Tuesday, March 15, 2011

Radiation

Don't feel much like blogging with the horror show in Japan on-going.

Terrible. Just terrible.

Japan: New radiation leaks harmful to health - Yahoo! News

There's a map at this link which shows how close the radiation will waft to the Bay Area. Looks like it reaches land in Seattle and Vancouver.

Daily Kos: Breaking: Spent fuel fire at reactor 4, hydrogen explosion & radiation release

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First reaction is 'idiot', but this kid may be a cat since 99% of those who do jump are killed.

He did it for kicks.

Windsor teen survives Golden Gate Bridge jump

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Monday, March 14, 2011

Japan

Awoke in Vancouver to the news and warnings of the earthquake and tsunami in Japan.

Not much can be said. Horrible.

Tide of 1,000 bodies overwhelms quake-hit Japan - Yahoo! News:
"TAKAJO, Japan – A tide of bodies washed up along Japan's coastline, crematoriums were overwhelmed and rescue workers ran out of body bags as the nation faced the grim reality of a mounting humanitarian, economic and nuclear crisis Monday after a calamitous tsunami.

Millions of people were facing a fourth night without water, food or heating in near-freezing temperatures in the northeast devastated by an earthquake and the wave it spawned. Meanwhile, a third reactor at a nuclear power plant lost its cooling capacity and the fuel rods at another were at least briefly fully exposed, raising fears of a meltdown."
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California ‘closely monitoring’ Japan nuclear leak | The Raw Story:
"LOS ANGELES — California is closely monitoring efforts to contain leaks from a quake-damaged Japanese nuclear plant, a spokesman said Saturday, as experts said radiation could be blown out across the Pacific.

While officials downplayed any immediate danger, the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission deployed two experts to Japan, where the Fukushima plant, which was rocked by a large explosion earlier in the day in the aftermath of Japan's strongest-ever earthquake."
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Wall of Water Slams Japanese Town

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Tsunami reaches the Bay. Eastern span of the Bay Bridge in the background.



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Photos: Tsunami damage in Hawaii, California | Phoenix News | Arizona News | azfamily.com | Arizona News Headlines

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I snapped this at LAX on Saturday. Much pain on that flight.



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Thursday, March 10, 2011

Wednesday, March 09, 2011

All on the Tit

All on the tit and we are forced to supply the milk.

A Reagan Republican Makes A Case Against The War -- And His Own Party:
"Why, then, have so few other prominent Republicans broken away from the party heterodoxy to publicly oppose the war, like Roberts has?

'They're all on the tit somewhere, aren't they?' Roberts said. 'They all need to be accepted. They're getting grants or they're getting employment. They're getting something and they have to support the line. They're just not independent. I don't know why they can't see the whole thing is a ruse.'"
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Torturing our own on our own soil. Sick.

Daily Kos: Bradley Manning Now "Catatonic"; Obama ENOUGH!

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Heckuva job.

Jerry Cope: NASA Data Strengthens Reports of Toxic Rain on the Gulf Coast From BP Spill

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Hilarious.

Charlie Sheen is not filial - GlobalTimes
Sheen goes on television and boasts that he has two girlfriends, who both sleep in the same bedroom. Is he too poor to set up his wives and mistresses in different houses?
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Tuesday, March 08, 2011

No Broke

Is one broke if one has been robbed blind?

Michael Moore: America Is Not Broke:
"America is not broke.

Contrary to what those in power would like you to believe so that you'll give up your pension, cut your wages, and settle for the life your great-grandparents had, America is not broke. Not by a long shot. The country is awash in wealth and cash. It's just that it's not in your hands. It has been transferred, in the greatest heist in history, from the workers and consumers to the banks and the portfolios of the uber-rich.

Today just 400 Americans have more wealth than half of all Americans combined.

Let me say that again. 400 obscenely rich people, most of whom benefited in some way from the multi-trillion dollar taxpayer 'bailout' of 2008, now have more loot, stock and property than the assets of 155 million Americans combined. If you can't bring yourself to call that a financial coup d'�tat, then you are simply not being honest about what you know in your heart to be true."
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Not a corporation in the U.S. that pays 35% in taxes. Imagine if they did. Why, we could support 4-5 more endless occupations of other countries.

ThinkProgress � If Banks Paid Their Full Taxes, We Could Rehire All 132,000 Teachers Laid Off During The Recession — Twice

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Yes.

Is it single-payer time yet? California rate hikes!

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Get a job, hippies.

Daily Kos: True Confessions of a Good-for-Nothing Freeloader

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Candidate for most obvious headline of the year.

