Wind Turbines have been tested under extreme weather conditions for decades.

Do you know what that means?  That means there are no huge repairs and if the power lines are down due to high wind then they should be underground and there would be no power loss to communities.


Mitsubishi (click here) 250 kW wind turbines of the Kama‘oa Wind Farm in Ka Lae (a.k.a. South Point), Big Island of Hawaii. The wind farm came online in 1987, was decomissioned in 2006. Photo by Rebecca Stanek 

...Two wind farm (click title to entry - thank you) projects in Kenedy County aren't far enough along to demonstrate how their giant fan blades would fare in a hurricane such as Ike.

But if they were operating, those traveling nearby on U.S. Highway 77 would have nothing to fear from them, said a spokeswoman with one of the companies spearheading the projects. Mitsubishi Power Systems, the turbine manufacturer, has designed the turbines to withstand hurricane conditions, said Beth O'Brien, of Australia-based Babcock and Brown, the developer of one of the wind farms.

O'Brien said Mitsubishi considered winds up to 172 mph in its turbine design. The turbines rotate the nacelle, or generator, to its best and safest position based on wind speed and direction.

That design also prevents excessive loads being applied to the blades and tower. If there is a strong wind, the nacelle rotates to face downwind, alleviating the load, O'Brien said....

From the New York Times today.  It isn't just me that makes this 'HOSTILE' connection about Republicans.  The 'attitude' is historical by now and their link with a corrupt and criminal media empire is legendary.

…Republicans (click here) have now pounced on the bankruptcy as proof that the loan program is a bust, that the president’s signature green jobs program is a fraud, and that this country’s solar energy business is in terminal decline.

None of that is true.  Solyndra made a bad bet, investing heavily in a new type of solar array just as the price of silicon, the main ingredient in competitors’ solar cells, was dropping. Its demise should not spell the end of federal investment in the alternative fuels and energy sources that are critical to reducing greenhouse gas emissions, easing this country’s dependence on fossil fuels and keeping it competitive in the race for clean-energy jobs,

…The United States, which three years ago led the world in investments in clean energy, has now fallen behind China and Germany, which provide far more generous subsidies. The failure of a single company — and anyone who knows anything about transformative technologies knows there will be failures — is no reason to stop our efforts to catch up….

…The administration claims to have exercised due diligence and seems to have been forthcoming in responding to Congress. The company has been decidedly less so;…

 …It is also important to note where some of the loudest criticism is coming from: House Republicans who want to undermine the president, belittle global warming and discredit clean fuels. Their agenda was on full display Thursday at a hearing led by Darrell Issa called “How Obama’s Green Energy Agenda Is Killing Jobs.”

The proceedings mainly consisted of Representative Issa and others asserting that money spent on environmentally friendly fuels and jobs would be much better spent on “domestic carbon-based resources” — that is, dirtier fuels like oil, gas and coal. What was not mentioned was that at least 10 of the 23 Republicans on the Oversight and Government Reform Committee — including Mr. Issa — have lobbied the Department of Energy to approve green projects in their own districts.

The truth of the matter is that when judged by its diverse portfolio, the loan program appears, at least so far, to have performed well….

Natural Gas: An Amazing Resource. A Responsible Way To Produce It.

This is like ExxonMobile, right?  This commercial insults the intelligence of nearly every American if they ever stopped to realize how they are being treated by this disaster of a company.


They are trying to say there is at least one and a half miles of PROTECTIVE rock between the 'sellf contained' well and the ground water.


"W"rong.  There is NO protective rock between the hydraulic fracturing of rock and the ground water, the drilling company destroyed that protective layer when they put a hole in it.


Do I have to say this?  The Petroleum Industry actually believes people are this stupid.  Or. At least they are hoping they are giving everyone a reason to believe the LIE.

Wall Street on trial. Finally. Why is it there was this 'mind set' dictated by Republicans ...

...that somehow the money changers are exempt from the law?  Still today, nothing Bush, Cheney or their cabal including the episode with Wall Street is viewed by Republicans as a criminal act.  


