Climate tipping point

More from Greg:

The “tipping point” will come within a decade. Since there’s no way in Hell we’ll do anything about it before then, can we all just accept that ½ to ¾ of the people on Earth are going to die in the next 100 or so years from all the shit – wars, famine, disease, populations shifts – that we now have no chance of avoiding.

Myself, I intend to spend what few golden years I’ll have saying, “I told you so, you stupid fucks.”

http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/story?id=3223473&page=1

Greg

I have no outrage left

Thanks to my pal Greg for pointing this one out:

It seems that the vice-president doesn't want anybody to know whom he sees at his official residence. Hmmm. Does he know that I own that house? Perhaps they should also have a secret entrance for visitors they don't want identified.



ITMFA

I've never liked Michael Isikoff

As is often the case, Isikoff looks at some issues with a remarkable amount of clarity and other with complete obliviousness.

He pisses me off with "The United States Department of Justice has not always been above politics. John F. Kennedy, after all, appointed his brother and consigliere Robert to be attorney general." What is that supposed to mean?

And he seems to think this is relevant: "Bush's role has remained shadowy throughout the controversy over the eavesdropping program. But there are strong suggestions that he was an active presence. On the night after Ashcroft's operation, as Ashcroft lay groggy in his bed, his wife, Janet, took a phone call. It was Andy Card, asking if he could come over with Gonzales to speak to the attorney general. Mrs. Ashcroft said no, her husband was too sick for visitors. The phone rang again, and this time Mrs. Ashcroft acquiesced to a visit from the White House officials. Who was the second caller, one with enough power to persuade Mrs. Ashcroft to relent? The former Ashcroft aide who described this scene would not say, but senior DOJ officials had little doubt who it was—the president."

The Democrats are so hot on the Justice Department because they know that it will ultimately be a case of no harm -- no foul and they won't have to pursue the president. They are studiously avoiding setting up grounds for impeachment. Any member of the House of Representatives that hasn't called for an impeachment investigation of the president and/or the vice-president has betrayed his oath of office and needs to go come November 08.





ITMFA

I shot a Taco Bell clerk once for trying to give me hot sauce

Once you're willing to break your own quiet little rules about blogging about crime, it starts seeping out like, uhm, hot sauce from a foil packet punctured by gunfire. Or something.

Wendy's Manager Shot Over Chili Sauce

By Associated Press

Tue May 29, 9:34 PM

MIAMI - A manager at a fast-food restaurant was shot several times in the arm early Tuesday trying to protect the chili sauce, authorities said.

A man in the Wendy's drive-through argued with an employee because he wanted more of the condiment, police said. The worker told the customer that restaurant policy prohibited a customer from getting more than three packets.

The man insisted on 10, reports said. The employee complied, but police said the customer wanted even more.

The manager came out to speak to the man, said Miami-Dade police spokesman Mary Walter. The customer then shot the manager, who was taken to a hospital with injuries that were not life-threatening.

The customer fled in his vehicle with a female passenger, authorities said.

Copyright 2007 The Associated Press.

There's a spooky science fiction short story lurking here

Caves on Mars. This just struck me as really creepy.

Why we're occupying Iraq

Of course the war and the ensuing occupation was about oil. And anyone who says otherwise is ignorant or a liar. No other choice of motivation.

The first damned benchmark for measuring whether or not the Iraqi government is doing what it is supposed to do is that they must pass a law that gives away their national resources. I-- I-- I can't even come up with words to express my outrage.

That the Dear and Glorious Leader and the Lesser Dear and Glorious Leader have been working for over six years to enrich their business partners is not a shock any more. Outrageous, yes, but shocking? No. That the Congress of the United States is complicit in this raping of a sovereign people causes me to gasp. Why? Because I forget -- time and time and time again -- that the government of the United States was taken from the people and given to the military-industrial complex many years ago. George Washington warned us against it and so did Ike.

I don't know what more I can do to wake up the American people to the fact that their government is NOT operated for their benefit. I don't think it is too late to take it back. It will be an extremely difficult task but it could be done.

