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Saturday, October 01, 2011

California To Quit Foreclosure Settlement Talks


There is not enough informatio­n in this article.

"Harris said the pending deal is "inadequat­e for California homeowners­" and gives bank officials too much legal immunity."

http://www­.npr.org/2­011/09/30/­140967438/­california­-pulls-out­-of-50-sta­te-foreclo­sure-talks
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

With Deaths of Forests, a Loss of Key Climate Protectors

With Deaths of Forests, a Loss of Key Climate Protectors
By JUSTIN GILLIS
NYT
Published: October 1, 2011

"...In the 1950s, when a scientist named Charles David Keeling first obtained accurate measurements of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, a mystery presented itself. Only about half the carbon that people were releasing into the sky seemed to be staying there....

...As best researchers can tell, the oceans are taking up about a quarter of the carbon emissions arising from human activities....

...It is mainly trees that have the ability to lock carbon into long-term storage, and they do so by making wood or transferring carbon into the soil...

..If a forest burns down, for instance, much of the carbon stored in it will re-enter the atmosphere....

...Forests are re-growing on abandoned agricultural land across vast reaches of Europe and Russia. China, trying to slow the advance of a desert, has planted nearly 100 million acres of trees, and those forests, too, are absorbing carbon.

But, as a strategy for managing carbon emissions, these recovering forests have one big limitation: the planet simply does not have room for many more of them. To expand them significantly would require taking more farmland out of production, an unlikely prospect in a world where food demand and prices are rising...

...Warmer temperatures are causing mountain snowpack, on which so much of the life in the region depends, to melt earlier in most years, he said. That is causing more severe water deficits in the summer, just as the higher temperatures cause trees to need extra water to survive. The whole landscape dries out, creating the conditions for intense fires. Even if the landscape does not burn, the trees become so stressed they are easy prey for beetles...."

I'm really glad I only had one kid and my siblings had none. When I hear people talk about having a half dozen kids and craploads of grandkids I think "Idiots."

Friday, September 30, 2011

Wednesday, September 28, 2011

National Security Lab Hacks Diebold Touch-Screen Voting Machine by Remote Control

By Brad Friedman on 9/27/2011 10:17am
National Security Lab Hacks Diebold Touch-Screen Voting Machine by Remote Control With $26 in Computer Parts: My New EXCLUSIVE at Salon
Hack team leader: 'Can do similar things on pretty much every e-voting machine'...

And this story, like the story of the Wall Street protests have been ignored by corporate media.

Tue, Sep. 27 2011 03:59 PM EDTOne of the women maced during the “Occupy Wall Street” protests on Saturday has spoken out about her assault by an NYPD officer and the arrest of at least 80 people taking a stand against the “greed and corruption of the one percent.”


WEDNESDAY, SEP 28, 2011 07:37 ET
Jailed for covering the Wall Street protests
My arrest gave me a unique vantage point on the risks and rewards of citizen journalism VIDEO
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Monday, September 26, 2011

GOP Lawyers Oppose Courtroom Cameras in DOMA Case

By Stephanie Rabiner on September 26, 2011 5:45 AM | No TrackBacks

Challenging the Defense of Marriage Act after being denied spousal benefits, Karen Golinski appeared eager to participate in a federal courtroom camera pilot program.

Though she gave her consent to the broadcast of an October 21 hearing in the Northern District of California, that broadcast will not be happening.

Without explaining why, Republican lawmakers in the House of Representatives last week declined to allow the recording.

Under the courtroom camera pilot program, all parties must consent to having the proceedings taped and broadcasted.

Both Karen Golinski and the Department of Justice had signed off on the broadcast, reports the San Francisco Chronicle. However, the Golinski case is one of the few taken up by the House after the DOJ was ordered to end its legal support of DOMA.

It's not clear why the GOP-controlled House decided not to participate, particularly in light of the lack of witnesses that will be present at the hearing.

