T.V. or not T.V.? A banner question….

The plan in the works is that the Pasadena Tournament of Roses Parade that greets the start 2012 will have a group of “Occupy” folks that will be marching with banners and signs, sort of marooned at the tail end of the procession, and therein is the basis for this prediction of mine. Will there be problems between the marchers and the police? I don’t know and won’t guess, and that’s not the prediction anyway.

My prognostication? I believe that the “Occupy” marchers will never be seen for even a minute on any t.v. screen, even though there will be more cameras covering the parade than there are clear thinking republicans in America.

O.K, maybe that’s not saying very much…

You might be able to see videos showing the protesters marching in home made stuff that’s uploaded on youtube, but that’s only if the corporate owners of that site don’t throw a block job on any Rose Parade related word search.

Nope, my actual prediction is that those corporate owned cameras that are used by every one of the networks that will be giving a full color look at what happens and will be seen around the world will shut down as soon as the last official float goes past, even before the horse organic pollution clean up crew makes its rounds.

Horses you can walk behind with your eyes closed…

I suppose we will have to wait until next year to find out if this is correct…

All photos, opinions, and quotes above belong to their creators.

Point of Clarification please….

The Los Angeles Times has reported today that drone strikes in Pakistan have come to a halt because of a fear of upsetting relationships with the Pakistanis. Anyone who has read my previous posting on drones will know that I’m certainly no fan of these remote controlled killing machines, especially since the main reason that they’re being used in some other country is to work out the bugs by rehearsing with them there before we see them in use here to try and manage those damn unruly protesting citizen types,  especially when the cop to protestor ratio is too low to avoid the controllability problems with pepper spray.

The preferred maximum cop/protester ratio….

The question I keep being forced back to is, could you find anyone anywhere on this planet that’s not living in a third world country who truly gives a crap what anyone in Pakistan (or for that matter, any of the other “Stans”, i.e., Kurdistan, Afghanistan, Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, West Bumfukistan, etc…, and those countries that starts with the letters “Ira” as well) thinks about this or any other subject? . These are one and all overpopulated countries full of underfed and undereducated people who live in conditions that were unacceptable long before the year 1200 AD had rolled around, and have populations that (much like the republican party in America) are led around by the nose by religious zealots who make daily threats of implied deadly force so that their people will be coerced like so many sheep to be faithful to beliefs which are based only on belief. These are nations that other than hiding terrorists have so far haven’t done anything of note on this planet except for…, wait a minute, let me add it up, eh,……… well, nothing. A similar occurrence can be seen with the tons of bullshit that have been generated in all the attention given to our own center of nothing which we in America refer to as the state of Iowa, where regressive local mini-ayatollahs with the same sort of 3rd world religion mentality that was mentioned above have expanded their role in the  coming Republican nonsense that they call a candidate selection caucus, others may call it a selection of the lesser of two weasels.

Archaic Religious Leader with modern glasses and microphones

News update, Islamic rulers in Iran have decided to leapfrog their culture into at least the 12th century by ruling that it’s o.k. to kill a woman named Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtian for adultery by hanging her, and not be required to use the regular default way of stoning her to death. You might be interested to learn that she has already received 99 lashes for that offense. I’m sure that they didn’t reach this conclusion easily, to move it forward it took the concept of what they call a “lack of stoning space”, which boggles the mind since it’s in a country that seems like it was made for stoning, what with all the rubble laying all around the place from eons of war, and vacant lots left from the buildings that were destroyed by…. eh, do I have to repeat my self?

All of the above raises the big question, why are we even in these countries where we are so totally unwelcome in the first place? In the basic search of a reason,why does it usually come down to “follow the money”? Politicians who talk about the loss of lives and money in this rat hole will say what ever is placed on the teleprompter in front of them, which gives them equal credibility to the above mentioned holy rollers.

If you have an answer to the above question, here’s are a few more for you to ponder on. Why were all of the federal (and most state) offices closed on Monday, Dec. 26th to celebrate a Christian holiday that was actually observed the day before? Has any church ever actually been separated from any state anywhere? And, when a Buddhist wanted to use the U.S. Post office on that Monday, should they have been told to go and find a comfortable place to sit and meditate on that question about separation?

