Scientists and commercial fishermen appearing before a congressional hearing Thursday challenged assertions from the Obama administration that the “vast majority” of the oil spilled into the Gulf of Mexico is gone. The House Subcommittee on Energy and Environment hearing was called to investigate the amount of oil remaining in the Gulf and the effects of both oil and chemical dispersants on seafood.

Underscoring the lack of seriousness behind the investigation, the hearing took place in the midst of a Congressional recess with most legislators having returned to their home districts for the Summer.  Almost no one came back to Washington for the hearing.  The only member of Congress present was Ed Markey, the Democratic representative from Massachusetts who chairs the House Energy and Environment subcommittee.

Over the past two weeks the Obama administration has carried out a media campaign promoting the assertion that most of the oil spilled into the Gulf is gone, having been evaporated, “dispersed,” burned, or collected—claims loosely based on a three-page report from National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).

The most outspoken critic of the Obama administration’s numbers to appear before the hearing on Thursday was Ian MacDonald, a professor of oceanography at Florida State University.

Workers at the General Motors Indianapolis Stamping Plant continued their standoff with GM and the United Auto Workers union, amid mounting pressure to accept demands to sharply reduce wages or face the loss of their jobs.

On Wednesday, the Indianapolis Star carried a lead editorial denouncing workers for "stubbornness" for standing up for their wages, and saying "in their anger they’re ready to burn down the future not just for themselves but also for hundreds of other employees…” The editorial concluded, "the days are gone when workers at the plant could command $29 an hour in pay plus benefits."

At a union meeting on Sunday, hundreds of workers shouted down demands by the UAW leadership that they accept a fifty percent wage cut to sell the plant to JD Norman Industries. The union officials were forced to leave the building after workers prevented them from speaking.

Under the terms of the current UAW-GM contract, the 650 workers at the stamping plant are guaranteed the same wages and conditions under a new owner. Workers have repeatedly resisted demands from the UAW and GM that they reopen the contract.

Reports from two groups of researchers are helping to expose the campaign organized by BP and the Obama administration to convince the public that the Deepwater Horizon disaster is effectively over and done with, and that most of the spilled oil has harmlessly disappeared.

In early August, the Obama administration’s National Incident Command (NIC) released a report claiming 75 percent of the oil was “gone” and only 25 percent remained a threat. Jane Lubchenco of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) asserted that at least half of the oil released was now “completely gone.” On August 4, Barack Obama declared, “A report out today by our scientists shows that the vast majority of the spilled oil has been dispersed or removed from the water.”

The announcement by General Motors last week that it recorded a $1.3 billion second-quarter profit—its second consecutive gain after ten quarterly losses—has been hailed as the “return of Detroit” by financial analysts, government officials and the media.

A little more than a year after the US automaker emerged from the “quick and surgical” bankruptcy ordered by the Obama administration, GM is expected to file papers this week for an Initial Public Offering (IPO) of stock later this fall. Wall Street experts say GM’s share value and earning potential have risen exponentially, and the IPO is expected to be one of the largest stock sales in history.

The New York Times set the celebratory tone last week, declaring, “After a dismal period of huge losses and deep cuts that culminated in the Obama administration’s bailout of General Motors and Chrysler, the gloom over the American auto industry is starting to lift.”

As of Monday, BP had yet to resume drilling of two relief wells which aim to permanently seal off its Macondo well. The latest delay arose over concerns that the operation might create a new spill.

It had been widely reported that the completion of the relief wells would begin on Tuesday, but National Incident Commander Thad Allen cast doubt on that in a Monday press conference. “Timelines won’t be known until we get a recommendation on the course of action,” Allen said, adding that the process “will not start until we figure out how to manage the risk of pressure in the annulus.”

The annulus is a ring that surrounds the well’s casing. Last week scientists found evidence to suggest the annulus was breached during the “static kill” operation in late July, during which heavy mud and cement was used to force oil back down toward its reservoir.

In the procedure, oil very likely became trapped in the annulus between the seafloor and the reservoir. This has raised concerns over how to maintain a safe pressure level when the relief well intersects the Macondo and the “bottom kill” of pumping cement into the lower reaches of the well can begin.

As part of his campaign in the 9th District of the Michigan State House of Representatives, Socialist Equality Party candidate D’Artagnan Collier has been canvassing neighborhoods in northwest Detroit, along with members of the Committee Against Utility Shutoffs (CAUS).

