Marc Valdez Weblog

Julissa Veloz - Very Brady Day (Acoustic)

2012-02-02T17:16:00.000-08:00

Prepping DMTC's Theater For The New Seats

2012-02-02T13:47:00.000-08:00

Working with Jan and Stacy and Nikki and James et al. on removing the old seats and painting the seating risers.

Rehearsal underway for "Damn Yankees".

So, Will The Komen Foundation Cut Off Catholic Hospitals Too?

2012-02-02T13:07:00.000-08:00

Hypocrisy watch:

So do investigations like these of the Catholic church and its financial dealings mean that Georgetown University and other Catholic institutions will be prohibited from receiving Komen grants? In 2009-10, per Komen’s 990 [pdf], GU got grants of $599,985 and $250,000 for research (pdf pp. 43 and 47) and $73,750 for treatment programs (pdf p. 54). (FY: 4/1/2009-3/31/2010). Note that the above is the 990 for the main Komen for the Cure organization, which is separate from the local affiliates who have to file their own 990s. Undoubtedly there are other RC organizations who receive Komen funds.

The Modern British Slave Trade

2012-02-02T00:48:00.000-08:00

Apparently vulnerable Britons are being kidnapped and forced to pave Swedish driveways, or something like that:

Criminal elements of the British and Irish travelling community have been transporting vulnerable British men abroad to work as virtual slaves.

An investigation by the BBC Ten O'Clock News and Radio 5 Live Breakfast has uncovered at least 32 victims.

The European Commission describes it as modern slavery and says this is the tip of the iceberg.

There have been confirmed cases in six European countries, including Sweden, Norway and Belgium.

The gangs pick vulnerable men off the streets in the UK, who are often homeless and many have drink or drugs problems.

They are promised well-paid work, but are then transported abroad where they are forced into long, hard days tarmacking or paving driveways for little or no money.

...The men worked 14-hour days for little or no pay and lived in appalling, cramped conditions. They were too frightened to escape, until the Swedish police offered them help. He says there was a culture of violence.

"I've seen people threatened with pickaxes. I've seen people kicked, punched. I've nearly been pushed off a moving vehicle. It's very tense. You're waiting for the next thing to happen, " he says.

Stolen Wallet; Stolen Keys Means A Crappy Day For Joe The Plumber

2012-02-01T15:03:00.001-08:00

Spent the last several hours at Motel 6 near Richards Blvd. & I-5 with Joe The Plumber, and driving him around on errands. Joe's story doesn't cohere:

I was so tired last night I just fell on the bed and fell asleep. But sometime in the middle of the night someone came through the window, and Bella (the dog) didn't bark. They took my wallet and the keys to my van and the automatic toothbrush, but they didn't take my hawk's claw. The security service woke me up in the morning when they saw the window screen on the ground outside my window. I tracked the guy down to the river where I challenged him to a fight. The fellow accepted, but only down the slope where he was. So I came back.

My thought is that whoever this thief-person might have been was probably there by Joe's own invitation (hence the dog that didn't bark). Whatever.

So, I called the locksmiths and we went to the bank to change passwords and tried to cancel the phone service.

We stopped at McDonald's, where an uber-Manager was leading a discussion with about ten managers:

Q.: Unlike this store, at the drive-through at our store we have headsets.
A.: That is a very good question! Like you say, some drive-throughs have headsets and some don't.

So, I'm back briefly at work, and hopefully the locksmith will eventually show up, and Joe can get up off the floor board of life once again. A perfectly idiotic day. I'm kicking myself a little, because I recommended that particular motel row to Joe in the first place.

[UPDATE] Because Joe lost patience and broke the ignition system to try and start his van, the repair cost $430.00.]

Tar Plumber

2012-02-01T12:12:00.001-08:00

Joe The Plumber calls with the news that someone broke into his motel room and stole a bunch of his stuff. And I guess I get to help with this.

Uh Oh, The Susan G. Komen Foundation Just Committed Suicide

2012-02-01T12:03:00.000-08:00

And here it comes:

It’s not that Komen is some questionable, Wyclef Jean-esque mess. It gets high marks from both the Better Business Bureau and Charity Navigator. Yet this is an organization that has repeatedly come under fire for its extravagant promotion of itself as an organization dedicated to a “cure,” when only a small portion of its expenses go to, you know, curing cancer. Komen itself cops to portioning just 24 percent of its funds to research – and 20 percent to fundraising and administration. For an organization with reported revenues of nearly $350 million, that’s still a lot of money for research. It’s an awful lot for itself, too.

Yet Komen remains pretty damn territorial around that whole “cure” thing. In a 2010 story for the Huffington Post, writer Laura Bassett pointed out that, according to Komen’s own financial records, it spends almost “a million dollars a year in donor funds” aggressively going after other organizations that dare to use the phrase “for the cure” – including small charities like Kites for a Cure, Par for the Cure, Surfing for a Cure, Cupcakes for a Cure, and even a dog-sledding event called Mush for the Cure. Let me just give you that number again. A million bucks a year. Robert Smith, better watch your back.

Komen has also, in its relentless pursuit of ubiquity and corporate sponsorship, aligned itself with more dubious product placement than a “Jersey Shore” marathon.

...Komen also famously outsources its merchandising. It’s teamed up with the likes of KFC for “Buckets for the Cure” – because nothing says you care about women’s health like a big vat of fried chicken. Komen has additionally sold a pink-hued “Promise Me” perfume that contains several toxins – including galaxolide, a synthetic musk that critics claim is a hormone disruptor.

...And what of Komen’s latest, most potentially damaging stunt with Planned Parenthood? Komen says the move is just about “newly adopted criteria barring grants to organizations that are under investigation by local, state or federal authorities.” You know what else is pretty “new” around Komen? Its senior vice president of public policy, Karen Handel. During the Sarah Palin-endorsed, Tea Party favorite’s 2010 campaign for governor of Georgia, Handel declared, “I do not support the mission of Planned Parenthood” making clear that she “strongly supports” laws prohibiting “the use of taxpayer funds for abortions or abortion-related services.” She did, however, emphasize that she “strongly support(s) the noble work of crisis-pregnancy centers.” If you were one of the world’s biggest charities and were looking to hire someone who had women’s welfare as her greatest imperative, would you go for someone who’d send them to a place that offers breast cancer screenings – as well as ovarian cancer screenings and HPV tests? Or someone who prefers a bunch of right-to-life fanatics pretending to be a medical facility? If you picked the former, you’re smarter than Komen for the Cure.

Greek Statistics

2012-02-01T11:03:00.000-08:00

This is what happens when the human beast gets cornered:

ATHENS, Greece — Greece has won strong endorsements in the past year for shoring up its economic statistics after years of fudging data to conceal its deficits and financial mismanagement, but the man who's responsible for restoring the country's reputation is now the target of possible prosecution.

He's been accused of exaggerating Greece's deficits in a conspiracy to strengthen the hand of the European Union and the International Monetary Fund.

..."It's as if ELSTAT, Eurostat" — the Luxembourg-based Statistical Office of the European Communities — "the Department of State and the planet Mars conspired to change the deficit numbers so that Greece would have to turn to the IMF for more help," the official said. "It's crazy. It's even crazier that we are devoting part of our time" to responding to the charges.

...On a half-dozen occasions from 2005 to 2010, Eurostat issued "reservations" about the reliability of Greece's statements of its deficit and its proportion of debt to GDP. Before Georgiou's arrival, 10 special missions to Greece by the European Commission, the EU's executive body, had failed to bring the quality of Greek data to the level of the other EU countries, the commission said in a January 2010 report.

The report found "severe irregularities" in informing of the EU of excess deficits, "submissions of incorrect data and non-respect of accounting rules." Sometimes data were collected by telephone. Having the national statistical authority report to the Finance Ministry didn't guarantee the authority's independence, integrity and accountability.

...When he began his job, Georgiou discovered that he had to report to a board of experts — including a representative from a government employees' union — who wanted to have a say in the reporting of statistics to the EU. When he resisted, board members proposed to break up the institute.

After he learned that his official email account had been hacked, apparently by the deputy board chairman, and its contents distributed to the board, Georgiou went to the police and stopped holding board meetings. At his request, Parliament dropped all members of the board except the union representative.

Now Georgiou has to contend with the prosecutor in the conspiracy case against him, who's taken testimony from former board members, journalists and outside experts — everyone but Georgiou. After the prosecutor recommended that the case be turned over to Parliament, without hearing his defense, Georgiou went to the supreme court last week demanding to be heard.

All this despite a public letter from the head of Eurostat that defended Georgiou in no uncertain terms. Eurostat, Walter Radermacher wrote Dec. 1, "refutes all allegations that the deficit of 2009 was overestimated." The compilation of 2009 and 2010 data has been published "without any reservation ... in contrast with previous periods." Radermacher credited Georgiou and his staff with implementing "new and strengthened procedures" and "a high level of professionalism."

Now the question is whether the Greek political establishment will observe the European standards or insist on "Greek statistics."

Respect My Authori-TAY!

2012-02-01T10:48:00.000-08:00

The American Police State advances:

A Montara man walking two lapdogs off leash was hit with an electric-shock gun by a National Park Service ranger after allegedly giving a false name and trying to walk away, authorities said Monday.

...The ranger, who wasn't identified, asked Hesterberg to remain at the scene, Levitt said. He tried several times to leave, and finally the ranger "pursued him a little bit and she did deploy her" electric-shock weapon, Levitt said. "That did stop him."

...Hesterberg, whose age was not available, was arrested on suspicion of failing to obey a lawful order, having dogs off-leash and knowingly providing false information, Levitt said.

...Babcock said Hesterberg had repeatedly asked the ranger why he was being detained. She didn't answer him, Babcock said.

...Rancho Corral de Tierra has long been an off-leash walking spot for local dog owners. In December, the area became part of the national park system, which requires that all dogs be on a leash, Levitt said.

The ranger was trying to educate residents of the rule, Levitt said.

The Turnout Problem

2012-02-01T10:29:00.000-08:00

By continually exaggerating the supposed dangers of Obama, the GOP has left their party nowhere to go. How to generate enthusiasm when the FOX News machine long ago electrocuted their audience with dire warnings?:

In the 2008 Republican primary in Florida, in which John McCain beat Romney by a margin of 36%-31%, a total of nearly 1.95 million votes were cast.

But in tonight's primary, turnout was actually much lower. At time of writing, with 98% of precincts reporting, the total turnout is only about 1.65 million -- a drop-off of 15% in terms of the raw number of voters.
In the Iowa caucuses, GOP turnout fell short of expectations. In the New Hampshire primary, it happened again. Turnout in South Carolina was strong, but after another weak showing in Florida, it's proving to be the exception.

This is not at all what Republican leaders anticipated. On the contrary, GOP officials in the states and at the national level assumed the exact opposite would happen.

Remember, Republican turnout was supposed to soar in these early contests because of the larger circumstances. GOP voters are reportedly eager, if not foaming-at-the-mouth desperate, to fight a crusade against President Obama, and they had plenty of high-profile candidates trying to stoke their enthusiasm.

