Recently in News Category

No wonder cancer is rampant in our world today.  Unbelievably, by the time I was born, 134 atomic bombs had been detonated on our planet:

• USA:  87
• Soviet Union:  38
• Great Britton:  9

And, horrifying as it may be, 2,053 atomic bombs have been exploded on the planet through 1998 with over half being detonated by the US.

NPR's Robert Krulwich reports that in 1962, shortly after the discovery of the magnetic Van Allen radiation belts were discovered, the US military exploded an atomic bomb in outer space to see if they could disrupt the Van Allen belt to use it as a weapon against the USSR.  The project, named Starfish Prime, produced an astounding light show in the heavens.

I can think of little that could be so irresponsible and nothing that better demonstrates the evil nature of the military industrial complex that runs this nation.  Those military officials and scientists discover something they do not understand and then want to see if they can blow it up.  This is insanity.

What other lunatic experiments have the unknowing people of the earth been victimized by because of this military experimentation?  I have no doubt that thousands have died and probably will continue to die of cancer as a result of these bomb tests and god knows what else (biological experiments, etc.).

View the interactive graphic of when, where, and by whom the atomic bombs were detonated.  Source:  CTBTO

Related articles by Zemanta

• The Rainbow Bombs (greg.org)
• Exploding H-Bombs In Outer Space (milkandcookies.com)
• US detonated a nuclear bomb in space in 1962 (slashgear.com)
• Mapping Nuclear Bomb Explosions (neatorama.com)

Well, my iPhone 4 is supposed to arrive tomorrow!  I can't wait.

I downloaded iOS 4 for my existing phone and iPod Touch to get accustomed to the new operating system.  So far, the thing I like the most is Folders!  My application icons are all grouped in a way that makes sense to me.  Instead of having an insane number of panes through which I had to slide, I now only have 3!  This is a vast improvement.  Now, of course, I want more.  I've become such a visual person; I'd like to choose the icons for my Folders.  :o)

I also understand that a user can opt out of the iAd system, so Apple doesn't collect info about your interests, by visiting http://oo.apple.com ith any device running iOS 4 or later.  You should get a message, "You have successfully opted out.” if the process is working; otherwise, “Opt out not successful.” will appear.

Related articles:

• Apple's iOS 4 Available for Download [Video] (globalthoughtz.com)
• iOS 4 Update (slog.thestranger.com)
• iOS 4 Releases Today (apple.slashdot.org)
• Apple iOS 4 released to widespread criticism (v3.co.uk)
• Apple Launches iOS 4 for iPhone, iPod Touch (wired.com)

The hyper, militant, radical, evil, ultra-conservative, Republican noise machine has reached a new level of shill: stop beating up poor little innocent BP. [Insert a string of vile profanities of your own choosing here.] Listen to these idiots.

At the very least, BP should go out of business. Frankly, I favor the US nationalizing all of their assets. Just please spare Tony a yacht.

Related articles:

• Krauthammer: Barton's apology was "the most politically stupid statement of the year" (hotair.com)
• Michael Tomasky: BP and the GOP (guardian.co.uk)
• GOP Defending BP: Cutting Off Their Heads To Spite Their Necks (alan.com)

The banks were too big to fail.  Google is too big to be anything but evil.

I'm sure everyone has heard by now that the little Google street car that has mapping our world (while very cool, it takes away our privacy) was also snooping around everyone's wireless networks.  If your network was unprotected when the Google street car came by your home or office, Google took your email and password information as well.

Don't tell me the very bright people at Google haven't been doing analysis on the human cognition of password creation.  To the nefarious among us, we are nothing more than data.  I'll never forget overhearing a restaurant dinner conversation here in LA, "Yeah, I like so-and-so, but that's just one data point!"

As far as I am concerned, Google can never be trusted.

Wi-Fi traffic intercepted by Google’s Street View cars included passwords and e-mail, according to the French National Commission on Computing and Liberty (CNIL)."

[Source: Google Street View Wi-Fi data included passwords and e-mail | Security | Macworld.]

I'd vote for her!  Shoot, I'd campaign for her!  She's attractive and charming.  She's witty and articulate.  She speaks core American values.  She does her homework.

Obama, while infinitely better than his wretched predecessor, has been astoundingly disappointing as president.  This disaster affords him the opportunity to do right by the American people and fulfill one of the primary duties of government:  protect and defend — not from some invisible "terrorist" threat, but from the very visible threat of capitalism gone awry, greed and excess, of government beholden to transglobal corporations and not the people.

Once again, Rachel Maddow nails it in her "fake speech to the nation as fake President Obama."

Texas Republican Joe Barton shows he only cares about the oil industry.

“I’m ashamed of what happened in the White House,” Barton said today as a House Energy Committee panel began a hearing on BP’s Gulf of Mexico oil spill. The Obama administration called Barton’s comments “shameful.”

The London-based oil company agreed yesterday to Obama’s request to establish a fund to pay damages from the spill, and to temporarily suspend dividends as Gulf residents and businesses begin filing claims. BP said it will commit $20 billion to the fund.

Source:  Bloomberg:  BP's Spill Fund a $20 Billion Shakedown, Rep. Barton Says

Tony Hayward's appearance before Congress is just another expensive governmental "go-through-the-motions" sham.  I still maintain that the oil industry as a whole should be regulated like any other public utility.

