In Austerity for dummies, Digby finds Paul “Kill Medicare” Ryan attempting to redefine the word, as people have a negative reaction. Slashing budgets and throwing people out of work is something that happens in Europe, not the US. The Republicans are showing ‘thrift’, not ‘austerity’.

When Michele Norris, host of All Things Considered reported that her husband has accepted a position in the Obama re-election campaign, she said that she would step down from hosting and will report on non-political stories until after the election. I assume that opera won’t be one of those stories, because those involved with opera are not allowed to be political in any way, shape, or form, and if they are, they are fired.

At Corrente they note that some police departments do follow procedure, as taught in the police academy. Despite pressure from the governor and the mayor, neither the Albany city police, nor the New York State Police have any intention of clearing the local Occupy group from the park across from the state capitol building. Their reasons are right out of the manual, the basic one being keeping the peace.

Position: 17.2N 83.2W [10PM CDT 0300 UTC].
Movement: West-Northwest [295°] near 3 mph [ 6 kph].
Maximum sustained winds: 80 mph [130 kph].
Wind Gusts: 100 mph [155 kph].
Tropical Storm Wind Radius: 115 miles [185 km].
Hurricane Wind Radius: 15 miles [ 30 km].
Minimum central pressure: 985 mb ↓.

Currently about 340 miles [ 550 km] East-Southeast of Chetumal, Mexico.

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.]