Waiting… 17 May 2012
Posted by marisacat in 2012 Re Election, Inconvenient Voice of the Voter, Mexico.80 comments
Guatemala City, Guatemala: Vultures are perched on top of graves at the municipal cemetery – Jorge Dan Lopez/Reuters
Or, it looks like they are waiting…
* * * * * *
Clap clap clap 18 April 2012
Posted by marisacat in Border Issues.100 comments
Pyongyang, North Korea: Performers sit beneath a screen showing images of leader Kim Jong-un at a theatre during celebrations to mark the 100th anniversary of the birth of founding leader Kim Il-sung | Ed Jones/AFP/Getty Images
Plaudit for the dauphin. Or whatever he is now. Leader Inheritor? Something like that.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Mission creep… 20 July 2010
Posted by marisacat in 2012 Re Election, Border Issues, DC Politics, Inconvenient Voice of the Voter, San Francisco, The Battle for New Orleans, WAR!.71 comments
A vinca flower floats in brown, oily sludge in a canal behind a home just off Lake Pontchartrain near Slidell, Louisiana [Chuck Cook/AP]
But it’s capped now and little things like sludge in Lake Pontchartrain, which lies to the North of NO btw, will be dealt with soon.
Sooner than soon.
Yes?
The local talk radio tonight, in so liberal San Francisco, is pushing a real war with Mexico, as in, ‘go in and clean up that problem’, a shooting war with Mexico. Or, at least the North of Mexico. (Little wars always promise to stay that way, I guess…)
WE can’t have that on our border.
That should work… take care of all those pesky problems.
Sean Penn is on with Charlie Rose… and did manage to say an interesting thing or two about Haiti… but all goodness lies with Pretzel Clinton, and “the First Lady”, by which he means Mother Michelle. Clinton really got everyone on board, and MM will see to the education.
I think she is so busy hunting for baby fat that she has no time. Meanwhile the babies are being thrown out, bath water or no…
And, Haiti suffers as “there is no Warren Buffett there”.
Vote the party! Early and often! Then, take the only rational next step: lie face down in very wet mud and breathe deeply.
It’s not “chocolate milk” anymore… 27 June 2010
Posted by marisacat in 2010 Mid Terms, 2012 Re Election, Democrats, Inconvenient Voice of the Voter, Lie Down Fall Down Dems, Mexico, The Battle for New Orleans.26 comments
Oil being “corraled” at the surface with fireproof boom, then ignited. Photo courtesy Dr. Oscar Garcia-Pineda – via SkyTruth.
Dr. Oscar Garcia-Pineda of Florida State University has been out in the Gulf this week on the research vessel Brooks McCall. He’s collecting samples and observations of the BP oil slick, and will compare results with simultaneous acquisitions of aerial remote sensing overflights being conducted by NASA. We at SkyTruth are also collecting near-simultaneous satellite imagery to assist this effort. We hope to get a better understanding of how well aerial and satellite remote sensing are detecting oil at (or near) the surface.
Oscar sent us a stunning series of photographs taken on June 22 near “Ground Zero” in the Gulf, the site of the leaking Macondo well, showing the cluster of response vessels there, and the collection and burning of oil. You can see them all in SkyTruth’s Deepwater Horizon Blowout gallery (look for the photos with “FSU Sampling Cruise” in the title).
*********************
Thanks to comments at The Oil Drum, where posters took a timely peek at Gene Taylor, US representative for Bay St Louis, Mississippi. Yes, that fellow who on May 1 declared the “spill” not so bad, and like “chocolate milk”. He also said it was “not Armageddon”. It was some small comfort reading the old article, the thread in the May 1 report hated him with a passion.
Don’t worry, the Democrats have no corner on brain power equal to fried okra… from the same report, a R buddy, representing Tupelo, was even more specific.
What shits lead us:
Earlier Saturday, U.S. Sen. Roger Wicker, R-Tupelo, said at a news conference in Fountainbleu that once the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico is under control, and wildlife and wetlands are secure, the federal government will be asking BP Plc some tough questions.
“Clearly, they haven’t gotten the job done, but I don’t want to point fingers,” Wicker said. “I think it’s important that we take this like Mississippians do — analytically and responsibly with resolve, purpose and determination. There are some allegations on a Washington level that the response wasn’t quick enough. I’m not ready to say that. At this point, I want to get the flow of the oil stopped and keep it away from the shorelines. There will be a time for the serious questions.”
Well, GT, long beloved of the orange pasties at Dkos and also beloved of the old Christian Coalition (do they still coalite? Or did they dry up and blow away?) took another fly over.
No skimmers in sight as oil floods into Mississippi waters
GULFPORT, Miss. — A morning flight over the Mississippi Sound showed long, wide ribbons of orange-colored oil for as far as the eye could see and acres of both heavy and light sheen moving into the Sound between the barrier islands. What was missing was any sign of skimming operations from Horn Island to Pass Christian.
