Since I gave the government of New Zealand grief for selling out to a corporation, I must include this US example from NPR:

NPR spent the past several months analyzing hundreds of pages of campaign finance reports, lobbying documents and corporate records. What they show is a quiet, behind-the-scenes effort to help draft and pass Arizona Senate Bill 1070 by an industry that stands to benefit from it: the private prison industry.

The law could send hundreds of thousands of illegal immigrants to prison in a way never done before. And it could mean hundreds of millions of dollars in profits to private prison companies responsible for housing them.

It wasn’t about security or crime or immigration – it was about corporate profits. The corporations will build them and then figure out how to force people to use them. Our tax dollars at work – not building infrastructure, teaching children, or otherwise improving the lives of the people, but enriching corporations.

Position: 12.2N 58.4W [10 PM CDT 0300 UTC].
Movement: West-Northwest [300°] near 16 mph [26 kph].
Maximum sustained winds: 65 mph [100 kph].
Wind Gusts: 75 mph [120 kph].
Tropical Storm Wind Radius: 105 miles [165 km].
Minimum central pressure: 997 mb ↓.

Currently about 100 miles [160 km] Southeast of Barbados.

Currently about 205 miles [325 km] East-Southeast of St. Vincent.

A Hurricane Warning is in effect for Barbados, Martinique, St. Lucia, and St. Vincent & The Grenadines

A Tropical Storm Warning is in effect for Dominica, Grenada, and Trinidad & Tobago

Here’s the link for NOAA’s latest satellite images.

[For the latest information click on the storm symbol, or go to the CATEGORIES drop-down box below the CALENDAR and select “Hurricanes” for all of the posts related to storms on this site.]

Position: 31.9N 63.3W [10 PM CDT 0300 UTC].
Movement: Northeast [050°] near 21 mph [33 kph].
Maximum sustained winds: 70 mph [110 kph].
Wind Gusts: 85 mph [135 kph].
Tropical Storm Wind Radius: 105 miles [165 km].
Minimum central pressure: 994 mb.

Currently about 85 miles [140 km] East-Southeast of Bermuda.

Here’s the link for NOAA’s latest satellite images.

[For the latest information click on the storm symbol, or go to the CATEGORIES drop-down box below the CALENDAR and select “Hurricanes” for all of the posts related to storms on this site.]

Bad Crowd

Yo! Buzz off!

[Editor: Wild Blue is not at all happy to see me. This is a definite change in attitude since s/he started hanging around with the two gray and white kittens…

Friday Ark