Multiply in your head, the teens

The red area is 200
The blue area is the product of the final digits.
So, for example, 13 * 17 = 200 + 21
-----
The same picture can be drawn for multiplication of certain two 2-digit numbers in the 20's, the 30's, etc, where the basic "red" amount is the product of the upper and the lower multiple of ten. 32*38=30*40+2*8, for example; or 1216
-----
If you can multiple the numbers from 1 through 19 in your head, which is not all that hard, you can then extend this same method to multiplying two numbers in adjacent "tens", where the units add to 10
like 21*39 = 20*40+1*19 = 800 + 19 = 819, and
like 23*37 = 20*40+3*17 = 800 + 51 = 851, and
like 30*30 = 20*40+10*10= 800 +100 = 900

March On Washington

August 28, 1963 I HAVE A DREAM

That someday soon we will be allowed to do this again.
36 CFR 7.96(g)(3)(ii)(B)
The Lincoln Memorial, ... and the single series of marble stairs immediately adjacent to and below that level.
----
Oops. Turns out we can. My bad.

The role of ideas

John Conyors reacts to Keith Hayden's lies

Michael Hastings crash site

View Larger Map Engine found ~200 ft short of the crash site. Did it come off prior to the crash?
No, the engine was found at Highland and Clinton, 190 ft past.
Someone could estimate the speed needed for this.
LoudLabs video here

White collar crime at the Bradley Manning trial

The prosecution wants to introduce the pay rates of various military grades. Why? They want to say Bradley stole something, and the something was worth over $1000 dollars, and hey buddy that's felony territory. You are in big trouble now. Using the labor theory of value, they want to say that data cost x hours at y dollars per hour to create, and x times y is $102,000. Guilty.

Yes, there is a difference between stealing a baseball and stealing a baseball signed by the New York Yankees; namely the replacement cost is higher. But Bradley did not steal the data in that sense; it is closer to copyright violation type of stealing. And the value of a pirated copy of Michael Jackson's Black or White CD does not depend on the pay rates of the studio musicians.

Ellsberg at least stole copy paper.

Not just Turkey

Clear and present danger

The phrase can be paraphrased as
If the speech creates the possibility that it might result in effective opposition to government policy, in this case of the draft law, then that speech is not protected by the Constitution.
This understanding of the First Amendment, by Oliver Wendell Holmes, seems not so good, especially comparing it to Justice L. Hand's ruling earlier in the "Masses" (the name of the publication) case.

Hancock AFB order of protection

(bigger: http://bit.ly/18kZuhj)

Complete jurisdiction and control

"The United States shall exercise complete jurisdiction and control" over Guantanamo
Does this mean that the US can do anything it wants? Ignore the Bill of Rights? Violate international law? Violate the lease whose terms it stands on? I don't think so.

Plus, there are crimes with universal jurisdiction.

Mistakes

The US claims to occupy the Naval Base subject to a valid lease. That's a big one, for surely even the Americans can see that a lease grants the use of a property only for certain things, all of which must be legal, and the landlord can evict you if you violate the terms.

Are the relations between Cuba and the US the same as set out in Treaty of Relations of 1903? Is the US is still best friends with Cuba, or if it's not, was Cuba wrong for getting rid of Batista and the mob?

Is America right to say that the Bill of Rights contains inalienable rights, given by God, to Americans and to no one else?

Are people right to think that knowing the truth will lead to justice?

A vehicle for fighting for Bradley

Citizen of the Year

From Day 1

On December 12, 1903, control of Guantanamo Bay was handed over to the United States, on the Kearsarge. At noon, the Cuban flag was lowered. So much for the recognition of ultimate Cuban sovereignty.

Guantanamo lease

Would the Government of Cuba be willing to consider leasing Guantanamo Bay to the US for a Naval Station? This may seem like a foolish question, but since the current lease is invalid, and the US cannot be ejected by force, a possible solution might be to negotiate a valid lease, to at least put the occupation on a marginally agreeable and legal foundation.

