Two brothers are rescued in an air and sea operation off the north Kent coast after their yacht begins to sink…. From BBC News. Full story

This site may contain information about: boat marine. The blog is also related to: boat neck.

A boat accident on a lake in the Democratic Republic of Congo leaves at least 73 people dead, Red Cross officials say…. From BBC News. Full story

This site may contain information about: used boat. The blog is also related to: boat maintenance.

When in trouble, whether it’s over a sinking economy, a highly unpopular health care plan, terrorist attacks on our own soil, climategate, spending us into oblivion, and countless other instances of fraud, deceit, and failure…

CREATE A DIVERSION! Enter: Tareq and Michaele Salahi… AKA “The Party Crashers”.

“Party Crashers” had five-year relationship with Obama before state dinner
Article: Canada Free Press

While the big gun media and American Secret Service are out there investigating “party crashers” Tareq and Michaele Salahi, no one’s telling the truth: Obama knew the Salahis when he was still an Illinois senator.

Polo Contacts Worldwide could make it easy for the investigating Secret Service by brown-enveloping them this picture:

Oh my God. He’s holding a Gobson Les Paul. It says “ROCK THE VOTE”. This disgusts me.

Hey Secret Agent Man, here’s Obama, the senator flashing his pearly whites with Randy Jackson, better known as a judge on American Idol. “Others pictured are Black Eyed Peas Rock Band; Tareq Salahi the President of the America’s Polo Cup; President Elect Obama, Fergie from Black eyed Peas and Michaele Salahi, posing this time as a former Miss USA and SuperModel.”

Interesting little detail for White House gumshoes: As the above photo was published in June 2005, Barack Obama was still Senator Obama and not the President Elect.

And with Michaele Salahi yesterday having been caught out—Facebook pompoms notwithstanding—as a bogus cheerleader for the Washington Red Skins and not a model for Victoria’s Secret as claimed, Canada Free Press (CFP) leaves it to FoxNews.com to find out if she ever was a “former Miss USA”.

We do know for a fact that among the slew of memberships on charitable boards, Tareq Salahi is a former member of The American Task Force on Palestine (ATFP). The only way to know for a fact is because even though ATFP scrubbed all references to Salahi as a board member, he can still be found on Google cache. (Canada Free Press)

Sad that White House Secret Service are looking like Keystone Kops in the aftermath of Obama’s very first state house dinner in the tent.

Google has a thing for scrubbing anything that might shine a negative light on BHussein. They even removed the term “climategate” from their drop down search menu. It was there several days ago.

While the media is fixated on the hitch in Michaele Salahi’s git-along, there can be no doubt that these recently minted “party crashers” really get around.

We take you back to June 9, 2005 when Tom Nelson, operating officer of AARP, was summing up the Rock the Vote Awards night. According to the Washington Post “everyone from Sens. John McCain and Barack Obama to “American Idol” judge Randy Jackson and R&B singer Mya gathered in the National Building Museum’s Great Hall:

“You were probably wondering, as you sat down at your table, ‘What the heck is the AARP doing in a Rock the Vote Event?’” Nelson noted.

Time would soon tell that the AARP would show up in other fishy places.

And if there is anyone who must know that this weekend’s party crasher story is a crock it’s John McCain who was at the Vote Awards Night, and who along with Barack Obama, was honored with the Rock the Nation Award, Obama “for forming a multiracial coalition in winning his seat”.

McCain was handed his award for “his work on campaign finance reform”. “Just call me Funk Master McCain,” he told the audience of 1,000 in accepting his award.: (washingtonpost.com, June 9, 2005.

Hey, McCain. How about you stop cheezin’ it up over an award and tell BHussein how to work on a GODDAMN BUDGET. Yeah, I get it. Fat chance.

Meanwhile, don’t know why Obama’s long time associates possibly could be mistaken for party crashers when they came into the tent with a Bravo Reality TV Show “Real Housewives of DC” professional camera crew and makeup artist in tow unless he was hoping for a Reality gig for wife Michelle, CBS celebrity Katie Couric or Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel.

Well, at least they didn’t use their child as a tool in order to get a spot on a Reality TV show. We ALL remember BALLOON boy. Fucking idiots.

