Profits > Maintenance

Coming to your neighborhood soon, because maintenance should never get in the way of profits.

Fire crews search through the rubble of - Media (1 of 74) San Bruno explosion toll rises to 4

Infrastructure, you say? Ask the city of San Bruno why we need it | Crooks and Liars

• The ruptured main belongs to Pacific Gas & Electric (PG&E)
• The pipe that ruptured was installed in 1948
• Residents in the area had smelled gas for 3 weeks. When it was reported, some were told to shut their garage doors; others were told not to worry about it. (note: those tweets were people reacting in real time to TV reports and interviews)
• People are still missing. Expect the death toll to rise.
• The force of the explosion also stopped the water supply, making it much more difficult to fight the fire.
• PG&E's president was interviewed, but managed to cover himself and duck any hard questions in the process about whether reports of a gas leak had not received priority attention.
• At the time of this writing, it is reported that 45 homes have been lost with hundreds more damaged.

A neighborhood exploded. Just like that. It was there one minute, gone the next, apparently the victim of a deteriorating 62-year old cylinder in the ground that wore out, blew out, and exploded after rupturing the ground above it. That cylinder is just one of many old, deteriorating lines.

And right now, early in the game, we're left with questions about whether that pipe was properly maintained, whether the right amount of attention was paid to reports of a gas leak in the area, and whether PG&E has adequately invested in keeping their equipment safe and up-to-date.

This is a company that spent $46 million dollars to buy a California ballot initiative in the primary to keep municipalities from maintaining their own utilities.

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How's that other energy company doing since they were entirely left to their own devices to clean-up a gulf they ruined?

Scientists Find Thick Layer Of Oil On Seafloor : NPR:

"Scientists on a research vessel in the Gulf of Mexico are finding a substantial layer of oily sediment stretching for dozens of miles in all directions. Their discovery suggests that a lot of oil from the Deepwater Horizon didn't simply evaporate or dissipate into the water — it has settled to the seafloor."

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Hows about instead of Obama splashing around in the gulf surf with his family and eating one or two fried oyster sandwiches for a day or two, hows about he move the freakin' White House to the Gulf and swim, with his family, daily in the Gulf and eat the seafood every goddamn day for the next 10 years.

You can bet your sweet ass there'd be some 'change' for the gulf if Obama was faced with poisoning his family on a daily basis.

Group finds contaminated oysters, despite state, federal assurances | wwltv.com | WWLTV.com News:

"NEW ORLEANS -- Sampling by environmental groups has found oysters contaminated with oil along the Louisiana coast befouled by the BP PLC oil spill, a finding that casts doubt on statements by state and federal officials that all seafood tested here is safe to eat.

Batches of oysters were sampled on Aug. 2 and 3 near the mouths of the Atchafalaya and Mississippi rivers and laboratory tests revealed the animals were tainted by oil, according to Wilma Subra, a well-known Louisiana chemist working for environmental groups. The oysters were obtained from a reef and an old crab trap, she said."

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Swim in this everyday, Obama.

EXCLUSIVE: Tests find sickened family has 50.3 ppm of Corexit’s 2-butoxyethanol in swimming pool — JUST ONE HOUR NORTH OF TAMPA (lab report included) | Florida Oil Spill Law:

"“Our heads are still swimming,” stated Barbara Schebler of Homosassa, Florida, who received word last Friday that test results on the water from her family’s swimming pool showed 50.3 ppm of 2-butoxyethanol, a marker for the dispersant Corexit 9527A used to break up and sink BP’s oil in the Gulf of Mexico."

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A bit of unintended humor from the PG&E tragedy:

San Bruno explosion: Families fear worst

As the human cost mounted, residents were also coping with the stress of not knowing what happened to their pets. San Bruno animal control officers set up a station at the shelter to try to help.

"He is missing one leg and had a floppy ear," one woman said through tears.

"That's good," an animal control officer responded. "It means he is recognizable."

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Lord Ain't Willing

Slow motion travesty of the highest order. I can't believe anyone would believe that anything is the Gulf is edible.

Activist: Gulf fishermen being held responsible for toxic seafood | Raw Story:

But an admission from the federal government that it hasn't been testing Gulf seafood for toxic heavy metals, and news that fishermen are being forced to sign waivers making them liable for toxins in their catch, suggest not everyone is convinced of the safety of Gulf seafood.

