Alex Rodriguez Is A Cheater - In Win Over Toronto Blue Jays

Remember in the American League Series when Alex Rodriguez slapped the the glove of the man covering first? The ball dropped; and the New York Yankees went on to lose the series.

Image

According to the Baseball Gods; you can steal bases, you can throw junk pitches, you can even slide hard - but, Alex Rodriguez, you can't knock the ball out of the other guys glove hoping the umpire doesn't see it.

That's cheating.

Tonight at Rogers Centre with a Blue Full Moon overhead (infoplease.com), Howie Clark is camped under a easy pop-up to end the eighth, in a one run game. Alex Rodriguez is sauntering by, on his way to third - going through the motions. Howie Clark knows shortstop John McDonald is right behind him - and he knows it's the shortstops ball if he calls it.

All of a sudden Clark dives out of the way, the ball drops, a run scores...

Then John McDonald goes ballistic on Alex Rodriguez who's now standing on third.

You don't do that in baseball - because two players running to a high struck ball, blind with their eyes on the ball, are in a MOST perilous position. A system of protocols is in place, on every play, so that nobody is injured in a collision.

So... no one on the field of play crosses that line; you don't trick the other guy by saying 'I got it' as you run by - it’s DANGEROUS.

That's cheating - twice.

Alex Rodriguez Is A Cheater.



mh

NASA Satellite Video: Changes In Arctic Polar Ice Cap

I've noticed the last three years have been colder than usual in spring (especially this spring). I think it's El Nino type water currents and air flow north into the arctic. Warm Pacific air moves across the polar cap, is conditioned - and then pours down the Hudson's Bay lowlands, to my house in Toronto.

To wit, a 25 year movie/video of the North Polar Ice Sheet.

NASA movie


Image Yahoo Video

Look familiar? Don't get used to it...

From NASA's Looking at Earth page.

"This animation, derived from the Defense Meteorological Satellite Program (DMSP) Special Sensor Microwave Imager (SSMI), shows the annual minimum sea ice extent and concentration for 25 years, from 1979 to 2004."

Dam those 'El Nino type water currents and air flows north....'

By 2020, scientists calculate the ice cap will disappear in summer.

Key Tag at FilterBlogs, Climate



mh

We will have clear blue ocean in the arctic by summer, 2020.

The international political climate change conversation has recently evolved from denial to rationalization. After Katrina, president Bush conceded Global Warming was happening, but disputes the cause. Now in Germany G-8 leaders are using words like, 'negotiation', 'agreement', and 'accountability', but what are they DOING?.

Today's news @ yahoo.com:

...U.S. favors "setting targets in the context of national circumstances."

GreenPeace has an interactive web site up showing how Exxon funds scholarly research to rebuke the IPCC reports.Also JunkScience.com keeps volleying back half baked s#!%, back from whence it came.

Meanwhile...

If the Arctic Ice Cap continues to shrink at it's present rate, we will have clear blue ocean in the arctic by summer, 2030 says Julienne Stroeve on this CBC QUIRKS & QUARKS podcast.


Deborah Zabarenko, Environment Correspondent for Reuters says 2020.

"The Arctic ice cap is melting much faster than expected and is now about 30 years ahead of predictions made by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, a U.S. ice expert said on Tuesday.

This means the ocean at the top of the world could be free or nearly free of summer ice by 2020, three decades sooner than the global panel's gloomiest forecast of 2050."

We've had El Nino type weather every year since 1998.

From NOAA

"But in the span of seven years, the global temperature for 2005 returned to 1998 levels, without the warming influence of a very strong El Niño episode."

Settlements on the Yukon River Delta, like NEWTOK, Alaska - as well as hundreds of island communities in the bearing sea - are being reclaimed by the sea.

Map: [http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2007/05/27/us/27newtokMAP.gif]



WILLIAM YARDLEY, in the New York Times

"The earth beneath much of Alaska is not what it used to be. The permanently frozen subsoil, known as permafrost, upon which Newtok and so many other Native Alaskan villages rest, is melting, yielding to warming air temperatures and a warming ocean. Sea ice that would normally protect coastal villages is forming later in the year, allowing fall storms to pound away at the shoreline."