Obama could end the “party crasher” goose chase for White House Secret Service in a proverbial New York Minute by coming clean on his almost 5-year-old social/political relationship with Tareq and Michaele Salahi.

It could save money in these recessionary times and put an end to the drama of Washington’s “unprecedented” first state dinner in a tent.

Wait; did THIS CanadaFreePress journalist just use “Obama” and “save money” in the same article? COME ON, NOW.

A boat accident on a lake in the Democratic Republic of Congo leaves at least 73 people dead, Red Cross officials say…. From BBC News. Full story

This site may contain information about: boat sale. The blog is also related to: sailboat.

I thank Mike practically every day, but today, I wanted to write it down.

Mike and I went through a lot, when we were in High School and then again, when we reunited in 2005.  Mike and I had a long distance relationship from the time we got back together, December of 2005 – after 13 years, to the time I moved out to Las Vegas to be with him in October of 2006.  When he and I got back together, I was still drinking, and so was he.  We talked on the phone for hours and hours each day.  And we drank.  I can not tell you how many times I woke up realizing that I had passed out or blacked out leaving me not remembering the ends of our conversations.  Did he say ” I love you” and i didn’t answer?  Was he talking and then realized that I wasn’t really “there” anymore.  It happened too much.

Mike and I talked at length about our drinking problems; we both knew that we had to stop.  Mike was the first one to tell me that I might have a drinking problem.  “I think you might drink too much”, is what he said.  I was sort of offended, especially this coming from him, who did drink too much, but that doesn’t matter.  And i knew that.  I knew I believed him and that was when I really started to see that my drinking was a problem.  It was being with Mike that woke me up to what I was doing to myself.  It was being with Mike and wanting to spend the rest of my life with Mike that led me to see myself from outside myself and get a different view.  It was being with the man who I had thought about being with since the day we’d met, Sophomore year in High School, that made me want to try harder and really make an effort to get better.  I was embarrassed of my behavior.  I was ashamed of myself, for being nothing.  When I was really only answering to myself, I let myself get away with everything, or pretended to not really notice what I was really doing to myself.  I wanted to be everything to him.  I wanted to be the greatest.  We had such great plans to be together, the spirit was there, but I knew, in the state I was in, I wouldn’t be capable of anything but dreaming.  I didn’t want to disappoint him, and I didn’t want to disappoint me.

He felt the same.  We talked about it, all the time.  On May 31, 2006, I quit drinking.  I’ve been sober ever since.   I owe a lot to my brother John and my friend Kelly too.  They quit with-in the same year.  Those are two people who a great many people never thought would quit.  They did, and they are inspirations, and I thank them greatly too.  But,  my wanting to spend the rest of my life with Mike was really the catalyst, John and Kelly gave me the strength.

I moved to Las Vegas in October of 2006.  Mike and I have both struggled with depression, on different levels.  He was concerned that his depression was going to push me further down.  I always said that we would deal with this, that we should not wait any longer to be together, that we were supposed to be together and years down the road, when things are better we would look back on these times and be proud that we got through the toughest times together.  He would agree, but he was scared of what his depression was going to do to me, ’cause I was getting better…Well, it did affect me, but that was ok.  I remember feeling it, and watching it happen.  His reclusive nature mixed with mine was not good.  But, since I had quit drinking, I was worlds better than I ever had been.  I had much more strength to push through.  It was about a year after I had moved to Las Vegas that I really felt bad.  I was sleeping until noon, totally un-motivated, and always waiting for him to do something with me, something, anything and doing nothing for myself.  But there was always a reason to not go somewhere…and it had taken its toll on me, I had let it.  So, I had enough.  I felt like a lump again, and I felt like a terrible girlfriend, well, by then, we were engaged.  I remember writing him a letter, because I didn’t have the energy to say everything I wanted to say to him, to apologize for how bad I had gotten.  I wrote him the letter to say I was sorry and that I would be better and worth being with.  I said I had enough of me and that I was finally going to go to a doctor and see if I should be put on medication.

