If the tropics calm down I will be upgrading to the latest version of WordPerfect WordPress to get rid of the nagging banner in the admin area. If things go seriously wrong I’ll let Steve ‘Bates know.

Some new additions to the blogroll.

I finally added the great geek cartoon site, xkcd. They update Monday – Wednesday – Friday.

Another blog that should have been there for a while is Earth-Bound Misfit, that I first encountered a while back at Badtux’s, but inertia sets in, and stuff happens.

A new blog is Charlie Pierce, who is handling the politics blog for Esquire magazine. Charlie has been a journalist for years, but more people probably recognize him as a frequent guest at Wait, Wait … Don’t Tell Me!, the comedy news quiz on NPR.

Position: 18.4N 59.5W [10PM CDT 0300 UTC].
Movement: Northwest [305°] near 3 mph [ 6 kph].
Maximum sustained winds: 35 mph [ 55 kph].
Wind Gusts: 50 mph [ 85 kph].
Minimum central pressure: 1009 mb ↑.

Currently about 235 miles [ 380 km] East of the Leeward Islands.

After taking some time off to recuperate, the storm is going to make another try at being a tropical cyclone.

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.]

Most of you have seen the assault on the demonstrators by Deputy Inspector Anthony Bologna. I say it was an assault because that’s what the New York State Penal Law says it was, and that’s what I would have charged if he had done it in front of me while I wore the uniform.

Now, as a Deputy Inspector he is a political appointee. Patrolman through and including Captain in the NYPD are civil service positions with testing, but ranks above that, and Deputy Inspector is the first rank above, are appointed.

In most departments in New York, the police union only covers the lower ranks. The upper ranks are considered part of management and have either a separate bargaining unit, or none.

From a procedural stand point, he had no business being where he was. The patrol officers were dealing with the situation, and he should have been directing activities, not getting involved.

Since he isn’t in a civil service slot, getting rid of him is simple, and it should be done for reasons of liability. The department doesn’t need the cost of the law suits, and there is no way of interpreting the ‘use of force’ procedures to justify what he did.

When the US and Europe talk about negotiations they seem to forget the daily process that is Israel annexing Palestinian land. CBS reports that Israel OKs 1,100 new homes in east Jerusalem. The Israelis keep talking about a moratorium on new settlements, and keep approving them. This is the reason the Palestinians have no confidence on the ‘peace process’, and see it as a stalling tactic by Israel while they occupy more land.

It is once again Banned Book Week, the American Library Association’s attempt to remind people that we are supposed to have freedom of speech in this country.

While most people assume that sex is the number one reason for banning a book, politics is really more common. The reasons behind the banning don’t have to make sense. A primary example is The Jungle by Upton Sinclair, which was burned by the Nazis for promoting socialism, and banned by East Germany for being “inimical to communism”.

Locally the works of JRR Tolkien and JK Rowling have been attacked for promoting ‘witchcraft and Satanism’. If that weren’t silly enough, a local parent tried to sue a library because her child snuck into the Adult section of the library and stole a graphic novel that was very graphic. The suit was dropped when the library started talking about criminal charges.

Position: 16.1N 37.0W [10PM CDT 0300 UTC].
Movement: West-Northwest [300°] near 10 mph [17 kph].
Maximum sustained winds: 40 mph [ 65 kph].
Wind Gusts: 50 mph [ 80 kph].
Tropical Storm Wind Radius: 175 Miles [280 km].
Minimum central pressure: 1006 mb ↑.

Currently about 865 miles [1390 km] West of the Cape Verde Islands.

It is weakening over cooler water, and the upper level winds could reduce it to a remnant low at any point.

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.]