North America's 1st female ship captain dies at 93
The Associated Press
BANGOR, Maine - Molly K. Carney, who as Molly Kool was the first woman in North America to become a licensed ship captain, has died at her home at the age of 93.
Friday, March 06, 2009
Blog response of the week!
from Businessinsider.com
Uh Oh, White House Seeks Economic Advice From Twitter
Twitter cofounder and CEO Ev Williams is headed to the White House today.
The administration invited him to join a “young business leaders" summit to discuss the economic crises.
As Ev himself puts it -- in a Twitter message, of course -- "[this] must mean they're *really* out of ideas."
A reminder: With 6 million members and 700% plus growth, Twitter makes no money in the US. (It sells some ads in Japan).
Tom Genin said:
Mar. 06, 9:16 AM
Tell them that they should look at the brilliant marketing ideas of Home Depot. For the first time ever, I saw Home Depot selling gun safes. Where are they being sold...next to portable electric generators. We are so screwed.
Uh Oh, White House Seeks Economic Advice From Twitter
Twitter cofounder and CEO Ev Williams is headed to the White House today.
The administration invited him to join a “young business leaders" summit to discuss the economic crises.
As Ev himself puts it -- in a Twitter message, of course -- "[this] must mean they're *really* out of ideas."
A reminder: With 6 million members and 700% plus growth, Twitter makes no money in the US. (It sells some ads in Japan).
Tom Genin said:
Mar. 06, 9:16 AM
Tell them that they should look at the brilliant marketing ideas of Home Depot. For the first time ever, I saw Home Depot selling gun safes. Where are they being sold...next to portable electric generators. We are so screwed.
Thursday, March 05, 2009
Blessed Be the Peacemakers
Black Christian News reports:
Franklin Graham says Arrest of Omar al-Bashir Threatens Chaos in Sudan
"In a shocking statement Tuesday, American evangelist and relief organization head Franklin Graham said he prefers the Sudanese president - who is facing an international arrest for crimes against humanity - to remain in power.
Despite his egregious and inexcusable involvement in the Darfur genocide and attacks on Southern Sudanese, President Omar Hassan al-Bashir has displayed some willingness to cooperate and work towards peace, Graham argues in his opinion piece posted in the New York Times on Tuesday."
Franklin Graham says Arrest of Omar al-Bashir Threatens Chaos in Sudan
"In a shocking statement Tuesday, American evangelist and relief organization head Franklin Graham said he prefers the Sudanese president - who is facing an international arrest for crimes against humanity - to remain in power.
Despite his egregious and inexcusable involvement in the Darfur genocide and attacks on Southern Sudanese, President Omar Hassan al-Bashir has displayed some willingness to cooperate and work towards peace, Graham argues in his opinion piece posted in the New York Times on Tuesday."
"I can't say anybody's starving, but people are doing without."
Here's a link to yesterdays Alaska News Nightly story Rural Alaska seeks long term solutions to economic challenges featuring Ann Strongheart and Victoria Briggs.
Wednesday, March 04, 2009
I told you I like high speed rail
Here's a socialist euro nation to emulate in that regard:
Spain's High Speed Trains Faster Than Planes
NPR's Jerome Socolovsky explains how the Spaniards are doing it right!
Spain's High Speed Trains Faster Than Planes
NPR's Jerome Socolovsky explains how the Spaniards are doing it right!
With my oldest son about to deploy to Afghanistan with his Marine Corps unit, I found this NPR Morning Edition story interesting:
'Gamble' Author: Iraq War Only Halfway Over
'Gamble' Author: Iraq War Only Halfway Over
This just in
from our own Correspondent
Looking for all the world like the sweating floor manager on the late afternoon shift at Larry Flynt's Hustler Club in an unbuttoned shiny black shirt and undersized sport coat, Rush Limbaugh leaned his meaty hands on the lectern at the CPAC conference and slipped a greasy dollar bill into the G-string of the writhing conservative dead-enders packed into the garishly lit Omni Shoreham in Washington DC.
