Friday, March 30, 2012
Thursday, March 29, 2012
Man Targeted by Florida's Shoot First Law Lives to Warn Others
A Few Too Many Bags of Trash?
In Florida that could lead to grave injury, even death. The trash above is not the trash mentioned in report and is simply used as an illustration. Nice park though.
Picture shared using native Flickr coding and allowed via Creative Commons License Attribution 2.0 Generic (CC BY 2.0) rollover to see Flickr name of photographer who has no connection to this blog or blogger.
So this guy puts out eight bags of trash, instead of six and his neighbor gets upset. Pretty soon the neighbor has gotten a gun and shoots him. Later, claiming that the man tried to enter his house, the shooter gets off scot-free.
See Reuters report at the Orlando Sentinel Man lives to tell of Florida "Shoot First" horror
Florida's Tough Vote Registration Law Already Cutting Down New Voter Registrations
Cutting down on new voters is job one for Republicans when students and minorities are usually underrepresented on voter rolls. Students potentially may be forced to reregister every year.
Tell a friend in Florida to register today. If they don't register they have no voting rights nor right to complain.
http://bit.ly/H41CjC
Tell a friend in Florida to register today. If they don't register they have no voting rights nor right to complain.
http://bit.ly/H41CjC
Video: Lawrence O'Donnell and Others Analyze Security Cam Video From Zimmerman's Arrival at Police Station Showing No Signs of Injury
Videos might be very busy, not want to come down. I saw lots of stalling last night. That's because O'Donnell's about the only one who is really checking this crime out beyond just accepting the words of Zimmerman and his friends and family.
The Lawrence O'Donnell videos make George Zimmerman look like a liar. I hope they work for you. I'm not only getting about 15-25 seconds of each. Keep trying. This appears to be a horrible case of murder that Zimmerman's wealthy and connected father who is a retired Virginia judge wants swept under the rug. (Sorry, earlier sources said Zimmerman Sr. had been a judge for Orange County Florida, but tonight, I think someone on the O'Donnell show said he worked in Virginia. Still a very powerful man and he's using his power to get his son off a charge of murder one.) Don't you wish you were a son of privilege?
The Lawrence O'Donnell videos make George Zimmerman look like a liar. I hope they work for you. I'm not only getting about 15-25 seconds of each. Keep trying. This appears to be a horrible case of murder that Zimmerman's wealthy and connected father who is a retired Virginia judge wants swept under the rug. (Sorry, earlier sources said Zimmerman Sr. had been a judge for Orange County Florida, but tonight, I think someone on the O'Donnell show said he worked in Virginia. Still a very powerful man and he's using his power to get his son off a charge of murder one.) Don't you wish you were a son of privilege?
Wednesday, March 28, 2012
Video: Must See Is Zimmerman's Friend Lying? #riptrayvon #justice4trayon #hoodiesup #trayvonmartin #millionhoodies
(See video above for the whole interview. Lawrence doesn't lay down and roll over for this guy)
This interview establishes two things I think are very important and can remember right now this morning. Lawrence and his fellow journalists do not believe Joe Oliver is a "close friend" or even a close acquaintance of George Zimmerman though he claims that he is. And Mr. Oliver claims he's not getting paid.
Lawrence leaves that hanging after finding that Mr. Oliver is not seeking employment at this time in his own profession (news reporting/anchoring according to some who appear to say he even once hosted his own show at CNN, you know like Dana Loesch does now).
So a guy who had such a good position on CNN, doesn't want work right now so he can defend a man who is likely not even a close acquaintance for free.
Yeah, that sounds just about right to me /not. Maybe he's promised money or a job in the future? That would jibe with not getting paid for this, but...)
I think whether Mr. Oliver has a job is important. If he is expecting payment for this at any time, that would change everything. I guess he could be banking on the 1% helping his career in the future, that would be a back payment of a kind, and many journalists avoid controversies to please their 1% masters, or come down on the side of billionaires entirely so it's not unknown to happen.
If he is getting paid that raises the question of how a mortgage underwriter could afford it. Yeah, his dad is a retired judge (once made money) but still. Hiring your own CNN reporter? Still looking at legal fees? Yeah/no.
Who's paying? NRA, GOP, ALEC, Koch Brothers, all of the above??
There is more on the video, but I don't remember everything that they learned. People lie to news reporters who often cannot directly challenge them because of liable laws, and frankly the 1% own the news media and the future of everyone who is in it.
BTW, I was going to post this last night when the memory was fresh, but the machine was tired and began a kind of stalling maneuver it does. In some circumstances I can turn off and on, but that didn't work that time. (It is possible some one fell asleep with Netflix on and that creates such a drag on the internet that all the spyware, Google and others use, affects just trying to write a post.)
Tuesday, March 27, 2012
"High Tech #Piracy" Helped Damage Aquisition Price of Direct TV, Aided Purchase By News Corp Aiing Murdoch's Empire's Growing Wealth and Power
Apparently News Corp has been going around the world damaging media companies, and then snatching them up at reduced prices according to emails acquired by the Australian Financial Review.
A secret unit within Rupert Murdoch’s News Corporation promoted a wave of high-tech piracy in Australia that damaged Austar, Optus and Foxtel at a time when News was moving to take control of the Australian pay TV industry.Though such acquisitions as these may not seem like the smoking gun that shows how Rupert Murdoch controls the news media and politics (and he actually doesn't, still needing the help of other billionaires and their sycophant media owners and politicians) it was instrumental in making money that helps Murdoch's family and employees to control minds, media, and politicians.
The piracy cost the Australian pay TV companies up to $50 million a year and helped cripple the finances of Austar, which Foxtel is now in the process of acquiring.
...
A four-year investigation by The Australian Financial Review has revealed a global trail of corporate dirty tricks directed against competitors by a secretive group of former policemen and intelligence officers within News Corp known as Operational Security.
Their actions devastated News’s competitors, and the resulting waves of high-tech piracy assisted News to bid for pay TV businesses at reduced prices – including DirecTV in the US, Telepiu in Italy and Austar.
The AFR does note that companies purchased by the Murdoch family's branches also had other financial weaknesses, but how about being able to knock 25% that new car you want or a college education? You end up in better financial situation than if you paid full price and could go on to acquire other stuff you want. For Rupert Murdoch and company that's "brains".
Remember in the run up to the Iraq war, when the country was against going in how News Corp, along with featuring Bush administration principles telling us lies, and implying that Iraq was just about to get nuclear weapon capability, they interrupted a popular (aren't they all) music award show for an interview by Bill O'Reilly with some war hawk on which they talked about how we absolutely had to go into Iraq (or the implication was that disaster would strike the US).
Well we did go into Iraq and disaster did strike the US leading to both high unemployment, and highest ever rents in our history. Millions of young, middle aged, and older people are suffering and the news media doesn't have to tell you about each other because Murdoch and other billionaires own them.
Most of those people wouldn't have gotten to be billionaires if they believed in fair play. Part of fair play is telling people what reality is if you are in the business of reporting it in news media or portraying it in entertainment media. Well, "fuck that", say the billionaires, we'd rather bend reality to pander to other billionaires who sell stuff, or are seeking to control minds so people don't turn out "libral" and mess with our ability to rip everyone off through market schemes, war, and tax cuts for the rich, tax hikes for everyone else.
And the big money that Murdoch made harming other companies before buying them and letting the prices recover appears to be part of the seed money that makes that man so immensely powerful. Hitler is sitting in Hell as jealous as anything though he knows that he'll be seeing Rupert soon, because he was never that powerful, he could only destroy people and things. He couldn't build a sustainable future.
If liberals don't pull together and support the best we have in the US that can hold off the worst of the building fascism, we are all going down into war, and third world conditions. And I'll be plain with you, Obama isn't the greatest thing I can ever imagine, but he's the only thing decent that can maintain power in the White House right now. The Democrats aren't perfect or even completely on our side in Congress, but they are slower at putting us into deep holes of misery, death, and debt than the Republicans.
America needs to clean house, especially of the Rupert family. Their illegal actions are now available to actually strip their power. But a weakened Democratic party can't fight these people. We need more power for the most liberal Democrats and then later we can push them to the left. If we continue to believe in conspiracy theories like how Obama wants to put you in jail for the rest of your life, and therefore refuse to support what strength they have the Democrats will abandon all of us and turn to the billionaires, leaving the rest of us in a kind of unacknowledged slavery.
It happened before. It's known as The Dark Ages which lasted over a thousand years. And that period was only broken by a massive die off of people due to the great plague, aka The Black Death.
