Images from the Gulf

BP's Oil Rigs -- Too Big to Fail?

Apparently Western Industrial Society learned absolutely NOTHING from the sinking of the Titanic. Catastrophic Failure WILL occur. Plan for it.


From Associated Press

BP's 52-page exploration plan for the Deepwater Horizon well, filed with the federal Minerals Management Service, says repeatedly that it was "unlikely that an accidental surface or subsurface oil spill would occur from the proposed activities."

And while the company conceded that a spill would impact beaches, wildlife refuges and wilderness areas, it argued that "due to the distance to shore (48 miles) and the response capabilities that would be implemented, no significant adverse impacts are expected."

Robert Wiygul, an Ocean Springs, Miss.-based environmental lawyer and board member for the Gulf Restoration Network, said he sees nothing in the document that suggests BP addressed the kind of technology needed to control a spill at that depth of water.

"The point is, if you're going to be drilling in 5,000 feet of water for oil, you should have the ability to control what you're doing," he said.

Although the cause of the explosion was under investigation, many of the more than two dozen lawsuits filed in the wake of the explosion claim it was caused when workers for oil services contractor Halliburton Inc. improperly capped the well — a process known as cementing. Halliburton denied it.

At least the Titanic had SOME lifeboats, even if they WERE only for show.


Oh, by the way, in case you were thinking that since we have a Democrat in the White House that everything is fine, Obama said on the 2nd of April that, "Oil Rigs don't cause spills."



What a difference a couple weeks make.

Black Wave: The Legacy of the Exxon Valdez

When are we going to learn?

With the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico reaching shore Thursday night, I only thought it proper to take a moment to review what happened with the Exxon Valdez, and the lasting environmental degradation that occurs even still to this very day.

Democrats Introduce a bill for a Biometric National ID card

All the Alex Jones conspiracy theorists can pat themselves on the back.

The Democrats have introduced a bill that would require everybody who has a job to carry a biometric national ID card.

They're calling it the B.E.L.I.E.V.E system, (Biometric Enrollment, Locally stored Information and Electronic Verification of Employment)

I guess that means that you can start BELIEVING the shit that Alex Jones talks about.

Read articles on the subject here, here and here.

Oh, and hear what the ACLU has to say on the subject.

Tim James "Xenophobia just makes sense"

Why not reduce the number of languages from twelve to 6, and give driver's license examinations in one of these languages: Chocktaw, Cherokee, Chickasaw, Biloxi, Alabama, or Muskogee?

What, you want ENGLISH?! Goddamn immigrants! Always wanting to be accommodated!

Tim James' campaign video -- Language @ Yahoo! Video

Just got done with an Ad for the Green Party

They may or may not publish it. (It might be too weird.)
Lemme know what you think!

ALBUM ONE sampler RADIOACTIVE SUNFLOWER

Shine on!

BUY THIS ALBUM: http://bit.ly/abHkxF

THE USUAL STUFF:
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ALBUM ONE sampler INDIVISIBLE QUADRANGLE

"ALBUM I" FOR SALE OVER AT ETSY

This is DIY punk for real realzies. I don't outsource my shirts to Zazzle.com

I don't outsource my CDs to CDBABY.com

I even screen print and construct the CD cases myself!

I composed, produced, and performed all the music on this album.

A solid album of music that you'll probably like if you're into Squarepusher, Aphex Twin, Tortise, Tim Fite, John Cage, Chemical Brothers, Mannheim Steamroller, or Erik Satie.

TRACK LISTING (AND AUDIO!)

1. Indivisible Quadrangle
2. Bluegreen
3. My Electric Crutch
4. Triangle Logic
5. Radioactive Sunflower
6. if I were a silent film... (v 1.0)
7. Meditation on breathing
8. hitting metallic objects in the fashion of John Cage
9. Modulation Experiment #3

Keyboards, French Horns, Guitar, Upright bass, fretless elec bass, vocals, computers, composition all by Me.

Click To Buy

The Punk Patriot Interviews AYN RAND

Make more shows like Possible: Donate

The Punk Patriot's Rap-A-Long Vlog

All Interviews from Obama's Visit parts 1-10

Obama Visits Maine (pt 6)

WikiLeaks: Video of the murder of Reuters journalists by the US Military

From http://www.collateralmurder.com/

full video

Some of things I found most disturbing from this footage:

1) Airmen mis-Iding Reuters journalists carrying cameras and tripods as combatants with Ak-47s and RPG launchers.

2) Gunman talking to himself wishing that the cameraman who's legs he shot off with high caliber rounds would "pick up a weapon" so that he could shoot him.