Related articles:

• Rachel Maddow Blasts BP COO Doug Suttles: 'Not Even Remotely Believable' Answers In Interview (VIDEO) (huffingtonpost.com)
• BP Destroying Evidence at the Scene of the Crime - Why the Hell are They Still in Charge? (videocafe.crooksandliars.com)
• No BP Dividend; Feinberg to Oversee $20B Spill Claim Fund (themoderatevoice.com)
• BP chairman apologizes for Gulf oil spill (sfgate.com)

Last night, around 2:00AM and just now, we have had two earthquakes that shook the house.  These were very short in duration and located out in the bay, just off the coast here in Manhattan Beach.

This is a link to the data about the most recent earthquake.  And this is a link to the data about the earthquake in the wee hours of the morning.

Related articles:

• Hundreds reported feeling Santa Monica Bay earthquake, 3 aftershocks (latimesblogs.latimes.com)
• 3.6 Earthquake Strikes Santa Monica Bay (laist.com)
• Los Angeles Earthquake... "Peace, be Still" (beliefnet.com)
• Breaking News: 3.6 Earthquakes rattles nerves in Santa Monica/West Los Angeles area (economy4abc.blogspot.com)

Software Updates
I admit that I use technology more than the average person. Maybe I need to change that, because I am sick to death of sitting down to work at one of my computers only to be greeted with a bunch of software updates — which I always feel compelled to do immediately and be done with. Then, 5 minutes later I launch an application I need to use only to find that there is a new version available for download. Three minutes later I'm ready to get to work.

Only now, the new version has a damned bug in it and will not do what the old version did just fine. It crashes. I relaunch to try it again. The crash reporter comes up. I fill it out. I get so fed up trouble shooting software that I pay to own. Obviously these software companies do not test their work!!! Then the software crash reporter has to gather my system information. Well damn —that takes a good 5 minutes. And of course it will take a day or two (or week or month) for the support team to respond and then weeks before a software update is issued — oh god!!!! another software update. Hell!!!!! A half hour passes and I haven't accomplished anything! This pisses me off in a HUGE, HUGE way.

AT&T Has New Data Plans
AT&T is trying to get the message out that the new plans will save most users money unless you are a "data hog!" Well, let me tell AT&T something. I am a data hog. And I pay damned good money to be one too! Get off your greedy, stingy ass and stop trying to blame your customers, who pay for your service, for the fact that your service is crap! Instead, --novel idea here-- invest some of your profits in upgrading your network!

And AT&T wants you to believe that the new rates will save 95% of their customers money. Yeah, right!!! This year. Just wait boys and girls. How long before they raise the rates and make even more money off their already over-priced, crappy network?!!

I bought an iPad without 3G, because I refuse to give AT&T another penny of my money. I loathe this company! I use my MiFi from Verizon for my network access when I'm out of range of one of my WiFi networks. Screw you, AT&T. Verizon has a pervasive 3G network that works!

BP MUST Go Out of Business
I have never in all of my life seen a company CEO that is as arrogant, self-serving, calloused, and evil-hearted as the CEO of BP! He is tired of the oil spill and "just wants his life back?!" What a #$%@ing bastard!

What about the 11 people that were killed by what appears to be company negligence*? What about the entire ecosystem of the Gulf of Mexico? Watching the poor birds violently gasping trying to catch just one more breath to stay alive before their inevitable death is too heartbreaking. What we can't see are all of the different kinds of sea life that have been poisoned to death in the water by BP's oil, toxic chemicals, greed and negligence! And they are spending $7,500 a day to purchase search terms from Google to get their spin out as the top search results about this horrific environmental catastrophe.

These poor creatures have no idea what is happening to them as their flesh is burning, their eyesight is taken, and they painfully struggle to survive the impossible.

As far as I am concerned Tony Hayward and his company can rot in hell!

Photos Source: Caught in the Oil: boston.com

*See the 60 Minutes exposé

Related articles:

• AT&T says 'enough' to you data hogs (seattletimes.nwsource.com)
• AT&T Sparks User Backlash With End to Unlimited Plans (Update2) (businessweek.com)
• AT&T Sparks User Backlash With End to Unlimited Plans (Update1) (businessweek.com)

But he, BP senior VP Kent Wells, really is anything but Mr. Clean.

The carefully placed shine on the top of his head is brilliant marketing!  Godlike.  Saintly.  Trust me.  I am your savior.

The LCD TV screen instead of a poster spends your BP dollar well while making the white on the graph look as white as possible — much brighter than a poster board would appear!

A wrinkle-free grey shirt. The perpendicular lines on the beige wall behind them to make the graph appear as tall and as white as possible.

Tech update...  Oh really?  Interesting that BP would title the picture for everyone.  I think of it more as an ongoing environmental Chernobyl update!

Wow! This spin machine is in high gear!! They left nothing to chance!

But think of his work more like Mr. Filth. 

He is deceiving the world with his trickery: graphs. Oh, the lies data can tell. Looks likes things are getting a lot better. The green bars are going up high! Lots of white space. Even some blue. How environmentally pure.

Pooh authentica!!

Sure, the syphon is collecting more and more oil. The bar should be going up. But why does he not include a black, oily, slimy colored bar for the millions of gallons of crude oil that are NOT being syphoned off?

Let me tell you: perhaps the ceiling in the room is not tall enough for that graph!!!!! The little green line would be shockingly  dwarfed by the enormous, hideous bar representing the volume of oil already and continuing to be dumped into the Gulf!

Cut to the chase, liars: first you told us the well was only leaking at most 5,000 barrels (or gallons, I forget) of oil a day. But then, oops, we find out that the syphon is sucking up 2,000 - 3,000 and not even making a visible dent in the huge volume of oil we see leaking out. Then experts confess the well could be leaking as many as 100,000 per day!

Don't forget boys and girls, am I the only one that remembers they said the oil was leaking in three places???? Yet we only ever see one of them???? And why is that??????