Louisiana fishermen's activist Kindra Arnesen says dock owners are asking fishermen to sign waivers that put the full responsibility for toxins found in the catch on the fishermen themselves."

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Nothing to see here, folks. I guess BP will spin this as the fish are now easier to catch.

Thousands of dead fish surface at mouth of Mississippi River:

"He said crabs, sting rays, eel, drum, speckled trout and red fish were among the species that turned up dead.

Taffaro said there was some recoverable oil in the area, and officials from the state's wildlife and fisheries division were sampling the water."

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Watch:

Daily Kos: Gulf Coast Locals, BP Workers, Speaking Out

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No shit.

Major study proves oil plume that's not going away - Yahoo! News

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Selective rage and bigotry.

Muslims Pray Daily 80 Feet From Pentagon's 9/11 Crash Site:

"WASHINGTON — While Americans are bitterly debating the proposed building of a mosque near New York's ground zero, Muslims have been praying for years less than 80 feet from where another hijacked jetliner struck."

Pentagon officials say that no one in the military or the families of the victims of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks has ever protested.

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Told ya.

US combat brigades still in Iraq: report

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In AND Out? You are being fucked.

Orwell in charge? Kucinich compares Iraq ‘exit’ to Bush’s ‘Mission Accomplished’

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I love it when a plan comes together:

Halle Berry plans a full-time move to San Francisco : SFGate: Daily Dish

And on a related note (only 6?!):

6 Reasons to Have Casual Sex | Sex & Relationships | AlterNet

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Chickenshit Hippie Punchers

Goddamn right, Lee Stranaham:

Lee Stranahan: President Obama Listens to the Right Because He Ignores the Left:

"The reason President Obama focuses on the right is because he's ignored the left since the day after the election, and if he wants to save his presidency, that needs to change.

In fact, the only times that President Obama and his gang o' hacks haven't ignored the left is when they've blown off steam by actually attacking progressives. Who called MoveOn.org 'fucking retarded'? Was it Andrew Breitbart? Glenn Beck? Mel Gibson? Of course not -- it was Obama's Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel.

Emanuel's outburst was right in line with the path the Obama administration has taken from the beginning -- side with Big Business in the hopes of building the Democratic war chest through corporate donations. Every watered-down, ginned-up company-approved bit of major legislation that has oozed through Congress and on to the president's desk has helped bail out corporate America at the expense of the middle class."

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Wherein Obama once again shows how much he really doesn't get ir, or, rather his reflex to punch the hippies.

It isn't the 'YouTube/blogger' culture, DA, it is the FAUX News/Right Wing media culture.

Stop blaming the hippies, asshole.

Sherrod gets biggest 'I'm sorry' — from Obama - Yahoo! News:

"'He jumped the gun, partly because we now live in this media culture where something goes up on YouTube or a blog and everybody scrambles,' Obama said."

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Why this SOB still has a job....

The Jester, the Coward, and the Employee | VF Daily | Vanity Fair:

"Andrew Breitbart is a blip on the American screen and only a minor player in this story. The central character in this regrettable drama is agriculture secretary Tom Vilsack, who fired Shirley Sherrod before he got his facts straight. Before he got any facts at all, it seems. Did Vilsack, an adult, even take the time to ask Ms. Sherrod, another adult, any questions? Or was he too preoccupied being terrified by the easily disproved distortions of known laughing stock Andrew Breitbart? That Vilsack acted on the assumption that Breitbart was telling the truth was a huge mistake that shows an astonishing lack of judgment and character. To fire anyone on information that is not carefully and fully verified is grossly irresponsible."

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Nation editor: Obama ‘feeding zealots’ by not standing up to right-wing media | Raw Story:

"The Nation editor Katrina vanden Heuvel told NBC's Today Show Friday that the Obama administration needs to 'get a spine.'

'This White House needs to institute procedures, as President Obama said, and get a spine because it is feeding the zealots of our system by not standing tall and confronting the forces of hate and fear in a country that has a lot of economic pain,' vanden Heuvel said."

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Daily Kos: Why Does Fox News Have More Power Than Any Progressive in the Country?:

"The idea is that Fox News is more important than any progressive leader or commentator (or even the majority opinion of progressives throughout the country, as evidenced by polls) because liberals have nowhere to go. So, that's why you can abuse them, ignore them and even treat them with disdain -- and they'll still vote for you. What are they going to do -- vote for Republicans?

