Today's Boobies

Can't let a Friday slip by without some Boobies.

I Have An Excuse

Sorry about the lack of posts. I'm in Nevada (again), and busy with the real world. I should be returning to the exciting realm of espousing political observations (otherwise known as mental self-flagellation) soon. Refunds subject to manager approval.

Mind Numbing Stupidity

Satire is dead.

Faced with the disastrous gulf oil spill, Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour (R, obviously) has a plan to bring more tourists to the gulf coast by offering people gas cards:

Gov. Haley Barbour said that the Mississippi Gulf Coast is open for business, despite the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.

In an effort to encourage tourism, Mississippi Gulf Coast officials are offering $75 gas cards for those who book a two-night stay at one of the participating hotels or resorts listed online at www.gulfcoast.org. Resident can also sign up online for a chance to win one of four getaway packages.

http://www.wapt.com/money/23556542/detail.html

Yeah, we'll pay for the gas to show you the cost of gas guzzling. Feel free to enjoy a day of tar ball collecting on the beach. At least the war on the environment is going well.

Friday Boobies

Debating important issues of the day.

Writing

Those who can't write, well they wrote about writing. So I like this:

somethingintellectual

1. Avoid alliteration. Always.
2. Prepositions are not words to end sentences with.
3. Avoid cliches like the plague. (They’re old hat.)
4. Employ the vernacular.
5. Eschew ampersands & abbreviations, etc.
6. Parenthetical remarks (however relevant) are unnecessary.
7. It is wrong to ever split an infinitive.
8. Contractions aren’t necessary.
9. Foreign words and phrases are not apropos.
10. One should never generalize.
11. Eliminate quotations. As Ralph Waldo Emerson once said: “I hate quotations. Tell me what you know.”
12. Comparisons are as bad as cliches.
13. Don’t be redundant; don’t use more words than necessary; it’s highly superfluous.
14. Profanity sucks.
15. Be more or less specific.
16. Understatement is always best.
17. Exaggeration is a billion times worse than understatement.
18. One-word sentences? Eliminate.
19. Analogies in writing are like feathers on a snake.
20. The passive voice is to be avoided.
21. Go around the barn at high noon to avoid colloquialisms.
22. Even if a mixed metaphor sings, it should be derailed.
23. Who needs rhetorical questions?

Remind me to follow at least a few of those rules.

Oil Rules

(cartoon from Outside the Interzone)

I've had absolutely zero enthusiasm for posting about serious topics lately. It's all too damn depressing, and bitching in a blog post doesn't improve my mood.

Take the gulf oil spill (please), an environmental disaster of epic proportions. It's the inevitable result of our oil dependant society, and a system that rewards corruption. Cheap, profitable oil is sacred, and government regulation is seen as an obscene abomination to be removed or avoided at all costs. BP ignored the old proverb about "an ounce of prevention being worth a pound of cure", choosing to scrimp on safety valves to reduce costs and increase profits. It was cheaper to buy looser regulations.

So it's somewhat positive that the Obama administration is making an attempt to reform the Minerals Management Service, an agency with the conflicted agenda of both promoting and regulating off-shore drilling:

The Obama administration is proposing to split up an Interior Department agency that oversees offshore drilling, as part of its response to the Gulf Coast oil spill, The Associated Press has learned.

An administration official who asked not to be identified because the plan is not yet public said Interior Secretary Ken Salazar will urge that Congress approve splitting the Minerals Management Service in two. One agency would be charged with inspecting oil rigs, investigating oil companies and enforcing safety regulations, while the other would oversee leases for drilling and collection of billions of dollars in royalties.

Currently, the Minerals Management Service, an arm of the Interior Department, is responsible for collecting more than $10 billion a year from oil and gas drilling and with enforcing laws and regulations that apply to drilling operations.

Some critics have said the two roles are in conflict and are one reason the agency has long been accused of being too cozy with the oil and natural gas industry.

An internal investigation in 2008 described a "culture of substance abuse and promiscuity" by workers at the agency. The investigation by Interior's inspector general found workers at the MMS royalty collection office in Denver partied, had sex with and used drugs with energy company representatives. Workers also accepted gifts, ski trips and golf outings, the report by Inspector General Earl E. Devaney said.

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5jYP7GoO9ldJALdGGRcHuadmF3y1gD9FKIM1O0

OK, it's really only a small step. The regulators and the industry were (sometimes literally) in bed together, and the results are now washing upon the shore. Separating the regulators from the promoters would at least encourage a moderate level of oversight, and a slight increase in safety.