Lobsters Everywhere

2012-02-01T10:19:00.000-08:00

According to a report on Yglesias, Maine has a surfeit of lobsters:

The state fisheries commissioner announced that Maine’s lobstermen last year harvested more than 100 million pounds of lobster, the biggest catch ever. ... The previous record of 94.7 million pounds, worth more than $313 million, was set in 2010. ... Lobster accounts for 70 percent of the value of seafood caught by Maine fishermen. The lobster population has benefited from conservation measures, warmer waters off Maine and a decline in predators like codfish, said David Cousens, the longtime president of the Maine Lobstermen’s Association.

Less Than Zero

2012-01-31T16:39:00.000-08:00

Paul Krugman discusses the zero-bound, and what we do (like we're doing now) when we prevent the government from generating the demand needed to pull the economy out of recession:

[T]here’s a definite change in the character of recessions after the mid-1980s. Before then, recessions were basically brought on by the Fed, which raised interest rates sharply to curb inflation, causing a slump in housing. When the Fed decided that we had suffered enough, it let rates fall again, and there was a surge from pent-up housing demand. Morning in America!

Since then, however, inflation has been well under control, and booms have died of old age — or more precisely, they have died because of overbuilding and an excessive level of debt. The Fed is then in the position of trying to goose housing (which is the principal channel for monetary policy) even though housing may already be overbuilt (which was the point I was making, sarcastically, when I said long ago that the Fed has to create a housing bubble), and it is cutting rates from an initial level which isn’t that high. So the odds of running up against the zero lower bound are high, and recovery can be a long time in coming.

You can see what I’m talking about here:

The early-80s slump was brought on by a huge rise in the Fed funds rate, which left lots of room for cuts, and was driven by a deep slump in housing, which meant that there was lots of pent-up demand when rates fell again. The 2007-? slump was brought on by the bursting of a housing and debt bubble, and left the Fed largely pushing on a string.

Elsevier Working To Deny Americans The Fruits Of Federally-Sponsored Research

2012-01-31T16:00:00.000-08:00

Elsevier has always done what it can to overcharge everyone:

In 2008, under bipartisan pressure from Congress to ensure that all Americans would be able to access the results of taxpayer-funded biomedical research, the US National Institutes of Health instituted a Public Access Policy.

...The policy has provided access for physicians and their patients, teachers and their students, policymakers and the public to hundreds of thousands of taxpayer-funded studies that would otherwise have been locked behind expensive publisher paywalls, accessible only to a small fraction of researchers at elite and wealthy universities.

The policy has been popular – especially among disease and patient advocacy groups fighting to empower the people they represent to make wise healthcare decision, and teachers educating the next generation of researchers and caregivers.

But the policy has been quite unpopular with a powerful publishing cartels that are hellbent on denying US taxpayers access to and benefits from research they paid to produce. This industry already makes generous profits charging universities and hospitals for access to the biomedical research journals they publish. But unsatisfied with feeding at the public trough only once (the vast majority of the estimated $10 billion dollar revenue of biomedical publishers already comes from public funds), they are seeking to squeeze cancer patients and high school students for an additional $25 every time they want to read about the latest work of America’s scientists.

Unable to convince the NIH to support their schemes, the powerful publishing lobby group – the Association of American Publishers – has sought Congressional relief. ... A new AAP backed bill – the “Research Works Act” – was just introduced by Reps Carolyn Maloney (D-NY) and Darrell Issa (R-CA). Its text is simple and odious:

No Federal agency may adopt, implement, maintain, continue, or otherwise engage in any policy, program, or other activity that: (1) causes, permits, or authorizes network dissemination of any private-sector research work without the prior consent of the publisher of such work; or (2) requires that any actual or prospective author, or the employer of such an actual or prospective author, assent to network dissemination of a private-sector research work.

This bill would not only end the NIH’s Public Access Policy, but it would forbid any effort on the part of any agency to ensure taxpayer access to work funded by the federal government.

Why, you might ask, would Carolyn Maloney, representing a liberal Democratic district in New York City that is home to many research institutions, sponsor such a reactionary piece of legislation that benefits a group of wealthy publishers at the expense of the American public? Hmm. Wouldn’t happen to have anything to do with the fact that she’s the biggest recipient of campaign contributions from the publishing industry, would it?

According to MapLight, which tracks political contributions, Dutch publisher Elsevier and its senior executives made 31 contributions to members of the House in 2011, of which 12 went to Representative Maloney. This includes contributions from 11 senior executives or partners, only one of whom is a resident of her district.

It is inexcusable that a simple idea – that no American should be denied access to biomedical research their tax dollars paid to produce – could be scuttled by a greedy publisher who bought access to a member of Congress.

...Several people have commented that the language of the bill I quoted refers to “private sector work”, thinking that this means it does not refer to work funded by the US Government.

...They are using intentionally misleading language to distinguish works funded by the government but carried out by a non-governmental agency as “private sector research”. Thus, under this bill, works funded by the NIH but carried at a University would be “private sector research”.

This language is in there because the US Copyright Act specifically denies copyright protection to works carried out by federal agencies, and the authors of this bill did not want it to be seen as amending Copyright Act, something that would have ensured its defeat.

Fairbanks Ice Fog - 2012

2012-01-31T12:49:00.000-08:00

It's been cold up there recently, but the cold weather will break soon for them:

Veteran Fairbanks photographer Eric Muehling posted this great video of ice fog at 50 below. It includes a shot from Farmers Loop of the downtown power plant plume, which is mostly fog that forms from water vapor, and a dashboard view of local roads on a chilly winter day.

Muehling compressed four hours into 90 seconds, which is plenty of time to capture the essence of the cold conditions.

..."It's interesting that the high-altitude clouds appear to be moving to the east," he said. The plume is moving west.

I Must Be Arriving At The Doorstep Of Old Age

2012-01-31T12:08:00.000-08:00

One of the comical sides of watching old people live their lives is watching how they can't manage the number, frequency, and variety of pills that they are required to take. All the little pill boxes with bright day-of-the-week labels, and all the rest.

I couldn't figure out why I was bedeviled by a headache this week. Finally figured it out. They changed my blood pressure medication recently, and so now the pill looks similar to another pill. Instead of taking BP medication I was taking Viagra, one of whose side effects is a headache.

Homes Of The Mexican Narco Elite

2012-01-31T11:59:00.000-08:00

Gary Johnson Says Repeal The Patriot Act

2012-01-31T00:43:00.000-08:00

It would be interesting to know what the most-common real-world effects of the Patriot Act have been. Unfortunately, such knowledge would likely require solitary confinement, with occasional waterboarding:

Former New Mexico governor and Libertarian presidential candidate Gary Johnson called for the Patriot Act to be repealed Sunday night during a national American Civil Liberties Union conference.

...“Ten years ago, we learned that the fastest way to pass a bad law is to call it the ‘Patriot Act’ and force Congress to vote on it in the immediate wake of a horrible attack on the United States,” Johnson said. “The irony is that there is really very little about the Patriot Act that is patriotic. Instead, it has turned out to be yet another tool the government is using to erode privacy, individual freedom and the Constitution itself.”

For Those Who Want Rain During The Next Week

2012-01-31T00:38:00.000-08:00

The forecasts say "eat my dust."

On The Meadowview Line

2012-01-30T23:57:00.000-08:00

I think everyone was horrified by the Light Rail accident on Saturday:

The train, carrying about 50 passengers, was southbound on the Meadowview line at 4:10 p.m. when it hit the SUV on 26th Avenue and pushed it 20 yards. The train stayed on the tracks, but the SUV flipped upside down, said Sgt. Andrew Pettit, Sacramento police spokesman.

Investigators looked at video and other evidence from the crash site and confirmed initial reports - that the driver of the SUV drove around a 26th Avenue crossing arm just before the vehicle was hit broadside by the Sacramento Regional Transit train, police said Sunday.

Three fatalities, and numerous injuries.

Out of curiosity, I drove down to the crossing tonight. Westbound on 26th Avenue, it looks like there is enough space for drivers to reconsider going around the crossing arms even if they had already started to do so.

But eastbound is another problem. As others have mentioned, visibility is limited. The street is hemmed in a bit, and there are sound walls right next to the track, so you might not see a train until you are on the tracks:

"It's crazy behavior, but I understand why," Tolmach said. "It's another form of road rage. You can't predict how long you'll be trapped."

In several heavily traveled neighborhoods, including south Sacramento, Rosemont and Rancho Cordova, the delay can be doubled, because light-rail trains share the same rail corridor as freight trains, and trains sometimes pass through on separate tracks just seconds apart.

Saturday's fatal crash happened during what may have been a perfect storm for frustration and danger at a rail crossing. The 26th Avenue crossing arms were down continuously for 7 1/2 minutes while first one, then another freight train passed on two of the corridor's four tracks, according to on-site recorders, Sacramento Regional Transit officials said.

After the second freight train cleared the crossing, recorders show there was a 37-second gap, with crossing arms remaining down, before a light-rail train came through on its track at an estimated 50-55 mph.

During those 37 seconds, authorities said, video shows that the Nissan Pathfinder pulled onto the wrong side of the road to angle past the down crossing arm. It may have jumped a four-inch plastic center divider just west of the crossing

Interestingly, it looks like the engineers who designed the crossing foresaw the problem. That four-inch plastic center divider on the median of the street on the west side of the tracks is there specifically to discourage people from even thinking about going around the crossing arms. The engineers anticipated the frustration that might conceivably happen. Maybe the barrier should have been six inches, or even eight inches tall. Maybe the center divider doesn't extend far enough from the crossing (but how to avoid inconveniencing people using driveways near the track?) Maybe. Maybe a portion of the sound wall should be demolished in order to enhance visibility. Maybe. But maybe there's only so much engineers can do. People just make stupid decisions sometimes.

Drag U

2012-01-30T13:19:00.000-08:00

I drifted asleep Sunday evening in front of the TV, and awoke to RuPaul's Drag U. Apart from 'Breaking Bad', RuPaul's shows are the best on TV:

The episodes start with RuPaul introducing three "students" to their assigned drag professors for each episode. The students meet RuPaul, who explains the competition, and then asks them to "walk this way" to the Drag Lab. The students then meet their professors, who ask them some intimate questions and try to find out what has brought them to Drag U. RuPaul presents each student with their "Dragulator" image and name, and lets the students and professors start working on their images.

And RuPaul's 'Word of the Day' slays me too. Just some random word. Because education enhances attitude!

Get More: Video & Movies, Logo: Fierce TV

Blithe Drift

2012-01-30T13:08:00.000-08:00

Nearly collided with a pickup truck on the way into work this morning. The driver of said truck simply drifted into the lane where I was, forcing me to take evasive action. No signal, no hurry, no glances around. Perched as high as the driver was, I think the driver simply didn't see me.

Awesome Tennis At The Australian Open

2012-01-30T01:04:00.001-08:00

First there was Victoria Evarenka and Maria Sharapova. Maria Sharapova always looked like the kind of competitor who could reach into your chest and seize your beating heart and eat it without ketchup. Except that's what Evarenka did to her. Short and brutal match!

