A new study of underwater oil plumes in the Gulf of Mexico by scientists with the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) in Massachusetts contradicts assertions made by BP and federal scientists who claim the oil remaining in the Gulf is rapidly biodegrading. The study, published in the journal Science, is the first peer-reviewed scientific study of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill.

Between June 19 and 28, a team of researchers led by WHOI oceanographer Richard Camilli conducted a survey of waters surrounding the Macondo well head. Science reports the research team carried out more than 57,000 chemical analyses of a massive oil plume lying southwest of the well.

The researchers’ findings “indicate the presence of a continuous plume over 35 km [22 miles] in length, at approximately 1100 m depth that persisted for months without substantial biodegradation.” The plume examined by the WHOI team was found to be 200 meters thick and 2 kilometers wide. These findings directly contradict the now widely discredited National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) report released in early August that implied dispersed oil would simply vanish from the Gulf.

The Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) has laid off another 200 New York City station agents, while proposing to once again increase transit fares.

The layoffs took place on August 13 as a result of a recent decision by the MTA, which runs the New York City transit system, as well as the surrounding commuter railroads.

The agency must hold public hearings before the fare hike can take place, probably next month, after which its board will meet in October to take a binding vote on the fare increase, which would take effect on January 1, 2011.

The fare hikes include a more than 16 percent increase for monthly subway and bus MetroCards used for traveling within the city, an almost 10 percent increase for the use of the suburban commuter railroads, such as the Metro-North line, and a 10 percent hike for drivers who use the authority’s tunnels and bridges.

The MTA has already pink-slipped more than 250 station agents, but the layoff of the 200 who lost their jobs last week had been delayed as a result of a Transport Workers Union Local 100 lawsuit. The courts sided with the union that the layoff of these station agents, who worked in booths, was illegal because the there had been no public hearings on shutting down the station booths.

The Indianapolis General Motors stamping plant, where workers are being told to accept a 50 percent wage cut, is a run down and hazardous workplace, where sweltering heat, overwork, and the constant threat of injury are all part of the job.

“It’s a hellhole,” said Carla, a worker at the plant. In the summer, temperatures at the plant reach up to 120 degrees Fahrenheit. Workers often pass out from heat exhaustion, and certain parts of the plant have no air circulation whatsoever.

Yet despite the abysmal conditions, the United Auto Workers and GM are determined to force workers to accept 50 percent wage cuts. GM is seeking to sell the plant to JD Norman, which would mean cutting base wages to $15.50 per hour, from nearly $30. The sale will only worsen conditions, as JD Norman is determined to overhaul operations to extract maximum profits.

Workers showed their opposition to the GM/UAW proposal at an August 15 meeting, where they shouted down UAW International officials and drove them out of the hall, forcing the UAW to cancel a vote on the concessions they hoped to hold the next day.

Right-wing radio talk show host Rush Limbaugh devoted his Tuesday commentary to the struggle of workers at the Indianapolis General Motors stamping plant against demands for a 50 percent wage cut. He expressed understanding for the actions of GM and the United Auto Workers union (UAW) in seeking to push through the wage cuts, and scorn for the workers who are resisting.

Limbaugh quoted extensively from the report posted on the World Socialist Web Site Tuesday morning, under the headline “Indianapolis autoworkers drive United Auto Workers executives out of meeting”. He described, using the WSWS account, how the workers shouted down three UAW international union representatives when they tried to present the wage cut and other proposed contract changes to facilitate sale of the plant.

Limbaugh gloated over the treatment dealt the UAW officials. “The shoe’s on the other foot,” he said. “Now the UAW’s executives are the owners and they’re trying to tell their own brethren to take 50 cents on the dollar. The national UAW are the bosses. Now that they effectively own Obama Motors, they’re the ones riding the backs of the proletariat—and it shows up on the World Socialist Web Site!”

On Sunday, the Los Angeles Times published an analysis of the “effectiveness” of city teachers, ostensibly based on student test scores, as part of an intensifying campaign to blame teachers for deteriorating conditions in the public schools. The newspaper is one of the first media outlets in the nation to publish this information, raising serious concerns about the privacy of teachers under the new testing regime.

For its report, the LA Times analyzed data that had been gathered by the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD), the second largest district in the country. Later this month, The LA Times will make public the entire data set, which contains information on over 6,000 Los Angeles teachers.

In an interview on Monday, US Secretary of Education Arne Duncan provocatively endorsed the publication of test scores not just in Los Angeles, but on a national scale. Duncan asked, “What’s there to hide?” Duncan’s endorsement of the LA Times report indicates a further rightward step in the Obama administration’s education policy.

In recent days, the United Auto Workers union, former Wall Street speculator Justin Norman and General Motors have pressed ahead with their efforts to force workers at the Indianapolis GM stamping plant to accept a 50 percent cut in wages. These forces are calling for a revote on the grounds that only a “vocal minority” of workers spoke out at last Sunday’s union meeting against the concessions demands.

This position was expressed most clearly by Norman who has insisted on the pay cut as the precondition for buying the plant from GM. At a press conference Wednesday he said, “Based on the outpouring of phone calls that I have received from plant employees, I believe there is a sincere desire to listen to our offer.”

This was echoed by UAW Region 3 Director Maurice Davison who previously told the Indianapolis Star, “Out of the 600 that work there, about 200 were carrying that message (to deny a vote). I wonder about the 400 that didn’t come out to that meeting.”

Workers at the August 15 meeting shouted down UAW International officials and drove them out of the Local 23 union hall, forcing the UAW to cancel a vote on the concessions they hoped to hold the next day.

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.”