That's why Rahm Emanuel can call them 'fucking retarded' and derisively dismiss them on almost every issue. They think there's no price to pay. Whereas, if they cross Fox, all of Washington will be talking about it. And they're obsessed with the Washington chatter. And they are under the grossly mistaken impression that the country gives a shit about what Fox says.

In Washington, Fox News is very important and you get judged by how quickly you handle the media maelstroms they create. That's viewed as a barometer of how well you handle 'bad news cycles.' So, the rest of the Washington press corps judges you by how quickly you drop to your knees to end the 'bad news cycle.' Congratulations Obama administration, you're now professionals!"

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At least somebody is calling it like it really is:

Sherrod: I'm a Victim of Breitbart, Fox 'Racism' | Media Matters for America

Rachel Maddow: Fox News Stoking Racial Fears Among Whites (VIDEO)

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Health care should not be subject to the not-very-free market.

Consumer group: Insurers kept surplus while hiking premiums - USATODAY.com:

"Non-profit Blue Cross and Blue Shield health plans stockpiled billions of dollars during the past decade, yet continued to hit consumers with double-digit premium increases, Consumers Union found in an analysis of 10 of the plans' finances.

Insurers must keep surplus money to ensure they can pay policyholders' medical bills if unexpected market conditions develop. Yet seven of the plans examined held more than three times the amount regulators consider the minimum needed to do that, according to a report being released today by the non-profit consumer group.

'Consumers are struggling to afford health coverage,' said report author Sondra Roberto. 'Those funds could be used in some cases to mitigate these rate increases."

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Wait... who's in charge again?

BP trying to legally ‘contaminate’ Gulf scientists: report:

"BP plans to fight a lawsuit to be filed by the Natural Resources Damage Assessment, according to Press-Register's Ben Raines. Putting Gulf scientists on the payroll could mean there are less experts to testify against them.

MSNBC's Rachel Maddow compares the tactic to an episode of The Sopranos where Tony Soprano consults with top lawyers so his wife isn't able to hire them in a divorce case."

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After Oil Spills, Hidden Damage Can Last for Years - NYTimes.com:

"In 1969, a barge hit the rocks off the coast of West Falmouth, Mass., spilling 189,000 gallons of fuel oil into Buzzards Bay. Today, the fiddler crabs at nearby Wild Harbor still act drunk, moving erratically and reacting slowly to predators.

The odd behavior is consistent with a growing body of research showing how oil spills of many types have remarkably persistent effects, often at levels low enough to escape routine notice."

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I'll take a sixer of squirrel, please.

Strongest ever beer served up in dead squirrels

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Gutless Cowards - Reinstate Sherrod, Fire Vilsack

The Obama Administration is nothing but a bunch of gutless cowards.

Here's the Whitehouse phone number to tell them so:

202-456-1111

Reinstate Sherrod TODAY, and fire Vilsack on the spot plus anyone else who doesn't have the balls to tell the Teabaggers to go fuck themselves.

Dollars to donuts, Obama makes a speech where he falsely compares right wing racism with non-existent left wing racism. Rahm will be jacking off on the corner b/c Obama is doing his 'hippie punching' for him.

These people manage about was well as Bush. They embarrass me.

White House Uses Misleading Breitbart Video As Basis To Hastily Demand USDA Official’s Resignation

White farmers at the center of Shirley Sherrod controversy: ‘No way in the world’ she is a racist.

Daily Kos: Reinstate Shirley Sherrod:

"Despite the fact that Sherrod did nothing wrong -- in fact, did everything right -- Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack fired her after Breitbart's video was released. As you can see in Ben Smith's article, the White House is trying to simultaneously support Vilsack's position and deny responsibility for it. Obviously, Vilsack fired her out of the misguided belief that Breitbart had turned her into a political liability. But not only is that immoral, it's stupid; the backlash against the unjustified dismissal of Shirley Sherrod will dwarf whatever teabagging nonsense Breitbart could have drummed up.

As both Digby and Greg Sargent argue, Vilsack's decision to fire Sherrod is appalling. Shirley Sherrod is a good woman who did nothing wrong and nobody should want to live in the kind of country where good people are fired because politicians are worried that they might become liabilities.