Jowls rolling like thunder from the right via CNN's unfortunate high-definition feed, Limbaugh took control of the sad and tattered remnants of the mainstream conservative movement, and urged continued allegiance to the noble Lost Cause of Reagan, metaphorically carrying his rebel-yelling followers into the hills like modern-day Quantrill's Raiders standing firm against change.
If there's any doubt that the GOP's own Paulie Walnuts is now firmly in command of the Party of Lincoln, the "breaking news" style coverage of Limbaugh's bellow-cose rant dispelled the notion. CNN, for one, went wide - with the kind of uninterrupted live footage usually reserved for Presidents and Popes, followed by a panel of analysts to weigh and consider the import of the speech to this republic of ours. There were other dancers on the stage, to be sure - including Ward Connerly, Ann Coulter, Phyllis Schlafly and Karl Rove - but only Limbaugh's hour-long ramble (he went over by 30 minutes) garnered opposition leader status. "As the movement searches for a front-and-center spokesman to provide inspiration and direction, Limbaugh's refusal to tilt toward the center may place him out front in a Republican Party already suffering from a disappearing moderate wing," wrote Tom Schaller in Salon.
Limbaugh is a showbiz talent, and he is taking full advantage of this moment of rudderless, thoughtless spinning in circles by Republicans to seize the stage in full-throated opposition to the overwhelmingly popular new President - and virtually everything he stands for. In rooting publicly for Barack Obama's failure, Limbaugh may be leading the conservative movement to a smaller, fringe-like existence in the halls of power - but it will be an existence that he can easily dominate.
Leading gullible Republicans into the hills of guerrilla ideological resistance during the nation's toughest economic crisis in 80 years constitutes a gift of incredible political proportions for the Obama Administration. Instead of principled point-by-point opposition by a chastened party of experienced professionals ready for tough dealings at the bargaining table, President Obama is blessed with clownish truculence and pure rejectionism - embodied in the Republican response to the President's forceful Congressional address by Governor Bobby Jindal of Louisiana, a moment of excruciatingly tone-deaf ideology rescued only by the attention lavished on its shockingly poor delivery.
President Obama, of course, is aware of this lumbering and clumsy gift from the right - so much so that he sent chief of staff Rahm Emanuel to Bob Schieffer's CBS studio this morning to declare Limbaugh "the voice and the intellectual force and energy behind the Republican Party."
And it's that blustery intellectual force that convinces Republicans like Jindal and Governor Haley Barbour of Mississippi that their political futures are enlarged and brightened by a nihilistic refusal of Federal funds to their own communities. "White kids on dope," jibed conservative Rod Dreher, one of a small cadre of right-wing commentators to take on the Limbaugh lemming movement, the willful ignorance of the current crisis and the nation's ultimate rejection of a failed a humiliated party leadership. "No need to return to first principles and recalibrate policies to account for new realities," wrote Dreher. "Just find a better messenger for the same old same old. You begin to see why nobody inside that bubble could grasp what a flop Bobby Jindal's reheated Republican mush of a speech was going to be ahead of time."
Rush Limbaugh is right about one thing: President Obama is indeed on a mission of reinvention. That much was clear from his speech on Capitol Hill last week - and even clearer in his budget proposal. And, as Limbaugh undoubtedly knows, the President holds the whip hand for the foreseeable future. So Limbaugh plays to that loss of power in his audience, and in a speech that referred bizarrely to "slave blood" and a defense of John Thain (who seems to literally be asking for a set of numbered orange duds from Andrew Coumo) and the spending habits of bail-out bankers, he laid on some false concern for Obama:
"President Obama is one of the most gifted politicians, one of the most gifted men that I have ever witnessed. He has extraordinary talents. He has communication skills that hardly anyone can surpass. No, seriously. No, no, I'm being very serious about this. It just breaks my heart that he does not use these extraordinary talents and gifts to motivate and inspire the American people to be the best they can be. He's doing just the opposite. And it's a shame. [Applause] President Obama has the ability -- he has the ability to inspire excellence in people's pursuits. He has the ability to do all this, yet he pursues a path, seeks a path that punishes achievement, that punishes earners and punishes -- and he speaks negatively of the country. Ronald Reagan used to speak of a shining city on a hill. Barack Obama portrays America as a soup kitchen in some dark night in a corner of America that's very obscure. He's constantly telling the American people that bad times are ahead, worst times are ahead. And it's troubling, because this is the United States of America."
