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Friday, August 31, 2007
skippy's friday nite music club
bad english - when i see you smile
Labels: skippy's music club
licking the boot that kicks them...
...if you are a member of congress who has taken an oath to protect the constitution, you better allow yourself to be voted out of office before you violate your oath. being afraid of a fascist 30-second attack ad is no excuse.
the blue dogs are forcing real democrats, real americans, to take them out. if you can't stand up for our rights against a president as stupid and unpopular as george w. bush, then you are not worthy to represent us, to lead us, or to even be spoken to in a respectful tone of voice.
booman has said before that democratic primaries are the most promising way to take the bush dogs down. i am in complete agreement, but i've been loathe to profile any of these jackasses thus far. simple reason -- politicians in general make me sick. this holds from awol on down, regardless of party affiliation, but i have grown even more disgusted with the dems than the republicans. not that i'm turning rightward -- most republican politicians are trash, so i expect them to act accordingly, and they almost always do. the dems are not trash (well, maybe holy joe is), so i expect better from them. however, they seem content to make their mark by holding hands with their republican trash counterparts and singing "whistle while you work" as they give awol just about everything he really really wants.
what the f&#k is that? do they want left-leaning yet independent voters like me to pick third-party candidates? because listen up, folks, if the dem primary strategy don't work, then voting for someone who doesn't have a snowball's chance in hell of winning out of spite is the only other tactic available to me -- and i will employ it if i think i have no choice, screw the charlie browns who will wail about me throwing elections to the republicans. and before anyone screams in my ear over this...
i plan to march for impeachment in d.c. on september 15. this will be my third march in d.c. this year. the first two didn't accomplish anything. this one better damn well accomplish something, or i am done with the democrats permanently. i don't mind that they jerk off all the time -- washington's atmosphere engenders that. but what's the point in jerking off if you can't get results?
Labels: corruption, democrats, politics
down the penrose lane
leona helmsly fails to leave $12 million to skippy
trouble, a former helmsley advertising star and a dog with a track record of biting members of staff, came out significantly better than nearly all of mrs helmsley's family in the will. two of the so-called queen of mean's grand-children received nothing.
mrs helmsley, who died this month aged 87 at her home in connecticut, also stipulated that trouble should eventually be buried beside her in the helmsley mausoleum.
alvin rosenthal, her brother, was also left millions - on condition that he cares for trouble in mrs helmsley's absence.
Labels: animals, capitalism, passings
fool me once…shame on…shame on…you? a fool me won't get fooled again!
some people ask why we need to save our constitutional rights and our form of democracy. my response to that is to tell them to wake up, quickly. we live in a nation without laws for the vast majority of citizens. lawmaking is now for the benefit of the largest corporate and private interests. new laws use federal authority to preserve great wealth through the use of political power. just look at the department of justice. there's not much room for the rest of us in the system. the vital democratic assumption that a majority or plurality of voters will prevail in any election is defunct.
what do you mean by that?
i have a saying, "we pretend to vote; they pretend to get elected." how can you say that we really know who the "winners" and "losers" are of any given election when we see restrictive registration laws, voter suppression, and election fraud on a regular basis? a year ago, zogby polls showed that 40% to 55% of registered voters doubted the results of the 2004 presidential election. then there are the folks who consistently don't vote. those elected face a crisis since the legitimacy of their elections and subsequent actions are challenged by a large segment of the public that doubts the process. this crisis of legitimacy is one of the many that they continue to ignore.
that comment about "winners" and "losers" is pretty serious.
it is. here are a few more. is the current occupant of the white house the elected leader or a squatter? just read urban legend and the follow-up series. the answer is obvious. is there corruption in the election process? the recent discovery that ballots in 56 of 88 ohio counties were destroyed should satisfy even the democratic national committee that election fraud was involved on a massive scale. the law was very clear about saving ballots for a certain period. time's not up and they're gone. that's called – election fraud.
Labels: voting integrity
there may be no crying in baseball, but there is accessorizing
then, the unthinkable happened:
"i'm sure he was instructed," said francona. "the timing was incredible. unless this guy can put on a bunt play or something, he's got to stay ... out of the dugout. i've never seen anything like this before in my life. in the middle of the game, you have the fashion police. this is incredible. he made me show it. i was sort of in a hurry, because i thought jeter was going to steal third. i was trying to go do my job."
but the yankees swept the sox in their series, bringing them within 5 games of boston for the al east leader.
which makes the untimely interruption of the sox's manager by the bully-boy security agent seem more like a gop friday news dump rather than a minor mistake. is karl rove in charge of yankee stadium these days?
Labels: sports
house keeping
we highly recommend you take a moment to visit both sites.
Labels: amnesty day, blogtopia, say hello
Thursday, August 30, 2007
puts a new meaning to "space probe"
Ask A Scientist
Originally uploaded by santa barbarian
jet propulsion laboratory scientists and engineers sued nasa and the california institute of technology on thursday, challenging extensive new background checks that the space exploration center and other federal agencies began requiring in the wake of the sept. 11 terror attacks.griffin should mention that to this administration.
the lawsuit says nasa is violating the constitution by calling on employees -- everyone from janitors to visiting professors -- to permit investigators to delve into medical, financial and past employment records, and to question friends and acquaintances about everything from their finances to sex lives. those who refuse could lose their jobs, the suit says.
...caltech was sued because it manages jpl for nasa and employs its staff. the suit also named the department of commerce, which is involved in promulgating federal identification standards.
...in june, jpl workers who consider the background checks unnecessary and intrusive aired their complaints before nasa administrator michael griffin.
griffin said that it was a "privilege to work within the federal system, not a right" and that he would carry out the order unless it was overturned in court, according to a video of the meeting obtained by the associated press.
..attorney dan stormer said the employees were being forced to "voluntarily" sign forms opening up every detail of their personal lives to federal scrutiny for two years whether or not they keep their jobs. - ap
Labels: homeland security, jpl, nasa
we're cookin'
california's electricity grid managers warned that power is expected to be cut off today to large energy consumers as demand soars during the continuing heat wave.
...the california independent system operator, which oversees the power grid in most of the state, plans to declare a minor power emergency at 2 p.m. under a so-called stage 1 emergency, people are urged to conserve by turning off lights and avoid using nonessential appliances. - sfgate
Labels: california, eletricity, energy
skippy's thursday nite music club
bonnie tyler - it's a heartache
Labels: skippy's music club
bubbles blow
dave johnson of seeing the forest has a couple of interesting notes on the broken housing bubble (he is posting daily on this problem).
firstly, he warns that the adjustable rate mortgage woes are just beginning:
how many more mortgages reset next year than this year? go look at the chart of upcoming arm resets: calculated risk: arm reset charts. this is huge. we have only seen the smallest beginning of the problem. this is going to be really, really big next year. a really bad problem…
update - bonddad shows the same graph with some explanation, in this post.
it's the largest decline ever in the 20-year history of the case-shiller home price index.
a year ago, home prices were rising at a 7.5% pace nationally.
... meanwhile, prices fell 3.5% in the past year in 20 major cities and 4.1% in 10 major cities.
Labels: economy, housing bubble
caucus? he doesn't even know us!
with the field limited to the top four candidates, edwards's lead over clinton widens, to 32% to 24%. obama was at 22%, with bill richardson at 13%. iowa polls can be unreliable, since only 5% to 10% of voters go to the caucuses; some other recent surveys have edwards in a dead heat with clinton and obama. the race remains wide open, but edwards's position remains strong.
for edwards, the poll has some less welcome news as well. so far, at least, his attempts to portray himself as the real change agent in the race — the one who wants to slam the door on lobbyists and other "washington insiders" — isn't paying off. obama beats him by 35% to 25% on the question of who "will take on special interests in washington." (clinton trailed with 19%.) iowa democrats seem to like edwards more for who he is than for what he says; they call him the "most likable" and the one who best understands their concerns, but his toss-out-the-insiders message hasn't stuck.
* likeability: edwards (32%) and obama (30%) lead as "most likeable." clinton finishes last, at 12%, just below bill richardson (16%).
ok, we made that last part up.