The advantages seem to be many, but most especially, if this territorial dispute can be settled in this way (and may I suggest that the UN be the bargaining representative for the nation of Cuba), possibly the Palestine question could be resolved using a similar mechanism. This would indeed be a wonderful contribution to world peace in which Cuba could lead the way.

Guantanamo Bay Naval Station

Then

map

Now

camp 6

One got away

Via No More Guantanamos, Nancy Talanian, Dir
One of the Uyghurs, who was released to Palau, left for Turkey to be with his wife. Who knew.

Unlawful Combatants, that is, pirate

If a soldier kills a civilian, or two, it is lawful combat.
If a civilian kills a soldier, it is unlawful combat.
This is called asymmetric warfare.
------
Bush said he would not distinguish between Al Qaida and those who harbored Al Qaida. The Taliban, who governed Afghanistan, harbored al Qaida. So we declared war on Afghanistan. (Didn't we?)
Taliban prisoners are prisoners of war. If we make no distinction, Al Qaida prisoners are prisoners of war as well.
------
During the revolutionary war, most of the naval forces were privateers. This afforded POW status if captured.
Were the Blackwater contractors lawful or unlawful enemy combatants from the point of view of the people of Falluja?

Take No Prisoners attitude

In ten years of war, how can it be that we have taken no prisoners? Is not each person taken by the military a prisoner of war, or assumed to be a prisoner of war unless he loses that status through some process in accord with our system of laws? Or is the military above the law and outside the law?

Is the Guantanamo Naval Base abandoned

The lease limits the US to military use of the Bay. Since there are no coal fueled ships remaining in the US Navy, the US has ceased to used the Bay as a coaling station. There are no carriers home ported to Guantanamo Bay. USS Gambier Bay (CVE-73) was associated with Guantanamo Bay. It was a Casablanca class escort carrier, sunk in the Battle of Leyte Gulf.

What is a Navy?

A navy is not simply a collection of ships or fighting vessels. It is a process of activities ranging from securing those vessels, raising crews, provisions, arms, munitions, finding ways to resupply those vessels, finding ways to pay all those people, commissioning officers, establishing rules, codes of conduct, and deciding on a naval strategy.
Glenn Grasson, on Cspan3 @2:30, quoting Christopher Magra in The Fisherman's Cause

I will take anyone anywhere anytime

MP Colonel Michael Bumgarner, of his pride in Guantanamo.
Look inside, searching for "anyone anywhere", and scroll down.

Where shall we put all the POWs

Not Hawaii, Guam, Diego Garcia?
Not Pul-e-Charkhi Prison? The Russians had prisons you know.
After the First Gulf War, where POWs were a problem,
no POW Camp was "ready" for the second Gulf War
according to Inside Gitmo, p16. $0.01+shipping, Amazon.
Did they check the 1903 lease agreement to see if building a POW camp was allowed in Cuba?
No. No, they didn't.

Naval and Coaling Station

Naval Station: A harbor that is home to a fleet.
Coaling Station: A harbor where ships can take on coal for fuel.
----
No other enterprises are allowed under the lease.

Naval Station, only

and no other.
------
A POW camp is not a Naval Station, and constructing a POW camp at Guantanamo is not necessary to fit Guantanamo Bay for use as a naval station. It may be that not all prisoners in a POW camp are classified as prisoners of war, however it is clear that the camp is a POW camp; these people are being detained without charge until the war is over, to keep them from the war.
------
Guantanamo was picked for the POW camp by the Department of Justice, not the Department of the Navy.
------
Guantanamo already had a brig.

50 Year Criminal Spree

The 50 year blockade of Cuba violates international law, says everyone except Palau, Israel, and the United states.
Every tort has a remedy.

1902: George Frisbie Hoar

Hear, hear.
They will welcome us with flowers.

And for no other purpose

The February 1903 lease agreement for Guantanamo states that the United States is allowed "generally to do any and all things necessary to fit the premises for use as coaling or naval stations only, and for no other purpose."