Yes, Rush this is the United States of America. And your timely and spectacular gift to the President is much appreciated indeed.
(editors note: This is what I get for telling m2k I thought Limbaugh's speech was "invigorating" LOL)
Looking for all the world like the sweating floor manager on the late afternoon shift at Larry Flynt's Hustler Club in an unbuttoned shiny black shirt and undersized sport coat, Rush Limbaugh leaned his meaty hands on the lectern at the CPAC conference and slipped a greasy dollar bill into the G-string of the writhing conservative dead-enders packed into the garishly lit Omni Shoreham in Washington DC.
Jowls rolling like thunder from the right via CNN's unfortunate high-definition feed, Limbaugh took control of the sad and tattered remnants of the mainstream conservative movement, and urged continued allegiance to the noble Lost Cause of Reagan, metaphorically carrying his rebel-yelling followers into the hills like modern-day Quantrill's Raiders standing firm against change.
If there's any doubt that the GOP's own Paulie Walnuts is now firmly in command of the Party of Lincoln, the "breaking news" style coverage of Limbaugh's bellow-cose rant dispelled the notion. CNN, for one, went wide - with the kind of uninterrupted live footage usually reserved for Presidents and Popes, followed by a panel of analysts to weigh and consider the import of the speech to this republic of ours. There were other dancers on the stage, to be sure - including Ward Connerly, Ann Coulter, Phyllis Schlafly and Karl Rove - but only Limbaugh's hour-long ramble (he went over by 30 minutes) garnered opposition leader status. "As the movement searches for a front-and-center spokesman to provide inspiration and direction, Limbaugh's refusal to tilt toward the center may place him out front in a Republican Party already suffering from a disappearing moderate wing," wrote Tom Schaller in Salon.
Limbaugh is a showbiz talent, and he is taking full advantage of this moment of rudderless, thoughtless spinning in circles by Republicans to seize the stage in full-throated opposition to the overwhelmingly popular new President - and virtually everything he stands for. In rooting publicly for Barack Obama's failure, Limbaugh may be leading the conservative movement to a smaller, fringe-like existence in the halls of power - but it will be an existence that he can easily dominate.
Leading gullible Republicans into the hills of guerrilla ideological resistance during the nation's toughest economic crisis in 80 years constitutes a gift of incredible political proportions for the Obama Administration. Instead of principled point-by-point opposition by a chastened party of experienced professionals ready for tough dealings at the bargaining table, President Obama is blessed with clownish truculence and pure rejectionism - embodied in the Republican response to the President's forceful Congressional address by Governor Bobby Jindal of Louisiana, a moment of excruciatingly tone-deaf ideology rescued only by the attention lavished on its shockingly poor delivery.
President Obama, of course, is aware of this lumbering and clumsy gift from the right - so much so that he sent chief of staff Rahm Emanuel to Bob Schieffer's CBS studio this morning to declare Limbaugh "the voice and the intellectual force and energy behind the Republican Party."
And it's that blustery intellectual force that convinces Republicans like Jindal and Governor Haley Barbour of Mississippi that their political futures are enlarged and brightened by a nihilistic refusal of Federal funds to their own communities. "White kids on dope," jibed conservative Rod Dreher, one of a small cadre of right-wing commentators to take on the Limbaugh lemming movement, the willful ignorance of the current crisis and the nation's ultimate rejection of a failed a humiliated party leadership. "No need to return to first principles and recalibrate policies to account for new realities," wrote Dreher. "Just find a better messenger for the same old same old. You begin to see why nobody inside that bubble could grasp what a flop Bobby Jindal's reheated Republican mush of a speech was going to be ahead of time."
