for petroleum remaining on Earth.”

All told, the area accounts for about a fifth of the world’s recoverable oil and natural gas reserves, the USGS says: 13 percent of the oil, 30 percent of natural gas and 20 percent of natural gas liquids.

Harry, Nancy, are you listening?  More importantly, are you paying attention?

Friday night features the Mark May Band. His website sucks and never gets updated. Neither does his myspace page but at least it has a couple of his songs for listening. Who cares?! The boy can play and if I get really lucky, he’ll whip out the double-necked baritone/standard guitar and rock my world!

Saturday night, Bob and Katie will feature Scott McGill and Old Dog Mac. Another sucky website but at least it has an up to date calendar. Scott is probably the finest guitar player in the region and that is saying something because there are a lot of great guitar players in the Houston area. If you can’t make Katie’s, he’ll be featured on KPFT’90.1FM Joe’s Roadhouse show tomorrow live at Dan Electro’s from 3-6 pm.

So that is where I’ll be. If you live in another area, where will you be? Walking down memory lane with Foriegner and Bryan Adams at the Woodlands Pavillion? Dancin’ a polka at Fitzgerald’s with Brave Combo? Watchin’ fire come out of Ezra Charles’ piano at the Mucky Duck?

Leave a comment and let our readers know where to go this weekend for great live music!

Upon reaching 95,000 views, the video, Obama - Building a Religion, has officially been censored as inappropriate for minors.  Amazing…As Glenn Reynolds always says “THEY TOLD ME THAT IF GEORGE W. BUSH WERE RE-ELECTED,” we’d see political videos censored. And they were right!

What actually happened is Obama’s hardcore internet losers (Obamabots) organized a drive to flag the video as inappropriate. This doesn’t seem to be the first time this has happened either (also, see here). Now people have to login to a YouTube account and verify their age just to watch it — a major inconvenience that has crippled the video’s traffic. Before this video was censored it was generating between 500 and 1000 views a day. Since the censoring, it is generating less than 50 per day.

That is pretty scary - think about it. An organized effort on behalf of a political campaign has effectively stopped the free speech rights of another American citizen in the public arena. If you click the link above, Obama - Building a Religion, you will be forced to sign in or sign up to see the video.

But, like everything on the internet, just keep searching and you’ll find what you want. Here is the video that Google’s Youtube has blocked for ‘adult content’.

Pretty good, isn’t it? Which is why the Obamabots wanted it censored.

(h/t Glenn Reynolds, aka The Instapundit)

About 2 million Americans get a raise today as the federal minimum wage rises 70 cents. The bad news: Higher gas and food prices are swallowing it up, and some small businesses will pass the cost of the wage hike to consumers.

Congratulations, Walter! Hard work sure ’nuff pays off, doesn’t it? And ‘ol Walter could sure use the coin!

Workers like Walter Jasper, who earns minimum wage at a car wash in Nashville, Tenn., are happy to take the raise, but will still struggle with the higher gas and food prices hammering Americans.

“It will help out a little,” said Jasper, who with his fiancee support a family of seven.

That’s right! It will help Walter and his fiancee feed their little family! I’m so proud of you Walter that I’m going to dedicate a song to you:

UPDATE: Cory Crow over at Lose An Eye, It’s a Sport! says:

let’s all just give up and make the minimum wage $100 per hour. Then we can all be poor and pay $50 for a burger, $40 for a beer (It’d be just like attending an Astros game.)

Heh.

A year ago, the campaign of John McCain, once the darling of the media (at least as far as Republicans go) was in shambles - nearly broke, cutting staff and on the verge of extinction. The former GOP frontrunner, McCain seemed destined to join the likes of Howard Baker and Phil Gramm as successful U.S. Senators who flamed out in their quests for the nomination.

But a funny thing happened to McCain on his way to oblivion. Instead of rolling over, he got to work, attending hundreds of small functions in key states. Phoenix-like, McCain rose up against his better-funded, more attractive and more articulate opponents, and, as February dawned, had all but pummeled them into submission.

McCain’s early cinching of the nomination gave him the opportunity to recharge, plan and lie in wait while the Democratic rivals stabbed each other in the backs. It seemed possible that the Straight Talk Express would go bursting into summer on its way to November, shredding the paper tiger Obama along the way.