And the Republicans want to turn the tide with their spin machine: Obama's fault now.

Yeah, right!

Drill baby, drill!

Lie baby, lie!

Screw people.  Screw the earth.  Screw wildlife.  After all, it's all about profit!

Related articles:

• BP tries to mislead you with graphs (flowingdata.com)
• BP Oil Collection - Is the Effort Really Improving? (perceptualedge.com)
• BP Spins The Oil Spill (huffingtonpost.com)

When the Exxon Valdez spewed 10.8 million gallons of crude oil in Alaska in 1989, I was horrified. I was so angered by not only that companies irresponsible destruction of habitat and commerce, but their callus and irresponsible lack of sufficient and meaningful effort to redress the horrible wrong they had perpetrated on our planet, people, and wildlife.

I don't know that I've ever made this public, but from that day forward, I've never purchased gasoline from any Exxon, Esso, Enco, Mobil, and Humble stations—all owned by Exxon. I never will purchase gas from Exxon as long as I live. This was significant to me because Exxon had always been my preferred brand of gasoline all of my life. No more.

Now, BP has committed an even greater atrocity against the earth. No one can have watched the CBS 60 Minutes exposé on the sinking of the Deepwater Horizon without being overcome with the level of irresponsibility of British Petroleum. And to see their arrogance surrounding this matter ... I just have no words. These companies are making record profits and just are raping the earth. The have secured legislation limiting their liability in any disastrous event to only $75 million dollars. Obvious, with Dick Cheney and George W. Bush as glowing examples, they own our government.

The oil these companies take from the earth what belongs to the people of the United States. Why do these companies pay nothing for its taking? Why is this industry not regulated like the water, gas, and electric industry as a common utility for the public good?!

Since our government has once again failed us, I call on all Americans to boycott the irresponsible corporate greed of Exxon and BP by no longer purchasing their gasoline. Put them out of business. Chevron. How long until you desecrate my trust?

Related articles:

• The Gross Negligence of BP -- Oil Giant's Trying to Slick Its Way Out of Controversy (alternet.org)
• BP Oil Spill Reaches Louisiana Shores (milkandcookies.com)
• Exxon Valdez Oil Spill (slideshare.net)

When the Exxon Valdez spewed 10.8 million gallons of crude oil in Alaska in 1989, I was horrified. I was so angered by not only that companies irresponsible destruction of habitat and commerce, but their callus and irresponsible lack of sufficient and meaningful effort to redress the horrible wrong they had perpetrated on our planet, people, and wildlife.

I don't know that I've ever made this public, but from that day forward, I've never purchased gasoline from any Exxon, Esso, Enco, Mobil, and Humble stations—all owned by Exxon. I never will purchase gas from Exxon as long as I live. This was significant to me because Exxon had always been my preferred brand of gasoline all of my life. No more.

Now, BP has committed an even greater atrocity against the earth. (BP includes ARCO.) No one can have watched the CBS 60 Minutes exposé on the sinking of the Deepwater Horizon without being overcome with the level of irresponsibility of British Petroleum. And to see their arrogance surrounding this matter ... I just have no words. These companies are making record profits and just are raping the earth. The have secured legislation limiting their liability in any disastrous event to only $75 million dollars. Obvious, with Dick Cheney and George W. Bush as glowing examples, they own our government.

The oil these companies take from the earth what belongs to the people of the United States. Why do these companies pay nothing for its taking? Why is this industry not regulated like the water, gas, and electric industry as a common utility for the public good?!

Since our government has once again failed us, I call on all Americans to boycott the irresponsible corporate greed of Exxon and BP by no longer purchasing their gasoline. Put them out of business. Chevron. How long until you desecrate my trust?

Related articles:

• The Gross Negligence of BP -- Oil Giant's Trying to Slick Its Way Out of Controversy (alternet.org)
• BP Oil Spill Reaches Louisiana Shores (milkandcookies.com)
• Exxon Valdez Oil Spill (slideshare.net)

Craig Venter's announcement begins rather matter-of-factly:

We're here today to announce the first synthetic cell—a cell made by starting with the digital code in the computer, building the chromosome from four bottles of chemicals, assembling that chromosome in yeast, transplanting it into a recipient bacterial cell, and transforming that cell into a new bacterial species. This is the first self-replicating species that we've had on the planet whose parent is a computer. It's also the first species to have its own web site encoded in its genetic code. ...

Holy cow! What did he just say? And who is this guy?!  This is cited from the TED web site:

In 2001, Craig Venter made headlines for sequencing the human genome. In 2003, he started mapping the ocean's biodiversity. And now, in 2010, he's created the first synthetic lifeforms --… Full bio and more links

Yesterday, in the grocery store, I saw some magazine cover lamenting that no new cures are being developed by scientist for diseases.  This morning I listen to this.  I'll be frank with you, I'm not so sure this is a good thing.  Venter talks about how this discovery may open the door to creating effective vaccines, especially for viruses that mutate so quickly like the common cold and HIV.

I would like to hear a discussion about what all could go horribly wrong.  We don't even know how to dig oil out of the ground in the Gulf of Mexico and now we're going to rush ahead creating new, rapidly reproducing life forms that have never existed before?!  How long will it take for the nefarious among us to make a computer virus that becomes a new and horrifically deadly human virus?!

Have mercy!  We tinker boldly with that which we do not understand.  One bright and creative young man who saw this, and whose tweet actually steered me to this TED talk, said, "This is the future of software." I would like to add to that:  "This is the future of software, computer viruses, spam, the human virus???"

At the least, this is the stuff for some great science fiction!

Craig sort of does look like God, doesn't he. I mean, his beard could be longer and totally white. Put a white robe on him. And there you have it. It's all settled.