Rush Limbaugh is right about one thing: President Obama is indeed on a mission of reinvention. That much was clear from his speech on Capitol Hill last week - and even clearer in his budget proposal. And, as Limbaugh undoubtedly knows, the President holds the whip hand for the foreseeable future. So Limbaugh plays to that loss of power in his audience, and in a speech that referred bizarrely to "slave blood" and a defense of John Thain (who seems to literally be asking for a set of numbered orange duds from Andrew Coumo) and the spending habits of bail-out bankers, he laid on some false concern for Obama:
"President Obama is one of the most gifted politicians, one of the most gifted men that I have ever witnessed. He has extraordinary talents. He has communication skills that hardly anyone can surpass. No, seriously. No, no, I'm being very serious about this. It just breaks my heart that he does not use these extraordinary talents and gifts to motivate and inspire the American people to be the best they can be. He's doing just the opposite. And it's a shame. [Applause] President Obama has the ability -- he has the ability to inspire excellence in people's pursuits. He has the ability to do all this, yet he pursues a path, seeks a path that punishes achievement, that punishes earners and punishes -- and he speaks negatively of the country. Ronald Reagan used to speak of a shining city on a hill. Barack Obama portrays America as a soup kitchen in some dark night in a corner of America that's very obscure. He's constantly telling the American people that bad times are ahead, worst times are ahead. And it's troubling, because this is the United States of America."
Yes, Rush this is the United States of America. And your timely and spectacular gift to the President is much appreciated indeed.
(editors note: This is what I get for telling m2k I thought Limbaugh's speech was "invigorating" LOL)
Discuss quietly amongst yourselves
I kick myself every time I see what originated as a sci fi plotline inside my tiny head years ago makes the headlines:
Russian general says U.S. may have planned satellite collision
The concept of autonomous robotic orbital (and suborbital) vehicles is by no means far fetched. Ever wonder what all those USAF-sponsored classified shuttle missions were all about? Yeah, me too.
Russian general says U.S. may have planned satellite collision
The concept of autonomous robotic orbital (and suborbital) vehicles is by no means far fetched. Ever wonder what all those USAF-sponsored classified shuttle missions were all about? Yeah, me too.
Wednesday, February 25, 2009
Statement of Sen. Murkowski responding to Gov. Jindal’s Republican address:
It is absolutely appropriate for our federal government to spend money on volcano monitoring. A current example is Mount Redoubt. This active volcano, which is on the flight path into Anchorage International Airport, the third busiest cargo airport in the world, and Elmendorf Air Force Base, has been smoldering since the end of January. The Alaska Volcano Observatory has been on 24 hour watch since then.
A volcanic eruption at Mount Redoubt has the potential to bring down a jumbo aircraft flying over Southcentral Alaska. Alaskans vividly remember that volcanic ash from an eruption of Mount Redoubt nearly brought down a KLM Boeing 747 as it was completing its flight from Amsterdam to Anchorage in December 1989. The volcanic ash caused the failure of all four engines on the jumbo jet.
It is understandable that citizens in the Lower 48 may not be familiar with our many active volcanoes in Alaska and how devastating they can be to our state and its citizens. In many ways, it is the same kind of danger caused from Mother Nature that the Gulf states face from hurricanes or all coastal communities face from a tsunami.
However, Governor Jindal raised a legitimate question last evening about whether it is appropriate to fund volcano monitoring in legislation that purported to stimulate the economy and create jobs for unemployed Americans. One of my key criticisms of the economic stimulus bill is that it turned into a supplemental appropriations bill, rather than a targeted approach to stimulate the economy.
A volcanic eruption at Mount Redoubt has the potential to bring down a jumbo aircraft flying over Southcentral Alaska. Alaskans vividly remember that volcanic ash from an eruption of Mount Redoubt nearly brought down a KLM Boeing 747 as it was completing its flight from Amsterdam to Anchorage in December 1989. The volcanic ash caused the failure of all four engines on the jumbo jet.
It is understandable that citizens in the Lower 48 may not be familiar with our many active volcanoes in Alaska and how devastating they can be to our state and its citizens. In many ways, it is the same kind of danger caused from Mother Nature that the Gulf states face from hurricanes or all coastal communities face from a tsunami.