Mike and I talked a lot about it and he made me feel a lot better about trying medication.  He struggled too, and he really made me feel strong and didn’t judge me but wanted to help me feel and get better.  I remember feeling like everything he was saying he meant for himself too, but he had so much more faith in me than he had in himself.  He had such fight for me.  Left on my own, I never had the strength to make the phone calls to doctors; to find one.  He helped me, he reminded me, he wanted me to fight for myself to get better.  I found a great doctor and went on Lexapro, and had blood-work done to check my thyroid and other “stuff”…i don’t know what anymore,  regular type blood work.  Then my doctor referred me to a gastroenterologist to have me checked for Celiac Disease, which runs in my family and has depression (among many, many other things) as a symptom.  I started going to the gym regularly, and it was during this time that I went to my first Yoga class, with my sister, when I was back home in Palatine, IL for a couple of weeks.  We went to a class (I had always been interested in Yoga, but had total nervous anxiety about entering a studio) and I’ve been practicing ever since and am finishing my Yoga Teacher Training as I write this.

Turned out, I do have Celiac Disease and going to the gym regularly did make me feel worlds better.  And practicing Yoga did help me calm my mind and helped me feel more free and less anxious.  I stopped beating myself up about things I wasn’t doing.  I felt totally energized and inspired.  Somehow, at that time in my life I had gotten sick of myself enough, ashamed of myself enough, disappointed in myself enough.  But, being with Mike absolutely gave me the strength to do it.

Mike is not here anymore.  He killed himself this past July.  I often think that Mike saved me.  I often think Mike’s complete understanding of depression; how it feels, is what made him so capable of helping me.  He was telling me to do what he knew he should be doing for himself, but he didn’t feel he could do.  He always told me I was stronger than him.  I told him he was wrong.  He always told me I was better.  He always made me feel I could do this, that it could and would lift.  It was being with him that gave me the courage to do it, for myself and for us.

That’s what I remember of Mike.  That’s what I keep with me.  Not the bad times and the hard times.  Those aren’t fair to keep, I think.  He didn’t mean the bad and hard times.  He was sick, and he was screaming out for me to get better.  And for that, I thank him.  He loved me and for that I thank him.    I always thought we were each others other half.   I live now and he is gone.  He helped save me and I carry that part of him with me.  I hope he has a bit of me with him.

Thank you Mike Powroznyk, for loving me enough to tell me and help me see how to get better.  I work daily to stay better for you to be proud of me and for me to be proud of me.   I love you.  I will love you forever.

Kory

Sinking

WAKE UP, go numb,
get scared, be brave,
find the sacred, be profane
LIVE
cry, or don’t cry,
laugh, as often
as you can,
when nothing is funny
laugh anyway
swim or
s
i
n
k

YOUSPOKE is new and growing. I want to tell you how it came into my life, how’s it’s helped me and how happy I am to have become a part of this organization.

On the morning of July 17th, 2009, I checked the message on the answering machine that I had ignored the night before. The message was from a girl I went to High School with, that had dated and was very close to a man who I went to High School with as well and whom I was recently engaged to, whom i had left a little more than the year before and had hopes he would come back to me, someday. He had always felt like “my other half”, from the moment he and I met, we both felt it right away, we acknowledged that we felt like we had known each other before. 

She called to tell me that he had been found dead “yesterday”, from a self-inflicted gun-shot to the head.

I was glad it was she who called to tell me; it just made sense. She and I were sort of rivals over our lives with him.  But, I always had a respect for her and their deep friendship and she seemed to feel the same about me. So, when she called to tell me, there was a sort of “coming full circle” that was and is felt deeply by us both. The beauty in the relationship that we have since built, is another story…

Over the next few days, many talks with she who told me, and his parents, it was agreed that I would go to Las Vegas (where he was living) and pick up his dogs and bring them home with me, and we would figure it out in time, but at the time the only thing that made sense to me was to get his dogs that meant so much to him, that were there with him always and in his last days of his life.  And, I wanted to be in the town that I had lived with him. I had never been to Las Vegas but to be with him.  So, aside from the dogs, I believe I would have gone there anyway, to be in that space, to feel it, to say a sort of “goodbye” or something. It just made sense.