Related articles:

• CRAIG VENTER creates a cell with synthetic DNA. Venter is an interesting character. I invited him ... (pajamasmedia.com)
• Mad Scientist Creates Living Cell, Potentially Dooming Us All [Science] (kotaku.com)
• Scientist creates first living synthetic cells (nationalpost.com)
• Craig Venter's synthetic life breakthrough raises scientific hopes (guardian.co.uk)
• It's alive! Artificial DNA controls life (msnbc.msn.com)

Warning:  if you are one of my really ultra-conservative friends, you might want to skip this post.

First, I want to make it perfectly clear that I could care less if Dr. George Rekers is gay, straight, or anything in between.  It makes no difference to me.  That's his personal business.  Hiring a male prostitute from RentBoy.com to "lift his luggage," as he claimed, is his own thing — whatever.  It will not be the first nor the last time any man in this country has paid for or lied about sex.

What I find loathsome and detestable is his lying, his hypocrisy, his co-founding the Family Research Council and work with Focus on the Family with his good buddy James Dobson to profit from condemning and persecuting his very own lifestyle while he has the hubris to post this to his Facebook page, "Like Jesus Christ, I deliberately spend time with sinners with the loving goal to try to help them."  Yes, Jesus did hang with the prostitutes.  But, I'm not so sure he did that to have sex with them.

Excuse me George.  You are nothing, nothing like Jesus Christ.  Your perverse and self-destructive lifestyle has only hurt people—many, many good and well intentioned people.  In my mind, you are evil.  You are not evil because you're gay.  You're evil because your religious work (profiting from targeting restricting rights of gay people and your organization's odd notions of conversion therapy, etc.) hurts gay people—people like yourself.  How destructive is that?—totally self destructive!  Sadly, you must be a real nut job.

In my world view, you can live your life any way you wish until you start hurting people.  When you are hurting others, you must be stopped.  At least you have now clearly shown everyone how perverse your heart really is.  Exposing your evil heart is a great step to stopping your hurting others.

Some good, however, has come from George Rekers' spectacle—humor.  The US now has a new euphemism for sexual activity:

• South Carolina's Governor Mark Sanford gave us: "hiking the Appalachian Trail"
• Senator Larry Craig gave us:  "wide stance," and now
• Religious nut job George Rekers gives us: "lift my luggage"

I especially liked this Alpha Dog of the Week video segment from the Colbert Report.  (Further warning:  this is filled with sexual innuendo and double entendre.  Don't watch it if you are easily offended.)

Rachel Maddow has a few insightful comments, and, as she so often does, lays it on the line.

Related articles:

• Christian Leader Denies Gay Prostitution Claim (cbsnews.com)
• George Alan Rekers goes on a trip (washingtonmonthly.com)
• Shades of Larry Craig (talkingpointsmemo.com)

Just spreading the AT&T love...

AT&T promised to spend $2 billion upgrading its wireless network this year. Whatever it has spent on the upgrades so far isn't helping.

 

A new report from ChangeWave Research (via Philip Elmer DeWitt) shows consumer dissatisfaction growing with AT&T, while it's decreasing with Verizon. ChangeWave surveyed 4,040 smartphone owners about dropped calls over the last three months.

In the chart below, you can see dropped calls for AT&T customers growing, despite the investment to improve its wireless network.

Source:  Business Insider:  CHART OF THE DAY: AT&T's Network Blows

Do the math:  That's three times more dropped calls!!  (But AT&T's advertisements tell me they have me covered.  Riiiiiight!)

Related articles:

• AT&T dropping more calls than ever (Philip Elmer-DeWitt/Fortune) (techmeme.com)
• CHART OF THE DAY: AT&T's Network Blows (T, VZ, AAPL) (businessinsider.com)
• New survey shows AT&T customers still get the short end of the stick (edibleapple.com)
• Verizon iPhone Could Attract More Than Half of Carrier's Customers [REPORT] (mashable.com)
• Survey: Despite network spending, AT&T dropping more calls (blogs.chron.com)

"I don't think I'm overstating the case by saying this is America's Chernobyl." —Louie Miller, Mississippi state director, Sierra Club, at a news conference on May 1, 2010, in Gulfport, Mississippi.

Not overstating it?  Indeed!

But, unless you live on the Gulf Coast, as does my extended family, unless you know people who will lose everything because their livelihood. in fact, the economy of the whole regions already deeply depressed by the aftermath of Katrina, is completely dependent on the health of the Gulf of Mexico, this is just a minor little setback in the United State's intoxicated love affair with oil consumption and war above all else.

God forbid we should have policy that takes care of people and the environment in which we live!  That ain't Amurrrrican!  That ain't for the real Amurrrrica.

1. The extremist right wing nut jobs are blaming this on Obama?!  (Now who was it that said, "Drill baby, drill!"????)
2. BP assured everyone this would never happen, but if it did, they had plans to immediately correct it.  Now they admit to being clueless about what to do as this well pumps tons of oil into the Gulf every day!
3. If this disaster doesn't rewrite America's policy on off shore drilling, we are a hopeless and disgusting lot.
4. Record oil profits.  Record oil profits.  Record oil profits.  What do we do now?
5. This is yet another catastrophic result of a nation's government owned by corporate greed.

I mourn the death of the pristine beauty of the Gulf Coast on which I grew up:  the sugar white sands, the beaches littered with sea shells and crabs, the clearest water in the world in which you could watch little seahorses and starfish swim, dolphins play, and routinely see huge sea turtles and giant manta rays swimming in the wild.