Concerns of witness intimidation were at least partially responsible for stopping the broadcast of the Proposition 8 trial early last year.

Some are arguing that the House is simply choosing to shroud the proceedings in secrecy.

True or not, one must question whether the government should be able to deny the use of courtroom cameras when there is no overriding national security or privacy concern.

The answer is certainly up for debate, except should one of the parties in this case appeal.

Neither Karen Golinski or the House will have a say in any appellate proceedings, as the 9th Circuit permits the broadcast of oral arguments without consent.

Saturday, September 24, 2011

NCIS LA


Love the show, fun to watch, lots of eye candy, and some of it is funny, especially some of "Hetty's" lines. Unfortunately I was irritated watching the show when one of the rate/ranks was wrong. I have never met a hospital corpsman that was an Ensign because hospital corpsman are enlisted and Ensign is an officer rank. Shane Brennan, the writer is Australian, but he's an hour from a massive county that is basically one big military base and I know there have to be military medical clinics in LA county so the sloppiness bugs me. He did a show in Australia about military medical stuff, I wonder if he got it right there?

The Aussie invasion of Hollywood is mostly fun, but when they write in English/Aussie/Afrikaner idioms for American characters and they get other shit wrong it's discordant and it bothers me. If I hear the "Deeks" character, who was raised in LA, use the phrase "early days" I'll be disgusted.

PS Clarie Forlani is easy to detest. Another Brit who sucks ass at American accents, knows it and also knows just how revoltingly fake that overabundance of"sex appeal" is. Bitch makes my skin crawl, and not many women do,

Wednesday, September 21, 2011

Paradise Plundered and Under the Perfect Sun


Paradise Plundered, Fiscal Crisis and Governance Failures in San Diego by Steven P. Erie, Vladimir Kogan and Scott A. Makenzie.

I've only read a few pages, but I'll write a bit about it when I finish it. My favorite quote so far?

"Therein lies the paradox at the heart of San Diego's storied past and troubled current circumstances: the city and region were built and sustained by big government."

So, I'm a little baffled as to why Grover Norquist and other anti-tax crusaders have such a big fan base in this area. Well, I guess being that Republicans are mostly non self-aware, stupid hypocrites and this area is loaded with them it shouldn't be a surprise to me.

Almost 3 years ago I did a post on San Diego politics that started out by saying

"By the time I was 25 years old I was truly frightened of politics in San Diego

Wth good reason..."


And went on to recommend a book titled Under the Perfect Sun by Mike Davis, Kelly Mahew and Jim Miller. I thought I wrote about this book before, but I can't find the post. If you are not a rich, arrogant Republican and you are considering re-locating to San Diego, do yourself a favor and read it before you make that decision. I was born here and have lived most of my life here and found myself nodding in agreement when I wasn't feeling amazed at how little I knew about the true history of this county.



Ironically, I'm not much of a country music fan, but I love this song.
Just Another Day in Paradise-Phil Vassar

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Saturday, September 17, 2011

Rethugs and Teapublicans = FUCKING HYPOCRITES

Anti-Immigrant Bill Faces Growing Opposition From House GOP, Tea Party
By Marie Diamond posted from ThinkProgress Justice on Sep 16, 2011 at 2:00 pm


A bill by Rep. Lamar Smith (R-TX) that would require businesses to screen for undocumented immigrants using the E-Verify system is facing growing opposition from Smith’s own party.

Military spending creates jobs.....NOT

AlterNet / By Robert Greenwald and Derrick Crowe
Defense Secretary Panetta Plays on Job Fears But Military Spending Is the Worst at Creating Jobs
When we spend $1 billion on the military rather than green investments, health care or education we forfeit between 5,000 and 17,000 jobs.
September 16, 2011 |

Well, that didn’t take very long.

Two days ago, while representatives of war profiteers were on the Hill trying to push elected officials to protect their profit margins from the deficit committee, heads of the war industry met in a closed-door meeting with Defense Secretary Panetta.

