Florida, is it low hanging fruit for Cain

Florida, thats the state that looks like a dick waiting on viagra.  Well the dicks are all in a froth slinging frenzy now.  Limp dick state moved up the Reichwing primary and the GOP wants none of it.  Interesting demographics there, it's a state crammed with minorities and land fills bloated with depends smelling of widowed women.  It also is the state where Herb (Palin calls him Herb, ah she can't help it, she was porned with an NBA dick in her mouth) Cain won the Florida straw poll, mopping the road to disneyland with chunks of Purry and Rummey.

Does anyone else wonder, hmmm, could it be the GOP wants to keep that black one from sucking all the momentum up with an early win?  Hey the contest is suppose to be formed early by atypical white bread states Iowa and New Hampshire.

Reality is known to have a liberal bias

This sign is wrong, it's not 100 years, it's now.

The whooping crane migration is due shortly, they fly from north of the tar sands mines in Alberta to Texas gulf coast.  I read the count a few days ago, it's less than 300 birds that will make this trip, there is another smaller group in the east and about that many in captivity, around 1,000 total.  This year is going to kill many of them, the two swamps they stop at in Kansas for a week or two to rest and feed, one is dry, the other has a few acres of water, much of it 2" deep.  This they will share with millions of ducks, geese, swans, etc.  There is also a couple of places in Nebraska and Texas they stop at, also dry.  The gulf coast is so dry salt water has invaded the swamp, cranes cannot drink it and will have to fly back a mile or so to drink after feeding in it.  Wildlife experts predict 40 to 80 birds will die during this migration due to lack of food and safe resting locations will lead to predator kills.  Rather than multiple stops as normal, in drought years they often fly straight through which weakens them so that many die upon arrival.

In past years my back yard has seen hundreds of monarchs gather for a week or so in mid Sept, hang in groups on the hackberry or mulberry leaves, then one day they all fly south usually on a brisk south wind for advantage.  14 years ago, the first year here, thousands covered the trees and lay in the grass, when the dog ran they puffed up in clouds around her.  This year we may have had 30 or 40 at once, since then a few randomly.

In southwest Kansas the pheasant count is 5% of normal, there is no water in any creeks in some counties, deer and cattle are being killed by the few rotting water pools.  Today the governor announced he will find hundreds of millions of tax breaks to bring in more commercial cattle operations into Kansas.  He better buy hay from Canada to feed them, pastures here are dead grass, and drill more wells into the falling water table.  The river through Wichita is a weed patch, you can jump over the tiny river flow in some spots. What a fuckup.

More than one have ask what the hell is that vegan crap, so, do this

Last nights menu, 4 dishes, desert and beverage.

1)I sautéd 1 large onion, 6 small bell peppers, 1 small yellow squash and 1/2 lb mushrooms with olive oil, salt, black pepper, dill weed.

2) Salad of black beans, yellow corn, cucumber, red onion, lime juice, incredible, can't stop eating it.

3) Brown rice with yellow split peas, onion, carrot, white wine, salt, coriander, saffron threads, this thing tastes fantastic.

4) Vegi Ruben: rye bread, but no meat, instead use 1/2 avocado sliced, replace thousand island with coarse mustard or Dijon and ketchup.  One of my favorite vegi sandwichs, but you have to get the bottled refriged sauerkraut, the canned is no good for this, the bottled keeps for at least a month, you will be happy with this investment.

5) fresh Strawberries with yogurt and cookies

6) My own margarita, equal part lime, triple sec, and tequila, kosher salted rim. 

We had a little left over of the sauté thing, finished it at lunch with an acorn squash baked full of apples, walnuts, cranberries, molasses, cinnamon and clove, also had baked beans in tomato sauce, cumin, garlic and jalapeño, and a serving of shredded red cabbage with oil and vinegar.

The wife baked a pumpkin today and made a pudding with it, I know she is working on two salads, don’t know what else is in store tonight.