I thought the GOP believed in the rule of law.  It would not seem the case.  All the banks were given a pass on criminal activity when the 2008 collapse occurred.  Yet.  It was okay for that to be allowed, after all those are all the wealth merchants and bad things happen when they are put on trial.  


So.  There is NOT justice for all.  The American people had to swallow $1.2 Trillion in a vanished economy that is still contracting today and the GOP has the nerve to call it 'tax and spend.'  They have it "W"rong.  The Bush White House gave a blank check to Wall Street and they had and still don't have any intention of reinvesting in the USA.  


Lloyd Blankfein, the chief executive of Goldman Sachs, (click title to entry - thank you)  has hired one of America's top criminal defence lawyers to help him address claims that the bank misled clients in the run-up to the financial crisis, and Congress afterwards.

Shares in the Wall Street bank fell in late trading on Monday when it emerged that Blankfein had retained Reid Weingarten, criminal defence attorney at Steptoe & Johnson. Blankfein turned to Weingarten after the US Department of Justice began investigating the way Goldman sold subprime mortgage securities – the toxic investments that triggered the credit crunch.

Blankfein has also been accused of misleading a Senate committee – a claim that is emphatically denied by Goldman.

Goldman confirmed that both Blankfein and other senior executives at the bank had engaged their own lawyers earlier this year. The move was triggered by the Senate permanent subcommittee on investigations, which in April issued a damning report into Goldman's activities. This report was then passed on to the DoJ....


And the 'Too Big To Fail" crowd seem so like it that way as the Middle Class falls into poverty and the American Dream is out of reach for more people today than in the last quarter century.


"Too Big To Fail" is also "Above the Law."  At least until now.  

Goldman Sachs Posts $3 Billion Gain (click here)

10/16/2009
By: cARRIE bAY

Just months after paying back billions in bailout funds, Goldman Sachs reported a profit of $3.19 billion for the third quarter, or $5.25 diluted earnings per common share, exceeding analyst expectations by about $1 a share. Goldman’s earnings were up 270 percent for the quarter compared to the same period last year….

A profit?  Not income.  Profit.  Of $3.19 Billion US.

That wasn't for a year, but, a quarter.

Like?

What the fuck?

The Money Changers. Excuse me, but, didn't a NYC police officer state he was bribed by Murdoch's media service?

To begin with, how is any HONEST newsprint suppose to compete with criminals?  


AND.


WHY does the GOP commingle their politics with a media service that has a strong criminal undercurrent in their management.

Is anyone worried about national security when it comes to Murdoch's media?

LONDON: A former “News of the World” executive was paid (click title to entry - thank you) more than £25,000 by the paper's publisher during his time at Scotland Yard, a report said on Saturday. 

Neil Wallis, the former deputy editor of the paper, received the payments in late 2009 and 2010 for providing crime stories to the weekly, according to the Daily Telegraph. 

The details of the payments from Rupert Murdoch's News International emerged in billing records obtained by detectives, said the paper. Wallis was hired as a part-time consultant by Metropolitan Police in late 2009, shortly after quitting the News of the World....

The Murdochs have tried to say each element of their media empire is separate and different from the others.  I don't think so.  From the story in NYC and now the FACT about London there seems to be a systemic understanding that 'snooping, bargaining, hacking and bribing' is all a matter of policy.  Understood or written there is a culture within this media that is corrupt.


I dare anyone to look at long established media that actually FAVORS a religion, a set of values and enforces it WITH INTENT.  


Murdoch is about power, not about information and if no one can see that, then I don't how much clearer it has to be.

It's Sunday Night

Tactical Sekt - American Me

"Chosen One" by Tactical Sekt (click title for Facebook site - thank you)

You don't believe....?

In religion?
Believe in God? In Science? In Sunday supper?
I don't believe in rules that tell me how I should live.

Even if they're handed down by God?

How many crusades were fought in the name of God?
How many people died because of…someone's religion?

Fantacism. Not religion

Semantics. They're still dead.

You still suffer...like a Catholic?

Heh. A light bulb goes out, people fix it. They get a new one.
A light bulb goes out for the Catholic; he stands in the dark and says, "What did I do wrong?"

That guilt's not in me anymore.