My mom and I went and picked up the dogs after a good friend of mine, in Las Vegas, rescued them from the shelter they were taken to, that has a very bad reputation…he helped us so much, getting the dogs to a safe place, to our vet, until we could get there to pick Tommy and Jack up.

We picked them up and headed straight home to Illinois. The whole trip was so cathartic. The whole time was quite sad and quiet beautiful. On the day I found out Mike had died, my family was in the midst of our family reunion. The day before, my great-aunt died. We were having a family reunion and we were dealing with great loss. We were so incredibly lucky to be around each other, we couldn’t have been more fortunate.

All the time since has just felt surreal.  i’ve been floating and i’ve been lost. A few weeks after his death, i suddenly felt my heart cry out for something else. I’d been getting such amazing support from everyone, and unbelievable messages from people on Facebook, some people I knew, some people I did not know, but they all new him, and we connected with our grieving and were helping each other through…My family and my friends and the friendships I have since built with people who were most close to him are remarkable. I have a few really great friendships now with people who were closest with him. We are there/here for each other in indescribable ways and are indescribably beautiful. I am so blessed for having them. But, that day, my heart screamed out, my soul screamed out for something different; a support group, something, somebody with some time on a similar situation. Some way for me to find out that I would heal. Some way that I could know that I would not feel this pain forever. That I would not feel surreal for the rest of my life. I had been to AA meetings, and that’s what occurred to me, what I had received at those meetings; somebody with years on me.

That evening, without actually asking, my sister, Wendy, sent me a text telling me that she thought I should contact a friend of hers that had just recently connected with a woman who started an organization called YOUSPOKE, for people who have been deeply affected by suicide in any way. I couldn’t believe her timing. (not that it’s shocking that she thought of telling me that, or that anybody would recommend a support group to me) I e-mailed her friend and told her a about me. She e-mailed me back and we decided to meet for lunch. We connected in so many ways and it helped a lot. She told me about Stefanie, the woman who created YOUSPOKE and said we had to meet.

I had received an e-mail from Stafanie already, saying that she really wanted to talk. We spoke on the phone soon after my lunch with my sister’s friend. Our phone conversation was amazing, and it was in that conversation that I admitted to Stafanie that I had tried to commit suicide in 2004. We talked about all the sides of suicide and how even when you think you understand it, it still hurts when you lose somebody to themselves. But only talking about it can shed any light on it. Stefanie’s point to starting YOUSPOKE is to bring some understanding of suicide to people who don’t understand it at all. Not to give it allowance, but to help people who are grieving, understand where the people who made the choice may have been coming from and to make the topic of suicide less taboo, so people aren’t as afraid to talk about it.

The more I talk about Mike’s suicide, the more I see my own suicide attempt as a helpful part of my story and my healing. Not just for myself, but for others’ healing and understanding as well. I am so different since my attempt. I have grown so much and have done so much work to get past and through those feelings I had so much of my life that led me to that decision.

When I met Stefanie and we shared our stories, I knew that she and this organization; what her plans for it are, were just what I was looking for. The afternoon she and I met, she was going to meet Travis, to hear his story and see how he wanted to be a part of this. She told me that day that she wanted she, and my sister’s friend and Travis to have a meeting together to start brainstorming about what YOUSPOKE could be and how it can grow. We agreed to stay in touch and get all of us together to get moving with YOUSPOKE.

It happened fast from there. We walked with The American Foundation for Suicide Prevention in the “Out of the Darkness” walk in October and soon after Stefanie asked me if I would like to be on the board and I accepted, with honor.

When I first heard about Stefanie and YOUSPOKE, I checked out the website and watched her story and read her mission statement, I was almost jealous that I hadn’t thought about starting an organization like this myself. Then I thought, I was just glad somebody had. I love the idea that not only is she promoting actually talking openly about suicide, but creating art; any form of expression to help us heal, and putting it up on the site, for people to see, to inspire and share.