If you don't know, I started this over a month ago with the wife, she had a stint, and some intestinal trouble.  So after 2 weeks on this her blood pressure went from sometimes a concern to really excellent, very low numbers and stayed there.  Her blood work from a few days ago, col. 152, trig. 74, HDL 62, LDL 84, thats real good.  For me, I have a family history of old men with shakey tremble hands and arms, vegetarians rarely get this problem, eating meat increases the chance of this like 14 times, cigarettes do not increase your chance of cancer even close to that, enough for me to swear off meat.  Plus now I read about penile angina, thats why little andy can't stand and wave at the girls without a crutch, also a meat eaters disease, the little blood tubes in andy are small and clog up before your heart does, the canary in the coal mine if you listen.  But the interesting thing is this, eat a gigantic variety of vegis fruit grains and nuts, it is amazing what is out there, most of us eat a few things over and over, variety is the spice of life, everything else is like being married, the same old stuff every night.

Now that the county laid off more ambulance drivers, this.

Just in time for millions of aging baby boomers to retire and squint through their cataracts the government decided to raise the speed limit to 80 on our pot hole infected hiways.  Oil companies in Kansas, along with the state wanting more tax dollars already did it here on roads they had jurisdiction over, why, to boost gas sales, they made no bones about it.  For most cars 70 to 80 is about a 20% decrease in economy.  Around 50mph aerodynamics kicks in hard and the rate of mpg goes down faster than the mph goes up, especially in a flatland wind.  Trucking companies fought for this with big oil, thank them the next time you follow a gravel truck at 80.
My uncle says it's about god damn time they open up the roads to drivers,  76,  pulls a boat with a jeep in between eating pills, has been known to get on the wrong side of the median, yea, this is good news for everyone on the road.

junk science from the fringe

I just figured my savings in fuel on my Toyota Camry Hybrid compared to the standard Camry and the aprox. $1,000 higher price for hybrid technology.  I keep complete record of gas purchases and miles.  In the 56,680 miles driven I saved $2,307.90 in fuel keeping about $1300 in net savings to piss away on organic cilantro, and huckleberry preserves.
For the last few months I put off digging through 4 years of expenses and mileage info, I was pretty sure I was far from breaking even on the higher cost option, the wife speculated we would never break even.   Wow!  Of course the high fuel prices in late 08 and again over the last year made that pay off sooner.

(Based on our "actual" life time average of 37mpg while the 08 standard model claims a combined 25mpg.)

Rick Perry Gets Confused About American History

More cow bell!   No rickie, people in old Boston were not afraid to walk around showing their face because they might get taxed, but because amazingly at that time it was illegal to vandalize property, so they disguised themselves as the indigenous minority, let them catch hell over it.  Furthermore, it was not really about the tax on tea, but that the British crown had given a monopoly to one company to be the exclusive tea importer to the colonies.  No other tea was taxed, since it was only available as a smuggled product.  This group was a business group of importers and merchants who went on board to vandalize the tea monopolies assets because they were pissed at being shut out of the importing and selling tea, not because they were shit faced averse to taxes.  And.....the no tax without representation was not chanted at this event, but came from other events.
Rickie was disguising himself as a douche bag the week this era was taught in school.  Fuck Rick Perry, a bunch.

and your tax dollars go to------coal, oil, gas, nukes.

See those tiny little green bars. Those are Solar, Wind, Hydro.  A few months ago, solar panels passed nuclear energy in US energy production.  Green energy sources are the fastest to develop, a new wind farm can be ordered, built and turned on in 10 to 16 months, break even on it's own carbon footprint in 8 months.  Build time for Coal fired 2.5-6 years, nuke 6 to 12 years, they increase their carbon footprint every day they operate.

wife's cousin at Reno air plane crash

My wife's (2nd or 3rd??) cousin is an ER Doctor, he was at the air race in Reno as an airplane geek to watch the race, few doctors are trained in mass casualty as he is, with no equipment he went to work.  He lives a couple blocks from us, works and travels all the time, always gone, as in always.  Here's a good story about the event from his point of view.
http://www.kansas.com/2011/09/25/2031942/wichita-er-doc-helped-air-race.html

Turning religion into a love affair

I can't stand christian rock, mostly I am disgusted by the erotic longing and sexual tension built into it, I swear it makes me think of the cartoon years ago in playboy of two nuns walking in a garden, with a hand near her crotch one says to the other, "Jesus makes me wet".  My catholic friends howled hysterically at this cartoon, I found it amusing but as a genuine pervert something was out of kelter in this joke.  To me the cartoon is the same as the love sick flame songs served up to crowds of waving white hands at mega church inc.  It's missing some logic somewhere.  It's like the stunner (but not a stunner) of learning Rick Perry likes to vacation in Amsterdam at $248k cost to Texican tax payers.

