Posts from — October 2007

We may not be able to reclaim the state for sanity very quickly, but Florida Dems have a sense of humor and creativity. That’s the logo for a party conference.

The latest proof is Draft Katherine Harris dot Com. The video has been all over the ‘Tubes, but if you look at the bottom of the page you will see that is is paid for by the Florida Democratic Party.

TBogg explains why President Speed Bump should have stayed home.

You can show your concern with a video conference, a few stills of watching the coverage on television, and statement of concern. A statement that you don’t want to interfere with the recovery by showing up at ground zero and disrupting operations would be nice.

A quick scan of the headlines showed reports that the ever vigilant Homeland Security Department is warning of the possibility of explosives in shoes.

Well, they are new, so perhaps no one told them about Richard Reed, “the shoe bomber”, who was arrested in December of 2001, and is the reason you have had to take off your shoes and have them x-rayed to get on an airplane for about five freaking years.

Before these people start poring over their intelligence reports, maybe they should read a few newspapers or watch the evening news.

Update: Here’s the CBS report.

Andante of Collective Sigh celebrates Islamofascist Awareness Week.

Cat Daddy & Dr. Squeeky celebrates making friends.

Danger Room runs a contest for a new Blackwater logo, while Lurch at Main and Central notes their IRS problems.

Der Verrückte Philosoph has been posting some of the ‘Nets strangest sites and videos at Peripetia.

It’s Cold

Zzz…brrr…zzz

[Editor: Excise and Property decide the clothes basket is a pretty good location to wait for warmer weather.]

Friday Ark

The Shrubbery was out there praising the great job Arnold was doing, so this is a bit surprising: Bureaucracy hampered initial Calif. fire efforts

LOS ANGELES – As wildfires were charging across Southern California, nearly two dozen water-dropping helicopters and two massive cargo planes sat idly by, grounded by government rules and bureaucracy.

You mean that Arnold wasn’t running a well-oiled machine?

I guess not everyone was pleased with the “Terminator”: Local Officials: California Was Unprepared

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[Note that the Anglo-American 1953 Iranian coup d’état overthrowing of the democratically-elected administration of Prime Minister Mohammed Mosaddeq was Iran 0.1.]

Ellroon wonders Just what does it take to start a war around here?, getting her information from the Guardian, while I went with the BBC [like the American press were going to present the truth] for the story: US imposes new sanctions on Iran

The US has stepped up its sanctions on Iran for “supporting terrorists” and pursuing nuclear activities.

The new measures target the finances of Iran’s Islamic Revolution Guards Corps and three state-owned banks.

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For the record:

The largest movement of people in the US has to be the evacuation of Coastal Texas and Louisiana in anticipation of hurricane Rita in 2005, which was estimated to be between 2.5 and 3 million people.

The evacuation of approximately one and a half million people for hurricane Katrina is second.

Hurricane Katrina is the costliest natural disaster in US history at an estimated $86 billion dollars [2007 dollars]. Mississippi alone lost about 1.3 million acres of forest to Katrina.

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I have cleaned up after a fire in the area and learned a few things the hard way, so if anyone in SoCal is reading take note.

If you have wood ash, from trees or lumber, you need to use a little caution. Your regular vacuum is not designed for this stuff and will create a breathing hazard if you use it. Wood ash is alkaline. The easiest way to make lye is putting wood ash in water. It has a pH of about 11, just a little lower than household ammonia so it is important to clean it up. Wood ash also contains some super fine particles that will pass through a normal vacuum cleaner filter. If you use a regular vacuum to clean it up you will fill the air with superfine caustic dust that does not do good things to your lungs.

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…these people can’t handle the Americas either.

Apparently totally unaware that Fidel had already designated the line of succession, starting with his brother Raul, the Hedgemony is trying to act relevant on the continuation of the current governmental system in Cuba. The Shrubbery trotted out the same old tired talking points that are approved by the aging Miami “Calle Ocho” crowd, that hopes to one day return triumphantly to Cuba and regain their abandoned property.

After 50 years you would think it was time to move on, but those people know how to hate, and to teach the hate to their children.

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If you are trying to impress someone with the fact that you are e-mailing from an iPhone, it might help if the ISP you were using wasn’t AOL. Having to use AT&T and AOL are pretty much a deal killer for me, even if I thought I needed the capabilities of iPhone.

The San Diego Union-Tribune late night report: Fire damage severe, but worst may be over

“The worst is behind us,” said Ron Lane, director of the county Emergency Operations, at a news conference featuring Michael Chertoff, chief of federal Homeland Defense. While Chertoff said that he has spoken to President Bush he declined to say when federal assistance would be forthcoming.

“We will review the recommendation for emergency declaration promptly,” Chertoff said. Chertoff said before the feds act on it, “It has to be looked at first. It’s hot off the presses now.”

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They haven’t been able to finish Afghan War 1.5 [the ousting of the Soviets was 0.5], or to ship more than a busted beta of Iraq War 2.0, and they want to expand their disasters.

The product manager for these messes, Dick “Dick” Cheney, is already pushing the vaporware version of his latest disaster and Barnett R. Rubin reviews the media campaign, The War Rollout Keeps Rolling Along…..

They have already proven to everyone that they don’t know how to conduct a war by simultaneously failing in two wars, so who is stupid enough to believe they will magically find the competence for a third war? In seven years they have shown that fooling the American electorate is their sole competency, and polls indicate that even the electorate has figured out the scam.

The people over at the Florida Progressive Coalition are hosting the Netroots Awards for Florida bloggers.

Check out And the Nominees Are…, and then vote by sending an e-mail to quinnelk@hotmail.com until Friday at 12PM [noon] EDT.

Edited for clarity on the time.