Good morning twolf.

I see Murkowski has invented the “too-small-to-fail” doctrine.

Also, gotta watch out for those terrist ballet dancers. They are particularly dangerous, as they might also be teh gay and undermine prison morale.

On a happy personal note, I’m picking up my repaired CD changer today. I haven’t had music since January; my fault for not attending to it earlier, but it was kind of interesting to read without music in the background. However, by now I’m really missing it. Excuse the OT, but I had to end my comment on an upbeat.

The Minerals Management Service, or M.M.S., also routinely overruled its staff biologists and engineers who raised concerns about the safety and the environmental impact of certain drilling proposals in the gulf and in Alaska, according to a half-dozen current and former agency scientists.

Maybe this guy might know how something like that could occur.

Watching the guy prance around in his tutu might have been the only thing the other prisoners had to cheer them up.

Mornin’, twolf, pups

From the BBC’s piece on military aid to Israel:

The system is designed to shoot down mortars and rockets from Gaza or Southern Lebanon with guided missiles.

For $200M Israel is gonna install a guided missile system that will take out “mortars and rockets?” As I remember ‘em mortars don’t spend a lot of time in the air, certainly not long enough to lock on with fire control systems. The same goes for the do-it-yourself rockets from Hamas. Sounds more like a missile defense system designed to thwart missile attacks by Israel’s “enemies” in the region.

I can think of some better uses for $200M, like providing capital for small start-up manufacturing firms in the US, providing US jobs instead of Israeli jobs.

Good morning all!

No amount of offshore drilling is going to affect world supplies, the price or availability of oil. That money would be far better spent researching alternatives but I guess that’s out of the question since research rarely makes people rich. The deeper problem lies in society which has become so profit oriented that we sacrifice long term sustainability on the alter of immediate gratification.

Um, male dancers (with a couple of exceptions I know about), don’t wear tutus. But they do wear dance belts. As a female ballet afficianado, I think they are a great idea.

WHAT IS A DANCE BELT?
Dance belts are specialized support garments worn UNDER tights. They are designed to hold your male parts in place, keeping them protected while creating that rounded “bulge” you see in front. Dance belts look similar to jockstraps with one important difference – a single “thong” in back to avoid visible jockstrap lines. They are also tighter – with a no stretch pouch, so nothing can shift around once you’ve got it on. This helps avoid the embarrassment of a spontaneous erection becoming visible to the audience.

scientists and environmental groups are raising sharp questions about that estimate, declaring that the leak must be far larger. They also criticize BP for refusing to use well-known scientific techniques that would give a more precise figure.

The criticism escalated on Thursday, a day after the release of a video that showed a huge black plume of oil gushing from the broken well at a seemingly high rate. BP has repeatedly claimed that measuring the plume would be impossible.

The figure of 5,000 barrels a day was hastily produced by government scientists in Seattle. It appears to have been calculated using a method that is specifically not recommended for major oil spills.

Ian R. MacDonald, an oceanographer at Florida State University who is an expert in the analysis of oil slicks, said he had made his own rough calculations using satellite imagery. They suggested that the leak could “easily be four or five times” the government estimate, he said.

“The government has a responsibility to get good numbers,” Dr. MacDonald said. “If it’s beyond their technical capability, the whole world is ready to help them.”

Scientists said that the size of the spill was directly related to the amount of damage it would do in the ocean and onshore, and that calculating it accurately was important for that reason.

BP has repeatedly said that its highest priority is stopping the leak, not measuring it. “There’s just no way to measure it,” Kent Wells, a BP senior vice president, said in a recent briefing.

An oil company can’t figure out how fast oil is leaking? Yeah Right!

A hard-on on stage. That’s a show stopper.

How much do guided missiles cost vs mortars ?

Rounded bulges are much more enticing because they allow for some imagination! *g*

How much do you suppose the video was photoshopped before BP released it?

Only if we had such an “unshakable commitment” to the Palestinians might we be able to get peace in the region. Millions unemployed, jobs going overseas, let’s give the Israelis $200 million! How about we say “STAND ON YOUR OWN TWO !@#!@#DAMN FEET FOR ONCE!!!” and we worry about our own problems.

Israel provides the United States NOTHING. There is no natural resources there. They are and will continue to be a thorn in our sides and only do one thing.. BLEED US DRY!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mSJVEb-qljA

BP: “There’s just no way to measure it.”

