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Big Brother Is Watching You! Big Brother is *yawn* watching.... Big Brother....big brother....bbbbbnnn.....zzzzzzzz
Sacramento area community musical theater (esp. DMTC in Davis, 2000-2020); Liberal politics; Meteorology; "Breaking Bad," "Better Call Saul," and Albuquerque movie filming locations; New Mexico and California arcana, and general weirdness.
Residents near Downtown El Paso have been evacuated as officials warn that an earthen dam across the border in Ciudad Juarez might be on the verge of breaking.
Up to 6 million gallons could rush into El Paso if the 30-year-old dam is breached, according to an Army Corps of Engineers estimate given to Mayor John Cook on Thursday.
"We're talking like a tidal wave hitting El Paso," Cook said.
The Defense Department quietly asked Congress on Monday to raise the maximum age for military recruits to 42 for all branches of the service.Well, I'm shielded for a little bit, until they raise the maximum age to 52...
Mel Gibson Launches Rockets Into Israel
In a decisive 1–0 decision Monday, President Bush voted to grant the president the constitutional power to grant himself additional powers.
President Bush announces announcement of the new power-granting announcement.
"As president, I strongly believe that my first duty as president is to support and serve the president," Bush said during a televised address from the East Room of the White House shortly after signing his executive order. "I promise the American people that I will not abuse this new power, unless it becomes necessary to grant myself the power to do so at a later time."
...Despite the president's new powers, the role of Congress and the Supreme Court has not been overlooked. Under the new law, both enjoy the newly broadened ability to grant the president the authority to increase his presidential powers.
..."This gives the president the tools he needs to ensure that the president has all the necessary tools to expedite what needs to be done, unfettered by presidential restrictions on himself," said Rep. John Cornyn (R-TX). "It's long overdue."
Authorities arrested two men Friday in connection with a series of fatal shootings that have terrorized Phoenix area residents for more than a year.
"These are the two monsters we've been hunting," Phoenix Mayor Phil Gordon said at a news conference Friday.
The men were considered suspects in the "Serial Shooter" case -- one of two serial killers whom authorities say have been operating in the Phoenix area.
The men were apprehended at a gated apartment complex and were being held at Phoenix police headquarters, police Sgt. Andy Hill said.
Authorities have said that the so-called "Serial Shooter" is believed to be responsible for killing six people and wounding 17 others, mostly pedestrians and bicyclists, since May 2005.
The most recent was Sunday in Mesa when a 22-year-old woman was fatally shot as she was walking from her parents' home to her boyfriend's house, authorities said.
"Walid Jumblatt, leader of the most powerful clan in Lebanon’s Druze community, said on Tuesday the conflict between Israel and Hizbollah guerrillas had dealt a fatal blow to Lebanese hopes of a strong independent state, free of Iranian and Syrian influence. (...)
“After the 12 July, Lebanon is now unfortunately being entrenched solidly into the Syrian-Iranian axis,” he said. “The hopes of a stable, prosperous Lebanon where we could attract investments is over for now. It is a fatal blow for confidence.”
Mr Jumblatt has shrewdly navigated the ups and downs of Lebanon’s treacherous politics, gaining influence beyond the weight of his Druze community, a breakaway sect from Shia Islam that makes up around 10 per cent of the population.
As a militia leader during Lebanon’s civil war he accommodated Syria’s expansionary aims. But last year he emerged as one of the Syrian regime’s fiercest opponents in an alliance of groups that came together following the assassination of former Prime Minister Rafiq Hariri and led a coalition government following elections.
At that time, Mr Jumblatt held out hope that a new wave of democratic activism was sweeping the Arab world.
But on Tuesday he offered a bleak and outspoken assessment of the prospects for Lebanon.
He said among Syrian-backed politicians there was already talk of forming an emergency government to replace Prime Minister Fouad Siniora’s coalition. He said he feared that an “organised mob” might be used to force the government’s resignation. (...)
