Posts from — October 2012

Position: 31.2N 34.0W [ 4PM CDT 2100 UTC].
Movement: East-Northeast [075°] near 22 mph [35 kph].
Maximum sustained winds: 40 mph [ 65 kph].
Wind Gusts: 55 mph [ 90 kph].
Tropical Storm Wind Radius: 105 miles [165 km].
Minimum central pressure: 1001 mb ↑.

Currently about 615 miles [ 990 km] Southwest of the Azores.

Tony has lost its tropical characteristics, so this is the final NHC advisory.

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: 25.3N 76.1W [10PM CDT 0300 UTC].
Movement: North-Northwest [335°] near 13 mph [20 kph].
Maximum sustained winds: 90 mph [150 kph].
Wind Gusts: 105 mph [170 kph].
Tropical Storm Wind Radius: 230 miles [370 km].
Hurricane Wind Radius: 35 miles [ 55 km].
Minimum central pressure: 968 mb ↑.

Currently about 185 miles [ 300 km] East-Southeast of Freeport, Grand Bahama Island.

A Hurricane Warning is in effect for the Northwestern Bahamas.

A Tropical Storm Warning is in effect for the East Coast of Florida from Flagler Beach to Ocean Reef and the Central Bahamas.

A Tropical Storm Watch is in effect for the Florida East Coast from Flagler Beach to Fernandina Beach, the Keys from Ocean Reef to Craig Key, and Florida Bay.

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.]

Empty Wheel and the Agonist have posted about the US reaction to the DDOS attacks on the Saudi oil industry and major banks. Panetta wants new powers and money to deal with ‘cyber-terrorism’ and they say Iran is behind the attacks.

You would have to be off-line not to know that the Iranians are retaliating for the US-Israeli Stuxnet and Flame attacks on their computer systems that are related to their nuclear program. The Iranians did a back-trace, located the perpetrators and sent a clear message that they can and will react to being targeted.

The Iranians haven’t attacked another country since before the United States was founded, but they have been attacked several times. The US has been involved in more than one of those attacks, and the Iranians are not going to forget it. Just because the Iranians have no interest in being friends with the US, doesn’t mean that they are enemies. They have no reason to trust anything the US says or does, and many reasons not to. The US needs to stop poking Iran, because they won’t put up with it. If they are attacked they will retaliate – they always have.

Position: 30.1N 40.3W [10PM CDT 0300 UTC].
Movement: East-Northeast [070°] near 23 mph [37 kph].
Maximum sustained winds: 50 mph [ 85 kph].
Wind Gusts: 65 mph [105 kph].
Tropical Storm Wind Radius: 70 miles [110 km].
Minimum central pressure: 1000 mb.

Currently about 935 miles [1505 km] West-Southwest of the Azores.

Tony has been losing its tropical characteristics and is expected to become a post-tropical cyclone 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.]

Position: 19.4N 76.3W [10PM CDT 0300 UTC].
Movement: North [010°] near 13 mph [20 kph].
Maximum sustained winds: 90 mph [150 kph].
Wind Gusts: 105 mph [170 kph].
Tropical Storm Wind Radius: 140 miles [220 km].
Hurricane Wind Radius: 30 miles [ 45 km].
Minimum central pressure: 954 mb ↓.

Currently about 85 miles [ 135 km] Southwest of Guantanamo, Cuba.

At 2PM CDT [1900 UTC] the storm made landfall about 5 miles [8 kilometers] East of Kingston, Jamaica.

The storm is intensifying rapidly and may be a Category 2 hurricane when it makes landfall in Eastern Cuba.

A Hurricane Warning is in effect for Jamaica and the Cuban Provinces of Camaguey, Las Tunas, Granma, Santiago de Cuba, Holguin, and Guantanamo, the Central Bahamas, the Northwestern Bahamas, and the Ragged Islands in the Southeastern Bahamas.