Gone, now.  Probably forever so bubbah can drive his Hummer and Ms. Thing can sip her bottled water shipped all the way from Fiji.  Am I angry?  You're damned right I am!  Where's the righteous indignation over taking care of people and the beauty of God's creation?!  Instead, we just want to kick some terrorist butt so we can guzzle some more oil.

And where is Dick Cheney today?  Talking to King Abdullah in Saudi Arabia?  Trying to line his purse with more oil money no doubt?  Now isn't he just the clever one.  Dick never misses an opportunity!

Our reckless, live-for-the-moment, greedy, consumptive lifestyle in this nation will inevitably kill us all.  But what matters most is that some people will get very wealthy in the process.

Related articles:

• Sierra Club Director Calls Oil Spill America's Chernobyl (shoppingblog.com)
• BP Rests Oil Clean-Up Hopes On New System (news.sky.com)
• Watch-and-wait game continues for Gulf Coast residents (cnn.com)
• Some Still Call for Drilling as Oil Approaches Gulf Coast (redstateprogressive.com)
• Bob Ostertag: The New York Times, Astroturf, and the Gulf of Mexico (huffingtonpost.com)
• "BP Says It Will Pay Oil Spill Cleanup Costs" and related posts (newsone.com)
• Images: Massive oil spill imperils Gulf Coast (news.cnet.com)
• GULF COAST OIL SPILL: Wildlife, fishing could be destroyed (economy4abc.blogspot.com)
• 10 Things You Can Do to Help the Gulf Coast Clean the Oil Spill (usnews.com)
• Senator: 'BP says it'll pay for this mess. Baloney.' (cnn.com)
• Another Week at Least of Unabated Gulf Oil Geyser (abcnews.go.com)

This trip, unlike any of my other travels around the world, was not without some rather anxious moments. I'm glad to be home. I think.

I read in CNN this morning that Thailand has declared a state of emergency after the protesters stormed parliament yesterday. While I was in Bangkok, the protests were peaceful. I really have no idea what their internal politics are all about and wasn't even aware of the current political unrest when I went to Thailand.

I left Bangkok on March 31st to spend about a week in Vietnam. (I still haven't had time to post pictures from my time in Bangkok. I was busy working. But I found the people in Bangkok to be so incredibly gracious and friendly.)

While in Vietnam, the mood of the people there was also hospitable. However, I felt the people were a little bit more rigid—not at all in the way they treated me, but just in their general approach to life. Life in Vietnam seemed more difficult for common people.

Their food is amazing. They smile easily. They have very, very different customs and culture. Their driving is frightening. Maybe I was infusing some of my own guilt for what the United States did in Vietnam into my perceptions of my time there. Maybe it was just the constant horn honking...

When I began to leave Da Nang to return home via Ho Chi Minh City and Bangkok and Narita, I was stopped by a woman working for the airport. She said my carry on bag was too large if it didn't fit in this little "size thing." When it did fit, as I knew it would, she then said it was too heavy. It was. It contains my expensive camera equipment. She insisted I check it. I refused.*

Vietnam Airlines is in the process of becoming a member of the SkyTeam Alliance. With my being a charter member of the Diamond Club with SkyTeam, which means I travel way too much, Delta allows free oversized and overweight bags. Not Vietnam Airlines--yet, anyway. After some ridiculous wrangling I got my stuff on board without having to check it.

So the return already was getting off to a bad start. Upon arriving in Bangkok, I was staying at Novatel, the very nice hotel at the airport. A shuttle picks everyone up and takes you to the hotel as it is not easily accessed by walking, and Bangkok is hotter than hell anyway.

We had to go through a security check point to enter the hotel property. The Mercedes in front of us was thoroughly inspected for explosives. I could immediately tell things were much more serious. In my room in this modern, gorgeous hotel, the air conditioning wasn't working well! I didn't sleep well.

When we were all boarding the airplane in Narita, the gate agent told us that everyone had to be weighed by order of the United States Federal Aviation Administration. They brought out 5 scales or so and everyone had to be weighed and our weights recorded. What I weigh is none of the US governments damned business!

I don't sleep well on planes either. After spending virtually two days on airplanes, I was dead dog tired and very irritable. I was glad to land at LAX. So I thought. US Immigration asked me an unusual number of questions. What was that all about?! I was soon to find out.

Apparently I am now, like millions of other law abiding Americans I've read about in the news, being confused with some idiot from another state who must be in some kind of trouble with the government. I had to go through additional screening. I was so irritated. To make matters worse, their is no due process. They will not tell you anything about why this is being done. This is the American way?!

I must say that the customs agent was very professional, even cordial. Thank God! My shoulder was hurting terribly; I hadn't slept for two days; I was in a really bad mood. I won't go into any details about the extra screening so I won't be arrested, as was the journalist (or photographer, I don't recall now) who blogged about a similar experience with Immigration through Seattle a few months ago.

I was given a web site to use to redress this issue, but, according to the news, this rarely even works. I have to travel out of the country again next week. Will I be able to get out? Will I be able to get back in? This is so absurd.

Our world is getting uglier and uglier. Freedom in the US died with the Patriot Act. We sold our national birthright for fear. Soon, our children will never have know the US I was born in as it will never have existed in their lifetime. Weird how things change.

I worry that, as the divide between the super wealthy and the poor widens and the number of poor continue to grow, we will see very bad times ahead. I guess this is nothing new. What will be new is how technology will be wielded in this conflict of interests.

At any rate, I hate traveling now. It's just so terribly unpleasant: badly behaving children, cramming too many people into too little space, and now airlines want to start charging to use the overhead storage and to use the bathrooms?! One airline will be reducing the number of toilets on board so they can cram even more seats on the plane. What the hell?!!!