(To be honest, the democracy of Greece and Rome were short lived and not free for everyone, but they were a damn sight better than what followed for a millennium.)
Now we have proof that Rupert's empire was illegally gotten. We should work to tell everyon about the criminal acts that put News International in charge of most of the minds in the world, and of the horror the family Murdoch pushes and is likely to put in charge of the world's minds.
Global Post also reports
Meanwhile, the British broadcasting watchdog Ofcom is set to investigate claims that a subsidiary of News Corp. helped to destroy one of the company's British pay-TV rivals via piracy, the Independent reported.See: News Corp unit promoted piracy against rivals: report. That GP report also has the material I quoted from its original source at AFR, but I linked directly to AFR so I didn't need to link to the GP for that part or include the AFR lines in the 5 sentence into s 5 sentence limit lower limit for fair use copy as determined by a recent federal court decision on which I reported here last week.
The TV regulator's interest comes after a BBC's Panorama program alleged NDS, a London-based News Corp. company specializing in satellite television technology, leaked codes that could have been used to create counterfeit smart cards for the now defunct ITV Digital.
#California Has Most Densely Populated Cities in Nation #census #us #cities #landuse #wilderness
California's Big Sur Coastline
Spectacular geography and rapid development since WW2 has led to highly compartmentalized land use.
Picture shared via native Flickr coding and allowed via Creative Commons License Attribution 2.0 Generic (CC BY 2.0) Roll over to see Flickr name of photographer who has no connection to this blog or blogger.
Rapid growth during and since WW2 has led California to develop dense cities compared to the East Coast reports John King at the San Francisco Chronicle reporting on US Census data.
Land use is chopped into urban, producing, and wild areas by history and geography.
See full report for further explanation: California cities most densely populated in U.S.
Though many other areas in the US have challenging and beautiful land, California also has the population attracted originally by the war effort and then by trade, weather, Hollywood and all that followed.
Sunday, March 25, 2012
Could #TrayvonMartin's Family Sue Sources That Trash His Memory For Slander?
Million Hoodies March, NYC, March 21, 2012
Thousands marched for Justice for Trayvon Martin who was killed by a wannabe Neighborhood Watch captain, February 26, 2012
Photo shared using Flickr's native coding and allowed via Creative Commons License Attribution 2.0 Generic (CC BY 2.0)
There are awful things being said about Trayvon Martin, with, I'm guessing the idea or the contract to protect white, right wing, gun-hugger rights (possibly at the behest of FOX News whose constant push for bigotry and support of the NRA is under fire after the killing of Trayvon Martin).
Dan Linehan of Wagist comes up with a total pile-on of Trayvon ending up with the idea that because a tattooed teen was pissed off by being asked why what he was doing by a neighborhood watch captain, he attacked the poor overweight guy and therefore deserved to get shot to death with a pistol that requires a lot of force for its size to pull the trigger (according to a video shown by I think Jennifer Granholm).
Oh, and he might have been selling weed at some time in the past year (Upgraded in the title of Linehan piece to a much more deadly product "Drugs").
Dude, I don't use it, but Marijuana is an herb not a drug. Only creepy right wingers and the jack booted authorities that serve them consider it a "drug".
A fellow writer at Wagist calls himself a liberal, but I haven't seen Linehan describe his positions. Both writers have pushed for more gun rights or at least gun ownership, the liberal saying he wanted fellow libs to lay down of line of fire while he runs from Whole Foods to his Prius to save him from the unemployed or something. That sounds more like what a person making a Teaparty friendly joke would say, not a liberal.
But to sum up, this guy makes a huge case that Trayvon Martin didn't fit the image of the younger image of him. Funny, Dude, our society has made sure blcks get pulled over in their cars everywhere they go, and have much harder times getting well paying jobs, and then you claim, that if their kids don't turn out like your ivy league ass they deserve to be accosted everywhere, and better not respond inappropriately or they deserve to get killed, (and, of course, that fits right in with Florida's shoot to kill if they make you feel creepy law).
Dude, people don't have to be like you to deserve respect.
And the cops themselves told George Zimmerman to back off:
Dispatch: "Are you following him?"
GZ: Uh, yeah.
Dispatch: "Okay, we don't need you to do that."
Well, Zimmerman didn't back off.
Linehan did not contact one person who knew Mr. Martin that I could see. He has included no evidence that he contacted the school either though other reports did say a few things about Trayvon's relations at school, using pictures, messages from Trayvon's social media makes an ugly worst case scenario from their details. He says being in the wrong place at school won't get you a ten day suspension. An AP report also noted that Martin also had tardies. Dan Lineham apparently doesn't know how public schools punish heavily unless its like a first problem or you're white. Really, Dude, have you ever gone to an inner city school or did you grow up in the "burbs". Don't even answer that because it doesn't matter, unless you're black too. You obviously don't get it.
If you put people in the poverty box, they aren't going to grow up like you. You have little right to judge them and decide that a black man has no right to fend off an aggressive attitude from a wannabe cop, if that is what really happened. You don't know. You just made up the scenario that put Zimmerman, and FOX News, and gun rights for whites, in the best spotlight, and decided that was it.
You are simply the worst journalist on the web and one of the most racist jerks whose blog I've ever read.
Go get your checks from FOX and the NRA. I'm sure you will fool a lot more racists like yourself and put people of color in danger for another decade.
I believe that the family should be able to sue for slander. This guy probably got a fat check or two for this crap, and at least the truth would come out whether he got any facts from anywhere or pulled them out of his ***. That might mitigate the racism that FOX and NRA are trying to recover, just because the actual facts of what happened that day would come out. The ACLU, NAACP, and other sources may be able to help the family get a lawyer.
See Wagist: Was Trayvon Martin a Drug Dealer?
He does have links to sources of pictures of Trayvon there. I guess the family should get those taken down, but they are too busy being heartbroken and real to understand how racists will use them.
Though, Trayvon is gone, his memory is worth something. It's not Marilyn Monroe, but if right wingers and gun nuts trash it, the value will be ruined. Someone get these people a lawyer. (I'm not one and only talked to one once in my life. I'm not trying to push a profession, but don't think FOX, the GOP, or haters should be able to trash this family's son's memory.)
The Reasoning Behind Florida's #StandYourGround Law That Led to Death of #TrayvonMartin
The reasoning behind Florida's "Stand Your Ground" law is that there are good people and bad people according to an analysis from Isaac-Davy Aronson in 2007 is that there are good people and bad people.
And good people don't make bad decisions. Good people know when they are threatened and when they are not, and when to use deadly force.
Like, according to Mr. Aronson, Mr Kenneth Allen, who felt threatened when Jason Ronsenbloom, talked back to his lecture over leaving 8 bags of trash out for pickup instead of obeying the limit of 6.
And, like the president at the time; George W. Bush, who was such a good person he could disregard Congress with signing statements that flatly admitted he wouldn't be carrying out the wished of Congress though he would keep the law on the books in some kind of compromise; "good people" can do no wrong.
Of course, the people most of us are likely to see first as "good people" are those who look like the majority So, generally the white Anglo-saxon others in this nation are likely to hold sway. Some people who feel alienated also turn to their own kind as the best role models for good. That can create not only the white dominant superiority, but also, minority embattlement syndrome. Trayvon Martin's case may have brought it to the attention of Americans this time in a big way, but apparently the law has led to the shooting of many minorities.
And criminal proceedings are the first step towards justice. If earlier cases didn't just let the person of white Northern European descent walk free after shooting people of more complex or darker ancestry, then maybe George Zimmerman would have thought twice about confronting Trayvon Martin, or even of carrying a gun around playing "Neighborhood Watch".
That just adds to the injustice of the Trayvon Martin killing. It could have been stopped before a delusional, wannabe, who was possibly high on drugs or alcohol, killed a young man who had his whole life ahead of him, and wanted to become a pilot.
There will be more horrific killings if such laws stand and continue to be used to justify white Northern Europeans and their security lackeys (police, guards, and neighborhood watchdogs of all descent) killing minority individuals.
Maybe we should boycott Florida until they get that law changed or repealed.
And good people don't make bad decisions. Good people know when they are threatened and when they are not, and when to use deadly force.
Like, according to Mr. Aronson, Mr Kenneth Allen, who felt threatened when Jason Ronsenbloom, talked back to his lecture over leaving 8 bags of trash out for pickup instead of obeying the limit of 6.
And, like the president at the time; George W. Bush, who was such a good person he could disregard Congress with signing statements that flatly admitted he wouldn't be carrying out the wished of Congress though he would keep the law on the books in some kind of compromise; "good people" can do no wrong.
