Overnight Briefing & General Reality Check

BP Oil Spill - Day 56:

The flow of oil into the Gulf of Mexico is estimated between 20-40-thousand barrels a day. (There are 42 gallons per barrel.) On CBS's "Face the Nation" yesterday, Coast Guard Adm THAD ALLEN estimated it to be in the mid-30s.
   BP says it will sell the oil being captured from its ruptured rig and give its share of the proceeds to fund restoring wildlife habitats along the Gulf Coast.
   The oil giant has not released specifics, however, nor does it know how much cash will come from the spill's oil, which will soon seamlessly slip into the global supply. So far, between 40 million and 109 million gallons have poured into the ocean. About 4 million gallons have been siphoned from the leaking well, and about 18 million gallons have been skimmed, but only 10 to 15 percent of the skimmed goo is oil. BP is still negotiating a buyer for the spilled oil.

Auto World /Gas Guzzlin' Update:

The Washington Post is arguing that Americans actually aren't paying nearly enough for gas at the pump.
   The problem with gas station prices is that they don't reflect the cost of the BP spill. The spill is going to cost a lot of money, whether it's to the economy of Gulf states or the area's ecosystem, but "that cost won't be paid by the people who wanted that oil for their cars."
   There are a lot of costs to oil drilling that never make it to the pump for consumers, sometimes because it's so difficult to put a price to something like air pollution or disruptions in the Middle East. The Energy Information Administration estimated that the average price of a gallon of gas should be $4.37 instead of the $2.72 it was last week. (Maiman)

Fast Food:

Ch-ch-ch-changes: Go ahead and purge the slogan "the other white meat" from your memory banks --the National Pork Board says they're planning to retire the slogan after 23 years, in an attempt to boost sales.
   The Pork Board says although the slogan may have made Americans a bit more aware of pork initially, over the past couple of decades there hasn't been any growth in people eating more --while the amount of chicken consumed per year grew by 50 percent during the same period.
   Now the Pork Board is looking for a new advertising slogan, which they'll unveil early next year.
   All you "Mad Men" --put your thinking caps on!

Who's your daddy?:

Someone buy BRIAN McKNIGHT a cigar --he's the proud papa of a bouncing fourteen-year-old boy! TMZ.com reports that MIRIAM LEE filed paternity and child support documents in Orange County, Florida last year claiming the singer is the father of her teenage son. Too bad the crooner let it slip through the cracks and never responded --a judge ruled he's the daddy and awarded Ms. Lee fourteen-years of back payment in the amount of $341,000 along with another 11-grand-per-month! Mr. McKnight's rep doesn't think it's that big of a deal because it was a default judgment, maintains his client is looking to establish paternity and waiting for the results of a DNA test. (Lee)

Jailhouse rules:

The federal detention center in Miami has a bra controversy.
   As attorney BRITTNEY HORSTMAN arrived to see her client, she set off the metal detector. Reason? She was wearing an underwire bra.
   Horstman reminded guards that detention center policy permits female attorneys wearing an underwire bra to enter. The guards still wouldn't let her in.
   So Horstman, like a trooper, went into a bathroom and removed the bra. But when she came back the guards still wouldn't let her in. Why? Prison dress code prohibits braless women from entering.
   "So, simply because I was a woman who wore a specific bra," she says, "my client was denied access to his attorney today. This is completely unacceptable."
   The Miami Herald says the warden conducted an internal investigation and assured the public defender's office this wouldn't happen again.
   Editor's note: The defense breasts, Your Honor.
   --Girls Gone Wired!
   --This will never hold up in court. Get it? Bra? Hold up? I kill me. But at least she can make a couple of good points in her argument. --Maiman)