With all that I have felt, my whole life; my journey to getting better, and Mike’s passing, it just continues to feel like my mission is to help people feel better and the best way I can see to do that is by sharing my story with others and showing the huge steps I’ve made; from a person who just did not believe that those feelings of depression and wanting to die would or could ever go away; that i didn’t have the strength to do it, into a person who still struggles, but is constantly amazed at how much better I feel and how wrong I was about myself. I really want to share this with the world, especially with people who have lost or are losing hope. It gets better, it is unbelievable how it does. When I kept all of this to myself, I struggled more. We can help each other through, if we speak.

thank you for listening,

with love, kory

Nothing more needs to be said since a picture is worth a thousand words!

http://www.infondoalmar.info/

(EN) My friend Paolo together with infographic designer David Boardman launched today the english version of  in.fondo.al.mar (under the sea),  an info-visualisation work-in-progress project about a series of sinkings and incidents in the Mediterranean Sea in the last 30 years, involving  “poison-ships”, which are suspected of having carried toxic and radioactive waste.

The most shocking fact about these sinkings is that the ships would have been sunk deliberately to dispose of tons of toxic, chemical and radioactive waste. The mechanism is simple: you own a big container ship that has an accident and is sinking or is very old. You don’t want to lose all the money so you sell your ship to organized crime which will stuff it with toxic waste (ah the business of toxic waste!) and let it sink.

I made the story simple, but many subjects are involved in this traffic, also some institutions: here’s an article in italian on the topic written by Paolo and other journalists, going deeper on the topic.

(IT) Il mio amico Paolo e il designer infografico David Boardman hanno lanciato oggi la versione in inglese di in.fondo.al.mar , un progetto di infovisualizzazione work-in-progress con lo scopo di mappare una serie di affondamenti e incidenti avvenuti nel Mediterraneo negli ultimi 30 anni,  delle cosiddette “navi tossiche”, sospettate di trasportare rifiuti tossici e radioattivi.

Il fatto scioccante di questi affondamenti è che le navi sarebbero state fatte affondare deliberatamente per liberarsi di tonnellate di rifiuti tossici, chimici e radioattivi. Il meccanismo è semplice. Possiedi una nave container che ha un incidente e sta affondando o è molto vecchia. Non vuoi perdere tutti i soldi, allora decidi di venderla al crimine organizzato che la riempie di rifiuti tossici (ah il business dei rifiuti tossici!) e la fa affondare.

E’ più complicato di così e i soggetti coinvolti sono numerosi, compreso alcune istituzioni: per approfondire l’argomento leggi l’articolo scritto da Paolo e altri giornalisti.

I can’t help feeling nausea every time I hear someone talk about DC. And bulletins. And how they all want tattoos to never forget. It’s disgusting. You know why? Because no matter how much I squish it down, I don’t feel like I belong. I try to not take it personally, I really do. But It still feels like it. Sickening.

But then I’m disgusted with myself too. I’ve been staring at my wrists and legs and arms again… Sinking back into dark habits and thoughts.

Sharp pains are returning. Had 3 today, just little ones. But had a borderline panic attack of difficulty breathing.  I fear for my future unless I do something…

Balance she says, but how can I do that when the ground isn’t level? I just keep sliding back down the mountain…

An inquiry into the loss of a fishing boat which sank in 1974 with the loss of seven lives is set to be adjourned…. From BBC News. Full story

This site may contain information about: boats for sale. The blog is also related to: boat plans.

An inquiry into the loss of a fishing boat which sank in 1974 with the loss of seven lives is set to be adjourned…. From BBC News. Full story

This site may contain information about: fishing clothes. The blog is also related to: blue fishing.

I have recently read a book by Morgan Robertson entitled “The Wreck Of  The Titan”…It is a great book published in 1898…14 years before the sinking of the Titanic.

Although published years before the “actual tragedy” it was like a prophecy…so many things were similar….Very weird indeed!!!!

