Friday, August 31, 2012

Everyone ready?

Time to honor Labor. 

It is time to honor the Middle Class. 

It is time to honor America.

I wonder what the weather is going to be? No matter. It takes more than clouds to rain on the Middle Class Parade!

Hurricane victims, yes. Shooting victims, no.

Trying out their new wings, the plutocrats head to Louisiana to reassure the petroleum dependent state help is on the way.

guardian.co.uk

Ewen MacAskill in Tampa 

...His schedule (click title to entry - thank you) took in a surprise visit to Louisiana to speak to – and be pictured with – the emergency crews dealing with the flood damage created by hurricane Isaac....



HOUSTON | Thu Aug 30, 2012 6:24pm EDT

(Reuters) - Most oil and gas companies (click here) in the U.S. Gulf Coast region on Thursday prepared to gradually restart installations there following Hurricane Isaac, while one refinery reported flooding and scrambled to prevent further damage.

Isaac, now a much weaker tropical depression moving north, posed no further threat to most energy infrastructure.

Phillips 66 (Conoco Phillps) said its 247,000 barrel per day (bpd) Alliance refinery in Belle Chasse, Louisiana, had been partially flooded. It offered no estimate on when the plant could restart and said personnel were trying to prevent damage by pumping water out....

May 1, 2012 two oil entities resulted out of Conoco Phillips. One kept the name Conoco Phillips and the other Phillips 66. It is a new split so the 'idea' Romney would take personal interest in the area was important. After all, we just don't know what it is going to cost the USA to put the refinery back on line.

4/30/2012 @ 9:58AM 
...It is spinning off its refineries, pipelines and chemicals division as a new company called Phillips 66. In a tax-free distribution,...

...The legacy ConocoPhillips will keep its name, (click here) its Houston headquarters and its oil and gas fields. The new Phillips 66 (its name based on the old brand) will be a giant in its own right. The company will vie with Valero Energy to be the biggest independent refiner in the U.S., with 2.2 million barrels per day of refining capacity and revenues of roughly $200 billion a year. Says Greg Garland, the new CEO,”We’ll be of similar size to Valero, and twice the size of Marathon. We’ll have geographic diversity with 11 refineries in the U.S. and 4 internationally.”...
By BRADLEY OLSON Bloomberg News 
 


Phillips 66, which became the nation's largest independent refiner after its spinoff from ConocoPhillips earlier this year, said Wednesday that second-quarter profit rose 13 percent on higher fuel margins and announced a plan to buy back shares valued at $1 billion.



Net income rose to $1.18 billion, or $1.86 a share, from $1.04 billion, or $1.64, a year earlier, Houston-based Phillips 66 said in a statement. Profit excluding the sale of the Trainer refinery, debt retirement and other one-time costs was $2.23 a share, 55 cents more than the average of 14 analysts' estimates compiled by Bloomberg....


And the price of gas is what? And the price of food is what? And the national debt is what? And the tax income from bloated companies is what?

They want Romney there all right.

The need for unions is steadfast among 52% of Americans according to Gallup.

August 31, 2012

by Jeffrey M. Jones
PRINCETON, NJ -- A slim majority of Americans, (click title to entry for graphs - thank you) 52%, approve of labor unions, unchanged from 2010 and 2011, and up only slightly from the all-time low of 48% in 2009. Americans had been far more approving of unions before 2009 than they have in the last few years....

Here is the ONLY economic strategy Romney is planning on. Meet his Secretary of Energy.

There are no surprises here. Romney has been alluding to this during his entire campaign.

l. Energy independent by 2020.

That will happen anyway. The jobs Romney states he will open up won't happen for ten years or more. The jobs in the petroleum industry will occur no matter whom is President.

2. 12 million jobs

Ditto.

And there was a third parameter. Whatever.

It is all about the petroleum industry. The ads for an "I am an Energy Voter," started a long time ago. The Petroleum Industry is afraid of being out of business if Alertnatives continue to grow as viable sources of energy each year that goes by. 

What's that guys name? Not Hamm, that is his picture to the left, the Romney Energy Secretary. There goes the oceans by the way. So, Romney's insults regarding our oceans is appropriate considering who has hijacked his campaign.