3) Ground patrol IDing an injured child, the gunman saying with no feeling, "oh well" and the ground patrol consoling him saying "well, it's their fault for bringing their kid into a battle." -- Excuse me? But this "battle" is where they fucking LIVE.

4) Ground Patrol laughing while talking about driving over bodies of the recently deceased.

5) After getting a questionable ID on a person carrying a "weapon" into a building, an air gunman positing that they launch a missile into the building.

6) They fire a 1,000lb missile into a building with unarmed people walking around on the sidewalk in front.

7) After the first missile goes off, and bystanders try to help injured people out of the rubble, they fire a second missile. Comments from gunman are "aw sweet! look at that bitch go! Patoosh!"

8) They engage with a third missile and destroy the building.



From http://www.collateralmurder.com/

The military did not reveal how the Reuters staff were killed, and stated that they did not know how the children were injured.

After demands by Reuters, the incident was investigated and the U.S. military concluded that the actions of the soldiers were in accordance with the law of armed conflict and its own "Rules of Engagement".

Consequently, WikiLeaks has released the classified Rules of Engagement for 2006, 2007 and 2008, revealing these rules before, during, and after the killings.

WikiLeaks has released both the original 38 minutes video and a shorter version with an initial analysis. Subtitles have been added to both versions from the radio transmissions.

WikiLeaks obtained this video as well as supporting documents from a number of military whistleblowers. WikiLeaks goes to great lengths to verify the authenticity of the information it receives. We have analyzed the information about this incident from a variety of source material. We have spoken to witnesses and journalists directly involved in the incident.

WikiLeaks wants to ensure that all the leaked information it receives gets the attention it deserves. In this particular case, some of the people killed were journalists that were simply doing their jobs: putting their lives at risk in order to report on war. Iraq is a very dangerous place for journalists: from 2003- 2009, 139 journalists were killed while doing their work.

Obama Visits Maine (pt 5)

Yup. More.

Obama Visits Maine, April Fools come out (pt4)

I'll bet you thought I was only going to interview crazy Tea Party people, didn't you?

This is viewer supported media. Do your part and donate!

Obama Visits Maine, April Fools come out- pt3

We want our way of life back, the kind we knew 30 or 40 years ago, when we were afraid of communists, our presidents were white, and we didn't know cigarettes were bad for us!
(or does he mean "when Ralph Nader was the most respected public figure in the USA, people were protesting to end the Vietnam war, and even Republicans supported welfare?")

Also, this guy thinks there are too many old people who are on Medicare and not working.

Tea Party Coordinator Interview

Killing people, he's okay with. Grandma getting a check in the mail so that she doesn't have to eat cat food? He opposes. Sick people getting health care? Heaven forbid!

Obama Visits Maine Part 1

I love how this woman is willing to work a second job to pay for healthcare, but doesn't want to pay into Medicare. And that she thinks it's easy to get healthcare, that she CAN afford it, but chooses not buy it. I hope she doesn't have kids, or she's a terrible mother.

*sigh* Revisiting the 2000 election

I hate that I have to do this, but here it is:

Hate the show? Avoid donating, and it will go away.

How Corporate America Destroyed Ralph Nader, and are destroying America

Read Chris Hedges's new column on how Corporate America destroyed Ralph Nader's reputation, and destroyed the fundamental principals of America while they were at it.

A sample:

The corporations carefully studied and emulated the tactics of the consumer advocate they wanted to destroy. “Ralph Nader came along and did serious journalism; that is what his early stuff was, such as ‘Unsafe at Any Speed,’ ” the investigative journalist David Cay Johnston told me. “The big books they [Nader and associates] put out were serious, first-rate journalism. Corporate America was terrified by this. They went to school on Nader. They said, ‘We see how you do this.’ You gather material, you get people who are articulate, you hone how you present this and the corporations copy-catted him with one big difference—they had no regard for the truth. Nader may have had a consumer ideology, but he was not trying to sell you a product. He is trying to tell the truth as best as he can determine it. It does not mean it is the truth. It means it is the truth as best as he and his people can determine the truth. And he told you where he was coming from.”

You KNOW you want to read the rest. Click through to the original article.

Commercial Nihilism in the 1950s

Thank you Jim Henson.

Black Wave- The Legacy of the Exxon Valdez

A look at the place where the Exxon Valdez spilled, ten years later. Please share this video.

STRATEGY

Help keep this show going.

Hey, Just A Girl: Nice T-Shirt!

I'm Just A Girl was a fellow contributer to Davis Fleetwood's "Operation Itch." You can findI'm Just A Girl's You Tube Channel here. She has great angst filled rants, and updates a lot more frequently than I do.

