If You're Interested...

From Voyager 1 comes cutting-edge science on solar wind

Shorter: if yer ship depends on solar wind for propulsion, yer gonna be sailing in big circles.

Five things that change everything

If it's Wednesday, it must be Morford.

This is what they say. This is the breathless abandon that accompanies each tale of discovery and terror, pain and glory across the vast and troubled worlds of science and tech, politics and warfare, love and sex and death, oh my.

"This changes everything," they say. This revelation, that amazing gizmo, this startling new way of seeing things, that flaccid terrorist's imbecilic underwear bomb that now means anyone can be freely groped at the airport. Baby, the terrorists won long ago. Haven't you seen the news?

This box just arrived. Let's see what we've got.

2) Winner, most deliriously misleading headline of the year: "NASA finds new life form." OMG you guys! NASA! New life form! Maybe some crazy soil sample came back from Omega X-19 containing some pulsing blue alien microbes! Perhaps they found the living, conscious source of dark matter! Wait, what? They only found an odd microorganism in creepy ol' Mono Lake in California? A place where any tourist with a $95 Canon P&S could tell you bizarre things certainly must live? Oh.

Do not misunderstand. The discovery of an uncanny new organism that rearranges the six common ingredients for "normal" life -- carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen, oxygen, phosphorus and sulfur -- and instead munches arsenic for a living and it's not Dick Cheney? Well, that opens up all sorts of fascinating possibilities for what might be out there. Yes, gods of science, "this changes everything." But we're just not yet exactly sure how.

It would be lovely to think one idea could do it. But this has always been the impossible dream of empires on the verge of collapse: that somewhere in the maelstrom of wanton discoveries lies a wild new technology, a stupendous magic bullet that seven billion bipeds pray will soon absolve us of our unchecked gluttony, cure the vicious cancer we've inflicted on ourselves and make everything right with the world. Sure. As Jesus used to say, good luck with that.

Here's a teaser about Wikileaks:

-- Wikileaks is one unprecedented, stunningly detailed explanation of just how the global diplomatic sausage gets made.

And lo, it is vile sausage indeed. This is the biggest revelation of all, the thing that changes everything: What we're learning is, this meat is more rancid, disrespectful, abusive, cruel, barbarian and childish than anyone wanted to imagine. No wonder world governments and whimpering doltbuckets like Sarah Palin and Mike Huckabee want this Assange guy dead.

Truly, the banality of global political evil has never been this exposed. Hell, even the Vatican is condemning Wikileaks over revelations about its own pathetic sex scandals in Ireland. In my book, that alone makes Julian Assange a goddamn saint.

Go...

To Serve Banks

From Rep Spencer Bachus (R-AL), new chairman of the House Financial Services Committee via al.com:

"In Washington, the view is that the banks are to be regulated, and my view is that Washington and the regulators are there to serve the banks," he said.

We knew that, but thanks for blurting it out so clearly, Spence.

He later clarified his comment to say that regulators should set the parameters in which banks operate but not micromanage them.

"Clarified" is DC-speak for trying to clean up after a gaffe, i.e. inadvertently telling the truth.

"Republicans putting Spencer Bachus in charge of financial regulation is voting for the fox to guard the henhouse," said Ryan Rudominer of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee.

Dude, it's what Repugs do, it's who they are. Their whole focus is be in charge of our money so they can give it to their Masters. They've done this pretty well over the last thirty years.

"To Serve Banks" is a cookbook just like in the old Twilight Zone episode "To Serve Man". Recipes for disaster.

Quote of the Day

Karoli:

... The old saw always goes thus: The Civil War was about states' rights. No. It was about states' rights to engage in human trafficking, something abhor[r]ent and evil.

"Southern Heritage" is nothing more than coded language describing the "peculiar institution" of slavery.

What Gordon needs ...

For Christmas. I saw a news story the other day about a buncha kids at Purdue U who invented a robotic snowthrower.

I looked for video of it but I couldn't find any. I did run across this, which still requires some human input, but it beats coming in the house covered in ice and whatever the dogs left behind in autumn. Heh ...



Note: Seems like the inventor put the guard on the front to avoid sucking up his little dog.

Sailors, Wrap Yer Junk!

Via TPMMuckraker

In 1973, the Navy made a 20-minute animated movie warning sailors -- in graphic detail -- about the dangers of venereal disease. The plot: The annual Communicable Disease of the Year Awards sees a huge upset when Venereal Disease, represented by the syphilis-carrying Count Spirochete, wins the coveted Fourth Horseman award over diphtheria and smallpox.

It's such an upset, in fact, that the host must explain in great, cringe-worthy detail, the history, science and symptoms of syphilis. Think lots of tiny horned devils stabbing mucus membranes with their pitchforks.

