Poisonous chemicals used to fight Gulf oil slick

A deadly side-show to the massive oil spill drama is playing itself out with marine wildlife as BP uses record amounts of a toxic stew (environmentalists don’t even know all the ingredients in it, making it difficult to access the damage being done) that is supposed to help disperse the gushing oil. 

Dispersants’ ingredients — ‘proprietary recipes like Coca-Cola’ — are secret

PHOTO: A sea turtle in the gulf surfaced Wednesday to feed, swimming through patches of oxidizing oil mingling with chemical dispersants used by BP to break up oil.

Why Was an Ad Criticizing Mayor Bloomberg for NYC's Marijuana Arrest Policy Censored?

New York City has the dubious distinction as the marijuana arrest capital of the world. The mayor's office doesn't seem to want to allow attention drawn to it.

Excerpt:

“Most New Yorkers don’t know that last year, the New York Police Department arrested close to 50,000 people for marijuana possession at a staggering cost of nearly $100 million.”

California To Collect $100 million in Cannabis Taxes This Year

While the State of California begins to debate the consequences of taxing and regulating cannabis for personal use, it's important to note the state is already taxing and regulating the agricultural product used by 2.9 million Californians monthly.

California Board of Equalization official Anita Gore told the Express this week that the board estimates it collects anywhere from $50 million to more than $100 million in sales taxes per year from medical cannabis dispensaries.

Go here to read the rest.

Sex toy spurs evacuation of South Tahoe CHP station

“SOUTH LAKE TAHOE —

An anal vibrator believed to be a bomb caused the California Highway Patrol to briefly evacuate its South Lake Tahoe area office on April 7.
The incident began around 4:30 a.m. when a California Highway Patrol officer contacted a 60-year-old man in a “No Parking” zone on Highway 89 near Luther Pass, according to a CHP report.
The officer arrested the man after allegedly finding what was believed to be methamphetamine.
During a subsequent search, officers found “a suspicious wire, with an on/off switch” in the man's front left pocket leading to his anal cavity, according to the report.
Officers planned to have the device removed by medical personnel at Barton Memorial Hospital, but during an interview with the man at the CHP office, “the subject began to explain his knowledge of explosives and bomb-making,” according to the report.”  

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The Great Anti-War Cartoons

By Daryl Cagle

“My fellow Muppet alumni, Craig Yoe, sent me a copy of his newest book for a review. I collect editorial cartoon books and this is an unusual one.

 “The Great Anti-War Cartoons” from Fantagraphics reflects Craig’s non-mainstream tastes applied to historical cartoons; he’s chosen cartoons that tend to use few or no words (American cartoonists in the 1800’s and early 1900’s were typically quite wordy) and Craig has chosen cartoons that focus on no war in particular, featuring common symbols that we’re used to seeing as favorites in international cartoon competitions, such as: bombs, skulls, generals with medals and images of the victims of war.”

 Go here to read more.

Message to seniors from congressional candidate: fear communism and bring back the ‘good old days’

Challenger to Democratic congressman hopes to ride wave of anti-government fervor to victory

Jackie Walorski has jumped from the Tea Party to the Republican Party in hopes of winning a Congressional seat. She brought all of her rhetoric with her:

Excerpt:

For Republican congressional candidate Jackie Walorski, this city is 2010’s version of the Normandy beaches on D-Day 1944.

Today’s senior citizens “fought for us” in World War II and “left bodies and blood on the beaches of Normandy,” Walorski said at a recent campaign stop in Kokomo, Ind. “Our fight of this generation is this ideological war that is brewing in this nation that is going to determine in November who we are as Americans.”

Here we go again. Walorski wants her country back. Note; she’s addressing senior citizens and invoking the 1950s as the good old days. For who? Oh that’s right…white middle classed Americans. Not for people of color at that time.

The fifties was full of paranoia that escalated into the sixties when people were building bomb shelters in case the Russian attacked. people like Joe McCarthy violated people’s rights and got away with it for a long time. I was there. It’s all about perceptions, and the angry white people calling to “take back the country” now are those same people – but older. 

Excerpt:

“This is our country. It is time we stand together and take it back,” said Walorski, the favored candidate of the Tea Party movement. “This Constitution that I have raised my right hand to defend is under direct assault and I will not stand for it.”

Right on cue, these angry white Americans calling for their country back are accusing our president of being a Communist. Shades of McCarthyism still resonates with that generation. They will die someday, firmly convinced Communism is just around the corner.

Excerpt:

“I think he’s trying to turn the country into a communist nation,” Michigan City, Ind., insurance agent John Palman said about Obama. “And this is America. We’re not socialists; we’re not communists; this is America, we’re free, so far.”

Hey Sarah! Watcha think about them oil rigs now?

Image source - Nate Beeler, The Washington Examiner / Politicalcartoons.com

Tea party groups battle racism claims

Movement fears loss of moderates if ‘worst elements’ take over

Excerpt:

"I think there is an element of fear that 'our white country' is now being run by a black man. There is a sense that 1950s America is gone," said Herb Neumann, a white Democrat from Tulsa. "There's a sense of loss. I grew up in the 1950s, and I don't think that moving on is a bad thing."

Here’s another fine mess in the pursuit of greed

Daryl Cagle, MSNBC.com
Daryl is MSNBC's own cartoonist.

L.A. city attorney's office warning 439 marijuana shops that they must close by June 7

Just in case anyone wants to know, the Feds are still playing the demonization game with marijuana. This is just further proof that the Feds are not going to go quietly in the night and respect state laws until the voters back them up against a wall with solid legislation legalizing the healing herb, and tells them to stop.

Excerpt:

“Los Angeles city prosecutors are sending letters to 439 medical marijuana dispensaries warning them that they must shut down by June 7, when an ordinance to control pot shops will finally take effect after years of debate and delay.”

Image source

We have a glut of major news stories this morning

There sure is a lot of big stories going on right now. From the Times Square bomb suspect nabbed at airport (photo on right)to the massive oil spill off the Mexican Gulf Coast - Gulf Coast watches path of oil spill, it seems disasters are the order of the day.

Ash is disrupting flights in Ireland, Britain, and Homeless people are feared killed in Nashville flooding (photo below).

 

Everywhere I look, the news seems pretty grim today. More examples: Mass. lifts boil water order for 2 million; Va. lacrosse player’s killing shocks classmates; How United-Continental merger impacts fliers; and an Out-of-control satellite threatens spacecraft!