And then there was Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal. I finally went to bed at 3:00 a.m. after two very-long sets, but woke again at 5:00 a.m., and found to my horror that the game was still going on. Indeed, Nadal's Sisyphean struggle to defeat Djokovic turned into the longest match in Australian Open history - nearly six hours long - and ultimately ended in Nadal's defeat.

Just amazing stuff!

Video.

Chicago Play « Good Day Sacramento

2012-01-30T00:58:00.000-08:00

Chicago Play « Good Day Sacramento

Now a fond, fond memory!

"Chicago" Closes

2012-01-30T00:09:00.001-08:00

Bows at DMTC.

Tony Ruiz (Billy Flynn) gestures stage left.

Jenny Ribadeneira takes her bow.

Choreographer Pamela Kay Lourentzos is honored.

The cast acknowledges the fine orchestra, as the trumpet player closes out the proceedings.

DMTC's "Put On A Happy Day" Raffle

2012-01-29T23:54:00.000-08:00

Today was the final day of DMTC's "Put On A Happy Day" Raffle.

At the end of intermission for DMTC's final performance of "Chicago", Steve and Jan Isaacson, and Adam Sartain, began looking for an audience member to actually draw the winning name. An audience member in the third row suggested one of their party: she was blind, and thus uniquely qualified to draw the name.

Steve announces the winner: Marty Shoen, who does a lot of volunteer work with the Young Performer's Theater (YPT).

Amber - Sexual (li da di) 1999

2012-01-29T23:23:00.000-08:00

Time seems to whip by. I was listening to the Thunderpuss edit of this tune and realized it now qualifies as a form of dance nostalgia.

Dog In Trouble

2012-01-29T23:17:00.000-08:00

MikeMac sends this:

Apologies for the notification e-mail, but time's a factor here. +Sarah Rippy is working emergency at the UCD Vet Hospital tonight, and a dog came in that was beaten up by another dog. Is anyone in the market for a (slightly used) dog? The owner is planning on euthanizing soon. :-\

RIP, Anthony Andrade

2012-01-29T23:08:00.000-08:00

The musical theater community is affected by the loss of Anthony Andrade from Woodland in a terrible car accident. I didn't know Anthony, but several friends did, and the loss is keener for that:

FAIRFIELD — Two Sacramento men were killed in an early morning traffic accident on westbound Interstate 80, just east of Air Base Parkway.

They are Vincente Santos, 25, and Anthony Andrade, 33, according to the Solano County Coroner’s Office.

The driver of one of the cars, Michelle Henry, 42, of Sacramento, was arrested for felony DUI and possession of a loaded firearm in her vehicle.

Gibson Girl in the Grand Canyon

2012-01-27T15:48:00.000-08:00

Or something like that - Deborah confuses me so.

The Perils Of Newt

2012-01-27T11:28:00.000-08:00

Facing a new assault by the rest of the GOP, and an animated Romney, Newt Gingrich is looking less like a World Historical Figure and more like a bit player in Dukes of Hazzard. So, how can he pull himself out of this jam? What demon is writhing around in the minds of Floridians that Newt can exploit that Mitt can't? Illegal Haitians releasing Burmese pythons into suburban neighborhoods? Oversized yachts in Ft. Lauderdale capsizing under the amateur direction of hedge-fund managers who winter in Davos? What?:

Mitt Romney ... went after Newt Gingrich immediately and relentlessly. He scolded him, rendered him momentarily mute, and took answers about other topics and turned them into attacks on Gingrich on key issues like excessive government spending. Romney didn't just have good answers, he looked like a man in command of himself.

...Romney started right away. If a candidate can deliver a strong moment that will run throughout the next day on cable and on local news, he wins the night. You just have to be good once, and preferably early in the evening. Romney had to know that Gingrich's claim that Romney was "anti-immigrant" would come up, and it came up early. He took offense and then took a hairbrush to Gingrich's bottom. He said the attack was "repulsive," called on Gingrich to apologize for the "kind of over-the-top rhetoric that has characterized American politics for too long."

Gingrich, inexplicably continued to defend the sentiment behind the "anti-immigrant" ad that he pulled down and that Sen. Marco Rubio had criticized. It gave Romney a chance to look indignant. This provides us with a quirk of political theater: Romney, who is authentically stiff and robotic in his natural state, looked "authentic" in what was no doubt a staged moment.

Romney also finally gave his best defense yet of his taxes. After Gingrich dared him to explain his Swiss bank account, Romney launched into a riff he'd clearly tried out a few times in front of the mirror. "I think it's important for people to make sure that we don't castigate individuals who have been successful. Let's put behind us this idea of attacking me because of my money."

He was in Gingrich's face all night. He criticized Gingrich for his ambitious plans to colonize the moon. "If I had a business executive come to me and say they wanted to spend a few hundred billion dollars to put a colony on the moon, I'd say, ‘You're fired.’ (Remember just a few weeks ago when Romney couldn’t say the word fired? That’s OK it was Newt he was firing.) "At another time he kneed Gingrich for pandering to local politicians, offering a new project in every state he visited. "This idea of going state to state and promising what people want to hear, promising billions, hundreds of billions of dollars to make people happy, that's what got us into the trouble we're in now. We've got to say no to this kind of spending."

During an exchange over Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, Gingrich offered a blustery attack on Romney's investments in the two companies. Romney pointed out that Gingrich had identical investments. "Right," was all Gingrich could say, as if being guilty of the charge he had just leveled at Romney were totally natural.

This Most Wretched Of Winters Continues

2012-01-27T11:25:00.000-08:00

Some hints of changes around Valentine's Day, but that seems a lifetime away.

Tired Of The Whining Sponges In The Heartland

2012-01-27T11:09:00.000-08:00

Tev shared this on Facebook.

People don't really seem to understand this very well. The interior states (mostly Red States) sponge off the rest of the country, and have always done so. There is no good reason for any of them to favor less federal government.

I'm happy to report my home state of New Mexico leads the list. Without the feds, NM would barely exist!

For example, what is the purpose of Albuquerque, New Mexico's largest city? Does it serve a critical function? No. Does it provide an irreplaceable resource? No. Economically speaking, it's a crossroads on the high desert plateaus, and not much more. As far as the rest of the country is concerned Albuquerque could function just as well with 50,000 residents as with 500,000. Without the federal government's direction and interest it would barely have any purpose at all!

As a New Mexico native, I'm grateful to the federal government!

35th Anniversary

2012-01-27T10:49:00.001-08:00

Holy mackerel! Today is the 35th anniversary of the date I bought my first car: the green 1970 VW Bug.

Boots And Cats

2012-01-26T16:30:00.000-08:00

"54" - Eric Redd

2012-01-26T16:08:00.000-08:00

Check out Kelsey B (together with Brooke Brzoska-Ogorek) in Eric Redd's new video! Kelsey looks awesome!

And Eric is such a great singer too!

The Bay Area

2012-01-26T13:41:00.000-08:00

Jonathan shared this on Facebook.

President Tyler's Grandkids

2012-01-26T13:29:00.000-08:00

Still going after all these years:

Former President John Tyler, born 221 years ago, still has two living grandchildren.

...So, how is it possible that a former president who died 150 years ago would still have direct descendents alive today? As it turns out, the Tyler men were known for fathering children late in life. And that math is pretty outstanding when added up:

John Tyler was born in 1790. He became the 10th president of the United States in 1841 after William Henry Harrison died in office. Tyler fathered Lyon Gardiner Tyler in 1853, at age 63. Then, at the age of 71, Lyon Gardiner Tyler fathered Lyon Gardiner Tyler Jr. in 1924 and four years later at age 75, Harrison Ruffin Tyler. Both men are still alive today.

...Some context on Tyler's progeny: Jane Garfield (granddaughter of James Garfield) is 99, making her the oldest living grandchild of a former president, even though Garfield took office 40 years after Tyler.

Imagine Tie-Dyed, Or Camouflaged Sheep

2012-01-26T13:15:00.000-08:00

Like fluffy colored clouds (via Wicked Thoughts):

The extraordinary sight is causing a sensation at SheepWorld, near Auckland.

Park bosses originally dyed the animals as part of breast cancer awareness week, but it proved to be such a hit with visitors that they decided to keep them as a permanent feature.

Nadal Defeats Federer

2012-01-26T12:40:00.000-08:00

Just a killer semi-final match between two gracious and very-evenly-matched foes.

In this video, the net intervenes.

It Doesn't Have To Be Funny

2012-01-26T12:14:00.000-08:00

Wednesday evening I was over at Jetta's place, putting together short videos to answer this casting call:

David Katz Productions, a Los Angeles based film and television production company whose projects include “Kissing Strangers” and “The Dispensary” is looking for amateur comedians to join the cast of a new, hilarious docu-series that follows the lives of the amateur comedians.

-Are you the next comedian to make us laugh?

-Are you juggling the ups and downs of life, writing jokes and going to open mic nights?

If you are living to tell a joke, have a unique point-of-view and potential to be the next big stand up comedian, then we want to hear from you!

J.: OK, tell me what you think about this joke:

When I moved from New York to Tucson, I walked into a bar and told the bartender "I want a beer!" He said, "Huh?" So, I told him again, this time louder, "I want a beer!" He said, "Huh?" So I shouted, "I want a BEER!" He said, "OH!"

J.: What do you think?

M.: It's not funny.

J.: (exasperated) Do I have to explain the joke to you? You analyze these things too much! It's because of my New York accent. The bartender couldn't understand my pronunciation of 'beer'!

M.: Your accent has faded over the years. It sounds like you are asking for a beer.

J.: Whatever; let's get to filming. What are you doing?

M.: I'm trying to make this joke work better.

J.: Not now. We've got to start filming.

M.: But my joke is pretty clunky. Besides, you hardly have any material.

J.: Don't you understand? It doesn't have to be funny.

M.: It doesn't?

J.: No. It's all about getting noticed by Hollywood. If they don't think we're funny - and they probably won't - then they can put us in something else where we are better-suited.

M.: But it's a casting call for comedians. It HAS to be funny!

J.: You analyze these things too much! Let's get to filming!

Robin Leach Confirms The News That Studio 54 at MGM Grand In Las Vegas Will Close

2012-01-26T11:55:00.000-08:00

This makes me sad. We all need a place in Las Vegas that is simultaneously debauched, and yet easy-to-access for the cost-conscious traveler. Studio 54 filled that need. High-end yet inaccessible clubs may be nice to watch on TV, but can you ever get inside? I wonder what this new venture will be like?:

As Studio 54 at MGM Grand prepares to close after a decade-long run, entertainment and hotel executives this morning confirmed our earlier Vegas DeLuxe stories of the new fine dining and luxury nightlife concept that will open there in December. An Abu Dhabi property-investment company, Tasameem, is partnered in the new venture, the second Middle East group to be involved in Strip nightclub ventures.

As we previously reported, Angel Management Group, which also runs Wet Republic at MGM Grand (and its dozen properties include Pure at Caesars Palace and LAX and Savile Row at the Luxor), will convert Studio 54 into a lavish, multi-story nightclub.