Police: Drinking preceded Russian roulette death

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Monday, March 07, 2011

Wacka Wacka

Compromising before negotiations have begun. More horrible Republican based law and policy coming our way. So awesome having a "Democrat" as President.

White House Offers First Budget Compromise As Negotiations With GOP Begin

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Jesus. Winning hearts and minds? Why are we there - killing kids - again?

Petraeus apologizes for NATO strike that reportedly killed nine Afghan children

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Pretty interesting.

Five things you never knew about Pac-Man - Video Games Blog Plugged In - Yahoo! Games

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The police in my old 'hood be tweeting.

SFPD's Richmond Station Joins Us In The 21st Century (via Locally Sourced Technologiez) | Uptown Almanac:
"In addition to live-tweeting neighborhood warnings and super interesting crimes you didn't think even existed (see the glued ATM keys above), it seems like their intent is to actually use Twitter as a platform to better serve the community (SHOCKER, AMIRITE?). According to SF Weekly and SF Appeal's recent coverage, the Richmond station top cop, Captain Richard Corriea, has four officers tweeting from the field and is encouraging more to do the same."
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On a much sadder, old neighborhood note, RIP Tommy. You will be sorely missed.

Inside Scoop SF � Bidding farewell to Tommy Bermejo

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Thursday, March 03, 2011

Recall Them All

Steve has been covering the happenings Wisconsin since Valentine's day. Check out his great videos:

YouTube - YouTellEmSteveDave's Channel

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Full throated praise once the task is accomplished.

Daily Kos: It's on! Wisconsin Dems officially back recall effort against GOP Senators

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A Union win.

Federal Judge Favors NFL Union Over Owners In TV Dispute

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There's something happening here? We'll see...

Your own private Wisconsin:
"What's more, it feels like the good type of revolution, the kind where the human animal not only struggles en masse against its oppressors, but even, occasionally, wins. What a thing.

So then, the question: Can you at all relate? Do you sense what it's like to take a deep breath and hurl yourself against the great wall of dogma and oppressive overlord? Does it help that many of these revolutions are very much being televised -- or rather socially networked -- often in 140 characters or fewer, which is very civilized way indeed to narrate a revolution, especially for a violently ADHD nation like America? This just in: Brevity is the soul of disobedience. Who knew?"

Do not, by the way, pay much heed to the president's response so far. Truly, our fine Obama is nothing if not measured to a damnable fault right now, urging this or that calm, voicing this or that displeasure over this or that hunk of bloody violence, when more often than not you want him to leap up and stomp his foot and say thank God Mubarak is out and that insane monster Gadhafi is going down and how can we topple more Middle Eastern regimes, and btw what can we do to kick over the whole goddamn poker table and reset the entire game board more fairly, more ingeniously, more hopefully for a new era?
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Why this guy isn't a major cog in the O.A. is telling.

Robert Reich: How Democrats Can Become Relevant Again (And Rescue the Nation While They're At It)

Here's what Democrats should be saying:

Hike taxes on the super-rich. Reform the tax code to create more brackets at the top with higher rates for millionaires and billionaires. Absurdly, the top bracket is now set at $375,000 with a tax rate of 35 percent; the second-highest bracket, at 33 percent, starts at $172,000 for individuals. But the big money is way higher.

The source of income shouldn't matter -- salary, wages, capital gains, other unearned income -- all should be treated the same. There's no reason to reward speculators. (Don't penalize true entrepreneurs, though. If they're owners who have held their assets for at least twenty years, keep their capital gains low.)

And while you're at it, raise the ceiling on income subject to Social Security taxes. And bring back the estate tax.

Do this and we can afford to do what we need to do as a nation. Do this and you prevent Republicans from setting the working middle class against itself. Do this and you restore some balance to a distribution of income and wealth that's now dangerously out of whack.

Do this, Democrats, and you have a chance of being relevant again.

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Lost Damon, he did.

Matt Damon Calls Out President Obama, Education Policy:
"Now, he's not so enthused about Obama. When asked if he was happy with the way the President is running the country, Damon said, point blank, 'no.'

'I really think he misinterpreted his mandate. A friend of mine said to me the other day, I thought it was a great line, 'I no longer hope for audacity,'' Damon said. 'He's doubled down on a lot of things, going back to education... the idea that we're testing kids and we're tying teachers salaries to how kids are performing on tests, that kind of mechanized thinking has nothing to do with higher order. We're training them, not teaching them."
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Hahahaha. Oh, Lynn. He can't do anything but capitulate.

Lynn Woolsey: Obama must not ‘capitulate’ to GOP on shutdown (EXCLUSIVE) | The Raw Story:
"WASHINGTON – Rep. Lynn Woolsey (D-CA) is urging President Barack Obama to follow in President Bill Clinton's footsteps and stand strong against Republicans on sharp spending cuts -- even as the possibility of a government shutdown looms.