30 days on vegan diet, no problems, no cravings, feel fine.

30 days.  The wife's blood pressure already fell into the normal zone.  Most of the meals are fantastic, had a couple of stinkers but we had that problem sometimes before the change.  Actually we are not hard core vegan, have had salmon 2 times, shared a can of sardines once, and in Memphis 2 weeks ago I had one beef sandwich.  No dairy, and only a few eggs (whites only).  We both lost about 4 pounds the first two weeks, which since we are thin we didn't want to, but it seems to be coming back slowly, maybe a pound or two.  Heavy folks lose a lot on this diet before stabilizing.

Well it would be nice to come up with a way to save the planet, and I think I may have an idea to reduce the environmental impact of eating meat.  This one is designed to save the cost of trucking and fuel of the pre and post mortem bovine.  I suggest you get some neighbors together, buy a beef from the nearest farm and one of you walk it into your neighborhood and kill it in someone's front yard.  Make your designated eunuch beef self deliver that porterhouse and oxtail.  Is that a cool idea or what?  Not to good at butchering?  Not a prob, find some Mexican gang members to dismember it, they will be glad to get the head to throw in a local bar.   Cleanup, easy, bring your poodle's & pit bulls..  Bonus, one of you get a cowhide.  Enjoy.

vote in the UN to show poor brown people how much we like them

This week the poor brown skinned people living on the outskirts of the perpetual land grabbing state of Israel will have the magic carpet ride into the etherial atmosphere of the Arab Spring yanked from under their hungry angry kids worn out shoes.  Once again the US will demonstrate to them our eagerness to enable Israel to continue to steal their villages, their grandfathers homes, bulldose their orchards, hold back even their water supplies, medical supplies, all the while pretending the guys they stole land from last week are not willing to live in peace.

Am I the only one who thinks of the severely abused child growing up to repeat abuse on the next generation?  Who thinks of this parallel, Nazi's walling in the Jewish Ghetto's of Europe, cutting off employment, restricting travel and supplies, striking with massive deadly force against every protest?  Well I'm not equating them, but it requires the faculties of an imbecile not to wonder about this.  Of course the radical elements of Iran, Syria and known violent groups are at work in Palestine, and they work against peace by attacking moderate Palestinians and attacking Israel.   It is my theory that those working to prevent peace on one side of the wall are more than thankful for their like minded counterparts on the other side.

Thanks for all the crazy talk Rick, Michelle.

A number of polls the last two weeks find that suddenly Americans believe in global warming.  From early springs low of about 50% it jumped to about 80%.  Even the GOP voters have risen from the 20's to the 50's.  It is amazing.  Why?

Two reasons.  First, a stinking hot stormy year focused people.  When state parks close because the hot water is killing fish and the algae and water is so toxic it kills campers dogs, cattle, deer, and even landed Oklahoma Senator Inhofe in the ER, people start paying attention to the smoke through the shimmering heat.  Second pollsters traced some of it to Michelle Bachmann and Rick Perry, these two have spouted such stupid statements about the environment that many people, even a few of the GOP audience, were shaken to accept the opposite as more sensible.  Who would have thought those two could have helped the tree huggers gain market share, amazing.

Well, part of this group will swing with the weather, come winter global warming will again make no sense.  But while the mob is in the mood, we need to use the pitchforks and torches to advantage.  Please take this opportunity to write or call the mayor or senator, your asshole brother-in-law, take action, join one of the most effective environmental groups, or at the least visit their web sites and pound on the "take action" tab.

I believe the groups most successful in impacting legislation and pressuring industry, and using their money wisely are:
NRDC, Union of Concerned Scientist, Sierra Club, Greenpeace.  We also like Nature Conservancy, they do not lobby or protest but buy rare wild and beautiful properties to keep them from being developed, they also work with owners of interesting properties to set up a transition to make it a park or conservatory or open access, and they coop projects with Ducks Unlimited to buy and restore drained wet lands to benefit birds (and in some cases sportsmen).

You gotta love what President Clinton said a few days ago, I don't quote exactly, When we have one political  party in which you cannot be the candidate for President if you believe in science, we are a laughing stock in the world.

Fuck Rick Perry

And Faust sold his soul to the devil, but the devil lost interest in the evil he did, it ruined lives, it was bad, but uncreative, predictable.