The Las Vegas-based company also has announced a partnership with the London-headquartered global restaurant brand Hakkasan known for its Michelin-starred properties. A Middle East emirates property group owns Hakkasan. Vegas DeLuxe readers will recall that a similar oil-rich money group purchased half of the Light Group nightclub operations at other MGM Resorts on the Strip and also took a major position in the ownership of MGM’s CityCenter.

In a statement released this morning, AMG officials said: “The collaboration delivers an innovative concept evolving beyond Hakkasan’s original restaurant model, incorporating the best elements in dining and nightlife to create an unimaginable experience that will revolutionize the Las Vegas market."

...The new venue, Hakkasan Las Vegas set to open in December, is part of MGM’s “Grand Renovation,” a 360-degree makeover that updates MGM Grand’s guest rooms, casino floor and other entertainment, dining and nightlife experiences. The transformation will expand the size of the former venue, creating an indoor/outdoor space with views of the Strip.

Tax Emergency

2012-01-26T11:49:00.000-08:00

Job creators gotta do what job creators gotta do, which is to call the wahmbulance anytime anyone ferrets out the carried-interest dodge:

“All you have to do is look at the former governor of Massachusetts’ tax return — and that’s why this has become an emergency,” Reid said. “Too many families in Nevada and across the country wake up every morning wondering why the opportunities for them and their children are so scarce. Then they look at the top 1 percent and find that they have a tax rate lower than what they pay.

“The system seems to be rigged in their favor ... it’s only fair to ask why people making millions shouldn’t pay their fair share.”

Mina April Minimum Temperatures

2012-01-25T15:13:00.000-08:00

I wanted to update a graph I made last year regarding April minimum temperatures in Mina, NV.

The April minimum temperatures are shown (using adjusted data), plus a three-year running average, to guide the eye.

Why Mina? Because it is in central Nevada, with a very low population, and unaffected by urbanization and the urban heat island effect.

Why April? Because April is a rather dry month in Nevada. The greenhouse effect is dominated by water vapor. The effects of the other greenhouse gases will be more evident if water vapor levels are at a minimum.

Why Minimum Temperature? Because the effects of greenhouse gases (other than water vapor) on raising temperature will be more pronounced when turbulence is at a minimum (mostly at night).

Last time, I noticed that temperatures increased sharply starting in the mid-70's, but the HCN Version 2 record ended in 1994, so I couldn't anything more than that. The updated HCN Version 3 record ends in 2011.

Some warming at this location appears evident, but the record looks more-complicated than I thought at first.

Citation:

3.1 GHCNM (version 2):

Peterson, T.C., and R.S. Vose, 1997: An overview of the Global
Historical Climatology Network temperature database. Bulletin of
the American Meteorological Society, 78 (12), 2837-2849

3.2 GHCNM (version 3):

J. H. Lawrimore, M. J. Menne, B. E. Gleason, C. N. Williams,
D. B. Wuertz, R. S. Vose, and J. Rennie (2011), An overview of the
Global Historical Climatology Network monthly mean temperature data
set, version 3, J. Geophys. Res., 116, D19121,
doi:10.1029/2011JD016187.

Oxford Comma Example

2012-01-25T12:34:00.000-08:00

Jerry shared this on Facebook.

Newt Gingrich Pointing At Things

2012-01-24T21:11:00.000-08:00

I like TPMs meme "Newt Gingrich Pointing At Things Condescendingly", but I think it works better just as "Newt Gingrich Pointing At Things".

No Time Toulouse

2012-01-24T19:05:00.000-08:00

A Bunch Of Supercommittee-Failure Chickens Coming Home To Roost

2012-01-24T16:48:00.000-08:00

Failure has consequences! And finally the GOP is starting to talk about tax increases!

Ultimately, it all depends on how much we want to pay for our huge military. You can't have a huge military without either a huge deficit or huge taxes:

House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.) on Monday suggested replacing the $600 billion in automatic defense cuts set to begin in 2013, even if Congress must do so one year at a time.

The defense cuts are looming as half of the $1.2 trillion sequestration that will kick in because of the failure late last year of the congressional deficit “supercommittee” to agree to a deficit-cutting plan.

...Cantor told reporters Monday that he wanted to try to find at least enough in offsets to restore the $60 billion in defense cuts set to take effect next year. He acknowledged that finding cuts to replace the entire $600 billion, spread out over 10 years, would be difficult, given the failure of deficit talks through 2011.

...The chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, Rep. Buck McKeon (R-Calif.), has already introduced legislation to undo the defense cuts, and has suggested that raising taxes would be preferable to allowing the sequester to go forward. McKeon later walked back those comments, stressing the need for cuts to entitlement programs.

President Obama’s Defense secretary, Leon Panetta, has warned that the across-the-board Pentagon cuts could damage the military, coming on top of $450 billion in reductions that the Defense Department is already planning to implement. Yet the president has threatened to reject any effort to undo the automatic cuts that is not part of a deficit-reduction deal that includes additional tax revenue.

...Cantor has spoken out against the automatic defense cuts since shortly after the supercommittee failed, but his push for replacing them piecemeal, if necessary, is consistent with his skepticism that major legislative compromise is possible before the November election.

“I’m hopeful that we can actually do something this year along those lines. I am also mindful of where we’ve been the last year,” he said in a reference to the repeated attempts on a deficit “grand bargain” that collapsed in the face of the wide ideological chasm over taxes and entitlement programs.

Women, Men, And Pain

2012-01-24T16:22:00.000-08:00

Scientific research highlights a conundrum:

A Stanford study sheds new light on the old cliche about women having a higher tolerance for pain than men - according to tens of thousands of electronic patient records, women tend to report much more severe pain than men, no matter the source of the pain.

The study being released today found that when asked to rate their pain on a scale of 0 to 10 - with 0 being no pain at all, and 10 being the worst pain imaginable - women on average scored their pain 20 percent more intense than men.

The results held up across a wide variety of diseases and injuries, including back and neck pain, digestive disorders, sinus infections, and even ankle strains and sprains. In almost every category researchers looked at, women reported more pain than men.

..."If I lined up 10 men and 10 women and I took a hammer and broke their legs exactly the same, the 10 women would report more pain than men. And maybe that's just the way women use the pain rating scale, but even knowing that is important," said Dr. Jon Levine, a UCSF rheumatologist who studies the causes and mechanisms of pain.

Personality Of The Year

2012-01-24T15:59:00.001-08:00

Once Newt is President, we'll have to contend with stuff like this:

Fiji's military leader Voreqe Bainimarama has won an apology from the country's free to air broadcaster after it ran a personality competition in which he came second.

Fiji TV subsequently changed the result of the text vote to give Bainimarama the winning personality of the year award and stripping it from the original winner, Premila Kumar of the Consumer Council.

Bainimarama, who ended democracy with an armed coup in 2006 and refuses to restore democracy until 2014, said the poll was undemocratic.

He claimed Fiji TV closed the competition a day early and did not count 1500 votes that had all come in for him later.

Anti-regime blog sites claim those votes came in from two mobile phones used by the military.

Shot Of The Day

2012-01-24T15:38:00.000-08:00

Rafael Nadal outwits Tomas Berdych.

Nice Rainfall From The Storms

2012-01-24T14:42:00.000-08:00

A total of 2.43" at Sacramento Executive Airport. But we still have a severe deficit to overcome, not much time to do it, and no immediate prospects for more.

Statewide snowfall content is about 40% of average for this date.

The Flyway Project

2012-01-24T13:21:00.000-08:00

Flight Path: The Flyway Project from Albuquerque Public Art on Vimeo.

This is an interesting, but long, video regarding The Flyway Project.

On my most recent visit to Albuquerque, NM, I passed by the location on Coors Road, and turned around for a visit, since it looked so striking. Living in Sacramento, CA, I hadn't heard anything about the piece, and so my initial reaction was "WTF?"

I could tell the piece was assembled from jetty jacks, which the Middle Rio Grande Conservancy District has long cabled together for flood control purposes along the Rio Grande River. The jetty jacks hail from a long time ago (Bob Wilson says the 1940's, but it wouldn't surprise me if they are from the 1920's, or even older than that). Jetty jacks can hold the river bank together even through heavy floods. So, it seemed disastrously apropos that just as the number of homes in harm's way in the river valley is increasing that people would rip apart crucial public infrastructure in order to make art. It's very 'New Mexico' to do things like that. And it's all in honor of migrating birds too. Who can simply fly elsewhere if inconvenienced by floods.

Apparently a determination has been made somewhere that, because of flood control projects upstream on the Rio Grande River (like Cochiti Dam) that numerous jetty jacks are obsolete, and thus it is appropriate to convert their angle-iron to artistic purposes. I'm not sure I really believe this. Cochiti Reservoir is silting rapidly (it has a 100-year life span and we are already a third of the way through that) and it's always possible to generate flash floods from tributaries closer to town.

Bob Wilson goes on at some length about the approval process for the project. That approval process can be withering, but it's interesting how anxious Wilson felt about it, since there was apparently no public opposition to the project. And it's interesting how no one apparently brought up the subject of floods. People took it on faith that the determination of jetty-jack obsolescence was accurate.

Well, the city may be more-exposed than ever to flood damage, but in exchange we have handsome things like this project to look at. Seems like a fair trade.

Pity The Male Narcissists

2012-01-24T13:04:00.000-08:00

Because they suffer:

Men who are narcissists may be at risk for some health problems, since they could have inherently higher levels of the stress-related hormone cortisol even when they're not under pressure, a study finds.

Cortisol, which is released by the body when it's under duress or going through an intense activity, can have some benefits--lending an energy surge, helping the body burn fat, and boosting memory. But too much cortisol from chronic stress can have deleterious effects, such as higher blood pressure, lower immunity and higher levels of abdominal fat.

..."Narcissistic men may be paying a high price in terms of their physical health, in addition to the psychological cost to their relationships," said co-author Sara Konrath of the University of Michigan in a news release.

The Progress Of Global Warming

2012-01-23T17:02:00.000-08:00

Evolution

2012-01-23T15:44:00.000-08:00

Shared by James On Facebook.

Bill Burr On His Breaking Bad Role

2012-01-23T15:32:00.000-08:00

Funny guy!:

Yeah man, I am a huge fan. I watched all the episodes, I’ve never missed one episode, and it was the most surreal thing that I got to do. It’s like, if you were into Star Wars, and they made another Star Wars, and you got to play like Boba Fett or a Stormtrooper, that’s how I felt when I was down there. Without a doubt it was like the coolest thing I got to do. All of the sudden, I was somehow inserted into the storylines of these characters. I knew that obviously they weren’t real, that it’s a TV show, but you know when you get so emotionally invested? It’s like if you booked a scene, like you’re watching the Sopranos and you’re following the story and all of the sudden you are in it and you’re standing next to Paulie and you got a scene with him, and you’re just like, how the fuck did this happen?

Breaking Bad - Several Minor Sites

2012-01-23T13:50:00.000-08:00

I’ve had a chance to re-review some of “Breaking Bad” video again. The BB sites that are resistant to analysis are still resistant to analysis, but I’ve been able to puzzle out a few more minor sites.