Collier was one of five commissioners at the March hearing of the Citizens Inquiry into the Dexter Avenue Fire: Utility Shutoffs and the Social Crisis in Detroit, the precursor to CAUS. That hearing took testimony from Detroit-area residents and experts on the relationship between utility shutoffs and deadly house fires in the city. The inquiry exposed the criminal policies of energy giant DTE and the role of the local, state and federal governments in protecting the interests of the utility industry. Its findings can be read by clicking here.

Collier’s campaign is aimed at uniting the working class throughout the Metro Detroit area in a common struggle against the politicians of big business in both the Democratic and Republican parties.

Collier spoke with Royce, a resident of the 9th District who recently became disabled. He explained that his family is currently facing a utility bill of several thousand dollars, which is largely due to heating charges in homes he had previously rented.

In a deal that has sweeping, long-term implications for millions of people living and working along the US Gulf Coast, the Obama administration has agreed to base the payments by BP to the oil disaster fund on the oil giant’s profits from its drilling operations in the Gulf.

On Monday, BP made its first deposit into the disaster fund, which is overseen by “claims czar” Kenneth Feinberg, while top executives visited the White House to discuss the longer-term financial commitment. The initial sum was $3 billion, with another $2 billion to be paid during the fourth quarter of 2010. Thereafter, BP will deposit $1.25 billion each quarter for the next three years, bringing the total up to its original pledge of $20 billion

The company’s CEO, Robert Dudley, and Lamar McKay, a top US executive for BP, met Monday at the White House with chief of staff Rahm Emanuel, retired admiral Thad Allen, who headed the government disaster response, and other administration officials.

A White House statement declared that the Obama aides “impressed upon BP the importance of living up to their commitment to long term recovery, and underscored that the administration will remain vigilant in ensuring that promise is met.”

President Obama’s initial 2009 pledge of $12 billion in stimulus funds—in itself an insultingly low number—to help the nation’s community colleges through the recessionary crisis was slashed to $2 billion for job training and education in March of 2010. On July 29, Obama signed the $59 billion emergency war supplemental spending bill; one can readily see where the Obama administration’s interests lie.

This drastic cut in federal stimulus funding comes at a time when state funding for higher education is expected to fall even further. But even this drastic cut in stimulus funds fails to tell the whole story. At a time when community colleges across the nation are bursting at the seams with high school graduates who can’t afford skyrocketing tuition rates at many four-year schools, as well as with returning students seeking new skills, the majority of stimulus funds are going to for-profit institutions instead of community colleges.

In Michigan, where the official unemployment rate of 13.2 percent ranks second in the nation, enrollment in community colleges has reached the record level of 254,042 according to the Michigan Community College Network. At Oakland Community College in southeast Michigan the population count stands at a high of 75,000.

BP and the Obama administration concluded negotiations Monday on the $20 billion compensation fund for victims of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill. BP executives had previously committed to the fund during a private meeting at the White House in June.

In a statement on the negotiations, incoming BP CEO Bob Dudley said, “The purpose of the escrow account was to assure those adversely affected by the spill that we indeed intend to stand behind our commitment to them and to the American taxpayers.” He added, “Establishing this trust and making the initial deposit ahead of schedule further demonstrates our commitment to making it right in the Gulf Coast.”

In fact, the purpose of the fund is not to “make right” the people of the Gulf Coast, but to make right the profits of BP, by seeking to contain potential damages to the company.

The initial deposit into the account by BP totals just $3 billion. The company will continue to pay into the fund for the next four years at a rate of $5 billion per year. Kenneth Feinberg, the attorney appointed by Obama and paid by BP to oversee the fund, is scheduled to begin processing compensation claims this month. Two trustees, former US District Judge John S. Martin and Kent Syverud, the dean of the Washington University School of Law, will also be brought on as administrators.

The Socialist Equality Party (SEP) held two public meetings in the Gulf Coast last week, centering on the political implications of the BP oil spill. The meetings, which took place on August 3 at Tulane University in New Orleans and August 4 at the University of South Alabama in Mobile, focused on the connection between the Gulf oil spill and the capitalist system that produced it.

The meetings were led by Andre Damon, who made two trips to the Gulf Coast to cover the BP oil disaster as a correspondent for the World Socialist Web Site. Based on interviews with experts and residents, Damon outlined the sociological, ecological and health impact of the oil spill, now acknowledged to be the worst in human history.

Damon set out to show that the government systematically obscured the extent of the spill in order to protect BP’s interests, in pursuance of its central aim of keeping the company profitabe despite the damage that it caused. “The government figures, first presented as 1,000, then 5,000, 12,000, 25,000, and ultimately 62,000 barrels of oil per day, show a carefully managed publicity exercise designed to limit public outrage at BP,” he said.