The prison was built at Guantanamo, not because of the excellent harbor, but because it was thought to be a legal black hole, out of reach of the courts, because of the Supreme Court rulings in the Insular Cases, that the Constitution does not "follow the flag". The flag, they say, is sometimes only a sign of imperial domination, of unchecked military power.

Since the siting of the prison was motivated by this rationale, it violates the terms of the lease, which only allows the site generally to be fitted to the purpose of a naval station, only, and not any additional purpose.

The permanent arbitrary detention of people, in violation of the rights of man, the Constitution, and international conventions, is not generally held to be a necessary function of a military installation, despite its frequency.

1903 Article III vs 1934 Article I

1903 Article III: "That the government of Cuba consents that the United States may exercise the right to intervene for the preservation of the Cuban independence, the maintenance of a government adequate for the protection of life, property, and individual liberty, and for discharging the obligations with respect to Cuba imposed by the treaty of Paris on the United States, now to be assumed and undertaken by the government of Cuba."

The US interprets the 1903 Article III to mean that the Cuban government gives consent, in advance, for interventions that otherwise, without consent, would be a violation of Cuban self-government, which self-government was transferred to the Cuban people via the Treaty of Paris and because the Teller Amendment kept the US from outright seizure of Cuba. This placed Cuba under the benevolent eye of the United States.

1934 Article I: "The treaty of Relations which was concluded between the two contracting parties on May 22, 1903, shall cease to be in force, and is abrogated, from the date on which the present Treaty goes into effect."

1934 Article I cancels 1903 Article III, which granted blanket consent to intervention, yet the United States, through boycotts, quarantines, blockades, over-flights, invasion, and black operations, continues to act as though 1903 Article III were in effect, and pushes aside 1934 Article I. That makes these actions unfriendly, and a material and fundamental breach of the Treaty of 1934. They render that Treaty void, because they run counter to international expectations that promises must be kept, and constitute an unexpected substantial change to the underlying conditions, in that the Unites States no longer seeks the maintenance of the government of Cuba, but its destruction.

This abrogation of the Treaty of 1934 on the part of the United States was matched by the equally hostile action of the invitation to the Russians by the Cubans to install nuclear weapons on its soil, something permitted by treaty, but an act that responded to the change in the underlying situation, and created further unexpected changes to the underlying situation.

Therefore, the Treaty of 1934 is voidable. The Treaty has very little of substance in it however. The condition that the US may abandon the base whenever it likes, is a restatement of the original terms of payment, in more precise words. The notion that the agreement may be modified only if both parties agree is just a restatement of common sense. One party may not change the terms of the agreement to suit itself, although the United States has often done this, as it sees fit. The clause deals only with friendly changes to the agreement. The lease my be changed in an unfriendly way, by acts that give the offended party the right to cancel the lease, as a remedy.

Another unanticipated use

As United States Admiral La Rocque’s Center for Defense Information has observed, “It is clearly unnecessary militarily”. Indeed, in the modern world, Guantánamo has little strategic importance, unless we overstate the facilitation of logistics for the 1983 United States invasion of Grenada and the 1989 invasion of Panama, both carried out for the purpose of obtaining regime change by force.
2003 Report of Alfred de Zayas

Cuba's rights to self defense

With the abrogation in 1934 of the May 1903 Treaty of Relations, Cuba became free to enter into military arrangements with any nation for the purpose of securing its independence. The 1963 blockade of Cuba by the USA was intended to frustrate this purpose, which purpose was the benefit to Cuba to be secured by the 1903 lease, according to Article VII of the Appendix to the Constitution of Cuba, which was incorporated into the lease agreement.

The blockade was a fundamental breach.

Cuba and the USA - friends (forever)

The USA may prevent Cuban vessels from access to the ports in the Bay of Guantanamo, at its sole discretion, without that action being considered unfriendly. Any other action may be considered unfriendly, such as blocking access to the waters.