Labels: democrats, edwards, prez campaign
the passion of the skippi
only in america sends us this happy update from der spiegel online:
the wallaby escaped by slipping under a gate at the wildlife park in the german state of baden-württemberg. while on the lam, reports of skippi sightings led to a cult-like following in the press...
on aug. 22, skippi leapt back onto front pages when police found the "flattened" remains of a rednecked-wallaby on a highway near memmingen, the victim of a truck accident.
time would prove leichtle's faith well-founded. two days later, a kangaroo-like animal was suspected as the cause of another traffic accident. when leichtle came to the scene of the accident, she recognized the animal as skippi. when she tried to capture it, though, it bounced away back into freedom.
on monday morning, leichtle received a call from a person in leutkirch, near ravensburg, who claimed that skippi was hopping around in a nearby cornfield. leichtle came to the field and, this time, skippi didn't get away.
Labels: animals
will adam sandler play the undercover cop?
and on the same humor front, mad kane gives us her rhymes about the subject.
Wednesday, August 29, 2007
skippy's wednesday nite music club
marc anthony - celos
Labels: skippy's music club
ads entertainment
the group planned to broadcast television and radio ads, which will air in 60 congressional districts, to coincide with the run-up to the release of a report from gen. david petraeus that will evaluate progress in iraq. but, it appears that not every network is willing to run the spots.
just today, john hinderaker of the conservative power line blog, noted that the group "placed its ads on fox and cnn, but cnbc and msnbc have refused to run" them. bradley a. blakeman, the president of freedom's watch, send a letter to nbc asking for an explanation.
"your history of airing other issue advocacy advertisements makes the denial of fw advertisements troubling and raises the issue of whether your denial is based on an editorial disagreement with fw's message," mr. blakeman wrote in the letter to the network. "these ads are about important issues that will shape our national security policies for years to come. these ads present a point of view that your viewers are not now receiving."
Labels: conservatives, conspiracy theories, multi-millionaire media, right hypocrisy
we are tired of those kids on saturday nite live tricking us into believing it's really dick cheney making those funny faces
how did msnbc explain it?
by running a correction saying the quoted sharpton site was a "hoax."
wrong. newsgroper is a supremely delicious parody site that anyone except someone who believes in the easter bunny will conclude is a parody — perfectly done. it's sort of like a fake huffington post.
but rather than admit "we put that on the site without really checking the website source as a whole — sorry!" or "we made a mistake in not looking at the post a bit more carefully but mistakes do happen!" msnbc's website writer called it "hoax" which implies newsgroper set up to trick people.
newsgroper is set up to trick people as much as mad magazine is set up to trick people. its a treasure chest of parody that anyone who takes the time to look at will realize is just that…
of course, both the moderate voice and skippy have been the recipients of good fortune when msnbc have been fooled before. devoted readers of this space may remember years ago when msnbc was tricked into using joe gandelman as an on-air expert for blogs during the ron and monica travelling conundrum show. and during that same show, joe correctly used the phrase "blogtopia."
those msnbc guys will swallow anything!
Labels: moderate voice, multi-millionaire media
down the pentrose lane
two years ago today
as with all things katrina, the gang at first draft are doing the best job of covering the still-continuing tragedy of this horrible event. too many good posts to link to one specifically; go by and see what scout prime, holden, athenae and their compatriots have to say about america's biggest self-made disaster.
Labels: katrina, new orleans
we agree with digby
Labels: civil liberties, conservatives, constitution, right hypocrisy
madam foot's stuck under your dam stall
Labels: gay/lesbian, gop, right hypocrisy, scandals, senate
6 feet of water in the streets of evangeline
david brinkley "reckless abandonment"
...the answer to new orleans's levee woes is painfully obvious: money and willpower. common sense dictates that the endangered areas -- if repopulated (and that is a big if) -- demand levees that can sustain category 5 storms. it's a national obligation. entire blocks are moldering away while the federal government lifts only a cursory hand to reverse the desultory trend.
unfortunately, one of the biggest misperceptions the american public harbors is that katrina was a week-long catastrophe. in truth, it's better to view it as an era. remember, the dust bowl of the 1930s lasted eight or nine years. we're still in the middle of the katrina saga. - washington post
stop by some fellow bloggers in the gulf region. tell them we remember..
blogging new orleans
gentilly girl
metroblogging new orleans
moldy city
daily kingfish
the chicory
wet bank guide
thanks, katrina
cliff's crib
the mosquito coast
The g-b***h spot
ernie the attorney
gulf sails
yat pundit
gumbo pages
your right hand thief
listen to a little george winston - gulf coast blues and impressions
we are all new orleaneans today.
Labels: gulf coast, katrina, new orleans
a classic from the skippy vault
what we will do, however, is report that new west network is reporting that mike rogers (wasn't he on m*a*s*h?) from blogactive is reporting that anti-homosexual activist publican senator from idaho larry craig (wasn't he on m*a*s*h) is himself a closeted homosexual:
senator craig's office flatly rejected the claims. "the senator says this story is absolutely ridiculous – almost laughable," said press secretary sid smith. "it has no basis in fact."
Labels: gay/lesbian, gop, right hypocrisy, senate
Tuesday, August 28, 2007
skippy's tuesday nite music club
the righteous brothers - unchained melody
and because there wasn't much of bill medley in that last one, here's
righteous brothers - (you've lost that) lovin' feeling
Labels: skippy's music club
2 years ago tomorrow
it's been two years since hurricane katrina devastated the gulf coast region, and still there are tens of thousands of families without homes. 30,000 families are scattered across the country in fema apartments, 13,000 are in trailers, and hardly any of the 77,000 rental units destroyed in new orleans have been rebuilt. support the gulf coast recovery bill of 2007 by signing the petition at whenthesaints.org
also watch greg palast's "big easy to big empty"
Labels: katrina, new orleans
happy second anniversary katrina disaster!
she has arranged two different youtube videos side by side and urges us to play them simultaneously. they are both of the same area of tennessee avenue just blocks over from where the levee broke.
Labels: katrina
please hang up and try again
president bush promised to "do what it takes" and "stay as long as it takes" to help the people of new orleans and the gulf coast to rebuild. read our latest report, which not only documents how bush failed to live up to that promise but underscores why his conservative ideology cannot meet the challenge of creating a more prosperous and equitable community out of the rubble.
Labels: action alert, infrastructure, katrina, new orleans
quote of the day
craig said monday his actions were misconstrued by police and that he should not have
pleaded guilty to the charges.
"at the time of this incident, i complained to the police that they were misconstruing my actions," craig said in a release. "i was not involved in any inappropriate conduct. i should have had the advice of counsel in resolving this matter. in hindsight, i should not have pled guilty. i was trying to handle this matter myself quickly and expeditiously."
craig agreed today to resign as the u.s. senate co-chairman of mitt romney's presidential campaign. craig served as co-chair with robert bennett of utah. "he did not want to be a distraction and we accept his decision," said romney's communications director, matt rhoades.
Labels: gop, right hypocrisy, romney
madam foot's stuck in the dam door
Monday, August 27, 2007
one person we need to thank
thanks, josh! keep up the great muckrackin'.
Labels: attorneygate, blogtopia
skippy's monday nite music club
justin timberlake - what goes around - live!
Labels: skippy's music club
keith olbermann is smarter than a fifth grader
countdown finished fourth in the 18-49 and 25-54 demos.
in a post last night , i asked how olbermann's nbc show played in the plains. aaron barnhart of that plain-worthy state, missouri wrote about it in his blog tvbarn.com.
Labels: multi-millionaire media, olbermann, punditry
rip our cousin skippi the escaped kangaroo
skippi's body was found on a road about 25 miles from the farm he fled in early august, said a spokesman for police in the southern town of krumbach.
'i don't think it was a deliberate suicide,' the spokesman said, giving us the benefit of his scalpel-sharp forensic insight into kangaroo behaviour. 'he was just hopping about.'
tbd syndrome strikes again!
this is a sad day in blogtopia, and yes, we coined that phrase! but at this rate, soon blogtopia will only be us and mad kane!
[ed. note: on a personal level, we'd like to express our deep appreciation for what max has done for blogging in the past 5 years. max was one of the first blogs to link to this humble space, and has been relentless in his pursuit of explaining complicated economic concerns to dummies like us in easy-to-understand layman's terms. we wish max good luck in his future concerns, and also to the continuation of maxspeak! which will undergo some changes, both in personnel and format.
take care, max!]
Labels: blogtopia, ted barlow disease
oprah bumps bride for obama?
oprah wants her guests for her barack obama fundraiser to stay at a tony resort, and may have used her muscles on a wedding party to get the rooms she needed, reports tmz.
according to page six oprah wanted out-of-towners for the big september 8th benefit to stay at the san ysidro ranch, but it was already booked for a wedding. "oprah's people have been calling the bride to either move or vacate some of the rooms to accommodate her guest list," says a post source. "the bride, an attorney, is not budging." - post chronicle and nypost
guess someone isn't going to be an "obama girl." and geez...her 23,000 square foot house isn't enough room for folks?