Of course, the people most of us are likely to see first as "good people" are those who look like the majority So, generally the white Anglo-saxon others in this nation are likely to hold sway. Some people who feel alienated also turn to their own kind as the best role models for good. That can create not only the white dominant superiority, but also, minority embattlement syndrome. Trayvon Martin's case may have brought it to the attention of Americans this time in a big way, but apparently the law has led to the shooting of many minorities.
And criminal proceedings are the first step towards justice. If earlier cases didn't just let the person of white Northern European descent walk free after shooting people of more complex or darker ancestry, then maybe George Zimmerman would have thought twice about confronting Trayvon Martin, or even of carrying a gun around playing "Neighborhood Watch".
That just adds to the injustice of the Trayvon Martin killing. It could have been stopped before a delusional, wannabe, who was possibly high on drugs or alcohol, killed a young man who had his whole life ahead of him, and wanted to become a pilot.
There will be more horrific killings if such laws stand and continue to be used to justify white Northern Europeans and their security lackeys (police, guards, and neighborhood watchdogs of all descent) killing minority individuals.
Maybe we should boycott Florida until they get that law changed or repealed.
Saturday, March 24, 2012
#NYPD Killers of Sean Bell Off the Force #seanbell #trayvonmartin #NYC #millionhoodies
An Undercover Detective has been fired by NYPD Chief Ray Kelly and three others will resign over 5 years after Sean Bell was killed the morning before his wedding. A fifth officer on the scene that morning has already resigned. Being fired means Gescard Isnora will lose his pension and health benefits a problem that union lawyers are attempting to change. Isnora was found to be the first shooter after the cops became scared that Bell and his friends had weapons.
See Detective in Sean Bell case fired.
See Detective in Sean Bell case fired.
Friday, March 23, 2012
Friends of Trayvon Describe Him as All Around Good Guy. Fox Correspondent Derides the "Hoody"
Apparently, Trayvon Martin was a success as a teen, not someone obsessed with making a million before he was thirty most likely, but a sensible, fun loving, nice kid who had been in a junior football team, and after he became too old for it still helped out in the snack stand.
The only school problems noted in an AP report were some tardies leading to a short suspension.
He and his father seem to have taken good care of each other, and should be an inspiration to all of us. Trayvon's sense of family extended to his father's girlfriends son, described by the AP as a "soon-to-be stepbrother" for whom he was buying the Skittles. See AP Link below this post for more details on Trayvon
While I have some sympathy for George Zimmerman who was probably fighting discrimination himself for his Hispanic looks and who appeared to think if he was tough enough he could gain a middle class wage and respect by becoming a police officer, this case shows off the essence of racism.
If you look a young person who is not like you and instantly see a threat, no matter how hard you personally have struggled in life, you have a problem with it.
If, like FOX new's, Giraldo Rivera you claim that the big problem is "The Hoody" which many working class people wear because it keeps them warm and one doesn't have to choose which fashion statement to put on today, you have a problem with prejudice. And, BTW Mr Rivera, just because you're one of the few people of ethnicity on FOX News does it mean you aren't a racist.
Those seeking to push middle and working class Americans into a slave class status, love interracial problems since it helps foster their agenda.
Slain teen's friends say he never picked a fight
He and his father seem to have taken good care of each other, and should be an inspiration to all of us. Trayvon's sense of family extended to his father's girlfriends son, described by the AP as a "soon-to-be stepbrother" for whom he was buying the Skittles. See AP Link below this post for more details on Trayvon
While I have some sympathy for George Zimmerman who was probably fighting discrimination himself for his Hispanic looks and who appeared to think if he was tough enough he could gain a middle class wage and respect by becoming a police officer, this case shows off the essence of racism.
If you look a young person who is not like you and instantly see a threat, no matter how hard you personally have struggled in life, you have a problem with it.
If, like FOX new's, Giraldo Rivera you claim that the big problem is "The Hoody" which many working class people wear because it keeps them warm and one doesn't have to choose which fashion statement to put on today, you have a problem with prejudice. And, BTW Mr Rivera, just because you're one of the few people of ethnicity on FOX News does it mean you aren't a racist.
Those seeking to push middle and working class Americans into a slave class status, love interracial problems since it helps foster their agenda.
Slain teen's friends say he never picked a fight
Thursday, March 22, 2012
Cenk Uygur Paul Ryan's and the GOP Budget Plan That Would "that would create $4.3 trillion debt in 10 years" through tax cuts to the wealthy
Despite ending Medicare as we know it the plan from the GOP darling (who received Social Security payments as a teen enabling the deal from the Wisconsin Congressman to pay outright for college instead of being entangled in large, often high interest, debt after graduation) would leave the US with even more debt.
If you want to be left with a puny voucher during your last years of desperate medical need vote GOP this year or don't vote at all, because they have the plan perfected, now and are eager to get to passing it through the Congress and getting it signed by a GOP president.
Wednesday, March 21, 2012
Petitions For Justice on Trayvon Martin Shooting, info on Million Hoodies March in NYC, and Twitter handles of Congressionals:
I decided to look for more petitions calling for the proper prosecution of Trayvon's Martin's killer. I didn't want to miss one.
I've only found two, right now. I have to go to work, but will be signing them tonight and looking for others.
Also I found a page that has the Twitter handles of a lot of Congress members so you can Tweet them, Tweet at them, and just in general nudge them to make sure a proper investigation is done.
Also tell them to stop supporting the NRA's "Stand your Ground" laws that gave George Zimmerman the idea he could kill a teen in cold blood.
Petition #1 Prosecute the killer of our son, 17-year-old Trayvon Martin
Petition #2 Attorney General Holder: See That Justice is Done
Facebook event:
Million Hoodies March in NYC 6 pm Union Square
They have a link to one of the petitions above too.
You can take a picture of yourself in your in your hoodie and share it at the facebook group's wall.
This guy started the Million Hoodies March
Twitter handles for Congress members here. (You may get propaganda back from their staff and others, but at least you've told them.)
Or go to Thomas.loc.gov for email and mail options. (Though email and other systems often break down at important times, like now.)
Don't let up. Don't let them hide behind business as usual, especially the Republicans that have promoted the gun laws that let racists kill teens.
I've only found two, right now. I have to go to work, but will be signing them tonight and looking for others.
Also I found a page that has the Twitter handles of a lot of Congress members so you can Tweet them, Tweet at them, and just in general nudge them to make sure a proper investigation is done.
Also tell them to stop supporting the NRA's "Stand your Ground" laws that gave George Zimmerman the idea he could kill a teen in cold blood.
Petition #1 Prosecute the killer of our son, 17-year-old Trayvon Martin
Petition #2 Attorney General Holder: See That Justice is Done
Facebook event:
Million Hoodies March in NYC 6 pm Union Square
They have a link to one of the petitions above too.
You can take a picture of yourself in your in your hoodie and share it at the facebook group's wall.
This guy started the Million Hoodies March
Twitter handles for Congress members here. (You may get propaganda back from their staff and others, but at least you've told them.)
Or go to Thomas.loc.gov for email and mail options. (Though email and other systems often break down at important times, like now.)
Don't let up. Don't let them hide behind business as usual, especially the Republicans that have promoted the gun laws that let racists kill teens.
Whaling Groups Say "Pay Us To Stop"
Way to drag your ugly activities into a nice looking picture, dudes.
Picture from Wikimedia Commons and covered by their license for reuse Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported
A writer at The Economist says some people are arguing that environmental groups should be paying whalers to cease and desist instead of harassing them.
My comment:
What a great idea. And we can also pay burglars to not steal stuff out of peoples houses, or Wall Street bankers to not rip off their clients.
I wouldn't mind if someone paid me to not try to catch the last of a yellow light.
Still the trade off isn't really that static in ways the author notes and misses.
Mr. Babbage tells us to remember that we are paying the whalers to replace the money they would make on the open market, but if whale meat therefore became unavailable because whalers aren't whaling then it would instantly become "scarce"and therefore much more valuable.
Driving spiraling costs to cover the increase or leading to cheating.
Whether or not you want to contribute to the effort to stop whalers, the truth is that, if the whole whaling harassment scheme is dismantled and the payment demands for not whaling escalate to unreasonable levels, we would face the fact that the whole infrastructure of the whaling harassment system would need to be rebuilt. It seems to have taken over 20 years to get good disruptions of the Japanese whaling of in the waters off Antarctic waters built up until it is severely restricting the catch.. Are we going to force them to dismantle it so they can afford payments to whalers and hope it doesn't need to be rebuilt after a few years as "pirate" whalers (probably the same groups that were whaling before) step in to make the precious metal level money that a reimbursed whaling embargo has encouraged for the products of the slaughter? How long, in fact, until the world gives up and tells the whalers to just go ahead and kill them all?
