07/17/2010 archive

Evening Edition

Evening Edition is an Open Thread

From Yahoo News Top Stories

1 Cap holds in oil leak as BP analyzes well structure

by Allen Johnson, AFP

Sat Jul 17, 12:08 pm ET

NEW ORLEANS, Louisiana (AFP) – A cap placed over a leaking Gulf of Mexico oil well is still holding back spilling crude, but the results of tests on the well’s structure require more analysis, BP said on Saturday.

“We’re feeling more confident that we have integrity,” BP senior vice president Kent Wells told reporters in an early morning briefing.

“At this point there’s not evidence that we don’t have integrity,” he said as a second day of tests on the condition of the wellbore below the seabed continued.

Arizona: Neo Nazis Patrol Border

Is it chickens or is it eggs?  Is it that Governor Brewer’s immigration extremism gives cover to Nazis?  Or is it that Neo Nazis give cover to the ugliness that is SB 1070? Is it that Joe Apraio was thought to be as extreme as anyone could be, but people have emerged in Arizona who are even further beyond the Pale?

Is Arizona a Petry Dish from growing more and more virulent forms of extremism?  You pick.

This from AP:

Minutemen groups, a surge in Border Patrol agents, and a tough new immigration law aren’t enough for a reputed neo-Nazi who’s now leading a militia in the Arizona desert.

Jason “J.T.” Ready is taking matters into his own hands, declaring war on “narco-terrorists” and keeping an eye out for illegal immigrants….

But local law enforcement are nervous given that Ready’s group is heavily armed and identifies with the National Socialist Movement, an organization that believes only non-Jewish, white heterosexuals should be American citizens and that everyone who isn’t white should leave the country “peacefully or by force.”…snip

But Ready, a 37-year-old ex-Marine, ,,, and his friends are outfitted with military fatigues, body armor and gas masks, and carry assault rifles. Ready takes offense at the term “neo-Nazi,” but admits he identifies with the National Socialist Movement.

“These are explicit Nazis,” said Mark Potok of the Southern Poverty Law Center’s Intelligence Project. “These are people who wear swastikas on their sleeves.”

And so, today, running around in the desert where it’s dangerously hot are a bunch of heavily armed Nazis.  And Sheriff Arpaio continues to humiliate immigrants while failing to prevent crime.  And the Governor of Arizona continues to insist that SB1070 is not preempted.  And not racist. And a waste of money.

Arizona is a hot, dry Petry Dish for growing extremism.

My revulsion overflows.  I’m not advocating violence.  I’m just noticing the strong, negative feelings all of these creeps evoke.  I hope that the people of Arizona will find a way to be free of these demagogues.

simulposted at The Dream Antilles and docuDharma and dailyKos

Health and Fitness News

Welcome to the Stars Hollow Health and Fitness weekly diary. It will publish on Saturday afternoon and be open for discussion about health related issues including diet, exercise, health and health care issues, as well as, tips on what you can do when there is a medical emergency. Questions are encouraged and I will answer to the best of my ability. If I can’t, I will try to steer you in the right direction. Naturally, I cannot give individual medical advice for personal health issues. I can give you information about medical conditions and the current treatments available.

Salads for Summer

Photobucket

Summer Pasta Salad on a Bed of Arugula

Spicy Quinoa, Cucumber and Tomato Salad

Quinoa, Corn and Edamame Salad

Curried Brown Rice and Wheatberry Salad

White Beans With Pesto

Punting the Pundits

There is no reason to stay in Afghanistan. Rachel Maddow’s excellent “special comment”

Life during wartime

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

What is Marxists.org?

Well that’s an excellent question Paul and I have no doubt my readers are fully capable of looking up the link themselves.

Indeed I expect they are generally familiar with the principles of Economics 101 and Keynesianism which along with Smith is really the foundation of macro economics to the extent it can be claimed a science and not astrology.

How is it the conservative point of view ignores the classics?

And yet they’re upset that we call them ignorant.

Le Tour: Stage 13

Le.  Tour.  De.  France.

Well everyone (umm.. is anyone talking about this besides me?) is talking about Contador’s 11 second move on Schleck up the New Cross Rib (also called The Jalabert Ascension for you SG-1 Fans).

Disagree with my translations?  It’s not my fault the French don’t speak a sensible language like… oh say Southern US English.

‘You all’ is just you.  ‘All you all’ is you and your cousins.  Yawl is a sail boat with multiple masts the stern most of which is behind the rudder.

I’m glad we’ve settled that,

So it’s age and guile (27) vs. youth and enthusiasm.  I’m pretty sure how that works out.  Today’s stage is even less interesting than yesterday’s, 122 miles from Rodez to Revel, 3 category 4s and 2 category 3s, overall descending.