I pray for all our souls
In this time of mind control
I shout at the heaven's above
I saw anger where there once was love

We were born in an age of aggression
baring our nails face to face
When the walls are starting to crumble
I tip-toe, terrified, looking at frays

CHORUS
I come here for mankind
designated as the Chosen one
I'm born from a different place
that got this way from a state of grace

Crying
Dying
Caring
Denying
Worshiped
Pained
Crucified and brain dead

Hated
Baited
Desperate
Jaded
Brainwashed
Disparate
Haunted by the betrayed

I am just a pawn in this game
betrayed by our own leaders
a blessed part of the game
The only Disobedient

I am just a pawn in this game
betrayed by our own leaders
a blessed part of the game
The only Disobedient

CHORUS
I come here for mankind
designated as the Chosen one
I fall from a different place
that got this way from a state of grace

Father! Why am I going to hell?
For Crying
Dying
Caring
Denying
Worshiped
Pained
Crucified and brain dead!

It has been a month since I embarked on composition.

Time to warm again.

Congratulations, Mr. Cain. What an unexpected triumphant recognition. Very nice.

Everyone will pay attention to the 9-9-9 tax structure now.


Perhaps he can truly add sincere leadership to his party rather than just rhetoric.

...Former (click title to entry -- thank you) Godfather's Pizza executive Cain, who is far behind the two top-tier candidates Perry and Mitt Romney, won with 37 percent of 2,657 votes cast.

Perry was a distant second at 15 percent, just ahead of Romney, who won 14 percent despite not participating in the poll. Further back were Rick Santorum, Ron Paul, Newt Gingrich, Jon Huntsman and Michele Bachmann....

Rugby World Cup 2011

Rugby World Cup: England v Romania as it happened (click here) By Tom Fordyce Page last updated at 05:42 GMT, Saturday, 24 September 2011 06:42 UK 0856: We'll finish with this from England manager Martin Johnson: "These games can be awkward, but we kept our discipline pretty well. It was job done tonight, and now we go into a massive week." mattewdbenson: Is now the right time for a reminder that Scotland beat these guys by (only) 34-24?... Rugby World Cup: All Blacks destroy France (click here) By Michael Brown 10:43 PM Saturday Sep 24, 2011 The All Blacks convincingly beat France at Eden Park tonight. Were you at the game or Party Central? Tell us your views of the night....

Speaker Boner does it again. The GOP is hooked on drama.

...Even before the House vote, (click title to entry - thank you) however, the leader of the Senate promised that majority Democrats will scuttle the measure as soon as it reaches the chamber on Friday....


There isn't anything else to say.


The GOP is incompetent and can't get the job done.


...Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., said the House plan "is not an honest effort at compromise. ... It will be rejected by the Senate."...


It is suppose to be compromise, not a war!

Will the current President of Russia become another Sarah Palin?

14:49 24/09/2011

MOSCOW, September 24 (RIA Novosti)

Russian (click title to entry - thank you) President Dmitry Medvedev has proposed Prime Minister Vladimir Putin to run for president in next year's election, ending months of speculation over which man would run for the post....


It is less of a surprise than one might believe, since the Russian Duma passed the legislation allowing a President a third term in office; Vladamir Putin was destined for a return to President.


But, what happens to Dmitry Medvedev?  He is simply honoring a Past President of the party seeking his third term and will be able to return to the Presidency himself, or will he be considered a quitter and be sidelined to a political icon?  Only the future can tell.


I welcome President Putin back to the office he has made stronger in Russian government, but, President Medvedev has made landmark changes in Russia giving the office a kinder, less autocratic demeanor.  It was President Medvedev who also signed the nuclear disarmament treaty with President Obama.  Dmitry Medvedev will have a lasting imprint on the office of President of Russia and we look forward to his return as well.

The re-entry of the satellite went well. It disintegrated in the atmosphere and path was primarily ocean.

"The satellite was passing eastward over Canada and Africa as well as vast portions of the Pacific, Atlantic and Indian oceans during that period," nasa said. "the precise re-entry time and location are not yet known with certainty."

I thank Admiral Mullen for his dedicated service to the USA and his truth telling in regard to its accomplishments and challenges.