N.B., The ownership of any and all photos, opinions, and/ or quotes above (including those of my own) belong to the material’s creator(s). Credit is given when it’s known, but as everyone knows, success usually has a million parents and failure is an orphan.

Feel free to ignore any ads that are shown below this advisory, I don’t get to choose them and even more sadly, I don’t make a penny off any of them, so in the holy name of capitalism I rebuke and don’t endorse or support any of them, unless of course they’re made of funny stuff…..  

P.S., check back for occasional updates and rewrites….

FAIR USE NOTICE: THIS SITE CONTAINS COPYRIGHTED MATERIAL THE USE OF WHICH HAS NOT ALWAYS BEEN SPECIFICALLY AUTHORIZED BY THE COPYRIGHT OWNER. I AM MAKING SUCH MATERIAL AVAILABLE IN MY EFFORT TO ADVANCE UNDERSTANDING OF ENVIRONMENTAL, POLITICAL, HUMAN RIGHTS, ECONOMIC, DEMOCRACY, SCIENTIFIC, AND SOCIAL JUSTICE ISSUES, ETC. I BELIEVE THIS CONSTITUTES A ‘FAIR USE’ OF ANY SUCH COPYRIGHTED MATERIAL AS PROVIDED FOR IN SECTION 107 OF THE US COPYRIGHT LAW. IN ACCORDANCE WITH TITLE 17 U.S.C. SECTION 107, THE MATERIAL ON THIS SITE IS DISTRIBUTED WITHOUT PROFIT TO THOSE WHO HAVE EXPRESSED A PRIOR INTEREST IN RECEIVING THE INCLUDED INFORMATION FOR RESEARCH AND EDUCATIONAL PURPOSES. FOR MORE INFORMATION GO TO: HTTP://WWW.LAW.CORNELL.EDU/USCODE/17/107.SHTML.  IF YOU WISH TO USE COPYRIGHTED MATERIAL FROM THIS SITE FOR PURPOSES OF YOUR OWN THAT GO BEYOND ‘FAIR USE’, YOU MUST OBTAIN PERMISSION FROM THE COPYRIGHT OWNER.  

 

Yet Another Suggestion For Barack H. Obama

Dear President Obama,

When Republicans make their move to block your (albeit a bit late, but appreciated none the less) environmental protection attempts to stop the Keystone XL Tar-Sand Pipeline and at the same time bolster the EPA mercury reduction plan to end the pollution of our air with Mercury and other deadly byproducts from the coal mining industry by saying your actions will kill off jobs, in spite of the fact that these actions will obviously be saving the lives and the health of present and future generations of Americans, perhaps a simple “cut to the chase”  reply from you will do the trick.

I’ll take “Name a moron, a weasel, and a dry drunk” for $100 Million Alex!

 “My Republican friends, after due consideration of your never ending attempts to bypass the EPA and cancel or reduce many protective measures that protect the environment and our citizens, I have to ask you, should we just go ahead and eliminate the DEA and the EPA?”

This is not the DEA you’re looking for

“After all, it’s straightforward logic, one can easily see that the combined work of these agencies has resulted in the loss of many high paying jobs in the illicit drug industry and low paying dangerous jobs in the energy industry. Of course some of those DEA affected jobs were located outside the borders of the United States with many of them held by non-Americans, but there are also quite a few of our own countrymen and women who have lost employment and subsequently had to give away huge homes, fancy cars, and huge amounts of money here at home, all due to our drug interdiction actions. At the same time, the actions of the EPA have hit at the other end of the financial spectrum in their attempt to reduce the obscene profiteering that has gone unchecked for decades and enabled the financing of lobbyists to allow that often mentioned 1 percent to exponentially ‘double down’ on their profits.”

I thank the republicans very much for their time, for actually doing something, not so much.