A Tropical Storm Warning is in effect for Haiti, the East Coast of Florida from Sebastian Inlet to Ocean Reef, and the Southeastern Bahamas [except for the Ragged Islands].

A Tropical Storm Watch is in effect for the Florida East Coast from Sebastian Inlet to Flagler Beach, the Keys from Ocean Reef to Craig Key, and Florida Bay.

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 Local Puppy Trainer provides some public service for the Supervisor of Elections in their piece: Voters warned of fraudulent supervisor of elections letter.

It would appear that some voters [cough Dems cough] are receiving fraudulent letters claiming to be from election officials that promise dire circumstances if the voter doesn’t respond within two weeks. If you receive one of these letters the election people would like you to take it and the envelop it came in to your local supervisor of elections.

This is probably a voter caging scheme to challenge people at the polls. The Republicans have been doing this crap for years.

I would like to correct an Internet misconception – Rmoney’s airship didn’t crash, Romney Blimp Makes Emergency Landing In Davie Field.

The pilot did the best thing he could do in a blimp facing strong headwinds, he got it down to the ground safely so it wouldn’t crash. It wasn’t at a recognized airport, so it was an ’emergency landing’. Winds are a problem for any balloon, even those with engines.

Susie Madrak noticed a piece about the changes the Fraudster-in-chief has made to the Florida unemployment insurance system. Basically, the Republicans have made it more difficult to get the benefits than it is to register to vote. The system is in the red by almost $3 billion and they cut the rates. Republicans just can’t handle money.

Position: 26.7N 49.2W [10PM CDT 0300 UTC].
Movement: Northeast [050°] near 12 mph [19 kph].
Maximum sustained winds: 40 mph [ 65 kph].
Wind Gusts: 55 mph [ 90 kph].
Tropical Storm Wind Radius: 45 miles [ 75 km].
Minimum central pressure: 1004 mb ↓.

Currently about 1505 miles [2425 km] West-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.]

Position: 15.2N 77.2W [10PM CDT 0300 UTC].
Movement: North-Northeast [015°] near 10 mph [17 kph].
Maximum sustained winds: 60 mph [ 95 kph].
Wind Gusts: 75 mph [120 kph].
Tropical Storm Wind Radius: 140 miles [220 km].
Minimum central pressure: 989 mb ↓.

Currently about 195 miles [ 315 km] South of Kingston, Jamaica.

A Hurricane Warning is in effect for Jamaica and the Cuban Provinces of Camaguey, Las Tunas, Granma, Santiago de Cuba, Holguin, and Guantanamo.

A Tropical Storm Warning is in effect for Haiti and the Central Bahamas

A Tropical Storm Watch is in effect for the Northwestern and Southeastern Bahamas.

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 hearing clips apparently from the debates of Zero and Rmoney talking about “energy independence” for the US, to wean us from “foreign oil”. Each side emphasizing that they have a “cunning plan” to magically remove the United States from the global oil market.

Both sides are piling up a large steaming pile of manure – not the composted and dried version that you mix with your garden soil, but the fresh, fragrant, plops that you shovel out of the barn.

Drilling for more oil in the US will never make us energy independent, because it is sold on the world market. The oil coming out of the oil fields of the North Slope of Alaska is all sent to Asia. The recent increase in oil production in the US is being refined and the end products are going to Europe. The diluted bitumen that they want to transport in the Keystone XL pipeline will also go to Europe where the prices are higher.

The only way the US can achieve ‘energy independence’ is by nationalizing the oil business, and that isn’t going to happen. This is just another fake concern created by the oil industry to give it access to more Federal lands to plunder and pollute for private profits.

Position: 23.0N 51.8W [10PM CDT 0300 UTC].
Movement: North [355°] near 9 mph [15 kph].
Maximum sustained winds: 35 mph [ 55 kph].
Wind Gusts: 50 mph [ 80 kph].
Minimum central pressure: 1006 mb.