After all, there was, and is, every reason to rest assured that the untested Obama, despite the left-wing media’s earnest attempts to cover his tracks, would continue to provide grist for McCain’s mill - more of sitting down with madman dictators to “reason together,” more of visiting 65 or 70 of our states, more condescending jabs at Neanderthal Christian gun owners and more friendships with domestic terrorists and flim-flam artists. All of that, juxtaposed against the vision of the wise, experienced American War Hero, shaking his head in bemused acknowledgement that the kid sure has a lot to learn, looked like a recipe for success.

And, at the end of the day, the American people would again refuse to elect a near-Socialist, like they had with George McGovern, Walter Mondale and Michael Dukakis. A happy ending to a great comeback story.

But now I’m starting to get really worried.

Instead of making swiss cheese out of the half-term Senator from Illinois, McCain has treated us to a punch-drunk campaign, matching the Annointed One vaudevillian pratfall for pratfall. From one day turning green, to having his economic guru Gramm exit after pronouncing us a nation of whiners, to confusion about the surge he urged and valiantly supported, McCain seems determined to prove, once again, that he can’t stand prosperity.

This is not to say that McCain’s failure to seize the summer is entirely of his own making. In another shameful act of a shameless press, just this week McCain’s plane, arriving in New Hampshire, was met by one - count ‘em, one - reporter, at a time when hundreds of newsmen, including the anchors of the alphabet networks, were fawning and cooing over Obama on his schoolboy summer trip overseas (while, in typical fashion, overlooking his stammering and nearly idiotic responses to questions about success of the surge he had previously proclaimed a failure). Indeed, this same week, the AP reported that a non-partisan research group had established that recent coverage of the campaign showed an overwhelming disparity in favor of Obama, a fact the mainstream media brushed off by insisting disingenuously that the Democrat was simply more newsworthy than the Republican. (Of course, having all their reporters in the Middle East might give them that impression.)

But McCain can’t lay all the blame at the feet of the bugaboo liberal media, fickle as they may be. He has refused to define himself, to take hold of issues there for the taking hold of, like energy, and has shied away, at least until recently, from powdering the softballs Obama has unwittingly served up week after week. A cliché like “rudderless” is a fair description of the McCain ship.

And still, there is hope. Despite his so far uninspiring performance, McCain, amazingly, is in a virtual tie with Obama in national polls. Further, unlike the news junkies here, most Americans are not yet transfixed with the campaign, owing to trivial matters like family vacations and devising ways to cut fuel consumption. Finally, and ironically, McCain is sometimes the beneficiary of the media’s unfairness, since a large percentage of the public believes there is a liberal bias and often assumes the so-called “mistakes” of the McCain campaign are exaggerated, if not fabricated, by a hostile press.

But Labor Day is fast approaching, and the McCain Train had better fire up the engines, lest its candidate be reduced to a wise-cracking Bob Dole in the last futile weeks of the race.

The shame of it all is that McCain has a open shot at the race if he would do one simple thing: run to the right. He is, in fact, far more conservative than Obama, but he seems reluctant to trumpet it. John, please: Tap the pride of Americans by loudly and repeatedly urging more energy independence through domestic production, by assuring us that our guns are safe and the nanny-state is not, by pointing out that you were right about Iraq and Obama was wrong, and why in the world do we want to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory?

America, as George Will has said, is still a center-right country. If so, McCain is far better positioned to be the default candidate.

But can he swallow his pride long enough to convince himself that, by winning, he has not “surrendered” to the conservative base he sometimes seems to despise?

If not, we may well find ourselves saddled with the curse of living in “interesting times.”

Don’t go to the zoo without it!

A proposal that would place at least a one-year moratorium on new fast-food restaurants in a broad swath of neighborhoods, mostly in South Los Angeles, won unanimous support from a Los Angeles City Council committee Tuesday.

Unfortunately for the nanny-staters, their do-gooding impositions on society sometimes have little flaws:

The measure,  . . . defines a fast-food restaurant as “any establishment which dispenses food for consumption on or off the premises, and which has the following characteristics: a limited menu, items prepared in advance or prepared or heated quickly, no table orders and food served in disposable wrapping or containers.”

