Posts from — September 2011

A lot of people, including Steve Bates, have posted on the Tea Party response to uninsured people, i.e. let them die.

They should stop by their local movie theater and have a look at the new movie, Contagion. The thing about the movie is that the people at the Centers for Disease Control say the film is actually very accurate about what could happen.

If you look at the bird flu outbreak, or SARS, or AIDS, these things were spread around the world quickly because of air travel. The old days of stopping ships in the harbor and conducting health inspections before allowing people to come ashore are over, but that was the reason the US Public Health Service was established in 1798.

More than any other first world country, and many in the second world, the US is vulnerable to pandemics because of our lack of universal health care. People who can’t afford to go to a doctor are going to spread the disease. A lot of those people work in food service and retail. Health care is a national security issue.

People forget that the predecessor programs to the US Social Security System were implemented in Germany and Britain because the pool of men of draft age weren’t healthy enough to serve in the military.

Día de la Independencia
Estados Unidos Mexicanos

¡Viva México!

Some background on 16 de Septiembre and El Grito de Dolores.

[It is also Mustang Bobby’s birthday.]

The Day of His Noodly Appendage

The holiest of holidays for Pastafarians, is of course the birthday of His Most Holy Prophet, Marco Polo (b. Sept 15, 1254), who brought the word of his Noodly Appendage back from the East. As Talk Like A Pirate Day falls on September 19th, this five-day period constitutes Holy Pasta Week, during which spaghetti is consumed liberally. With a nice Chianti until the last day when it’s grog for all.

[My apologies to Pastafarians for being late with this, but the new computer is not cooperating.]

Position: 48.5N 51.5W [ 4PM CDT 2100 UTC].
Movement: Northeast [035°] near 58 mph [93 kph].
Maximum sustained winds: 70 mph [110 kph].
Wind Gusts: 90 mph [145 kph].
Tropical Storm Wind Radius: 310 Miles [500 km].
Minimum central pressure: 982 mb ↓.

Currently about 145 miles [ 235 km] North-Northeast of Cape Race, Newfoundland.

Maria passed over the Avalon Peninsula of Newfoundland and has transitioned into a post-tropical storm. It will be merging with a cold front.

All Watches and Warnings have been cancelled and this is the final advisory from the NHC.

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.]

Practice Makes Perfect

All I need is a black mask…

[Editor: Lucrezia is thinking of trick-or-treating as a raccoon this year.]

Friday Ark

Position: 38.5N 63.5W [10PM CDT 0300 UTC].
Movement: Northeast [035°] near 36 mph [57 kph].
Maximum sustained winds: 80 mph [130 kph].
Wind Gusts: 90 mph [145 kph].
Tropical Storm Wind Radius: 205 Miles [335 km].
Hurricane Wind Radius: 45 miles [ 75 km].
Minimum central pressure: 984 mb ↓.

Currently about 775 miles [1245 km] Southwest of Cape Race, Newfoundland.

A Tropical Storm Warning is in effect for Newfoundland from Arnold’s Cove to Jones Harbor.

A Hurricane Watch is in effect for Newfoundland from Arnold’s Cove to Brigus South.

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.]

Marcy ‘Wheeler has the report that shows what I have known for years: Privatization is more expensive than government workers.

Politicians believe that outsourcing and privatization of public services saves money because the people who are actually hired by the corporations are paid much less than government worker. They don’t factor in the profit or the salaries of the corporate management. Recently a local sheriff in a Florida county threw out the contractor who had been operating the county jail, and saved his cash-strapped county major money.

Fallenmonk looks at the latest IMF study: Austerity causes economic contraction. Duncan has the the short version.

The BBC had a story a couple of days ago that the Conservative government’s austerity program is going to reduce the standard of living for most Britons about 10%. This is not how you get out of a severe recession, and never has been.

Yves looks at the latest Census ‘Bureau reporting on the nation that shows that we are poorer than we have been in decades, and that includes people with jobs. Corporations are raking in records profits, but nothing is going to their actual workforce, i.e. the people who actually produce the value of companies.

There was a special election in New York that proved once again that if you give people a choice between a Republican running as a Republican, and a Republican running as a Democrat, the Republican will win. Democratic voters in New York are not going to show up for a Blue Dog. This was another Zero, Inc. own-goal [a football term indicating a player put the ball into his own goal, rather than the opponent’s goal].