However, Governor Jindal raised a legitimate question last evening about whether it is appropriate to fund volcano monitoring in legislation that purported to stimulate the economy and create jobs for unemployed Americans. One of my key criticisms of the economic stimulus bill is that it turned into a supplemental appropriations bill, rather than a targeted approach to stimulate the economy.
Don't Pisstak
As reported around the blogosphere, Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal made at least one faux pas in his GOP response to President Obama's speech to a joint session of Congress when he said
"But Democratic leaders in Congress -- they rejected this approach. Instead of trusting us to make wise decisions with our own money, they passed the largest government spending bill in history, with a price tag of more than $1 trillion with interest. While some of the projects in the bill make sense, their legislation is larded with wasteful spending. It includes $300 million to buy new cars for the government, $8 billion for high-speed rail projects, such as a "magnetic levitation" line from Las Vegas to Disneyland, and $140 million for something called "volcano monitoring." Instead of monitoring volcanoes, what Congress should be monitoring is the eruption of spending in Washington, D.C."
Obviously he neglected to vett (popular word these days, isn't it?) his zinger with people like, oh, say, Senator Murkowski or Governor Palin.
A look at the State of Louisiana website prominently displays another liberal democrat initiative, the National Hurricane Center.
Personally, I am also a fan of high speed rail, but that's another issue.
Here's the email I just sent to him:
Governor, great speech last night except for one small thing: Volcano Research is as important to the people of Alaska and Washington State and trans-Pacific air commerce as the National Hurricane Center is to the Gulf.
The Alaska Volcano Observatory (www.avo.alaska.edu) is critical preparedness infrastructure to us, as is the Alaska Tsunami Warning Center.
You are no stranger to natural disasters, and neither are Alaskans.
While it got you a great line about the "eruption of spending" in Washington, a sudden eruption of one of our many active volcanoes could have a devastating effect on life here in the Last Frontier and cripple the northern air trade routes that are so important to our Nation's economy.
Personally, I would like to hear you state that you misspoke last evening, and recognize the similarities of importance in Federal warning systems for natural disasters between the Gulf States and the Pacific Northwest.
Sincerely and with best regards from Alaska,
Mark E. Springer
Bethel, Alaska 99559
cc: Senator Murkowski
"But Democratic leaders in Congress -- they rejected this approach. Instead of trusting us to make wise decisions with our own money, they passed the largest government spending bill in history, with a price tag of more than $1 trillion with interest. While some of the projects in the bill make sense, their legislation is larded with wasteful spending. It includes $300 million to buy new cars for the government, $8 billion for high-speed rail projects, such as a "magnetic levitation" line from Las Vegas to Disneyland, and $140 million for something called "volcano monitoring." Instead of monitoring volcanoes, what Congress should be monitoring is the eruption of spending in Washington, D.C."
Obviously he neglected to vett (popular word these days, isn't it?) his zinger with people like, oh, say, Senator Murkowski or Governor Palin.
A look at the State of Louisiana website prominently displays another liberal democrat initiative, the National Hurricane Center.
Personally, I am also a fan of high speed rail, but that's another issue.
Here's the email I just sent to him:
Governor, great speech last night except for one small thing: Volcano Research is as important to the people of Alaska and Washington State and trans-Pacific air commerce as the National Hurricane Center is to the Gulf.
The Alaska Volcano Observatory (www.avo.alaska.edu) is critical preparedness infrastructure to us, as is the Alaska Tsunami Warning Center.
You are no stranger to natural disasters, and neither are Alaskans.
While it got you a great line about the "eruption of spending" in Washington, a sudden eruption of one of our many active volcanoes could have a devastating effect on life here in the Last Frontier and cripple the northern air trade routes that are so important to our Nation's economy.
Personally, I would like to hear you state that you misspoke last evening, and recognize the similarities of importance in Federal warning systems for natural disasters between the Gulf States and the Pacific Northwest.
Sincerely and with best regards from Alaska,
Mark E. Springer
Bethel, Alaska 99559
cc: Senator Murkowski
Tuesday, February 24, 2009
Y'all Come Back, Now
Let me say this about that. If you are from Alaska, listen to the Governor carefully.