"Think lots of tiny horned devils stabbing mucus membranes with their pitchforks" pretty much describes sailors on liberty after weeks at sea too! Heh.

The Navy knows how to get the deck apes to pay attention, that's for sure. Musta showed 'em this on Saturday morning like when they were home before they joined up.

Thanks to DODvClips.

Michael Moore: Why I'm Posting Bail Money for Julian Assange

A 'must read' by Michael Moore via YubaNet.

We were taken to war in Iraq on a lie. Hundreds of thousands are now dead. Just imagine if the men who planned this war crime back in 2002 had had a WikiLeaks to deal with. They might not have been able to pull it off. The only reason they thought they could get away with it was because they had a guaranteed cloak of secrecy. That guarantee has now been ripped from them, and I hope they are never able to operate in secret again.

So why is WikiLeaks, after performing such an important public service, under such vicious attack? Because they have outed and embarrassed those who have covered up the truth. The assault on them has been over the top:

Several.

**Rep. Peter A. King calls WikiLeaks a "terrorist organization."

And indeed they are! They exist to terrorize the liars and warmongers who have brought ruin to our nation and to others. Perhaps the next war won't be so easy because the tables have been turned -- and now it's Big Brother who's being watched ... by us!

Do not miss this one. Mr. Moore, a last name I am proud to share with him, is an idealist who walks the walk and he's right on the money on this one.

Look Up and South Tonight

YubaNet

The Geminid meteor shower, which peaks this year on Dec. 13th and 14th, is the most intense meteor shower of the year. It lasts for days, is rich in fireballs, and can be seen from almost any point on Earth.

It was clear last night and I missed it. Tonight looks like it may be overcast here. Maybe you can catch the show.

Is Karl Rove Driving the Effort to Prosecute Julian Assange?

An interesting and plausible theory at Legal Schnauzer.

Former Bush White House strategist Karl Rove likely is playing a leading role in the effort to prosecute WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, a source with ties to the justice community tells Legal Schnauzer.

That Assange's legal troubles would originate in Sweden probably is not a coincidence, our source says. Swedish Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt has been called "the Ronald Reagan of Europe," and he has a friendship with Rove that dates back at least 10 years, to the George W. Bush campaign for president in 2000. Reinfeldt reportedly asked Rove to help with his 2010 re-election in Sweden.

Why would Rove be interested in corralling Julian Assange? To help protect the Bush legacy, our source says. "The very guy who has released the documents that damage the Bushes the most is also the guy that the Bush's number one operative can control by being the Swedish prime minister's brain and intelligence and economic advisor."

Could Rove also be trying to protect himself? What if WikiLeaks has documents--or Rove thinks it could get documents--that prove "Turd Blossom's" role in criminal activity during the Bush years? What if someone with a conscience from the Bush administration--if such a person exists--provided WikiLeaks with documents that show Rove's role in political prosecutions, the unlawful firings of U.S. attorneys, and more? Could Rove be trying to save his own doughy butt?

More.

I put nothing, I say again nothing past Turdblossom.

It's Okay to Have Principles

Last coupla ¶ from another good one from The Rude One:

Don't worry. The tax cut extension will pass. The unemployment benefits extension will pass, as it should. We will put off any hard decisions on our future again for two years. And then, don't worry, we'll put them off again. Because that's who we are. That's our learned behavior. We are Americans and we've forgotten how to sacrifice anything because no one for a generation has asked us to. We're like Nicholas Cage in Leaving Las Vegas: we've decided to drink ourselves to death while being cared for by whores.

Oh, dear weary, weary leftists all, we've been treated like the once-virginal cheerleader who gave in when the quarterback wanted a hand job and then gave in again when he wanted a blow job, saying that it wasn't sex, no, not really, giving in, yes, even though it was against our core beliefs, to straight fucking, but, god, can't we at least say "No" to anal? Or is that too much to ask anymore?

Americans have become so self-centered and spoiled that if JFK gave his "Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country" speech today, he'd be booed off the podium as a socialist.

Lame-as-F@#k Congress

In case you missed it, Jon Stewart knocks it outta the park on the Repugs' response to health care for the 9/11 first responders.

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c
Lame-as-F@#k Congress
www.thedailyshow.com
Daily Show Full Episodes Political Humor & Satire Blog</a> The Daily Show on Facebook

Famous Last Words

Foreign Policy

The last words of Richard C. Holbrooke, a lion of U.S. diplomacy, were "You've got to stop this war in Afghanistan"

Ulp...

Holy Shit!

One of YouTube's top 10 videos of the year, via the EssEffChron.