But it's not going to solve the problem of our societies oil addiction: no winning politician is going to campaign on a platform of "we need to raise the price of gasoline" in the face of "drill, baby, drill". We'll have a nice little moratorium as the result of this disaster, then expand off-shore drilling as soon as the headlines have been forgotten.

And nothing I post on this little blog will have the slightest impact on that truth.

blarings

To some this may seem trivial, but to me and maybe a few others, a horrific symptom of the malaise of our society is that the trains passing through this town are no longer encouraged to sound their horns. Instead, at many train crossings, a long aluminum post with a speaker on top announces the arrival of a train with a recording of a train horn. It is a ghastly poor rendition of what a real BNSF train horn sounds like. Yep- to be sure, some of them trains is mighty loud, but at least there was a human being- the conductor carrying millions of dollars of freight to Barstow and no two train soundings was alike. And so consider the train horn-
As one fairly acquainted with music, train horns commonly play in unison two of the most dissonant intervals of the octave; 7ths and 2nds. These sort of intervals cannot form a triad-duh- the function of the noble, hardworking, BNSF train conductor is to scare things away from the tracks so he doesn't have to deal with turning them into jelly and bone fragments.
Every once in awhile I swear I heard a train sound a perfect 4th, wittily intersticed with the dissonance of his company policy. Some conductors compose their own blarings. What matters is
methinks a BNSF engine is equipped with a horn that is wind-driven. (one can just tell) Well I just hate that fucking robot train sound too close to my domicile. Emits the quality of bad cell-phone reception.
Does the conductor(oh yeah a good friend of mine is one) set his jaw with reticence to let a bad recording(always the same) announce his passage? Why do I sniff something Orwellian?
Zymurgian

The Art of War in Bones

I found these graphics quite dramatic. More at Francois Roberts Bone Sculptures Pic Gear.

Fresh Boobies

With very blue feet for Friday.

Birthday Wishes

Good friend and infrequent poster Zymurgian celebrates another trip around the sun today. I can't make fun of his age (I'm older), but he's reached one of those birthdays that end in "0", and may have to start acting like an adult someday soon. Nah...

This pic is kind of old, but it's one of my favorites - Atrocia coiled around Zymurgian's head.

Happy Birthday, dude!

Why the Arizona Immigration Law Will Fail

(pic from Lockwood at Outside the Interzone)

I had really hoped to avoid commenting on the odious, idiotic Arizona immigration law, also known as "Brown People-Your Papers Please", but the damn thing hasn't gone away yet. However, I do strongly believe that this racist piece of legislation is doomed to failure, and that the only question is which of its many flaws will be the initial cause of death. Consider:
1) The law as written is blatantly unconstitutional, clearly violating "probable cause" and "unreasonable search" provisions, as well as civil rights based on racial profiling. The lawsuits are already rolling in, and while the courts are usually slow they usually get it right.
2) Arizona's demographics will make the law unenforceable. The states population is roughly 30% hispanic, which isn't surprising since Arizona was originally part of Mexico. That's a lot of American citizens who look and sound like "immigrants", which makes profiling virtually impossible. Most people don't carry "proof of citizenship" in our wallets, so the probability of wrongful accusation is very high. And a high percentage of our law enforcement officers are hispanic themselves; already several police and sheriffs departments are refusing to participate in enforcing the law.
3) It's going to be an economic disaster from a variety of angles. Already, Arizona Faces Boycott Calls After Immigration Law, including from Arizona's largest trade partner: Mexico. The tourism industry is already suffering, and even the Major League Baseball Players Association calls for ‘repeal’ or prompt modification of Arizona law (the baseball all-star game is scheduled to be in Phoenix next year). And the Latino workforce is huge, and ranges from the stereotype laborer to the highest levels of professionals in Arizona; their dollars will have a major impact. For a state that is already in a budget crisis, it won't take long for the financial backlash to knock some sense into the legislature's head.
4) The law is destined to end the Republican's political control of Arizona. The state has been trending more "purple" in recent elections, but Republicans had held a small majority of hispanic voters. Retaining those votes would mean walking a fine line, and the GOP isn't walking this fine line very well. So, don't be surprised if there are wholesale changes come November.
I've said it before, but the simple fact remains that the only way to fix "illegal" immigration is to fix "legal" immigration. The process for getting a work visa (a "green card") has become so cumbersome as to be virtually impossible. But people are amazingly resourceful when it comes to survival of themselves and their families, so they will keep coming. The vast majority would rather do so legally; it's the system that fails them. This law does nothing to address the causes of the immigration problem, it only increases the level of racism. It wont work (although a lot of people will be hurt in the process).
Added: There is going to be a lot of ugliness before this law is repealed.