Thursday, September 15, 2011

Unemployment crisis and clip of Elizabeth Warren

AlterNet / By Michael Thornton
11 Reasons Why the Unemployment Crisis Is Even Worse Than You Think
Here are 11 unemployment facts that mass media underreport or ignore completely.
September 14, 2011

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy


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Tuesday, September 13, 2011

Hey GOP 2012ers: You Lie!



Edmund D. Fountain/St. Petersburg Times/Zuma
How many times can a candidate peddle falsehoods before it’s okay to use the L-word?

—By David Corn
Tue Sep. 13, 2011 8:45 AM PDT

"Let's cut to the chase: The GOP presidential field is a pack of liars..."

And a Minnesota accent was charming before Batshit Bachmann turned it into a major annoyance. I swear that now every time I hear the lies, distortions and absolute insanity that she spews I'm looking for the volume button.

2 unrelated semi-interesting articles and one waste of time.

New 9/11 Lawsuit: Saudis Aided 9/11 Attacks
By Cynthia Hsu on September 9, 2011 11:51 AM |

Female 'Vampire' Bites Elderly Fla. Man's Face, Arm Outside Hooters
By Stephanie Rabiner on September 12, 2011 5:43 AM

Dressed to The Nine: The Verdict on Supreme Court Robes
By Robyn Hagan Cain on September 9, 2011 12:08 PM

Are you fucking kidding me? After all the damage the US Supreme Court has done to average citizens in the last dozen years, the article is about the fashion worthiness of their robes.

I can't tell you how very disgusted I am with many of my fellow citizens. Right-wing retards who would refuse to think for themselves even if you paid them to. Hateful, bulllying morons who watch Fox Noise and listen to the string of highly paid shit-heads like Limbaugh, Hannity, Ingraham, Savage, O'Reilley, Coulter, Pat Roberstson....

Hmmm, did I forget any of the well-paid hate slingers?

Hijole, what's on Netflix? I can't stand to think about it any more.



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Monday, September 12, 2011

Bennett Miller, 'Moneyball' Director, On His Non-Baseball Baseball Movie


I was never interested in Pitt because he's good looking but because he can act. I knew the name Billy Beane in HS only because his coach lived down the street from my folks, and he was well liked in school. I'm interested in seeing the movie not only because of the local connection (I never knew him, and I'm not a baseball fan) but because it looks like an interestin­g story.
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

Sunday, September 11, 2011

I'm numb thinking about the 10 year 9/11 anniversary

It's strange to watch this, I don't feel anything. Probably because the Bush Administration's response to the 9/11 attacks has been so incredibly devastating for my country.



Julian Assange: A Modern Day Hero? Inside the World of WikiLeaks

Julian Assange: A Modern Day Hero? Inside the World of WikiLeaks
2011 NR 90 minutes (Streaming on Netflix)
Radical and unapologetic, Australian publisher and journalist Julian Assange created massive controversy in 2010 by making public a flood of secret correspondence among U.S. government agencies via the WikiLeaks website. As this comprehensive and unbiased examination of Assange's career illustrates, he was already engaged in distributing "secret" information in the public interest before the revelations that made him world famous.


Frankly, I've watched with disgust and amusement those powerful people and organizations who have been exposed by whistle blowers who managed to get source material to Wikileaks.

Friday, September 09, 2011

So, there was a blackout here in San Diego

And parts of OC, Northern Mexico, Imperial County.

Update: Power Coming Back on In San Diego; Human Error Blamed
MARK MEMMOTT (NPR)

Outage Affects Millions in Southwest, Mexico
By JULIE WATSON Associated Press
SAN DIEGO September 9, 2011 (AP)
"...San Diego Gas & Electric Co. officials said the blackout occurred at about 4 p.m., taking out power to all 1.4 million of its household and business customers. The outage extended into southern Orange County and across California's inland deserts as far east as Yuma, Ariz.

