Gray whale that died had swallowed golf ball

reminds me of the Seinfeld episode where Kramer was using the ocean as a driving range......

SEATTLE — A gray whale found dead in Washington state’s Puget Sound had been feeding on shrimp and also had some debris, including a golf ball, in its stomach, but scientists don’t know what killed the animal.

The stomach examination Monday found the shrimp, woody debris, algae, pieces of rope and plastic, the golf ball and some flat spongy material, NOAA Fisheries said.

Cancel USPS service: Cosmo Kramer versus Sen. Susan Collins

Sen. Susan Collins from Maine  defends the US Postal Service.  There was a Seinfeld episode about Kramer deciding that the USPS was outdated, because of email, and he resented getting Pottery Barn catalogs constantly.  the USPS is outdated, its an elephant for politicians who want to satisfy an older population who sees the local USPS office as the identity for their community.  Fact is, the sense of community has become so fractured in today's society, that the USPS office is about the only thing many small communities have for their "sense of place."  My opinion:  shut the whole thing down.  Contract out for delivery.  It would save billions of dollars. the example below is the problem: why should the federal government subsidize a national enterprise so someone in small town maine can send a letter to someone ten miles away?  Heard of email?  Phone?  send an attach file?  Facebook?  come on.....

Collins passionately defended a mail processing center in Hampden, a town in northern Maine. Closing it would mean that a letter sent from one town in northern Maine to another town just ten miles away would take a 600-mile roundtrip, she said.

we are NOT leaving Iraq - why?

New report:

A January 31 report from the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, for instance, estimated that the State Department will spend $25-$30 billion in Iraq over the next five years. The panel said that U.S. diplomatic operations in Iraq in fiscal year 2012 will spike to at least $3 billion, roughly a quarter of the State Department's global operations budget. Other State initiatives here--like the large and growing Office of Security Cooperation--will push the fiscal 2012 numbers even higher.

so one more time, why are we in Iraq?  Oil?  we are spending far more than we will ever get from oil.  Geo political influence?  what influence? Iran dominates Iraqi politics.  Does our presence help the Israeli -Palestinian conflict? No, its worse.  Looks like Israel is intent on keeping west bank.  so again: what are we doing there?  Even at the height of the British Empire, the height of european colonialism, at least those countries got something from their colonies.  what are we getting from Iraq? 

Obama cant get out, or wont.  who is keeping us there?  what is Obama facing?  some kinda cabal of industrial-military contractors, sunk cost military-diplomatic thinking that we just cant leave?

Australian think they should "cull" sharks: why not "cull" dumb ass divers?

here is a story about another shark attack in australia, this time a young boy was lost.  Tragic of course.  but why was the boy's dad diving in water known to have sharks?  What precautions did the dad take?  Sharks live in the ocean, duh.  Its not like they crawl up on land and attack us while we sleep.  we go out into their playground, in a black dive suit, dive underwater, act like we are seals or prey, and the sharks attack us.  Its out fault, not the sharks fault.  Sharks play an important role in ocean ecology.  there are plenty of places to dive without fearing shark attack in australia.  and there are ways of diving in shark waters and still be safe, like having spotters, calculating the time of day sharks are active.  Easiest just to avoid shark infested water.

and BTW surfers know there are sharks in the water, surfers paddle far out, in deep water, even in shallow water there can be sharks, when there is a shark spotting surfers feel safer because at least someone SAW the shark.  Sharks are there, we just cant see them.  Sharks wont attack a surfer while surfing, because the surfer doesnt look like prey when surfing the board on a wave.  but when a surfer is paddling, waiting for a wave, they look like a seal.  and you dont necessarily see sharks if they are swimming around you.  the whole dorsal fin thing (da da, da da, the shark soundtrack with the dorsal fin) is a myth.  sharks are invisible usually, they stay under water. you see the dorsal fin only in shallow water.  but surfers love to surf, so sharing the ocean with sharks is part of the challenge of surfing. Like jean paul sartre said:  "No complaining!"  (but i dont think he surfed......)

Wyoming wants to shoot wolves on sight: why does Wyoming even exist?

Here is a story about how Wyoming wants wolves to be off endangered species list, listed as predators, and killed on sight.  They would still be protected in yellowstone and grand tetons parks.  Says some in Wyoming dont think federal gov understands people out west blah blah.

First, wolves shouldnt be allowed to kill cattle being raised by ranchers.  If a cow is killed, rancher should be reimbursed by fed gov.  I dont believe wolves are that big of a problem.  Ranchers never liked the idea of reintroducing wolves to national parks to begin with, this is just excuse to kills stuff.

What this raises a larger question: why do we have states in which the federal government owns much of the land?  If we eliminated the states of montana, wyoming, idaho, north and south dakota, wouldnt we save money?  No expensive state governments.  No more right wing nuts from those states in the US Congress (Dick Cheney).  the fed government owns about half the land in those states anyway (altogether as a territory) so why not just make it a US territory?  Appoint a territorial governor: Pres Obama could appoint Dennis Kucinich (he just lost his congressional seat).  Appoint a liberal environmentalist as territorial governor.

People in these states complain about the federal government - hell, they are lucky to even have a government.  I think we should make them all part of one big US territory, call it Dakota Territory,  or Satchquach territory, or just Northwest Territory.

Nissan van is new NYC cab of choice

new york city has new cabs, but they wont all be hybrids.  Bloomberg has tried to mandate hybrids, but the federal courts have shut him down.  Here is a story about hybrids and ford's attempt to create  a new cab.  looks like nissan won out, the cab shown here.  its not a hybrid, but a 4 cylinder.  dont know why its better than the ford van.  curious.  with the global car market i guess its doesnt matter, but NYC was known for its fords and chevys, esp the ford crown vics.

Odd resemblance? Coincidence? Dwayne Hoover and Robert Smith?

I just watched Breakfast of Champions movie, with Bruce Willis as Dwayne Hoover, great book by Kurt Vonnegut.  I couldnt get over the resemblance to bob smith, former pres of SRU.  Or was it the paranoid behavior?  Either the behavior or the hair and glasses.  

santorum about to get kicked out of race

the reason GOP elites want Santorum out?  First, Romney has the nomination wrapped up, so why spoil the party?  Second, he doesn't have $ to win.  Rick's problem has always been a lack of money.  Romney has outspent him every race.  Rick doesn't have money for the TV ads to counter Romney's.  Its all about money.  Money might not buy an election, but it does buy a nomination.

Obama was a long shot in 2008 because......the Clinton's had the money.  it wasn't until Obama was convinced he could attract some loyal Clinton contributors that he got into the race:  the FOB (friends of Bill) turned out to be not so loyal, and they jumped to Obama.  First a few brave souls, then more.  The clinton's of course threatened revenge, but if hillary didnt get the nomination and Obama won, then there would be no revenge.  and there has not been any revenge.

Money.  its all about money.  A schizophrenic patient of mine tells me every time I see him: "Hey, have you heard the expression, Money talks, and Bullshit walks?"  he thinks that is so funny.  but it is so true.