Councilman Jose Huizar questioned that definition . . .particularly the definition of a “limited menu” . . ..

“McDonald’s has been increasing the number of items on their menu, so at what point would they exceed that definition?” Huizar said.

Councilman Jack Weiss said restrictions on fast-food restaurants in Westwood have caused problems for such businesses as Ben & Jerry’s and Smoothie King, which would not otherwise be considered fast-food outlets.

But, not to worry, the do-gooders will do whatever good it takes to impose their do-gooding ideas on the rest of - even engaging in semantic gymnastics (”nonsense” to you and me) when necessary to keep on do-gooding us.

Perry [the bill's sponsor] said that after speaking with restaurant lobbyists, she amended her proposal to allow for “fast-food casual” restaurants, such as Subway or Pastagina, that do not have heat lamps or drive-through windows and that prepare fresh food to order.

Subway is not a fast-food joint?  Okay, maybe they aren’t as fast as you’d like, but I’ve gotten slower service at McDonalds.

Councilwoman Perry is all into do-gooding because of “health issues associated with fast food, such as diabetes and obesity” in her district.  And it is laudable that do-gooders care so much about everybody else that they stick their do-gooding noses into everbody else’s business.  (Though I guess the artery-clogging, diabetes-inducing Ben & Jerry’s gets a pass because they are do-gooders, too!)

But why can’t the do-gooders at least be intellectually honest?  After all, everyone knows who their do-gooding hearts are after.

Why don’t the do-gooding do-gooders just say what they mean and put it out there for the world to see:  “We hereby ban McDonalds, Burger King, Wendy’s, Taco Bell, KFC - and everybody we say is like them.”

Now, that would be a do-gooder I could at least respect!

Some folks say that all trends start in California.  Well, if so, the do-gooders are licking their chops (pun intended) as they set their do-gooding sights on Texas.

Enjoy it while you can, Lone Star Staters.  (Remember Eleanor Tinsley?)  Your barbeque (oooh, the sauce), chili, chicken fried steak and (sacrilege!) double-meat-and-cheese Whataburgers are about to be do-gooded right out of existence.  (I won’t even mention the beer and whiskey do-gooders.)  Then, those buses crossing into Louisiana won’t hit the casinos without stopping at Long John Silver’s and a Popeye’s or two.

But, in the end, the do-gooders will succeed in helping us live a few extra years - and despising every minute of them.

Bon appetit!

What a scumbag he must be if this is true and it seems to be well documented. Hotel room numbers, reporters names, witness names, lots of stuff there. Funniest part to me was:

Edwards did not answer and then ran into a nearby restroom. He stayed inside for about 15 minutes, refusing to answer questions from the NATIONAL ENQUIRER about what he was doing in the hotel. A group of hotel security men eventually escorted him from the men’s room, while preventing the NATIONAL ENQUIRER reporters from following him out of the hotel.

Can you picture Little Johnny sitting on the toilet, screaming into his cell phone for security to come and rescue him from reporters? And this guy wanted to be President? Bizarro.

Little Johnny happened to be in Houston today and Tom Abrahams over at TheVote.ABC13.com has video of him trying to dodge a reporter’s question about the article. Go over there and watch Little Johnny squirm - as Tom says, he is visibly uncomfortable. Look at him blink - reminded me of a night the Old Blinking Light in Taos, NM. Now that was a night! I digress…

Little Johnny for VP? Doubt it.

UPDATE: This is interesting. At 6:15 pm today, Drudge has this up:

EDWARDS RESPONDS: ‘I don’t talk about these tabloids. Tabloid trash is full of lies.’ Developing…

Interesting because Tom has had video of this up since 3:00 pm. Hey, what can I say? It does pay to read local original reporting. Good job, Tom!

“We must have a bold vision and move toward energy independence. We can’t rely on what Mr. Cornyn says — that somehow we’re going to drill our way out. To say that would lower fuel prices is disingenuous. We can’t even get that oil for seven or eight years.”