Now, lets see if China catches up to the U.S. by 2015... And the permafrost lets go 400 000 000 tonnes of CO2 / year, after a 1.7 % rise...

What we could do is legislate Light weight carbon-fibre standards, in the transportation industry.---> Rocky Mountain Institute





More links...

Reuters link

Part One of Quirks in the Arctic

Part Two of Quirks in the Arctic




mh

Aaron Hill Steals Home!

Video-images of Aaron Hill's Straight Steal of Home !
As per my last post, on Second Baseman Aaron Hill of the Toronto Blue Jays, now here he goes and steals home.
[liveleak(dotcom) below the fold.]

(Getty Images Photo / Jim McIsaac)


A 1 - 1 Juggernaut in the seventh, here in Toronto. New York Yankees pitcher, Andy Pettite is paying too much attention to first - and forgets about Hill - Aaron Hill executes a straight steal of Home for the lead!

You don't see that everyday!

This young baseball player LOOKS like a baseball player; he's smart at the plate or on the base paths; he has a range like Roberto Alomar, or Orlando Hudson; his footwork is Perfect, every throw is to the glove.

Goin' to the Hall at Cooperstown...

Here's Video-images from Liveleak.com





mh

Toronto Blue Jays Flock Distraught?

Jays bandwagon jumping beans should take some stock.

Where is this team one third of the way into the season?

• Alex Rios is a year behind where many thought he would be because of injury - but he is now, a better than average major league baseball player - he's a keeper.
• Second Baseman Aaron Hill will win a gold glove this year, I think he's on his way to the Hall.
• One of the best centre fielders in the game.
• Ditto at First Base.
• DH (evil DH position) Go Frank Go. Frank Thomas is one of the best all around hitters in the game - .300 hitters get better with age!
• Reed Johnson in Left Field: The Spark plug of this offense, will be back in July, hopefully.
• 2 Aces and a bull pen amongst the best in the league.

Relax. Have a seat, it's early. Nobodies running away with this division - this is after all, Post Evil Empire...

And Boston Traded Trot Nixon???

Fools...



mh

Parenting, Working & Family Structure

The thought just occurred to me, if the Baby Boom generation could envision their role in society after retirement as a life lead, a completion of a circle, back to child rearing.

"Yabut... Been there - done that."

YA, BUT...

It would solve three important problems for everyone:

1. Quality Retirement, Safe, Affordable.
2. Enables Parents career and education (which they'll do anyway).
3. Quality Child Care, Safe, Efficient, Affordable .

By passing this belief set on to their children - no future generation would be raised by amateurs (you, your parents, their parents...).

Just a thought.



mh

Nobody Knows Them, Nobody Likes Them, Everybody Wishes They Would Leave!

With 24hrs to think about the worsening situation in Tripoli Lebanon since my last post on this..., The thought occurred, why is the situation where it is?

The answer is that the National Army has escalated the violence at every turn. Yet this coarse of action is contrary to the governments stated aim: to guarantee the federal government.

Sunni fathers in the National Army are shelling and killing Sunni children and mothers. This does not seem to me, to be a very good way of guaranteeing the government; but rather a good way to cause a fracture in the National Army and Civil War.

Siniora's government has been under pressure ever since Hizbullah chased away the foreign invaders last August. For almost a year he has delayed either calling an election or redistributing power in cabinet. He likes neither; so instead, a third way…?

WASHINGTON, May 22 (AP) — Lebanon has asked the United States for $280 million in military assistance to help put down an uprising by Al Qaeda-inspired militants operating from a Palestinian refugee camp, the State Department said Tuesday.

So the government is tearing itself asunder to get U.S. military aid? Seems counter intuitive to me...

From The Daily Star, Lebanon.