Oh, yeah, Pickens. He wants to put two natural gas powered cars in every garage. It doesn't matter if there are huge explosions in homes, across the highways when accidents happen or at the 'Natural Gas Pump Station." I always wondered how that would be controlled in the neighbood Natural Gas Pumping Station.

Romney's campaign is the last hurrah of the petroleum industry and they want to end the movement toward alternatives. Correction, Jeb Bush in 2016 will be the final hurrah for the petroleum industry.

The petroleum industry won't be able to stop the droughts, won't be able to drill for clean water for citizens, but, they will be able to satisfy their pocketbooks and end the Era of Oil and Gas by draining every drop from Earth. They will export everything Americans won't use and leave nothing for reserves into the future. 

Basically, the military is needs what? Which is why the Department of the Interior needs to withhold lands for future generations TODAY!

Willard Mitt Romney is no genius. He knows how to bring China's jobs opportunities back to the USA with far less pay scales and no benefits. Romney knows how to destroy companies and rob treasuries, but, he has no ideas. This is party of no ideas and long standing cronies. No surprises and the hope he is trying to sell to Americans is a field of oil and empty promises. This is a long planned for campaign by the "Oil Barrons in Oklahoma and Texas." 

Enjoy the show. If the reaction by Romney's family by Eastwood wasn't proof of a hijacked campaign, then I don't know what is. Ann Romney stated it caught her by surprise. She never expected dark humor at the cost of the standing President. 

Oh, one other thing, for those justifying this ? economic ? strategy, the oil barrons actually believe the USA has until 2050 before it has to worry about Human Induced Global Warming. Heck, 38 years is plenty of time to drain the wells.

Last night at the RNC it all makes sense when one realizes Cheney was the script writer.

In all seriousness, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs is stating a unilateral strategy for Israel against Iran won't end the nuclear program which is yet to be proven to arm warheads. If that isn't a satisfying thought to the political Right Wing, why would I not be surprised.


The top US military official (click title to entry - thank you) reiterated Washington's opposition to a unilateral Israeli strike on Iran yesterday, saying that it would "clearly delay but probably not destroy Iran's nuclear program."
The comments by Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Martin Dempsey are only latest of months of such comments from top US officials, intended to tamp down heated rhetoric from Israeli officials about staging a unilateral strike on Iran. Gen. Dempsey himself has made similar statements in the past, although yesterday's were the firmest yet.
His comments came the same day that the International Atomic Energy Agency released its latest report on Iran's nuclear program, which stated that Iran has doubled its number of centrifuges and accelerated its nuclear fuel production – a clear sign that despite international pressure, it is moving forward with its nuclear development (although not a definitive sign that Iran has military intentions)....

Thursday, August 30, 2012

Isaac now covers the entire southeast of the USA.

August 31, 2012
0231:00z
UNISYS Infrared Southeast Infrared Satellite (click here for 12 hour loop - thank you)














35A  30.10  -91.10 08/30/00Z   50   977 TROPICAL STORM
  36  30.30  -91.20 08/30/03Z   50   980 TROPICAL STORM
36A  30.50  -91.30 08/30/06Z   45   981 TROPICAL STORM
  37  30.90  -91.60 08/30/09Z   40   983 TROPICAL STORM
37A  31.10  -91.80 08/30/12Z   40   985 TROPICAL STORM
  38  31.70  -92.10 08/30/15Z   35   987 TROPICAL STORM
38A  32.20  -92.30 08/30/18Z   35   992 TROPICAL STORM
  39  32.70  -92.60 08/30/21Z   30   995 TROPICAL DEPRESSION
  40  33.50  -93.00 08/31/03Z   25   998 TROPICAL DEPRESSION

At least the winds are ending. The central pressure is still low for a tropical depression. The wind speeds match, but, the central pressure is a little odd.