Regarding the basis for the Cuban lease

The USA may use the property at Guantanamo only as a naval station.

The lease agreement states that the purpose of the lease is to help the USA protect Cuba from a military threat to its independence.

The Bay of Pigs was an action undertaken that was inconsistent with that agreement. The US actions were not directed to protect the new Cuban government, but to overthrow it. This failure to come to the aid of the new Cuban government gives rise to a claim for damages. Years later, Kennedy promised to respect Cuban integrity, a promise that fell far short of the understanding that the USA would help to protect Cuba's independence from foreign military aggression. This is an anticipatory breach.

The US recognized that the Castro regime was the legitimate government of Cuba, since in 1959 the USA sent a check to the Castro regime, purportedly as payment under the lease. Further, the USA claims that the cashing of the check, in 1959, by the Castro regime constitutes the completion of a valid transaction required by the lease.

The wisdom of the May 1903 Treaty of Relations

The May Treaty, article I, states

"I. That the government of Cuba shall never enter into any treaty or other compact with any foreign power or powers which will impair or tend to impair the independence of Cuba nor in any manner authorize or permit any foreign power or powers to obtain by colonization or for military or naval purposes or otherwise, lodgement in or control over any portion of said island."

The US correctly realized that foreign entanglements are often problematic, especially for a young nation necessarily weak, and that allowing a foreign power to establish a military base on its soil could easily jeopardize the freedom of the people of Cuba.

Nonetheles, a few months later, the US did exactly that.

The Constitution follows the flag

If the Constitution does not apply in full at Guantanamo, then on what basis do we decide which parts do apply and which parts don't apply. The government wants to argue that all its rights and powers apply,
but an individual's rights and powers are circumscribed.
Very convenient.

The constitution must follow the flag. If the Constitution is not present, of what purpose is the flag? And where the Constitution is present, the human rights of people are present, must be present. US authority can be challenged by a claim of a conflicting authority, but our law must not bend at the pleasure of our servants.

It should not be thought that the rights found in the Bill of Rights are granted to the people by the Constitution; rather they are rights retained by the people; never the government's to give or withhold, of greater scope than the Constitution, not of lesser. These are the rights of all Englishmen, or now, the rights of all people.

Cuban lease documents at Yale Law School

There are three documents at the Yale Law School, Avalon project, that seem to contain the mutual obligations of the USA and Cuba as regards Guantanamo Bay. These are
The texts of the Lease
1. The February 23, 1903 Lease part 1, rules for Cuba
2. The July 2, 1903 Lease part 2, rules for the US
The TREATY OF RELATIONSS, aka the Protectorate
Among other things, both versions of the Treaty mention the Lease.
In 1903, that there will be one. In 1934, that there is one, and it's fine.
3. The May 29, 1934 Treaty of Relations which modified and replaced the Treaty of Relations signed at Habana, May 22,1903.

The illegal enemy combattants

The assumption since King John, since 1215, is that responsible authorities need a reason, a rationale, for jailing a person. King John, a tyrant, signed off on this idea, much to the chagrin of the other tyrants, who stopped taking his phone calls.

What is the legal status of the prisoners in Guantanamo; what is our rationale for holding them?

The original term, illegal enemy combatant, expressed the claim that the US is at war with an enemy, that the prisoners belonged to that enemy, and that the prisoners used methods that violate the laws of war.

It is said that all things are fair in love and war. In war, the USA has proclaimed that some things are not fair: chemical, biological, and nuclear weapons. Any other methods are ok; that is, are methods that we ourselves would use, including blending-in by disguising ourselves as a polio eradication team, and thereby setting back the cause of polio eradication in Waziristan.

The notion that we are now engaged in World War III is never expressly said, and if the government does not dare to say it, it can hardly need to be denied.

Governments jail people in peace time and in war. Peacetime prisoners have been tried in court, and go home after a while. Prisoners of war go home, often when the war is over, except some of the higher-ups get tried for war crimes, for violating the laws of war. Holding others is neo-kidnapping, not generally accepted even if you paid money.