The role of Congress in relation to the military

George Lakoff and Glenn Smith of the Rockridge Insititue have thought about the Constitution. Most members of Congress have not. So these guys and gals take an oath to protect something they don't really understand and then let some idiot like Dear and Glorious Leader or Lesser Dear and Glorious Leader tell them what their role is. Joshua Crust.

A casual reading of the Constitution, like the one you get in a junior high civics class gives the impression that the three branches of our federal government are of equal power, with all those "checks and balances." It doesn't take more much more than the reading ability of a 10-year old to see that isn't the case. There are no final checks on Congress other than the people of the United Sates. Veto? It can be overridden or the president can be removed. Court decision ruling an act unconstitutional? Amend the Constitution or impeach a few justices. Congress wins. Every time.

FDR made some cultural changes that created our imperial executive. It was a time of national crisis, unlike any faced before or since. There were people starving in the midst of plenty; unemployment rates were at 25%; the idea of revolution was not too far fetched. So, in relief and gratitude that somebody was willing to lead, Congress ceded muuuuuuch of its authority to the executive. The Supreme Court whacked most of it in the head and the New Deal really died a-borning but gate had been opened and with time, the presidency got the upper hand.

Regulatory agencies. Executive orders. A permanent war footing. Undeclared wars.

The Constitution gives the authority to declare war to Congress. We all know that. Some of us also know that the United Nations Charter sort of compromises that by making war of aggression illegal and describing the circumstances under which war is okay. So maybe the idea of legally declared war is quaint. Okay. I'll even accept that. But that doesn't mean that the power to decide when to go to war now rests in the executive branch. Recall that the army is funded through sunset legislation. It has to be reauthorized every two years. The president is command-in-chief of the Congress's army. Just like in the ancient Roman Republic from which so much of the spirit of our Constitution is drawn. The Congress tells the president when it's time to go to war. And what the victory conditions are and when the war is over.

If Congress chooses to end funding for a military mission, it isn't the president's prerogative to leave unfunded troops in the field. The ending of the funding is the same as an order to bring the troop home. The president doesn't get to decide what is in the national interests. Congress does. The president didn't take an oath to defend the country. He took an oath to defend the Constitution. One would think that means he needs to understand it and obey it.

Or be removed.

Since he serves at the will of the Congress. The people's representatives.






Impeach the mother fucker already. And end the illegal occupation of Iraq.

Gasoline prices

My pal, Greg, writes:

We need to put these motherfuckers in jail. They spent the nineties buying up independent refineries and shutting them down. Now we get this:

"The Energy Information Administration predicts that crude oil prices will average about $66 a barrel this summer, compared with $70 last summer. But it predicts that gasoline will average about $2.95 a gallon this summer, up from an average of $2.84 last summer.

"Industry executives say the anomaly reflects a temporary drop in refinery activity, partly because of scheduled maintenance and partly because of unscheduled interruptions."

Why the fuck aren’t we putting these evil bastards in jail? I mean, sure, it probably helps to fight global warming to raise gas prices, but not as much as a goddamn carbon tax. I want these fuckers’ thumbs nailed to a wall.

I am shocked -- shocked -- to find that Homeland Security would violate the law

So it's against the law for them to screen us according to how dangerous they think we might be. Will anything be done about it? No. Will anybody care? Very damn few. And there will be those that continue to insist that it's better to have the Gestapo than terrorists. It was only 7 years ago that we didn't have to have either.




ITMFA

The CIA's 9-11 report

Seems that there are Congressmen who are going to demand that the CIA divulge the contents of its internal 9-11 investigation.

"But [Wyden] did say that protecting individuals from embarrassment is not a legitimate reason for protecting the report's contents from public review." I wonder if protecting individuals from prosecution would be considered a legitimate reason?

"[Wydne] also said the decision to classify the report has nothing to do with national security, but rather political security." Does he really think that will fly? This administration is known for declaring anything and everything a matter of national security.