Little longer version ” there’s just no way we would want to measure it”

Oh and those missiles… They’re $50k a pop to shoot down a couple hundred dollar bottle rockets.

http://news.antiwar.com/2010/05/13/obama-seeks-205-million-to-fund-israeli-missile-defense/

Wow, Israeli lives must be worth more than Americans. Glad we can pay to protect the Israelis, but for us.. Meh. We get food stamps.

I don’t know the cost of either but I do know that mortar rounds are a helluva lot cheaper than missiles. Same goes for the DIY rockets.

My guess this is part of the missile defense system that the rest of Europe and surrounding countries told the US to put where the sun doesn’t shine. Israel, of course, will take any type of military aid we’re willing to give them.

The 43rd anniversary of Israel’s attack on USS LIBERTY (AGTR 5) is coming up next month.

Mexican President Felipe Calderon plans protest of Arizona’s “discriminatory, terribly backward” immigration law.

Here’s an idea tell Obama NAFTA is dead tell Obama tariffs on corn and Mexican government payments to corn farmers are back. Corn Belt Senators will Freak.
Tell Obama Mexico is joining OPEC the NeoCons will freak over that one.
Tell Obama Russia will help Mexico build new oil refineries and offshore drilling platforms not America and certainly not Hal. American oil companies who have been waiting years to force Mexico to Privatize theit oil in return for updating their refineries will freak.
Tell Obama the Mexican minimum wage just doubled and if America outsources a single job 200% tariffs kick in.

Great morning belly laugh. Thanks for that! See, I knew we could work some happiness into Swim if we really tried.

Oh and good bye space program. It was nice while it lasted. My father worked at the Johnson Space Center for decades. It is really sad to see the last flight of the Atlantis. Now we can get Halliburton or some other private company to send us into space. “Much more economical” Perhaps we can do it under a flag of the Marshall Islands too. You know they have far less stringent safety standards.

Vampire banks and vampire “allies.” What could be more natural for a neoliberal government?

Tell that to Rahm and Joe Lieberman.

You think they could still be lying by photoshopping the tape? Damm I did not even think about that. Valid question the experts at the Lake can answer that one.
I agree its possible and likely.

Ok I see the Pentagon is getting economic help from Helicopter Ben.

Who knows? But cynicism has certainly proved more realistic than taking anything a corp or a pol sez at face value.

“The fact the law has introduced, regardless of all the nuances being used, the possibility of detaining, arresting somebody on the grounds of their physical appearance implies one of the most serious reversals that I remember,” he said.

What physical appearance is he refering to?

Yes Obama is proving change is something we can’t believe in.

And arline, who’s father is buried over there but is a Totally loyal American.

$200 million or $205 million what’s $5 million these days anyway ?

I wonder if the President of Mexico has the Stones to act he can’t claim he doesn’t have options or will he beg again before the United States?

The U.S. has 10.4 million land mines in it’s stockpile.

The Mexican pres complaining about the Arizona law arresting people based on their physical appearance?

Of the 26 success stories on the US ICE web page (http://www.ice.gov/secure_communities/success_stories/#close) the illegal alien breakdown is as follows:

3 – Guatemalan
7 – Mexican
6 – Jamaican
1 – Dominican
1 – Barbados
2 – Bahamas
1 – Honduran
1 – Guyana
1 – Salvadoran
1 – Brazilian

And 1 – Belgian

I guess US customs didn’t get the memo.

I guess US customs didn’t get the memo.

What does US customs have to do with a law in the state of Arizona?

What physical appearance is he refering to?

Being brownish and “looking Mexican.” God help you if you have a Spanish accent.

I’m waiting for somebody to write a bill to change the name of Arizona to “Good Oak” since artiz ona is Basque, not English.

He said he would bring Mexico’s protest over the law to a meeting with Obama and in front of the U.S. Congress during an official visit to Washington next week.

http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE64D0PG20100514

Yes way to stand up to America, on your knees Felipe.

I’m Mexican I’m not sure this system can tell if I’m legal or if I’m illegal.

The Mexican pres is complaining about the Arizona law targeting people because of their physical appearance.

Either US customs already does that, or that list of illegal aliens is one heck of a coincidence.