I noticed there was something odd about the scene where Jesse & Walt meet near the Nuclear Museum. Using Google Earth, I realized that that particular scene can only be had from the roof of the Old Town Parking Garage, 20th & Mountain Rd. NW (Season 2, episode 7, "Negro y Azul").

"We're not charging enough. Corner the market then raise the price. Simple economics."

In addition, I think I’ve figured out two time lapse sequences:

Reverse Sunset, View from base of the Tramway (Season 3, episode 7, "One Minute"). Time Lapse. The new Mormon Temple is visible in the lower left quadrant.

View of Downtown (Season 3, episode 8, "I See You") View of downtown. Time lapse from vicinity of Walter & Marble NE, and taken from TriCore Reference Laboratories, 1001 Woodward Pl. NE.

Oncology Clinic (1), (Season 1, Episode 6, "Crazy Handful of Nothin'").

I generally agree with “WallDruggie” that the Oncology Clinic hallway scene (Season 1, episode 6, “Crazy Handful of Nothin’”) is likely at Q Studios. The wall visible in the distance closely resembles the fence that surrounds Q Studios. It also wouldn’t be a surprise if the Cancer Support Group in the same episode was filmed at Rio Rancho High School, per WallDruggie’s suggestion.

In addition, I have a hypothesis about the peaks visible from Hank’s window as he drives to the Big Chief Gas Station (Season 3, episode 4, "Green Light. The peaks don't seem to correspond to anything in the Zia Pueblo area, or the drive up there or past there, but there are peaks that might work in the general area of La Luz picnic area, at the forefront of the Sandia Mountains, as seen from either Service Rd. 333B or Tierra Monte "). It’s a suggestion, but it’s still a stretch: The “Shield” area of the Sandias doesn’t look quite right.

Alaska - A quien le importa

2012-01-23T13:29:00.000-08:00

Interesting history:

Alaska (born Olvido Gara Jova, June 13, 1963 in Mexico City) is a Spanish - Mexican singer, dj, and TV personality famous in Spain and Latin America. She was of the main characters in the so called Movida the cultural movement following the Franco dictatorship in Spain. This movement in which music, arts, cinema and fashion erupted and collided to confirm the actual society Spain had become under Franco. She has participated since the last part of the seventies in several groups of different success: Kaka de Luxe 1977, Alaska y los Pegamoides 1980, Alaska y Dinarama 1983 and since 1989 the duet Fangoria (band). She is also one of Mexico's and Spain's main gay icons.

Her father was a Spaniard exiled during the Spanish Civil War and her mother a Cuban exiled by Castro.

Some years before Francisco Franco died, her parents decided to move back to Spain.

Alaska was a big fan of Lou Reed, T-Rex, etc., but David Bowie was her biggest influence. She even told her mother that she would love to be a boy just to be gay.

Making Sport Of The Rich

2012-01-23T13:15:00.000-08:00

Got to put them to some use, after all.

Coast To Coast AM Hitting Closer To Our Problems These Days

2012-01-23T12:50:00.000-08:00

There is no better platform than George Noory's Coast-to-Coast AM radio show, but the show often veers into conspiratorial vacuity, and loses punch.

These days, however, the show is hitting important topics harder than ever, and deserves greater attention.

For example, last week:

In a special program, George Noory was joined by Linda Moulton Howe to interview four guests, who appeared in individual half-hour segments, about the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) of 2012, which contains controversial provisions such as the holding of suspects without due process or habeas corpus.

And last night:

Muckraker and investigative journalist Greg Palast joined George Knapp for inside details on stories that American media doesn't report, including revelations on Big Oil, and financial "vultures" who use shady practices for mega-profits. He uncovered that two years before the BP/Deepwater Horizon disaster in the Gulf, a similar incident happened to BP in the Caspian Sea off Azerbaijan, indicating that they were well aware of such drilling problems. BP covered up the incident by bribing Azerbaijani officials, and flying them to London for lap dances, he detailed.

Newt Gingrich Wins The South Carolina Primary

2012-01-23T11:57:00.000-08:00

After much wailing and gnashing of teeth, that old shipwreck Newt Gingrich tapped into that rich vein of conservative victimology and finally prevailed against Mitt Romney.

Newt Gingrich won the South Carolina primary on Saturday—according to him, not because of his debate skills, but because of his ability to “articulate the deepest-felt values of the American people.” He is bound by few limits in his ability to mold his accomplishments—as a professor, historian, and world leader extraordinaire—into Manichean fights of vast proportion. His oratory references the countless ways in which he virtually single-handedly lifted America from the pangs of unemployment and national calamity.

One thing I've seen virtually no mention of in the punditry, however, is that the GOP presidential race now reflects that centuries-old divide between the North and the South. There are countervailing currents - Northern evangelical (Santorum) and Southern libertarian (Paul) - and even high finance (Romney) versus TV expertise (Gingrich) - but basically it's North versus South. It's not even conservative base versus the elites, as some would have it. Romney and Gingrich both hail from, and speak for, elites. As long as Perry and Cain had fighting chances for the nomination, Gingrich couldn't fight effectively against Romney's money machine: the Southern vote was split. Now, the battle is on!

So, who wins? The GOP's base these days is suburban, first, with a strong anchor in the South, second. With the North turning increasingly Blue, and the northern GOP losing all salience, I think Gingrich ultimately wins. Gingrich, the fellow that my brother-in-law (among others) dismissed contemptuously as a liberal when he chastised Paul Ryan last May for right-wing social engineering, will be able to overcome Romney's millions. What a turn-around!

But Gingrich will prove a poor candidate in November against Barack Obama. Still, it will be a fun campaign!

Gas Pumps Of The Old West

2012-01-23T11:54:00.000-08:00

Dyer takes the best photos:

Thanks all, this is an old pump at the Empire Ranch, north of Sonoita. This area was designated the Las Cienegas National Conservation Area in 2000. It is an interesting place and there are big cottonwood trees nearby. (open to the public at all times.)

Lisicki Can't Quite Do It

2012-01-23T11:31:00.000-08:00

Lisicki was able to give Sharapova a hard time, but in the end, ruthlessness won out:

“If you played her strengths, if you give her time, she gets a good strike on the ball and can hit a good winner from, any side of the court,” Sharapova said. “But if she can do that for three hours straight, at the end of the match you end up losing and that's just too good. But obviously I was trying to create those opportunities where, maybe she had to go for a little bit more and force the errors out of her.”

...“You're in a quarterfinals stage of a tournament,” Sharapova said. “It's only going to be tough from here.”

Watching The Australian Open

2012-01-22T23:41:00.000-08:00

I hardly ever watch sports on TV, and I never watch the ESPN channel. Nevertheless, channel surfing on Friday evening, I became mesmerized by the 2012 Australian Open: in particular (and not surprisingly) by the women's singles tennis players.

I remember playing a bit of tennis in college. That was fun, but that was a long time ago. Excepting the 'power and strategy' part, it seems to be a distant cousin of dance, and thus quite enjoyable to watch.

One thing I enjoyed was that ESPN's cameras stayed on the players even as they 'relaxed' (if that's the proper term) between games. I was struck by Sabine Lisicki, and her constant focus, focus, focus. She never stopped moving, even at rest. You could practically see the wheels turning in her head. What the life of a champion must be like!

Lisicki's going to play again in an hour against Maria Sharapova. The commentators hinted that Sharapova would devour Lisicki like an after-dinner mint:

Sharapova can’t - and doesn’t - expect things to be so easy in the latter stages. The draw here has put her up against Sabine Lisicki in round four. Lisicki has a game that is well suited to hard courts, and her serve is about as ferocious as any on the women’s tour.

"Lisicki has a lot of power, big serve," acknowledged Sharapova ahead of their clash.

Expect Sharapova to be given a tougher test, but she should progress to the quarter-finals.

I hope this analysis is off-base. I will have to watch!

Night Of The Screaming Rabbit

2012-01-22T21:32:00.000-08:00

Bailey the Rabbit has proven to be a fiercely-independent little creature. Since Bailey arrived last June he has maintained a standoffish attitude. In turn, I let him have his space.

Bailey likes to remain in the garage during the day and out in the yard at night. He seeks minimal shelter during rain, preferring to hide under trees, bushes or latticework, even though these obstacles will not prevent a soaking over time. He certainly won't go into the garage during rain, unless it's raining in the daytime. Even the chilly weather of winter hasn't changed his determined attitude.

Fortunately the weather has acted to accommodate Bailey. It's been very dry since June.

But time ran out on Friday evening. Radar showed that the light rainfall of the day was going to change to a fierce inundation as the front passed through Friday night. And nighttime meant Bailey would stay out in the yard, no matter what.

So, what to do with the stubborn inhabitant of the back yard? I decided to bring Bailey into the house to save him from a soaking, if only for a few hours, as the storm swept through. But how to catch him?

I brought out a pet carrier and set about to make a trap. As Bailey hid among the rushes at the end of the back yard I maneuvered a portable fence around him and caged him in against the back fence to the yard. Then, I stepped within the fence and cornered the rabbit.

Bailey panicked. As I grabbed him, he bucked. I hugged him hard to prevent him from breaking his own spine with his kicks. Bailey let out a scream from the very depths of his soul - the famed Rabbit Scream - right into my left ear.

And what is the Rabbit Scream?:

If a rabbit screams or squeals it means it is in pain or extremely scared. Such a scream is often let out when a fatal wound is inflicted on a wild rabbit by a predator.

Hoping I hadn't inflicted a fatal wound I quickly put Bailey into the pet carrier and took him upstairs into the house. I set him in front of the heater vent and let him start to warm up as I started to watch television.

The Rabbit Scream notwithstanding, it appeared Bailey was only frightened, not injured. I shouldn't have been surprised he was a bit of a Drama Queen. Aren't we all, these days?

I opened to door to the pet carrier and presented Bailey with some food, which he nibbled at when I wasn't around. For the most part, he hunkered inside the pet carrier. The storm roared past and pummeled the house.

After about five hours, Bailey had dried out. I went outside, and it looked quiet enough again to release him. I went back inside, and Bailey was no longer in the pet carrier. He had taken advantage of my absence to start investigating the wonders of the living room: chairs, tables, etc. I encouraged him to go back into the pet carrier, which he did on his own accord. I took him downstairs in the pet carrier, and released him.

Somehow I need to figure out how to have a more-normal relationship with Bailey the Rabbit.

Sounds Bad In Pleasant Valley, South Of Reno

2012-01-20T15:59:00.000-08:00

Volatile!

2012-01-20T15:02:00.000-08:00

The Kids Of Death Valley Are Screwed

2012-01-20T12:20:00.000-08:00

Damned state budget troubles:

It is 6:54 a.m. Marlee, a 14-year-old with raven hair and red nail polish, climbs aboard. She is one of nine students who spend more than two hours riding this bus 120 miles every school day to and from the Furnace Creek area to their school in Shoshone.