First Vice President (click here) Marshal Muhammad Qasim Fahim, left, wept Thursday as President Hamid Karzai described the Taliban plot that led to the assassination of Burhanuddin Rabbani.


The change in tactics the Taliban are conducting is a clear indication their campaign to rule in Afghanistan is over.  



...As a result, (click title to entry for Admiral Mullen's written comments before Congress - thank you) the insurgents have predictably shifted tactics.  Rather than confront Afghan and international security forces directly, insurgent groups have and will increasingly focus on high profile attacks as well as assassination attempts against high-level officials. Like the recent complex attack in Kabul and the assassination of former president Rabbani, these incidents are designed to reap a maximum strategic and psychological effect with minimal input.  And make no mistake, combating an insurgency is about combating perceptions.  We must not attribute more weight to these attacks than they deserve.  They are serious and significant, but they do not represent a sea change in the odds of military success....


Something happened in Pakistan with the assassination of the Late President Zulfikar Ali Bhutto.  Pakistan has a much more turbulent interior following the episodic victimization of the Bhutto Political Family.  The family was chronically viewed as legitimate by the people, but, were always the enemy of the government.  Even Benezir was supposed to have killed her brother which cast the family in a light of blind ambition to power. 


As time went by it allowed other elements from inside Pakistan to take control of government structures, primarily the ISI.  While the 'leadership' of Pakistan always portrayed itself as a peace loving nation seeking alliance with the USA, its reality from within the power brokers of the ISI was very different.  It lent itself to extremists such as al Qaeda using the borders with Afghanistan as a secure staging area to protect those that should have never received protection or allegiance.  


As far as I am concerned, the exposure of Kahn was the beginning of the cultural shift in Pakistan and now Admiral Mullen from within Pakistan has opened the closed door.  He has made public statements while visiting Pakistan to these elements within the ISI and now has sincerely exposed the coup that began so long ago.


Admiral Mullen has placed himself in the direct path of danger.  He is an extremely brave warrior.  Never let it be said he took a job with the Joint Chief's to avoid danger, he never did.  He used his access to information and turned it into influence through truth telling to expose dangerous elements that were profoundly entrenched in the government of an ally.  He is a remarkable man and I can't thank him enough.

…Despite this steady progress in the areas of security and ANSF development, however, a successful military strategy alone cannot achieve our objectives in Afghanistan.  Other critical problems remain, problems that will undermine hard-won gains if they are not addressed. 

The fact remains that the Quetta Shura and the Haqqani Network operate from Pakistan with impunity. Extremist organizations serving as proxies of the government of Pakistan are attacking Afghan troops and civilians as well as U.S. soldiers.  For example, we believe the Haqqani Network—which has long enjoyed the support and protection of the Pakistani government and  is, in many ways, a strategic arm of Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence Agency—is responsible for the September 13^th attacks against the U.S. Embassy in Kabul….  


Knowing the truth about the ISI, the elements that are at work to attempt to secure nuclear capacity while using Kashmir as a bird blind to allow for such internal violence, are known now.  The violence in Kashmir and the allowance of such extremists within the Pakistan ISI cannot be tolerated.  There can be no clearer message to the Pakistani government than one of USA loyalty to returning the country to a peaceful partner rather than allowing the continued destabilizing reality that now exists there.


Pakistan in its current state can become a very dangerous element and the UN Security Council needs to recognize that reality and work to removing such global threats from Pakistan.  India has been a more than patient partner with global interests with China and Russia in close proximity.  If India weren't as persistently patient with this now known reality the entire region could have been involved in calamitous war or worse.  


I would expect the USA to be an ally to India to bring this matter before the UN Security Council to seek sanctions as incentive to remove the power of the ISI elements that caused these problems.  I would also expect India to bring Kashmir to the UN Security Council for a resolve to a peace and end of violence, a violence that has sustained now through generations.


India has been a good and loyal partner to the USA and there has been more stability in the region than not.  That should be a clear understanding to the intents of both India and the USA in regard to furthering stability, bringing peace and nuclear disarmament once and for all.

Congratulations to NASA. The future sounds very exciting.