Now, a neo-Nazi group is trying to help Arizona crack down on illegal immigration, encouraging people to “Report An Illegal” on Cinco de Mayo:

The National Socialist Movement, which is considered by many to be a neo-nazi hate group, is passing out fliers to coincide with Cinco de Mayo. According to a flier received by ABC15 and the group’s website, the National Socialist Movement is calling May 5th, “Report An Illegal Day”.

The one-page flier calls on people to fax or email Congress and demand that the border be secured. It also wants people to ask local businesses to participate in e-verify and to turn in people to DHS and ICE. [...]

According to the group’s website, the National Socialist Movement wants each member to hand out 25-fliers.

The Boobie Shows Up

The Friday Boobie. Hopefully, I'll be putting up other posts soon.

A Beer List

That I disagree with. GQ magazine put together a list of 50 beers from around the world all beer enthusiasts need to try before they die. Having tried over half the beers on the list, I'm unimpressed. The list does include some very good beers, but also a few that are rather mediocre. I can think of several that should be on the list, but aren't, starting with "Tactical Nuclear Penguin" (http://pygalgia.blogspot.com/2009/11/more-beer-news-tactical-nuclear-penguin.html). Also, Ska Brewing's "Decadent".

So, what beers would you suggest that a beer lover try before their drinking days are over?

On Time Boobies

Happy Friday. The Boobies are here, right on time.

Unbolted Nuts

Some loose screws are beyond tightening. Take Sue Lowden, the repub front runner to replace Harry Reid as senator from Nevada (where I am this week), who came up with a brilliant plan that Greg Sargent calls "Chickens For Checkups":

"I'm telling you that this works," the Republican candidate explained. "You know, before we all started having health care, in the olden days, our grandparents, they would bring a chicken to the doctor. They would say, 'I'll paint your house.' I mean, that's the old days of what people would do to get health care with your doctors. Doctors are very sympathetic people. I'm not backing down from that system."

Under this system, I think my shoulder would cost me an Ostrich farm at least.
But that wasn't the nuttiest thing I read. This was:

The Georgia state legislature, on top of the latest threats, is holding hearings on a bill to ban implanting people with microchips -- as one rumor suggested the Health Care Reform bill mandated.

But the good folks who run the Judiciary Committee seemed to have gotten a bit more than they reckoned with when one of their hearing witnesses claimed that she had already been implanted with a microchip.

And not just any microchip, but one the Pentagon had implanted in her "vaginal-rectum area", apparently to track her movements.

The Journal-Constitution reports that things started getting weird when a woman who described herself as a resident of DeKalb County told the committee: "I'm also one of the people in Georgia who has a microchip." Apparently no lawmaker took this as a warning sign, and she was allowed to continue her testimony.

"Microchips are like little beepers," the woman told the committee. "Just imagine, if you will, having a beeper in your rectum or genital area, the most sensitive area of your body. And your beeper numbers displayed on billboards throughout the city. All done without your permission."

"Ma'am, did you say you have a microchip?" state Rep. Tom Weldon (R) asked the woman.

"Yes, I do. This microchip was put in my vaginal-rectum area," she replied.

http://tpmlivewire.talkingpointsmemo.com/2010/04/ga-lawmakers-hear-testimony-from-woman-claiming-dod-implanted-a-microchip-inside-her.php?ref=fpb

It's safe to say it wasn't a "smart chip".

Reading stories like these make me grateful about how "normal" my family is.

Correct Me If I'm Right

If Adolf Hitler were still alive and living in Argentina, he'd be turning 121 today. Given how unlikely this is, can we all just agree: he's dead.

A Label

If I had a brewery, this would be on the bottle labels.

(Found at Blackadder, where you can find many more amusing things.)

A Boobie From the Road

I'll be away from home for another week, but I can't let Friday pass without a Boobie. Posting will most likely continue to be minimal.

Armed and Crazy

Armed and crazy is one thing. Armed, crazy, and state sanctioned is downright scary:

OKLAHOMA CITY — Frustrated by recent political setbacks, tea party leaders and some conservative members of the Oklahoma Legislature say they would like to create a new volunteer militia to help defend against what they believe are improper federal infringements on state sovereignty.