Then again being able to pay off whalers, sure would put to rest the lies that whaling for modern societies was just a way to keep in touch with their heritage. But in fact, if the whaling nations are asking to be paid off, that actually does the exact same thing, though I note that you're not likely to learn that from mainstream news sources who are careful not to insult big money sources.
Want some more good news? I've read evidence that monetary and political support for whaling in at least one nation appears to be a disguised crony payback scheme. Similar games may be going on in the other nations still promoting whaling. Does the world believe environmentalists should fund corrupt politicians at ever increasing costs to keep a horrific slaughter from happening?
The Economist (mobile format): Good whale hunting
More news on whales and whaling:
Saboteurs blamed as Japan whale catch falls short
Following an even more disastrous season for the Japanese Whaling fleet this year's catch fell short of 1/3 of it's desired catch.
Rare whale swims up West Coast at 100 miles per day
Yahoo! Gets Heat for Whale and Dolphin Meat Sales
Proof: Restiction of Abortion Kills Women
Grindelwald Valley and Eiger
Yes, that is the Alp featured in "The Eiger Sanction".
I know. It looks so peaceful from here.
Republicans pretend that restricting abortion and contraception is just a way to pretty up life in the United States, but there are ramifications from killing and maiming women to putting religion in charge of our lives. The Founding Fathers didn't want any of that to happen.
Picture shared using Flickr's native code (found at site)and allowed via Creative Commons License Attribution 2.0 Generic (CC BY 2.0) Rollover for Flickr name of photographer.
What do the so-called "Right to Life" people have to say about the fact that restricting abortion and safe, affordable contraception through prohibitions or costs kills women? How can they justify denying women what they need to take care of the family they have by forcing them to bear children repeatedly until they can no longer be the best benefit to them and, indeed, may no longer be alive. These women are often times wives, mothers, care givers, and workers. In fact, according to "POVERTY AND HIV/AIDS IN SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA" families most at risk through poverty are often headed by women. And that is true in the United States as well.
But:
See excerpted abstract from Obstetrics and Gynecology republished by the US Government's NIH: "Unsafe Abortion: Unnecessary Maternal Mortality":
Every year, worldwide, about 42 million women with unintended pregnancies choose abortion, and nearly half of these procedures, 20 million, are unsafe. Some 68,000 women die of unsafe abortion annually, making it one of the leading causes of maternal mortality (13%). Of the women who survive unsafe abortion, 5 million will suffer long-term health complications. Unsafe abortion is thus a pressing issue. Both of the primary methods for preventing unsafe abortion—less restrictive abortion laws and greater contraceptive use—face social, religious, and political obstacles, particularly in developing nations, where most unsafe abortions (97%) occur. Even where these obstacles are overcome, women and health care providers need to be educated about contraception and the availability of legal and safe abortion, and women need better access to safe abortion and post-abortion services. Otherwise, desperate women, facing the financial burdens and social stigma of unintended pregnancy and believing they have no other option, will continue to risk their lives by undergoing unsafe abortions.The report also says that in developed countries only 3% of abortions are unsafe, but with the GOP forcing states to make abortion more expensive (through reimbursed ultrasounds) or less available that number will rise. Plus our nation informs others how to treat their women, directly and indirectly.
For example:
During the Bush administration, US money for women's health sources was denied to groups who offered abortion and then even for those who offered hormonal contraception, and groups that offered and recommended the use of condoms for birth and HIV control faced steeper challenges for getting US government dollars as compared to US groups in Africa who pushed the failed practices of "Abstinence Only" policies putting the lives of African women at risk over and over again.
Do your friends endanger the lives of women? Explain to them that birth control, condoms for HIV/AIDS and other venereal disease prevention, as well as abortion is essential to healthy families in regions like Africa, South America and other third world nations where women are under the boot of the Catholic Church and other hyper religious groups either as it controls the minds of their government officials (as in South America) or because they are the largest medical benefactors (like in Africa).
Instead of helping the women of the third world, are we going to allow more women in the US face death because they cannot afford or not allowed to have effective birth control and/or safe abortion?
Think about it.
I know men care about this too. It affects their quality of life. When a woman is facing the decision of whether or not she and her partner can afford to raise another child in this world, they have to face any difficulties that are have been thrown in their way. It is nearly criminal the obstacles that Republicans in state governments will put in front of a pregnant woman, up to doubling the price of an abortion because they thought they could capture the Evangelical vote by doing so.
And Mrs. Santorum pretending these state regulations don't matter because her husband won't do anything about contraception and abortion is a slap in the face. Yeah, Honey, that's exactly what we are saying. He won't do anything. He'll let the states and the Church run right over women until they are seeking unsafe abortions in back alleys, or trying to do it themselves.
Welcome to the Third World, America. Even the sputtering economy of the Reagan years, and the wars the George W. Bush administration started and didn't end, did not bring so many women to the edge where they could lose their lives so easily. The new crop of Republican leaders may do so.
Tuesday, March 20, 2012
Zimmerman Called Trayvon Martin "Coon" on 911 Call
Actually the words were "Effin' Coon" only he didn't say "Effin'". He said a word I have trouble using on most days. Turn the sound all the way up and you will hear him say it at c. 2:21 into this video. This was tweeted around last night, and we RT'ed, but wanted to get a permanent record of it here.
Later: I see some people didn't learn about this last night. I'm glad I posted it. People should know.
Tennessee Bill To Require Physician's ID, Woman's Medical History To Be Posted Online After Abortions
Will leave doctors open to harassment and could lead to identification of women and their medical history which is exactly what the haters want it to do.
Tennessee: still backward after ask these years.
See: http://bit.ly/xXmap0
Tennessee: still backward after ask these years.
See: http://bit.ly/xXmap0
LIMBAUGH: LEFT GROUPS 'ASTROTURF THE BOYCOTT'
Limbaugh has a conspiracy theory that Media Matters for America guy @StopRush is behind all the problems the immense one engendered when he trashed the name of a private citizen for three days on his radio show because she had the temerity to seek to address a Congressional committee about a friend who needed contraception therapy for a medical problem, couldn't afford it, and suffered major health consequences as a result of her Jesuit university's health plan refusing to pay for it.
But the new site belongs to a Twitter user some of us have known about for years, @Shoq. But don't let that fact get in the way of Rushbo's delusions.
http://bit.ly/GDOiQq
But the new site belongs to a Twitter user some of us have known about for years, @Shoq. But don't let that fact get in the way of Rushbo's delusions.
http://bit.ly/GDOiQq
Monday, March 19, 2012
Copyright Troll, Media Company Get Comeuppance Over Claim of Infringement
The Fremont District Troll of Seattle
An altogether nicer guy than a patent/copyright troll.
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A company formed to buy the rights to articles in some mainstream media sources and then sue for large amounts of money has been broken, and the media company behind it has failed to make it's case that short excerpts constitute copyright infringement, or that forum owners have responsibility for what their members post.
Though Righthaven, the original suing company may have gotten some agreements for settlements from some unpaid bloggers and even bigger ones from politically connected Nevada groups (according to reports I read earlier), a finalized case has helped ruin Righthaven and will likely put a damper the ardor of Stephens Media which is connected to the Las Vegas Journal Review and some other newspapers to find other ways to continue suing people, for short excerpts from non paywalled articles. It seems to us that a question remains about articles that are presented behind a paywall, and if in fact the NYT model can be called a pay-wall since 20 articles can be viewed for free each month by each person (or machine or browser?).
Another thing that is curious (well not really) is that this was action taken against Democratic Underground. It might be that DU was targeted, or that DU was the source that had the wherewithal to fight this and therefore didn't cave immediately when contacted.
Sharon Angle's Senate campaign ponied up $150, 000 for reprinting an article by the Las Vegas Journal-Review during her 2010 candidacy, and I believe the Democratic Party of Nevada did the same. Other times bloggers faced the Righthaven juggernaut, with the copyright trolls demanding tens of thousands of dollars to avoid lawsuits. The examples I saw reports on were generally of the bloggers posting entire articles on blogs with small circulations and no ads. I'm not sure if those bloggers have paid, are still in litigation, or what has happened.
