A thought before you drift off…

    "To live is the rarest thing in the world. Most people exist, that is all."
— Oscar Wilde

Is that a monkey in your bra, or ... oh, OK, it's a monkey

Woman shows up at Va. courthouse with tiny marmoset in her undergarment

“A woman turned a few heads when she walked into a rural Virginia courthouse with a tiny monkey clad in a pink-and-white dress tucked in her bra.”

Story Here 

Photo - Cara, a seven-week-old marmoset, sits on a desk at the Amherst County Courthouse in Amherst, Va., on Thursday.

North Coast Tsunami warning: “I have my floaties on!”

UPDATES BELOW

 

My wife and I were woke up at about 2:30 this morning by a call from our niece in Stockton, California.

She was in tears and thought we were going to be taken out to sea with the Tsunami that she heard was coming our way after it hit Japan.

In turn, my wife called our son and his family in Crescent City to warn them. They cleared out long before the sirens went off and went to higher ground.

After listening to the TV and following reports on local blogs, it’s becoming apparent to me that it’s highly unlikely there’s going to be any major damage anywhere on the West Coast – it’s 8: 28 a.m. right now.

Some boats and piers might get messed up, but I highly doubt places like Eureka are going to see monster waves. Authorities, in what I think was an overabundance of caution, shut down the power plant in Eureka leaving the entire city and the City of Fortuna without power! (Update – . 9:59 -  PG & E has established rolling outages for the next 2 hours to lighten their power load. This is all part of the Emergency plan up here, and shows you how little I knew about it!) 

Kids on the North Coast are delighted. My grandchildren in McKinleyville, Arcata, and Crescent City, are thrilled they’re getting the day off. In what has to be one of the most stupid reactions to all of this, the company my middle son works for insisted he go out and make beverage deliveries in Eureka – despite business’s shutting down! The last time we talked to him he was at the Co-Op – where employees didn’t want his delivery since the store’s power was off. I won’t name the company he works for, but I will say someone there has a screw loose!

For live views along the California Coast GO HERE

UPDATE NOON:  The most current information can be found here.

UPDATES:

1. Very little news coming out of our local Channel 3. Channel 7 has reporters in areas that no one else is showing describing the oceans movements live. That includes Crescent City.

2. 945 AM water reported receding for 3rd time in Humboldt Bay, 3rd wave pulse expected shortly.

3.I’m concerned about my middle son who is out there driving a big beverage truck and trying to make deliveries as ordered by his boss. Shirley has been in contact with him (via cell phone) as he describes what it’s like right now in Downtown Eureka. Looks like everything is going to be okay though.

4. Between 35 to 40 boats in the Crescent City Harbor are reportedly destroyed by a follow-up wave that also smashed pier. No casualties reported by Officers of Emergency Services in Eureka where the first reports are flooding in. Santa Cruz harbor also had boat damage.

5. Reports out of crescent City (11:37 PST): 4 people swept out to sea. One fatality confirmed!

6. MSNBC and other news organizations are reporting that the person who was killed was taking photos when it happened. Several news outlets report that two people in Crescent City who were swept out to sea were rescued. That still leaves one unaccounted for. Link here.

Crescent City harbor destroyed; 4 people swept into sea, 1 feared dead

From The LA Times:

“Eight-foot waves from the Japan tsunami destroyed much of Crescent City harbor, battered boats, closed the 101 Freeway and left one person missing.
KDRV-TV reported that four people were washed out to sea Friday. Three were hurt and one is feared dead.”

PHOTO - Crescent City residents reported that about three dozen boats were "crushed" in the harbor. (Jeff Barnard / Associated Press)

From KATU NEWS:

Tsunami waves ripple ashore, sparing Oregon coast

After their nine-hour trip across the vast Pacific Ocean, the waves that devastated parts of Japan spared the Oregon coast, while parts of California did receive some isolated damage. One person has been reported killed and three others washed out to sea in Crescent City, California, near the Oregon border, where waves over 7-feet tall have been reported.

Muslim 'radicalization' hearing revives ghost of Joseph McCarthy and his anti-Communist hearings

Please take a moment and look at Peter King (pictured here). You should know that he was once a terrorist who ran with the IRA back in the day when the group was on a world terrorist list and killing innocent civilians.

Look again. He’s back now as a crusading New York lawmaker on a mission. Do you see a hint of the fanatic? He recently admitted to being “obsessed” with the American Muslim community that he feared was fostering homegrown terrorists at alarming rates.