On This Day in History: July 17

Disneyland, Walt Disney’s metropolis of nostalgia, fantasy, and futurism, opens on July 17, 1955. The $17 million theme park was built on 160 acres of former orange groves in Anaheim, California, and soon brought in staggering profits. Today, Disneyland hosts more than 14 million visitors a year, who spend close to $3 billion.

snip

In the early 1950s, Walt Disney began designing a huge amusement park to be built near Los Angeles. He intended Disneyland to have educational as well as amusement value and to entertain adults and their children. Land was bought in the farming community of Anaheim, about 25 miles southeast of Los Angeles, and construction began in 1954. In the summer of 1955, special invitations were sent out for the opening of Disneyland on July 17. Unfortunately, the pass was counterfeited and thousands of uninvited people were admitted into Disneyland on opening day. The park was not ready for the public: food and drink ran out, a women’s high-heel shoe got stuck in the wet asphalt of Main Street USA, and the Mark Twain Steamboat nearly capsized from too many passengers.

Disneyland soon recovered, however, and attractions such as the Castle, Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride, Snow White’s Adventures, Space Station X-1, Jungle Cruise, and Stage Coach drew countless children and their parents. Special events and the continual building of new state-of-the-art attractions encouraged them to visit again

Prime Time

Well, a Friday night lineup that makes me wish I had a date.

First of all you only get to watch Keith and Rachel the once because the real life jackbooted fascism of Joseph Arpaio is more compelling television.  AMC has Ghost Ship twice though why you’d want to see it even once is beyond me.  It’s also a ‘Classic’ since 2002 instead of the (presumably better) 1952 version.

TBS has Shrek the Third twice which makes some sense if you’re a Mike Myers fan (which I’m not).  Shrek in general always makes me wonder if Piers Anthony is getting any royalties.  Probably not given Hollywood’s general respect for intellectual property.

The usual schedule of Toons with Ben 10 and Generator Rex premiers and an interesting pair of Moral Orals at 10:30- Numb and Grounded.  There is Phineas and Ferb at 9 if you prefer that to Clone Wars.  SciFi has last week’s season opener of Eureka and a new episode, followed  by a new episode of Haven.

Turner Classic comes through as usual with a pair of very difficult cult classics- Tod Browning’s Freaks and Circus of Horrors.  You should watch them, or at least pretend to have.

Update: Great.  Keith is taking 2 weeks off.

Obama Bans Abortions for High Risk Pool Women: Up Date

Yes, our Progressive, Democratic President who was elected on Democratic Platform that supports a woman’s right to choose has banned abortion to women who buy into the “high risk” health care insurance pool. That is if they are lucky enough to qualify, afford or be accepted into that pool.

From RHRealitycheck:

Obama Administration Applies Stupak Amendment to High Risk Pools

This week, a commotion  arose over the question of whether Pre-existing Condition Insurance Plans, also known as high risk pools, can include abortion coverage.  The Obama Administration responded immediately by imposing a total ban on abortion coverage in the pools that echoes the Stupak Amendment, even though nothing in the law requires such action.

PCIPs are temporary health insurance pools that states or the federal government must establish or expand in every state to cover people who do not currently qualify for individual health insurance because of a preexisting condition.  PCIP coverage will expire in 2014 when enrollees become eligible for the new health insurance exchanges that will become operational that year.  PCIPs will be funded with a combination of federal, state, and private money.

Women entering these plans are, by definition, those who have experienced serious medical conditions-so serious that insurers are unwilling to sell them insurance.  In other words, those who get pregnant are already at a heightened risk for needing an abortion for health reasons when compared to the general population.

There is noting in the health care bill that was passed to put such a restriction on women.

From the ACLU press release on this:

   

Even using their own private funds, individuals would not be able to buy policies that cover abortion in these pools. The only exemptions would reportedly be for women who have been raped, who are the victims of incest or who will likely die if they carry the pregnancy to term.

Evening Edition

Evening Edition is an Open Thread

From Yahoo News Top Stories

1 BP stops Gulf oil flow for first time since April

by Allen Johnson, AFP

Thu Jul 15, 7:18 pm ET

NEW ORLEANS, Louisiana (AFP) – British energy giant BP stopped the oil flowing into the Gulf of Mexico on Thursday for the first time in three months as it began key tests hoping to stem the spill for good.

Shortly after BP engineers shut down the last of three valves on a giant new cap placed on the blown-out well at around 2:25 pm (1925 GMT), senior vice president Kent Wells announced no oil was leaking into the seas.

“I’m very excited to see no oil flowing into the Gulf of Mexico,” Wells told reporters, but cautioned it was only the start of a painstaking testing process set to last 48 hours to analyze the condition of the underground wellbore.