There's still enough time to make the situation right. President Obama should step up to the plate and reinstate Shirley Sherrod. Let this be a teaching moment, that in this country we don't let innocent bystanders become victims of political assassins like Andrew Breitbart. This is a time for leadership, but there isn't much time left to show it. The clock is running."

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Hullabaloo:

"They are telling wingnuts everywhere that all they have to do is gin up a phony controversy (especially about a black person, apparently) and the administration will fire them so as not to shake confidence that they are 'fair service providers.'

This is sheer cowardice."

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UPDATED: White House, You Were Punked By Andrew Breitbart | Crooks and Liars:

"This whole episode screams 'Why can't we have reasonable discussions about racial issues???' at me.

The answer is twofold: First, Andrew Breitbart is a dirty, lying SOB who thrives on waving his malodorous lies around on Fox News and the Internet. Second, the White House or USDA, depending upon which story you read, believed him."

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This is how bad it has gotten. I'm quoting one of the dumbest conservative assholes out there, Johah Goldberg:

Maddow to White House: Giving in to conservative spin ‘makes it worse’ | Raw Story:

"Goldberg went on to express a perception of the Obama administration that was strikingly similar to Maddow's. 'Meanwhile, as a matter of politics,' he wrote, 'I think this episode demonstrates that this White House is a much more tightly wound outfit than it lets on in public. The rapid-response firing suggests a level of fear over Glenn Beck and Fox that speaks volumes.'"

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These are the idiot assholes who rule Obama's world:

Onion story from 2007 currently being accepted by TeePees as ... on Twitpic

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Keeping up with the Jonses.

Growing China oil spill threatens sea life, water - Yahoo! News

AMERICAblog News: BP photoshops fake photo of crisis command center, posts on main BP site

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Amen. Nationalize them.

Oliver Stone: US should nationalize oil resources | Raw Story:

"The Gulf of Mexico oil spill shows that the United States should follow the example of South American socialists in nationalizing its energy industry, filmmaker Oliver Stone said Tuesday.

The Academy Award-winning director of 'Born on the Fourth of July' and 'JFK' said that America's country's natural wealth was too important to be left in private hands, telling journalists in central London that oil and other natural resources 'belong to the people.'

'This BP oil spill is typical' of what happens when private industry is allowed to draw revenue on what should be a public good, Stone said."

"We shouldn't make this kind of profit on oil or on health or on war or on prisons. All these industries should be public industries."

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Fake President Maddow

The Obama speech that should have been.

I'm down with drafting Maddow in '12.

Fake President Maddow's Oval-Office-in-her-own-head address on MSN Video

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Goddammit.

Sea creatures flee spill, gather near shore - Disaster in the Gulf- msnbc.com:

"GULF SHORES, Ala. - Dolphins and sharks are showing up in surprisingly shallow water just off the Florida coast. Mullets, crabs, rays and small fish congregate by the thousands off an Alabama pier. Birds covered in oil are crawling deep into marshes, never to be seen again.

Marine scientists studying the effects of the BP disaster are seeing some strange — and troubling — phenomena.

Fish and other wildlife are fleeing the oil out in the Gulf and clustering in cleaner waters along the coast. But that is not the hopeful sign it might appear to be, researchers say."

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Goddamn right! If a law applies to an individual, it applies to a corporation, now that the activist, NeoCon Supreme Court has defined 'things' as 'people'.

Some white collar motherfuckers need to be frog marched into prison. Image needs to replay on every TV station for a month.

BP: Beyond Punishment | The Nation:

"A punitive society is not the best kind of society: there's a real virtue in forgiveness, in second chances. But for years we've been applying Rand Paul's 'accidents happen' principle to those at the top while heaping blame, scorn and draconian punishment on those at the bottom. Punitive damages are capped for corporations, while punitive policies proliferate for citizens. This tears the social contract apart, and the only way to repair it is to apply the same principles of accountability up and down the social hierarchy. We should start with BP."

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What Jack Donaghy says:

Alec Baldwin: This Land Is Your Land:

"I can't get this song out of my head. You know the lyrics.

This land is your land, this land is my land
From California, to the New York Island
From the redwood forest, to the gulf stream waters
This land was made for you and me

I just keep thinking about these lyrics.