U.S. Rep. Gene Taylor got off the flight angry.
“It’s criminal what’s going on out there,” Taylor said minutes later. “This doesn’t have to happen.”
A scientist onboard, Mike Carron with the Northern Gulf Institute, said with this scenario, there will be oil on the beaches of the mainland.
“There’s oil in the Sound and there was no skimming,” Carron said. “No coordinated effort.”
So… not spilled chocolate milk anymore? He’s probably fishing for hush money, from BP or whoever… but …
Taylor slipped a note to a fellow passenger.
It said: “I’m having a Katrina flashback. I haven’t seen this much stupidity, wasted effort, money and wasted resources, since then.”
Back on land in Gulfport, Taylor let loose.
“A lot of people are getting paid to say, ‘Look! There’s oil’ and not doing anything about it,” Taylor said. “There shouldn’t be a drop of oil in the Sound. There are enough boats running around.
“Nobody’s in charge,” Taylor said. “Everybody’s in charge, so no one’s in charge.
“If the president can’t find anyone who can do this job,” he said, “let me do it.”
He’s having flashbacks.
BTW, our local FOX affiliate did a segment from Bay of Campeche Mexico, where Ixtoc I oil washed up 30+ years ago. Killed the oysters. There are still oysters, but inedible. They very surprisingly taste like…. oil. AND, in that part of coastal Mexico, they are expecting Deep Water Horizon oil to hit them by Fall.
The Go ‘Round is not so Merry.
And, how’s that war against the oil going? And all the other wars? Secret wars too? CIA wars? Aerial bombardment wars? Border wars?
Ob? Snob? Knob? Well, Knob will be on the Gulf coast on Tuesday. Ready to helpful, no doubt, which will mean running that mouth of his…. What utter shits lead us.
************************
So threatening… 31 May 2010
Posted by marisacat in 2012 Re Election, Border Issues, Culture of Death, DC Politics, Inconvenient Voice of the Voter, Israel/AIPAC, WAR!.59 comments
Pro-Palestinian activists from Turkey hold a news conference on board the Turkish ship Mavi Marmara as part of a humanitarian convoy. (Erhan Sevenler / Reuters / May 31, 2010)
It’s not the first time activists have attempted to break the Israeli blockade. Previously, protest ships have been turned back, escorted to Israel or allowed to pass through to Gaza. But the current flotilla, organized by Free Gaza and other pro-Palestinian advocacy groups, presented a greater challenge due to the sheer number of people — as many as 800 — taking part.
Yup.. the Great State of Israel, nuclear armed, is under attack from the high seas.
FFS.
Arrest 18 May 2010
Posted by marisacat in 2010 Mid Terms, 2012 Re Election, Border Issues, Inconvenient Voice of the Voter, Mexico, South America, Viva La Revolucion!.78 comments
Oil booms are seen offshore as Brown pelicans nest on Breton Island off the coast of Louisiana in the Gulf of Mexico. Wildlife in the Breton National Wildlife Refuge, created by Theodore Roosevelt, are vulnerable to the oil spill resulting from the explosion and sinking of the Deepwater Horizon oil rig last week. See the National Audubon Society’s website for further information Photograph: Gerald Herbert/AP
The Brown Pelicans, state bird of Louisiana, should just be arrested and deported. What are we waiting for? Get them OFF the barrier islands, off the wetlands and away…. Surely they are illegal in some way? Broke some law?
Here is a tidy tidbit…
Oh woe is us! I am sure Obby and Holder meant to find this dangling participle of a memo, on that big table. You know that table, the one that has nothing on it…. it was declared free of encumbrances… nothing on it. ”OFF THE TABLE”… and so on.
Love the name attached to the 2002 memo: BYBEE.
Of course deportations have been up, a full 5%, under Obby. And that compares to W, The Deservedly Hated One.
In the legal battle over Arizona’s new immigration law, an ironic subtext has emerged: whether a Bush-era legal opinion complicates a potential Obama administration lawsuit against Arizona.
The document, written in 2002 by the Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel, concluded that state police officers have “inherent power” to arrest undocumented immigrants for violating federal law. It was issued by Jay S. Bybee, who also helped write controversial memos from the same era that sanctioned harsh interrogation of terrorism suspects.
The author of the Arizona law — which has drawn strong opposition from top Obama administration officials — has cited the authority granted in the 2002 memo as a basis for the legislation. The Obama administration has not withdrawn the memo, and some backers of the Arizona law said Monday that because it remains in place, a Justice Department lawsuit against Arizona would be awkward at best.
“The Justice Department’s official position as of now is that local law enforcement has the inherent authority to enforce federal immigration law,” said Robert Driscoll, a former Justice Department Civil Rights Division official in the George W. Bush administration who represents an Arizona sheriff known for aggressive immigration enforcement. “How can you blame someone for exercising authority that the department says they have?”