But, as I've said many times, it will be the professional intelligence employees of the US government that will actually save us from dictatorship. They hold the keys to the kingdom. And they are not all of one mind.

What interests me

I write on this blog about just about everything that interests me except for crime and sex. I don't write about sex because my upbringing (hi, Mom!) make me uncomfortable talking about it. I haven't written about crime here because mostly it would just be the thrill of perversion and violence and there must be better, more substantial thrills of perversion and violence on the web. But this was just too gruesome and weird and suggests a short story that nobody would ever have accepted as realistic.

And it seems the above link isn't working so here:

Pittsburgh Police Find Baby in Freezer

By JOE MANDAK, Associated Press Writer

Thu May 17, 10:21 PM

PITTSBURGH - A woman was charged with abuse of a corpse Thursday after police found the remains of a baby in her freezer.

Police charged Christine Hutchinson, 22, of Pittsburgh, after interviewing her Thursday evening, several hours after the remains were found in her apartment.

Officers got a tip from someone who knew Hutchinson that there was "possibly a baby that was dead and was in a freezer in an apartment in Bloomfield," a working-class neighborhood several miles east of downtown, Pittsburgh police Cmdr. Thomas Stangrecki said.

Detectives found what initially appeared to be a late-term fetus in a brown bag in the freezer, police said, though it wasn't immediately clear whether the remains resulted from a miscarriage, late-term abortion or a death shortly after birth.

But later, Lt. Daniel Herrmann said the abuse of a corpse charge applies only to human beings. Under the law, he said, a fetus is not considered a human being.

An autopsy was scheduled for Friday. Police said that they did not believe the death was recent but gave no further details.

Police also questioned the woman's ex-boyfriend but said they do not believe he was the father. He was not charged.

Hutchinson was in custody awaiting arraignment late Thursday. A criminal complaint and police affidavit were not immediately released.

It was not immediately known whether Hutchinson had an attorney.

Copyright 2007 The Associated Press.

A guest post to the Garden from my pal, Greg

The Sweet Smell of Hypocrisy

By Greg Girkin

This week, to the surprise and (I’m certain) horror of his Fox New employees, Rupert Murdoch came out in support of the fight against global warming. He even called it global warming, and not the right-wing crowds’ neutered term, “climate change.” As an Australian, you’d think the changes that have already taken place in Australia would have made him take this stance years ago. Still, better late than never.

From the Salon article about his change of heart:

Last week, the media mogul pledged not only to make his News Corp. empire carbon neutral, but to persuade the hundreds of millions of people who watch his TV channels and read his newspapers to join the cause. Messages about climate change will be woven throughout News Corp.'s entertainment content, he said, from movies to books to TV sitcoms, and the issue will have an increasing presence in the company's news coverage, be it in the New York Post or on "Hannity & Colmes." Yes, as Murdoch said in an exclusive interview on his climate plan, even Fox News' right-wing firebrand Sean Hannity can be expected to come around on the issue.

Does this astonish no one but me?

Oh, sure, I’d love to be in the room when those idiots O’Reilly, Hannity, Cavuto, and Gibson are told that they will eat their words in public and support climate change, even if it makes them look like bigger jackasses than they already are (I mean, that’s good comedy). But the astonishing part isn’t that Bill O’Reilly is going to have to take a stance that he’s ridiculed people for having, it’s what this says about the cynical way they manipulate their audience.

Since its inception, Murdoch’s Fox News has howled that the “liberal elite” were slipping liberal messages into everything from music to television commercials. They’ve howled at the indignity of these elites secretly manipulating the public. Unlike the left, Fox is “fair and balanced.” Yet here he is, from that same Salon article:

The more I've looked into it, the more I've been able to see what we can do, not just from an operations standpoint but by subtly introducing [the climate issue] into our content.

Once again, the right proves that when they accuse “lefties” of doing something, it’s because that’s what they’d be doing if they were in charge.

If you’ve ever watched an episode of 24, which features weak liberals opening the country up to attack and strong-man Jack torturing his way to a better tomorrow, you should already have realized he was manipulating his audience for his own political ends. But it takes some real balls to admit it publicly, especially when you run a network that has spent its entire history pointing fingers at everyone else.