MCCLATCHY NEWSPAPERS

A weakened Isaac (click title to entry - thank you) continued to wreak havoc along the Gulf Coast on Thursday as the slow-moving storm crept northward toward drought-parched states at just 9 mph.
The water Isaac dumped did far more damage than its winds, which petered out to 40 mph Thursday. Isaac has produced as much as 25 inches of rain and a storm surge of 6 to 12 feet.
At the Louisiana-Mississippi border, officials ordered 60,000 residents to evacuate when a dam threatened to break at Lake Tangipahoa in Mississippi, about 100 miles northwest of New Orleans, while rescue crews used helicopters and boats to reach hundreds more stranded by flooding in southern Louisiana and parts of Mississippi. At least two storm-related deaths have been reported, in Vermilion Parish, La., and in Picayune, Miss.
"This is still a life-threatening situation in some areas," said Rich Serino, the deputy administrator of the Federal Emergency Management Agency...

Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/2012/08/30/2977233/isaac-still-dangerous-lumbers.html#storylink=cpy


25 inches of rain and it still isn't finished.

"I am the new toy plutocrat for Wall Street. Vote for me, I promise it will be painless."


"I really should have been President in 2008 and saved the country from all this, but, McCain was a military guy and I was set on the shelf. Really unfortunate.

Why wasn't McCain backed with the same megabucks as me  in this campaign? Well, gosh, I wasn't going to provide all that money to his campaign. I mean get real, okay? If the country needed me, they should have appreciated that fact."

What was that about illegal immigration?

It would seem there are many reasons why Cubans come to the USA. In all sincerity, I don't believe illegal immigrants seek to be wealthy in the USA, so much as to find work of any kind. They come without valuing their own lives to face danger of dying in their trek. It isn't wealth opportunity they seek. I mean, hello?
Glenda Murillo Diaz, 24, (click title to entry - thank you) daughter of Vice President Marino Murillo, crossed over into Texas from Mexico, according to a report in the online version of US Spanish-language newspaper El Nuevo Herald.
Cubans who set foot on US soil are allowed to remain in the country as part of Washington's "wet foot, dry foot" policy. Cubans intercepted at sea are returned to Cuba.
The cause of Diaz's defection is not yet known, but the newspaper said the incident represents "a vote of no confidence in the economic reforms (President Raul) Castro has ordered, and that her father has a mandate to implement."
Cuba's vice president, an economist by trade, is known as the "reform tsar."...

With "Stand Your Ground" this killing would be legal. If a person believes they are threatened is all it takes.



In Grand Torino, it even took place at the killer's home. I'd like to hear what Clinton Eastwood would say now.

i suppose with Eastwood appearing at the Republican Convention he endorses a dysfunctional Divided Republican House with Republican Senators that obstruct an economic recovery. So, when Eastwood stammers in his inability to comprehend 'the truth,' the words can't be found. Interesting.

I was once a member of the AFL-CIO. (click title to entry for link to the American Federation of Teachers - thank you)

The word "Professional" has to make its way into the description of members of any teacher union.

More than that I was a unit representative. I was affiliated to them through their teachers unions. No, I was not an educational teacher.

The AFL-CIO and it's teacher unions has a challenge to become a part of a parent's language. I sincerely believe when the first announcements and papers are distributed the first day of school, there needs to be a brochure of the union their child's teacher belongs.

The teacher's union should also be supportive of PTA / PTO events and fund raising. 

The teacher unions, not the teachers themselves, need to have outreach to parents. Not that teachers should be prohibited from participating with parents, but, they should not have to talk about their union affiliation with parents. 

The establishment is giving teacher unions a bad name. The teacher unions should have outreach to Boards of Education, both local and/or state depending where the contract lies. There needs to be a provision in the contract that defines seniority, how it is earned along with a "Teacher/Parent / Child Bill of Rights."

The unions have to provide for complaints about their members and the gathering of the facts around those complaints. There should be legitimate ways of addressing grievances by parents, not just grievances by school systems. 

I would think teacher unions would like to see public funding remain within the public schools and to that end I am confident they can find common ground with parents. I honestly see union representatives being available for comment during PTA meetings as a RESOURCE to protect the quality of education. It is the teachers that provide quality education, not the Boards that buy the books and ask parents to buy their own child's supplies.

The tone of the nation regarding public education is hostile. Everyone knows the public schools are not filled with "The Monster Teacher." But, because education has taken a nation political tone, many people are willing to believe it to break unions. 

I don't find it necessary to understand the work of the Mormon Church, unless, it is using government funding.