Similarities between Titanic and Titan:

• Unsinkable
  • The Titanic was the world’s largest luxury liner (882 feet, displacing 53,000 long tons), and was once described as being (nearly) “unsinkable”.
  • The Titan was the largest craft afloat and the greatest of the works of men (800 feet, displacing 75,000 tons), and was considered “unsinkable”.
• Lifeboats
  • The Titanic carried only 20 lifeboats, less than half the number required for her passenger capacity of 3000.
  • The Titan carried “as few as the law allowed”, 24 lifeboats, less than half needed for her 3000 capacity.
• Struck an iceberg
  • Moving too fast at 23 knots, the Titanic struck an iceberg on the night of April 14, 1912 in the North Atlantic 400 miles away from Terranova.
  • Also on an April night in North Atlantic 400 miles from Newfoundland (Terranova) , the Titan hit an iceberg while traveling at 25 knots.
• The Unsinkable Sank
  • The unsinkable Titanic sank, and more than half of her 2207 passengers died screaming for help.
  • The indestructible Titan also sank, more than half of her 2500 passengers drowning, their “voices raised in agonized screams”

New image in the natural orange photography contest

…
sinking photography picture

“And you run and you run to catch up with the sun but it’s sinking.
Racing around to come up behind you again.
The sun is the same in a relative way but you’re older.
Shorter of breath and one day closer to death.”

“time,” Pink Floyd

Te Henua e Noho Film Trailer from On The Level Productions on Vimeo.

Excerpt from On The Level Productions:

What if your community had to decide whether to leave their homeland forever? This is the reality for the culturally unique Polynesian community of Takuu, a tiny low-lying atoll in the South Western Pacific. As a terrifying tidal flood rips through their already eroded home, the Takuu community experiences the devastating effects of climate change first hand. In this verite-style film, three intrepid characters Telo, Endar and Satty, allow us into their lives and their culture and show us first hand the human impact of an environmental crisis. Two scientists, oceanographer John Hunter and geomorphologist Scott Smithers, investigate the situation with our characters, outlining what they think is going to happen as the atoll continues to disintegrate and what can be done about it. Intimate observational scenes allow Telo, Endar and Satty to take us on their personal journeys as they consider whether to move to an uncertain future in Bougainville or to stay on Takuu and fight for a different, but equally uncertain, outcome. Government officials in impoverished Bougainville discuss the limited options the islanders have.

Check it out below:

Te Henua e Noho Film Trailer from On The Level Productions on Vimeo.

To leave a comment about this post, click here.

Holding on by our toenails while the Dove bucked was bad enough but now we had to hold on and bring up the end of a large line and attach it to the mast underneath the crows nest. Once we were in place and everyone had stopped puking, we tried to talk through what was to be done. We decided that it was time to climb back down and go get a beer. Really we did. We knew though that this was not an option, the boat and crew where in danger, especially the three idiots trying to hold on to the mast. W just had to do it. I backed up in my approach and tried to tackle it one part at a time. First the end of the line needed to come up, for that we had brought along a long piece of small stuff to use as a messenger. We fed them our line and they tied on the fore stay and we began hauling away. It was heavy and we each could only afford one hand for the task so two would haul while one got lower handhold. This went on for eternity. The movement of the mast was not even or steady so we had to constantly stop concentrate on holding on for a moment, then go back to hauling. By the time we got our end up we were exhausted and still had no plan as to how we were going to get the fore stay back in place. We had to tie off our messenger, rest and try to figure it out. I realized that one of us (me) was going to have to go back down and work while trying to hold on to the ratline. The hard part was that the lower end of the fore stay was still attached so we only had enough line on our end to wrap- around the mast and come back to itself. The line had failed because it was not tied to begin with, the line had been lead around the mast, laid beside itself and then lashed together with a type of twine. Originally this was done while the other end was loose and the boat was tied up at the dock. I climbed down and realized that we needed to manhandle the end of the fore stay around the mast then pass down the messenger to the crew on deck. The fore stay sat in a cradle so once we had everything in place , the crew on deck could pull down and tighten the fore stay while I reached out and began to lash the intersection. That was the theory. We were just barley able to get enough tension back into the fore stay to begin to lash them. The problem was that the mast was still swaying back and forth. Just as we would get some tension, the mast would jerk away and pull out a bunch of slack. After a few attempts, I had to regroup and tie a slip not of sorts over the larger lines, then wait for the mast to sway forward while the crew on deck pulled for all they where worth, at that moment I closed up my knot and it held. The mast was surprisingly tight. Now I frantically lashed the two together using only one hand. It held. The mast was no longer banging like a telephone pole falling and in fact it was very stable. The three of us wasted no time hustling down the ratlines. We were exhausted, we could barely stand. I was ready for some medicinal brandy and was about to ask the captain if there was any on board, I knew for a fact there was some on the towboat, when suddenly one of the crew yells from below “I think we’re sinking” with more then a touch of panic in his voice. This did not overly concern me at first. This was a wooden vessel and wooden vessel often leak. I thought I would find two inches sloshing in the bilge. What I found was two feet and rising quickly, I could see it flowing in and it looked a bit like whitewater rapids. The water was coming in many places. I was flabbergasted. One leak is a leak, you plug, you bung it, you even have a junior member of the crew hold a rag against it. You slow it down and pump. We had two pumps, one electric and one manual. But this was not a leak, it was a disaster and I could not imagine what had gone wrong so quickly. We were sinking and quick. I have been aboard one other vessel as it sank and it is not a good feeling. We were sinking and I was afraid for my crew. Shore was close and we had a tow boat along side yet I knew that man and mice panic when they see the water coming up. Instincts kick it and the noblest of man turns into a jello head. All logic, all thought, all reason can leave a man at the sight of a hull filling up and men can become crying children in search of their mother at the drop of a hat. We were sinking damn it.