And you can buy an awesome shirt just like the one she's wearing here.

Why Dennis Kucinich Flipped His Vote

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Blog Bonus:

What Happened to Cynthia McKinney?

Joe Biden Drops the F-BOMB!

This is a big deal. This is a big fucking deal.

Corporate Monkeys

A Super-duper lofi song recording.

Corporate monkeys must jump through the corporate monkey hoops.
Corporate monkeys must fling their monkey poop.
Corporate monkeys must wear their monkey suits.
Corporate monkeys must stay in the corporate monkey zoos.

We're all living in a monkey factory.
You don't get breaks to eat your lunch
and you don't get breaks to go pee.
Monkeys wear their monkey suits
and they look like you and me!

This is what Americans sound like to Non-English Speakers

Also, this song is f**king amazing.

Gibberish rock song written by Italian composer to sound like English Boing Boing
- Watch more Videos at Vodpod.

Jamie Kilstien - What Causes Terrorism?

FUCK YES.

If you like this, you should check out Jamie Kilstiens Bi-Weekly radio show, Citizen Radio on BTR.

The Green Party of the USA is Updating its Platform

Donate to the Green Party:

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Donate to keep this show on the road:

NERD INVERSION T-SHIRT!

Clicky!





So let's say that you're going to a murder mystery party.
Or a Star Trek themed birthday party.

Both of those are rather nerdy, and as a consequence, rather lame (unless you are a nerd, in which case they are awesome.)

However, there exists a point when something becomes SO NERDY that it becomes proportionately cooler. That point is called the "Nerd Inversion."

Shown here white on green. Available in unisex sizes S-XL.
Please be sure to include your size in a "message to the vendor" when ordering.

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Nerd Inversion

No this isn't an xkcd comic. I made this.

How the Texas Board of Education is Rewriting History- Literally

As you may or may not know, the Texas Board of Education is highly influential when it comes to what ends up in our nation's text books.

These recent proposed revisions to history, however, seem more like efforts from the Taliban than a thriving Democratic Republic.

From YahooNews:

- A greater emphasis on “the conservative resurgence of the 1980s and 1990s.” This means not only increased favorable mentions of Schlafly, the founder of the antifeminist Eagle Forum, but also more discussion of the Moral Majority, the Heritage Foundation, the National Rifle Association and Newt Gingrich's Contract With America.

- A reduced scope for Latino history and culture. A proposal to expand such material in recognition of Texas’ rapidly growing Hispanic population was defeated in last week’s meetings—provoking one board member, Mary Helen Berlanga, to storm out in protest. "They can just pretend this is a white America and Hispanics don’t exist," she said of her conservative colleagues on the board. "They are rewriting history, not only of Texas but of the United States and the world."

- Changes in specific terminology. Terms that the board’s conservative majority felt were ideologically loaded are being retired. Hence, “imperialism” as a characterization of America’s modern rise to world power is giving way to “expansionism,” and “capitalism” is being dropped in economic material, in favor of the more positive expression “free market.” (The new recommendations stress the need for favorable depictions of America’s economic superiority across the board.)


- A more positive portrayal of Cold War anticommunism. Disgraced anticommunist crusader Joseph McCarthy, the Wisconsin senator censured by the Senate for his aggressive targeting of individual citizens and their civil liberties on the basis of their purported ties to the Communist Party, comes in for partial rehabilitation. The board recommends that textbooks refer to documents published since McCarthy’s death and the fall of the Soviet bloc that appear to show expansive Soviet designs to undermine the U.S. government.

- Language that qualifies the legacy of 1960s liberalism. Great Society programs such as Title IX—which provides for equal gender access to educational resources—and affirmative action, intended to remedy historic workplace discrimination against African-Americans, are said to have created adverse “unintended consequences” in the curriculum’s preferred language.


- Thomas Jefferson no longer included among writers influencing the nation’s intellectual origins. Jefferson, a deist who helped pioneer the legal theory of the separation of church and state, is not a model founder in the board’s judgment. Among the intellectual forerunners to be highlighted in Jefferson’s place: medieval Catholic philosopher St. Thomas Aquinas, Puritan theologian John Calvin and conservative British law scholar William Blackstone. Heavy emphasis is also to be placed on the founding fathers having been guided by strict Christian beliefs.

- Excision of recent third-party presidential candidates Ralph Nader (from the left) and Ross Perot (from the centrist Reform Party). Meanwhile, the recommendations include an entry listing Confederate General Stonewall Jackson as a role model for effective leadership, and a statement from Confederate President Jefferson Davis accompanying a speech by U.S. President Abraham Lincoln.