There was also little prospect that Hizbollah, having emerged as a champion in the Arab and Muslim world, would be willing now to incorporate its armed wing under the Lebanese state apparatus – the issue at the centre of international diplomatic efforts to end the conflict with Israel.
“We will be just a weak state next to a very strong militia. Our government will be like the government of Abu Mazen (Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas) next to Hamas or maybe worse like the government of [Nouri al] Maliki in Iraq.”
“All American policy in the Middle East is at stake,” he continued, “because their failure in Palestine, their failure in Iraq and now this failure in Lebanon will lead to a new Arab world where the so called radical Arabs will profit.
“This is the new Middle East. Not the new Middle East of Ms [US secretary of state Condoleezza] Rice. Darkness everywhere.”
"I trust Wayne with my life…. He's got such a kindness to him and such a conscience," she said, her eyes briefly filling with tears during an interview at a cafe in Studio City last week. "He is so tuned in to me and I to him that sometimes words don't have to be said."
...The unusual relationship between Redstall and the defendant is causing waves at the San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department and appears to have unnerved Ford's attorneys.
..."Everyone tells me, 'Be careful, he's a serial killer' … but they don't know Wayne like I do," she said. "We've all got evil in us — all of us. He took it to the extent of killing humans…. But I'm going on the man he is today and the remorse that he has today."
The irony of a model for breast enhancement pills, Herbal Grobust, seeking out a killer with a breast fetish is not lost on her, and she addresses it with the dark humor that both shocks and entertains the people she talks to in the courtroom.
"It's hysterical," she said.
Conservative Christian broadcaster Pat Robertson said on Thursday the wave of scorching temperatures across the United States has converted him into a believer in global warming.
"We really need to address the burning of fossil fuels," Robertson said on his "700 Club" broadcast. "It is getting hotter, and the icecaps are melting and there is a buildup of carbon dioxide in the air."
This week the heat index, the perceived temperature based on both air temperatures and humidity, reached 115 Fahrenheit in some regions of the U.S. East Coast. The 76-year-old Robertson told viewers that was "the most convincing evidence I've seen on global warming in a long time."
A Death Sandwich (38:21) Bloomfield, NJ - Student Film
Detective Malcolm 'Mac' Drake has had better days. Haunted by enigmatic nightmares and hounded by a cigar-chomping police chief with a penchant for opera, he struggles in vain to link an infuriating case to the kingpin of the Scottish Mafia. That is, until blonde bombshell Vivienne Devereux saunters into his life with legs like a 7-9 split and a bosom that heaves with the power of shifting tectonic plates. How many musical numbers will it take before Drake realizes that things aren't what they seem? Two.
Director: Daniel Gurewitch
The Colorado State University hurricane forecast is predicting that the upcoming hurricane season won't be as bad as earlier predicted.
Colorado State professor William Gray's reducing the number of likely hurricanes from nine to seven and intense hurricanes from five to three.
Gray, who's one of the nation's leading hurricane forecasters, says the fact that there have only been two hurricanes in July is not the reason for the revision.
He says Atlantic sea surface temperatures are not quite as warm and surface pressure is not quite as low. Also, the eastern equatorial Pacific has warmed some and trade winds in the tropical Atlantic are slightly stronger.
Gray and he team says hurricane activity will continue to be above average and will continue to be for another 15 to 20 years.
Thirteen major hurricanes have formed in the Atlantic Basin the past two years, seven of them striking the U.S. coast with devastating damage resulting from four of them.
Hey, you guys need to watch Death Sandwich. The [woman] who plays ... Vivian Devereux is a 21-year old lady named Valerie Battenfeld. I've known her since she was 3, and I've taken six vacations out west with her and her family. She has collected fluorite at Bingham and she's taken a insider's tour of TERA!(For those of you who are, sadly, not in the know, those are important mining and explosives research landmarks in the vicinity of New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology in Socorro, NM.)
Synopsis: A film noir musical comedy. Detective Malcolm "Mac" Drake battles the vermin of a corrupt city, armed with nothing but clever wordplay and the majesty of song. And a gun.I had some trouble getting the movie to run: I have Active-X Control disabled on my computer, but is that what the error message said? No! Instead, it said: Error opening content: ioerror (MP4) (id=0x20004).