Sept. 22, 2011, 2:00 p.m. EDT

Aquarius Yields NASA's First GlobalMap of Ocean Salinity (click here)

..."Aquarius' salinity data are showing much higher quality than we expected to see this early in the mission," said Aquarius principal investigator Gary Lagerloef of Earth & Space Research in Seattle. "Aquarius soon will allow scientists to explore the connections between global rainfall, ocean currents and climate variations."...

Volunteer Web GroupHelps Discover Two New Planets  (click here)

By Chloe Albanesius

September 22, 2011 10:42am EST

 …A Yale University-based online citizen science project known as Planet Hunters has done just that.

Using data from NASA's Kepler mission, volunteers discovered what they though might be two exoplanets.

That data "survived our checks for false-positives," the Yale team said in a paper submitted to the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. "The involvement of citizen scientists as part of Planet Hunters is therefore shown to be a valuable and reliable tool in exoplanet detection."

Planet Hunters, which launched in December, calls on astronomy buffs to examine the vast amounts of data collected by Kepler in the hopes of identifying new planets. Kepler, which launched in March 2009, captures information about 200,000 stars every 30 seconds, and that data has been made public. And while computers are capable of sifting through some of this data, human brains can more easily detect anomalies that might indicate the presence of a new planet….


Space flight has moved to a new era.  There is not a place for private exploration of space travel and industry.  The strides the great astronauts have made in the past were the beginnings of an entirely new way of thinking about resources.  The private sector development of space travel is a good direction.  They need engineers and a space industrial base.  The changes in where the near Earth space program takes place is unfortunately traumatizing for some, but, it is exciting for others.  


While travel to the Moon seems like the next best adventure, the resources being applied to that goal will imperil the resources to achieve higher achievements of the program.  There is nothing wrong with providing a new platform of opportunity for the private sector to achieve the same goals once held only by government while putting government resources to achieving more than it could have otherwise.


The protests by the former astronauts are understandable, but, short sighted in understanding the direction the new program is taking and the resources available to achieve it.  None of this is diminishing the USA, it is enhancing its achievements and putting in deep space far beyond anyone else.

…The two astronauts (click title to entry - thank you) appeared together before the same committee in May 2010 to make many of the same points…

…“The past year has been frustrating to NASA observers,” Armstrong told the panel, chaired by Rep. Ralph Hall, R-Rockwall. …

…Armstrong lamented the demise of the astronaut corps, with retirement of the shuttle fleet and plans to fly a manned NASA spacecraft next in 2021….

…Cernan said his criticism 16 months ago remained valid today….  

No way to run a military. The speech by Rep. McKeon is an excellent example of how wayward the USA military has become.

This graph is about the way Rep. McKeon and Sen. Kyl view the readiness of the US military, "US vs. the world."

In his speech to the American Enterprise Institute, Rep. McKeon clearly has maintained the tone of a true neocon.  His speech is troubling, but, not for the reasons he believes.


Every cut in military spending to McKeon is traumatic and there is now a private consulation committee called "Defending Defense," which is a collaboration of members from The Heritage Foundation and the Foreign Policy Institute.  McKeon calls them Think Tanks, but, they political action committees by a different name.  


McKeon illustrates the dire nature of the USA military and its still needed readiness reminiscent about WWII, only instead of projecting Hilter into the mix it is China that is now the great demon of the free world as their military rolls out into the Yellow Sea.  He uses complaints by Vietnam about China's presence in the Yellow Sea as a reason to be more than worried about the disrepair of our Navy.  


Vietnam?  I don't think so.


He goes on to say that every USA Naval Vessel has a major structural failure while we ask them to do their duties.  ? Major Structural Failures."  Hm.


He states the USA needs 400 new ships in order to be safe.  That sincerely defines a new meaning to safe, but, hey it would put people back to work IF these vessels are made in the USA.  I sincerely doubt the USA needs 400 new ships, our coasts are not that long.