Tea party movement leaders say they've discussed the idea with several supportive lawmakers and hope to get legislation next year to recognize a new volunteer force. They say the unit would not resemble militia groups that have been raided for allegedly plotting attacks on law enforcement officers.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/04/13/oklahoma-tea-party-plans_n_535412.html

Meme to Oklahoma: remember what happened in one of your cities? The one named "Oklahoma City"? You might want to think about that before you align with a militia.

Family Matters

I've got some family stuff to attend to, so posting may be even lighter over the next ten or so days.
Co-Bloggers, the door is open.

Wealth Distribution

Which explains a lot about our society. Yeah, some redistribution is in order.

(H/T to Zandar Versus The Stupid)

Slightly Useless Views

Things that could make me change my mind: I'm usually liberal about equal relationship rights, but having seen the whole Palin-Bachmann lovefest, I now oppose same-sex marriage-at least for them.
For baseball fans: I'll be writing about a game tonight at http://www.azsnakepit.com/. I've always dreamed of being a baseball blogger.

The Stevens Retirement

Justice John Paul Stevens announced his retirement. Not a big surprise, as he's about to turn ninety, and has been on the court for 34 years.

This is a big reminder why presidential elections matter. As this will be the second Supreme Court appointment of this presidential term, imagine what the alternative might have been. If St. Sleazy McCain were in the White House, we would be looking at the "Extreme Court" for decades to come. Regardless of how you feel about Obama on other issues, at least his court nominees will likely maintain some moderation on the bench.

Stevens is considered a "liberal" giant (though he's actually very moderate, he looks liberal when compared to the conservative extremists beside him), and no new justice will be able to match his stature for many years. The court will still be dominated by the five conservatives, and the current congressional split guarantees that Obama's nominee wont be very 'liberal' in order to get confirmation.

Regardless of who Obama chooses, the political circus will be awash with overheated rhetoric. Expect a very loud, tough fight.

A Boobie for Friday

Friday already? This week went by too quickly.

I'm Offended

It's bad enough that I have to live with the insult that is Eugenio Velez playing for my beloved Giants, but then to see my home city miss-spelled on his uniform? Outrage!

Worse, he "took the news well", saying "No, no, I didn't know," Velez said. "That's the first I've heard."

San Francisco deserves better.

(OK, last time I complained about Velez, he had three hits. If I keep ragging on him, he'll probably make the All-Star team.)

Nicorette, Dude

Under the heading of "stupid people doing really stupid things" the latest winner is Mohammed al-Madadi, the third secretary at the Embassy of Qatar, who apparently trying to sneak a smoke on a plane and then joked about lighting his shoe on fire. Needless to say, this didn't go over well with the flight crew.
Here's a modern reality: If you are an Arabic looking man named "Mohammed" you cannot get away with joking about terrorism, even if you have diplomatic immunity. America has a certain level of paranoia about certain stereotypes. It's unfair, but it means that if you do something that foolish you will be arrested.
Smoking has been banned on airlines for many years. I admit that I'm a smoker, and it's another reason why I dislike flying. But that's what 'nicorette' is for; just chew some gum, and tough it out.
And if you're going to behave that stupidly, you probably aren't qualified to be a "diplomat".

Suggestive T-Shirts

I just don't feel like posting any serious political stuff lately. So here are some t-shirts I've seen around the web.

(yeah, I suppose some could be called 'sexist'; but if we weren't supposed to notice breasts, they wouldn't be right in front.)

A Truly Religious Holiday

For Christians, today is the holy day of Easter. I wish you all a happy one. And I failed the Jewish side of my ancestry by failing to mark Passover again this year. Ooops.
But for some of us, today marks a truly religious holiday: the first day of the baseball season. While tomorrow is opening day for most teams, the season starts tonight with the Yankees (Boo!) playing the Red Sox.
I am a believer in the words of Susan Sarandon from the movie Bull Durham that "The only church that truly feeds the soul, day in, day out, is the Church of Baseball." So today is a holiday for me, and I'll be celebrating with the traditional sacrament: beer. Cheers!




And please don't harangue me about the scandals in my church. At least we're not Catholic priests.
Added: Slightly off topic, here's a pictorial

histories of baseball and politics.

Cute Critters

A couple of Giant Isopods for Saturday. Aren't they cute? You can see more here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/yahooeditorspicks/galleries/72157623618461809/#comment72157623744116106

I haven't had any enthusiasm for writing about politics lately, but maybe the Giant Isopod should replace the Elephant as the symbol of the Republican party.