The long distance and light passenger load make this bus ride exorbitantly expensive. The Death Valley Unified School District spends about $3,500 a year for each of its 60 students on home-to-school transportation — compared with about $26 per student in more densely populated districts, according to data compiled by the California School Boards Assn.

So when Gov. Jerry Brown announced that lagging state revenue would require eliminating all school transportation funding for the rest of this fiscal year, it hit this tiny school district harder than just about any other in California. Death Valley Supt. Jim Copeland calls the cut, which took effect Jan. 1, "catastrophic."

For students like Marlee, the issue goes way beyond dollars and cents. The bus is her lifeline from the desolation of the desert to a wider world of teachers and friends, school sports and art projects and academic stimulation.

"School is the highlight of my life, and we can't get to school without the buses," Marlee said after a recent morning ride.

Bailey Resists The Imperatives Of Weather

2012-01-20T12:04:00.000-08:00

I worried that oh-so-stubborn Bailey The Bunny would have trouble once the weather turned bad, and I'm afraid that's coming to pass. Bailey's rarely seen rain - it's been quite dry since June, when he took up residence - and he tries to outsmart rain by taking shelter under trees and bushes. Trouble is, rain accumulates, and Bailey doesn't understand that concept. Bailey has access to the garage where it's dry, but he wants to maintain his normal daily rhythm by being out in the yard all night long and he doesn't want to pay any heed to the wetness.

We're going to get a soaking this evening, so I may need to take action.

Moving At Light Speed Through A Universe Of Moral Relativity

2012-01-20T11:44:00.000-08:00

Let's face it: Sarah Palin is hot. So whatever she says regarding sexual mores must be hot too.

And what she seems to be saying is don't look at the train wreck over there:

Speaking to Republican radio host Sean Hannity on Thursday, former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin (R) claimed that her favored candidate for president, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, somehow stands to benefit by his second wife claiming that he asked her for an “open marriage.”

“They, thinking that by trotting out this old Gingrich divorce interview that’s old news — and it does feature a disgruntled ex, claiming that it would destroy his campaign — all it does, Sean, is incentivize conservatives and independents who are so sick of the politics of personal destruction, because it’s played so selectively by media, that their target, in this case Newt, he’s now going to soar even more,” Palin said.

“Because we know the game now, and we just won’t put up with it. So, good call, media. Way to go to covertly hype this, even Gingrich opponents. For being so brilliant, they sure are dumb.”

Palin, who often takes it upon herself to try and correct what she calls the “lamestream media,” said that ABC’s interview was “old,” when in fact it is the first interview ever conducted with Marianne Gingrich, who divorced the former House speaker in 1999 shortly after Gingrich and his fellow Republicans put to rest their years-long crusade against President Bill Clinton’s sexual infidelities.

Trying To Puzzle Out The Mystery Snow

2012-01-20T10:52:00.001-08:00

Jerry tries to puzzle out a strange-looking forecast map for northern Indiana:

This is kind of a strange one -- there isn't anything on the surface chart that can explain the forecast for heavy snow in our area. (The area of snow is smack in the middle of a high-pressure system.) The 500mb chart does show a trough, but it's almost imperceptible.

The only thing that I can see that tells me anything is the 700-mb chart, which shows a relatively strong trough, accompanied by a detached slug of high relative humidity. Just looks weird to me.

It almost looks as if the Indiana snow (warm front?) is associated with the Georgia T-storms (cold front?) Like a mid-latitude short wave passing eastwards from the northern Rockies has caught up with a slower-moving southern system, and the two systems are beginning to work in concert. There is a surface low just east of the southern Rockies, in the vicinity of the Oklahoma Panhandle. But it is odd that the system washes out with height.

That surface low may be a warm-core kind of low. It originated on the ITCZ between Hawaii and the mainland more than a week ago and has been drifting northeastwards ever since. As I recall, when that surface low first started off, it was so strong that the NOGAPS forecast suggested it could be near tropical-storm strength. By now, it's highly-modified, but it still exists and it's still affecting the weather.

The Freeway Blogger Strikes Again!

2012-01-20T09:45:00.000-08:00

I got a note from the Freeway Blogger:

Hey there Sacramento-area blogger, thought I'd share some of my work with you on your freeways. Hell of a lot of fun... yours, scarlet p.

That looks like a lot of fun! I will repost.

I’m a native of Albuquerque, NM, where oddball signs and murals are relatively-common, and I’ve often been disappointed at the staidness of Sacramento, CA. We need to loosen a few screws here, I fear.

Not long ago, I was chatting with a lawyer regarding corporate personhood and he made an interesting point (which I would need to follow up on to be sure of) that a degree of corporate personhood is welcome. Lawsuits against corporations used to be impossible until corporate personhood was granted to them. The question may be whether corporations have free speech rights to go along with their corporate personhood. That seems to be where the train runs off the rails. But I’m not a lawyer and I don’t know the history and can’t speak authoritatively on the matter.

The Freeway Blogger replies:

I biked from LA to Albuquerque twice last year (although once was with a car assist from Baker to Flagstaff) and frankly can hardly wait to do it again.

I've been at this signposting gig for a Long Time now (thanks Bush!) just waiting for folks to catch on. Originally I figured it wouldn't take more than fifty or a hundred signs, each seen by a few tens of thousands of people, before people would realize how obvious a means of protest it was. Still waiting on that part. I'd have given up long ago except 1) somebody needs to do it and 2) it's a Hell of a Lot of Fun. And by that I mean just about every aspect of the process

As far as the messages go, however, I don't have a lot of room for nuance. I have to keep it short, which is a lot tougher when dealing with issues like corporate personhood and economic disparity. It was a hell of a lot easier when I was just bitching about Bush.

Nice chatting with you. I'll give you a heads-up next time I'm decorating your freeways. -scarlet p. (not my real name)

The sounds like a lot of fun!

I remember as a teenager being stranded for a long while in the VW Campmobile with the rest of my family by a flat tire on the Surprise Overpass between Flagstaff and Winslow. At the time the episode filled us with dread, but I always thought the area would be lovely if experienced in a different, more-prepared way, like by bicycle.

Thank you, and the best of luck on your future exploits! I’ll keep an eye out for your work!

Marc

Cody Craven Wins A 2011 BWW Award

2012-01-20T09:20:00.000-08:00

Cody Craven is an amazing talent and it's more than just the Davis folks who recognize it!:

This year's awards broke traffic records and we couldn't be more excited to announce the 2011 BroadwayWorld San Francisco Award winners!

Best Featured Actor in a Musical (Local)
Cody Craven - Hairspray - Summer Repertory Theatre

A year ago someone uploaded to YouTube a video of Cody singing "Barrett's Song" from "Titanic The Musical".

Soap Opera Parable For The Day

2012-01-19T17:19:00.000-08:00

This is odd - not quite my cup of tea - but it has its own appeal. Something soothing on the eve of the South Carolina primary.

Two of the Emperor's men overcome political differences and let love triumph.

Gay. In Spanish. In the Future.

Very Light Precipitation So Far Today In Sacramento

2012-01-19T17:06:00.001-08:00

But at least the Pacific Northwest (particularly Oregon) is getting slammed.

Rick Perry Blues

2012-01-19T14:43:00.000-08:00

Shared by Jacob on Facebook.

Well, Here Goes....

2012-01-18T17:17:00.001-08:00

YCC Application.

Jon Stewart And Colbert Not Coordinating On The Super PAC

2012-01-18T14:09:00.000-08:00

The Daily Show
Get More: Daily Show Full Episodes,Political Humor & Satire Blog,The Daily Show on Facebook

When Danger Reared Its Ugly Head, Brave Schettino Turned And Fled

2012-01-18T13:05:00.000-08:00

Amazing:

[Schettino] should have stayed to the end. That is what Commodore (Edward J.) Smith did on the Titanic. Smith died, and I think “just as well that he did” because he would have been disgraced for life as the collision was completely his fault in every sense. I recall as well the captain of the Andrea Doria (Piero Calamai, an Italian) in 1956. He lived, but he was the last one off his ship as it sank. That is the way of the captain.

This captain should have stayed and helped save passengers. When a ship lists like that and goes out of vertical, the doorways and other interior structures are twisted. This is well known and it will trap people in their cabins. So his duty ultimately would have included searching for trapped survivors himself. But he must also maintain the discipline of the bridge, and send assessment parties out. His main job is to stay at his command post and direct all this activity. There would have been a better lifeboat evacuation if the captain had been at his post and in command. We would not have seen such hysterical images of people thrown into panic and having to pilot their own lifeboats. The captain did not even announce “Abandon ship!” – because he was not there! Just appalling.

...Legally an evacuation drill is required within 24 hours after sailing. ... But lifeboat drills are not very useful by and large. The people sit in a giant theater and hear a talk and then go outside on deck and perhaps stand around in a life jacket. That is a far cry from a pitch-black panicked evacuation surrounded by dark seas. And this would have been the biggest evacuation of a cruise ship in history. There were 4,000 people trying to get off.

You cannot fault the people for panicking. None of us knows how we would react in such a moment of bedlam. And because there are not many true sailors and seamen on board these ships nowadays, the crew members were trying to get away too.

...But it will have repercussions far beyond the numbers dead. It will live on in infamy, and for these reasons: Utter command stupidity, horrendous behavior on the part of the captain, sloppy evacuation, and the vessel settling there and becoming an in-your-face icon of what can go wrong. And, the problem of transient crews with little experience in emergencies. They are simply not steeped in the lore and traditions of the sea – how can they be?

The Chinese Continue On Their Demented Path

2012-01-18T12:55:00.000-08:00

Evil on the march:

BEIJING — The Chinese State Council has removed a crucial roadblock to building one of the nation’s most contentious hydroelectric dams, dealing a decisive defeat to environmentalists critical of the project — and showcasing the clout of one of the most powerful and ambitious politicians in China.

In a little-noticed ruling made public on Dec. 14, the council approved changes to shrink the boundaries of a Yangtze River preserve that is home to many of the river’s rare and endangered fish species. The decision is likely to clear the way for construction of the Xiaonanhai Dam, a $3.8 billion project that environmental experts say will flood much of the preserve and probably wipe out many species.

“This is almost the last reserve for the whole river basin, especially after the construction of Three Gorges,” the world’s largest hydroelectric project, said Qiaoyu Guo, Yangtze River project manager for the Nature Conservancy in Beijing. “There will be very dramatic damage to these kinds of species.”

The decision is a big victory for Bo Xilai, the Communist Party secretary of Chongqing, the central Chinese megalopolis where the dam will be built. Plans for the dam, one of Mr. Bo’s pet projects, were suspended by the central government in 2009 under pressure from environmental critics.

...“The conservation zone is the last stretch of free-flowing water body on the Yangtze that is absolutely essential for the reproduction of many rare fishes,” Li Bo, the head of the group Friends of Nature, said in an interview. “Once the border of the conservation zone is moved, those fish would not have enough space to reproduce.”

David Brooks Wonders Where The Liberals Are - I Say "Here I Am!"

2012-01-18T12:30:00.000-08:00

David Brooks doesn't talk to enough people, it seems. Liberals are everywhere!