Labels: fundraiser, obama, oprah
go go gonzo
Alberto Gonzales
Originally uploaded by Daquella manera
attorney general alberto r. gonzales, whose tenure has been marred by controversy and accusations of perjury before congress, has resigned. a senior administration official said he would announce the decision later this morning in washington. - nytimesnow...the question remains...will he recall doing so.
Labels: gonzales
equal and opposite reaction
the nfl suspended him indefinitely and without pay friday after his plea agreement was filed. merely associating with gamblers can trigger a lifetime ban under the league's personal conduct policy.association with gamblers can trigger a lifetime ban, so i guess that thoughtlessly (or worse, with forethought) exploiting, hurting and killing creatures unable to even tell someone they're being abused should get that going, too.
it's so much easier to get up in the morning when you expect someone to be punished for what they've done, and then they actually are punished.
Sunday, August 26, 2007
environmental stories sunday
troubled waters at camp lejeune. from 1957 to 1987, civilians, marines and residents drank, cooked with, bathed in and swam in water contaminated by industrial solvents at camp lejeune, a marine corps base in jacksonville. - wilmington star-news
leo's zeal shines on documentary. is it earth's "11th hour?" film draws a generation of actors, activists.- denver post
bluefin tuna numbers dwindling. giant bluefin tuna fisheries in the gulf of maine are in danger of collapse, with the number of fish declining markedly in recent years, according to university of new hampshire researchers. - manchester union leader
fema orders limits on development in flood-plains. the federal emergency management agency -- alarmed by the rising cost of federally subsidized flood insurance -- is directing towns to strictly limit development in what it deems "flood hazard" areas. - bergen county record,
Labels: climate change, ecology, environment
has maru gone....
go check out the new "look"
Labels: blogtopia
skippy's sunday nite music club
elizabeth mitchell and lisa loeb - catch the moon
this is a very sweet song for a sunday nite...
Labels: skippy's music club
warren peace
to avoid spending as much time with in-laws as possible, skippy decided to hold a bloggers lunch with the new jersey branch of skippy internationsl.
attending was, of course, dbk (the blogger formerly known as gd frogsdong) the one true tami, and the lovely tata of poor impulse control.
skippy & the gang had a lovely table at willie's tavern in bedminster, nj (take a look at the third picture down on the virtual tour of willie's on their website [ed.note: or look at the pic below]...yes, the room with the wallpaper...that was the bloggers' room...and after an hour of raucous laughter and dick jokes, it was literally their room exclusively, since they drove out the nice waspy family with the kids, and everyone else).
luckily very little was said about politics or blogging...it was mostly a "can you top this" rapid-fire joke fest, with a little bit of getting to know each other thrown in (tho both dbk and tata had attending last year's bloggers' breakfast at carnegie's deli when the skippy's came to new york).
tho skippy tried to avoid in-laws by spending several hours at willie's, it turned out no in-laws came around, and poor mrs. skippy spent the afternoon by herself in warren. not as bad as it sounds, but still...no walk in the park.
dbk reports on what everyone ate here. for the record, skippy's angus burger was pretty darn good.
Labels: blogtopia
it's not mr. blossom making these questionable calls
...but the survey didn't end there. as eness-potter's patience continued to wane, the caller started into the negative questions about clinton's opponents. although he cut the caller off fairly quickly after he saw where the caller was headed, he recalled two questions -- one about sen. barack obama and the other about former sen. john edwards -- that were particularly memorable.
on sen. obama, the caller's question had to do with the war: paraphrased, it was "sen. obama boasts of his consistent opposition to the war, but he has contradicted himself by voting for appropriation bills to fund it. does this make you approve of sen. obama more or less?"
and on edwards, the subject was, predictably, about his $400 haircut a month or so ago.
it was roughly at that point in the call that eness-potter excused himself and hung up –- after the caller admitted to him that the survey was commissioned by the clinton campaign.
... a similar message poll that went out to voters in new hampshire has been documented on other blogs. alex forshaw, for instance, was able to trace the firm conducting the survey, which identified itself as "psa interviewing," to mark penn, a top advisor to sen. clinton and a previous advisor to former president bill clinton. when asked if the call eness-potter received was attributed by the caller to "psa interviewing," eness-potter said "that sounds right."- iowa independent
florida can't and doesn't count
the dnc's rules and bylaws committee, which enforces party rules, voted yesterday morning to strip florida of all its delegates to the 2008 democratic national convention in denver -- the harshest penalty at its disposal…
by making an object lesson of florida, democrats hope to squelch other states' efforts to move their voting earlier, which have created chaos in the primary structure that the national party has established. but the decision to sanction such a pivotal, vote-rich state has risks.
considering how clearly and easily the vote count went in florida the last two elections, it should come as no surprise that the national dems don't want florida's results to lead so early in the primary process.
in related news, georgia has decided to move its primary up to tomorrow, and missouri has elected to go back in time and have its primary last fourth of july.
Labels: democrats, prez campaign
Saturday, August 25, 2007
skippy's saturday nite music club
lambert, hendricks and ross - twisted
this jazz trio has been described as both the "precursor to the manhatten transer" and "the james joyce of jazz trios." we like to think that the latter description is the more apt.
Labels: skippy's music club
the iphone, available since late june, is supposed to work only with at&t, which has a five-year exclusive contract. but limiting the touchscreen phone to a single carrier immediately was seen by many tech-savvy tinkerers as an invitation to assert their control over the device…
so it's no surprise that 17-year-old george hotz's accomplishment in making his iphone run on t-mobile's network joins a host of claims by other hackers manipulating the apple device…
to do what hotz accomplished takes plenty of skill -- and time. hotz said he spent 500 hours on the project...
according to interviews, hotz said he used soldering tools and software to hack the iphone. he said the two iphones he hacked, one of which he's put up for bid on ebay, have all their features intact except the visual voice-mail function.
hotz's sudden popularity was noticed by major television networks friday. he was picked up by a limousine for a trip to new york city for an interview with nbc, abc and other broadcasters, his father said.
Labels: technology
we don't believe it
Labels: gay/lesbian, rove, snark
ted barlow disease strikes again!
his is a loss to blogtopia, and yes, we coined that phrase! where else will we get the saturday morning cartoons?
Labels: blogtopia, ted barlow disease
oura culpa
by our good friend diane, who are both one and the same.
we apologize for the error.
Labels: blogtopia
aWol to finally show up in n'awlins
bush will fly into new orleans on tuesday after giving a speech about the iraq war to the american legion convention in reno, nev. on wednesday, the anniversary of the storm, he is expected to examine recovery efforts in new orleans and the mississippi gulf coast.
Labels: aWol, katrina, new orleans
monkeys in africa communicate with humans...with their middle fingers...
"when we come to chase the monkeys away, we are dressed in trousers and hats, so that we look like men," said nachu resident lucy njeri. "but the monkeys can tell the difference and they don't run away from us and point at our breasts. they just ignore us and continue to steal the crops."
further, the monkeys also make sexually explicit gestures at the women, according to the residents.
"the monkeys grab their breasts, and gesture at us while pointing at their private parts. we are afraid that they will sexually harass us," said njeri.
while it was not unusual for the monkeys to harass the women and be less afraid of them than they are of the men, according to the kenyan wildlife service, the service had never before heard of monkeys making sexually explicit gestures as a form of communication to humans. despite their new problems with the monkeys, it is a criminal offence to harm or kill any of them, so the besieged villagers must figure out a way to outwit the monkeys instead.
unfortunately, the monkeys have even been killing the residents' livestock and dogs, evading traps and avoiding poisoned food...
generalissimo fidel castro is still not dead
jesus marzo fernandez, ex-high ranking cuban official, was on the set of the show and stated that he has been in contact with several cuban officials and they confirmed that there is no unusual movement of cuban military forces. they showed a clip from tonight's cuban tv mesa redonda program which was showing regular programming (with none other than miami resident and castro agent max lesnik in the audience!).
marzo did say something interesting, that today's rumors did not come from havana, but from someone much closer to the exile community, likely in miami, and that havana is just fine with the rumors since they make the exile community look foolish.