Borrowed from and with full credit to Quit Coal, at:  http//quitcoal.org. 

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BOEHNER VOTERS DIE FOR AEP

Submitted by Kyle Ash

September 14, 2011 at 12:09pm

For the current Speaker of the House, John Boehner (R-OH), American democracy is simpler than representing the people who vote for him. Instead of fighting for jobs and health in his district, Boehner will just spend money to polish his image in 2012. He has made a decision to collect vast sums of money from industry pollutersoutside his district who couldn't care less about the 8th district of Ohio.

Boehner has always taken money from coal polluters, but very little compared to other politicians. In 2003 Boenher took only $25,000 from fossil fuel interests. That's far less than Representative Ed Markey (D-MA) took in 2009 when he was pushing the failed Waxman-Markey climate legislation. In the last election cycle Boehner took over $300,000.

This year, Boehner has already collected over $1.5 million from the coal industry alone. He apparently takes money from any coal company that will pay, like Oxbow Corp., a mining operation owned by a William Koch in Florida.

In Boehner's district as many people die from coal-fired power as people who work in it.

There are only two small, but very dirty, coal plants in his district. Hamilton Municipal Electric Plantin Hamilton, OH pollutes the economically-disadvantaged community of about 53 homes with heavy metals like mercury and cadmium. Hamilton employs as few as 50 people. Together with Piqua Municipal Power Plant, pollution from these two coal plants kills 27 of Boehner's constituents per year, and costs his district $7.3 million just by causing bronchitis. Piqua employs 5-9 people.

Hutchings Station is a large coal plant surrounded by Boehner's district. Hutching's pollution kills 45 people per year. Hutchings causes 740 asthma attacks every year, sending 44 people to the emergency room. Hutchings Station is only 9 miles away from a John XXIIII elementary school filled with children of Boehner's voters.

American Electric Power (AEP), on the other hand, is 60 miles from Boehner's district. First Energy, another polluter in Ohio who has no political stake in Boehner's district, defended Boehner receiving large contributions from American Electric Power because “AEP is based in Ohio.”
There are more jobs in wind and solar in Ohio than in coal-fired power – a ratio of 5:4. Renewable energy installers in Ohio abound, including companies in Boehner's district like Extreme Solar in Hamilton, OH.

Speaker Boehner may argue that he has more responsibility now, as leader of the House of Representatives. But he can't stay Speaker if the 8th district of Ohio realizes he's forgotten them.

And what goes for the 8th district of Ohio goes for the country. Coal costs America far more than it gives, to the tune of half a trillion dollars per year. Hospital visits and lost economic opportunity are the outcome of Speaker Boehner's quid pro quo with profiteer polluters like AEP and First Energy.Wind and solar also provide more jobs than coal, even when including mining for America as a whole.

But, for Boehner, coal pays.

Consumers punish CEO for not being humble

A few weeks ago I said Netflix raised their prices to much at once and I would be opting for a lower price option.

About 1 million customers walked off totally, said screw it.  They are not saying how many took my choice and went to a lower price service, but I suspect it was many millions since it has prompted todays announcement they are getting rid of the DVD rentals, spinning it off to a new company with a logo that suggests a vagina, you'll see, it does sort of.  Netflix stock flopped last week. The CEO said they made a mistake, they did not explain it well, not humble enough.  He doesn't get it, he could have sent me a hand written letter telling me the prices are jumping like hell because of xyz and I would have done the same, such a price jump was a rip, no one should have set still for it.  I still would like to know how many took the lower $ streaming or the basic DVD's service?  

Do we understand the markets, or let the GOP Solyndragate this?

First off, the Bush adm. in 07 began helping and gifting to the well connected Solyndra, the solar panel builder that just went tits up in the deep end.  The GOP is pretending Solyndra's demise is another indicator of alternative energies failure.  Plus they are scrambling to make a show of the stupid mistakes of the Obama adm. recently granting a large but pin head grant in comparison to the fossil fuel industries yearly take.
That blunder aside, do we understand the market, and what happened, or do we let the GOP control what the story means?  If you give a shit you can find on line a number of stories explaining the technology jumping forward in great leaps every few months.  But the quick and dirty of it is this, it failed because the PV solar panel industry is booming, not because it is floundering.  The jumps forward are monthly, increases in watts converted from light, falling prices, new materials, increasing demands.  The velocity of the market killed Solyndra.  They were caught with a new factory prepared to build the panels of 2 years ago.  Overnight their backlog shrunk as the market shifted to competitors.