Just think what would happen if the head of CBS had said this same thing 6 months ago. Fox News would have gone on a campaign to have him stripped of his citizenship (but only because public execution is impractical). And yet here he is, admitting he uses all his network programming to advance his personal political agenda. Do we hear howls from the left? Do we hear anyone even commenting on it? No, of course not. We hear crickets.

I love the sweet smell of hypocrisy cooling on the kitchen window sill as much as the next guy, but come on!

This is exactly the reason why we used to have limits on media ownership in this country: so that a single person couldn’t use his web of media companies to manipulate the public, stifling dissenting opinions. These days, the laws are hamstrung to the point that this guy can actually brag about using his media holdings to sway public opinion.

Before it’s too late, we’ve got to break up these giant media conglomerates. The experiment has failed. Allowing corporations to absorb networks, TV stations, and newspapers has done exactly what we feared: stifled opinion, misled viewers and readers, and eviscerated the news divisions of every media outlet they absorbed. But do we have the political will in this country to take this step?

Of course we do. As long as Murdoch and others of his ilk decide to get behind it.

I’m not holding my breath.

A war-czar?

Could somebody explain to me (and the the writer of this article), in little-bitty words, what this man is supposed to do? I mean, I really don't get it. He's not in charge of Centcom. He's not the chair of the joint chiefs. He's not the secretary of defense. He's not the national security advisor to the president. He's not the president. What the hell is he?

Some thoughts on manned space exploration

This guy says some good things about how to sell manned space exploration to the general public and to the money-decisions makers. And he's taking the high road.

There are other ways. I remain convinced that if a toy manufacturer would buy the rights to the likenesses of some astronauts and cosmonauts and make a line of toys and about 45 really good, 30-minute animated cartoons, kids would interested in space again and in 10 years you get real pressure on Congress to get behind the program. But that's the low road.

Extra-solar planets can be *really* exotic

We're limited to the kinds of extra-solar planets we can detect from here so we get a skewed picture that makes is appear that the universe is full of gas giants that orbit close to their stars. It probably is but there are probably also lots of little rocky worlds that we can't see that we'll find when we get closer to them.

But this particular planet is a doozy. Says the article, it's too hot for liquid water but the pressures must cause ice to form. I had never before considered the possibility of "hot ice" but it becomes kinda obvious when you think about it.

However.

There must be something that I'm not understanding from this summary of the results of the astronomy. Why can't this planet be made of methane or whatever like Neptune? What makes them think that there's water there?

Also, either the writer or the astronomers have shown the usual lack of imagination in their assessment that "the conditions would not be right for life to exist there." We're terribly, terribly committed to life only working the way it does at our temperature and pressure ranges. I don't really have any doubt that if we live long enough as a species, we'll find that our definitions of life are decidedly odd to the rest of the folks living in the universe.

Free will in fruit flies

I've never claimed to be an evolutionary biologist. Or a neurologist of any kind. Or a puh-sychiatrist. But unless the actual study says something that this summary doesn't say, I think that Dr. Bjorn Brembs is reaching for a conclusion that he wants to...uhm...come to.

He says that his experiment demonstrates that fruit flies can make decisions about their flight paths independently of sensory input. He demonstrates this by putting the flies in a barrel with the inside of the barrel painted white to deprive them of sensory input. They are also glued to a torque meter to measure which way they try to fly. Doesn't gravity give them a certain orientation? And doesn't pulling against glue probably give them some more sensory input?

This obsession that humans have with free will is really kinda funny. But then, you all knew I was going to say that. :)

Kucinich is for real but Gravel is more fun

Mike Gravel, former Senator from Alaska. Internet darling. Gadfly. But I think he deserves to get more hits on his website so I'll throw in the 4 or 5 that he'll get from this. And for those that don't want to read it from the horse's mouth, here's a precis.