In another story, we discover that the administration is now announcing that if Castro dies, "the United States would also send special monitors and advisers to Cuba in the weeks after a full transition began." In the wake of the Vietnam War, which infamously started out with U.S. military "advisers," again - this is clearly fodder that could be easily spun to confirm Castro's own message. And it is especially stupid and destructive to our long-term goals/credibitlity when, at the same time our government is haughtily strutting around making these proclamations, the White House is also saying "it viewed attempts by Venezuela or other countries to influence the transition in Cuba as unwarranted intervention."
In political campaigns, the worst thing a candidate can do is publicly walk into their own stereotype. If, for instance, there are unconfirmed rumors out there that a candidate is a philanderer and is too-slick by half, the worst thing that candidate can do is get caught philandering and then lying about it, because it confirms the negative suspicions the public may have already had. If there are suspicions out there that a candidate waffles or stands for nothing, the worst thing that candidate can do is publicly waffle on a big issue (think John Kerry's "I was for it before I was against it" line on Iraq).
The same thing goes in the situation with Cuba. The stupidest thing American officials can do is publicly walk into Castro's portrayal of our ambitions. By doing that, we are confirming the negative suspicions that many Cubans must have, considering they've been hearing about it over and over and over again for the last 50 years.
Attention, rock 'n' rollers. Elton John is sick of your tattoos and piercings. John, who will perform at the third Fashion Rocks concert Sept. 7 at Radio City Music Hall, says he'd like American bands to adopt the cutting-edge, glam-rock style made popular by his peers.
"It's been a thing the British have always been very good at, with Bowie, myself, T.Rex, the Who, Queen. ... We all embraced that side of it," John, 59, tells Fashion Rocks magazine, on newsstands Aug. 8.
"And I think it's good that some American bands are beginning to do that, but it's still very rare for bands to make a real effort. So when you get groups like The Killers and Scissor Sisters who come along, it's thrilling. I'm so over the tattoos and the T-shirts and rings through the noses. It's not pretty, it's not pleasant, it's not exciting. Please stop it now."
Well, when it comes to TNR, we don't have any choice. Until they're totally discredited, a complete joke, we have to whomp their asses. Just go after them every chance we get. They have to be gasping for air when we finished.My thoughts?:
Why? Because they are no longer bound by the truth. They will make shit up and used stolen e-mail to make their point, and lecture you on how right they are.
And the same has to do with Joe Lieberman.
The first battle any resistance has is not with the occupiers, but with their collaborators. TNR is dangerous because they claim to be liberals. For the Democratic Party to be reborn, collaborators like Lieberman have to suffer at the polls.
Vichy France was created to save France, to moderate the Nazis. It didn't work.
Which is why we call the DLC set Vichy Democrats. They are so afraid of Democratic virtues that they ran from them. They wanted to save the party, but they destroyed it. We lost control of the House and Senate for a decade because they wanted to compromise their way to power.
Just because Lieberman looks defeated doesn't mean you quit. You work harder to make sure he loses. You don't sit back and wait for the defeat. You get in his ass and don't quit until he's defeated. You ensure the defeat and then you watch the DLC crowd shit the bed, because they're next.
You don't quit when someone is down, you finish the fucking job.
WWRD? (What would Rush do?)
Well, let's see, if Hezbollah resolves as 'Hezbos', then TNR resolves as 'trannies' - transexuals. Seems about right: Republicans in Democratic clothing.
From Rocky Horror Picture Show:
Chorus: I'm just a sweet transvestite
From Transexual, Transylvania
So- come up to the lab
And see what's on the slab
I see you shiver with antici . . . pation
This month, the nation's best hurricane experts met for the first time ever with nervous insurance industry reps about a storm lurking beyond the horizon.
"The risk is increasing and it's increasing every year," catastrophe risk analyst Karen Clark told CBS News correspondent Michelle Miller.
That storm a long overdue northeast hurricane which the latest computer models now predict could devastate the region and cripple the U.S. economy.