Democratic U.S. Senate nominee Rick Noriega has said several times this week that the solution to high gasoline prices is to drill for more oil in Iraq, not in pristine American wilderness or coastal areas.

Drill here, drill now, pay less is stupid, is it Mr. Noriega? Well, I see someone has changed their mind:

Democratic Senate candidate Rick Noriega provided details Tuesday of his energy proposal, saying America needs to use renewable energy and find new sources of oil, in part through offshore drilling.

“Texas leads the U.S. in both fossil fuel reserves and in renewable energy potential and deserves an energy policy that takes both factors into account,” Noriega said in an energy policy document he unveiled in Dallas.

I’m guessing that while he was traveling around the state of Texas, someone might have mentioned that oil is a big deal here. But, that’s just a guess.

I still don’t think that he understands the entire issue:

Noriega said, “we cannot drill ourselves out of our current problems,” but he said drilling must be part of the solution. “Too often, Washington politicians treat energy policy as a false choice between finding new sources of fossil fuels or building our renewable capacity,” he said. “I reject the either-or approach.”

The ‘either/or’ line is getting old. No one is saying that we should stop building nuclear power plants or continue researching solar/battery technology. We are saying that we need to utilize the resources that we have while we develop those other resources.

It really is too much to expect Mr. Noriega to understand that. Greater supply, lower prices is a very complicated formula.

Paul’s campaign said there has been enough interest in the “Rally for the Republic” to move it from the smaller Williams Arena to the 18,000-seat Target Center.

18,000 Paulbots in one location. Can you say Woodstock reincarnation? All jokes aside, this ‘rally’ is going to be more than just a distraction for the Republican Party.

His supporters hoped to get him a speaking role at the GOP convention, but that does not appear likely. So instead he is planning the counter-convention, and has made entreaties with Libertarian presidential candidate Bob Barr. Paul was the Libertarian candidate in 1988.

Paul plans “grassroots and leadership training events” on Aug. 31 and Sept. 1, in addition to the all-day Target Center event with speakers including Grover Norquist, Tucker Carlson, Gov. Gary Johnson, Barry Goldwater Jr. and Bruce Fein.

The GOP leadership should have been given him a speaking role. Yes, he had a couple of missteps along the campaign trail and yes, some of his supporters are ‘out there’. But the man is a sitting U.S. Congressman that received 1.2 million votes and raised $35 million dollars in his run for the Presidency. Why wouldn’t they?

Pride goeth before the fall.

U.S. Rep. John Culberson of Houston apologized Tuesday night for condemning NASA last week as a failure and a waste of federal money.

Whew, nothing like the wrath of those ‘conservatives’ when you touch their pork, eh, John? Makes for a quick change of heart, doesn’t it? Here is what he is apologizing for saying:

Culberson’s assessments of NASA last week were that “we’ve spent a fortune on (the agency) and we don’t have a whole lot to show for it., It’s deeply disappointing, and it’s because it’s a government-run agency.”

Citing an essay by former House Speaker Newt Gingrich recently published in Aviation Week, the congressman said Gingrich is “quite right that NASA has failed us miserably.”

Truth is, he was right last week. Send the defense portion back to the Air Force and let private companies compete to be the first to build a colony on Mars. Principles are principles.

Unless constituents phone your office.

• Dinosaur on the loose in California museum
• Six-legged deer survives dog attack
• Avian Siamese twins found in Arkansas
• Bee swarm snarls New Jersey traffic
• 8-foot python hides in washing machine

Be careful out there, folks!

[Hat-tip: Clotille the Lawyer]

While liberal pols’ and journalists’ antagonist in their ongoing demon of the week drama is currently oil speculators, other more insidious market actors could be in action causing deeper and more lasting harm.

According to a recent post on the Terror Finance blog by Dr. Rachel Ehrenfeld and Alyssa A. Lappen, the war on Islamic Fascism should also include an understanding of Shari’a finance and its role in subverting Western economies. Money quotes:

Rising oil prices and the West’s dependency on Middle East oil, combined with willful blindness and political correctness, provide a surge of petrodollars, making financial and economic jihad so much easier to carry out. Moreover, according to Shari’a, Muslims hold all property in trust for Allah. Therefore, under the Shari’a, all current and historic Muslim acquisitions everywhere, including the United States, belong to the ummah, in trust for Allah.