Hizbullah's second-in-command, Sheikh Naim Qassem, said Wednesday the government of Premier Fouad Siniora was responsible for the deterioration of the country's political and security situations. "While we have persistently warned against foreign intervention in Lebanese domestic affairs because it will lead to disasters as we have seen in the last couple of days, the ruling majority does all that is possible to widen the scope of foreign interference,"

Hmmm...

Now from Fatah - Fatah in Lebanon is an activist section of the PLO (who want a Two State Solution) - born after the rock throwing tactic lost direction. They are our only allies against the dark ages psycho Al Qaeda nutters.

From the The Daily Star, Lebanon

The commander of Fatah in Lebanon, Brigadier Sultan Abu al-Aynayn, also denied Wednesday any coordination, saying an agreement had to be reached among all Palestinian factions and the Lebanese authorities over the best way to uproot Fatah al-Islam from the camp.

Nobody knows them, nobody likes them, everybody wishes they would leave.

Their actions pave the way for military action wherever they show up. Al Qaeda in Mesopotamia, for example, who started the Iraq Civil War, have helped create a regional refugee crisis, and helped maintain high levels of military spending for U.S. arms makers.

The refugee situation is the most destabilizing factor in the regional picture, they are the gasoline that seeps through smoking embers of occupation.

Refugees who believe they have no future, no identity - become combatants out of necessity. Old men women and children, who normally wouldn't dream of picking up arms will become your most feared enemy.

The Israeli action last year and the civil war in Iraq have contributed to a Refugee Crisis that could be a catalyst for regional war.

Now 40,000 Palestinians are on that road.

Al Qaeda extremism enables extremists in government; Siniora is leading his country to a war devised in Washington.

Al Qaeda Patsies.

We created the nutters, and now 'we're' using 'em.



In my opinion.mh

Is The CIA Running Fatah al-Islam Through The Lebanese Police?

Photo from Al Jazeera

Who is Fatah al-Islam of Tripoli Lebanon?

Who are these bank robbers who can’t rob banks? Who are so inept their get-away plan sucked too.

So they're hole-up in a refugee camp, armed to the teeth with guns, grenades and... Night Vision Goggles.???

From the International Herald Tribune

"The Lebanese Broadcasting Corporation TV station reported that the dead militants included men from Bangladesh, Yemen and other Arab countries. Some wore explosive belts, security officials said. The men also had sophisticated military equipment, including night-vision goggles, heavy weapons, even antiaircraft guns, one senior officer said, speaking on condition of anonymity."

Wait a second, 'Night Vision Goggles'!

These guys are not who they appear to be. Night Vision Goggles are not for sale to terrorists, and, they are extraordinarily expensive. With a weapons cache, and this technology, it would appear they intended to engage the Lebanese Army from the start!

Less than a year ago, I read a story about how the State Department had to reminded the industry that Night Vision Goggles were a strategic advantage to the U.S., and are as such on a restricted sale list.

Here's and Industry link that sums it all up nicely, in this article about night vision technology from: GlobalWatch: The Newsletter Of The International Import – Export Institute, Est.1995 (http://expandglobal.com/globalwatch/2006_November-December.pdf)

Off the front page:

"Increasing global competition in most overseas markets for defense and commercial products has raised some concerns about the long-term competitive position of the U.S. and other countries and specifically about the U.S.’s ability to maintain technological leadership.

To better understand these concerns and the potential implications for U.S. defense production capabilities, the U.S. Army Night Vision &
Electronic Sensors Directorate supported a Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) assessment of the competitiveness of the industry."

So we know the technology has been shipped to the wrong people; but who? and when?

So these lousy bank robbers with no tactical plan, who have really expensive stuff that they shouldn't have, and don't need... Where are they from?

This from Al Jazeera's profile of Fatah al-Islam might shine some light on the confusion:

"Primarily made of Sunni Arabs, the resistance group announced its formation last November, shortly after two of its members were arrested by the Lebanese authorities."

The inference being, that the Lebanese government are running Fatah al-Islam.