Labels: blogtopia, foreign policy
thanks for not smoking...pot
cultivation of hemp is currently illegal under us federal law thanks to the lobbying of the aforementioned groups. the california narcotic officers' association has testified that the passage of such a bill would only make law enforcement more difficult because farmers might hide illegal marijuana in their legal hemp fields. i could be wrong, but it seems like this association is either admitting that they're too incompetent to do their jobs correctly, or they're making the case for the legalization of marijuana so that they're not forced to make the distinction. either way, i say let the layoffs begin.
Labels: corporations, drug war, right hypocrisy
and now, i bust my little sister's chops...
however, i'm positive that whoever sent it to her is deeply religious -- not to mention very gullible. here's some of the e-mail:
if you knew a woman who was pregnant, who had 8 kids already, three who were deaf, two who were blind, one mentally retarded, and she had syphilis, would you recommend that she have an abortion?
i most certainly would. i would also recommend she move into a room with rubber walls and start wearing coats with no sleeves -- that woman is crazy.
here's the e-mail's answer to my own:
if you said YES, you just killed beethoven.
oh, yeah? first of all...
Labels: religion
Friday, August 24, 2007
when insider democrats
i was listening to bill press, who was subbing for ed schultz, today on the radio.
he was literally bragging about going out to eat at a fancy restaurant in san francisco and rubbing elbows with george schultz (r) and his wife, charlotte, the political party thrower of the state.
then they were joined by hizhonor, gavin newsom, and mrs. schultz commented that the mayor would have to change ties, because he was giving a tribute to barry bonds later and the mayor needed an orange one to match the baseball franchise colors.
"no one has an orange tie" the mayor apparently said.
then these high paid, well connected insider pols see the waiter and notice his tie. it was orange.
they then took his tie.
bill press was relaying this story like it was oh, so funny and look how insider it is.
i want to know if they paid the poor waiter for his tie and if they gave him an amazing tip for basically humiliating him by taking his clothing.
i was appalled.
Labels: democrats
happy 3rd blogiversary *
to our very own talented dbk and the fine folks at blanton's and ashton's
and, yes, mr. froggy...there will be cake.
Labels: blogiversary
breaking! blog spreads rumors that castro is dead!
first, south florida law enforcement is on alert. an eoc (emergency operations center) has been set-up and manned somewhere in homestead.
im also told local and state government agencies have food, bottled water, and other necessities - valued in the millions - stored and/or staged in homestead at or near the eoc.
i am presently verifying whether coast guard and dhs and border patrol agencies are on high alert. (verified 01445)
local news stations are abuzz, mostly on reports very much like the above, with massive law enforcemnt mobilizations throughout dade county.
local emergency medical services notified to be on alert by law enforcement agencies.
im told - and still awaiting confirmation - that buses in havana have been recalled to terminals and that cuban workers have been sent home. (still unconfirmed 1500)
again, i am loathe to publish the title as i did in this post, but i would be remiss in not telling you all what i know, right now. all of my sources are good but the cuban government, as we all know, is masterful at controlling media and information and we should not rule out that this and last friday's "news" have been and are feelers to see what the reactions are here, as well as who reacts within the island. if we've been duped we've been duped. if not, then bust out the champagne.
once again, these may all be rumor to discredit us and other media sources. all we can do is exactly what we've been doing for quite some time now: wait and see.
more from killcastro, with sources from within cuba.
Labels: blogtopia, foreign policy
say hello
Labels: say hello
skippy's friday nite music club
bruce springsteen - jersey girl - live
Labels: skippy's music club
josh gets email
soooo tired of bloggers jumping on the bash clinton bandwagon.
a loser...?
if you'd stop for a moment, you would be exposed to the reality that clinton is dominating the debates, dominating the polls. on the ground here in california, she has in place a growing organization that i guarantee you will crush any opposition - democratic primary, or general election against the repugs.
it's time the blogosphere, and people like you, began to clean up your act. stop acting so reactively. and perhaps realize that your unique hits aren't necessarily a measure of your credibility. - mail from josh's mailbag
well..you can tell the author of the email doesn't know what he/she is talking about. they don't use the more appropriate term blogtopia! (ysctp).
liz taylor's 7th husband
sen. john warner's suggestion that some troops leave iraq by the end of the year has roiled the white house, with administration officials saying they've asked the influential republican to clarify that he has not broken politically with president bush.
but warner said friday that he stands by his remarks and that he did not object to how his views have been characterized. - ap
Labels: iraq war, republicans
the governator hates some veterans
gov. arnold schwarzenegger is expected to line out $55 million for services to homeless adults with serious mental illnesses when he signs the new state budget today. - sfgatewonder how he's going to break it to his priest at his church that he's not being very "christlike" with this action.
Labels: governator, homeless, veterans
hoppy kangaroo blogging friday
Labels: kangaroo blogging friday
a cast of one...for many
(wonder what sort of money would be raised if mr. colbert broke a leg.)
Labels: colbert, ebay, fundraiser
something smells in baghdad
...the municipal water system, which had been neglected under saddam hussein, has failed to significantly improve since the u.s. invasion in march 2003. broken water and sewage lines allow contents to intermingle.
...quraish alkasi, president of the society for iraqi surgeons, says baghdad's public water supply is a health hazard. people who drink it, especially children, have reported diarrhea, bacterial infections and renal problems associated with water that is too high in salt, alkasi says.
residents should treat tap water at home or drink bottled water, he says.
hashim hassan, deputy general director of the baghdad municipal water center, says the capital's water filtration system draws from the tigris river and was good 15 years ago but is now old and weak.
the city needs 925 million gallons of water daily, but the treatment plant can pump only 687 million gallons, hassan says. - ustoady
how many morons does it take to screw up a quagmire?
canadian police on undercover provacateurs: we admit it, eh?
the quebec police force now admits that the three trouble-makers were policemen. cbc news:
however, the police force denied allegations its undercover officers were there on monday to provoke the crowd and instigate violence.
"at no time did the police of the sûreté du québec act as instigators or commit criminal acts," the police force said in french in a news release. "it is not in the police force's policies, nor in its strategies, to act in that manner.
as always, we go to our three canadian blog buddies to bring home the canadian bacon on stories north of the border.
liberal catnip has a video of cbc's news story of the surete's admission;
the galloping beaver links to the same story we do, but we like to give them a shout out anyway;
and the reaction doesn't even cover the story, but they are talking about the california electoral college deciding whether or not to split the vote in the presidential election, so, go check them out, because it's also a good blog (and to be fair, it's only the editor and founder of the reaction, michael j.w. stickings, who is canadian...our good buddy creature from state of the day is associate editor, and as american as we are).
addendum: dawg's blawg has some great still shots of the provacateurs unmasked (captured from the youtube vid). plus a comprehensive list of blogs talking about this story.
Labels: canada, free speech, protest, surveillance
Thursday, August 23, 2007
who thinks we ought to bring the troops home by christmas?
he has recommended bush announce the beginning of a u.s. withdrawal in mid-september, after a report is released from the top u.s. officials in iraq, and that those troops should be back in the united states by christmas.
"in my humble judgment, that would get everyone's attention -- the attention that is not being paid at this time," warner said.
he added: "i really, firmly believe the iraqi government, under the leadership of prime minister [nuri] al-maliki, let our troops down."
yes 51%
no 39%
undecided 10%
perhaps this partly explains why the most visible pro-war repubican -- john mccain -- is in fourth place in the state. the poll finds that mitt romney is leading the gop pack with 31%, with fred thompson in second (15%), rudy giuliani in third (13%) and mccain with a paltry eight percent.
netroots - 1, fox noise - 0
a new date had not yet been set, fox news spokesman michael murphy said thursday.
the campaigns of u.s. sens. hillary rodham clinton and barack obama and former sen. john edwards had said they would not participate in the debate. opponents have criticized fox as biased against democrats.
the debate, co-sponsored by the congressional black caucus political education and leadership institute, was to have been held at the fox theatre.
institute chairman u.s. rep. bennie thompson, d-miss., said in a statement on the group's web site that the "overwhelming number of party presidential debates has created a scheduling challenge."
now what we hope doesn't happen is that the hardly-ever-right tries to spin this as discrimination against the congressional black caucus (tho in light of recent efforts to protray michael vick as the vick-tim in his trevails, we would not be surprised). after all, equal rights doesn't mean never getting called on bone-headed ideas.
Labels: blogtopia, debates, democrats, fox news, multi-millionaire media, prez campaign
dominos varmitscum
move on to stand up
go here to find an event in your area.