CALIFORNIA, SINKING, CAN’T BE GOVERNED. THE USA, DREAMING, IS NOT FAR BEHIND.

Paul Krugman, in "Paranoia Strikes Deep (New York Times, Nov. 8), feels that the Californian global failure could propagate to the rest of the USA (part of his work in reproduced in the Annex below).

California used to be America’s America. California used to be the dream, the world’s dream, it’s turning into a nightmare, the world’s nightmare, where the hyper rich builds hyper yachts, and orders the government around to pay lower taxes, while the rest of society falls into a bottomless pothole.

When California elected one more republican disaster governor, the first, and defining move of that actor was to terminally gut California’s fiscal structure by removing a crucial tax on automobiles. As it turned out, that fiscal potholes was exactly big enough to have California sink into it in 2009. But never mind: the terminator-governor owned two dozen giant trucks for his own personal entertainment. Entertaining celebrities is big business in California. meanwhile, the gov and his republican cohorts gutted the budget of the University of California (whose Berkeley campus is one of the top three in the world, according to Shanghai).

California used to have the best school system in the USA, at a time when the USA had the top school system in the world. Now California has the worst school system in the USA, and the school system of the USA is in free fall. Some polls say that most Americans think that they used to share their lives with dinosaurs, and it sure increasingly looks that way.

How did California sink? Taxes (not enough). Expenses (too much of the extravagant, useless, feel-good, long term stupid type). I claim that the common cause of this has been the failure of the thinking process. Too much new Age, not enough Think Age.

Krugman does not analyze the causality behind the Californian mental collapse. That we will presently evoke.

Too many years were spent playing up the irrational side. They have led to poor schools, and an increasing inability to think enough to keep society on an optimal trajectory. Once that will is gone, where does the republic go? What holds it up?

The noblest and more characteristic function of human beings is thinking, and this rests on the capability and inclination to make logical arguments. But guess what? "To argue" is a sin in the USA, or at least so say the usage which is commonly made these days of the American language, something used all the time by Americans. it is as if, every day, Americans said to themselves, and others, that is bad to think.

So it is time to go back to the essentials, the exact opposite of what was instilled in recent decades. Those are taught at the age of two. Lesson number one at age two ought to be: thinking is good, and it rests on the capability of making cogent arguments.

The present government of the USA, went all out to save its "friends". Semantics matter; "friends" was the term used by Obama speaking of his self described "friends" Jamie Dimon, or Warren Buffet. So the government of the USA went all out to save its friends. The government did not bother to go through "Congress", the national assembly. The government of the USA saved the banksters, by throwing to them all the capital that could be found. Thus, there was not much more capital that could be borrowed, and the "stimulus", the capital to save the economy, was the object of a lengthy national debate, and came out much smaller. This enormous capital offered to banksters, as the rest of the economy was deprived of it is now paid at the cost of considerable unemployment.