So, this is a provocation by one of the players in the region, but pointing to Al Qaeda violates Occam's Razor. It seems to be the most difficult connection to make.

Any group COULD have Night Vision Goggles, but at $10,000 per, I doubt that this new group nobody knows or likes is a strong candidate.

The question is who's Really running them?

Lebanese Intelligence can get all the Night Vision Goggles they want... If the CIA wants them to. Perhaps all this is part of a plan from the "Empirists" to start a regional war that could resolve the 'Crisis' in Lebanon, Palestine, and Iraq, all at once?

One way to find out is by watching to see who benefits.

Who Benefits?

Coming to FilterBlogs Soon!

Look Out!

Update June 5, 2007

Believe it not, I came at this independently of Seymour Hersh, journalist for the New Yorker, here on Democracy Now. The empirist blog can't call him crazy enough times - he must be right.

For me it was the night vision goggles, and the way the un-named source in the Lebanese police accented them.




mh

Israel's Tactics In Lebanon Seem Confused - Unless They're Trying To Draw U.S. Into Regional War

FilterBlogs 8/2/06


What's being spun in the media with regards to Israeli tactics (or lack there of), paints them as red faced Zealots, kicking a country in the butt, in response to the killing and kidnapping of several of it's soldiers in a border skirmish on the Golan Heights. Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert is acting like an Al Qaeda suicide bomber, in Lebanon.

Smashing things around the house (Gaza) isn't stemming the rage, so like a rage-aholic, first it's the walls, then assault and murder.

This view appeals to everyone concerned; it reflects an adolescent reaction common in the region. Western media eat it up because it's an simple story, it sells - busy western voters want to care, they just haven't time for depth.

Form the western point of view, they're enemies, Iran and Syria may err in thinking their Olmert is stupid or insane, providing them a rationalization away from the thought that a regional war is at hand - and thus not preparing for it.

If one wanted to take Damascus, and thus start a regional war, a number of must-do's exist:

• Ensure the war doesn't leak out of the immediate area; Israel, Lebanon, Syria.
• The Syrian Army must be drawn to a fight and its mechanized capability destroyed, preferably in the Syrian desert.
• US forces (or NATO) must end up in control of Damascus when the fighting stops.

To accomplish this, imagine a 'hard cup' southwest of Damascus, accompanied by a small operation to secure the Turkish boarder to the north; an advance on the centre by a large creeping force, and a fast main force that slices along the Jordanian boarder, completing the encirclement of Damascus.

What caught my interest today was the fighting in Ba'labbak. With-in this plan the city represents the northern arch of that 'hard cup'.


UPDATE: August 9, 2006 Thinking the same thing at Anti-war.com, 7 days later, no connection.

Also, check my link from the article to the opinion of Edward Luttwak, senior adviser to the Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies. He thinks the best way to stabilize Iraq is disengagement. With in this plan US forces would withdraw to US bases inside Iraq. Using air power and special operations commandos US commanders could create a 'Balance of Tensions' inside Iraq. This frees US forces to then 'stabilize' other regional players; like Syria and Iran.

(Republished with grammar, style and SEO changes May 23 2007)

Link to original post in FilterBlogs/War Blogs.



mh

Climate Change in Evidence. Violent Wind Storms, Tornado Warnings Near Toronto, Canada

That 'Thing' in the photograph that looks exactly like the meteorological symbol of a Hurricane?
That’s St Mary's Ontario, home of the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame!
Visual reports of funnel cloud structures, associated with tornado's, were confirmed by Environment Canada at 7:23 PM EST.

--> 'That 'Thing': 1 cm southwest of Toronto.
Top Image: nasa
Large Image: The Weather Network

Tornado's are common in Southwestern Ontario. This event appears to be larger than usual.

WOW!

It's Imperial Greed and Fear that Fuels a Stupid Economy, Stupid

(Carl Bernstein to Bob Woodward)

BERNSTEIN:

"I finally got through to Sloan--it was all a misunderstanding that we had: he would have told the Grand Jury about Haldeman, he was ready to, only nobody on the Grand Jury asked him the goddamn question."