- A recommendation to include country and western music among the nation’s important cultural movements. The popular black genre of hip-hop is being dropped from the same list.

So unless we can change the influence of the Texas Board of Education, these ignorant assholes in Texas are going to be deciding what the next generation think history is.

And there will be an entire generation of kids growing up not knowing who Ross Perot, Ralph Nader, and Thomas Jefferson are, and Joseph McCarthy will be celebrated as a hero.

Texas Board of Education, fuck you.

THANK YOU DENNIS KUCINICH!

Why we should all be thankful to Dennis Kucinich about his taking a stand on this terrible healthcare bill:

An Article from HuffPo's Ellen R Shaffer: Thank You, Dennis Kucinich!


Videos:






Now Dennis Kucinich is facing attacks from Markos of Daily Kos, MoveOn.org, and now President Obama's White House-- not for being a conservative, corporate blowhard like Sen Max Baucus (D-MT), but for being a progressive!

Help Kucinich fight back against attacks from the faux-left by Donating to put this radio spot on air.

KEEP UP THE GOOD FIGHT!

FireDogLake is being AWESOME

I was really happy to see this in my inbox today:

Last September, progressive groups including MoveOn, DFA and blogs across the country came together to raise over $430,000 for 65 members of Congress who pledged to vote against any health care bill that doesn't have a public option.

Rep. Dennis Kucinich is one of those members who took the pledge and intends to honor it.

And now MoveOn is demonstrating against him because of it. He's being threatened with primary challenges, and President Obama is going to his district today to campaign for the health care bill.

Donate $5 to Rep. Kucinich and let him know that we've got his back for opposing any bill without a public option.

The health care bill that Congress now wants to pass doesn't contain a public option, which would have served as a check on private insurance. Instead, the bill is written as a giant giveaway to big business--it doesn't make health care affordable, it just forces people to buy insurance from unregulated monopolies.

Dennis Kucinich is doing what a member of Congress should do: holding out his vote for something that 80% of the American people want. Now that only 50 votes are needed in the Senate, and 51 Senators have said they'd vote for a bill with a public option, even that last threadbare excuse is gone.

Dennis is asking the question everyone should be asking: why?

If we allow Dennis to be targeted for his principles and have his political career destroyed for simply doing what progressives should be doing, no member of Congress will ever have the political courage to stand up against corporate power again.


Donate $5 to Rep. Kucinich and let him know that we've got his back for opposing any bill without a public option.

Please repost this everywhere progressives go on the internet.

Patrick Kennedy on Kucinich's Anti-War Bill

Kucinich Responds to Markos

Real quick: Watch this video

Thanks again to Single Payer Action.org

Markos of Daily Kos is a spineless weasel

Thanks to Single Payer Action I found out that Markos Moulitsas, founder of Daily Kos, has sided with corporate assholes like Max "we need more police" Baucus (D-MT), and aligned himself with the insurance companies against people like Dennis Kucinich (D-OH).

From Single Payer Action:

He fell into line with the corporate Democrats, arguing that it was Dennis Kucinich (D-Ohio) who is to blame.

That would be Dennis Kucinich – the only member of Congress who supports single payer and is willing to stand up to his party and say no to the insurance industry bailout that is Obamacare.

“And I'm going to hold people, like Dennis Kucinich, responsible for the 40,000 Americans that die each year from a lack of health care,” Markos said on MSNBC last night. “And I don`t care if you`re a Republican or you`re a conservative Democrat or you`re somebody like Dennis Kucinich. The fact is, this does a heck of a lot for a lot of people.”

Yeah, that makes sense Markos... it's Dennis Kucinich's fault for wanting Medicare For All, not the obstructionist Democrats like Max Baucus who don't even want this bill to pass unless it totally ass-rapes the pocketbooks of every American for the increased profits of Health Insurance companies. It's all the fault of the guy who thinks we can do better, and not the fault of the assholes who made the bill suck so much.

This whole thing is amusing only because back in September, Dennis Kucinich was Markos's best buddy, with Markos saying,

“We’re not talking what we really wanted – we really wanted single payer – so we already compromised from our position,” Markos said at the time. “I think the public option at this point is sort of our Waterloo. This is where we stand and fight.”

To continue with Markos's 'Waterloo' analogy, he's given up on fighting for the French, defected to the Prussians after seeing that they were winning.

And for that, Markos is a spineless weasel.

BONUS: In case you missed it, here's the "We need More Police" comment from Max Baucus.

DANCING KITTENS!

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