Labels: action alert, iraq war, protest
skippy's thursday nite music club
billie piper - because we want to
Labels: pop culture, skippy's music club, television
all the news that's fit to put into little tiny pixels that refresh at a rate of once every 1/36th of a second
we are not sure about this premise...and do not construe our presentation of this youtube video as an endorsement of this organization...
it is an interesting idea (if it works), and laura flanders of working assets is a board member (see her at about 6:18 into the vid). so if these people can indeed put together a cyber-network of world news funded on tax-deductible contributions from viewers instead of corporations and political parties, it would not be a bad thing.
check it out.
the real news
Labels: multi-millionaire media, technology
mitt out compunction
in an interview with a nevada television station on tuesday, romney said roe. v. wade should be abolished and vowed to "let states make their own decision in this regard." on aug. 6, he told abc's george stephanopoulos that he supports a human life amendment to the constitution that would protect the unborn.
"i do support the republican platform, and i do support that being part of the republican platform, and i'm pro-life," romney said in the abc interview, broadcast days before his victory among conservative iowa voters in the ames straw poll.
his former pro-choice stance on abortion as massachusettes governor is not going to help him. this page states that romney was "effective pro-choice until cloning changed his opinion."
now, cloning usually makes someone dizzy for a spell, and possibly thirsty for a week or two, but it doesn't usually change their opinions on things. and, why would someone clone mitt romney anyway? and did it change his mind on other issues, like what kind of ice cream he likes? (now he wants double chocolate chip, cuz he's cloned. see, it's a clone joke. send in the clones, there ought to be clones...)
Labels: romney, womens issues
those wacky iraqis
Labels: iraq, multi-millionaire media, violence
Wednesday, August 22, 2007
perhaps if we didn't destroy their economy
tortilla turmoil. an increase in demand for corn as a biofuel has sent prices of the staple food soaring and protesters on to the streets in mexico. - london guardian
but in light of the naacp's call today that after michael vick has paid his debt he ought to be allowed to return to football, i thought i would add my two cents. and i think the whole thing needs to be put in context.
michael vick is a football player. mitt romney and rudy giuliani are running for president. mitt romney blithely tortured his dog by tying it to the top of his car for 12 hours until it defecated down the back window under the stress, then thought of himself as a real smart feller because he grabbed a hose and washed it off. that particular incident of cruelty and callousness towards animals barely even charted with our elite media.
then there's judy giuliani, who demonstrated medical staples on dogs for fun and profit who were killed afterwards. i really just do not see that she did anything that wasn't just as bad as michael vick, with the exception that the medical industrial complex managed to buy her way into legality. it's still cruel and immoral as hell, but we really didn't hear much about that when the vultures were circling michael vick, did we? it would have been the perfect time to mention it, a wonderful correlating story, but we got…zip. nada. nothing.
why, one might ask, are two people engaged in the race for the nation's highest office not given more scrutiny on this front than a professional football player? don't get me wrong, i'm not defending michael vick's actions. and i don't know that the nfl, a company with a brand to think about, wants to be associated with animal cruelty in the future after vick has done his time. but if that's the case, shouldn't the united states of america be a bit more worried about electing a president who openly embraces similar behavior? because while rudy didn't exactly exterminate the brutes himself, i didn't hear him utter a word against it. (does anybody think he wouldn't?)
general information
so instead think progress did...
it is disappointing that so many elected representatives of my party continue to blindly support the administration rather than doing what is in the best interests of our country. traditionally, my party has maintained a conservative view on questions regarding our armed forces. for example, we commit our military only when absolutely necessary. in the same way conservatives have always argued against government excess in social programs, the lives our young men and women in uniform, our most precious resource, are not to be used on wars of choice or for nation building. the military theorist carl von clausewitz taught us that wars are to be fought only as a last resort–the extension of politics by other means.
these principles are apparently not understood by many of the republicans in our congress. besides the fact that many conservatives allowed president bush to jump head-first into a war of choice, the bullheadedness of congressional republicans who argue for staying the course runs contrary to conservative values. many politicians of my party continue to argue that we must liberally use up whatever our military has left. bottom line, the republican congress of the last six years abrogated its constitutional duty and share in the responsibility for the debacle in iraq.
Labels: iraq war, military, multi-millionaire media, supporting our troops
happy (late) blogiversary!*
yes, we're late in wishing kevin congrats, but don't worry, he forgot it was his own blogiversary last thursday.
*yes! talkleft coined that phrase!
Labels: blogiversary
stifling dissent for dummies
two protesters who were arrested in a charleston presidential event for refusing to remove their anti-awol shirts sued the government and settled for $80,000 out of court. in the process, this manual was turned up in discovery. washpost:
among other things, any event must be open only to those with tickets tightly controlled by organizers. those entering must be screened in case they are hiding secret signs. any anti-bush demonstrators who manage to get in anyway should be shouted down by "rally squads" stationed in strategic locations. and if that does not work, they should be thrown out…
the "presidential advance manual," dated october 2002 with the stamp "sensitive -- do not copy," was released under subpoena to the american civil liberties union as part of a lawsuit filed on behalf of two people arrested for refusing to cover their anti-bush t-shirts at a fourth of july speech at the west virginia state capitol in 2004. the techniques described have become familiar over the 6 1/2 years of bush's presidency, but the manual makes it clear how organized the anti-protest policy really is.
the lawsuit was filed by jeffery and nicole rank, who attended the charleston event wearing shirts with the word "bush" crossed out on the front; the back of his shirt said "regime change starts at home," while hers said "love america, hate bush." members of the white house event staff told them to cover their shirts or leave, according to the lawsuit. they refused and were arrested, handcuffed and briefly jailed before local authorities dropped the charges and apologized. the federal government settled the first amendment case last week for $80,000, but with no admission of wrongdoing.
Labels: free speech, judicial, protest, surveillance
ny repubbb accuses darrell hammond of setting him up
roger stone, who in the 1970s worked on president nixon's re-election effort and has also done work for presidents bush and reagan, denied making the call.
stone told the associated press he was ``set up.'' he said the phone number cited by bernard spitzer's lawyers is his, but the apartment is owned by a spitzer fundraiser and someone else could have gotten inside to make the call or used technology to mimic his voice and number.
republican senate majority leader joseph bruno said stone was still asked to resign and sever connections with the state senate republican campaign committee because the allegations could ``only serve as a distraction from the real issues.''
reached for comment, darrell hammond denied it was him mimicking stone. "it sounds more like rich little to me," he said. "little never could get inflection right. every voice he does sounds like nixon or sullivan."
Labels: gop, right hypocrisy, spitzer
mad about vladimir putin
skippy's wednesday nite music club
rock kills kid - paralyzed
Labels: skippy's music club
we agree with booman
so far, tim walz and jim costa have been profiled. if you have a few hours and know one of these members, grab them and do a profile on your blog or on a diary here or elsewhere. and put the link in the comments so i can update our list. there's no limit on the number of profiles per member, this is about conversation and education, so the more views the better. you can defend your member, if you think the criticism is unfair.
when we're done doing these profiles, we can begin to track these members, engage in online advertising to let their constituents know their record, and/or help local activists in their districts. this is going to be a completely open process, and as votes come up this fall, we won't hesitate to add new bush dogs or honorary bush dog titles based on political games played by leadership. i've had conversations with sources in the house who think that this wasn't the fault of the bush dogs, even though they were the ones who voted for fisa. so fine. there's more than enough wankery to go around.
already, there's a contempt vote in the house that i'm going to watch closely, and of course, there's the petraeus pr ploy. so grab a member from this list and profile him (all but two are men). and i'm sure, based on the newfound aggressiveness we're seeing among liberal advocacy groups like the aclu, that the work we do in profiling these members will be useful to other progressive groups as well.
Labels: action alert, aWol, congress


text:
A Romantic Garden Wedding at the Chesapeake Bay Beach Club in Stevensville, Maryland
Drawing inspiration from their venue's waterfront locale, Kristin Darwin and Paul Gessler filled their chic spring celebration with modern watercolor details and a palette of cool blue hues.
The Chesapeake Bay Beach Club offered a striking backdrop for the festivities. The venue's perfectly manicured garden played host to the ceremony, where Kristin and Paul exchanged vows under a lofting white arch adorned with fragrant purple wisteria. Rose petals and wooden boxes overflowing with full white blooms lined the aisle, while bouquets of bright wildflowers arranged atop vintage wire vases framed the back of the outdoor space.
The pair put a personal twist on their "I dos" with vows they'd written themselves and intimate anecdotes from close friends. Paul's college professor even officiated.