The way McKeon speaks one has to believe we nearly have no defense department at all.  I thought the 'truest' enemy of the USA are terrorist networks.  To listen to McKeon it sounds as though the USA pursuit for terrorists that may attack the USA has caused other nations an alarming race to equate the power and might of the USA military in joint, or in the case of China singular, ventures to defeat it.  In other words, the USA is on its own no matter where it goes and what it does.  Why is it the truth is that any daunting power of the USA is a sincere, overwhelming threat to any other nation and only increases the 'race to war' instead of detering it?  In other words, the USA military is about as dysfunctional as a family intoxicated.  It fuels its own need to be massive.  The DOD obviously has no regard for the State Department as the next Hitler is around the next corner.  When is this hysteria going to end so we can openly and WILLINGLY pursue peace with an end to militarization and conflict.


When people such as McKeon and Kyl talk about China as the USA's next greatest enemy, what do they believe China will do in return?  Ask for a Pre-emptive Cease Fire?  No, they'll continue to arm themselves to match or exceed USA military strength.  It is a hideous notion that needs to be put to bed for the out right danger it causes to the USA and its people.  


He also throws around the concept of nuclear threats from other countries as though it is a burgeoning reality.  Why is it these men can't see the forest for the trees already?  McKeon believes in detering threat to the USA, but, he uses the word as a method of 'responding' and not simply an understanding detering exists when peace is a high priority.  It is nonsense.  Not that the USA should ever be without a ready military, but, this is crazy. 


A half a billion cut to the Defense Department and he is ready to rip the guts out of SSI, Medicare and Medicaid.  Hold on there, I don't think so.  Senator Kyl states he will resign if there are going to be more cuts to the military because of the Super-committee.  If Kyl is going to have an attitude then he should resign now and not simply be an obstructionist to allow the default time come and go and cry the entire time.


McKeon believes his best allies are 13 Freshman committee members of the Armed Services Committee that refuse to see the military sustain cuts.  Sustain cuts, there can't be anything else.  There certainly won't be any more spending.  


The current methods of assessing the readiness of the USA military has to be replaced with an effect and affordable method and to that end the Democratic Senators, Representatives, Secretary of Defense and President Obama need to formulate a clear path to a modernized and effective military with realistic threat assessments and emphasis on peace and domestic development both in the USA and abroad.  The more militarized the USA becomes the more other global powers become while Europe stands down as a minor entity of NATO.  No.  No.  Not any more.  The real problem is that Democrats lack a clear vision of the USA military as an effective power and not a dominating power.  The "Powell Doctrine" has no place in the world of the future.  The enemy no longer is a sovereign power, but, 'the individual' that pledges to a far different border than we can recognize.  


McKeon goes on and on about how the USA military is in very poor condition.  Really?  Well, then the EXCELLENT management of it has fallen far short of being effective or realistic.  The USA military never says, "No, we can't do that."  It always says "Yes, but, it will need added funding."  I believe it was the current Secretary of Veterens Affairs that had the guts to speak the truth to the Bush/Cheney War for Oil machine.  More of that needs to occur while the USA begins to measure the fact that a 'floating vessel' is not necessarily prepared to be deployed.


The USA military, by the very words spoken by Rep. McKeon, has been over extended and has allowed the readiness of the branches of the armed services to be used and abused for political gains rather than serving the best interest of the country.  Today.  Not tomorrow.  Not 2013, but, TODAY, the USA military is in such disrepair it is not as ready as it should be or could be.  Over extending the reach of our armed forces has caused them to push the limits of their own assets, both human and machine, to what seems the breaking point.  It is time to reel them in and bring them back to a reality that the USA can afford.  I don't find any of his words laughable, but, more sad than not. 


Enough already.  We are not itching for WWIII no matter how much people as McKeon and his faux talk of peace are.

Rep. Buck McKeon (R-CA) Remarks on the U.S. Military Since 9/11 Attacks (click title to entry - thank you)

WASHINGTON, DC 
Monday, September 12, 2011

House Armed Services Committee Chairman Buck McKeon (R-CA) discussed the experience of the U.S. military since the September 11 attacks.  Rep. McKeon also examined the current state of America’s armed forces and the challenges and threats they face in the years ahead.

Thomas Donnelly, the director of American Enterprise Institute’s Center for Defense Studies moderates this event.

Updated: Monday, September 12, 2011 at 11:30am (ET)