Currently about 765 miles [1235 km] Northeast of the Leeward Islands.

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: 12.7N 78.6W [10PM CDT 0300 UTC].
Movement: Stationary.
Maximum sustained winds: 45 mph [ 75 kph].
Wind Gusts: 55 mph [ 90 kph].
Tropical Storm Wind Radius: 70 miles [110 km].
Minimum central pressure: 998 mb ↓.

Currently about 385 miles [ 620 km] South-Southwest of Kingston, Jamaica.

A Tropical Storm Watch is in effect for Jamaica and Haiti.

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.]

My Dad and George McGovern both flew in B-24s out of bases in Italy against targets in Central Europe during World War II. My Dad was a bombardier and Senator McGovern was a pilot, and while they didn’t serve together, they faced the same circumstances. I flew in the same general area during my career, so when Senator McGovern was able to get a B-24 that lost an engine over Pilsen in the Czech Republic to an island in the Adriatic I can understand why he received a Distinguished Flying Cross.

That experience is why George McGovern had little use for pointless wars. If you have been in combat and seen people die, you understand that it is serious business that requires a very serious reason to engage in it.

The Miami Herald carries Associated Press report of Mr. McGovern’s death that is worthwhile because they included a journalist who covered McGovern’s political career.

CNN has Scott Lilly’s view. Mr. Lilly was a regional coordinator for the 1972 McGovern Presidential campaign.

Senator McGovern sponsored the Food Stamp Act of 1964, which is often pointed out an example of his liberalism. What isn’t pointed out often is that Senator Bob Dole was the principal co-sponsor. I would note that there are solid reasons why the Senators from South Dakota and Kansas supported this legislation which is administered by the Department of Agriculture, not Health and Human Services.

As usual, the Democratic Party panicked after the 1972 election, and shifted right, a pattern that it continues. It doesn’t ever seem to occur to the Democratic leaders that the Republicans don’t change as a result of elections.

George McGovern is the last of his species – a major Democrat who never abandoned nor felt ashamed of the label: liberal. He was the last Democratic candidate for President that I wholeheartedly supported and voted for without any doubts.

Via skippy, Barbara Miner has an opinion piece at Common Dreams, The False Promises of “School Choice”, that covers the school voucher program in Madison, Wisconsin. That program is the prototype that Republicans have been trying to put in place in Florida for over a decade, with their latest attempt being Amendment 8, on the Florida ballot.

The Republicans have been beating the drum loudly about the need for “accountability” in education, and have put in place the Florida Comprehensive Achievement Test [FCAT] that is supposed to address that issue for public schools, but private schools don’t have to participate. Private schools don’t have much in the way of oversight or standards, so it is difficult to know if they are teaching anything.

If it is important to know what is going on in public schools, why isn’t it just as important to know the same things about private schools if they are going to receive tax money? Don’t taxpayers have a right to know what their taxes are buying?

But the luck is not necessarily good.

I have a friend who should just avoid the water altogether, because every time in the last ten years he has been on a boat for more than a day, there is a problem.

It started to go really bad when he went with a group of guys to bring a wooden vessel back from the Atlantic Coast. One of the group had bought the boat on the ‘Net and it was too big for a trailer.

They kind of checked things out and then entered the InterCoastal Waterway that allows passage to the Gulf from the Atlantic using Lake Okeechobee. There were minor problems that were patched up until they got to the lake. The level of the lake was low and the engine cooling system sucked up mud which blocked it and caused the engine to overheat, and, well, die. Fortunately the water was shallow enough to wade to shore to arrange a tow to a marina, but people ran out of time for this adventure and ended up taking the bus home.

My friend just left New Orleans today on a cruise to the Yucatan. He checked the weather between here and the Yucatan and it was ‘great’.

He should have scanned a bit further South into the Caribbean where he would have seen Invest 99. It might not affect his cruise ship, but with his luck …