"I was really looking forward to walking down the aisle with my dad and meeting Paul at the end. Turns out, Paul's most anticipated moment was the same. And as a bonus, I didn't trip on my shoes!" Kristin says.
For the reception, the newlyweds joined their guests in the Beach Club's bay-facing ballroom. Vibrant blue linens and lush floral garlands brought the room to life, while gilded place settings and flickering candlelight exuded classic elegance. Acrylic signage and clear escort cards set against a watercolor backdrop added an element of visual intrigue to the room.
A live band took to the stage after dinner and churned out upbeat tunes that got guests on their feet and dancing. Paul even took to the stage at one point during the evening and sang "Take Me Home, Country Roads" by John Denver to Kristin—much to everyone's delight.

subset: commoncrawl


text:
Cancer Survivor
Susan Kidd stood on the edge of the Grand Canyon, about to embark on a quest so daunting it takes a moment to digest: to hike the canyon from the south rim to the north rim and back in two days. That's more than 20 miles and close to 12,000 feet of steep, narrow ascents and descents one way—only to turn around and do it all again.
The summer sun had not yet risen, and a bone-cold wind whipped across the vast crack in the earth. Although temperatures in the canyon would climb to nearly 100 degrees later that day, it was 30 degrees as Kidd set out. "I first stood at the canyon edge when I was 4 years old and my folks took me to Arizona, and I'd thought about hiking it ever since," says Kidd, a 38-year-old Navy wife and mom of three from Chesapeake, Virginia. "But something always came up—college, marriage, our first child. And then I found myself face-to-face with cancer."
Always "the chubby kid" growing up, Kidd had struggled with weight for most of her life. In late 2002, as she approached 30, she decided to take action: She started training for her first marathon, a race in Alaska that would coincide with her birthday on June 21. But that March, she found a strange lump in her throat, and after several rounds of testing (and doctor's orders to bow out of the race), Kidd was diagnosed with papillary thyroid cancer. "I felt like I was in a really bad after-school special," she says.
She had surgery to remove her thyroid gland and one of her lymph nodes. Afterward, rather than receiving chemo or radiation, Kidd ingested radioactive iodine to kill any remaining cancer cells—first, in 2003, a dose so massive that she had to be isolated from her family and friends so the radiation in her system wouldn't harm them, and then smaller amounts to test for recurrences of the cancer each year for seven years, except when she was pregnant. Through it all, exercising at the YMCA helped Kidd bounce back from her treatments and stay sane through weight fluctuations exacerbated by going on and off thyroid meds. "I want to be tired because it's my choice, not because of cancer," she says.
In September 2010, Kidd started working her way up to running long-distance again, first alternating walking with jogging, then tackling miles at a time. She finished her first half marathon in March 2011. "When you run, you look over your shoulder and see the helpless, weak or cancer-ridden body, those things in your past, and you know if you keep running they will never catch up," says Kidd, who has now lost 70 pounds from her highest weight. "I'm trying to do all those things I let self-consciousness, fear or life in general stop me from doing. The canyon is one of them."
So this June, Kidd joined a group of 20 trekkers for the fifth Grand Canyon hike organized by Project Athena, a charity in San Diego that helps women who have gone through health struggles or traumas to heal by taking on an athletic challenge they must train long and hard for. "For some women who are battling a medical condition, being alive is not enough," says Project Athena founder Robyn Benincasa, an adventure racer and firefighter who has had three hip replacements. "They want their groove back."
During that first day in the canyon, the hikers would push themselves to their limits. A nurse, a paramedic, two EMTs and a combat medic accompanied them. In the climbing temperatures, the hikers swigged electrolyte-replacement drinks hourly to stave off dehydration. One woman suffered a fall so severe that Kidd heard the crack of her leg bone; she was later flown to safety.
"I'm getting a little freaked out," a tearful Kidd told her husband, Mike, on the phone that night from her cabin at the north rim, 24 miles from where she'd started. Two hikers had opted out of Day 2. Kidd's will was strong, but her body was screaming: Her feet throbbed, and her muscles felt like jelly. "I don't think I can go one more step," she told Mike. "I am really worried about tomorrow."
Later, Mike said he never doubted her. "She has talked her way through a heck of a lot of pain. If I thought she would heed my counsel, I probably would have told her to drop out. But I knew there was nothing I was going to do that was going to shift her resolve one way or another."
Still, the idea of getting up at 4 A.M. the next day and enduring more excruciating hours of trekking was overwhelming. The strongest hikers were ready to help the most exhausted of the group carry their 15-pound packs and hook them onto towlines. But Kidd said, "I've been sick off and on all the time. It is so hard to ask for more help. I struggle with being a burden."
As the group set out on the second day, Benincasa gathered them to deliver a dose of moral support. "You don't get to our age without a few scars, which have made you the person you are," she said. "Today is going to be another fight, against fatigue, lactic acid, blisters, electrolyte depletion and even the motivation to make it to the other side. But the beauty of this battle is that it is one we have chosen and not one that has chosen us."
Kidd set off up the path. "When I get tired, it triggers memories of being sick," she said. "I have to take deep breaths and not let my thoughts run away from me."
But she was determined. The night before, Benincasa had called her an endurance athlete. Kidd clung to the label like a prize. "All I ever wanted was to be called an athlete," she said. "I was always the last one picked for kickball."
"The goal of this challenge is for people to discover how amazing they are," Benincasa said. Through applications and interviews, the group screens participants for their athletic background and attitude and prepares a training schedule for those they select. "We can facilitate the hike, but they do it," she said. "You cannot just get up off the couch and do this."
For miles, the trail was steep and barren, with no shade from even a rock or a cactus paddle. One hiker, an ultramarathoner, supported a comrade from behind with a trekking pole and fed ginger tablets to those who grew nauseated from heat.
By the time the hikers were five hours from the end, four of the original group had dropped out. "I just can't take the nausea," Kidd said, downing water to combat the heat. As the group crossed the Colorado River, Benincasa turned and hooked Kidd onto the towline. She did not protest.
Finally, the group hit the canyon's legendary rock formations. They crossed a bridge on top of the world and the earth fell away for thousands of feet on both sides. A hawk glided through the air below. Back on the trail, no one even stepped out of sight to pee anymore. They were without shame, bonded in the awesome surroundings—and exhaustion.
After the final 45 minutes of steep switchbacks, Benincasa unhooked Kidd, who ran to the trail's end. She grinned in the golden light as the others surrounded her and whooped for joy.
Back in civilization the next day, Kidd sat on a restaurant balcony overlooking the red rocks of Sedona, Arizona, stiff, sore and proud. "I feel as if I am becoming the real me," she said. "I always wanted to be an athlete, but illness got in the way."
She paused.
"I am so tired of letting dreams go, out of fear," she said. "I am afraid I am still not fit enough, still not strong enough, and that insecurity will never go away. But I'm less angry. When there are things you want to do and cancer holds you back, you feel angry. You feel cheated. Now I've had this experience, and it replenishes this tank inside me. It is not always easy to do that."
That night, Kidd danced under the stars during the group's farewell dinner. She'd already vowed to return to the canyon next June as a mentor. "I am not the same person I was when I entered the canyon that first day," she says now. "I learned to trust in other people and myself. I know I could conquer anything I set my mind to. I would love to have someone else feel as invincible as I do."
4 New Types of Cancer Screenings
Your Cancer Questions, Answered
Photo Credit: John Waller


text:
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text:
Mac mini 1.66 GHz (Early 2006) SSDs
Mac mini A1176 and A1283 SSD Upgrade Bundle
Upgrade the storage and improve boot time and read/write speed in your Mac mini A1176 and A1283 with this SSD upgrade bundle.
기기 정보
The Mac mini Core Duo 1.66 GHz was Apple's first Intel Mac mini. This mini was released in February 2006.
This Mac mini offers two RAM slots, enabling a maximum of 2 GB of RAM using two PC2-5300 1 GB RAM Chips. If your mini's RAM isn't already maxed out, adding more RAM is a cost-effective way to improve performance. Need more storage? You can install a massive and fast 500 GB 7200 RPM SATA hard drive for more headroom. If you don't have DVD-burning capability already, it's easy to add a blazing-fast 8x SuperDrive to your mini.
Select your category below or browse all compatible parts to find what you need to upgrade or fix your mini!