This event while appearing to say solar panels are a hippie's scam, is the opposite, the business is exploding with demand and ever better products.  Taiwan and China and Germany will fill the void if we let them, and with the GOP's help they are currently winning that race.  (Yesterday in my paper the Koch industry shill congressman Pompeo strutted the GOP and fossil fuel version of this event which was help oil and coal, see, nothing else works)  The lesson is PV panel builders must be able to make constant and  immediate changes in their product, keep up with the science.  It's like the cell phone market, suddenly blackberry is in trouble, who would have dreamed that 2 years ago.

Utah protecting homeowners form crazy new inventions.

Utah, the state best known for harems and magic underwear is taking action on energy. The church state there has decided this week to preserve the coal industry in the face of increased interest in new technologies. Almost all energy in GOP Utah comes from coal.  They took swift action to stem this dangerous clean energy crapola creeping into the state by limiting the number of home owners who can install PV solar panels each year.  Using a complex formula they determined the safe number was .........21.   Twenty fucking one.
More hotels have liquor licenses in Utah than homeowners who after this week can add PV's.  Sure I know, PV's work magically through the graces of a competitor deity, the mighty Sun God.  Damn the Sun God!

If you have spent time with Mormons, like I have, we had a Mormon book keeper that embezzled from the company,  it was going to be hard to prove in court, when she said if they move to Utah would we drop our case, we said get. ..... You know they have a religious mandate to be self sufficient for one year.  Their cellars and garages and church attics are stuffed with canned and dried food, bottled water, enough for the family to eat for a year.  Apparently if the grid goes down, not being able to cook their rice and dried mushrooms doesn't  alarm anyone.

I wanted to move to Utah when I was about 25, I thought it was so beautiful, the economy was jumping, we traveled there and went into a realty office and talked for a while about homes we had seen in the area.  The guy finally ask, are you Mormon?  No.  Well, it's not a good idea, it will be hard to find a job and make friends.

What's your favorite dog story?

Old mother Hubberd went to the cupboard to get the poor doggie a bone, and when she bent over ..... ...... ..... ..... ... . .... .. ... ...!

40 years of disappointing rich people and corporations

Why not help us.  Join, it's the only way multi-nationals are going to know you exist.  It's great fun. Find them on line, click the "take action" tab and see what you can do.

penile angina points to the grave

Penile arteries are half the diameter of coronary arteries, when cholesterol and plaque gum up the machinery in the amusement park, and you don't qualify for the "height requirement" any more "on your favorite ride", you better do something man.  Other than growing a baculum, which has'nt been done in Homo sapiens for 3 million years, you might want to consider your diet and exercise plan.  Otherwise, somewhere there's a grave digger feeling a disturbance and it's not in the force of your dazzling jedi weapon, it's your approaching heart attack or stroke.

Erectile dysfunction directly proceeds heart disease.  Look, watch all the porno you want, eat all the viagra you can choke down, they ain't fix'n ralphy's droopsey.  The problem is your a few weeks months or years from Sanfords "big one".    You can turn that ship around if you radically lower the meat, the fat, and sugar  intake and start eating fruit and vegi's like your hard-on depends on it.

Oh, I said I was going to stop ragging on peoples diet, well, I can't help it.  Maybe I will see you at your "favorite ride" sometime.  If you're tall enough!

The good, the bad, and ugly, let'm marry if they want.

I don't give a fuck if gays get married.  Clint Eastwood.
He said he was an Eisenhower republican, but all these people are coming in, they ruined it. He left.

Did you know corporations have set up a service to write laws for your state?

From an email to me, from Common Cause.  ALEC lobbies for business friendly laws then writes them so the GOP doesn't have to lift a finger, they just download one corporate protection law after another and vote'em in.  That's all the GOP does, well, that and collect pay for protecting the rich.  Google Common Cause to learn more.  
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What do AT&T, Koch Industries, WalMart, Altria, Pfizer and Exxon Mobil have in common?

They're all members of the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), a shadowy organization made up of big business leaders and state legislators who work to put corporate profits ahead of the public interest. With ALEC at work in your state capitol,business wins, and the middle class loses.