Here's another thing I keep thinking about. How this corporate boot-licking band of board room-loving reactionaries that are calling the shots from the Republican side of the Supreme Court are going to rule on any BP-related litigation that may make it to their chamber. This is the court that, on behalf of making sure that CEO's continue their death grip on legislative reform, ruled that corporations have the same rights as individuals vis a vis campaign contributions."

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One trillion that will never, ever, ever see a cut, ever b/c no politician has the balls to do it.

Needs to be done, though.

Commission outlines $1 trillion in defense budget cuts | Raw Story:

"Defense companies put billions into PR campaigns for the necessity of this or that project that runs over cost. Legislators have every career incentive to lard the defense budget with job-creating bloat for their districts. The media treats civilian and military spending as two entirely different entities, with military spending emerging from a magical, never-ending fountain of cash. And then there’s the general jingoism that equates curbed defense spending with a deficit of patriotism."

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Storming the gates. We are coming for you.

Editorial - The Message From Arkansas - NYTimes.com:

They may not have won, but discontented Democrats sent an important message to the Obama administration on Tuesday by mounting an unexpectedly strong primary challenge to Senator Blanche Lincoln of Arkansas. For the White House to minimize the efforts of unions and others who helped support that challenge suggests a tone-deafness to the growing restlessness in the Democratic Party."

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I mean, my god, how shitty of a state is SC. You can only vote on, essentially what is a POS PC running Windows with no paper trail. All tallys are stored in the computer. Hell, I could hack that.

Still livin' in Rove's world.

The BRAD BLOG : 'Experts' Eye 100% Unverifiable E-Vote System in 'Win' of SC's Mystery U.S. Senate Nominee:

"In Lancaster County, Rawl won absentee ballots over Greene by a staggering 84 percent to 16 percent margin; but Greene easily led among Election Day voters by 17 percentage points.

In Spartanburg County, Ludwig said there are 25 precincts in which Greene received more votes than were actually cast and 50 other precincts where votes appeared to be missing from the final count.

'In only two of 88 precincts, do the number of votes Greene got plus the number we got equal the total cast,' Ludwig said.

Greene also racked up a 75 percent or greater margin in one-seventh of all precincts statewide, a mark that Ludwig notes is even difficult for an incumbent to reach."

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Too spot on by the Onion.

This writing style is the template for every piece of shit news organization out there.

Candidate May Have Lied About Heroic Death In Vietnam | The Onion - America's Finest News Source:

"MONTGOMERY, AL—In a major scandal that could cast doubt on his political future, U.S. Senate candidate Chris Wilfred came under fire this week for comments he made alleging he had died heroically while fighting in the Vietnam War."

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Check out the two cool pictures on the right:

Scientists say planes can cause rain, snow

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I'd like to go colonized one, please.

Kepler space telescope finds possible planets:

"The Kepler space telescope seeking Earth-like planets in a far-off region of the Milky Way has discovered more than 700 planetary 'candidates' - some that just might be the right size and in the right places for life to be possible."

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Cap Smear

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Cap Smear @ 2:08 is must see TV:

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Dead rich chicks walking... or rather, 'running'. Let's go Jerry!

Harold Meyerson - Calif. GOP primary winners look headed for defeat:

"There's a reason Arnold Schwarzenegger is the only Republican elected to a major statewide office in California since 1994 -- and it's not his celebrity status. It's because, when he was first elected governor, he did not have to run in and win a Republican primary: He was elected in a special recall election open to candidates and voters from all parties.

Whitman and Fiorina had no such luck. In winning their nominations, they said things deeply offensive to a fatally large swath of California voters. Their campaigns may be gold-plated, but they have ears of purest tin."

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Larry Flynt is so smart.

Stephen Hawking On Religion: 'Science Will Win' (VIDEO):

"When Sawyer asked if there was a way to reconcile religion and science, Hawking said, 'There is a fundamental difference between religion, which is based on authority, [and] science, which is based on observation and reason. Science will win because it works.'"

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Hawking has spoken.

6-story Jesus statue in Ohio struck by lightning - Yahoo! News:

"MONROE, Ohio – A six-story-tall statue of Jesus Christ with his arms raised along a highway was struck by lightning in a thunderstorm Monday night and burned to the ground, police said."

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What a picture.

Hard to port! Eject Goose, eject! | Bad Astronomy | Discover Magazine

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