Our founding fathers, in the Bill of Rights, listed God-given rights of Englishmen; rights not given by the government. Recently we realized that those rights apply to all people, not just the men of England. You know the rights: the right to a fair trial, to be faced with your accuser, to reasonable bail, to be free from enhanced interrogation. And the Declaration of Independence listed among the abuses of another tyrant, King George, that he “transported us beyond the seas to be tried for pretended offenses”. This is a close description of the rendition of people to Guantanamo. And makes our George a tyrant.

Wishful thinking, delusion really, has put us in this legal nightmare. The way out is to shake it off.

A Metro System for Palestine

The so-called "settlers" drive through Palestine on expressways. The Palestinians do not have expressways; they have only local roads, and need to stop frequently at checkpoints, and have permits. The checkpoints make travel within Palestine difficult, and in the case of medical emergencies, the delays can be life threatening.

This injustice could be fixed; fixed by money.

Naftali Bennett proposes linking the areas, that are now separated by checkpoints, by creating a metro system for Palestine. This should connect Gaza to the West Bank as well. This plan is independent of the further theft of land from Palestine, which is also part of Bennett's plan. YouTube

A community organizer in Gaza has also explored the idea of a subway for Palestine, and has received positive responses from those who have seen it. Reaction on YouTube
Artist's prtfolio of stops here.
System map -

Chuck Culhane on prisons

Political Trial in Buffalo

A trial is political if it protects the interests of the powerful. The government says that there are no political trials, since that claim protects the interests of the powerful.

However, examples of political prosecutions abound; a readily accessible one is the case of Tommy Chong, of Cheech and Chong, as documented in the film "AKA Tommy Chong", available in the usual places.

Our case in Buffalo is the case of Nate Buckley, arrested for trespassing, what else, during a demonstration in front of M+T Bank on April 8th, 2011, and obstructing the administration of justice. Here is a video of that event and arrest, from YouTube.

A trial was held for three defendants. Two were acquitted on a bench trial, but the jury phase, for Buckley alone, resulted in a mistrial, due to juror misconduct. A motion to dismiss the charge against Buckley in the interests of justice was granted by the judge. Here is the judge's ruling.

The District Attorney, Frank Sedita Jr., son of a former mayor, is appealing the dismissal. He intends to prosecute, despite the judge's written opinion that a conviction would represent a miscarriage of justice.

Note that besides the existence of political trials, there are political not-trials; people "too big to jail".

DC, Dupont Circle, Rally

People spoke about the ongoing hunger strike of Samer Issawi. People in the West Bank are released in Gaza, making it impossible for them to see their famlies. Children are arrested for throwing rocks at tanks.
part 1 - Tighe Barry
part 2

Is it safe to eat the fish

video

The First Amendment

Here are some prominent people who believe that the first amendment protects the commercial press; protects a business enterprise: Huff Post
ie: bloggers don't count; in fact speaking doesn't count.
----
Here is the text in question: "or of the press"

Ok, we know

Israel, with the approval of the US, plans to strangle Palestine.
To death.

Fuck* the troops

No, I'm not gay. I don't literally mean fuck the men.
No, I am not advocating raping the women either, although a lot of women in the military are being raped by the men in the military.
Yes, I know a lot of young people are led by the invisible hand of the market into the military, to escape their desperate backgrounds. And, no, I don't expect them to be all noble, when they are only cooks stationed in West Germany, while indifferent Americans watch Notre Dame play Michigan in the Sugar Bowl.

What I mean is that many American soldiers, that I believe should know better, are indifferent to the plight of prisoners and civilians in their area of operation. The opposite of love, as in love your enemy, is not hate. It is indifference. So maybe they cannot be sent to jail for what they do; but they can be sent to hell.

