Oil Rig Explosion

Congress isn’t wasting any time. With another oil rig explosion, some House Democrats are already demanding answers.

Just hours after a Mariner Energy rig exploded in the Gulf of Mexico, the House Energy and Commerce committee is asking Scott Josey, the president and CEO of the company, for a briefing on the incident.

House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Henry Waxman (D-Calif.), and Reps. Bart Stupak (D-Mich.) and Ed Markey (D-Mass.) are leading the investigation in two subcommittees.

The explosion will almost certainly bolster Democrats’ contention that off-shore drilling is not yet safe enough. In the wake of the Deepwater Horizon disaster earlier this year, Republicans said offshore drilling should not be halted, but safety measures should be improved. This incident will likely give both sides more ammo going into an election season where Democrats are furiously trying to paint Republicans as friends of Big Oil.

Congress has spent a good chunk of the last half-year investigating offshore drilling, holding several duplicative hearings on the BP disaster.

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Quebec Fires

Montreal, Quebec, Canada (AHN) - Quebec firefighters blamed the hot, dry and windy weather for keeping the flames that has hit different forests across the province blazing. The bulk of the forest fires are located near La Tuque, which is 300 kilometers northwest of Montreal.

While none of the nearby residents are at risk since those who live in the blazes’ vicinity had been evacuated, other residents complained of heavy smoke and ash which were drifting toward the Quebec-Montreal corridor.

According to a spokesman of Quebec’s Forest Fire Protection Agency, as of Sunday afternoon, there are 52 ongoing forest fires ranging in size from one to 40,000 hectares. About 90,000 hectares have been razed so far.

The Maine Forest Service has sent 21 firefighters to Quebec to help battle the forest fires. Manitoba also sent two water bombers.

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Israel News

The first time I met Benjamin Netanyahu was on Sept. 9, 2002, in the lobby of a Montreal hotel. The former Israeli prime minister (as he then was) and his entourage had just retreated from Concordia University, where violent street protesters screaming slogans in Arabic had shut down his scheduled speech. While aides jabbered into cellphones, trying (unsuccessfully) to arrange another venue, Mr. Netanyahu wondered aloud to me and a half dozen other hangers-on how a democracy such as Canada had permitted a street mob to shut down a major speaking event. Ominous comparisons were made to Europe, where similarly ugly scenes had become common in the wake of Israel’s 2002 West Bank  offensive.

Seven years later, as Mr. Netanyahu visits Canada once again, everything has changed.

The Israeli Prime Minister retains clear memories of his 2002 trip: He still speaks ruefully of the “Concordia-Berkeley axis” of bien-pensant Western opinion that seizes any pretext to attack Israel. But the Canadian end of that axis is much withered: As Mr. Netanyahu told Peter Mansbridge in an interview for yesterday’s edition of CBC’s The National, Stephen Harper has defined himself in Israeli eyes as a “champion” of the Jewish state’s right to defend itself. Some observers, Mr. Mansbridge noted, now describe Canada as Israel’s strongest supporter in the entire world.

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Chris Dudley

Oregon's gubernatorial primary Tuesday night left voters with two distinct options when they go to the polls in November: John Kitzhaber, a former two-term Democratic governor seeking an unprecedented third spin in office, and Chris Dudley, a former Portland Trail Blazer turned Republican politician.

Kitzhaber easily beat former Secretary of State Bill Bradbury in the Democratic primary, 66 percent to 29 percent, The Oregonian reports. The Republican primary was tighter: Dudley beat high-tech businessman Allen Alley by a mere eight points. Voter turnout was around 38 percent.

Chris DudleyThe primary set up a colorful contest in November, where Kitzhaber will attempt to sell his vast understanding of Oregon's government, which he ran from 1995-2003, and portray Dudley as an inexperienced outsider. Kitzhaber did not mention Dudley in his acceptance speech Tuesday night, but the state Democratic Party has already launched a website called DudleyDoLittle.com that highlight's the former basketball player's lack of government experience and expertise.

Dudley, who spent 16 years in the NBA, will likely campaign on Kitzhaber's record as well, asking voters why they would vote for someone who put the state on its current path. Dudley previewed that theme in his acceptance speech Tuesday night, saying the November contest would be a choice between "our past or our future, a comeback or a rerun."

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