Peter King, the New York lawmaker at the center of the controversial hearing, says not to conduct the probe would be a 'craven surrender to political correctness.' Democrats compare the proceeding to Joseph McCarthy's anti-Communist hearings. Los Angeles County Sheriff Lee Baca stresses the need to build trust between the police and Muslim Americans.                                   Full Story

The irony of King conducting witch hunts in America is almost too much. How does a man like this get to a position of power with the opportunity to pursue a segment of the American population (over 2 million Muslims) that he’s confessed he’s obsessed with? He’s not the only person trying to alienate the Muslim population in America.

Another man on a mission against Muslims is Pastor Terry Jones from Gainesville, Florida.Yep. He’s the same guy who was going to publicly burn piles of the Koran last year. Well, guess what? He’s back. On Sunday, March 20th he’s staging a “International Judge the Koran Day” and plans to expose the “so-called peaceful” book of the Koran. 

My column in the Times-Standard, on that Sunday, will look at Jones’s misguided mission to not only discredit an ancient religion, but to harass American Muslims in any way he can. Is he just another sicko, or is he part of a movement to stop the practice of Muslim worship in America? You decide on March 20th. See ya there.   

PHOTO - Rep. Peter King (R-NY), Chairman of the Committee on Homeland Security, arrives for the first in a series of hearings on radicalization in the American Muslim community. Critics say the hearings will stigmatize Muslim Americans. (Olivier Douliery / Abaca Press / MCT / March 10, 2011)

Funniest E-mail from this morning…

Going through my e-mails this morning this gem appeared. When I stopped laughing, I knew it was time to share it with my readers:

Beginning in early 2011 gas stations will start showing PORN movies on the screens of the pumps so that you can watch someone else get screwed the same time that you do!

photo source

GOP Trampled Democracy to Appease Their Wealthy Backers

When Wisconsin's G.O.P. senators couldn't get what they wanted in an open process, they resorted to goon-squad democracy. You got a problem wi' dat?

Cartoon source

I’m not at all surprised by what the Wisconsin Republicans have done to get their way (hook or crook it doesn’t matter). No one else should be either.

“When Wisconsin Republicans did an end run around Democrats on Wednesday night in order to pass a bill that would strip public employees of most of their collective bargaining rights, they showed themselves to be liars. This was supposed to be about balancing Wisconsin's budget, remember? The collective bargaining rights revocation was all of a piece with an ironically named "Budget Repair Bill," and Gov. Scott Walker, darling of billionaire union-hater David Koch and his astroturf group, Americans For Prosperity, swore up and down that it was only the budget he cared about in this fight.”

That lie has been exposed by the GOP’s actions. People should know that the men behind this assault on unions don’t believe in democracy. They are elitists who only look out for their own. The Koch brother’s daddy Fred was the clown that started the John Birch Society – what does that tell you about the Koch boys? 

“This battle is about a few very wealthy men, and the politicians who seek their slice of power through them, wanting to steal the future from ordinary people and their children. They want to rob old people, who worked all their lives, of their Social Security and their pensions; they want to rob future generations of their inheritance, which, for regular people so blessed, usually comes in the form of the windfall from the sale of a deceased parent's home. If people can't afford to stay in their homes in their later years, there's no inheritance for their children. Why do David Koch, and his brother Charles, and their good friend, Rupert Murdoch, want to rip you off? To enrich their own heirs at your expense.

This is what the fight is partly about. The rest is about control.”

I have no doubt busting unions is only part of the Koch brother’s agenda. Just look what they’ve done so far to ensure they can override the will of the people in Wisconsin. They buy politicians like you and I buy socks – when they are no longer usable, they throw them away. 

“How much easier it would to be boss of all of us if there were no meaningful opposition to fulfilling one's self-inflating, heir-enriching agenda. Now that he's made the Republican Party over in his own image -- in Wisconsin alone, at least three congressmen, one U.S. senator and the governor won election in 2010 thanks to his efforts -- the only obstacle left is the opposition party, whose get-out-the-vote operation is rooted in the labor movement. Kill the unions and you cripple the Democratic Party. Game over.”

GO HERE to read the rest of the article.

‘Even-handed’ political columnist David S. Broder died today

 As a longtime loyal reader of David Broder, I’m sad to see his voice silenced. I’ve always admired his fairness when approaching any issue, regardless of how politically charged it was.

There’s few like him out there these days. It’s good to know he was so well-read, and hopefully his legacy will be to inspire others to be as even-handed in their political commentary.