So, if high oil prices aren’t enough to convince you to support domestic oil production, maybe the threat of our sworn enemies using proceeds from $4/gallon gas against us will. While all Muslims may not uphold the command to hold property in trust for Allah, enough might to work implement the jihadist market menace.

(more…)

Last week, Houston-based Citgo Petroleum, which is owned by Venezuela, announced it was giving out 460,000 superefficient bulbs in 12 American cities. Houston will get the largest number — about 140,000 bulbs.

Because the bulbs use less energy and last far longer than conventional bulbs, using them truly is a service both to the local and global environment. That is what is known as a wide-reaching diplomatic gesture.

Accepting a bit of energy-saving hardware doesn’t mean anyone has to condone Chavez’s undemocratic actions or silly charges about the United States wanting to attack Venezuela.

Uh-huh.

But wait, we’re also asked to accept another empty gesture. This one comes from the inbred kleptocrats who run Saudi Arabia:

So it was with a fair amount of skepticism that Abdullah opened a Saudi-sponsored interfaith conference in Madrid last week.

Unfortunately that skepticism didn’t last a full paragraph.

On the flip side, who better to challenge the world to a greater level of understanding and acceptance of those of differing religious beliefs than the leader of such an inflexible nation?

This is clearly a case of “do as I say, not as I do.” But that doesn’t mean the effort was not sincere.

Right.

Regarding Houston, he found this:

The 770– zip codes in Houston are the most generous in the state for both candidates. McCain has pulled in $1,650,521 million. Obama’s received a little more than $2 million.

What’s even more amazing about those numbers is that the 770 zip codes have given more to all presidential candidates ($9,315,056) than the states of Oklahoma, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, South Carolina, West Virginia, Delaware, Rhode Island, Vermont, Maine, New Hampshire, Oregon, Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, Nevada, Kansas, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Iowa, Kentucky, Indiana, Arkansas, Missouri, Tennessee Alaska, and Hawaii each have given to ALL presidential candidates this election year.

That means that more than half the states in the country (30) have given less to the process than just a handful of zip codes in Houston have doled out. Wow!

Wow indeed. And yet, we rarely see Barry or John campaigning here. Interesting.

In reviewing the links Tom provided, I found a few other interesting tidbits. For instance, if you take the four largest urban areas of Texas and compare them, Democrats raised slightly more than Republicans thanks to the large discrepancy in the Austin area.

Comparing the 3 digit maps provided side by side is interesting as well:

You can see the contributions centered in the urban areas but also note that West Texas generally favors Republicans and the Valley/El Paso goes for the Democrats. No surprise there, right?

But looking at the underlying data, the total raised in the Valley and El Paso was $1.8 million, of which Hillary Clinton received $1.2 million or 68%, compared to Obama’s $182k or 10%. Again, no surprise, but interesting to look at nonetheless. And it is why McCain continues to reach out to Hispanic voters.

Go check out Tom’s entire post at Houston, We Have Some Cash.

One of the newer shows is Black Gold on TruTV, whose tag line is Not Reality. Actuality.™ Honestly, I’ve never heard of this channel. I don’t even know if the local cable companies carry it. The premise of the show is a group of crusty roughnecks stuck on an unsafe drilling rig.

Joe Leimkuhler, president of the American Association of Drilling Engineers (AADE) has taken exception to the portrayal of their industry and issued a press release:

First, the basic premise of the show is incorrect: three adjacent rigs competing against one another to reach the same reservoir first. This premise is nothing more than false drama. Competition for leases is conducted during the planning and lease-purchasing phase of exploration and development not actual well operations. This just confirms the view many of us hold about a portion of the media; any premise is justified to develop a sense of urgency and interest to maintain the viewer. However, what is more disturbing is the program’s utter disregard for Health, Safety and the Environment (HSE) that is exhibited on so many levels. Left unchallenged, this disregard for HSE becomes the dominant view the public holds of how we, the oil and gas industry run our operations.