If Romney is reinforcing his faith to the  members of the RNC, then that tells me more about the RNC and its inability to dismiss Christian segregation as a special class within the party. It tells me nothing about Romney. The American people expect their leaders to be good and ethical men/women. 

This expression of religion at a political party event only sells the idea there very little space in the "Separation of Church and State." 


I thought the stage looked like a church alter. I was right and I had no idea of the agenda of the RNC. The majority of the party is bigoted and this is another expression of same.



Ralph Reed: ‘There’s bigotry against Mormons. It’s on left.’ (click here)

TAMPA — Ralph Reed, who has most definitely re-established himself as part of the GOP elite, dropped by earlier this week to talk about – among other things – religion and Mitt Romney.
The Republican presidential nominee will tonight take his Mormon faith front and center. Tonight’s invocation will be given by members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.
A longtime friend, who shared leadership roles in the Mormon church with Romney, will testify on his behalf.
Both Reed and I were struck by the fact that, for the first time in U.S. history, the presidential ticket of a major party will lack a Protestant. But Reed, who now heads up the Faith and Freedom Coalition, went deeper:...
Very cute, Ralph Reed is going to test the political left by their loyalty to Romney's Religion. If Democrats don't vote for Romney they are religious bigots. 
There is always an angle.

Romney Speaks of Mormon Faith to Try to Dispel Prejudice (click title to entry - thank you)


By Julie Hirschfeld Davis on August 30, 2012
 
In the closing stretch of a campaign in which he has seldom uttered the word “Mormon,” Mitt opening up about his faith as he strives to present a more textured self-portrait to undecided voters.
And Republican leaders -- some of whom have worried that anti-Mormon views prevalent among evangelical Christians who form a sizable chunk of the party base would damage Romney’s chances of victory -- are working to dispel the stigma....
I find it more interesting this 'religion thing' is happening at the convention and not within the campaign. I think that speaks eons as to whom is prejudice and whom is not. Everyone knows what the religious right wing says Mormonism. I learned first hand from Evangelical Christians that Mormanism is a cult. It was the first time I ever heard Mormonism  called a cult. So, now it is the Political Left Wing of the USA that are religious bigots. That is such a joke. Those on the very left of the political spectrum are atheists. Give me a break!
Ever since "W" was in office this mess has gone on.


They fought in the USA war with Mexico.

Captain James Brown (1801-1863) Family Photo Gallery (click here)

A Mormon settled the town that would become Brownsville, Texas.

If anything will turn the Political Left Wing of the USA away from Romney it will be "Wall Street" and not the history of his religion or his personal dedication to it.

"The 4% Growth Project" compliments of Brother Neil, bring Chinese work ethic to America.

"I'm thinking of joining the Chinese Communist party. What do you think of my accessories?" says Neil Bush.

CIIC (click here) executes the “go-out” strategy and develops economic cooperation in the United States, Europe, Middle East and Russia. Using the method of capital operation, CIIC aims to become a competitive international enterprise and promote to build a harmonious and peaceful world.

The Former Governor of Florida, Jeb Bush and his educational system is being replaced and reworked because it failed the children of Florida.

Education is a profit motive for Neil Bush. He was able to bank roll plenty during the years George was in the White House. Neil became a salesman for online educational models.

Jeb Bush brags that China has more engineer students than the USA. Why is that? Because the Bush Brothers have been joining hands in educational capitalism that has jointly failed not just Florida, but, the nation.

The Former Governor Jeb wants to privatize education in the USA. Quite a surprise, isn't it? Education is a food product in the cafeteria of life. It is hard insight like that.

If it weren't for the Florida Unions the children would be receiving a manufactured education, not one where experience in teaching matters, where emotional learning is as important as the lessons themselves. A teacher brings more than lessons to their students, they bring attention to learning that computers cannot achieve. 

If Jeb Bush wants to speak to learning and highlight individual students, that is fine, but, he needs to look at why the learning wasn't as good in their home district, not just how moving them out of their neighborhoods improve outcomes. It is the neighborhood schools that should be most functional, but, when monies are removed from the public educational process to charter schools and/or private schools the public schools have no choice but fail.