In Mexico, officials said power was out in northern Baja California's two biggest cities, home to roughly 2.5 million people...

...Officials at Phoenix-based Arizona Public Service Co. said the source of the trouble could be traced to an employee removing a piece of monitoring equipment at a power substation in southwest Arizona. Why that mishap, which normally would have been isolated locally, triggered such a widespread outage was to be a focus of the probe, they said.

Authorities quickly ruled out an intentional act or, in the anxious days leading up to the anniversary of Sept. 11 attacks, any suggestion of terrorism.

"This was not a deliberate act. The employee was just switching out a piece of equipment that was problematic," said Daniel Froetscher, an APS vice president...."

ON average, San Diego is sunny 68% of the time and the police had to use backup generators to take 911 calls? Thank you Republicans who run this city. *sigh*




I lost power for 8 1/2 hours. My husband loves stuff that uses alternate forms of energy, so we had all kinds of battery/crank/solar powered radios and flashlights and I always have scented candles. That was kind of a joke when my kid was a teenager (they joked about the "poop candles") because the exhaust duct for the fan in the bathroom was designed by a complete moron.

As helpful as Rick Roberts was in having people call into the radio station to let others know where there was gasoline, food, and where the power was being restored, dude is a dick. A right-wing, self-important nincompoop and he got on my nerves. No wonder I never listen to local AM hate radio, I think some of his regular listeners were calling in -- UGH, what a bunch of idiots.

So, this part of the story is only because my friend told me it was funny, I dunno, you tell me?

There is a rat that scampers up and down the tree in front of my house and the little fucker was really busy giving me the heebeejeebies last night as I sat on the porch to cool off a bit. So, you know those sticky traps? I put one at the base of the tree last night and this morning I hear this gawdawful racket, only it ain't a rat. Two crows are attempting to unstick 2 other crows from this thing and complaining noisily. It worked, Go Team Crow! Guess they like peanut butter.

PS, I finished Dexter is Delicious via flashlight, lol.


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Wednesday, September 07, 2011

Muslim students stand trial for speech disruption

Wednesday, Sept. 7, 2011

"...The case has split residents of affluent Orange County, a traditionally Republican-stronghold that is home to sizable Jewish and Muslim populations. Residents have written vociferous letters to the editor of the local newspaper, the Orange County Register, on both sides of the debate...."

Friday, September 02, 2011

5 days in between posts

I escaped into Netflix this week. I discovered 3 new TV shows that I'm moving through. There are TV shows that I will watch now because I don't have to suffer through the advertisements that annoy the living shit out of me. not had access to cable shows because I just couldn't see paying for more ads, a DVR just didn't seem like it was worth the money because most of what is on cable is almost as stupid as what is on the networks.

I loathe reality shows but I've found some documentary mini-series' that I am enjoying. Frankly, I just haven't wanted to read much lately. I haven't had any patience with the right-wing retarded trolls that seem to be exponentially multiplying over at the HuffyFluffyPo since Arianna sold it to fucking AOL. It used to be hilarious to watch the clever liberals pile on the NOT clever righty trolls, but it seems like the cards are stacked against us over there now. Just like most of the pro-business corporate advertising funded elephant crap out there.

There are still a few writers over there that I enjoy:


Jason Linkins

Amanda Terkel

and Wendell Potter

What does it say that I know that 3 out of 4 of these writers came from other, "more liberal" sites?

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Monday, August 29, 2011

Volunteer Doctors Can't Keep Up With Health Care Demands of Uninsured and Underinsured

"Savage told me that as he and others were planning the Oklahoma clinic, many political and business leaders would make it clear that they had no clue just how shredded the safety net really is in the U.S."



Well said kind sir.