But as seen in an EFF article, some questions have been settled. See Court Declares Newspaper Excerpt on Online Forum is a Non-Infringing Fair Use.
Saturday, March 17, 2012
Mainstream News Claims Victory Over Report On The Tragedy of Chinese Worker Abuse
In New China as in Old China, the worker belongs to the .01%
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Mainstream news has shot down a report that emerged in the last months on a news story it has spent years mostly ignoring. And, if you look at their arguments, Mainstream is not saying the story is false, just that so and so didn't exactly experience everything he says he did in China, "so now can we just get on with selling you stuff"?
For indeed, the main purpose of the commercial news media is to sell stuff these days. There may have been a time in which they were committed to getting news that mattered out, but the selling was the only way to make money and little by little the selling gets to be the reason to keep pushing words out of the pen, the typewriter and these days the computer or phone for the commercial news system. Charging for online subscriptions (as you can see by looking at the actual numbers of subscribers) does nothing to change that fact.
And, though, both major stories broken by non news venues recently have been shot down by mainstream sources, both have not actually been dis-proven but mainstream tells us that the truth is more complicated or they didn't get their facts the way that mainstream does. (Funny but Michael Daisey did go to China and interview people at Foxconn and other places -- though not all the ones he "claimed" in his act, and after his performance "The Agony and Ecstasy of Steve Jobs " on This American Life" most major news sources sent one of their reporters to China to interview people at Foxconn working up simplistic reports that said nothing we didn't already know if they all were like the two I saw.
Mainstream News didn't bring these depressing storier up very often over the years they have known about these issues.
In fact, they had to keep up with the latest gadget being released by the Jobs Factories (Apple) or some other mega company, most of whom purchase goods from Chinese factories, and work up the narrative of what a wonderful new thing that everyone but the economically lower 75% in the US have to have RIGHT NOW! (This is not to denigrate Apple products, but producing products for the top 25% of an affluent society (or .01% of the world society) does not qualify one for sainthood, I believe.
APM (which does a better job than most of Mainstream News) had to get their market news arm "Marketplace" out to help take down the Mike Daisey story, though they acknowledge the truth is that such things are happening in Chinese factories. "This American Life" which aired Daisey's monologue that brought this to the attention of Americans recently is also an APM program. Marketplace also dutifully reports that Apple has hired the Fair Labor Association (elsewhere described as "a nonprofit organization" but so is every superPac so there is not real guarantee of lack of bias there). Liberal sources report the FLA isn't exactly worker friendly..
So basically, Mainstream News, is going over the facts of this controversy in the most perfunctory way possible, and making a big deal of the fact that Mike Daisey did not actually meet the people he said he met, ie people personally poisoned by hexane and child workers. He met people who had known people poisoned by hexane and had read of child workers, etc. He put that into an act, Ira Glass apparently saw his show or heard about it and wanted to use it if it was personally researched, and Daisey apparently prevaricated (okay straight out lied) a little.
Thank goodness, because Mainstream News (and in this case I am including tech literature) was horribly uncomfortable reporting on this, since Apple is such a big purchaser of advertising time/ad space for the news media. Walking that fine line between getting a few spits of news out on the hardship of working in China for America's elite was really grating on their nerves as they are afraid their big benefactors will lose money and/or otherwise not want to pay them millions for ads.
Therefore, no commercial news system ever made a concerted effort to concentrate on keeping this before the eyes of the people. Meanwhile right wing and business sources continually try to dry up government sources for funding non profit reporting which you can understand would be the tendency of corrupt news and political systems.
When Mainstream News Media decides to become more interested in protecting political and economic equalities, then they won't have to take down people who try to get the news out that they are ignoring. Until then they should act a little more respectful of those who will go to extreme lengths as misrepresenting the basis for their reporting when they do bring up the inconvenient truths of American business practices.
Friday, March 16, 2012
Bashir Assad's Father in Law in UK Emailed Advice on Fighting Criticism of Crackdown #syria
Syrian Independence Flag Painted on Walls in Homs
Whether or not the Syrians were manipulated into a disastrous rebellion or not, Assad Father-in-law's advice on the use of propaganda while he is living abroad is the most cynical example of the cult of the wealthy and powerful we may have seen lately
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Emails from Bashir al-Assad's wife's dad show cynical manipulation of words from the Assad regime started right in the UK.
This will make you sick.
Report presents in mobile format. It might look funny to computer users, but is much quicker for mobile users.
See Report in : The Guardian: Assad emails: father-in-law gave advice from UK during crackdown
Thursday, March 15, 2012
US-UK Will Agree on Release of Oil Reserves
Possibly other nations will join.
Oil speculators are likely to be hurt.
Good.
See Reuters report
Later: On Keith Olbermann we learned that officials had denied this report was accurate, but Keith and his guest surmised the Obama and Cameron administrations had released the idea to a Reuters source to quell some of the speculation going on in over fuel prices in the markets. Even oil speculators, who may manipulate markets in the most cynical ways ever imagined don't want to lose their own shirts.
Oil speculators are likely to be hurt.
Good.
See Reuters report
Later: On Keith Olbermann we learned that officials had denied this report was accurate, but Keith and his guest surmised the Obama and Cameron administrations had released the idea to a Reuters source to quell some of the speculation going on in over fuel prices in the markets. Even oil speculators, who may manipulate markets in the most cynical ways ever imagined don't want to lose their own shirts.
Tuesday, March 13, 2012
Daylight Savings Time is Not as Good an Idea as It Seems
Thank you Brad Plumer for getting this in the pages of mainstream news media.
Daylight savings doesn't save energy, and may cause automobile fatalities according to writer at Washington Post in Daylight saving time — still mostly a scam
As a blogger noted, in fact the push for DST has deep roots in the retailing business.
Daylight savings doesn't save energy, and may cause automobile fatalities according to writer at Washington Post in Daylight saving time — still mostly a scam
As a blogger noted, in fact the push for DST has deep roots in the retailing business.
Monday, March 12, 2012
Wisconsin Officials Try To Schedule Walker Recall for June To Avoid Student Voting
Allegations are erupting that Wisconsin officials are gaming the recall reelection by scheduling it for June. Recall advocates are crying fowl on the timing saying that would conveniently set the election after colleges are out for the summer when students are more likely to be be out of state.
See report at link below:
http://bit.ly/yVI9kJ
See report at link below:
http://bit.ly/yVI9kJ
Sunday, March 11, 2012
Limbaugh Taking Down Other Hosts Too. 98 Advertisers Want Off Controversial Radio Shows
Nearly a hundred advertisers have asked Premiere Radio Network to keep their products from airing during the day on shows such as Rush Limbaugh, Glenn Beck, Sean Hannity, Michael Savage, Tom Leykis, Mark Levin, and similar shows.
As Politico Blogger Dylan Byers, notes that is probably most right wing's stars, but the further request about similar shows could take down a lot of less popular ones too.
I hope the Sugar Daddy network has a lot of ad buying money for those guys. No, actually I don't, but you get the point.
See 98 advertisers to drop Rush Limbaugh
As Politico Blogger Dylan Byers, notes that is probably most right wing's stars, but the further request about similar shows could take down a lot of less popular ones too.
I hope the Sugar Daddy network has a lot of ad buying money for those guys. No, actually I don't, but you get the point.
See 98 advertisers to drop Rush Limbaugh
CA Communities Face Changes to Get More Representative Leaders
Whittier CA Train Station
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Communities may have to end citywide voting for leaders to get ones that better represent their people.
In some, currently, all white councils preside over majority minority populations according to a Sacramento Bee report.
Lawsuits may be necessary.
I am amazed that this is still going on. And it's funny how the Bee writer Will Evans sneaks in implications that the bill sponsors were in it for the money. I guess it's a little more important that people finally get their civil rights, yes?
In general journalists would go along with wealthy companies having a money impulse for what they do, but some civil rights lawyers had better not make money off legislation they most likely went to a extensive effort to pass.
See mobile report: Sacramento Bee: White-dominated California boards face legal threats over racial makeup
Saturday, March 10, 2012
Bill O'Reilly Makes Up a #Conspiracy Theory About Sandra #Fluke To Pretend She Entrapped Rush #Limbaugh
Remember Bill O'Reilly is the same man who famously taught us that the sun goes up, and the sun goes down and nobody knows why (with the implication that this is all done by God's magic er.. hand or something). Then the great mystic O'Reilly proclaimed soon afterwards that the tide goes in and the tide goes out and nobody knows why that happens either.