President Obama in his American Jobs Act wanted to rebuild and refurbish schools as a means to job creation, but, why would the Republican House vote for that when their goal is to destroy the public system of FREE education

The Occupy Wall Street Movement is facing greater oppression across the USA.


Occupy Wall Street plans Sept. 17 event but members face burnout (click here)

BLOOMBERG
NEW YORK
Published: August 30, 2012 4:14 p.m.
Last modified: August 30, 2012 5:28 p.m.

Occupy Wall Street will mark its first anniversary next month by trying to block traffic in the financial district and encircle the New York Stock Exchange.

Planning for the Sept. 17 protest, dubbed S17, follows months of internal debate and flagging interest, according to interviews with organizers.

"We are here to bring you to justice," said Sean McKeown, a 32-year-old chemist and New York University graduate who's helping organize the demonstration. "We're offering you the chance to repent for your sins."

But organizers now say there has been more fatigue than fresh thinking this year....

Besides the emotional burnout facing the movement, there are laws being passed designed to oppress the movement. It is difficult to maintain a movement if oppression is exerted rather than met with a willingness to hear their plea.

New York City Criminalizes Protests in the Context of Occupy Wall Street (click title to entry - thank you) 


JURIST Guest Columnist Emi MacLean, human rights attorney, argues that New York City has effectively criminalized protests by the actions taken against Occupy Wall Street since September 2011...


On July 25, 2012, the Protest and Assembly Rights Project — a coalition of law school clinics — published the first in a series of reports on the state response to the Occupy Wall Street protests. Suppressing Protest: Human Rights Violations in the Police Response to Occupy Wall Street [PDF] focuses on New York City's response to the Occupy protests from their emergence in September 2011 until July 2012. The study compiles reports of repeated excessive or unnecessary use of force by the police, massive and continuous over-policing, poor communication during the policing of public demonstrations, obstruction of press freedoms, interference of independent legal monitoring, constant police surveillance, unjustified restrictions on the ability of individuals to peacefully assemble in public spaces, arbitrary rule enforcement and accountability and transparency failures.

Suppressing Protest demonstrates how police and city authorities in New York regularly apply laws, rules, and aggressive police use of force to arrest and disperse peaceful protests. Together, the facts indicate a pattern of the excessive use of state power to chill free speech and suppress peaceful protest. The use of force has been a ubiquitous and deeply disturbing feature of the New York City Police Department's (NYPD) strategy for the policing of public demonstrations. A table listing 130 incidents of alleged excessive use of force by police is included as an appendix to Suppressing Protest....

No feeding the homeless outdoors? Well, heck then, close down every outdoor cafe on the planet. This is more than oppression, it has the appearance of being able to round people up for removal from the streets. The reason won't matter in precedent. If the law can remove people on the street from eating, what is next? How does any police officer know if a person is homeless? What is to say eating McDonald's hamburgers or drinking Wendy's Frosty is illegal. This is one of the most stupid laws I have ever heard of, people have to eat and if the homeless are on the street than they have to eat on the street. What are they to do, starve? Seriously! No eating in public?

By Khadijah White
U.S. District Judge William Yohn's recent ruling (click here) against Philadelphia's ban on outdoor feeding of the homeless pleased me both philosophically and personally - personally because I had spent a night in jail after questioning police officers who were preventing opponents of the ban from participating in a public hearing. The case against me was dropped shortly after Yohn's ruling.
The city's outdoor feeding ban was part of a much larger legislative legacy of the Occupy movement in cities nationwide. It was rooted in attempts to restrict the free meals that had literally fueled the long-term Occupy Philadelphia encampment at City Hall....

Everyone to the Petting Zoo, eating on the street in public is allowed there!!!!



Posted:   08/29/2012 09:34:05 PM MDT
Updated:   08/30/2012 02:48:01 PM MDT
A few Occupy Denver protesters with signs mingled unremarkably with bargain-hunters with tents outside the Sports Authority 's Denver Sports Castle Wednesday night.
"Tents for all" proclaimed one cardboard sign.
Occupy Denver, the outpost that sprang from the Occupy Wall Street anti-greed campaign last year, was maintaining a presence among the total of 11 tents. About 20 shoppers have staked out their places in line for Sniagrab 2012, the celebrated Labor Day shopping event for ski goods....

