Will the next world war be another all out romp instigated by the same old world politics that have been around since the 1800s... or will the next 'big one' be percipitated by environmental pressures?
As we all know (ok, perhaps not you Republicans), environmental pollution is a world-wide issue. When entire countries (yes, I mean China) are disgorging massive quantities of pollution and are rampantly overusing their natural resources, this effects the rest of the world. When will things come to a head causing governments to clash not over resources but over excessive pollution?
Will the next world war be fought to force the polluters to become 'green'?
...or don't you (ahem) 'give a hoot'.
Monday, October 27, 2008
Saturday, October 11, 2008
Moving
Well, it's official. I'm moving again. The apartment that I'm in now has been sold and I have 90 days to find a new apartment. I spent Friday going around to five or six different agencies looking for rental properties. It really makes things difficult when you don't have any income. :-)
Ever worse, many properties here are covered by a French law which gives tax breaks to rental property owners who rent properties at "affordable" rates. In order to take advantage of these lower rental rates, you are required to have paid French incomes taxes... Which, so far I have not paid any French income taxes since I don't have an income.
So, of the 80 or so properties which are on the market now, I can only choose between about 30 of them. Fun.
Ever worse, many properties here are covered by a French law which gives tax breaks to rental property owners who rent properties at "affordable" rates. In order to take advantage of these lower rental rates, you are required to have paid French incomes taxes... Which, so far I have not paid any French income taxes since I don't have an income.
So, of the 80 or so properties which are on the market now, I can only choose between about 30 of them. Fun.
Tuesday, September 30, 2008
Stars (stellar, not hollywood)
When you can stand in the parking lot of your apartment, look up and see not just the stars but the background stars, you kinda know you're in the right place.
Today is a milestone. I submitted and received my carte de sejour. I am now a legal resident of St. Martin and France. This is one of the final barriers which has prevented me from actually owning the business that I purchased in mid-May 2008.
Oh... I go tomorrow to get plates for my new car, a VW Polo. As opposed to California, the licensing fees for this car (and every other car) is 54€ (about $80). This is a one time fee, not a reoccurring fee that you can later write off on your federal taxes, if you can actually itemize your deductions.
Today is a milestone. I submitted and received my carte de sejour. I am now a legal resident of St. Martin and France. This is one of the final barriers which has prevented me from actually owning the business that I purchased in mid-May 2008.
Oh... I go tomorrow to get plates for my new car, a VW Polo. As opposed to California, the licensing fees for this car (and every other car) is 54€ (about $80). This is a one time fee, not a reoccurring fee that you can later write off on your federal taxes, if you can actually itemize your deductions.
Monday, September 29, 2008
Palin III
Ok.... Do you think it's possible that Palin is INTENTIONALLY acting stupid, flubbing interviews so that when she debates Biden, even a mediocre performance will be viewed as quantum leap in her knowledge, capabilities and intelligence?
...or is my "anti-Republican attack machine conspiracy-theorist mind" working overtime?
...or is my "anti-Republican attack machine conspiracy-theorist mind" working overtime?
Palin, again.
Showing once again, the most funny humor is honesty:
“Sarah Palin doesn’t believe climate change is man made. Even George W. Bush now believes climate change is man made. Its a sad state of affairs when you make George W. Bush look like an informed progressive” Andy Parsons
“Sarah Palin doesn’t believe climate change is man made. Even George W. Bush now believes climate change is man made. Its a sad state of affairs when you make George W. Bush look like an informed progressive” Andy Parsons
Sunday, September 28, 2008
Politics
Yeah, yeah, yeah... It's been a while since I last posted to this blog. So what.
Here's my thought of the day: If Obama does not win the presidency, it's going to cause an even bigger problem in America than the problems we already have. I can only think of ONE valid reason for Obama to loose in November. This would be an October surprise... and it would have to be a good one to make MANY, MANY people choose to either not vote or to vote for another candidate.