In fact, as Blue's buddy Steve taught preschoolers, the sun does not go up and down. Instead the earth turns, AND PARTS OF THE EARTH GO IN AND OUT OF IT'S OWN SHADOW. That's the only reason the sun appears to go up and go down, and we get the sensation of night and day. It's simply a matter of whether at the time our part of the globe can be reached by the sun's rays. Sorry, to over-explain this, but I'm trying to get through Bill O'Reilly's triple thick ego.
The tides actually do go in and out relative to the land because the moon pulls on them. When confronted with that fact, O'Reilly was triumphant. "BUT WHY DO WE HAVE A MOON? MARS DOESN'T HAVE A MOON!" O'Reilly proclaimed, loudly. The implication there is that God loves the earth and that's why he gave it a moon. Unfortunately for Bill's reputation, Mars, in fact, has two moons.
And on the latest conspiracy theory, Ed Schultz explains how the timeline demolishes O'Reilly's theory, and how even as he offered a weak apology to Sandra Fluke, Rush Limbaugh started suggesting he was really a victim of a conspiracy. I guess when Fluke then contacted the agency, Rushbo and O'Reilly decided that story could be cooked up into conspiracy stew for their intellectually challenged followers.
(Remember these are the same airhead racists that followed Glenn Beck for more than two years.)
Yes, Sandra Fluke is quite a witch to get Limbaugh to call her all kinds of names and smear her reputation without merit. Watch out for her in the future, when she will be a witch and a lawyer. Real double trouble! LOL!
Gloria Allred Asks for Prosecution of Rush Limbaugh For Florida Crime of Maligning a Woman
In the state of Florida there apparently are laws against trashing the name of a woman, and specifically doing so in the manner which Rush Limbaugh trashed the image of Sandra Fluke recently.
Gloria Allred has contacted the Palm Beach state attorney advising he look into Rush Limbaugh's verbal assault on the 30 year old Georgetown University student. She says she cannot bring a case herself unless Ms Fluke requests her to do so.
See report: http://bit.ly/wGj6e6
Gloria Allred has contacted the Palm Beach state attorney advising he look into Rush Limbaugh's verbal assault on the 30 year old Georgetown University student. She says she cannot bring a case herself unless Ms Fluke requests her to do so.
See report: http://bit.ly/wGj6e6
Friday, March 9, 2012
GOP Steals Legislation From Dems in House, Barnie Frank Gives 'em What for, Gets Banned For the Afternoon
Way to rebel, Sir!
See report from my current favorite Politico blogger for catching the words the GOP tried to disappear.
CA Fish and Game Commission May Change Rules For Choosing Leader
At their next meeting the protectors of California's wildlife may use a majority vote to force their leader out of his to chair after photos surfaced lay month of the man displaying the carcass of a cougar shot in another state. It turns out that the Commish was formerly designated by whomever had the most seniority, leaving the panel under Governor Brown headed by a man appointed by his predecessor.
This report ends with the suggestion the man might not be removed after all but CA pumas are hopeful.
puma = cougar = mountain lion
Thursday, March 8, 2012
American GOP Posturing Over Post Birth Abortion Remarks From Italian Scientists
Melozzo di Forli's Angels, Sacristy St. Marks, Loreto, Italy.
It is a bit weird for Italians to be promoting such ideas, but it is also unlikely to sway Americans
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"Sneaky Italian Scientists are going to slide into the US and start aborting new born babies (aka "4th Trimester" fetuses)" is the new meme from the hard right. Or maybe they're going to convince Americans to start killing their own newborns.Who knows, but much is implied since, if they come right out and say what they are claiming will happen most Americans will laugh themselves silly and then the 30% of Americans who really fall for such wild allegations won't send right wing Christian groups and
GOP candidates big donations to keep the evil bogeyman (and woman) at bay.
See hysterical report:
Pro Life Action League report "Abortions in the Fourth Trimester: Why Not?"
Profiles:
Dr Alberto Giubilini (See Biography section lower on page)
Francesca Minerva
If you believe those two are going to get post birth abortions going in the US, I have a Jaguar in mind that you can buy me, and I will be forever grateful! God loves it when you buy a poor person a Jag and he will reward you 20 times for it. (Actually the Bible does say that those who give to the needy will be rewarded in return with more than they gave, but you don't see Christians giving like they believe in that part of the Bible.)
Two Scientists who were educated and likely born and raised in Italy, make some statements about post birth abortions and the posturing right acts as if it's already enthroned in law or that Obama is going to pass a bill in his next term.
That is how the American Right Wing pushes their fascism-lite.
This, obviously, isn't going to become mainstream American law or even accepted quirky behavior. It is a non starter.
Even if the GOP manages to get hormonal birth control outlawed so a lot of extra babies are born, you will see a likely rise in cost for caring for such children by the state as many families will have to give them up. You'll be footing the bill for that, Dear Taxpayer.
Years later you will see a horrific exponential rise in crime, making most cities and even towns and rural areas unsafe.
But you won't see "4th Trimester" abortions; not as an accepted practice. (and yes, there are those now that kill their kids. The Church hasn't been able to stop those people, even now.
The claim that "4th Trimester" abortion practice will ever really be acccepted in the US is just more of the Nazi talk from the right. Their tendency is to make outrageous claims to try to get people's rights taken away, and to collect money based on the fears those claims create in certain susceptible folk.
The GOP is now even more effective than the Third Reich. In Germany, much of the church just tried to hide from the onerous effects of the Nazis, while today's American Evangelicals and even the Catholics jump right in.
But God says: "ROFLMAO! Get real Douchbags. It ain't gonna happen."
Map Shows "Limited" War on Iran Likely "Not Possible"
I'm betting that some will be pushing a "Limited" war on Iran, but I think that Stratfor's Map of Iran's Select Known and Suspected Nuclear Sites shows that won't be possible.
Stratfor is currently open to all, but I don't know if they will want this widely distributed and they might hide this one page. I am linking to their site because anything else, without permission, would be plagiarism.
If they take it down or lock it up, I'll try to find it pasted somewhere.
Here's an FAS PDF with a map from 2007with some of the sites noted on the Stratfor map.
The Guardian 's map from November 2011 You will have to click next a couple of time to get to the map. Still fewer sites than Stratfor's, which might have gotten info straight from Tel Aviv so consider the source, but Stratfor's probably the map being pushed on the US government.
Al Jazeera offers a Google map with sites listed from January of this year. Still not as many places noted, and zooming in doesn't show more sites, but does add names to towns etc. So if you want to vacation near Iran's nukes you could do so. LOL
This apparently abandoned blog from the Canadian Cartographers Association has lots of marks in it. I can't enlarge it on this computer, but will try later on another one, and see if it is anymore interesting. You can enlarge the map by clicking on it from the first page that opens up, and I can read the second map with strong glasses. Still one would liek something a little larger at the least.
Stratfor is currently open to all, but I don't know if they will want this widely distributed and they might hide this one page. I am linking to their site because anything else, without permission, would be plagiarism.
If they take it down or lock it up, I'll try to find it pasted somewhere.
Here's an FAS PDF with a map from 2007with some of the sites noted on the Stratfor map.
The Guardian 's map from November 2011 You will have to click next a couple of time to get to the map. Still fewer sites than Stratfor's, which might have gotten info straight from Tel Aviv so consider the source, but Stratfor's probably the map being pushed on the US government.
Al Jazeera offers a Google map with sites listed from January of this year. Still not as many places noted, and zooming in doesn't show more sites, but does add names to towns etc. So if you want to vacation near Iran's nukes you could do so. LOL
This apparently abandoned blog from the Canadian Cartographers Association has lots of marks in it. I can't enlarge it on this computer, but will try later on another one, and see if it is anymore interesting. You can enlarge the map by clicking on it from the first page that opens up, and I can read the second map with strong glasses. Still one would liek something a little larger at the least.
CA GOP Spokeswoman Called MSNBC Contributor Offensive Name Too.
The CA Republican Party spokeswoman called MSNBC contributor Krystal Ball the S word last week, also implying she was working for the Democratic party.
I'm sorry to learn about her brain cells, but a person cannot both work for a party and MSNBC at the same time. And, beyond that Sheesh! Really are all Republicans the same?
Are they trying
Wednesday, March 7, 2012
Proof Anti-War Activists Tend to be Good People
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People were marching to support the activists in Libya. Within a couple of weeks something happened to cause at least one of those people to spend an extended amount of time apparently hundreds of miles away from home trying to repair parts of his own nation.
My point: Activists are generally good people, who will give generously of their time and support.