That’s all you have to say on this, but be sure that your statement is simultaneously distributed to the news media, even though far too much of that industry is owned or controlled by the same people that run the career fields mentioned in the first paragraph, perhaps the news will get out.

☆☆☆        ☆☆☆

At the risk of digressing one more time, run on sentences like the one located at the top of this post that you may have mistaken for a paragraph shouldn’t frighten you, if you manage to keep them grammatically correct they may even help you blow out those cobwebs that you secretly fear may be indicative of early onset Alzheimer’s.

☆☆☆        ☆☆☆

N.B., The ownership of any and all photos, opinions, and/ or quotes above (including those of my own) belong to the material’s creator(s). Credit is given when it’s known, but as always, success usually has a million parents and failure is an orphan.

Feel free to ignore any ads that are shown below this advisory, I don’t get to choose them and even more sadly, I don’t make a penny off any of them, so in the holy name of capitalism I rebuke and don’t endorse or support any of them, unless of course they’re made of funny stuff…..  

P.S., check back for occasional updates and rewrites….

FAIR USE NOTICE: THIS SITE CONTAINS COPYRIGHTED MATERIAL THE USE OF WHICH HAS NOT ALWAYS BEEN SPECIFICALLY AUTHORIZED BY THE COPYRIGHT OWNER. I AM MAKING SUCH MATERIAL AVAILABLE IN MY EFFORT TO ADVANCE UNDERSTANDING OF ENVIRONMENTAL, POLITICAL, HUMAN RIGHTS, ECONOMIC, DEMOCRACY, SCIENTIFIC, AND SOCIAL JUSTICE ISSUES, ETC. I BELIEVE THIS CONSTITUTES A ‘FAIR USE’ OF ANY SUCH COPYRIGHTED MATERIAL AS PROVIDED FOR IN SECTION 107 OF THE US COPYRIGHT LAW. IN ACCORDANCE WITH TITLE 17 U.S.C. SECTION 107, THE MATERIAL ON THIS SITE IS DISTRIBUTED WITHOUT PROFIT TO THOSE WHO HAVE EXPRESSED A PRIOR INTEREST IN RECEIVING THE INCLUDED INFORMATION FOR RESEARCH AND EDUCATIONAL PURPOSES. FOR MORE INFORMATION GO TO: HTTP://WWW.LAW.CORNELL.EDU/USCODE/17/107.SHTML.  IF YOU WISH TO USE COPYRIGHTED MATERIAL FROM THIS SITE FOR PURPOSES OF YOUR OWN THAT GO BEYOND ‘FAIR USE’, YOU MUST OBTAIN PERMISSION FROM THE COPYRIGHT OWNER.  

 

 

Senator Sticks His Turtle Head Out…

Mitch McConnell, the senator from Kentucky who is often called “Turtle Head” for at least two reasons explained below, has proclaimed that the Canada to Texas oil pipe line is a natural for the unemployed, as it’s a “shovel ready” project set to get people working again. For some reason, he left out the part about how most of those employees will freeze their collective asses off and risk their lives for chump change, and how the owners of it all will see an increase in their stored off shore billions. This windfall will make the few million dollars said owners paid out in bribes (more commonly known as campaign donations) by their lobbyists, and can be seen as yet one more wise business investment for them.

Reason # 1: Well, there is more than a passing resemblance to a turtle.

There but for a pair of glasses………

        Note, Mitch is for once on the left. 

My apologies to turtles everywhere.

I can’t seem to find a photo of  an actual “Turtle Head”#2 to post here, but since I’m calling it “Turtle Head” #2,  that should give you a hint of what kind of  #2 I’m talking about.

So my questions for Mitch are, exactly how much (in cash) will “we the people” have to come up with to buy you out of your contract, and if you’re in search of a new experience, have you considered doing some work for actual Americans?  I’m talking about the kind of Americans with (usually) two legs who aren’t corporations, who are not citizens that can offshore their huge income. To cut to the chase, I mean the ones who vote, not the kind that are able to buy votes (and Supreme Court Justices).