* I've had international "security" go through and steal things from my checked luggage in the past and, since we can't lock our checked bags, will not allow my expensive items to be checked ever again.

Related articles

• Vietnam: Day Six - Rest and Relax in Hoi An (timtyson.us)
• Vietnam: Day One (timtyson.us)
• Vietnam: Day Five - The Ancient City of Hoi An (timtyson.us)
• Vietnam: Day Two - My Life Is Quirky That Way... (timtyson.us)
• Vietnam: Day Four - Driving (timtyson.us)
• Vietnam: Day Two - Hanoi (timtyson.us)
• Vietnam: Day One - Dinner (timtyson.us)

Cost and value. Value and cost. The "deal" is some magical balance between cost and value.

Let me see. The Iraq war cost us $712,616,300,000 as I typed this sentence and has already gone above that—way above that in normal people budgets. The Afghanistan war cost us $260,099,900,000 as I typed this sentence and has already gone above that—again, way above that. So the total cost of these two wars is nearly one trillion dollars, which looks like this: $1,000,000,000,000.00.

So, was it a good value? Did we get our money's worth?

Well, I don't know what we really bought for all of that insane amount of money except a HUGE national debt.

What would we buy for the reported $940,000,000,000.00 health care plan in congress right now? Well, millions more Americans, not all, sad to say, would get some health coverage. The insurance industry will probably make a killing. Maybe thousands of Americans lives will be saved or they will live in better health or less pain.

So is it a good value? Well, at least I have some sense that we are buying something that will help people and not kill them. At least I have some sense that this money will aid people in living healthier lives and not maim people for the rest of their lives. At least I have some sense that I am purchasing something for my tax dollars that I believe has a moral value.

Spending a trillion dollars to learn that Saddam never had any weapons of mass destruction was a complete waste of money. Spending about the same amount to give our own citizens a higher quality of life isn't.

Why did we ever destroy the national trust on these two meaningless wars? Why is killing people more important to our government that helping our own citizens?

The extreme, religious right-wing conservatives have won yet another significant victory in their efforts to force their world view down the throats of unsuspecting Americans. I personally don't care what they choose to believe. But I take HUGE issue with their feverish evangelical approach to forcing everyone else in the nation live by their narrow belief system. In fact, I resent the hell out of anyone, right or left, forcing their beliefs on me, let alone forcing them on unsuspecting children to whom they didn't give birth!

Knowing they could never pull this off in California, the conservative movement targeted Texas, the state that gave the nation George W. Bush. In a 10 - 5 vote along party lines, the Texas Board of Education voted to approve the following conservative tenets being taught in their state's Social Studies curriculum and supported by the state-adopted textbooks:

• stress the superiority of American capitalism
• question the founding fathers commitment to a purely secular government
• present Republican political ideologies in a more positive light

Make no mistake, this is a carefully planned, well executed strategy by the ultra conservative think tanks. They have turned their initial claims of their own personal religious persecution into the wholesale religious persecution of the entire nation.  The end result will be religious tyranny, a return to the middle ages.

This decision in Texas has enormous ramifications for the entire nation—hence why it was targeted. The school textbook industry sells more textbooks in California, but too many people here have diverse thinking. But Texas is ripe for the picking. The good people of Texas think conservatively—very, ultra conservatively. Texas has the second largest textbook purchasing power in the nation. This is significant.

Now, the textbook industry will rewrite the Social Studies textbooks so they can sell them in Texas. This means the remainder of the nation will be forced to buy the drivel with which the ultra conservatives want their children in Texas indoctrinated. Mark my words:  This is a political victory of the highest order with long term ramifications of the most serious kind.

The extreme right-wing conservative think tanks have taken the minds of many unsuspecting Americans with their ownership of FOX so-called "news."  They have taken ownership of the conservative Republican party of which I was once a part. They have manipulated to control the highest court in the land. Now they are seeking the minds of the nation's children.  This is serious!  My country is actually under assault!

These extremists have quietly and patiently executed their strategy well under the banner of traditional values, heritage, and the homeland for decades.  The only way I think Americans can fight this momentous trend to force the nation to live by a narrowly-defined, prescriptive set of religious values that divest diversity, deep thinking, critical analysis, social justice, economic opportunity for all, open mindedness, tolerance, freedom of thought, freedom of speech, freedom of faith practice, et. al., is to support countervailing strategies that are just as well planned and executed.  As I've said, people who have divergent opinions and thoughts are the carefully selected target.

And as I've said before, I've become increasingly disgusted with what my nation is rapidly becoming, where the will of the few is increasingly being inflicted on the many in wealth aggregation, religious practice, legal policy, and now school curriculum. The extremist conservatives are well funded and organized at the grassroots level. It's time to stand up to them in an equally well funded grass roots effort.  The problem:  unlike the radical conservative thinkers of their movement who can manipulate their masses with a highly defined, carefully crafted agenda of fear, open minded people who think critically lack a central focus around which to organize.

We have lacked a motivating rallying cry around which to centralize our efforts.  Let this be it:  preserving our true American heritage from those extremist conservatives who are rapidly redefining it and marginalizing everyone who thinks differently from them!

Where are all of the libertarians that want the freedom to live their lives as they personally define the pursuit of life, liberty, and happiness?!

Tim is so not happy!