#Occupy Maine wins huge win for public open space!

Posted Aug. 30, 2012, at 12:10 p.m.
Last modified Aug. 30, 2012, at 1:19 p.m.
...The publication in question is Vex, (click here) a new free weekly in Portland founded and edited by Mort Todd, a comic artist and former editor of Cracked magazine. Vex is mostly a collection of music listings, humor and comics, but a recent edition contained an editorial by Todd, writing under the pseudonym Lew G. Rant, that addressed a serious issue.
The owners of the Eastland Park Hotel want to buy an adjacent city park, Congress Square Plaza, and build a ballroom there. Members of Occupy Maine have organized in opposition to that plan, and city officials recently rejected the hotel’s bid, citing the value of urban open space. (The hotel reportedly plans to submit amended plans later this year.)
Todd’s editorial ripped the city and opponents of the hotel’s plan for siding with “vagrants” over developers who’d bring jobs and new revenue to town. As Todd observed, the ugly concrete square is “often empty, except for a regular troupe of a dozen or so indigents, smoking drinking, urinating and swearing.” Police calls for assaults and other disturbances are common....

Get this, #Occupy has reached a global effort; even China. The same capitalist complaints exist there, too.

This movement is incredible. It has far reaching dynamics, more so than the USA demonstrations of the 1960s. People around the globe are connecting to the message. Part of this identity with each other is where the 'globalist' movement started. Every country has been buying into the Wall Street model and there are problems with widespread capitalism. Identifying with each other is reaching where language barriers would normally stop it. That is not the case. I would not know how to speak Mandarin any more than Icelandic, but, there is profound understanding in the #Occupy movement. It is nothing short of amazing.

Thursday, August 30, 2012

It has been almost a year (click here) since the Occupy movement first put up its tents. Occupy Wall Street hit the headlines on September 17, 2011, with New Yorkers protesting against economic inequality and corporate greed.
This has led to copycat protests all over the world, with Hong Kong activists pitching their tents on the ground floor of HSBC's Central headquarters.
Wall Street had long gotten rid of its protesters but Hong Kong is still dealing with a handful of activists.
They are enjoying a rent-free life in the city's financial center and their tents have become an eyesore as well as an obstruction to pedestrians....

The First Anniversary of the movement is nearly upon us, it is time to #Occupy!

What is the difference between Catholic Bishops and Ryan with the Pro-Life Movement?

The Catholic Bishops actually care about the babies after they are born!

Ah, ha, ha, ha, ha. Just a joke. Ah, ha, ha, ha, ha.

I kill myself I am so funny.

Ah, ha, ha, ha, ha...

From Louisiana to the east coast, the damage costs are adding up.

August 30, 2012
1030:00z
UNISYS Water Vapor North and West Hemisphere Satellite (click here for 12 hour loop)

Ileana in the Pacific and Leslie in the Atlantic are twins fueled by the direct solar rays. There is another circulation center at the Lesser Antilles. Leslie is reorganizing and moving like a freight train.

Below are the dynamics of Ileana. It is gaining strength and moving north and west. Ileana's eye may miss landfall, but, it outer bands are effecting the Baja Pennisula now.


   8  17.90 -112.00 08/29/12Z   60     - TROPICAL STORM
   9  18.20 -112.70 08/29/18Z   60     - TROPICAL STORM
 10  19.10 -113.10 08/30/03Z   65   987 HURRICANE-1
 11  19.70 -113.50 08/30/09Z   65   987 HURRICANE-1


In 18 hours Kirk has moved east by 2.1 degrees, dropped its central pressure by 10 millibars with 5 of those millibars within the past three hours and has gained speed of at 15 knots per hour with 5 in the past three hours to 55 knots per hour.

4  24.70  -46.90 08/29/15Z   40  1007 TROPICAL STORM
5  25.30  -47.60 08/29/21Z   45  1005 TROPICAL STORM
6  25.90  -48.30 08/30/03Z   50  1002 TROPICAL STORM
7  26.50  -49.00 08/30/09Z   55   997 TROPICAL STORM

During that same period Isaac is slowly losing strength. Isaac is being monitored intensely by the Hurricane Center. It is being reported frequently to maintain current information. Every time Isaac raised its central pressure as a hurricane; the Hurricane Center published the readings; then less frequently (ultimately every 3 hours) as it continued to raise central pressure as a Tropical Storm status.