"It will be the largest financial disaster that this country has ever seen," Clark, the president and CEO of AIR Worldwide, said.
A direct hit on New York's Long Island by a Category 3 or higher hurricane would cost $100 billion.
But the same size storm spinning into central New Jersey would be catastrophic — raking New York and points north with its strongest winds. The result: $200 billion in damages and lost business.
"And much of that disruption will not be covered by insurance," Clark said.
Economic losses would be twice that of the 9-11 attacks, and three times larger than Hurricane Katrina. When it comes to a northeast hurricane, experts say forget what you know. They're much bigger than their southern cousins.
"A Category 3 storm could do a surge of more like a Category 4 or 5," said Phil Klotzbach, a meteorologist at Colorado State University. "So you could see 20 to 25 feet of water."
A major northeast hurricane is nearly three times more likely this year thanks to favorable weather conditions, including the position of the Bermuda High. Last year it pushed storms southwest. Now it's set to steer hurricanes up the East Coast.
...The difference today is that real estate values from Maryland to Maine are among the highest in the nation — with Manhattan's skyline in the bull's-eye.
"The air is going to be squeezed in those canyons. The water is going to be rise about the level of the highway and then it's going to hit the subterranean infrastructure," Coch said.
If you look through the rear window of the Buick parked among weeds you see Janie Howard sitting, eating and basically living out of her car.
...When asked if she really has been living in her car for years, Howard said "I don't live in the car, I just drive the car and happen to be in the car. But no, I don't live in my car, I can go into the house any time I want to."
When further asked if she sleeps in her car Howard said "now that I do a lot of times because I'm sleepy and I go to sleep in it. It's a comfortable car."
Howards' yard is covered with garbage; it's overgrown with weeds, filled with cats and dogs, and likely infested with rats, bugs and snakes.
We never went inside her house, but the roof in the back is crushed by a fallen tree.
Neighbor Leola Barrett said "well honey the odor, and everything, it's a disgrace to live next to her. It's a shame, it's pitiful."
Neighbors like Barrett have been complaining about the mess. But they haven't been next door.
We asked Barrett if she ever got concerned about Howard when it gets hot or cold and she said "no sir, I don't bother. I just don't bother, period."
When asked if she tried to talk with her nieghbor Barrett said "no sir."
... So no family, friends, or neighbors will come to Howards' house.
"Well if they'd come by and speak to me and say something I'd tell them I'm fine, but I don't ever see them. I don't know why this is as big, or this is a mystery to me as it is to everybody else. I don't know what's going on."
That is the central incoherence which lays at the heart of the Bush administration's neoconservative mission -- one minute the objective is to win the "hearts and minds" of Muslims in the Middle East so that there will be less anti-American hatred for Al Qaeda to exploit when recruiting. The next minute the objective is to bomb as many of their countries as possible for their own good and hope that they are appreciative of all the carnage and destruction we are raining down on them in the name of warring against the evil of "stability."
Our results have been misused as “evidence” against global warming by Michael Crichton in his novel “State of Fear” and by Ann Coulter in her latest book, “Godless: The Church of Liberalism.” Search my name on the Web, and you will find pages of links to everything from climate discussion groups to Senate policy committee documents — all citing my 2002 study as reason to doubt that the earth is warming. One recent Web column even put words in my mouth. I have never said that “the unexpected colder climate in Antarctica may possibly be signaling a lessening of the current global warming cycle.” I have never thought such a thing either.
Our study did find that 58 percent of Antarctica cooled from 1966 to 2000. But during that period, the rest of the continent was warming. And climate models created since our paper was published have suggested a link between the lack of significant warming in Antarctica and the ozone hole over that continent. These models, conspicuously missing from the warming-skeptic literature, suggest that as the ozone hole heals — thanks to worldwide bans on ozone-destroying chemicals — all of Antarctica is likely to warm with the rest of the planet. An inconvenient truth?
...In the meantime, I would like to remove my name from the list of scientists who dispute global warming. I know my coauthors would as well.