And may I add that that may be because business (including insurance company oficers) and political leaders are much more interested in next quarter's earnings and the next electon.
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

Friday, August 26, 2011

Rick Perry

August 24, 2011 Gallup
Perry Zooms to Front of Pack for 2012 GOP Nomination
Leads Romney by 29% to 17%
by Jeffrey M. Jones


Top Ten Rick Perry Failures
October 5th, 2009

Top 10 Things Texas Gov. Rick Perry Doesn’t Want You To Know About Him
By Scott Keyes on Jun 10, 2011 at 2:41 pm

Rick Perry's College Transcript: A Lot Of Cs And Ds

Rick Perry Sought State Profits From Teacher Life Insurance Scheme

Rick Perry Struggles To Answer Question About Sex Ed: 'Abstinence Works'

Rick Perry Is Big Oil's $11 Million Man

During an interview on the Laura Ingraham radio show on Thursday, Republican presidential candidate Rick Perry characterized the nation's capital as a "seedy place."


Rick Perry Signs Anti-Gay Marriage Pledge Before Mingling With Virulently Anti-Gay Activist


I'm so fucking amazed that people in this country take Laura Ingraham or Rick Perry seriously. I'm still stunned at the amount of people in this country who are truly stupid, can't spell, refuse to think for themselves, trust the corporate funded media and stick razor blades up their own ass by voting Republican every election. Sadly, when they bleed out, they have no idea why.


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Thursday, August 25, 2011

new Taibbi


“"...The idea behind this federally-­guided “settlemen­t” is to concentrat­e and centralize all the legal exposure accrued by this generation of grotesque banker corruption in one place, put one single price tag on it that everyone can live with, and then stuff the details into a titanium canister before shooting it into deep space..."

"...In a remarkable quote given to the Times, Kathryn Wylde, the Fed board member who ostensibly represents the public, said the following about (AG) Schneiderm­an:

It is of concern to the industry that instead of trying to facilitate resolving these issues, you seem to be throwing a wrench into it. Wall Street is our Main Street — love ’em or hate ’em. They are important and we have to make sure we are doing everything we can to support them unless they are doing something indefensib­le..."

Charles August Lindbergh (1859-1924­) on the Federal Reserve:

".. The system is private, conducted for the sole purpose of obtaining the greatest possible profits from the use of other people's money. They know in advance when to create panics to their advantage, They also know when to stop panic. Inflation and deflation work equally well for them when they control finance."”

Wednesday, August 24, 2011

Tuesday, August 23, 2011

Karl Rove loves him some Molly McMooseturd



"...Obama holds a narrow 44% to 38% lead over Palin among male voters, but women prefer the incumbent by a sizable 56% to 29% margin..."

According to Rasmussen Reports


AUGUST 5, 2011 » WEB ONLY

America In Decline
By NOAM CHOMSKY

The comic opera in Washington this summer, which disgusts the country and bewilders the world, may have no analogue in the annals of parliamentary democracy.

"... The spectacle is even coming to frighten the sponsors of the charade. Corporate power is now concerned that the extremists they helped put in office may in fact bring down the edifice on which their own wealth and privilege relies, the powerful nanny state that caters to their interests.

Corporate power’s ascendancy over politics and society—by now mostly financial—has reached the point that both political organizations, which at this stage barely resemble traditional parties, are far to the right of the population on the major issues under debate...."
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Friday, August 19, 2011

Are military pensions too 'generous'?

Bwaaaahahahahaha ha ha ha aaaahaaaaa

Ummm. NO!

Half of base pay doesn't mean you will be making half of your base pay plus your allowances (food, rent, and the bitch you married).

Thursday, August 18, 2011

Is the SEC Covering Up Wall Street Crimes?



A whistleblower claims that over the past two decades, the agency has destroyed records of thousands of investigations, whitewashing the files of some of the nation's worst financial criminals.
by: Matt Taibbi
AUGUST 17, 2011 8:00 AM ET

Wednesday, August 17, 2011