From the new album "Of the Blue Colour of the Sky" available at http://www.okgo.net/store
OK Go on Tour http://www.okgo.net/shows/
Directed by James Frost, OK Go and Syyn Labs. Produced by Shirley Moyers. The official video for the recorded version of "This Too Shall Pass" off of the album "Of the Blue Colour of the Sky". The video was filmed in a two story warehouse, in the Echo Park neighborhood of Los Angeles, CA. The "machine" was designed and built by the band, along with members of Syyn Labs ( http://syynlabs.com/ ) over the course of several months.
There is an in-depth behind-the-scenes look at the warehouse here: http://www.okgo.net/this-too-shall-pa...
OK Go thanks State Farm for making this video possible.

Makes me wonder how many times they had to do this silly shit before it worked...and why? Hmmmm. It does bear a certain resemblance to what happens in an old English motorcycle to start the engine after the kickstarter is operated...

Some Choice...

LATimes

California voters could be presented with a tough choice by summer under a proposal that Gov.-elect Jerry Brown is considering: Approve new taxes or other revenue in a special election, or live with far fewer government services. Brown is holding talks with small groups of lawmakers and influential interest groups about how to put that decision before the public. He won't discuss his plans publicly, but people involved in the private discussions expect him to propose a special election after enacting a dire austerity budget in the spring.

Would you vote for new taxes to close California's massive budget deficit? Or it is time for Brown and the Legislature to slash spending? Tell us what you think.

I think we're going to get higher taxes and fewer services no matter how we vote. Services? Road work and police and fire services are about all I get, at least I hope I do, but poor people are going to be even more miserable.

The party's over. It's way past time and the bill is due. Now comes the hangover.

Haiti Braces For Disaster

YubaNet

PORT AU PRINCE, HAITI (The Borowitz Report) December 13, 2010 – Just when Haiti thought it had suffered every disaster imaginable, former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin decided to visit.

In the disaster-torn nation's capital, a leading government minister warned citizens to "prepare for the worst."

"We have suffered earthquakes, flooding, and disease," said Minister of Disaster Jean-Claude Mansaray. "But it remains to be seen whether we can withstand a disaster of Sarah Palin's magnitude."

Across Haiti, citizens prepared themselves for the possible devastation Palin might cause, especially to their language and syntax.

"We have seen what she has done to English, and fear that she could do the same to French," Minister Mansaray said.

Upon her arrival, Gov. Palin seemed to get off on the wrong foot by repeatedly pronouncing the name of the country "Hades."

Minister Mansaray said that he and his countrymen were fearing the worst, but hoping for the best: "Our only hope is that she does what she did in Alaska: leaves early."

Good luck, Haiti. You guys are in deep merde with her there.

Experts: ‘Death Tax’ More Deadly than Gout, Polo Injuries Combined

The Swift Report

WASHINGTON, DC—A new study confirms what the richest Americans and their allies on Capitol Hill have long suspected: the so-called death tax is more hazardous to the health of the nation’s wealthy than gout, which has been linked to excessive consumption of port wine, or injuries suffered during polo matches. The research, based on surveys of obituaries run in such papers as The Rancho Santa Fe News, the Jackson Hole News and Guide and the Chevy Chase Gazette, found that the death tax far surpassed other causes of wealth-related fatalities.

Only silver poisoning, a result of so-called silver spoon related birth syndrome, followed by intermarriage, the practice of marrying among a small group of wealthy individuals, was found to cause any where near the number of fatalities brought about by the death tax.

More.

CNN

Estate tax emerges as key Democratic beef in Obama's compromise

The Dems think it's too low and the Repugs think it's too high. That doesn't surprise me, but I am a little surprised that it's the main sticking point.

I once paid estate tax of $40,000 on an estate valued at $150,000 which mostly consisted of a house which I had to sell to pay the tax. That was all right because I couldn't have afforded to keep the house anyway, but I thought it was unfair. The estate tax has since been modified so that there was a threshold of (I think) $2Million before estate tax kicked in. I think that's a lot fairer. Inheritance tax is a good way to soak the rich, not so good for reg'lar folks who inherit grannie's house and silverware.

I think the threshold should be considerably lower than the proposed $5Million, so I'm down wit da Dems on this one. Tax rate? Mox nix. Get 'em for what ya can, I says.

There is no inheritance tax this year. Look for an uptick in rich old farts kickin' the bucket on New Year's Eve. I can hear it now:

Rich ol' grannie on her deathbed, "What's that electric plug (or hypodermic needle/pillow/.38 Special/etc.) in yer hand, sonny?"

"That's my financial future, grannie, and thank you. Happy New Year!"

Heh.

So ...

You don't wanna pay taxes? No problem. They'll get it out of you, one way or the other:

The FDNY was quick to dismiss any complaints about their proposed charging of drivers for FDNY assistance after an accident, saying that insurance companies would most likely foot the bill. However, that doesn't seem to be the case. "Except for some limited circumstances, a charge by the Fire Department for responding to auto crashes would not be covered under current auto insurance policies," said Insurance Superintendent James Wrynn. And don't even think of complaining, because Bloomberg thinks you should just suck it up.