On the environmental side; the images of mud spills resulting from careless and improper operating practices gives the impression that all drilling operations inflict a high level of environmental damage. For dramatic effect the crews do not utilize a mud saver valve on the Kelly nor do they even use a mud bucket to divert the mud back to the circulating system. I started my drilling career in 1981 as a Mud Engineer in the over-thrust belt of western Wyoming, even then the mud saver valve and mud bucket were standard equipment on all rigs for safety and to prevent the loss of expensive mud. For this show to continuously show no mud management while tripping, and the failure to use technology that is over 30 years old, suggest the producers are paying the crews to intentionally engage in unsafe acts for dramatic effect. This unfortunately reinforces common stereotypes about the dangers and dirty nature of drilling.

In the areas of Health, and Safety the shows also comes up way short. Safety Meetings and the use of even basic job safety analysis are non-existent. The crews routinely neglect to use proper Personal Protective Equipment (PPE). In most scenes the crews wear only hardhats, no safety glasses, no gloves and no hearing protection. The rig equipment is pre 1980’s, without even basic automation to increase crew safety. The show portrays an over emphasis on getting the job done quickly with no emphasis on body placement and only generic references to working safe. Repeated viewing of such a disregard for the use of PPE coupled with little to no safety culture on these rigs makes a knowledgeable viewer question whether operators and contractors such as those depicted in “Black Gold” even have a viable HSE department. Does their management even understand the basics of safety management or safety systems? If this is a “True” reality show, and the program is an honest portrayal of these contractors operations the answer is no.

Actions displayed on the show would bring immediate dismissal from any reputable operator or drilling contractor. In addition to the lack of proper PPE, new crewmembers are allowed to work alone with no supervision while hoisting pipe to the rig floor. If there were any JSAs (Job Safety Analyses) completed prior to operations, it is not evident in the actions of the crews and, more disturbing, not evident in the actions of rig site management. Many of the activities seem staged for the camera to reinforce old stereotypes rather than provide an accurate representation of the working environment on the majority of drilling operations onshore or offshore.

Mr. Leimkuhler compares the drilling industry’s safety stats to other industries:

In Safety, the Exploration & Production business is actually one of the safer industries, with an overall TRIR of 2.0 (OSHA 2006). TRIR is the Total Recordable Incident Rate, and the number is meant to reflect how many incidents occur in a workforce of approximately 100 people over a full year. For rig operations specifically, the TRIR is 5.1 onshore, 1.4 Offshore and averages 2.1 worldwide (IADC, 2007 YTD). This compares to 5.1 for construction and 6.0 for manufacturing. To really put Safety in perspective, the average 2.1 TRIR for rig operations is lower than the 3.3 TRIR for Real Estate! You are safer on the rig floor than driving around with a real estate agent. IADC records show there are rigs onshore and offshore that go years with out a recordable accident. In our industry we have rigs that have never had a lost time accident, from start up these rigs have operated years with out a single lost time accident. Accident free operations are not only possible, they should be the expectation. The mindset displayed on “Black Gold” that “people will get hurt”, “accidents will happen” and “you have to be crazy to do what we do” is unacceptable and inaccurate.

The AADE piece does make it clear that such unsafe operations do exist, but that they are the exception, not the rule:

Sadly, the operational environment depicted in “Black Gold” does exist in pockets of our industry. Fortunately such an environment does not exist among the reputable drilling contractors and operators that make up the majority of our industry. Many companies refuse to do business with contractors that operate with a disregard for HSE as seen on “Black Gold”. It is the view of AADE that more industry leaders need to speak out and reinforce the opinion that operations such as those depicted on “Black Gold” are unacceptable and should be stopped.

For the last nine years one of my job descriptions has been safety manager for my company. 90% of our work is servicing the oil, gas and chemical industries. Based on the requirements our employees must comply with before even stepping foot in our customers’ facilities there is no question that these industries take HSE (Health, Safety & Environment) issues very seriously. “Black Gold” is not reality or actuality. It is staged drama putting workers at risk for ratings.

“He has denounced injustices suffered by immigrants,” and “promoted initiatives to promote full political participation and increased access to health and education services for the Mexican-American community,” the official announcement said.

Well. Isn’t that special?