Don't Look Now

But the President admitted that he really is "Black": from the online NY Times, he revealed it.
Really big news, isn't it?

Good Friday Boobies

Every Friday is a good Friday for Boobies.

Nature's April Fool's

OK, it's not exactly a joke, but Ma Nature decided to give us a few more inches of snow to begin April. Given that we've had over ten feet of the white stuff this winter, this does seem to be a rather cruel joke, even if April snow is not unusual here. I'm ready for winter to be over, thank you very much.

Is The Planet Still Here?

Large Hadron Collider Finally Smashing Properly, World disappears into massive black hole.
Or something like that. I never quite understood particle physics.

For Maverick

This one is for my favorite surly bartender:

The European Union trademarks authority has permitted a German firm to register the brand name "Fucking Hell" for a new beer, much to the irritation of the Austrian village of Fucking.

In English, the term "Fucking Hell" is just an expletive used to express irritation or surprise. In German, it could refer to a light ale from Fucking in Upper Austria, because "Hell" is a term for light ale in southern Germany and Austria.

The problem is that Fucking has no brewery, and the town's mayor, Franz Meindl, is not aware of any plans to build one there, Austrian public broadcaster ORF reported on its Web site.

The Trade Marks and Designs Registration Office of the European Union said in a statement that it had rejected a complaint that the trade mark "Fucking Hell" was upsetting, accusatory and derogatory.

"The word combination claimed contains no semantic indication that could refer to a certain person or group of persons. Nor does it incite a particular act. It cannot even be understood as an instruction that the reader should go to hell," the Office said in its statement.

EU Trademark Office Has No Problem with Name

"Fucking Hell" was an "an interjection used to express a deprecation, but it does not indicate against whom the deprecation is directed," the Office added. "Nor can it be considered as reprehensible to use existing place names in a targeted manner (as a reference to the place), merely because this may have an ambiguous meaning in other languages."

http://www.spiegel.de/international/zeitgeist/0,1518,686305,00.html

Thanks to Lockwood of Outside the Interzone for pointing me to this.

(added: I'm only trying to post something Rachel doesn't do.)

Republicans Know How To Party

Ah, Michael Steele is a national treasure. Consider this:

Once on the ground, FEC filings suggest, Steele travels in style. A February RNC trip to California, for example, included a $9,099 stop at the Beverly Hills Hotel, $6,596 dropped at the nearby Four Seasons, and $1,620.71 spent [update: the amount is actually $1,946.25] at Voyeur West Hollywood, a bondage-themed nightclub featuring topless women dancers imitating lesbian sex.

http://thinkprogress.org/2010/03/29/rnc-voyeur/

In all fairness, Steele denies personally attending the club, blaming an aide consultant instead. But spending nearly $2,000 on strippers simulating lesbian sex seems like a fine example of republican fiscal conservatism. Imagine how much they'd pay for the real thing.

Who Would Jesus Blow Up?

Well, it appears that in the case of the Nine Christian Militia Members Charged With Seditious Conspiracy, Attempted Use Of WMD that the target was law enforcement. Yup, these good Christians planned to blow up some cops:

Nine members of the Christian militia group Hutaree have been indicted on multiple charges involving an alleged plot to attack police, including seditious conspiracy and attempted use of weapons of mass destruction, the U.S. Attorney in Michigan announced this morning.

"Six Michigan residents, along with two residents of Ohio and a resident of Indiana, were indicted by a federal grand jury in Detroit on charges of seditious conspiracy, attempted use of weapons of mass destruction, teaching the use of explosive materials, and possessing a firearm during a crime of violence," according to the government's press release.

The indictment describes an alleged plot that seems inspired by weapons more associated with urban warfare in Iraq than with rural Michigan.

The Hutaree members allegedly "planned to kill an unidentified member of local law enforcement and then attack the law enforcement officers who gather in Michigan for the funeral."

The indictment continues: "According to the plan, the Hutaree would attack law enforcement vehicles during the funeral procession with Improvised Explosive Devices with Explosively Formed Projectiles, which, according to the indictment, constitute weapons of mass destruction."

That attack, in turn, would spark a more widespread Harper's Ferry-style uprising against the government, according to the "general concept of operations" described in the indictment.