Common Cause is helping lead the fight to expose ALEC's secret corporate agenda, challenge its nonprofit status and shine a spotlight on political money spent by its members. Please help us keep the pressure on and rescue our democracy from corporate control.

denier voodoo, gasses that are exempt from thermal physics

For those who do not believe global warming is caused by an increase in green house gasses and their climate impact, it's time you invent an excuse why these heat trapping gasses are not doing what they must do.  Never has anyone among the deniers explained to us the required logic for their position, which to fit their argument would be - heat trapping gas does not trap heat, a thermal unit stored is magically not stored,  insulation does not insulate, coats do not trap the bodies heat, lids on pots don't retain heat therefore accelerate cooking.   What kind of voodoo is this?

The chart here does not include one of the primary green house gasses also increasing rapidly, water vapor.  We don't actually produce a lot of water vapor directly, but the feedback system of ever warming weather increases ice melt and violent storms together lead to more H2O moving about and whipped into the atmosphere, and, hot air carries more water than cold air.

Kansas corn crop will be 40% less than last year even though 15% more acres were planted.  Global warming?  No, the GOP, republican farmers, and weathermen afraid of being tarred and feathered say it's just the heat and the soil temperature.  It's hot because it just the heat!  And dirt!  So, lets see, we can say we have dirt warming, but not global warming.  Yea, that should make those fuckers with dead corn feel great, Al Gore was wrong, it's the fucking dirt not the climate.

Sugar quiz

What do dead cattle in Pakistan and India have to do with the sugar on your table?  Any guesses?

What's in a Burger?

Load those kids up, get'm over there for some udders and lips, glands and organs, see how they shine.

New favorite city, Memphis

We had to go to Memphis to do some inter-family car trading with the daughter-in-law who took a job there, son will join her there in January.    Our first visit.  Wow, what a wonderful impression of the south, of the city.
I have never met so many people, who wanted to talk to me, help me, tell me something pleasant as in Memphis.  There is a big swath of the city that is very nice and racially balanced, the downtown and a wide strip reaching east for miles.  The area is 50/50 white/black plus 10 or 20% hispanic and other.  Thats the best part, Memphis is 120% people.  Their are people on the streets walking, waiting for bus or street car, and everyone is ready to visit and help.
We went to change titles and register a car at the courthouse, found a parking place but the signs were unclear, I saw near by a black policeman and women, I waved and ran over and they were so nice, no I couldn't park there but they did helped me find one elsewhere.  In dozens of visits to get tags and titles I never met anyone that was actually nice until we got in the courthouse in Memphis, that lady all but ask us over for Christmas, that is the way all government offices should be, friendly, cheerful, warm.  We went to a Thai restaurant for dinner, by the time we left I felt like I was part owner, the cooks had come out to tell us how they make things, the owner and his wife had found out why we were in Memphis, our names, our likes and dislikes, how they were going to have a booth in a festival, where the Buddist temple was, I would go back there in a minute, oh, the food was great, they like to make vegan dishes, always make vegan the old man giggled, always make vegan.  We went to a grocery, hell the stock boys were suggesting things we should try, the black checkout man had the best smile I have ever seen.  We ate at a Panera's, an old black man came from the kitchen and started talking to us, when we left we saw an older black women asking at the order counter for directions, the white lady came out from the counter and went outside with her and was pointing up the street explaining where she could find what she was after.  At the apartment my family was at we encountered many people, all friendly and ready to discuss the days events and wish us a good visit.  We went to the Lorraine Motel Civil Rights Museum, and some black school boys came up to us asking if we could help them find their way back to the entrance (it is a bit of a maze inside that museum), so polite, we walked back with them, they thanked us slipped out quietly.  And I could write of a hundred other examples of friendly warm people, and the city was clean, the traffic stayed in it's lane, moved calmly, not like most cities infested lane jumpers.
Now, I know full well there are sections of Memphis that have extremely high crime rates, and further to the north and west are modern burbs with nasty little pasty white sounding walled in areas with artificial names.  I didn't go there, I would suspect both those areas would have a different feel.

I look forward to going back.  The daughter-in-law loves it, she's been there a month now and she is starting to get into the local culture and casual outdoor feel of all the folks moving about in a very relaxed mood.   If they stay there, I would be tempted to move.

Memphis

road trip, sorry, not an elvis fan, won't be doing graceland.

School night.

