July 28, 2010 archive

“Forcing people to save is a cost that I am willing to bear.”

That Nobel prize, PhD, and ten patents to his name are hints that Secretary of Energy Steven Chu is beyond simply a bright man.  Secretary Chu is also a dedicated public servant. He is also a thoughtful, self-effacing, and, well, simply entertaining speaker. A chance to be in the room, to seem him speak, is one  of those things not to pass up.

The other evening, Secretary Chu spoke at an evening reception leading into today’s Center for American Progress Doing What Works that examined paths for improving government performance and foster increased (reasons for) public confidence in government.  He spoke to perspectives on the role of government and provided some thoughts from the Department of Energy.

(R)’s Wanted To Cut VA Budget, Right After Voting More On War Spending!!!

And not with just one amendment but Three of them, which we All know they would have walked in lockstep in voting for!

Not only do they not want their pimps, the wealthy, the corporations, whoever else they get on their knee’s for, to pay for veterans issues, and more, but they keep trying to Cut VA Budgets by millions while pushing Defense and their Wars of Choice Spending to the limits!!

The following link just popped into my e-box, a quick search didn’t bring up another just yet, wondering if the FOX and company will be outraged, or even report on this as they wave their flags and yell patriotism meme’s, they’re patriotism definitions!

Open Brass

Photobucket

News at Noon

From Reuters

Pakistan passenger plane crashes, 152 dead

By Kamran Haider

July 28, 2010

(Reuters) – A Pakistani passenger plane crashed in heavy rain near Islamabad on Wednesday, killing all 152 people on board, officials said, in the worst aviation accident in Pakistan.

Two Americans were among the victims, a U.S. embassy spokesman told Reuters. He had no further details.

“There are no survivors. We believe all are dead. We are recovering the remains of the dead bodies from the wreckage,” Imtiaz Elahi, chairman of the state-run Capital Development Authority, a city municipal body.

Related Stories

Factbox: Details of Airbus plane that crashed in Pakistan

Timeline: Recent major plane crashes

Muse in the Morning

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Muse in the Morning

Words have the power

to both destroy and heal.

When words are both true and kind,

they can change our world

–Siddhartha Gautama

Phenomena XXV: words


Warp

The Cost of Speaking

So many

imagine they celebrate

the right to speak freely

while choosing

on the one hand

not to exercise

their ability to listen

closely and intently enough

to actually hear

and on the other hand

to avoid the responsibility

to respond

which ensures

that freedom

–Robyn Elaine Serven

–April 2, 2008

Late Night Karaoke

Why I Find Myself Shrieking

I sighed uneasy relief with everyone else when BP finally stopped Deepwater Horizon from emptying itself in the Gulf.  Yes, I knew it was temporary.  Yes, I knew it could blow up again any minute.  But there was, nevertheless, a relief.  For a short time anyway, BP would stop turning the Gulf of Mexico into a disgusting oil gumbo garnished with oil soaked pelicans and dead dolphins.

But then I read this article in the New York Times:

A wellhead in southeastern Louisiana was spewing a mist of oil and gas up to 100 feet into the air after being hit by a tug boat early Tuesday morning, officials said. It is at least the third unrelated oil leak in the area since the Deepwater Horizon spill began 99 days earlier.

The well is about 65 miles south of New Orleans in Barataria Bay, which is surrounded by wildlife-rich wetlands and was a fertile area for fishermen, shrimpers and oystermen before the BP spill. By Tuesday afternoon, a reddish brown sheen 50 yards by one mile long was spotted near the well, according to a spokeswoman for the Coast Guard.

The Coast Guard said the well was owned by Cedyco, a company based in Houston.

The wellhead burst at 1 a.m. local time Tuesday after being hit by a tug boat, the Pere Ana C, that was pushing a dredge barge, Captain Buford Berry, though details were still being investigated.

So, not to put too fine a point on it, there is more oil and gas being deposited in the Gulf as you read this.  And they haven’t started stopping it yet, and are booming.  Booming.  Booming with 6000 feet of boom.  Pardon me, but didn’t we all decide in the past 3 months that that is worthless.  Oh, but excuse me again, this is a new day.  And a new leak.  And so we get to try stuff that didn’t work before all over again.  Because we’re crazy and think it’ll be different this time.

And then we have this gem:

No specific flow rate has been determined, officials said.

Mama mia.  Oy gevalt.

And this, dear reader, is why I find myself shrieking.  And uttering strings of profanity.  Join me.


simulposted at The Dream Antilles and The Stars Hollow Gazette and dailyKos

The Defense Dweeb Video

It’s about defending “ourselves” against the evil menace of “terror”.  In this case the “terror” is implied as North Korea, that black space which can be easily seen from satellite at night photos.  It highlights the western world’s obsession with dweebocracy, that pig with lipstick that is globo-corpo-techno-fascism in disguise.  The night lights of the western world shine bright yet nobody is really home.

This to me is a bad joke.  An extension of “our” true predatory nature to dominate or kill marginalized via techno-prowess and with little consideration to the continuation of ourselves as a viable species.

Hi, my name is John Connor, General of the Resistance, Terminator style.

The Future: A Prediction