This is my prophecy: 286/252... Obama wins, taking the west coast, New England, Pennsylvania, New Mexico, Colorado and the upper mid-west (MN, WS, IL, MI, IA). Oh... and he takes Virginia. Yeah, that's what I said. Virginia votes for a (half) black president.
Screw Ohio and Florida, those electoral miscreants. You can keep your 47 electoral votes. For all I care, Florida can succeed and join Cuba. Puerto Rico can go, too...
But... Here's my nightmare. Imagine this: Election night... Electoral votes are split 269/269. (yeah, it actually could happen... as above minus Virgina and New Hampshire). Now, image a deadlocked Senate (ok, that's not too hard, huh?). Then the House votes Palin as the next VP.... and since the Senate is deadlocked, deciding the next president... well, well, well... Palin then becomes the 'acting' president of the United States.
Fuck me.
Granted, even the seriously right wing pigeons are now coming to the conclusion that Palin is nothing but hot air... Ok, perhaps luke warm air, I dunno. Talk about 'dumb as a box of rocks', man, this chick is one pebble rolling around inside. I mean, couldn't you just see Katie Couric thinking, "Shit! I should run for VP. I'm more qualified than this lady."
Granted, this may be a Lou Dobbs moment but I know illegal immigrants who are more qualified on foreign affairs than Palin is! (Well, they come from another country!!!).
Ok, so... main point. If Obama is not elected and we have anything (and I mean anything) like the BS we had in Florida/2000 or Ohio/2004, you're going to have a riot on your hands. I'm talking PISSED OFF BLACK PEOPLE. You remember Rodney King? Now imagine that nationwide. Ok, perhaps not Montana. How many black people are there in Montana, anyway?
Here's a picture: Oakland, L.A., Denver, Chicago, Atlanta, New Orleans, New York, Washington, Baltimore and Boston... all on fire. Imagine gangs of angry, young black men roving the deep south stringing up anyone who they think is a Republican.
Imagine Rwanda.
And this is what will happen if the Republican machine decides to play the corrupt, unethical, dare I mention illegal games they played in Florida and Ohio which gave us Bush, which led to two wars, a disaster of an economy, a surplus-turned-deficit and a world where our government has further and further isolated us from our friends and allies.
Republicans: This is not a warning. This is not a threat. It is not even a promise.
It's a fucking prophecy.
Here's my thought of the day: If Obama does not win the presidency, it's going to cause an even bigger problem in America than the problems we already have. I can only think of ONE valid reason for Obama to loose in November. This would be an October surprise... and it would have to be a good one to make MANY, MANY people choose to either not vote or to vote for another candidate.
This is my prophecy: 286/252... Obama wins, taking the west coast, New England, Pennsylvania, New Mexico, Colorado and the upper mid-west (MN, WS, IL, MI, IA). Oh... and he takes Virginia. Yeah, that's what I said. Virginia votes for a (half) black president.
Screw Ohio and Florida, those electoral miscreants. You can keep your 47 electoral votes. For all I care, Florida can succeed and join Cuba. Puerto Rico can go, too...
But... Here's my nightmare. Imagine this: Election night... Electoral votes are split 269/269. (yeah, it actually could happen... as above minus Virgina and New Hampshire). Now, image a deadlocked Senate (ok, that's not too hard, huh?). Then the House votes Palin as the next VP.... and since the Senate is deadlocked, deciding the next president... well, well, well... Palin then becomes the 'acting' president of the United States.
Fuck me.
Granted, even the seriously right wing pigeons are now coming to the conclusion that Palin is nothing but hot air... Ok, perhaps luke warm air, I dunno. Talk about 'dumb as a box of rocks', man, this chick is one pebble rolling around inside. I mean, couldn't you just see Katie Couric thinking, "Shit! I should run for VP. I'm more qualified than this lady."
Granted, this may be a Lou Dobbs moment but I know illegal immigrants who are more qualified on foreign affairs than Palin is! (Well, they come from another country!!!).