I fully expect haters like the FOX News crowd to trash each and every one of them, because they can't understand what it's like not to focus on making the almighty big bucks. Conservatives did it to my generation and I'm sure they will do it to yours.
Monday, March 5, 2012
Forget Nuclear Power, We Could Have Sewage Power Soon
Nuclear Power Plant and Landscape,
Cofrentes, Valencia, Spain
Cofrentes, Valencia, Spain
It's almost like a landscape by Goya, with a few differences, especially those cooling towers
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Though George Monbiot did multiple talk shows last year after the March 11 Honshu quake and following tsunami that created a nuclear emergency at the Fukushima Nuclear Plant, telling people that we cannot wean ourselves from nuclear power (showing sad levels of ignorance) a recent publication at Science Magazine shows that using waste water could help to create the equivalent of 15-20 nuclear reactors in gigawatts of power just within the United States according to a podcast at the site.
The Guardian reports on the study at Science Magazine (I cannot access the original report at Science due to a pay-wall) in New device heralds potential to turn sewage plants into power stations.
Even better hear the podcast at Science Magazine where they warn "The contents of this podcast interview represent the opinion of the author and may go beyond the content of the published paper" But that could be good. The guy who has been working on this technology is probably the most qualified to project on how the technology can be improved beyond it's current state.
Where would we be if Edison had created a light bulb that would last longer than a few seconds and everyone had then said "But what is one light bulb going to do for the nation?"
A troll commenter at The Guardian, self named "Plutonium" whines and moans his way through a screed denigrating the amount of power that could be created by the system as explained by the Guardian which most likely stuck with just the facts from study.
That's where the projection comes in. After all the first Apple computer would be pretty much a joke these days. Who would go back in time and tell Steve Jobs to give it up, knowing what we know now? (I mean besides Bill Gates.)
George Monbiot's latest on nuclear power at The Guardian deals with the promise of fast breeder reactors in We cannot wish Britain's nuclear waste away. Okay, I won't keep him from dreaming big either, though I wonder sometimes that -- since nuclear power must be done by the biggest companies because of the expense -- if it isn't easy to back it because the industry will help protect your career, rather than because it really is the best solution. Also, how can Monbiot assure the people that they truly have been able to overcome the dangers of fast breeder reactors?
Another plus it seems to me is that this could reduce or eliminate the power for third world communities that are often adversely affected by power that relies on burning products which create heavy soot, whether in the home or by a regional utility. Such dirty energy production makes millions of people in the world sick though they need to be strong so they can nurture their families.
Friday, March 2, 2012
Mitt Romney Should Tell Rush Limbaugh to Stop Endangering Young Women, or Fire Him (and yes he could do that).
OKC Bombing Memorial
The 1995 attack was one inspired by hate speech politics
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First of all we must remember that hate speech does threaten lives of their target and similar people. In particular, I'd like to remind people of two instances in which hate speech resulted in one or more people taking action to kill or attempt to kill persons targeted by the words or similar person(s) to the subject of the speech and in one case many other people.
Just last year, after a period of hate speech aimed at our President, Barack Obama, a young man with mental problems was inspired to shoot at a White House window, apparently in the hope that the bullet would enter the interior and find the president. According to the reports the bullet broke through the outer decorative window, but was stopped by a second layer of glass that was bullet proof (the two layers are the solution to keeping the building looking like it should from the outside while protecting our commander in chief, his family, and staff inside). The shooter did not know that the president was away on a state trip at the time and appeared to be very intent on killing someone within the White House in any case. Right wing talkers acknowledged that fact quickly enough as they passed a bogus story that the shooter was an integral part of the Occupy DC crowd, a guess that was disproved by federal investigators, though still not accepted by many on the right.
A more serious case happened in 1995 when a young man who had heard for 2 years that something needed to be done to pay back "federal agents" for the disastrous confrontation at the Branch Dividian compound in Waco, Texas. in 1993. You may have heard about the solution the young man decided on. It's called the bombing of the Oklahoma City Alfred P Murrah federal building and killed 168 or 169 people most of which were not federal agents involved in the 1993 action nor Ruby Ridge incident also cited by Wikipedia as inspiring the attack and, in fact, included children in a day care center that Timothy McVeigh knew of according to news reports surrounding the bombing. For some reason his partner Terry Nichols never seems to have faced a threat of full justice for the bombing, but McVeigh was executed in 2001.
Still, there are many more instances in which hate talk seems to have been followed by violence and murder aimed at similar people. After decades of listening to hate rants against the IRS, a man in Austin flew a plane into a local IRS office. Just weeks later, a young man exited the subway train to the Pentagon and tried to kill the guards and enter the building in attack mode. That young man had visited Austin after the IRS plane bombing incident apparently in solidarity with the man who flew the plane though he didn't know him. Another man attacked the holocaust museum in DC killing a guard about the same time as the other attacks. A strain running through these men was that they seemed to have listened to a lot of right wing rhetoric about the evils of the government and certain minorities.
So what should we say about Rush Limbaugh's attack on a young woman who had gone on TV talk shows to tell us about her friend who needed birth control pills because the hormones contained in them would keep cysts from growing on her ovaries, but couldn't afford to keep paying $1200 a year for the product. The young woman did not complain about needing pill coverage for herself, only to protect a friend's health. (The friend who did not receive the treatment she needed via insurance from her Catholic University became unable to continue the treatment because she was a student and couldn't afford the cost. The lack of the hormonal treatment led to a large cyst on an ovary, removal of the ovary, a poor prognosis for child bearing, and the young woman exhibiting signs of entering menopause at the age of 32.
But Rush Limbaugh said that Ms. Fluke, the woman who went on talk shows and tried to testify before Congress wanted pills for herself, for having sex, and that she was having so much sex she couldn't afford protection, therefore Ms. Fluke wanted us to pay for her birth control and that made her a slut, and American citizens her pimp. Then Mr. Limbaugh demanded sex tapes from the young woman in pay back for providing her birth control.
Of course, that rant is ridiculous, and makes one wonder what Mr. Limbaugh is doing, if anything, with his young wife. I don't mean to make fun, but there are simple facts that you would think that any man would learn from a wife if they have marital relations.
Birth control pills must be taken 3 out of 4 weeks, and then a break week without pills is inserted to promote a menstrual period. It does not matter if the young woman has little sex or a lot of sex, the pill schedule is the same. You cannot stop taking the pills because you are taking a few days or weeks off from sex. You must follow the plan even if you are having no sex for a while to keep from developing hyper fertility preceded or followed by heavy bleeding.
I don't want Mrs. Limbaugh to get in trouble if she is being badly controlled by her husband and finds it safer to ask for money by saying she needs more birth control because they have so much sex, but I do know that Rush is not likely to be reading my blog so I will say that the idea he has of how birth control is achieved very wrong.
But mistaken as he is, he is piling on so much dispersion that it is likely to push some unstable person to attack Ms Fluke or another young woman acting in the attacker's mind as a surrogate. As I showed above, attacks on surrogates have happened repeatedly after the right had demonized individuals or groups that were similar to the people attacked.
So, we have Limbaugh verbally attacking young women and putting them at risk of physical attack by his followers.
But who can stop him?
It turns out that Mitt Romney can stop Rush Limbaugh because Bain Capital into which Mitt Romney is likely to have a lot of money invested owns a substantial portion of a company that employs Rush Limbaugh. The Republican primary candidate earned 42.7 million dollars from Bain Capital in 2010 and 2011 according to the tax returns he released to the news media. Info from Celebrity Net Worth . Though his title is "Retired Partner" for the company, the amount of remuneration he received says he has a lot of money invested in Bain Capital. When you have that amount of money in a company, you can control what it does by threatening to withdraw your dollars from their enterprise.
Mitt Romney therefore can control Bain, but how does Bain control Limbaugh's boss?
According to American Dream Blog which appears to be a Libertarian publication, "Bain Capital is one of the primary owners of Clear Channel".
According to Wikipedia on Clear Channel
On November 16, 2006, Clear Channel announced plans to go private, being bought out by two private-equity firms, Thomas H. Lee Partners and Bain Capital Partners for $18.7 billion, which is just under a 10 percent premium above its closing price of $35.36 a share on November 16 (the deal values Clear Channel at $37.60 per share(The American Dream blog used the same excerpt. I followed their example.)