Hutaree's Web site features videos of heavily armed members training in the woods.

http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2010/03/feds_release_details_in_hutaree_arrests.php?ref=fpa

Normally I refrain from posting news items right away, because I want to wait until all the facts are clear, but this deserves an immediate response. This is just plain scary. Well armed nutcases ready to attack whatever mythical threat that crosses their delusional minds are the predictable result of the whole right wing noise machine extremism about Armageddon and apocalypse anytime democrats are in power. These militias feed on the paranoia generated by the right.
The "Hutaree" claim they were preparing to battle the "anti-christ" at a time when 14% of the public (and 24% of republicans) thinks that Obama is said "anti-christ". So they see themselves as being at war with the government; thus they feel justified in attacking officers of the law. And I suppose that in their minds, their arrest is proof that they are being oppressed.
To those of us who can remember the 90's, with Waco and Oklahoma City, this threat is serious. We have seen that people like this are quite willing to carry out violent acts and murder countless innocents because of their beliefs. And it doesn't take all that many of them; Al-Qaida is a very small extremist minority of Muslims, but they've been able to achieve a major impact through acts of terrorism. Christian terrorists are equally dangerous.
Thankfully, this plot was foiled. That doesn't mean that there won't be others.

Recess

No spring break for the president. Yesterday, Obama made fifteen recess appointments, and today, as Newsweek noted, he's in Afghanistan. The surprise visit caps a week that's almost hard to believe. Over the last seven days, health care reform passed, a major overhaul of federal student loan programs passed, the terms of a breakthrough nuclear arms treaty with Russia were reached, and now this trip.

Not bad for a guy that many had written off as "ineffective".

Bubble Bath Wrestling for Women's Rugby

Among the many things that I'm not creative enough to make up: Tonight, my favorite local pub is hosting a bubble bath wrestling competition to benefit the local women's rugby team, the "Timber Doodles". Really.

A Beautiful Day For Baseball

Yesterday, Sweaterman, myself, and Maverick (our favorite surly bartender) made our way down to Scottsdale for a spring training game. Given that it was snowing in the morning here, we were ready just to bask in the sunshine. And what a nice day for baseball: mid-70's, light breeze, abundant sunshine, and beer.

And my beloved Giants won, just to make the day even better.

Fun side story: the Giants have a player, Eugenio Velez, who is, in my...ahem...opinion, lousy. OK, he's terrible. His swing is so bad that I'm not even sure how best to mock it. So, as soon as I say how bad he is...he gets a hit. My companions laugh at me. A few innings later, he's back at bat. "OK, he got lucky. He's still terrible" I say. And he gets another hit. Further ribbing follows.

This is why no one pays me for my opinions about baseball.

Added: The last section of seats at the old Yankee Stadium falls.

Boobie Talk

This Friday's Boobies are debating the...um..."issues" of the day.

And on that note, I'm heading south for another Spring Training game. Going to Scottsdale to see my beloved Giants take on the "Angels", who can't decide what city they're from.

The Constitution

(pic for no other reason than that I like it.)
Just a quick note for the right wing: The constitution says absolutely nothing about "air traffic control", either. So, should we repeal it?

The Lithuanian Perspective

Ethnic jokes are usually a bad idea, but my Lithuanian friend passed on this one to me in his attempt to explain the 'Tea Party':
"If you get three Lithuanians in a room, you have four political parties".

When You Target One of Mine

I get pissed.

Normally, I try to ignore Sarah Palin (except for occasional comedy purposes). But when she puts a 'target' on my local congresswoman, I respond. From her Facebook page:

We’re paying particular attention to those House members who voted in favor of Obamacare and represent districts that Senator John McCain and I carried during the 2008 election. Three of these House members are retiring – from Arkansas’s 2nd district, Indiana’s 8th district, and Tennessee’s 6th district – but we’ll be working to make sure that those who replace them are Commonsense Conservatives. The others are running for re-election, and we’re going to hold them accountable for this disastrous Obamacare vote. They are: Ann Kirkpatrick (AZ-1), Harry E. Mitchell (AZ-5), Gabrielle Giffords (AZ-8), John Salazar (CO-3), Betsy Markey (CO-4). Allen Boyd (FL-2), Suzanne M. Kosmas (FL-24), Baron P. Hill (IN-9), Earl Pomeroy (ND-AL), Charlie Wilson (OH-6), John Boccieri (OH-16), Kathy Dahlkemper (PA-3), Christopher Carney (PA-10), John M. Spratt, Jr. (SC-5), Tom Perriello (VA-5), Alan B. Mollohan (WV-1), and Nick J. Rahall II (WV-3).

I've gotten to know Ann Kirkpatrick starting with her 2008 campaign, and frequent readers know that I'm not exactly enthusiastic about her as a legislator. I've characterized her as a "soggy waffle" more than a few times. She's closer to a 'blue dog' than a progressive.