Hello PTSD, hello suicide.
*

1980s, Guatemala, Rios Montt

1951, Completes class at the School of the Americas.
1954, participates in the coup of Arbenz.
1970, named Chief of Staff of the Army of Guatemala.
1978, becomes a Pentecostal. Befriends Pat Robertson.
1982, seizes power, backed by the CIA
June 9th, starts the "guns or butter" program.
December, President Reagan says "Ríos Montt is a great man".
Israel sends military aid, and gives military training in Israel.
1983, CIA cable notes bodies are "appearing in ditches"
1999, Clinton apologizes for US support of reign of terror.
1999, Guatemalan government admits massacre at Dos Erres.
2012, Ríos Montt indicted for crimes against humanity
wikipedia

Zero Dark Thrity

Zero-Dark-Thirty, although it is a work of fiction, may cross the line of advocating "immanent lawless action". Torture is an ongoing policy of friend (Islam Karimov) and foe alike, and this movie may give aid and comfort to those who practice it. We know that the Constitution allows immoral speech, but the government in other cases has sought to constrain speech in time of war if that speech poses a threat to national security.

Cloth Mother

.

The Adam Hotel, Gaza

At the small port.

July 2000: Peak Crossing Speed

A three hour crossing, but it's all downhill from here.

Citizens United

Or "May one shout fire in a crowded theatre"?

We meant well

Starting at 11:00. The UN starts a/the cholera epidemic in Haiti

Transition from fossil fuels

citation
Replacing all the energy currently being used with renewables will not be "enough". The demand for energy will continue to grow. Hahaha.

Not from Hawaii

From Easter Island.
That would explain a lot.

Fix social security

Restore the retirement age to 65.

Clean Coal

Yes, get the mercury out. Now.

Who manipulates the dollar?

China has used the dollar as its currency for years.
Q: Who is in the basement of the fed pumping out more greenbacks, as QE1, QE2, QE3?
A: Not China.

Pretend I am not speaking

Don't nod. Maybe look away, distracted.

ConocoPhillips to drill

in the Burgess Shale, for natural gas.

Protect the children

Everywhere.

Why do they hate us

They HATE us for our FREEdom

Moving mountains

All the carbon
and twice the oxygen
goes into the air.

For every train of coal
three trainloads of CO2
For every mountain,
three.

Clean burning gas

1. Methane burns to release energy, creating water and CO₂.
    So gas is cleaner, not clean.
    Cleaner than what? Cleaner than coal.
2. Uranium does not burn to release energy.
    Does this make nuclear cleaner than gas?
    Consider the whole life cycle.
    The mining, the waste, the accidents.

Will Pennsylvania be the new Texas

or the new New Jersey.
"beautiful piece of country and turned it into this huge trash dump". GasLand

The difference between theory and practice

In theory, there is no difference.
In practice, there is a difference.

This explains how fracking contaminates well water.

Einstein Explains the Curvature of Political Space

Near large amounts of cash, the truth bends.

Separate. but equal

If you're happy and you know it, clap your hands.

Before You Dig

We need
1. Activated watchdog agencies
2. Comprehensive, online, open records with maps
3. Unconditional clean water guarantee
4. Unconditional clean air guarantee
5. Unconditional land value guarantee
6. Unconditional health care
      One fiasco at a time
      West Valley Nuclear Dump Site
      Dioxin in Lake Ontario

We can afford to be cautious.

Did Jesus believe in free market capitalism?

The holy dollar, here.

Is barium in the blood

A sign of water well contamination with fracking fluid?

Combination sink stove

The latest "must have" kitchen appliance.
video

Screen shot from GASLAND @31:30

The Halliburton loophole, click to enlarge.
2005 Energy Act, pdf page 102
Drillers do not want to be subject to the Safe Drinking Water Act. Is there confusion about this?

Excludes injection of fluids
Note that the exclusion is for sand and for fluids.
Barium and arsenic are not fluids at the temperatures and pressures used in fracking. They are dissolved solids.

SUNY at Buffalo / SRSI

In mythology, Circe was a powerful witch who, with the help of herbs, muttering incantations, or praying to her gods, could turn men into animals or create unsubstantial images of beasts. She was able to darken the heavens by hiding the moon or the sun behind clouds.