And I don’t mean that bullshit contract that you signed  with Grover Norquist decades ago, that one containing a promise to protect the holdings of the moneyed class and for ever keep them out of the sights of the tax collectors. I’m writing more about the one that those Krazy Klown Koch brothers have you so deeply vested in….

To borrow the punch line from one of the oldest jokes around, “We already know what you are, now we’re just trying to lock in the price…..

Another whore who makes hot calls on the phone

N.B., The ownership of any and all photos, opinions, and/ or quotes above (including those of mine) belong to the material’s creator(s). Credit is given when it’s known, but because success usually has a million parents and failure is an orphan, blame will not be so attributed. 

Feel free to ignore any ads that are shown below, I don’t choose them and (sadly) I don’t make a penny off any of them.

P.S., check back for occasional updates and rewrites….

FAIR USE NOTICE: THIS SITE CONTAINS COPYRIGHTED MATERIAL THE USE OF WHICH HAS NOT ALWAYS BEEN SPECIFICALLY AUTHORIZED BY THE COPYRIGHT OWNER. I AM MAKING SUCH MATERIAL AVAILABLE IN MY EFFORT TO ADVANCE UNDERSTANDING OF ENVIRONMENTAL, POLITICAL, HUMAN RIGHTS, ECONOMIC, DEMOCRACY, SCIENTIFIC, AND SOCIAL JUSTICE ISSUES, ETC. I BELIEVE THIS CONSTITUTES A ‘FAIR USE’ OF ANY SUCH COPYRIGHTED MATERIAL AS PROVIDED FOR IN SECTION 107 OF THE US COPYRIGHT LAW. IN ACCORDANCE WITH TITLE 17 U.S.C. SECTION 107, THE MATERIAL ON THIS SITE IS DISTRIBUTED WITHOUT PROFIT TO THOSE WHO HAVE EXPRESSED A PRIOR INTEREST IN RECEIVING THE INCLUDED INFORMATION FOR RESEARCH AND EDUCATIONAL PURPOSES. FOR MORE INFORMATION GO TO: HTTP://WWW.LAW.CORNELL.EDU/USCODE/17/107.SHTML.  IF YOU WISH TO USE COPYRIGHTED MATERIAL FROM THIS SITE FOR PURPOSES OF YOUR OWN THAT GO BEYOND ‘FAIR USE’, YOU MUST OBTAIN PERMISSION FROM THE COPYRIGHT OWNER.  

 

Somehow, I’m still in that 99% crowd

It seems that there was some sort of class action law suit that recently took place against eBay, a legal action that for reasons beyond my understanding had chosen to include humble little me as part of that class.

Well, that drawn out legal battle is finally over and, whoo hoo, we won. 

Everyone has a price, mine seems to be 68 cents, American.

Yes grasshopper, that check’s for (pre-tax) damn near 70 cents

I have no way to prove it, but I’m reasonably sure that a large clot of lawyers who were involved on both sides of the deal were able to take home a  lump sum payment that was somewhat larger than sixty eight cents, one that could enable each of them to buy a chalet or two in the South of France if they decided that was in their interest. Also likely, there was enough pocket change left over to pick up a new Mercedes for each of them and each member of their families, including those ingrate remora-like bastards step children they have to feed. As you may already know, most lawyers don’t actually have children of their own, the basic attorney personality is a very strong (if odious) and proven form of birth control and most court imposed restraining orders will usually function as a powerful contraceptive device.

Blest Art Thou Oh Skynet, Cyberdyne Be Thy Name!

Here are some relevant quotes that may set up this post for you

“They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.”  

-Benjamin Franklin (also attributed to Sam Adams and others) may have said that.

And

“Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?”  (Who watches the watchmen?)

– Old Latin adage, perhaps  from Plato’s “The Republic”.