Still, Brooks does have a point that liberals don't have much faith in government as a solution these days. I think the British writer Godfrey Hodgson pointed out two reasons in his book from the 70's, "America In Our Time: From World War II To Nixon."

As I recall Hodgson's argument, part of the doubt is watching just how deep into the thicket of regulations you have to get to single out the factors that cause the troubles people have to deal with. The thicket of air pollution regulations (using an example that I'm somewhat familiar with) is frighteningly complex, all in order to deal with smoke in an measured way. And that's just smoke. You don't have to be a conservative to wonder if the complexity of the effort is worth the cost.

Second, some of the most vexing problems people have to deal with seem inherent in human beings, and seem to defy governmental solutions. An excellent example is drug abuse. How to stop it? What programs work? The most-effective solutions so far seem to rely on religious or spiritual engagement, but that fails far too often too.

Still, government can do some things (like Social Security) quite well, and that's where the support of us liberals is very important. And we liberals are here, if Brooks would just ask around. Some of the people who describe themselves as conservatives are actually liberals:

Why aren’t there more liberals in America?

It’s not because liberalism lacks cultural power. Many polls suggest that a majority of college professors and national journalists vote Democratic. The movie, TV, music and publishing industries are dominated by liberals.

It’s not because recent events have disproved the liberal worldview. On the contrary, we’re still recovering from a financial crisis caused, in large measure, by Wall Street excess. Corporate profits are zooming while worker salaries are flat.

It’s not because liberalism’s opponents are going from strength to strength. The Republican Party is unpopular and sometimes embarrassing.

Given the circumstances, this should be a golden age of liberalism. Yet the percentage of Americans who call themselves liberals is either flat or in decline. There are now two conservatives in this country for every liberal. Over the past 40 years, liberalism has been astonishingly incapable at expanding its market share.

The most important explanation is what you might call the Instrument Problem. Americans may agree with liberal diagnoses, but they don’t trust the instrument the Democrats use to solve problems. They don’t trust the federal government.

Interesting Essay Regarding William Tecumseh Sherman

2012-01-18T12:20:00.000-08:00

The scourge of sentimental thinking:

Though born in Ohio, Sherman had spent much of his life among Southerners. In 1836 he entered West Point, where the emphasis on hierarchy and obedience would prepare Sherman well to move later among aristocratic Southerners. Upon graduation in 1840, Sherman spent the next six years at postings across the Deep South, in Florida, Alabama, Georgia and South Carolina. It was especially while in Charleston that Sherman got to know the South’s aristocracy, attending parties and going on deer hunts along the Cooper River.

...Blinded by his implacable racism, Sherman could see no worthwhile moral or legal debate to be had over slavery. History had forced this institution on the South, Sherman thought, and its continued prosperity depended on embracing it. “Theoretical notions of humanity and religion,” he flatly declared, “cannot shake the commercial fact that their labor is of great value and cannot be dispensed with.”

...Still, slavery did trouble Sherman in one way: He grew increasingly worried that the political fight over it would threaten the stability of the Union. However, while he occasionally singled out Southerners for overreacting to antislavery sentiment — once writing that they “pretend to think that the northern people have nothing to do but steal niggers and preach sedition” — Sherman overall displayed a clear sympathy for their side in the growing schism.

...On the other hand, Sherman was always consistent when it came to the most fundamental disagreement between himself and his Southern friends and colleagues. He resigned his superintendency in January 1861 when it was clear Louisiana would follow the cotton states out of the Union. Sherman would help Southern whites “protect themselves against negroes and abolitionists,” but he refused to accept disunion under any circumstances.

...Sherman would also hold rage in his heart at what he considered Confederate treason, and he came to embrace a war strategy to make the South pay for its disloyalty. “My aim,” according to his memoirs, “was to whip the rebels, to humble their pride, to follow them to their inmost recesses, and make them fear and dread us.” This Sherman, the scourge of the South, is well-established in Civil War history.

...Sherman’s relationship with the South makes him one of the most paradoxical and polarizing figures of the Civil War. He understood, and to a great extent embraced, the beliefs and values that led the South to secede. Yet of all Union generals he was the most viscerally opposed to the rebellion, causing him, as the war went on, to become the Confederacy’s sympathetic, vengeful enemy.

PG&E's Bonus System

2012-01-18T12:03:00.000-08:00

Almost missed this amazing article:

Under the system PG&E had in place until 2008, managers would receive incentive bonuses if they met several performance standards, said Steven Segale, one of the three employees whose complaints prompted the internal company audit. One standard was based on the number of leaks a supervisor's crew found per mile on a gas pipeline inspection - the fewer the leaks, the bigger the bonus, Segale said.

...Segale said managers had regularly pressured employees to downgrade leaks from the most serious, Grade 1, which have to be repaired immediately, to a lower-priority Grade 2 that could allow them to remain unrepaired for up to 18 months. He said everyone knew supervisors got incentive in the form of annual bonuses.

"They would say, 'You're killing me!' " said Segale, 52, of Fairfax, a gas-welding crew foreman and weld inspector for the company. "Or, 'My superintendent is going to take a piece out of my ass if I go over budget. Can't you make this a Grade 2 and not a Grade 1?' "

...Another whistle-blower, gas crew foreman Michael Scafani, said he had long complained to management in the North Bay that customers were finding most of the leaks instead of PG&E.

"Leaks are my issue," said Scafani, a 35-year veteran with the company. "I fix them. I see the close proximity to houses, where the gas has accumulated. I'm really amazed that more houses haven't blown up."

An Innocent In Guantanamo

2012-01-18T11:44:00.000-08:00

And the innumerable mistakes of the U.S. Government has made by creating this lawless hellhole:

I left Algeria in 1990 to work abroad. In 1997 my family and I moved to Bosnia and Herzegovina at the request of my employer, the Red Crescent Society of the United Arab Emirates. I served in the Sarajevo office as director of humanitarian aid for children who had lost relatives to violence during the Balkan conflicts. In 1998, I became a Bosnian citizen. We had a good life, but all of that changed after 9/11.

When I arrived at work on the morning of Oct. 19, 2001, an intelligence officer was waiting for me. He asked me to accompany him to answer questions. I did so, voluntarily — but afterward I was told that I could not go home. The United States had demanded that local authorities arrest me and five other men. News reports at the time said the United States believed that I was plotting to blow up its embassy in Sarajevo. I had never — for a second — considered this.

The fact that the United States had made a mistake was clear from the beginning. Bosnia’s highest court investigated the American claim, found that there was no evidence against me and ordered my release. But instead, the moment I was released American agents seized me and the five others. We were tied up like animals and flown to Guantánamo, the American naval base in Cuba. I arrived on Jan. 20, 2002.

...I went on a hunger strike for two years because no one would tell me why I was being imprisoned. Twice each day my captors would shove a tube up my nose, down my throat and into my stomach so they could pour food into me. It was excruciating, but I was innocent and so I kept up my protest.

In 2008, my demand for a fair legal process went all the way to America’s highest court. In a decision that bears my name, the Supreme Court declared that “the laws and Constitution are designed to survive, and remain in force, in extraordinary times.”

...Five months later, Judge Richard J. Leon, of the Federal District Court in Washington, reviewed all of the reasons offered to justify my imprisonment, including secret information I never saw or heard. The government abandoned its claim of an embassy bomb plot just before the judge could hear it. After the hearing, he ordered the government to free me and four other men who had been arrested in Bosnia.

...Today, I live in Provence with my wife and children. France has given us a home, and a new start. ... I do not like to think of Guantánamo. The memories are filled with pain. But I share my story because 171 men remain there. Among them is Belkacem Bensayah, who was seized in Bosnia and sent to Guantánamo with me.

Mitt Romney - Acting Out The Trauma

2012-01-18T11:33:00.000-08:00

Interesting psycho-historical angle:

I say there is almost nothing as traumatic for a politician than losing an election. Here's what might be even worse: You are an aspiring office-holder, a young and handsome and ambitious man on the rise, and your father loses an election. Dad is your hero, and then the world's goat; you start rethinking your vision of how the world works.

...I'm here to write about another loser and son: George and Mitt Romney – both almost-certain Republican presidential nominees. Pollster Lou Harris said late in 1966 that George Romney, then governor of Michigan, "stands a better chance of winning the White House than any Republican since Dwight D. Eisenhower." Then, just over a year later, he was humiliated with a suddenness and intensity unprecedented in modern American political history.... His son was 19 years old. What makes Mitt – né Willard – Romney, run? Much, I think, can be understood via that specific trauma.

[George Romney's] calling card was his shocking authenticity; his courage in sticking to his positions without fear or favor was extraordinary.

...Then, most famously, there was the Vietnam War. He supported it after returning from a trip there in 1965. Then, courageously, after a second trip in 1967, he began to criticize it. On September 4, 1967, a TV interviewer asked, "Isn't your position a bit inconsistent with what it was, and what do you propose we do now?"

The line everyone remembers from his response: "When I came back from Vietnam in 1965, I just had the greatest brainwashing anybody can get when you go over to Vietnam." But he continued with a devastating, prophetic, and one-thousand-percent-correct assessment: that staying in Vietnam would be a disaster. The public, and certainly the pundits, weren't ready to hear it. All they heard was the word "brainwashing" – not in the colloquial sense in which Romney obviously intended it, but as something literal.

...His opponent, meanwhile, running what you might call a robotic campaign, just bullshitted about Vietnam, hinting he had a secret plan to end it. The truth was a dull weapon to take into a knife fight with Richard Nixon – who kicked Romney's ass with 79 percent of the vote. When people call his son the "Rombot," think about that: Mitt learned at an impressionable age that in politics, authenticity kills.

Our Awesome Congress People

2012-01-18T11:14:00.000-08:00

Our representatives!:

To avoid a government shutdown at the end of 2011, Republicans succeeded in their campaign to cut the federal Pell Grant program by effectively kicking up to 100,000 low-income students off the rolls.

Last week, Arkansas constituent Kelly Eubanks, a college student who has two jobs and two children, confronted her Congressman, Rep. Steve Womack (R), at a town hall meeting over his attack on the program she now relies on. But instead of any explanation, Womack lashed out at Eubanks, telling her to pay her own way by “joining the military” like he did. After refusing to answer her question, he finally just asked her to “be quiet and listen.” Blue Arkansas reports:

According to Kelly and a handful of other witnesses, Womack happily retorted that it wasn’t the federal government’s job to pay for education (he’s doing this in a college town mind you) and then quickly added that he paid for his education by joining the military, apparently suggesting that the mom of two do the same and totally oblivious I guess to the fact that it was, in fact, the federal government that paid for his education then. Well Womack tried to skirt the rest of Ms. Eubanks question and she proceeded to try and get him to address the discrepancy she pointed out. Well at this point, according to Kelly and several other people that were in the room, Womack blew a gasket.

