Posts from — September 2012

The Local Puppy Trainer had this short piece: Fire destroys $500,000 RV. My initial reaction was – where were the servants?

Over at Digby’s there’s an ad on the left sidebar for Bag News Notes that features a picture of Netanyahu and his graphic at the UN. The first thing I thought was that it was Jimmy Durante playing an Acme salesman making a call on Wile E. Coyote. If you think you have to be ancient to know who Jimmy Durante was, you have no idea how long it has been since anybody used a metal ball bomb.

Position: 36.7N 39.4W [10PM CDT 0300 UTC].
Movement: Southwest [230°] near 7 mph [11 kph].
Maximum sustained winds: 85 mph [140 kph].
Wind Gusts: 100 mph [160 kph].
Tropical Storm Wind Radius: 125 miles [205 km].
Hurricane Wind Radius: 35 miles [ 55 km].
Minimum central pressure: 981 mb ↑.

Currently about 685 miles [1105 km] West of the Azores.

Nadine is expected to slow and then make a counterclockwise loop before heading East.

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.]

Here is a nice summary of what we actually know about the situation: The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Iran and the Bomb, Or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Facts.

The Christian Science Monitor put out a nice piece last year: Imminent Iran nuclear threat? A timeline of warnings since 1979.

1992: Israeli parliamentarian Benjamin Netanyahu tells his colleagues that Iran is 3 to 5 years from being able to produce a nuclear weapon – and that the threat had to be “uprooted by an international front headed by the US.”

Juan Cole points out: Netanyahu 2002: Iraq has Centrifuges ‘the size of Washing Machines’ to Produce A-Bomb. [Update: hereafter known as WMDs (Washing Machines of Doom!) according to Hipparchia in comments.]

For two decades Netanyahu has been trying to suck the US into wars with countries in the Middle East with his delusional claims about nuclear weapons. He fooled the neo-cons and the Shrubbery at the cost of hundreds of thousands of lives in Iraq, and now he has shifted back to Iran. Netanyahu’s claims about Iran have the same credibility as his claims about Iraq – NONE. He is making this stuff up as he goes along.

Until Israel declares its nuclear arsenal, signs the Non-Proliferation Treaty, allows inspections of its facilities, and obeys Security Councils resolutions, it has no credibility on this issue.

If the US wants to show it is serious about the spread of nuclear weapons, it needs to stop supporting Israeli delusions and ranting.

Position: 35.6N 37.5W [10PM CDT 0300 UTC].
Movement: North-Northwest [340°] near 10 mph [17 kph].
Maximum sustained winds: 85 mph [140 kph].
Wind Gusts: 95 mph [150 kph].
Tropical Storm Wind Radius: 115 miles [185 km].
Hurricane Wind Radius: 30 miles [ 45 km].
Minimum central pressure: 984 mb ↓.

Currently about 605 miles [ 970 km] West-Southwest of the Azores.

It lost some strength over-night, but came back after the sun came up. It is dealing with some wind shear at the moment.

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.]

The Miami Herald reports on Florida election fraud problem: GOP firm fired for flawed voter registration in Palm Beach County had issues in other counties, states.

The Republican Party of Florida hired the firm recommended by the National GOP, and the firm was submitting fraudulent registration forms. This had nothing to do with in-person fraud, this was institutional fraud by a Republican-employed company. The local supervisors of elections didn’t need all of the new laws to detect the fraud and report it, just as they always have.

Among other things, if the Republican Party can’t find an honest contractor for something as simple as voter registration with their own money, how can they be trusted to hire contractors for government services with public money?

The Local Puppy Trainer ran a piece on all of the amendments on the November ballot: EDITORIAL: Florida’s amendment jumble

People who picked up our Monday newspaper probably noticed the proposed Florida constitutional amendments that covered pages A6 and A7. The ballot title, ballot summary and full text of each amendment were printed in huge, gray expanses of near-microscopic type. It made for tough reading.

Sorry, but the secretary of state purchased that ad space and that’s how he wanted the amendments to look.
…

None of the amendments that made it to the ballot were championed primarily by citizens groups. All originated in, or were sponsored by, the Legislature. Some were promoted along party lines, usually with Republicans in favor and Democrats opposed; others enjoyed bipartisan support.

The GOP doesn’t want you to know what is actually in the amendments or you might not like them. The solution is to vote NO on all of them so you don’t have to worry about the real purpose behind them.

Position: 31.0N 35.5W [10PM CDT 0300 UTC].
Movement: North-Northwest [335°] near 10 mph [17 kph].
Maximum sustained winds: 75 mph [120 kph].
Wind Gusts: 85 mph [135 kph].
Tropical Storm Wind Radius: 140 miles [220 km].
Hurricane Wind Radius: 30 miles [ 45 km].
Minimum central pressure: 988 mb.