Related articles

• Texas Textbook MASSACRE: 'Ultraconservatives' Approve Radical Changes To State Education Curriculum (huffingtonpost.com)
• Texas Approves Conservative Curriculum (politics.slashdot.org)
• Texas conservatives rewrite history | Richard Adams (guardian.co.uk)
• Texas Becomes Laughingstock Once Again: State Board of Ed Determines History Is a Liberal Conspiracy (schoolsmatter.info)
• Texas Conservatives Win Vote on Textbook Standards (nytimes.com)
• Texas ed board adopts social studies standards (sfgate.com)

Everyone is reporting about the silver-headed gentleman who frantically called 911 early in the week stating that his Toyota Prius was accelerating out of control down the San Diego interstate. In my mind, these are some of the salient things he says in his on camera CNN interview:

• The the floor mat was not stuck up under the gas pedal.
• The car reached speeds in excess of 90 miles per hour causing him to narrowly miss hitting other vehicles traveling down the road.
• The accelerator took on a mind of its own and was stuck.
• That his attempts to reach down with his hand and physically pull the gas pedal back up were unsuccessful.
• That, since the vehicle was speeding out of control down the interstate, it was unsafe for him to take one of his hands off of the steering wheel to place the car in neutral.
• That, since the vehicle was speeding out of control down the interstate, it was unsafe for him to take one of his hands off of the steering wheel to turn the car off, fearing the steering would lock up and cause a horrible accident at the speed he was traveling.
• That he was standing on the brake pedal with all of his weight and this did not slow the run away vehicle's speed very much.
• That when the highway patrol pulled up beside him and, using the speaker, told him to stand on the brake and use the emergency brake at the same time, the car slowed down to 50 mph, allowing the patrolman to pull in front of the speeding car, make contact between the the patrolman's trunk and the Prius' hood and use the patrol car to brake the Prius to a stop.

Now, I could be wrong, and forgive me if I am; but, I don't buy this at all! This sounds like total hogwash to me.

Allow me to elaborate...

As a crazy teenager with very little driving experience, I was driving a car, with around 350 horsepower, that got stuck in full throttle, with that huge engine racing at full power down a two lane road, with traffic, at night! Needless to say, I was shocked and dumbfounded. But bringing the car to a full stop was a simple, yet frightening thing.

I put it in neutral.

The frightening part was that the engine then revved to the max and sounded like it was going to explode. I turned it off.

Since I was out in the middle of no where, I then decided to turn it back on and drive it (stupid kid) to the nearest gas station to call my dad. Remember, this was before any kind of portable phones even existed. I could control the car's speed, with this huge engine, by Pressing firmly on the brake and dropping the car into neutral when needed.

But this isn't why I think this man staged this whole event. Aside from the fact that he is an experienced driver, look at what he says. His own words make zero sense to me.

• If you own a Prius (I do.) odds are very high you are fully aware of the media reports about runaway Prius(es?) that have allegedly killed people. (One report said he was aware of this possible problem and had previously asked his dealer if his car was affected.) If you haven't given some serious thought to how you would bring your vehicle, of any make or model, to a full stop should something like this happen to you, in my mind, you are negligent!
• He said it was too dangerous for him to take one of his hands off of the steering wheel to reach just a few inches over to place his car in neutral. WHAT??!! But it wasn't too dangerous to reach under the dashboard all the way down to the floorboard with his hand to try to pull the gas pedal up, thereby not just taking his hand off the steering wheel but his eyes off the road he reported speeding down at 94 mph?! (I can't see the road and touch the gas pedal at the same time in my Prius.) Please!! Get real, dude!!
• He said it was too dangerous for him to take one of his hands off of the steering wheel to reach just a few inches over to place his car in neutral. But it wasn't too dangerous to get out his cell phone and place a call to 911? (Did the officer give him a ticket for using his cell phone while driving, which, because it reduces the driver's response time more than driving under the influence of alcohol, is against the law in California?) Even with a USB headset and the phone options package on the Prius, I still have to touch the phone or the dashboard several times to dial 911. Don't tell me you couldn't reach a shorter distance to touch the vehicle's on/off button once or place the car in neutral! No, no, no!!

Related articles by Zemanta

• Toyota Reviewing U.S. Report of Prius With Stuck Gas Pedal (businessweek.com)
• Toyota Driver Spins Out Of Control At 94mph (news.sky.com)
• Runaway Prius halted by Calif. police (cbc.ca)
• Toyota With 'Stuck' Accelerator Hits 94 MPH, Driver Rescued by California Highway Patrol (abcnews.go.com)

NPR, CPB, PBS:  all such powerful voices for deep, reflective, critical thinking in a time when we just tend to want some quick affirmation from those who support our current perspective on reality.  I've often, through the years, speculated that this is indeed the very reason these voices come under attack from political forces that feel challenged by dispassionate reason and reflection.

I've always had such great respect for Bill Moyers' work.  He asks deep and difficult questions in a quest for understanding and clarity rather than persuasion and opinion-making.  I stumbled upon, quite by accident, this Bill Moyers' Journla today:  an interview with Ted Olson and David Boies—unlikely legal partners joined to litigate against marriage inequality in California's ongoing battle with Proposition 8.

Having missed the broadcast (I was completely unaware of it.) I listened with interest as these three men had a provocative discussion of the case.  I was most curious how a brilliant, extremely conservative attorney and a brilliant extremely liberal attorney could in any way find common ground on this, of all, issues.  The conversation with Bill is fascinating and illuminating. In typical fashion, Bill asks some very demanding questions of these men.

This video and transcript, along with many other programs, can be found at PBS:  The Bill Moyers' Journal.

King Tut may be seen as the golden boy of ancient Egypt today, but during his reign, Tutankhamun wasn't exactly a strapping sun god. Instead, a new DNA study says, King Tut was a frail pharaoh, beset by malaria and a bone disorder—and possibly compromised by his newly discovered incestuous origins. The report is the first DNA study ever conducted with ancient Egyptian royal mummies. It apparently solves several mysteries surrounding King Tut, including how he died and who his parents were.