I know that I have a long way to go to achieve his credibility in political commentary. All I can do is to strive to emulate the master. May he rest in peace.

David Broder, the Pulitzer Prize-winning Washington Post political columnist whose even-handed treatment of Democrats and Republicans set him apart from the ideological warriors on the nation's op-ed pages, died Wednesday. He was 81

Media Matters found that Broder was second among columnists only to George Will in the combined circulation of newspapers in which his column appeared.

Full Story

Will NPR lose it’s federal funding over latest flap?

It seems everyone is getting “pranked” these days. People haven’t stopped laughing at Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker’s candid conversation with (what he thought was) David Koch (Conservative agenda funder extraordinaire).

Now, on the heel’s of that embarrassment we have a an ex-NPR executive, Ron Schiller, on video saying the organization doesn’t need Federal funding. He too, was pranked (or whatever you want to call it) -this time by a Conservative gadfly, James O'Keefe, who secretly taped a conversation which was part of a “sting” operation to discredit NPR.

Vivian Schiller, NPR chief, resigns amid 'tea party' video fallout

“The resignation comes at a dicey time for NPR. On Tuesday, a video featuring former NPR executive Ron Schiller (no relation) came to light. In the video, the work of conservative activist James O'Keefe, Schiller is heard demeaning tea party supporters as racists and "gun-toting" Christian fundamentalists who had "hijacked" the Republican Party. Schiller also said that NPR would be "better off in the long run" without federal support.”

Talk about bad timing. Oh wait…there nothing accidental about this expose…so maybe I ought to say “good timing” on someone’s part. Can you guess who?

“NPR is embroiled in a battle on Capitol Hill with Republicans who want to eliminate all federal funding for the publicly supported media network. The Ron Schiller video gave new momentum to that effort, with House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.) saying Tuesday that the video "clearly highlights the fact that public broadcasting doesn't need taxpayer funding to thrive, and I hope that admission will lead to a bipartisan consensus to end these unnecessary federal subsidies."

Congressional Committee looks into 'Islamic radicalization' by American Muslims

Inquiry by congressional committee looks like inquisition to many Muslims

"By framing his hearings as an investigation of the American Muslim community, the implication is that we should be suspicious of our Muslim neighbors, co-workers or classmates solely on the basis of their religion," Rep. Michael Honda, D-Calif., wrote in a Feb. 28 op-ed piece in the San Francisco Chronicle.   FULL STORY 

PHOTO - Demonstrators attend the "Today, I Am A Muslim, Too" rally in New York City's Times Square on Sunday to show their opposition to congressional hearings on the danger posed by radical Muslims in the U.S

Hacker group vows 'cyberwar' on US government, business

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Actions to retaliate for treatment of WikiLeaks, Manning, spokesman for Anonymous says

A leader of the computer hackers group known as Anonymous is threatening new attacks on major U.S. corporations and government officials as part of at an escalating “cyberwar” against the citadels of American power.

“It’s a guerilla cyberwar — that’s  what I call it,” said Barrett Brown, 29,  who calls himself a senior strategist and “propagandist” for Anonymous. He added: “It’s sort of an unconventional, asymmetrical act of warfare that we’ve involved in. And we didn’t necessarily start it. I mean, this fire has been burning.”

A defiant and cocky 29-year-old college dropout, Brown was cavalier about accusations that the group is violating federal laws. He insisted that Anonymous members are only policing corporate and governmental wrongdoing — as its members define it.

Breaking laws, but 'ethically'
“Our people break laws, just like all people break laws,” he added. “When we break laws, we do it in the service of civil disobedience. We do so ethically. We do it against targets that have asked for it.” 

And those targets are apparently only growing in number. Angered over the treatment of Bradley Manning, the Army private who is accused of leaking classified U.S. government documents to WikiLeaks and who is currently being held in solitary confinement at a military brig in Quantico, Va., Brown says the group is planning new computer attacks targeting government officials involved in his case.

FULL STORY

Kaspar the friendly robot teaches autistic kids about emotions

“Eden Sawczenko used to recoil when other little girls held her hand and turned stiff when they hugged her. This year, the 4-year-old autistic girl began playing with a robot that teaches about emotions and physical contact — and now she hugs everyone.

The girl attends a pre-school for autistic children in Stevenage, north of London, where researchers bring in a human-looking, child-sized robot once a week for a supervised session. The children, whose autism ranges from mild to severe, play with the robot for up to 10 minutes alongside a scientist who controls the robot with a remote control.” Full Story and More Photos