  34  29.60  -90.70 08/29/15Z   65   972 HURRICANE-1
34A  29.70  -90.80 08/29/17Z   65   973 HURRICANE-1
34B  29.80  -90.90 08/29/19Z   60   974 TROPICAL STORM
  35  30.00  -91.10 08/29/21Z   60   975 TROPICAL STORM
35A  30.10  -91.10 08/30/00Z   50   977 TROPICAL STORM
  36  30.30  -91.20 08/30/03Z   50   980 TROPICAL STORM
36A  30.50  -91.30 08/30/06Z   45   981 TROPICAL STORM
  37  30.90  -91.60 08/30/09Z   40   983 TROPICAL STORM

During a period of 18 hours Isaac moved 1.3 degrees north and maintains a near stationary position longitudinally, only 0.9 degrees. During the same period Isaac dropped its speed by 25 knots.

August 30, 2012
1000z
UNISYS Surface Map 

The 'tornado watch box' is larger and nearly a perfect square. It indicates a stable storm with increasing internal turbulence.


Isaac to the right.

LAPLACE, La. (AP) — The state sent scores of buses and dozens of high-water vehicles to help evacuate about 3,000 people(click here) from St. John the Baptist Parish after Tropical Storm Isaac pushed water from lakes Pontchartrain and Maurepas into parts of LaPlace.
Rising water closed off all main thoroughfares into the parish, which is about 30 miles west of New Orleans. In many areas, water lapped up against houses and left cars stranded. The water was being driven higher by south winds as Isaac passed to the west and was expected to continue rising through the night.
Floodwaters rose waist-high in some neighborhoods, and the Louisiana National Guard was working with sheriff’s deputies to rescue people stranded in their homes and surprised by the flooding.
The floodwaters ‘‘were shockingly fast-rising, from what I understand from talking to people. It caught everybody by surprise,’’ Lt. Gov. Jay Dardenne said....
The waters rose quickly because the storm was essentially stable and the winds were 'piling up' water from the storm and from the Gulf. 
Photographer states:

Wednesday August 29, 2012
BraithwaiteLA
Homes are flooded as Hurricane Isaac hits Wednesday, Aug. 29, 2012, in Braithwaite, La. As Isaac made landfall, it was expected to dump as much as 20 inches of rain in several parts of Louisiana. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip)



The cost of oil is rising because Louisiana's ports are cut off. They may be out of reach for some time considering the damage Isaac may have caused. I would think the Texas refineries are gearing up to make up the difference when the platforms open up in the Gulf again.



Are we going to continue to count on the petroleum industry for fuel as a nation or have we finally had enough of the high prices of an industry struggling to stay alive causing seismic activity as well as high food prices? It is time for the USA 'to get over it.'

West Palm Beach Flooding

By Allison Ross
Palm Beach Post Staff Writer
Eight Palm Beach County public schools will remain closed (click title to entry - thank you) Thursday as access to the schools continue to be hampered by flooding of surrounding streets.
Meanwhile, the Palm Beach County School District has tallied up more than $1 million in damages from the storm. And it’s preparing to request waivers that would keep it from having to make up every missed day of school, said Superintendent Wayne Gent.
The district kept its 187 schools closed on Monday and Tuesday this week as Tropical Storm Isaac passed, and as crews worked to clean up and clear out flooding and other problems left in the storm’s wake....

Wednesday, August 29, 2012

While we are assigning lessons to the GOP, there is one about Ryan everyone needs to learn.

The Medicare plan Ryan states he developed is simplistic mathematics and will never work.

If I may?

The Affordable Care Act has extended the life of Medicare until 2023.

Ryan states he will provide Medicare as we know it to all those over 55 years old.

Assuming people will retire and take Medicare at the age of 65, that means there is ten years of solvency as Medicare is today. Ten years of solvency. That is what President Obama has brought to Medicare through the Affordable Care Act.