Related articles

• 'Malaria' killed King Tutankhamun (news.bbc.co.uk)
• First study of mummy DNA leads to all sorts of discoveries (boingboing.net)
• King Tut Died From Malaria, Broken Leg, Study Finds (huffingtonpost.com)
• Malaria, genetic diseases plagued King Tut (cnn.com)

Something else just dawned on me about today's announced iPad: all that went unannounced. In fact, I'm concerned.

Where is iLife '10? One of the presenters mentioned that iLife had been rewritten from the ground up. OMG!

The last time Apple's software team re-wrote something from the ground up, they gutted it: iMovie!

What features will we lose? Will desktop machines even get an iLife '10?

Any plans for a new model iPhone this summer as seems customary?

I'm hopeful more news will trickle out from the mothership soon.

And I'm sorry, the word "magical" just doesn't work for me.

Government of the corporations, by the corporations, and for the corporations. Today the Supreme Court (5-4) just handed the Republicans (and a lot of Democrats too) a huge bonus: unfettered access to corporate funding, effectively making a broken political system completely unaccountable the to will of the people.

The legacy of George W. Bush lives on to feast on the soul of democracy for profit.

At least Larry Lessig has a more reasoned view. Me, I'm just disgusted.

Over the years I've blogged many times about The Silver Grill, a midtown Atlanta institution that started in 1946 and remained in the Walton family until it closed 60 years later in 2006. [I started eating at the grill in the early 90's and immediately became addicted to the fried chicken. I probably ate there at least twice a month. The "meat and three" was that good--and a terrific bargain.] The grill reopened, under new ownership, in 2007, with several of the old timers returning to continue working there, including Peggy Hubbard.

I've blogged about Peggy before. She was very well know in the midtown community as she worked at The Silver Grill since she was a teenager. "Hun, it's all I've ever known." I just loved her. She spoke her mind. She didn't put up with any foolishness. She was incredibly kind hearted, hard working, full of down home wisdom, and seemed to know absolutely everyone in all of midtown. In fact, if you were a regular at the grill, as most customers were, you were like one of her grandchildren.

After my father passed away, my mother came up to visit for the holidays. We went to The Silver Grill for dinner one evening. And while it was a busy shift, Peggy took the time to sit down at the table for a moment and say to my mother, "I just love your son. And he looks just like you."

She loved and helped out everyone: homeless people, gay people, professional types, the Atlanta police officers, young people starting a family, good old boys--made no difference to her. To be such a small establishment, the grill attracted a large and remarkably diverse and colorful crowd, and she was simply good to everyone.

Well, sadly, I'm told The Silver Grill (part II) closed its doors again a couple of months ago: this time, probably for good. But, even sadder still, about a month after it closed, on January 3, 2010, Peggy, at age 76, passed away as a result of lung cancer.

Peggy was famous for her eyebrows, her blunt language and her big heart. As I wrote before, she assumed the role of surrogate mother for many young gay men. When AIDS hit the city, infecting and eventually killing many of her customers, Peggy delivered food to them, visited them in the hospital and attended their funerals."

[Source: Peggy, the Silver Grill Lady, Dies | Creative Loafing.]

I didn't know that about Peggy but am not at all surprised. I will always remember her fondly and am certain her funeral was attended by many, many people from all walks of life. You can sign her guestbook at this legacy.com link. She, like the institution at which she worked for so many years, was part of the very fabric of Atlanta.

She did a lot of good in this world.

May she rest in peace.

This is dubbed as the team's first step in its mobile platform development.

On Tuesday, the President's technology team released its first iPhone application, appropriately dubbed The White House. The app features blogs, video, photos, newsroom briefs, and the ability to watch live broadcasts over 3G or Wi-Fi."

[Source: The White House releases news, streaming app | Software | iPhone Central | Macworld.]

Ah, The Heritage Foundation... They share their wise and timely advice on what President Obama should do in response to the suffering in Haiti: call on a senior Republican to lead the Haitian response efforts. And what senior Republican official do they suggest? Yes, the only one with a proven track record in such matters: George W. Bush!

I'm serious. That's who they suggested.

No, really...

That frames the quality of thinking from the Heritage Foundation rather adequately now, doesn't it! Did they forget already, or are they just stupid?!

The Haitian Ambassador, obviously deeply offended by the incredulous, outrageous, and unspeakably insensitive remarks of Pat Robertson, feels immediately compelled to respond to Robertson's offensive comments.

At the end of the ambassador's remarks, Rachel Maddow states that if she could apologize for the "odious" remarks made by Pat Robertson, she would. She expresses that Robertson's despicable remarks do not represent the broad wishes of the American people.

Pat Robertson should hang his head in shame, but his press release did nothing of the kind.

This causes me grave concerns! Once again I ask, "How much of our privacy and freedom are we willing to surrender?!"

I've kept asking where the ridiculous amount of money I pay in taxes is going. And then we can't balance local, state, and federal budgets?! Is it because those agencies are spending vast sums of money on tools such as these that are never approved by the voters. In fact, it is obvious from this newscast that the police department never wanted voters to know anything about this!

How can this be happening? Government is increasingly becoming less accountable to the people it is to serve.

Shouldn't this guy, of all guys, be aware that his statement is beyond simply untrue; it is absurd to the extreme!

I was ambivalent about the former mayor. Now I think Rudy Giuliani is crazy. Or, maybe he's very, very smart: the Republicans are trying to rewrite the history of their unspeakable failures. If you say it enough times, people will believe you!

Click the image to see him say it firsthand and to hear the words come out of his mouth. It's incredulous!