But she's also a good, decent, intelligent woman who's done a decent job of representing her constituents. I trust her integrity completely. While I'd rather have a dynamic progressive representative, I don't see how one could be elected in this district.

And she's certainly a hell of a lot better than any of the "Palin people" ever could be. So I'm much more motivated to help Ann's campaign than I might otherwise have been. Go here http://www.kirkpatrickforarizona.com/ if you'd like to help.

Passed

As a sometimes political blogger, I guess I'm contractually obligated to post about the passage of health care reform. It passed 219-212 last night.

First, there's a sense of relief at finally passing something. HCR has been up and down like a kangaroo in the mating season over the past year, and the machinations in the process have been amazingly frustrating. The disingenuous and dishonest advertising against the bill was truly appalling. Or maybe it really does mandate gay abortions of Grandma.

The bill itself is a piece of astounding mediocrity. It barely meets any definition of "reform", and is far too weak to actually meet the needs of the American people. But (in my opinion) it's is on balance better than doing nothing. I do have a personal bias here; as a walking, talking, living, breathing 'pre-existing condition', the provisions will help me in the future. Not a great amount of help, but at least it's something.

Sure, I'd prefer "single payer", or at least the "public option", but the reality of our current political climate made that impossible. There just aren't enough progressive votes to overcome republican obstructionism.

In a way, the simple fact that the bill was passed is an important success. The GOP threw everything they had at defeating it, and they lost. Moving forward on financial reform, jobs, energy, etc. will now be possible as a result of winning this battle.

On a side note, I don't think I'd want to get into a poker match with Nancy Pelosi. I might quibble with her style, but when it came time to whip the votes she played her hand quite deftly.

A Real Bracket

And you can vote for your favorite evil.

(found at A Spork in the Drawer)

Ah, Spring

Happy Vernal Equinox to all!

Over the past week, I've had some actual spring weather, and the snow mound outside my door has almost completely melted away. Today is mid-40's and windy, which is pretty normal around here. Much warmer forecast for the next few days.

Also, Happy Nowruz to any Iranian/Persian readers.

Seven Years

Seven years ago today, shrub embarked on the worst mistake in United States history: the invasion of Iraq began. The litany of lies that lead up to the invasion is now well documented, but the real basic fact was always clear to many of us: invading Iraq was a really bad idea. Here's some basic numbers:

American War Dead in Iraq: 4385

American War Injured: 40,000+

Iraqi War Dead: 2,000,000

Iraqi War Wounded: Millions

Iraqi War Displaced: Millions

Add at least a trillion dollars spent, and for what? Iraq has a marginal semblance of a democracy, but nothing close to stability. Withdrawing from Iraq is progressing slowly and painfully, and it may be many years before the last American troops actually leave. Getting out has always been much more difficult than getting in.

The atrocities of the war will continue to tarnish America's global image for at least a generation. Sadly, it's doubtful that the perpetrators behind the illegal invasion and ensuing crimes against humanity will ever face justice for their actions, and that is itself a crime. The past cannot be changed, but it would go a long way toward repairing the damage to hold those responsible accountable.

More here:

Seven Years (March 19, 2003)

Added: of course, no one may notice this because today is also World Sleep Day.

A Boobie in the Branches

It's Friday, so here's a Red-Footed Boobie on a branch.

Baseball Memories

On a sports blog that I frequent, the question was "your first baseball memory?", so here's mine:

My Father came and took me out of school, telling my teacher that I had a dentist appointment (I knew I didn’t), and we went to the ‘stick. We got cheap bleacher seats (we were pretty low income at that time) because Dad insisted that I watch “the greatest baseball player ever”, center fielder Willie Mays. I was 5 years old, but I was impressed. Sadly, the Giants lost to the Cubs (Ferguson Jenkins pitched a great game), but Mays made a terrific catch to rob Ron Santo of what looked like a sure double. And I became hooked on baseball for life.
On the way home Dad said "we don’t need to tell your mother about this little trip" which was rather silly. My Mother was a very perceptive woman, and an avid baseball fan herself. She assumed that we’d gone to the game, and was rather jealous that she’d missed it.
Dad and I shared many, many more games, right up to a few months before his passing in ‘92, but it’s that very first one that is firmly etched into my memory.

So, in honor of spring, what is your first baseball memory?