text:
Siemens gas turbine breaks 60% efficiency barrier
The hunt for 60%-plus thermal efficiency has ended. Results of 60.43% and 60.75% net thermal efficiency, obtained at Irsching Unit 4 power plant in the first half of May 2011, have delivered Siemens Energy's promise of highest efficiency for combined-cycle gas turbine (CCGT) power plants. Power outputs corresponding to the test runs were 550 MWe and 578 MWe, respectively. Now the era of 60%+ efficient CCGT power plants becomes a reality, bringing the benefits of energy cost savings and operational flexibility to electricity generation using a relatively clean fuel source.
A modern CCGT power plant comprises a steam turbine, generator, heat recovery steam generator, and myriad subsystems—but the gas turbine is the key element. Efficiency and performance certification of Siemens' SGT5-8000H gas turbine is the culmination of a 10-year development program, which began in 2000 with planning the 440 metric ton, 50-Hz machine. Partnering with the customer and power provider E.ON Kraftwerke, the CCGT project was implemented in two phases at E.ON's Irsching plant, which also served as the test bed for the gas turbine's design validation and performance evaluations (read more at Ref. 1, below).
At this point, completion of the Irsching 4 project is essentially a formality. "The plant went into the contractual reliability run after successfully passing performance tests and will be turned into final commercial operation in July. The official inauguration ceremony is scheduled for mid-September 2011," said Willibald Fischer, Siemens Energy's program director for 8000H turbines.
Steadfast project commitment
Leading off presentations at a press conference for 23 international journalists at Irsching on May 19, Dr. Michael Suess, CEO of Siemens Energy Sector, referred to the achievement as "a historic moment" in power plant progress. "This technology will add a new chapter to power developments," he said.
To execute a long-term technology development like this requires full commitment and steadfast management support. "A CCGT project cannot be based on short-term thinking or have a disruption after two years, for example," Suess continued. "It's very unusual that a power provider (E.ON) and an equipment supplier (Siemens) have worked together over such a long period." Also noteworthy is that the program remained on schedule and is being completed on time.
Klaus Hammer, COO of Gas-CCGT at E.ON Generation GmbH, echoed the positive long-term cooperation involved on this project. He referred to the project milestone of 60%+ plant efficiency as an important day also for E.ON. "Worldwide that is unique performance for gas-based power generation and an example of engineering at its best," Hammer said.
Operational flexibility plus efficiency
Fluctuating grid feed-ins are on the rise due to a growing use of newer power sources, such as wind and solar. More distributed power is coming to Germany (and elsewhere), which is a challenge for the industry, Suess explained. "Flexibility to load changes is a very important part of story," he said—citing less than 30 minute ramp-up to peak output or from full power to shut down for the SGT5-8000H turbine (with up to 35 MW/min change rate capability). "Highly flexible power plants are increasingly critical to maintain grid stability. Part of the energy story will be gas turbines and we are witnessing a 'game changer' moment," Suess added.
"Germany is on the brink of the transformation of its energy system…characterized by extensive, fast expansion of renewable power sources," Hammer said. "Flexible power plants are required to better integrate weather-dependent renewables. This is where modern gas turbine plants come into the equation." E.ON has already made substantial investment in combined-cycle power plants that exploit new gas turbine capabilities, Hammer explained.
Lothar Balling, head of Siemens Energy's GT Power Plant Solutions, likewise emphasized flexibility of the 8000H gas turbine. He detailed examples of load flexibility and dynamic capability that are especially remarkable for the huge size of machines involved:
- Stable operation down to approximately 100 MW in combined-cycle mode—if needed—which is under 20% of rated plant output;
- Meeting minimum load change rate of ±10% plant capacity within 10 seconds, per grid stability requirements of the U.K. Grid Code for frequency response. This requirement was exceeded by a load increase of 64 MW (12%) within 10 s, verified by testing; and
- Meeting U.K. Grid Code requirement for island operation that calls for 45% load rejection with stable continued operation not exceeding 52 Hz frequency. Shedding of 250 MW within 6 s was verified by testing.
Point 1 above shows that the CCGT plant is applicable throughout all load ranges—whether it's base, intermediate, or peak loading, according to Balling. "Efficiency at low loads is still that of typical peak-load, open-cycle power plants." Point 2 has the "objective to rapidly stabilize the balance between generation and demand, according to the current frequency deviation from the 50-Hz setpoint," he said. The last point addresses the need "to intercept rapid frequency rises that occur due to sudden high inputs from other sources, as well as to disconnection of large loads. However, the 'Code' here does not require a specific load change rate," Balling added.
Surprisingly 'compact' layout
It seems counterintuitive to use the term "compact" relative to such large machines. However, a tour of Irsching 4 revealed surprising plant compactness. In a single-shaft CCGT plant, the steam turbine connects to the end of the generator opposite the gas turbine. The heat recovery steam generator tucks behind the gas turbine's high-temperature exhaust diffuser and connects to the steam turbine by steam piping systems.
A fuel preheat system uses some hot water from the steam generator to help increase plant efficiency. The approximate 85 °C steam generator exhaust is vented to atmosphere via a stack that's only 96-m high, explained Fischer. Horizontal condenser piping and condenser location, rather than being underneath the steam turbine, also add to space savings.
The compactness was not as evident on an earlier visit to Irsching 4, before plant build-out for combined-cycle mode and when subsystem connections were not finalized. At that time, Irsching 4 was an especially exciting place for control and instrumentation engineers as the SGT5-8000H was undergoing comprehensive tests and performance validations under load and during starts/shutdowns. Some 2,838 sensors and associated wiring were deployed to monitor the turbine. Of these, 597 rotated with the turbine, with data brought out to telemetry units at each end of the rotor. Temperature sensors (1,688) were the most numerous, followed by pressure sensors, strain-gages, accelerometers, and other sensors to measure part clearances, blade vibrations, and flows/forces. Fischer noted that a vast quantity of data was produced—90 gigabytes per hour of testing—which went to onsite computers for local monitoring and was then transmitted for detailed analysis to Siemens facilities in Florida and Germany.
Today a central control room monitors the performance of Irsching 4 and two other operating units of the plant. One large screen display per each unit uses up-to-date information technology and clear graphics to show numerous plant variables, including instantaneous power output. No small dials or displays are used. (An August 2011 Control Engineering article will provide more coverage about Irsching power plant.)
Looking ahead
Siemens Energy is commercializing its H-class gas turbine technology in both 50-Hz (SGT5-8000H) and 60-Hz (SGT6-8000H) versions. The latter version has been scaled from the 50-Hz design and has benefitted from substantial experience gained during that development. Six 60-Hz machines have already been sold in the U.S. (see Ref. 2) and an order is on hand for a CCGT plant for South Korea.
In addition to the technical performance milestones achieved, Siemens emphasizes the reduced environmental footprint that goes along with CCGT technology. The combination of record setting efficiency for electric power generation and reduced carbon dioxide emissions favors the future of gas turbine and CCGT power plant markets.
Frank J. Bartos, P.E., is a Control Engineering contributing content specialist. Reach him at email@example.com
Further reading:
Ref. 1 – High-efficiency gas turbines
Ref. 2 – First order for Siemens' 60-Hz, H-class gas turbine
See additional article links below for more on: The hunt for 60+% thermal efficiency and New, efficient industrial gas turbines coming.


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BOSTON (Reuters) - Former U.S. House speaker Newt Gingrich told a meeting of the Republican National Committee that his party needs to move beyond its image of steadfast opposition to President Barack Obama and convince voters its goal is to improve the country.
"We have to get beyond being anti-Obama and we have to convince people you can have hope in America," Gingrich said on Wednesday. "What we have to do, in a sense, is be a party of optimism and a party of hope and show actual cases of how it can work."
Speaking at a Boston hotel adjacent to where Republican presidential contender Mitt Romney delivered his 2012 concession speech after failing to unseat Obama, Gingrich said the party needed to be more alert to ways Americans were changing, particularly in their use of technology.
"What happened last year? Why were so many of us wrong?" Gingrich asked the group.
Following Romney's loss, in which Republicans lagged far behind in support among women and minority voters, some party leaders have engaged in soul-searching, looking at whether some Republican positions have become too conservative to appeal broadly to voters.
Still, Republican control of House of Representatives has given the party a firm position to oppose initiatives backed by Obama's Democrats, and some Republican state governments have pursued more conservative drives, including efforts to restrict access to abortion sharply at the state level.