The Arizona law, signed by Gov. Jan Brewer (R) last month, makes the “willful failure” to carry immigration documents a crime and empowers police to question anyone if authorities have a “reasonable suspicion” the person is an illegal immigrant. It has drawn words of condemnation from President Obama and intense opposition from civil rights groups, who on Monday filed what they said was the fifth federal lawsuit over the legislation.
An ACLU attorney, in the Wapo piece, murmurs sweet nothings… the AZ law goes way beyond the memo… memos haven’t the weight of law… and so on. But the anonymous, third party even! quotes attributed to the Justice Dept in the article, ring false. They are working so hard! Doing what? Considering their options.
Don’t sweat too hard boys. No anguished fretting!
The Right is so good at knowing the loopholes, sniffing them out, planting them, banking them for a rainy day… and the Dems are so good at helping the Righties thru the big fat hanging holes.
Handmaidens, forever. I guess it’s a job.
*********
Protest 25 April 2010
Posted by marisacat in 2010 Mid Terms, 2012 Re Election, Border Issues, DC Politics, Democrats, Inconvenient Voice of the Voter, Lie Down Fall Down Dems, Mexico, South America, Viva La Revolucion!, WAR!.90 comments
Phoenix, Arizona: Jesus Ruiz protests against Arizona’s new immigration law during a candlelight vigil outside the State Capitol. The state’s Republican governor, Jan Brewer, ignored criticism from President Barack Obama that the legislation will lead to racial profiling and civil rights abuses against the Hispanic community Photograph: John Moore/Getty Images
hmm and of course the state has a R governor (not that that means much) who is VERY conservative as it happens…. because Obby moved Janet Napolitano to Homeland Security. Brewer had been the Lt Governor.
But hey, Janet is so great in her new job that it all works out…
Right?
Right? No?
And, not mentioning that Brewer got her job the way she did nor being clear that many Democrats have no problem with the legislation arising in AZ… the prattle will be that they will save us… from Brewer, from harsh and punitive, invasive legislation.
So canned it all is.
****************
And the wars go on… 14 April 2010
Posted by marisacat in 2010 Mid Terms, 2012 Re Election, Afghanistan War, AFRICOM, Border Issues, Culture of Death, DC Politics, Democrats, Inconvenient Voice of the Voter, Iran, Iraq War, Israel/AIPAC, Mexico, Pakistan, Somalia, South America, Venezuela - Chavez, WAR!.58 comments
A bird perches on razor-wire at the US army’s Camp Blue Diamond in Ramadi, Iraq [Ben Curtis/AP]
I don’t see them ever ending. Simply expanding, moving, shifting.
Why would they ever end? They never have, in the past. Vietnam seems an anomaly frankly.
Must really piss us off to be shut out of Iran. Bolivia. Venezuela…and so on…
Where there is a will there is a way…
*******************
Let’s see…. 14 March 2010
Posted by marisacat in Inconvenient Voice of the Voter, Mexico, Viva La Revolucion!.56 comments
This diver stares into the jaws of death as he fends off a Great White shark, pushing its snout, then putting his hand in its mouth. These amazing pictures, taken from a nearby cage, were taken off Guadeloupe Island, Mexico by Don Carpenter
Picture: DON CARPENTER / NATIONAL at Telegraph Animals of the Week Gallery
… a team of nimble, sharp-toothed fish to cut the lines, sink that cage to ocean floor, out wait the air in the tanks… another team of strong fish to bend the bars……….
Fish Food! Everybody eat!
As an aside, I heard that it took three hours, obviously off camera, to pry open the jaws of poor Tillikun the captive whale… when he offed the “trainer”.
A good picture to post as I listen to the Frost Nixon go round, a PBS station south of here, San Mateo on the Peninsula, is running the whole of it as their tickle for pledge week (which seems to go 4 – 6 weeks n this area). Beats San Francisco, which is running the umpteenth re-run of that champagne bubbles orchestra man. Mercifully, I forget his name.
Turning point… 4 January 2010
Posted by marisacat in Border Issues, California / Pacific Coast, San Francisco, WAR!.33 comments
Gateshead, England: People walk past Anthony Gormley’s Angel of the North in heavy snow Photograph: Scott Heppell/AP
I think we are at it…
Reports late today that the separation of incoming passengers at SFO was extended to citizens and those flying in from the UAE and other, so far, unamed countries.
Earlier to day, news reports did carry commentary from the flying public indicating displeasure with what they had experienced…. in particular a young woman who came in from Taiwan, via Tokyo and was frisked patted examined numerous times. Twice in Taiwan, again in Tokyo and incoming at SFO. She was Asian, of Chinese origin, as best I could determine.
In the latest reports, commentary was limited to those who said they were grateful for it.
So… we are separating people by race, ethnicity, presumed religious affiliation and country of origin, as in, nationality or just got on the plane in a certain country…. I would never say it had not been happening, but now it is official.
Marisacat 