Ok, so... main point. If Obama is not elected and we have anything (and I mean anything) like the BS we had in Florida/2000 or Ohio/2004, you're going to have a riot on your hands. I'm talking PISSED OFF BLACK PEOPLE. You remember Rodney King? Now imagine that nationwide. Ok, perhaps not Montana. How many black people are there in Montana, anyway?
Here's a picture: Oakland, L.A., Denver, Chicago, Atlanta, New Orleans, New York, Washington, Baltimore and Boston... all on fire. Imagine gangs of angry, young black men roving the deep south stringing up anyone who they think is a Republican.
Imagine Rwanda.
And this is what will happen if the Republican machine decides to play the corrupt, unethical, dare I mention illegal games they played in Florida and Ohio which gave us Bush, which led to two wars, a disaster of an economy, a surplus-turned-deficit and a world where our government has further and further isolated us from our friends and allies.
Republicans: This is not a warning. This is not a threat. It is not even a promise.
It's a fucking prophecy.
Saturday, August 16, 2008
The winds, they are a blowin'
Last week was punctuated with people talking about the two weather systems which were moving across the Atlantic from Africa. These were two tropical waves, which are the precursor to a tropical depression.
These two waves were called Invest 92L and Invest 93L. From the beginning, it looked like 92L was going to be the problem child of the two as it was making a beeline for the northern leewards (ie, ME). The question on everyone's minds was would the storm become something larger than a tropical wave before it made landfall in St. Martin.
On Wednesday, 13 Aug 2008, in the early morning we began to feel the beginnings of the storm which had failed to be upgraded to a tropical depression. Keep in mind that the next step up the ladder from tropical depression is a tropical storm, which has a minimum sustained wind speed of 40 mph.
The picture below is from the 20h00 AST webpage from the NHC/NOAA on 13 Aug 2008.
The white spot in the middle of the red circle is where St. Martin is.
Obviously, the cloud structure is not the classic hurricane shape. It's still developing. That's the bright side for us. The storm didn't do much more than dump a bunch of rain on the island. I mean, I've seen mid-west thunderstorms pack more of a punch... (knock on wood).
Anyway, the storm moved on Thursday afternoon and went to build strength over the Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico and Hispaniola. Right now, it's is headed to Cuba and western Florida. Invest 92L finally made it to tropical strength. At 17h00 AST on Friday, 15 Aug 2008, the NHC/NOAA reported the 6th tropical storm of the 2008 season: TS FAY.
Oh, if you're wondering what happened to 93L, it was later predicted to turn north and head into the Atlantic but instead it simply broke up before reaching the leewards. Travesty averted.
As Calvin would say: Phew.
These two waves were called Invest 92L and Invest 93L. From the beginning, it looked like 92L was going to be the problem child of the two as it was making a beeline for the northern leewards (ie, ME). The question on everyone's minds was would the storm become something larger than a tropical wave before it made landfall in St. Martin.
On Wednesday, 13 Aug 2008, in the early morning we began to feel the beginnings of the storm which had failed to be upgraded to a tropical depression. Keep in mind that the next step up the ladder from tropical depression is a tropical storm, which has a minimum sustained wind speed of 40 mph.
The picture below is from the 20h00 AST webpage from the NHC/NOAA on 13 Aug 2008.
The white spot in the middle of the red circle is where St. Martin is.
Obviously, the cloud structure is not the classic hurricane shape. It's still developing. That's the bright side for us. The storm didn't do much more than dump a bunch of rain on the island. I mean, I've seen mid-west thunderstorms pack more of a punch... (knock on wood).
Anyway, the storm moved on Thursday afternoon and went to build strength over the Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico and Hispaniola. Right now, it's is headed to Cuba and western Florida. Invest 92L finally made it to tropical strength. At 17h00 AST on Friday, 15 Aug 2008, the NHC/NOAA reported the 6th tropical storm of the 2008 season: TS FAY.
Oh, if you're wondering what happened to 93L, it was later predicted to turn north and head into the Atlantic but instead it simply broke up before reaching the leewards. Travesty averted.
As Calvin would say: Phew.
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