Position: 28.0N 68.6W [10PM CDT 0300 UTC].
Movement: North-Northeast [015°] near 18 mph [30 kph].
Maximum sustained winds: 65 mph [100 kph].
Wind Gusts: 75 mph [115 kph].
Tropical Storm Wind Radius: 205 Miles [335 km].
Minimum central pressure: 999 mb ↓.

Currently about 375 miles [ 600 km] Southwest of Bermuda.

A Tropical Storm Warning is in effect for Bermuda.

A Hurricane Watch is in effect for Bermuda.

Maria may make it to hurricane strength before making its pass to the East West of Bermuda tomorrow.

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.]

Governor ‘Goodhair’, the reputed star of the cast for Snow Fright and the Seven Dingdongs has selected Neocon zombies, Douglas Feith and Donald Rumsfeld, as his ‘foreign policy advisors’.

NPR has a talk show on featuring one of the most annoying voices I have ever encountered – The Diane Rehm Show. Today’s topic was Zero’s ‘jobs bill’, and the only thing that made the discussion memorable was a caller named Steve from Lansing, Michigan who cut to the chase in one short question: “I would like to say that we haven’t had a tax increase in this nation in almost 12 years, so I want to know, where are the jobs?”

Then in the Local Puppy Trainer [print edition] you have a real expression of the ‘slave mentality’ of local Republicans. A guy complains about the teachers being unhappy about having their ‘step increases’ [experience pay raises] eliminated. The guy says he works for a corporation and hasn’t had a raise in three years, but he’s ‘grateful to have a job’. Excuse me, but the only reason to be ‘grateful to have a job’ would be if you weren’t qualified for the job and it was given to you as a favor – like the people who worked for the Coalition Provisional Authority in Baghdad, or many of the later hires at the Justice Department under the Hedgemony.

Position: 23.5N 68.2W [10PM CDT 0300 UTC].
Movement: North [350°] near 9 mph [15 kph].
Maximum sustained winds: 50 mph [ 85 kph].
Wind Gusts: 65 mph [100 kph].
Tropical Storm Wind Radius: 175 Miles [280 km].
Minimum central pressure: 1003 mb ↓.

Currently about 640 miles [1035 km] South-Southwest of Bermuda.

Maria is still dealing with wind shear, which is blocking its development.

A Tropical Storm Warning is in effect for 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.]

Despite the obvious fact that they have no idea what the problem is, numerous people are cavalierly stating that the US Postal Service is no longer relevant, and should be cast aside.

This is shallow ‘Village’ thinking at its worst.

[Read more →]

The remnants of Nate are in central Mexico dumping flooding rains, while Post-Tropical Storm Katia is making life miserable for Northern Ireland and Scotland.

If Maria can hang together, it will be following a path similar to Katia, so the British Isles should keep the ‘Mac’ and wellies at hand for next week.

Position: 21.3N 67.5W [10PM CDT 0300 UTC].
Movement: Northwest [320°] near 2 mph [ 4 kph].
Maximum sustained winds: 50 mph [ 85 kph].
Wind Gusts: 65 mph [100 kph].
Tropical Storm Wind Radius: 230 Miles [370 km].
Minimum central pressure: 1006 mb.

Currently about 780 miles [1250 km] South-Southwest of Bermuda.

Maria is fighting wind shear from the front that moved off US. The front is keeping the storm away from the Atlantic coast and limiting development.

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.]

Real Life™ is the curse of the blogging class, and I have been busy lately dealing with some things for my Mother. She would take care of them, but it avoids a lot of paperwork if I do it, as she doesn’t ‘suffer fools lightly’, and that cane is probably considered a blunt instrument.

I’ve been popping in to update the storms and feed the cats, but haven’t been able to stay as current as I prefer to on what is going on, so much of what follows is old news.

Before they could finish the bailing from Irene, the remnants of Lee decided to check out the Appalachian Trail resulting in a hundred-year flood of Susquehanna River system. They are talking about flooding on the Chenago,, which is mind-boggling to me – you have to work at it to get wet in the Chenago. There is normally barely enough water in it to float a rubber duck, and it is so old has carved a valley to contain it. [OK, so a glacier did the heavy work, and the ‘river’ just follows the groove, but I can’t imagine it leaving its banks.]

[Read more →]