- from the script of-
All The Presidents Men (1976)
Written by Bob Woodward, Carl Bernstein and William Goldman.
Imdb

In a May 12, 2007 post, entitled 'Empire, Empire, Pants on Fire' at the Libertarian Website Unqualified Offerings, Thoreau makes good points. Thoreau says in the post,

"The only solution is for We The People to refuse to accept Empire"

Agreed; and that got me thinking, and writing...

The Empire needs soldiers, The Empire needs a Draft.

To get a Draft bill through the Congress they’ll need a galvanizing event, A New Pearl Harbor…

Sorry.

That again.


But... How can we extract ourselves from this Imperial Economy, with out committing economic suicide?

This fustian bargain that oppresses our existential us, deserves an autopsy.

So here it is.


To me, the long view political schematic looks like this:

The main theme of America in modern times is, The Great Depression <--> How to avoid another.

When the economy appears secure, then the other great threads appear, war and peace, and justice.

A starting point for the baby boomer narrative could be the heady summer of 1968. The future seemed to offer an end to imperial ambition and a re-birth of free individual expression; through a revolution in thinking. The age of Aquarius was the popular phrase.

But by 1975, under repression by the Nixon Administration and the FBI - and a loss of momentum in the peace movement - much of America begrudgingly retreated to a continuing evolution of the civil rights movement. The baby boomer's and the civil rights activists, like their parents, knew their strength lay in protecting the rights their parents had won in the New Deal, and rights they had just won through L.B.J. and Martin Luther King Jr's. great society vision.

By the 1980’s that morphed (devolved?) into vested self-interest. In Canada civic and National tax revolts were the most popular expression of this “real-personal-politic”. Lead by the neo-cons but attracting support from left and right of center - the process victimized spending on social programs, while guaranteeing voters income tax exemptions on investments.

The game has played out such that the economy is now being propelled by consumers purchasing unregulated, shoddy commodities with little value, financed by cheap credit, derived from mortgaged property. An economy based on the consumption of the new, new, and the garbaging of the old new. Americans are living a modern delusion rather than The American Dream - all the while leaving a nightmirish waist footprint for their children.

This ‘Bull’ economy is the political under pinning of the de-facto push to empire.

Last summer I perceived a mechanism in the commodities market. A powerful combine created a bubbled market in order to manipulate it with leavers; news, money and commodities - thus tying the market to their global corporate exploits.

Some economists believe this bubble accounts for $15.00 of the new world oil price, and is inflating natural resources prices in turn. I'm not saying there isn't a peak oil scenario functioning, I'm saying certain groups are manipulating that fact for strategic reasons.

Baby boomer's retirement funds, help float the market and benefit from the bubble. Ironically, if asked, I expect a large majority of Americans would not support Empire, even if they were promised great dividends...

..but nobody's asking 'the goddamn question'.



mh

Oakland Freeway Fire @ Youtube.com

Click on the Title for a Larger Screen.

Double Reverse Hook-on Advertising

On Billboards in the US. Click the riddle to find out more.

We did not invent the algorithm.
The algorithm consistently finds Jesus.
The algorithm killed Jeeves.
The algorithm is banned in China.
The algorithm is from Jersey.
The algorithm constantly finds Jesus.
This is not the algorithm.
This is close.

[For clarity, see http://blag.xkcd.com/2007/04/19/billboards/]

Wikipedia describes viral advertising as:

"..the idea that people will pass on and share interesting and entertaining content; this is often sponsored by a brand, which is looking to build awareness of a product or service. These viral commercials often take the form of funny video clips, or interactive Flash games, an advergame, images, and even text."

Like what we're doing now.

Cut and Paste the riddle into your blog and link it to (http://xkcd.com/); and come along on the hit ride.

Also, see THIS and THIS post on advertising - where I tried to, 'wag the dog' or 'double reverse' a viral marketing campaign.

I found Logical Extremes Blog through O'Reilly.com.




mh