...The irony here, as Campus Progress’ Emily Wood notes, is that Womack actually attended college on taxpayer money by joining the National Guard. But instead of acknowledging that fact, he dodged the issue and had the mike taken away from Eubanks. Eubanks attended the town hall with the hopes of understanding Womack’s view. “I thought maybe meeting him and asking him why he’d vote to hurt students but protect Big Oil interests, face to face, would get me a real answer,” she told the Arkansas Times. “I really thought maybe he could explain it somehow. I did not think he was a heartless or arrogant person going in to this, but I definitely do now.”

The GOP Blood Lust On Full Display

2012-01-17T12:27:00.000-08:00

All the reasons we {heart} the GOP so much!

As Joan Walsh says:

The night climaxed with the South Carolina crowd giving Newt Gingrich a standing ovation for smacking down Fox’s leading black contributor, Juan Williams, for his impertinent questions about race.

...Gingrich couldn’t believe his luck. With a gleam in his eye, he thrashed Williams, and Steve Kornacki believes he may have given his candidacy one last shot with his savvy thumping of Fox’s leading black commentator. It hurt to watch. If Newt gets the nomination – he won’t, but a Democrat can dream – he’ll have to thank Williams at the GOP convention in Tampa, even before he thanks Callista.

...The former NPR analyst referenced Gingrich’s belittling comments about poor kids lacking role models with a work ethic, and the NAACP “demanding” food stamps not jobs, and asked, “Can’t you see that this is viewed at a minimum as insulting to all Americans, but particularly to African Americans?”

“No,” Gingrich said petulantly, with a slight pause. “I don’t see that.” The crowd screamed with glee. Gingrich went on to bash unionized janitors in public schools, and I realized that his student-janitor comments represent a right-wing political trifecta, bashing anti-business regulations like child labor laws, public sector unions and lazy “urban” kids. Oh, and he also got to attack elites this time around, insisting his janitor plans drew liberal disapproval because “only the elites despise earning money.”

But Williams didn’t back away. “The suggestion you made was about a lack of work ethic,” he told Gingrich. “It sounds as if you are seeking to belittle people.” The crowd booed Williams lustily, and Gingrich got a special twinkle in his eye. He looked at Williams like he was a soon-to-be ex-wife.

“First of all, Juan” – and there was a slight cheer when the former speaker called the Pulitzer Prize winner “Juan” – “the fact is that more people have been put on food stamps by Barack Obama than any president in American history. I know among the politically correct you’re not supposed to use facts that are uncomfortable.

Leek Mush

2012-01-17T01:15:00.000-08:00

I spent a lot of time on my feet this weekend - theater PLUS ballet - so when I headed home Saturday night I wanted something special to eat. What I wanted was French Onion soup, but I knew I had none. Instead, I had an idea.

The vegetable boxes I've been getting delivered from the Capay Valley by Farm Fresh To You every two weeks often feature surprise vegetables, but they also feature a surfeit of vegetables that don't always have an instantaneous appeal to the palate. Like leeks. Lots of leeks. A surfeit of leeks in the Capay Valley.

A leek is kind of like a gigantic green onion on steroids. Why not make a soup out of the leeks spilling out of the refrigerator?

So, some ramen noodles, with a bit of flavoring, a bit of boiled egg, and lots of sliced leeks.

But not enough water, so instead of leek soup it became leek mush.

Apart from the overwhelming flavor of leek, the mush was very bland, and nothing at all like French Onion soup.

Some day I ought to learn how to cook....

Finished Leaf-Raking

2012-01-17T00:51:00.000-08:00

In most winters, finishing the process of weekend leaf-raking usually has to compete with weekend rain. You never get a chance for all the leaves to fall and clean them all up before the rain starts falling.

Until this year. Nice how the rain has waited and all!

Joe The Plumber helped finish up the process this weekend. He had installed a barrier about seven years ago in a cornice of the roof that keeps squirrels out of the attic.

In October, I noticed squirrels in the attic again, which meant the miserable little mammals had penetrated the barrier. So, I needed a new chicken-wire barrier and Joe installed it (plus sweeping leaves from the roof). And he is actually living under a roof again rather than living in his van, so his life is steadily-improving after a rough two months.

So, leaf-raking is about 95% complete, before the rain really starts falling. Bizarre!

A Series Of Waves

2012-01-16T23:23:00.000-08:00

Forecasts seem to show the upcoming period coming in a series of waves:

Wednesday evening, coastal rain in NW California. No rain here, but weather will be blustery;
Thursday noon - Friday noon: first wave;
Saturday midnight - Sunday midnight: basically a day of heavy rain;
Monday midnight - Tuesday morning: lighter rain;
with more rain after that too!

A Single Earplug

2012-01-16T23:08:00.000-08:00

Spent a lot of time at DMTC this weekend, tending the lobby for the most part. The exciting part was the show, of course, but the lobby needs tending too.

On Saturday, I was House Manager for the first time. Usher Carrie C. R. saved me from any troubles. Smooth sailing.

Afterwards, it was time to retrieve lost junk under the seats in the theater. Sometimes you find interesting things in the dark spaces where the hair settles and the dust bunnies breed.

On Sunday, I found a single earplug. Not quite sure what to make of it.

Marketplace Feature On Private Equity Firms Missed The Controversy

2012-01-13T15:07:00.000-08:00

Last night, APM's "Marketplace" on NPR featured a short, explanatory radio segment on private equity firms (like Bain Capital). Nevertheless, the segment completely missed what people find objectionable about these firms.

Private equity firms are so focused on the bottom line that they often engage in utterly destructive behavior. They take functional firms providing a living for taxpaying citizens and load them up with unnecessary debt. They decimate and offshore the available jobs, ravage the pensions and force workers to become wards of the state. Their asset-shifting is not much different than simple looting. And the weakened firm left behind often doesn't survive long. Their actions are little better than those of your typical arsonist, who, after all, is also focused on the bottom line.

As CEPR notes:

The question is whether the high profits earned by the partners are primarily due to increasing economic efficiency or to rents earned by dumping costs on others.

As noted here, it is standard practice for private equity to load firms with debt. This means that taxable profits are turned into tax-deductible interest payments. The difference can be a gain to Bain and other private equity firms, but it is coming at the expense of taxpayers.

In the same vein, private equity companies often in engage in complex asset shifting. This can leave a heavily indebted firm with few valuable assets. If it eventually goes bankrupt, the creditors collect little money because the private equity company has transferred the assets with value into an independent company. This can also mean big profits for Bain and other private equity companies, but this is not a gain to the economy.

Another frequent game of private equity companies is to dump pension obligations on the Pension Benefit Guarantee Corporation. The reduction in liabilities can mean big profits for Bain and other private equity companies, but does not provide any benefit to the economy.

These are the sorts of issues that appear in serious discussions of the benefits of private equity.

PG&E's Actions Getting Scrutiny

2012-01-13T13:22:00.000-08:00

A public menace:

Pacific Gas and Electric Co. diverted more than $100 million in gas safety and operations money collected from customers over a 15-year period and spent it for other purposes, including profit for stockholders and bonuses for executives, according to a pair of state-ordered reports released Thursday.

...The documents link a deficient PG&E safety culture - with its "focus on financial performance" - to the pipeline explosion in San Bruno on Sept. 9, 2010, that killed eight people and destroyed 38 homes.

The "low priority" the company gave to pipeline safety during the three years leading up to the San Bruno blast was "well outside industry practice - even during times of corporate austerity programs," said the audit by Overland Consulting of Leawood, Kan.

...By cutting back on pipeline-replacement projects and maintenance, laying off workers, using cheaper but less effective inspection techniques and trimming other pipeline costs, PG&E saved upward of 6 percent of the money designated for pipeline safety, maintenance and operations programs, the Overland audit said.

Meanwhile, on the revenue side, transmission pipeline operations were "very profitable" for PG&E since March 1998, the audit said.

Assemblyman Jerry Hill, D-San Mateo, whose district includes San Bruno, called the company's diversion of customers' money "criminal behavior."

"When you divert funds intended for maintenance and safety to profits, there is nothing clearer," Hill said. "It is criminal."

..."It is truly unconscionable that PG&E was allowed by the CPUC to steal ratepayer monies that should have been spent on safety and, instead, was put in the pockets of PG&E shareholders," said Rep. Jackie Speier, D-Hillsborough, who represents the devastated San Bruno neighborhood. "All these monies identified in the audit should be returned to ratepayers, presumably as a credit against the work that PG&E should have done, but didn't."

...Before PG&E "seeks additional ratepayer funds," the commission said, it should:

-- Allocate $95.4 million that the company under-spent on capital expenditures since 1997 - including pipeline replacement - for those purposes.

-- Use the $430 million in additional revenue it collected since 1999 "to fund future transmission and storage operations."

-- Use $39.3 million that it collected but failed to spend for pipeline-transmission operations and maintenance since 1997 for those purposes.

...A Chronicle investigation published in March revealed that in 2000, PG&E sharply curtailed a program started in the mid-1980s to replace hundreds of miles of aging gas-transmission pipe. Records obtained by The Chronicle showed the decision was made by PG&E and approved by the utilities commission's safety chief.

The Overland audit noted that PG&E's replacement of transmission pipelines for safety purposes all but ceased in 2000.

...Some key revelations in reports by the California Public Utilities Commission and auditors hired to investigate the deadly 2010 explosion of a Pacific Gas and Electric Co. gas pipe in San Bruno.

Testing: PG&E violated U.S. law by not conducting pressure-test inspections of the San Bruno pipeline after the company spiked gas levels in 2003 and 2008. Such tests would have revealed the substandard condition of the pipe and averted the 2010 disaster.

Video: PG&E destroyed a video of events at its gas-control center in Brentwood the night of the explosion, violating a state order.

Upkeep: PG&E diverted over the years more than $100 million collected from customers for pipe maintenance, replacement and safety to other purposes, including profit and executive bonuses.

Money: PG&E's gas transmission and storage operations collected $430 million over what the PUC authorized from 1998 to 2010.

The Canada Party

2012-01-13T12:49:00.000-08:00

First Big Rain Event This Winter?

2012-01-13T12:34:00.000-08:00

Providing you ignore the rain we had last October, the first big rain event might
start Wednesday of next week.

Heretofore, the weather forecasts showed the rain event being confined to Oregon and Washington State, but the newer forecasts showing it affecting Northern California as well.

Scenes From The Pilgrimage

2012-01-13T12:00:00.000-08:00

Here's That Wood Chipper Story

2012-01-13T11:59:00.000-08:00

Industrial machinery and people sometimes don't mix.

Breaking Bad Remix // POV Compilation

2012-01-12T16:49:00.000-08:00

Breaking Bad Remix // POV Compilation from kogonada on Vimeo.

Kate writes:

In case you haven’t seen this (some day I’ll have to watch the show!)

That’s cool!

Yeah, the cinematography in the show is wonderful! They love the southwestern sky and they use it whenever possible. And they like to set up strange vantage points, often from the ground, or as in this video, upward from within containers of various sorts.

Not So Chipper

2012-01-12T14:46:00.000-08:00

On Facebook, Alex in Nevada County is trying to get more details:

Just heard someone went thru a chipper in nevada county. Anybody have more info? It just happened today

I have no info, but all I can think is ow, ow, ow, ow, ow!