...

Bloomberg can suck my dick.

The Utility Protection Racket

Good article at Z Magazine about PG&E out here in California.

Pacific Gas & Electric (PG&E) is a billion-dollar, privately-owned, publicly-regulated utility whose main function is to make enormous profits for its shareholders at great cost to ratepayers. I know this to be true; I'm one of the ratepayers. The California Public Utilities Commission (PUC) permits PG&E to charge rates that are 30 percent higher than the national average.

PG&E's shareholders enjoy a guaranteed 11.35 percent yearly return on equity. That's slightly higher than the 11 percent that Bernard Madoff pretended to offer his investment victims. After Madoff was exposed, his victims were chided for not having realized that no one pulls down an 11 percent return year after year on the stock market. But PG&E investors take in more than that every year. Unlike Madoff, the company's earnings are for real, guaranteed at a fixed return, devoid of risk.

PG&E enjoys a captive consumer market of 15 million customers in northern and central California. The utility is a monument to state-supported monopoly capitalism. If costs rise, then so do customer rates—in order to guarantee the 11.35 percent return. PG&E carries a $17 million insurance premium and additional millions in insurance deductibles; these expenses are picked up by its rate-payers.

Along with all the other expenses they bear, PG&E's ratepayers usually pay for the enormous costs of utility accidents. This may still prove to be the case with the disaster recently in San Bruno. On September 9, 2010, a PG&E pipeline blew apart. Gas explosions and flames ripped through the San Bruno community, taking the lives of at least 8, injuring over 50 others (some very seriously), and completely destroying or damaging upwards of 100 homes. An official from the National Transportation Safety Board described it: "My immediate assessment was the amazing destruction, the charred trees, the melted and charred cars, the houses disappeared."

One wonders how many other California communities are at risk from aging and deficient pipelines. So much for the superior performance of a giant private-profit corporation.

Left out of the picture is how corporate malfeasance and corporate-generated disasters are a reflection of the capitalist system. If a gas pipeline had exploded in communist Cuba, killing people and destroying homes, the incident would immediately have been treated by U.S. commentators as evidence of the deficiencies of the broader economic system, as proof that socialism cannot do it right.

But disasters in our society are seen simply as immediate mishaps, at worst, instances of negligence and mismanagement by a particular company, never as the outcome of a broader capitalist system that steadfastly puts profits before people, with immense costs passed along to the public.

The same is true of mining accidents, train wrecks, plane crashes, unsafe auto vehicles, unsafe consumer products and foods, toxic spills, offshore-drilling calamities, and a host of other noxious things that corporate America foists on us. Private industries are not in the safety business. All of them are in the business of creating the largest possible profits for their shareholders and their executives.

I'm one of the lucky ones who don't get their gas and electric from PG&E. Our electric company (TDPUD) is pretty generally on the ball and our gas lines (SWG) are only a few years old.

And how are the utilities in your neck of the woods doing? Anything rusting its way to catastrophe in your back yard?

Oh, the irony...

Ironic Times

Obama Forces GOP to Accept Compromise
GOP agrees to permanent unemployment benefits for the rich.

Lieberman Suggests New York Times Violated Espionage Act
Suggests waterboarding Paul Krugman.

Leaked Fox News Memo: Network Discouraged Use of Term "Public Option"
In favor of “Stalinist Death Machine.”

French Library Finds Previously Unknown Leonardo Da Vinci Manuscript
In it, he describes a vast web-like system connecting people so they can exchange short, banal messages with each other.

I got my own crooks ...

But the next county over (Nassau, home of Rep. Peter King) has another idiot they just elected and he's managed to make their fiscal situation worse:

MINEOLA, N.Y. — Facing a huge budget deficit when he took office in January, Nassau County Executive Edward P. Mangano did not impose a hiring freeze. He did not stop borrowing to subsidize some of the richest school districts in the country. He did not eliminate the Police Department’s beloved mounted unit.

Instead, Mr. Mangano, a Republican who won one of the first upsets of the Tea Party era, did what he had promised: He cut taxes, adding $40 million to the county’s deficit, which has since reached nearly $350 million.

Now, with its bonds suddenly downgraded and a state oversight agency preparing to seize its checkbook and credit cards, Nassau is on the verge of a full-fledged fiscal crisis. [my em]

...

You expect this shit from a place like Deepinahearta, Texas, but if there's a place in this area where the Republicans run rampant and turn things to shit, it's Nassau. You can thank all the Wall St. types on the North Shore and the retirees on the South Shore, the former, voting to protect their interest and the latter doing whatever Fox 'News' tells them.

Great thanks to my pal, and fellow football nut, W.K. Maier for the heads up via email.