The gathering - the RNC's regular summer meeting - was originally scheduled to be held in Chicago, but Republican leaders decided to move the venue to Boston in the wake of the April 15 Boston Marathon bombing, which killed three people and injured about 264.
Reporting by Scott Malone; Editing by Cynthia Osterman


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Group Maintenance in Technology-Supported Distributed Teams. Proceedings of the Best Paper Proceedings, Academy of Management Annual Meeting. Anaheim, CA, 9-13 August.. (2008). GroupMaintenance.pdf (153.04 KB)
Group Maintenance Behaviours of Core and Peripheral Members of Free/Libre Open Source Software Teams. ( )Proceedings of The Fifth International Conference on Open Source Systems (OSS). Skövde, Sweden, 3-6 June.. (2009). 34finalmjs.pdf (184.06 KB)
Emergent decision-making practices in technology-supported self-organizing distributed teams. Proceedings of the International Conference on Information Systems (ICIS). Milwaukee, WI, 10–13 Dec.. (2006). Emergent Decision Making Practices In Technology Supported Self O.pdf (360.42 KB)
A structurational perspective on leadership in virtual teams. ( )Proceedings of the IFIP Working Group 8.2/9.5 Working Conference on Virtuality and Virtualization. Portland, OR: Springer. doi:10.1007/978-0-387-73025-7_12. (2007). A Structurational Perspective On Leadership.pdf (327.01 KB)
Information systems success in Free and Open Source Software development: Theory and measures. Software Process–Improvement and Practice, 11, 123–148. doi:10.1002/spip.259. (2006). InformationSystemsSuccessInFree.pdf (1.1 MB)
The bug fixing process in proprietary and free/libre open source software: A coordination theory analysis. In , Business Process Transformation (pp. 69-99). Armonk, NY: M. E. Sharpe.. (2008). The bug fixing process in proprietary .pdf (661.59 KB)
Core and periphery in Free/Libre and Open Source software team communications. Proceedings of the 39th Hawai'i International Conference on System Sciences (HICSS-39). Kaua'i, Hawai'i, January.. (2006). CoreAndPeripheryInFreeLibre.pdf (290.75 KB)
The role of face-to-face meetings in technology-supported self-organizing distributed teams. IEEE Transactions on Professional Communications, 50, 185–203. doi:10.1109/TPC.2007.902654. (2007). 070122.pdf (1.94 MB)
Hierarchy and centralization in Free and Open Source Software team communications. Knowledge, Technology & Policy, 18, 65–85.. (2006). HierarchyAndCentralization.pdf (566.38 KB)
Defining Open Source Software project success. Proceedings of the 24th International Conference on Information Systems (ICIS). Seattle, WA, December.. (2003). icis2003success (235.41 KB)
Coordination of Free/Libre Open Source Software development. Proceedings of the International Conference on Information Systems (ICIS). Las Vegas, NV, USA, December.. (2005). Paper.pdf (115.49 KB) Slides.pdf (942.29 KB)
The social structure of Free and Open Source Software development. First Monday, 10. Retrieved from http://firstmonday.org/htbin/cgiwrap/bin/ojs/index.php/fm/article/view/1207/1127. (2005). Social structure of Free and Open Source Software development.pdf (506.96 KB)
The role of mental models in FLOSS development work practices. Proceedings of the IFIP 2nd International Conference on Open Source Software. Lake Como, Italy, 8–9 June.. (2006). oss2006crowstonscozzi.pdf (160.74 KB)
Emergent leadership in self-organizing virtual teams (Poster). Proceedings of the International Conference on Information Systems (ICIS). Montréal, Québec, Canada, 9–12 Dec.. (2007). 20081204 ICIS Poster_v.5.1.pdf (2.31 MB)
eSocialScience for Free/Libre Open Source Software researchers. Proceedings of the 4th International Conference on e-Social Science. Manchester, UK, 18-20 June.. (2008). NCeSS2008CrowstonHowisonWiggins.pdf (207.99 KB)
Coordination without discussion? Socio-technical congruence and Stigmergy in Free and Open Source Software projects. In 2nd International Workshop on Socio-Technical Congruence, ICSE. presented at the 19 May, Vancouver, Canada. Retrieved from http://docs.google.com/View?id=dhncd3jd_405fzt842gv. (2009). Coordination without discussion? Socio-technical congruence.pdf (114.35 KB)
Analyzing Leadership Dynamics in Distributed Group Communication. Proceedings of the Forty-third Hawai'i International Conference on System Sciences (HICSS-43). Kauai, HI, 5–8 January. doi:10.1109/HICSS.2010.62. (2010). 07-06-02.pdf (478.73 KB)
Effective work practices for software engineering. In , Proceedings of the 2004 ACM workshop on Interdisciplinary software engineering research (WISER '04) (p. 18). Newport Beach, CA, USA: ACM Press. doi:10.1145/1029997.1030003. (2004). p18-crowston.pdf (381.25 KB)
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Bernanke: Steep budget cuts this year would threaten economy
WASHINGTON — Steep spending cuts proposed by Republicans in the House of Representatives would slow the nation's economic growth, cost jobs and work against the Federal Reserve's efforts to stimulate the economy, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke warned lawmakers Tuesday.
The nation's prosperity would be better served by Congress and the White House agreeing on credible legislation to reduce the federal deficit and debt over a longer period of five or 10 years, he told the Senate Banking Committee.
On an issue of more immediacy, Bernanke said that recent rising oil and gasoline prices were unlikely to stall the strengthening economic recovery or lead to significantly higher inflation. However, if those prices go considerably higher and stay there, he said, that would reduce consumer spending on other goods and slow the broader economy.
"My sense is that the increases we've seen so far ... do not yet pose a significant risk," the Fed chairman said.
The current battle in Congress over the federal budget dominated questions at a hearing that ostensibly was about the Fed's semiannual report on monetary policy.
Bernanke was asked repeatedly about GOP proposals to trim anywhere from $60 billion to $100 billion in government spending during the current fiscal year, which ends Sept. 30. These cuts would do little to bring down long-term budget deficits but would slow the economic recovery, he cautioned.
"That would be 'contractionary' to some extent," Bernanke said, projecting that "several tenths" of a percentage point would be shaved off of growth, and it would mean fewer jobs. "That's why I have been trying to emphasize the need to think about the budget issue not as a current-year issue."
While Democrats got what they wanted out of Bernanke with that answer, he frowned on some of their projections that the spending cuts that are being debated could reduce growth by a full 2 percentage points.
Politicians frequently use the Fed chairman's appearance to elicit his agreement on their particular points of view. But Bernanke didn't mince words when he warned of the need to reduce the nation's budget deficits and of the rising interest on mounting national debt.
"The long-term imbalances are not just a long-term risk, they're a near and present danger," he said ominously, warning that investors may demand a premium to hold future U.S. debt. "I think the sooner a long-term plan is in place ... it would actually have benefits in the near term, not just 20 years from now."
The National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform, created by President Barack Obama, offered a credible, albeit painful, path toward bringing down deficits and the debt late last year. Obama then ignored its recommendations in his proposed 2012 budget in February, disappointing nonpartisan budget-watchdog groups.
Neither the president nor Republicans in Congress have offered serious plans to reduce long-term deficits. Instead, both sides are trying to score political points by offering one-year budget cuts that don't address the bigger fiscal threats.
On other topics, the Fed chairman strongly defended his unorthodox policies of buying billions in Treasury and mortgage bonds to spark economic activity.
"I think they're working well," Bernanke said, noting the actions came amid the risk of a stall in the recovery and that they staved off deflation — a collapse of prices across the economy. "There (were) also significant risks for not taking the action."
Critics charge that the Fed's action, which since August has helped to drive up the prices of stocks and other financial assets, also has resulted in rising commodity prices in developing nations, pushing up the costs of food and fuel and fostering unrest. Bernanke again rejected those accusations.
Refusing to rule out the option of purchasing even more Treasury bonds when the $600 billion bond-buying program ends in June, Bernanke said the next few months would tell whether the U.S. economy was strong enough to stand on its own feet.
Recognized as a top historian on the Great Depression, Bernanke described the 2008 financial meltdown as "in many ways as big or bigger than anything we saw in the 1930s," and said that was why he moved aggressively to prevent a full-blown depression.
State budget battles fuel debate about who pays
Arctic oil studies yield discoveries about sea life
More dead baby dolphins wash ashore along the Gulf coast
McClatchy's probe into roots of financial crisis, a Pulitzer finalist
To ask a question about this story or any economic question, go to McClatchy's economy Q&A