More from The American Dream:
The deal was finalized in 2008. Today, Bain Capital is still one of the primary owners of Clear Channel.and Wikipedia itself reports at above linked site:
On July 24, 2008, Clear Channel held a special shareholder meeting, during which the majority of shareholders accepted a revised $36-per-share offer from Bain Capital and Thomas H. Lee Partners.The company announced on July 30 that it would offer shareholders either $36 in cash or one share of CC Media Class A common stock for each share of Clear Channel common stock held.The two latest excerpts above are important for those who might think that there is no reason to believe that Bain can control Clear Channel talk show hosts despite being a primary owner of the station. Notice that the work done on acquiring an interest in Clear Channel was set up to get control of the station with many important right wing pundits just about the summer of 2008 when Mitt Romney was hoped to be in the leading candidate in the Republican primary, and heading for the 2008 general election.
Therefore, Bain and it's powerful "Retired Partner" bought enough interest in Clear Channel to control the speech of the pundits on the station, an immensely valuable asset for someone who wants to be president.
So tell Mitt Romney to have a talk with Rush Limbaugh. Young women deserve a contrite public apology from the talk show host, and if they don't get one. Mitt Romney should have the man fired. The former Massachusetts governor intends to wield power to control speech at Clear Channel or get rid of hosts that won't be controlled for his personal uses. He should do the same for a young woman who is not a candidate and has been put in danger along with others of our sex by a hate filled pundit.
Mitt Romney holds the key. If he won't use it for women, then we need to know that, since he wants to be our president. Everyone needs to know whether Mitt Romney will stand up to Rush Limbaugh and have him apologize or, if he doesn't, will fire the man who hates and endangers women.
Thursday, March 1, 2012
Why Plants Can't Save Us From Global Warming
Polecat Bench in all it's glory showing off its PETM stripes
Picture use allowed by explicit note at source. Copyright 2006 Phillip Gingerich. (Author of this blog makes no claim of any backing by or connection with Mr. Gingerich. The significance of Polecat Bench is explained in article found at "World Without Ice" link below.
Rick Santorum recently said: "CO2 is a pollutant? Tell that to the plants."
according to Dave Weigel at Slate.com
I have styled part of the remaining post like a response to the presidential candidate, but it is, in fact, for the eyes of anyone who reads this:
Yes, Mr. S plants do use CO2 but you are ignorant about, or are not telling, the entire story.
Just because plants use CO2 in their sugar crafting cycle, doesn't mean we can count on them to fix everything we do to our ecosystem through that process. I know the simple lies that Christians rely on to tell themselves that everything is going to be alright even if we continue to burn carbon that was stored underground millions of years ago. (I was a Christian for over 40 years and probably would still be except for George W. Bush, someone who is a lot like you.)
But to stop you and others from raping the earth more, and setting up conditions that may kill millions (though rich folk like you and the Koch brothers will be able to save your families for far longer than the poor people, who are already dying by at least 150,000 a year because of global warming) I will explain how the carbon cycle works and why it can't help us now.
I grant you that plants do consume some CO2 in their quest to create sugar.
They don't use it in during the photosynthesis process. The formula for that process is immediately below:
2 H2O + 2 NADP+ + 3 ADP + 3 Pi + light → 2 NADPH + 2 H+ + 3 ATP + O2Light provides the energy that is stored by changing ADP to ATP
The formula above creates a product that is essential in another chemical reaction that takes place in plants. In a second formula our green earthly compatriots do tie up carbon from CO2 molecules and build basic sugars:
3 CO2 + 9 ATP + 6 NADPH + 6 H+ → C3H6O3-phosphate + 9 ADP + 8 Pi + 6 NADP+ + 3 H2O(For speed I got the formulas from the Wikipedia page for Photosynthesis)
All good and fine, right? But then what does the plant do with those sugars? They store them in more complex sugars, starches, and fats. Some plants, like trees, find structures that are a bit more permanent to create as well.
Sounds great, right? I bet you're congratulating yourself Mr. S on how your "faith" has just solved all our problems.
Sadly, no.
The life cycle of any plant in our world is short, new growth is "trimmed" or dropped and eventually all plants die, most within years of their emergence.
Some forests do help a little, though I doubt they could capture the mass amounts of carbon we release now even if they had all the land they needed to build their depositories that have been called "old growth forests" the only plant product capable of storing carbon for even the least geologically significant time. Even worse though is the fact that most of our older forests are under attack by insects that were barely on the radar five decades ago. Massive swaths of old growth are being killed off by pests that weren't very successful under the cooler conditions then.
Other Old Growth forests are being cut down for development, farming, and access to minerals both by powerful industries and by marginal families looking to make enough money or get energy and food to get through another week under the oligarchic systems that are in charge in this world. So actually, the sequestration of carbon by plants is going in reverse.
And what happens to our crops, grasslands, etc? They die and then they decompose whether in our bellies as food, or on the ground, in a compost pile, or where ever, but the plants release all the carbon they stored in their short lives while they are decomposing or after being eaten an animal because, in the process of being digested by animals or even just microbes abundant in the world, while the stored energy is released from sugar, starch and fat molecules, the carbon is once again released into the atmosphere as CO2.
Meanwhile (and this is the most important point) we are pumping and digging millions of tons of carbon from the ground that has been locked up since the dinosaur ages. That carbon is then released by burning the fuels we use into the atmosphere never to be permanently locked up again until we get serious about doing something about the global crisis we are facing or until we are driven extinct and the earth has time to heal itself.
And please don't pretend that extinction will not be preceded by massive wars, riots, and totalitarian societies. Great fun to be had by all!
Another factor you don't seem to have considered is that higher temperatures lead to more drought because the atmosphere doesn't need to release as much as much of it's water to the earth under higher temperatures. This is shown in empirical evidence from the fossil record from the PETM the massive heatwave brought on by the dump of thousands of tons of carbon into the atmosphere that then triggered the dreaded unleashing of captured methane in the arctic regions, a situation that scientists now fear the earth is approaching again.
During times of drought, which are considered likely under even moderate warming, plants cannot store as much carbon even temporarily for food we can consume. So the drought brought on by global warming hampers carbon sequestration. Look at the formulas I placed above. You aren't getting to the second one without the ATPs created by the photosynthesis which requires water available to the plant.
Yes, over the course of millennia the earth actually can actually stash the excessive levels of carbon away into rock formations, and some species may even survive in greatly changed forms, mostly very small. I doubt though that the human race will be recognizable if our weak, petulant selves can even be roused to face such harsh conditions without widespread war, pillage, and even cannibalism.
And, one thing is abundantly clear: Plants cannot save us from this future because their carbon storage is extremely temporary.
By drilling for oil and gas, and digging up coal we are taking amounts of carbon stored through geological levels of time permanently from the bowels of the earth and releasing it rapidly. It does not compute that plants can "permanently" lock it up again fast enough to stop catastrophe especially if the global climate change naysayers are in charge of our nations.
And, sadly, we are releasing the carbon much faster than the massive dump that happened at the end of the Paleocene Era where there is ample evidence of the widespread catastrophe brought on by too rapid carbon release.
Following is an excerpt from a National Geographic report on the Thermal Maximum that developed at boundaries of the Paleocene and Eocene eras. For more see a National Geographic report World Without Ice print page. (Just close print command box that pops up if you don't want to print it. I can't find the original site which may not be available at this late date.)
The total of 4.5 trillion tons [of carbon that was released] is close to the total carbon now estimated to be locked up in fossil fuel deposits; the initial burst corresponds to about three centuries' worth of human-caused emissions at the current rate. Though the data aren't conclusive, most scientists assume the PETM release was slower, taking thousands of yearsYes, so in three centuries, if we even have that much time, human kind is likely to produce conditions that will cause massive extinctions, and that means us too, on this planet. Before that though, as noted above, we are already killing at least 150,000 people a year because the Koch brothers and others want to make billions pandering an antiquated solution to the earth's energy problems, and people like Santorum want to accept their Big Money and play a game of Christo-politics which tells folks that they can ignore the warnings
Trust me. I studied botany. Plants cannot save us, and Santorum is fronting for Big Energy and others who are intent on growing wealth by being able to jack up the price of fossil fuels on struggling families while failing to help protect them and their progeny's future existence. Meanwhile the Republican candidate pretends that some invisible being is going to send angels or something to save us, or maybe the plants will do it themselves.
I've shown that the plants can't do it, and has anyone seen any planet saving angels hanging around? I ask because there were no angels to save the million people W's war on Iraq killed, nor to help the other millions who had their lives horribly disrupted by the conflict.
I am frankly sick of the posers that pretend that there are such emissaries of God, or even a magic God figure, so that they, and the wealthy and powerful can continue raping our planet and stealing from poor people to satisfy their own avarice.
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