As to Franklin Graham, I have to say that being from Hooper Bay I have to respect the man for what he did for my Alaska home village. When the school burned a couple of years ago he was there that day pledging to rebuild homes. And he and his organization, Samaritans Purse did just that (with a lot of help from the community!)
Video courtesy of Anchorage Daily News.
As to Franklin Graham, I have to say that being from Hooper Bay I have to respect the man for what he did for my Alaska home village. When the school burned a couple of years ago he was there that day pledging to rebuild homes. And he and his organization, Samaritans Purse did just that (with a lot of help from the community!)
Video courtesy of Anchorage Daily News.
Anonymity
The "Anonymous Blogger," bane of politicians from Wasilla to, well, Wasilla, is a creature not even of modern times, but a graffiti artist from the prehistoric, drawing animal pictures on the ceilings of caves and carving hearts into oak trees and asking, politely, that their name be "withheld by request."
Of course, in our modern age an authors name can be "withheld by choice" allowing, one would infer, greater intellectual latitude.
What is ironic, of course, is the pithiness with which some anonymous commentators comment on public and attributed statements by anyone, with no opportunity (barring a blog reply) for retort, not that many bloggers would welcome such response in the first place.
The policy here at Both Barrels has always been to be up front about who we are, partly through ego and partly because that is the way we have always operated, with a byline and letting the chips fall as they may.
This is not to say that we don't hold the work of some of the Anonymous Bloggers in high regard. Some are remarkable writers and we will be linking to their work as time allows.
Whether our willingness to attach a name to the words functions as a restraint only time - and I - can tell.
Of course, in our modern age an authors name can be "withheld by choice" allowing, one would infer, greater intellectual latitude.
What is ironic, of course, is the pithiness with which some anonymous commentators comment on public and attributed statements by anyone, with no opportunity (barring a blog reply) for retort, not that many bloggers would welcome such response in the first place.
The policy here at Both Barrels has always been to be up front about who we are, partly through ego and partly because that is the way we have always operated, with a byline and letting the chips fall as they may.
This is not to say that we don't hold the work of some of the Anonymous Bloggers in high regard. Some are remarkable writers and we will be linking to their work as time allows.
Whether our willingness to attach a name to the words functions as a restraint only time - and I - can tell.
Monday, February 23, 2009
We May Be Back
Shocked? Don't be! After a more or less self-imposed hiatus form the public square, your Both Barrels editorial board is giving careful consideration to the implications of a reappearance. Certainly the times call for a voice from the wilderness (not that there aren't one or two now, but what the hey) too add to the roil.
As some would say, stayed tuned.
MS
As some would say, stayed tuned.
MS
Monday, November 06, 2006
Wednesday, October 25, 2006
This is a little more like it
Not sure if I like the color scheme, bit at least I have the page looking decent.
Now all I have to do is pump out some content.
Now all I have to do is pump out some content.
Where the hell have I been?
Man, if it isn't blog season in Alaska! What with the exciting governor race and all hahahahaha.
One supposes I should get back on the ball and type a line or two, which is exactly my intent.
I'm in fine company, considering a few of the other Alaskan bloggers out there, to who I really don't, nor won't hold a candle. I'll run them up the flagpole for you in a little bit.
Right out of the gate, I like Diane Benson - she's got my vote. I'll tell you why soon enough.
The enigmatic Sarah Palin, while piquing my interest early on is fading fast and well she should. Her recent "Open Letter" is going to be a hot topic on this page.
I havent used this thing for a while, so bear with me as we "get our blog (back) on."
One supposes I should get back on the ball and type a line or two, which is exactly my intent.
I'm in fine company, considering a few of the other Alaskan bloggers out there, to who I really don't, nor won't hold a candle. I'll run them up the flagpole for you in a little bit.
Right out of the gate, I like Diane Benson - she's got my vote. I'll tell you why soon enough.
The enigmatic Sarah Palin, while piquing my interest early on is fading fast and well she should. Her recent "Open Letter" is going to be a hot topic on this page.
I havent used this thing for a while, so bear with me as we "get our blog (back) on."
Sunday, February 27, 2005
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