Politics again, World Democracies.  Auditing.  Interesting professor, pretty good group in the class, more serious students than the last semester.  Learn something new, thats the goal, keep the brain churning.
This class focus mostly on a variety of situations around the world that are in various stages of democracy or approaching democracy, what does it take, what is the process, who are the players, what are the chances, etc.

Excellent read, a GOP staffer leaves the "cult" and tells all

http://www.truth-out.org/goodbye-all-reflections-gop-operative-who-left-cult/1314907779

Did you ever wonder if Republicans just make shit up, or if they really try to protect the Waltons and Kochs?  Well I always thought so, but I often thought that at least some of them were trying to do the right thing, just from a different point of view.  Well, it turns out they actually intend to screw the environment and the people for every penny they can funnel to the rich.

I hate it when insurance companies know stuff

Who among us really accepts global warming as the cause of increased frequency and intensity of harmful weather? The anti-science republicans?  Fox news watchers?  No!  Who then?  Insurance companies.

Over the last few years the big insurance companies have been meeting with their largest customers to say you are going to experience increased climate related losses, and your rates will go up.  For the public, we see insurers in some areas refusing to take new customers, or they will only write policy exempting wind damage or water damage, even canceling all policy in some areas,  some coastal areas in Florida for example.  The reason some areas cannot get insurance at all, or wind damage coverage is due to the governors.  The Florida governor and the state insurance commission will not allow the industry to raise their premiums.  Is that the hands off small government they brag of?  Trying to keep all those blue haired old ladies from raising hell about high insurance bills instead leads to having no insurance, or very narrow event insurance.

To sum up, aside from the efforts good or bad of states, the fact remains, insurance companies are already in the global warming mode of operation, rates are up and will increase 70% in the next few years, if the state blocks it they cancel. While republicans howl at the moon of lame excuses about climate and pollution, the insurance bill arrived, and it's already charging for global warming.

Tea Party Congressmen say tax breaks would end raging southwest wildfires.

Movie at 11.
Has anyone else been amused at Bachman's rocket sled scoot to the bottom,  in 3 weeks falling from #1 or #2 (depending on the poll) to #4 with 4% support.  Not 5, just 4, she's barely ahead of me, I poll at 1%.  She's fucking toast, cancel the lease on the bus already.   I don't care if you are tea party darling, your a fucking girl, the thumpers may have dozed off but they woke up and girls don't lead anybody anywhere in Southern Baptist churches, get an apron.

As late as 30 days ago US companies, and maybe a congressman was still trying to save Gadaffee.

http://english.aljazeera.net/indepth/features/2011/08/2011831151258728747.html
Have we farmed out foreign relations to multinational corps?

Many of you (liberal or reichwing) bloggers do not understand oil production

The number of drilling rigs has soared to record levels.  Yet, the GOP, the fossil fuel industry, and even many of you (in recent postings) rant that we need to start drilling again (but only if safe and clean).  (Me to, I'm guilty, I overlook this from time to time because of the constant drill baby drill chant.)  Well look at this chart.

We are poking North America full of holes, with more drilling machines than ever in use in our history.  Oil prices did not go down, more oil is not on the market, and the press nor the GOP nor the oil companies have not given Obama one ounce of credit for letting them do what even the Bush's would not do, and they never will.  They will continue to claim the opposite of the truth, as normal.

Why didn't we get the benefit of all this drilling, why not lower prices?  Because dear slow friend of mine 1) oil is traded world wide in dollars, a few hundred new wells here is a drop in the worlds bucket, it is estimated by 2030 at this pace of drilling we will impact world prices 3 cents a gallon at the pump, thats it, thats the big fucking dream, lowering your fuel bill a couple dollars a month two decades from now.  Big fucking whoop!  2) there have been no new refineries built in 30 years, and many have closed, a few have expanded, our overall capacity to make oil into gas has gone up but not a lot, and thats the way the Kochs and Phillips intend to keep it, what do think they will invest or cut off their dick for you, get real.  3) see item #1, we are exporting some of our oil, especially from Alaska, speculators around the world are setting in fancy houses overlooking yacht plugged harbors buying selling moving betting trading oil, some of it goes around the world and back before it gets used.

Obama has not been the environmental president we wanted him to be, he will sure allow the tar sand pipeline to cross the biggest water source of the central US, he will risk it.  And after he does, the people that build and run and profit that pipeline and it's oil, will work with all their might to defeat him, he won't get one vote for doing it.