Now, let's pause and think about this a minute.

1, 2, 3, 4, 5,...60 seconds.

Okay.

Ryan wants to let Medicare stand until it runs out of solvency. That is why he chose the age 55 and younger. There is no miracle to his calculations, he simply took out a calculator to make sure he got the numbers right and punched in 65 - 10 = 55.  That is all Ryan did. He then took the monies Medicare currently takes in from year to year and divided the number of participants coming into Medicare from the age of 55 and younger. The number out of his calculator was $7000.00.

So, Ryan plans to run Medicare into insolvency and then provide a 'pay out' to the number of new participants each year for the monies taken in and divided between them.

There is one FATAL FLAW. Figure it out yet?

Let's pause and think about this a minute.

1, 2, 3, ...

...60. Got it?

I do.

You see, Ryan in all his fiscal genius calculated that Medicare will run into insolvency in ten years. 

True, but, ONLY if The Affordable Care Act stays in effect during all those ten years.

Romney / Ryan states they will repeal the Affordable Care Act. Guess what?

Ryan won't have ten years after they repeal the Affordable Care Act. 

What will the 'Fiscal Wonder Boys' do then?

Obama: Osama bin Laden Dead - Full Video

CNN: 2001, President George W. Bush 'Bin Laden, Wanted dead or alive'

Condi Rice is still in profound denial about the truth.

I want to hear Condi Rice apologize for the gross misdirection of USA foreign policy under Bush/Cheney and admit there was no WMD in Iraq.

She stated the young democracy of Iraq is surrounded by hostile nations now with the Arab Spring. 

Sure and my name is George Washington.

THE KILLING NEVER FUCKING STOPPED!

Democracy? You've got to be joking!


BAGHDAD (AP) — Attackers killed six Iraqi security officials including an army general on Wednesday, officials said, the latest wave of insurgent attacks aimed at undermining the central government.
The deadliest attack of the day came in the city of Kirkuk, where three policemen were killed and six wounded. City police commander Sarhad Qadir said their convoy hit a roadside bomb.
Kirkuk is 290 kilometers (180 miles) north of Baghdad.
The general died in a drive-by shooting in Baghdad. Police said Brig. Gen. Nadhum Tayeh was driving to work in the morning when a carload of gunmen opened fire, killing him....

The Iraq Civil War rages on!!!!!!!!!  Who do you think attacked the general in Baghdad?  It wasn't al Qaeda. I guarantee that. 

BAGHDAD: Iraq's Kurdistan regional government (click here) threatened to stop its share of national oil exports again at the start of September, claiming Baghdad has continued to hold off on payments to oil companies, as the two sides continue a long-running dispute.
"We are moving ahead to stop oil exports at the start of September, because until this moment we didn't receive any sign Baghdad will approve payments for oil companies working in the region," a senior Kurdistan government official said on Tuesday.
Iraq's uneasy federal union is being tested as the central government has a long-standing disagreement with autonomous Kurdistan in the north over control of oil and territory along their internal border.
Baghdad maintains it alone has the right to export Iraqi crude. But Kurdistan has moved ahead with signing exploration deals with oil majors such as Exxon and Chevron, which the central government rejects as illegal.
In April Kurdistan halted exports, saying Baghdad had not made payments to companies working there, but it restarted shipments on Aug. 7 with a warning they could be halted again in a month if there were no payments....

The ONLY place in Iraq where a reasonable quality of life exists is the neighbor to Saudi Arabia where the Sunnis have their autonomous existence. Saudi Arabia assisted the Sunnis of Anbar to find water and their own economy. 

Iraq is still fighting the war that started with the USA and its Coalition of the Wiling invaded Iraq. The civil war still raging which the USA did nothing but postpone while costing over 5000 deaths and ten times that in injured and maimed American soldiers and still others hell bend on suicide. 

How Condi Rice can put honor to the actions of revenge and greed in killing fields that were valued for their oil is beyond any imagination of integrity. The Republicans not only believe their own lies, but, they intend for the rest of the world to believe it to.

Security improvements in Anbar allow thousands of families to celebrate Eid (click here)

We don't belong in Iraq.

We never did!