Currently about 685 miles [1100 km] Southwest of the Azores.

Nadine has spun back up to hurricane strength by wandering over warmer water.

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.]

The Kits’ Table

Nom…nom…nom …

[Editor: The kitten with his/her back to the camera is the littermate of the two tuxedos, but the kit facing the camera is the tabby littermate of the first tuxedo, the mini-Sox, and is older. This is the first time I’ve been able to get a picture, as he/she is very skittish.]

Friday Ark

Among my clients in Southern California I had a market research firm and a PR firm. While I didn’t get involved in the main business, but was generally concerned with their computers and accounting systems, you get a feel for how these organizations work.

Because I’m a bit weird, when I read Ellroon’s post that included Monsanto GM corn causes cancer in rats I wondered how my former clients would deal with this kind of revelation.

It came to me: Monsanto Round-up Ready Corn – now with rodent control. The weeds can’t get it in the fields, and the rats can’t get it in your silo. Improve and keep your yield. Available now from your authorized Monsanto dealer.

[Note: This is sarcasm. My clients would have been more creative.]

To vote in the November election you need to be registered a month [30 days] before the day of the election. If you want to vote, you are running out of time to do it.

Even if you don’t want to vote for any of the people running, there are initiatives and amendments on the ballot that need to be voted on [voted against to my way of thinking, but YMMV]. This is how the legislature gets crappy laws passed without having to record a vote on the bills when people figure out how they got screwed.

Position: 28.8N 33.6W [10PM CDT 0300 UTC].
Movement: West [280°] near 7 mph [11 kph].
Maximum sustained winds: 65 mph [100 kph].
Wind Gusts: 75 mph [120 kph].
Tropical Storm Wind Radius: 140 miles [220 km].
Minimum central pressure: 993 mb ↑.

Currently about 740 miles [1190 km] South-Southwest of the Azores.

Nadine is going for a longevity record apparently, and getting a bit stronger.

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.]

The misogynist Christianist plague popped up in the Canadian parliament, according to the CBC: Motion to study when life begins defeated in Parliament

A motion to study the Criminal Code’s definition of when human life begins was defeated in the House of Commons Wednesday night.

Members of Parliament voted 203 to 91 against Motion 312, sponsored by Conservative MP Stephen Woodworth.

The private member’s motion sought to set up a committee to study how the Criminal Code defines when life begins. The provision, in the homicide section of the code, says a child becomes a human being when it has fully left its mother’s body.
…

Critics said the motion was an excuse to re-open the debate on abortion in Canada and set limits on the procedure. Woodworth had said he hoped having a debate would convince Canadians to oppose abortion.

A backdoor attempt at a “personhood” bill, but the Canadian politicians obviously don’t want to deal with it.

As usual the supporters were misleading people. What they claimed was a ‘definition of when human life begins” is only valid for the homicide section of Canada’s criminal code, it is not a general definition. The proponents of the bill want a general definition to use to attack abortion, as is the case in the various attempts to do this in the US.

Position: 29.5N 31.4W [10PM CDT 0300 UTC].
Movement: Southwest [220°] near 6 mph [ 9 kph].
Maximum sustained winds: 50 mph [ 85 kph].
Wind Gusts: 65 mph [105 kph].
Tropical Storm Wind Radius: 140 miles [220 km].
Minimum central pressure: 993 mb ↓.

Currently about 640 miles [1030 km] South-Southwest of the Azores.

Nadine is a slightly stronger and smaller storm today as it continues to ‘wander in the wilderness’ of the Atlantic.

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.]

I have been very busy lately, and it will get even busier starting tomorrow.

I want to look a bit closer at Andrew W. Mellon, Treasury Secretary under Presidents Harding, Coolidge, and Hoover, but NTodd highlights some of the thinking that would give modern Republicans a fit.

There is no need to even think about Attaturk latest discovery: Rmoney’s belief in Cold Fusion?!?!! Come on, I can almost understand the Confidence Fairy and double-hung airliner windows, but COLD FUSION???!!! I have a bad feeling that this is the linchpin of his energy policy…

Position: 31.2N 30.4W [10PM CDT 0300 UTC].
Movement: South-Southwest [210°] near 5 mph [ 7 kph].
Maximum sustained winds: 45 mph [ 75 kph].
Wind Gusts: 55 mph [ 90 kph].
Tropical Storm Wind Radius: 185 miles [295 km].
Minimum central pressure: 997 mb.

Currently about 510 miles [ 820 km] South-Southwest of the Azores.

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.]