In much the same vein as my question to the world about Kucinich, what's wrong with the positions of Mike Gravel and why won't he be elected president? Okay, he's goofy on taxes. But other than that, what position does he take that the majority of Americans don't hold themselves? Why won't he get their votes?

What is wrong with our system? I know that the shorthand answer is "money" but, really, what difference does that make? What is it that has us convinced that we have to support the winner of the money race? Why does the media even tell us how much money is being raised when they never bother to tell us who it is being raised from or how it's being spent? Why does Some Guy in Oklahoma want to vote for Barak Obama when John Edwards better represents his views? Further, why would Mr. Guy want to vote for Rudy Guliani or John McCain when he disagrees with them on damn near everything excepet a woman's right to an abortion? And it's not that the candidate's views are secret or poorly reported. The media actually does a fairly decent job of telling us what the candidates believe.

What is it that the money really buys?

Lack of diversity on Sunday news shows?

It seems that somebody counted up and found that 77% of the guests on the Sunday news shows were men and that 82% were white. Hmmmm.

That 77% should be troubling. You would think that 50% of the guests would be women. But we know that women are underrepresented in politics. We're supposed to concerned about the 82%, too, but that fits right in with the general population. In fact, that prompts me to note that 10% of the members of the House are black which seems to be pretty close to the 12.3% that the 2000 census showed for all Americans. Of course, blacks are grossly underrepresented in the Senate (1%) and in the governors' mansions (2%).

I'm just saying.

Pretty high-ranking ex-staffer calling for impeachment

Seems that Colin Powell's people really don't like Dear and Glorious Leader and Lesser Dear and Glorious Leader. Will this get the impeachment story some traction in the national media? No. Should it? Do I have to answer that?





ITMFA

Happy belated birthday to the Rose Garden blog

I just noticed that it's been a year and two days since this blog was set up for me as a means of inducing me to stop sending spam to my friends. Thanks, guys!

I've been busy for the last few weeks and I've been...uhm...unwell... so the number of posts has dropped off as a result but I hope that some of that will be alleviated in short order and I'll be "on the air" with my usual daily crap again.

More respecting the other guy's religion

This is why I don't respect the other guy's religion and actively encourage others to have contempt for it, too. What is really going on in the psyche of people like these? Did mommy and daddy not give him enough attention? Too much attention? Did his puppy run away? What twists people into vessels of hatred?

You may need bugmenot21 as username and bugmenot21 as password in order to read the story.

More science

This time, evo-devo. The more I learn about this stuff, the more fascinated I become. Genetics is not the same science it was as recently as 25 years ago.

We haven't had any science here is a while

So here's this. And it is why scientists invented the internet in the first place.

A compendium of the world's zoology. Astounding. Amazing.

Never, never make a map

My pal Greg send this link about a kid sent to juvie for making a video game map. We've become a sad, frightened people.

Not all cultures are of equal value

German courts are not altogether clear on this yet.

Remember when the Taliban destroyed the giant statues of Buddha and everyone talked about how terrible it was? I asked then, and ask now, why is it wrong for members of a religion that condemns idolatry to destroy idols? But they were somebody else's idols, you whine. Of course they were somebody else's idols -- anti-idolaters don't have idols.

H.L. Menken, that sweet, kindly old man, said "We must respect the other fellow's religion,but only in the sense and to the extent that we respect his theory that his wife is beautiful and his children smart."

Great. It's worse than they've been telling us

So the polar sea ice is disappearing even faster than anticipated.

Doomed.

Surely the Pentagon knows *why* we've remained on a war footing for over 60 years?

It seems that the Pentagon is trying to drawn attention to the fact that the oil is nearly all gone. But I refuse to believe that they don't know that the reason we have a world-wide deployment is in order to keep control of the oil and the shipping lanes that lead to the oil. When the oil is gone, we won't need a million-man army and a 500-ship navy. Surely they know that.

When will impeachment get some mainstream media traction?

Were you aware that the California Democratic Party endorsed an impeachment investigation of the President and Vice President? The mainstream media didn't tell you. I wonder why?



Impeach the Mother Fuckers Already.