Safety First

After an illustrious 183-year run, the annual Whitsun cheese-rolling event on Cooper’s Hill in Gloucester has been canceled, partly for safety reasons. Add “chasing cheese wheels down a steep hill” to the list of things that England has deemed unsafe.

There are dozens of injuries every year among the men and women who hurl themselves down the hill in a bid to catch the cheese, but these are mainly minor.

However, the sheer number of people flooding in to watch the event has led to increasing concern from the police and councils.

This year's cheese-rolling was due to take place on May 31. But Richard Jefferies, of the event's organising committee, said: 'We have had to cancel on the advice of the police and local authorities.

'Last year 15,000 spectators tried to come to the event, by far the most we have ever seen, and we just could not cope.

'As well as concerns about the safety of the crowd and the competitors, landowners were worried by the amount of damage done by people climbing over fences and that sort of thing.'

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1257445/Gloucester-cheese-rolling-event-Coopers-Hill-cancelled-200-years.html

Yes, running down a hill chasing a 7 lb. wheel of cheese might be dangerous, but it was the size of the audience that prompted the most concern. The event became too popular for it's own health.
Kind of sad, really. If you can't watch a bunch of fools chase cheese down a hill, what can you watch?
(yeah, I've been avoiding serious politics in the past few days)

Synthetic Photosynthesis?

This is another of the scientific breakthroughs that could lead to some great innovations:

For decades, farmers have been trying to find ways to get more energy out of the sun.

In natural photosynthesis, plants take in solar energy and carbon dioxide and then convert it to oxygen and sugars. The oxygen is released to the air and the sugars are dispersed throughout the plant — like that sweet corn we look for in the summer. Unfortunately, the allocation of light energy into products we use is not as efficient as we would like. Now engineering researchers at the University of Cincinnati are doing something about that.

The researchers are finding ways to take energy from the sun and carbon from the air to create new forms of biofuels, thanks to a semi-tropical frog species. Their results have just been published online in “Artificial Photosynthesis in Ranaspumin-2 Based Foam” (March 5, 2010) in the journal “Nano Letters.” (It will be a cover story for the print edition in the fall.)

Research Assistant Professor David Wendell, student Jacob Todd and College of Engineering and Applied Science Dean Carlo Montemagno co-authored the paper, based on research in Montemagno’s lab in the Department of Biomedical Engineering. Their work focused on making a new artificial photosynthetic material which uses plant, bacterial, frog and fungal enzymes, trapped within a foam housing, to produce sugars from sunlight and carbon dioxide.

“The advantage for our system compared to plants and algae is that all of the captured solar energy is converted to sugars, whereas these organisms must divert a great deal of energy to other functions to maintain life and reproduce,” says Wendell. “Our foam also uses no soil, so food production would not be interrupted, and it can be used in highly enriched carbon dioxide environments, like the exhaust from coal-burning power plants, unlike many natural photosynthetic systems.”

He adds, “In natural plant systems, too much carbon dioxide shuts down photosynthesis, but ours does not have this limitation due to the bacterial-based photo-capture strategy.”

“This new technology establishes an economical way of harnessing the physiology of living systems by creating a new generation of functional materials that intrinsically incorporates life processes into its structure,” says Dean Montemagno. “Specifically in this work it presents a new pathway of harvesting solar energy to produce either oil or food with efficiencies that exceed other biosolar production methodologies. More broadly it establishes a mechanism for incorporating the functionality found in living systems into systems that we engineer and build.”

The next step for the team will be to try to make the technology feasible for large-scale applications like carbon capture at coal-burning power plants.

http://www.uc.edu/news/NR.aspx?id=11558

I love posting new technologies that could change our energy systems. Photosynthesis is the root source of life as we know it; the 'energy' that runs the planet. If we can develop this further, it could help solve climate change and generate fuel or food in the future.

One Way To Get Your Name In The Paper

Happened to pick up yesterday's local newspaper, and there on the front page:

'Code 3: Skier buried in avalanche'

is a picture of an old friend and river running buddy. He's one of the people who I first learned white water rafting from, and an avid back country skier. Thankfully, he was rescued quickly. His description:

"It was like swimming Grand Canyon-sized whitewater without a life jacket,"

http://www.azdailysun.com/news/local/article_453e6398-66ec-5be7-87b7-428db894f580.html

All I can say is "buddy, try to avoid either avalanches or swimming the Grand Canyon without a life jacket." Glad he's safe.

The Time Shift

Most of you should have changed your clocks last night, but those of us in Arizona didn't. We changed out time zone. I'm now back in the Pacific time zone, and I feel much better.