'You have to remember what a leader Bill Clinton was in 1995. It was very clear he was not going to capitulate,' Woolsey told Raw Story in an interview late Tuesday afternoon. 'President Clinton was absolute -- he said he would veto [the GOP proposals], and he did. We were with him on that, and I'm hoping to do the same with President Obama.'"
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Wednesday, March 02, 2011

Losers

Jeez. Republicans say jump and Demo-losers ask 'Is this high enough? Please don't hurt me".

Senate to send Obama a stopgap GOP spending bill - Yahoo! News

I'm no longer surprised, but still baffled at the loser mentality of Democrats.

Looking forward to voting for anyone but a Democrat in 2012.
"WASHINGTON – In an early victory for Republicans, the Democratic Senate is voting to send President Barack Obama a GOP-drafted measure that cuts $4 billion in spending as the price for keeping the government open for an additional two weeks.

Sweeping bipartisan support is expected Wednesday for the measure, which passed the House on Tuesday by a 335-91 tally. More than 100 Democrats broke with Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi of California to support it."
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Fox lies. End of story.

Fox News reporter appears to have lied about being ‘punched’ by protester | The Raw Story

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Speaking of lying liars FAUX, O, Canada, you sexy, reasonable beast you.


Robert F. Kennedy Jr.: Regulators Reject Proposal That Would Bring Fox-Style News to Canada:
"Canada regulators announced last week they would reject efforts by Canada's right wing Prime Minister, Stephen Harper, to repeal a law that forbids lying on broadcast news.

Canada's Radio Act requires that 'a licenser may not broadcast....any false or misleading news.' The provision has kept Fox News and right wing talk radio out of Canada and helped make Canada a model for liberal democracy and freedom. As a result of that law, Canadians enjoy high quality news coverage including the kind of foreign affairs and investigative journalism that flourished in this country before Ronald Reagan abolished the 'Fairness Doctrine' in 1987."
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Heck of a job, Barackie. Heck. Of. A. Job.

BP reneges on deal to rebuild oyster beds, repair wetlands, Louisiana officials say | NOLA.com

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Tuesday, March 01, 2011

Go To Jail

Bill Gates' opinion on education is equal to my opinion on rocket science. Both are fatally ill informed.

Another corporatist who made billions from a shitty product attempting to insert himself into a dialogue in which he is clueless all for the sake of promoting his pseudo-altruistic ego.

Daily Kos: A partial response to Bill Gates' op ed about teachers:
"Today's Washington Post features an op ed by Bill Gates titled How teacher development could revolutionize our schools. Teachers are the latest focus of Gates and his foundation. Before I respond to anything in this particular piece, let me remind readers that the last time Bill Gates got enthused about something in education, it was small schools. His foundations sank a huge amount of money into getting districts to create small schools while ignoring the research that had been done by those who had focused on the issue for years. The result was that the endeavor was not all that successful, the foundation has now pulled out of the effort, in some cases pulling the plug on ongoing efforts it had encouraged, and unfortunately tarnishing the concept and making it more difficult for those attempting to do it right."
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Didn't watch the Oscars, but this has to be the best acceptance speech. Nothing will change until people are put in prison for a very long time.

YouTube - Inside Job - Oscar winner acceptance speech

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Change nobody can believe in.

Justice Cranks Up Its Covert War on Whistleblowers—By Scott Horton (Harper's Magazine):
"As noted previously, candidate Barack Obama promised to protect whistleblowers who come forward with information disclosing government waste, abuse, and inefficiency. Unfortunately, President Obama has done exactly the opposite. Obama’s real policies are exposed in documents filed in the prosecution of former CIA agent James Stirling."
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This 6 mile trek was my Saturday or Sunday morning bike ride for many a year.

The Golden Gate Bridge: 10 Different Perspectives (PHOTOS):
"There's no finer urban walkabout than San Francisco's 6-mile trek along the dramatic cliffs, coastal forests, posh neighborhoods and beaches that ring the northwestern quadrant of the city. Starting at the historic Cliff House restaurant by Ocean Beach, hike past the Sutro Baths, through the coastal woods of Land's End, where Golden Gate Bridge views are dramatic and plentiful. Continue through tony Sea Cliff (past Robin Williams' house), down to sandy Baker Beach, and up to the Golden Gate Bridge. Jaunt downhill past surfers at Fort Point, then across windswept, beachy Crissy Field. Stroll across the marina and up into grassy Fort Mason for a much deserved picnic and nap in the sun."
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Well, duh. Via Jayne C.

Stare at boobs for longer life: Study | TheMedGuru

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