And lastly

“Our # 1 manning problem in the Air Force is manning our unmanned platforms”

Gen Philip M. Breedlove, Air Fore vice chief of staff

O.k., with all that being said, I have only a few words to say to those who are getting themselves all wet with excitement over the soon to be seen non-military controlled usage of drones similar to those returning to America from years of meritorious service in remotely killing off bad guys in foreign lands. Drones are those things that are coming back here to fill our skies, and in theory provide us with some constant buzzing and hi-tech peace-keeping vigilant protection for all. 

Or at least for those who can afford them.

The testing in England, the arresting (or worse) here

As tests go on world wide, plans are being put in place to have drones doing domestic surveillance / police work in most major (and some not so major) cities here in America (There are a few links to confirming stories from CNN and the Sunday edition, dated 12-11-11, of the Los Angeles Times at the bottom, they’re worth the click…..), these will serve to augment the constant video coverage that people just laugh about when they watch the t.v. show “Person Of Interest”, most of the laughers are not aware that it’s happening here and now, 24-7. For more on the day or night surveillance upgrades brought to you from those fun folks at DARPA, you can click here or if you have an empty afternoon, Google ARGUS-iS – or click on this -> Echelon for a few more laughs.

Take a related research side trip and look into those new street light poles with built in hidden video cameras that were installed as a test at the end of last October on many of the street corners of  Farmington Hills, Michigan, and then ‘Netflix the film “Red Road” for one view on watching the watchers and what they see.  And while you’re at it, check into the combination of this stuff and the  latest status of military grade facial recognition software, and think about how impressive those results are going to be when that data is tied in with the lip reading ability of the newest home action video games, computers and video cameras.

If you still having doubts about all of this just take a minute and Google it, to borrow the famous phrase from the X-Files, “it’s all  out there”.

And those two words I mentioned at the top of this page?

Skynet and Cyberdyne

Hey now, what’s that sound? Well, you can bet it’s not canned laughter…

Is the weaponized drone in the photo flying over Kabul, Kandahār, or Kalamazoo?

Would it make any difference to a “pilot” thousands of miles away?

While waiting for yours to arrive in Kankakee, click here and here

N.B., The ownership of any and all photos, opinions, and/ or quotes above (including those of mine) belong to the material’s creator(s). Credit is given when it’s known, but as everyone knows, success usually has a million parents and failure is an orphan.

Feel free to ignore any ads that are shown below, I don’t get to choose them and (sadly) I don’t make a penny off any of them, so in the holy name of capitalism I rebuke and don’t endorse or support any of them, unless of course they’re made of funny stuff…..  

P.S., check back for occasional updates and rewrites….

FAIR USE NOTICE: THIS SITE CONTAINS COPYRIGHTED MATERIAL THE USE OF WHICH HAS NOT ALWAYS BEEN SPECIFICALLY AUTHORIZED BY THE COPYRIGHT OWNER. I AM MAKING SUCH MATERIAL AVAILABLE IN MY EFFORT TO ADVANCE UNDERSTANDING OF ENVIRONMENTAL, POLITICAL, HUMAN RIGHTS, ECONOMIC, DEMOCRACY, SCIENTIFIC, AND SOCIAL JUSTICE ISSUES, ETC. I BELIEVE THIS CONSTITUTES A ‘FAIR USE’ OF ANY SUCH COPYRIGHTED MATERIAL AS PROVIDED FOR IN SECTION 107 OF THE US COPYRIGHT LAW. IN ACCORDANCE WITH TITLE 17 U.S.C. SECTION 107, THE MATERIAL ON THIS SITE IS DISTRIBUTED WITHOUT PROFIT TO THOSE WHO HAVE EXPRESSED A PRIOR INTEREST IN RECEIVING THE INCLUDED INFORMATION FOR RESEARCH AND EDUCATIONAL PURPOSES. FOR MORE INFORMATION GO TO: HTTP://WWW.LAW.CORNELL.EDU/USCODE/17/107.SHTML.  IF YOU WISH TO USE COPYRIGHTED MATERIAL FROM THIS SITE FOR PURPOSES OF YOUR OWN THAT GO BEYOND ‘FAIR USE’, YOU MUST OBTAIN PERMISSION FROM THE COPYRIGHT OWNER.