The problems with fracking

1. Air pollution
2. Water pollution
3. Land destruction
4. Corruption of government

1. Air Pollution
 *  The fracking fluid is allowed to evaporate
 *  Condensate tank venting is not measured
       These vapors destroy animal(human) habitat
       and add to global warming

2. Water Pollution
 *  Fracking fluid cannot be "cleaned"
 *  Aquafers are made undrinkable by coincidence

3. Land is devastated, like
 *  mountain top removal
 *  Love Canal and dioxin
 *  West Valley nuclear reprocessing
 *  British Columbia tar sands pipeline
 *  and earthquakes

4. Government is corrupted
 *  campaign finance
 *  distortions under oath, like tobacco
 *  misinformation campaigns, like seat-belts
 *  opponents treated as insurgents

=====
some problems are related to any drilling
fracking requires more wells
More, with photos

The Meaning of the Superfund

What does the superfund demonstrate?
That when there is short term money to be made that leaves long term problems, the government hasn't managed to avoid the temptation to be buddies to the powerful.

Dee Hoffmeister's condensate tank

To get a fire started, you need fuel, oxygen, and heat.
How did these three things get together, or rather where?
One guess, the condensate tank was venting hydrocarbons at the wrong time. Eh?

Medicare

Moving from fixed-benefit to fixed-contribution.

Another problem with fracking

Natural gas is methane.
The material that comes up the well bore is shale oil and gas: gas and liquid. Some gas is vented, and some liquids vaporize.

Let's finish cleaning up West Valley before we jump into fracking.
What's the rush? The gas isn't going anywhere.

Less impact than what

vendor
It is true that with horizontal drilling, you can choose where to locate the drill rig, so that rigs do not need to be "in your face".
But this flexibility is a feature of horizontal drilling of any kind. The environmental benefit is that this flexibility can be used to minimize disruption of the land surface. It does not address the environmental problems specific to fracking, or automatically result in a better landscape.

It might be the case that the owner of the desired site would not sign the lease agreement, but his neighbor would.

One problem with fracking

vendor
In conventional drilling,
  - The gas has migrated from an oily shale strata
  - to a porous sandstone reservoir.
  - A hole into the reservoir accesses the pressurized gas.
In fracking,
  - The gas has not migrated from the oily shale.
  - Sandy fluid is forced in to make channels for the gas
  - Some of the fluid comes back out and is a disposal problem.

Fracking injects sandy water plus additives into the well, to make cracks in the shale, and jam the cracks open. A third of the fluid that goes in comes out again, but now mixed with hydrocarbons and metals from the oily shale. The first step in disposing of these produced fluids is to allow the fluid to evaporate.
These vapors are one problem with fracking.

Occupy Nairobi

AK47s belong

on the streets of other people's cities.
Obama, referring to Aurora Colorado

We need a national energy policy

Other than invade the Middle East.
And CFLs.

Commander-in-Chief

Q: What does the Constitution mean when it says the President is the Commander In Chief?
A: It means that he is in charge of the armed forces; that he is at the top of the chain of command by virtue of his office.

It does not mean he can do whatever crosses his mind.

Oaklahoma City

McVee says he was motivated by Waco.

Close Guantanamo

Simple demonstration in Buffalo.
The Peace Center joins Women in Black on Elmwood.

Overthrow the system in New York

Campaign finance reform (facebook) S7036

Overthrow the governmentby force and violence

See story

Global warming

The planet Mercury cools to -300F at night. But the earth, which is twice as far from the sun, is warm at night. The atmosphere acts like blanket, or a greenhouse. It scatters heat, making it harder for heat to escape, just as during the day it scatters sunlight, making the sky blue. In space, beyond the atmosphere, the sky is black.

Many molecules scatter heat. Water scatters heat as does carbon dioxide. Because of the burning of coal and oil, carbon dioxide concentrations have been increasing much faster than have concentrations of other compounds. One ton of coal creates three tons of CO2, and we have burned truckloads and trainloads and mountains of coal recently.