Thats why physical appearance is a red herring.

Either US customs already does that, or that list of illegal aliens is one heck of a coincidence.

No Polish or Irish illegals found this does sound like profiling.

Agreed took me some time to see what you were going for.

HuffPo has a memorial to the 11 men who lost their lives on Deepwater Horizon.

The system is designed to shoot down mortars and rockets from Gaza or Southern Lebanon with guided missiles.

For $200M Israel is gonna install a guided missile system that will take out “mortars and rockets?” As I remember ‘em mortars don’t spend a lot of time in the air, certainly not long enough to lock on with fire control systems

I actually worked on a nifty little radar/gun system named COBRA-COunter Battery RAdar (We Loved Our Acronyms in the MIC) that was engineered for expressly that purpose. Don’t know what happened to it, but it was a millimeter length system that tracked incoming, calculated point of origin, and allowed one to reward the sender in the appropriate manner. Tested well, at least through my participation in the project.

I left the MIC, more properly, the arms business, twenty years ago, though, when I discovered my soul…

Physical appearance is a red herring. That I agree with. You may be right about the racial profiling at ICE but I also see a geographical component. I’m not defending ICE one bit but because that sort of thing goes on is no reason to accept it being codified in legislation.

BP: “There’s just no way to measure it.”

This might be true for that company but the members of “Spies are US” should have some sort of idea. We can read license plates via our eyes in the sky but we can’t figure out how to evaluate the effects of the spill. More likely we don’t want to give away our hold cards.

Off to swim in the great capitalist cesspool.

US KIA Irak: 4,397

US KIA Afghanistan: 1,069

Iraki and Afghan casualties: estimates vary to over 1.5M

US MBS 2010: 16,492 and counting

Be good to yourselves, and all other living things.

Namaste

If they set the net for folks with accents and visit NYC they will need to hire a few more people. Would be a real employment boost stopping and investigating up and down the coasts. Shades of 1984 with employment coming from keeping up track of all of the newly undesirables.

Scarecrow has a new post up…

Now Right, NOW I want the Names of the 7 bastards that committed MURDER on the rig. the EXECUTIONERS or as they call themselves the executives. Why don’t we have those BASTARDS names and faces so they can be charged with pushing ahead after 3 failed pressure tests.

Too damn bad they didn’t have a joint on them so we could lock them up.

S.D. here’s hoping you dodge the bullet and weather the oil hurricane coming your way, all my best to you.

codified in legislation?

Police are required to suspect the suspect is an illegal alien.

The physical appearance of a person of Mexican decent doesn’t look like an illegal alien to me.

The physical appearance of ten guys piling out of the back of a pulled over van and running into the desert in all different directions does. Doesn’t matter where they’re from.

It’s not ethnicity that the Arizona law targets.

There is no way they could enforce such a law in Texas. No way. That idiot from the white bread community up near Dallas who plans to introduce the measure is entirely clueless about the reality in the rest of the state. Even Rick Goodhair is remaining mum. He understands it can’t be done but can’t afford to piss off his teabaggers, though I would hardly call 200 people who showed up at a rally a “movement”. I can’t imagine it being any more enforceable in Arizona. What are people expected to do? Carry around laminated copies of their birth certificates? It sounds like they want to create a need to carry documentation without even providing a format for it.

It’s not ethnicity that the Arizona law targets

Of course it is! I have personally been in the back of a van or pick up truck with ten or twelve other people. It was a common thing when I was a teen, going to Galveston or Austin. I’m pink with blond hair and blue eyes. Think they’d ask me for my documentation? Get real.

Bill McCollum, current FL AG and candidate for gov, wants a bill like AZ’s for FL. This sob becomes more of an asshole every day. Muthafucker had a brain he’d take it out and play with it, but then that can be said about pols in general these days.

Interisting how you changed my scenerio of illegal from running to riding.

here’s a link: http://www.miamiherald.com/2010/05/13/1628658/florida-candidates-backing-arizona.html

Pretty much the same article in the St Pete Times this morning.

I’m waiting to see the fireworks when the oil slick hits Mexico.

What next? Are we going to buy Israelis more bulldozers?

There are a couple of systems, called Firefinder, which do exactly that – and they are in use today. On some occasions, they can direct counter-fire before the original proective (rocket, mortar, or artillery round) impacts.