An increase of average temperature of a few degrees corresponds to a large increase in energy in the atmosphere.
I believe in global warming. Do you?

Obama, the Marxist

Marxism is the politics of hunger. So those who say Obama is a Marxist are at least right, that he ought to be a Marxist.

Von Braun was one military man we got

But we also snagged other Nazis, after the war.
The CIA got SS Sturmbanfuhrer Alois Brunner to help Egypt with interrogation methods, probably because the agency was then inexperienced in brutality and wanted men of expertise.
-----
Aldoph describer Alois as one of his best men.
A Kidnapping in Milan, Ch 5 Torment, p145, Steven Hendricks

The hour that the ship comes in

This is it.
And here is another.

The case of Jimmy Eagle and the Boots

On June 25 and 26, 1975, two FBI agents cruised the AIM headquarters near Pine Ridge in search of a pair of missing boots; one agent per boot. The murder of 60 indians was on the back burner until the boot caper was resolved. By 1PM on the 26th, after the death of indian number 61, hundreds of agents descended onto the Pine Ridge Reservation.

The boots were never recovered.
This is Leonard Peltier case.

Busy levelling the playing field

Making the world safe for ... something.

M&T Bank, scene of the crime

Indymedia

Committed to non-violence

Was Washington, was Andrew Jackson, was Polk, Lincoln?
Was Truman? Was Kennedy, Reagan, Bush? Is Obama?
William Henry Harrison did not start a war in his 80 days in office,
but he was at Tippecanoe, and killed lots of indians in Ohio.

Political prisoners

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And if you are mentally ill, or get that way, it's not looking good..

What's wrong with Smart Meters

The purpose of the "smart meter" idea is to stabilize demand, and attempt to allow all power plants to run at close to capacity all the time, since plants are expensive to build, and the owners hate to see them idle.

The "smart" strategy, to achieve this goal, is to price electricity by the minute rather than by the month: have a rate plan under which the price of electricity goes up as demand goes up, and goes down as demand goes down. A rising price will tend shed demand and reduce peaking, while falling prices will tend to attract load and fill the valleys: crate a rate plan that enough customers will subscribe to to help match demand to the supply.

The customer modifies his usage in accordance with the minute-by-minute rate in his rate plan. One rate plan may be based on historical demand, and the customer may only need to avoid known peak periods. Another plan may set the price according to real-time demand. No one will know the rates in advance. These customers may use their computers to regulate their electric use.

For either type of rate plan, the meter needs to keep track of actual usage each minute, but that's all.

The example often given with the "smart meter" presentation is that the electric company can turn off your electric water heater during peak demand, and "you will never even notice". This assumes that you have an electric hot water heater, which you don't. Possibly there will be a program to get everyone to use electric hot water heaters...
This is what is wrong with smart meters.

Arab Spring: You're next, Assad

Kids were saying that in school last March, "You're next Assad",
the mindless ones were. The teachers were agast.
When they went outside, they wrote it on the walls. Hahaha.
Somehow Bashar found out.
He arrested some kids, and pulled out their fingernails.
This bothered the parents.They wanted their kids back.
He didn't want to give them back. He shot some parents.
Then things began to go downhill.
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He said "Children? Forget you have children."
Go home and make more.
Call us if you need help.

Freedom is not free

If you are poor, you cannot afford it. But in the works: freedom stamps.

the whole truth, so help me God

I am not so worried about people who do not believe in God,
as I am about people who do not believe in truth, in reality.
Who say - let's be practical.

The culture of poverty

They have only themselves to blame;
they have only themselves.
To blame.
If you give them a marshmello, do they not eat it?
The poor are different. Not really human. Not really.
And they are wrecking it for everyone.
If there were no poor, we could all be rich.

Self possessed

Rid of delusion.
Except covered in gold. Somewhat toxic. Questionable choice.