In a way, feeding the most corrupt and incompetent bankers ever seen, and, so doing, starving the general economy was a sort of insanity of the leadership. This lamentable example, from the Federal government itself, does not help. Limbaugh or Beck, two showmen of the right, are not in power. Obama and his self described "friend", Jamie Dimon (Daemon?) are. And they have sunk the economy, forgetting that is the branch they sit on. how rational is that?

When California started to go down, Californians did not think that the abysmal decisions they were taking mattered, because, and they still think this, California could not, cannot go down.

So what to do? Try to explain to Americans what is happening to their country, and their minds. it is not easy: the hubris is considerable: the latest batch of Nobel Prizes, most of them "Americans" (born overseas, attracted by money).

Meanwhile, Europe has got to lead, in the realm of deep ideas, and correct emotions. After all, with its 18 trillion (real) dollar GDP, the European Union does not have to take orders from Washington, its wasting characteristics, and its decaying economy. It is ironical that France’s and Germany’s conservative governments are pursuing genuinely social policies, much more to the left, and much more to the right (in a good way) than the policies of the USA. It is also ironical that, although the preceding leadership of the USA violated international law (by using torture by ordering it from the top, something the Nazis never dare to do), it is the French leadership which is on trial, by French justice, for reasons American justice could never see (because American politicians are given immunity by their successors, one of the rare American traditions still in force).

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Patrice Ayme

http://patriceayme.wordpress.com/

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Annex. KRUGMAN’S FEAR OF CALIFORNIA DISEASE: "If the G.O.P. essentially shrinks down to a rump party across America, the country could become ungovernable in the midst of a continuing economic disaster… with the rise of Ronald Reagan: Republican politicians began to win elections in part by catering to the passions of the angry right.

Until recently, however, that catering mostly took the form of empty symbolism. Once elections were won, the issues that fired up the base almost always took a back seat to the economic concerns of the elite. Thus in 2004 George W. Bush ran on antiterrorism and “values,” only to announce, as soon as the election was behind him, that his first priority was changing Social Security.

But something snapped last year. Conservatives had long believed that history was on their side[...] After the Democratic sweep, however, extremists could no longer be fobbed off with promises of future glory.

In fact, the party of Limbaugh and Beck could well make major gains in the midterm elections [...] they feed the base’s frenzy instead of trying to curb or channel it[...] So all the old restraints are gone. The Obama administration’s job-creation efforts have fallen short, so that unemployment is likely to stay disastrously high through next year and beyond. The banker-friendly bailout of Wall Street has angered voters, and might even let Republicans claim the mantle of economic populism. Conservatives may not have better ideas, but voters might support them out of sheer frustration… what has already happened in California could happen at the national level. In California, the G.O.P. has essentially shrunk down to a rump party with no interest in actually governing — but that rump remains big enough to prevent anyone else from dealing with the state’s fiscal crisis. If this happens to America as a whole, as it all too easily could, the country could become effectively ungovernable in the midst of an ongoing economic disaster.

The point is that the takeover of the Republican Party by the irrational right is no laughing matter. Something unprecedented is happening here — and it’s very bad for America."

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And bad for the planet, because what is bad for America, is bad for the planet.

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Kansai International Aiport (KIX) is the second most important airport in Japan (after Narita in Tokyo) and the main airline hub for the Kansai area, which includes Kyoto, Osaka, Kobe, Wakayama, and many other large cities. KIX is located on an artificial island in Osaka Bay, near Sennan and Izumisano Cities in southern Osaka Prefecture. It is connected to the land by a 3 km (2 mile) bridge that carries rail and road traffic, and also by ferry services.

The island built for this airport turned Osaka Prefecture, formerly the smallest prefecture in Japan in terms of land area, into the second smallest in Japan, putting Kagawa Prefecture in last. There have been problems with the island sinking slowly each year, but they have been mitigated for the most part, naturally and due to technological innovations. Fear of strong crosswinds affecting rail traffic has also been assuaged through installation of protective barriers. KIX survived severe typhoon winds and the 1995 Great Awaji-Hanshin Earthquake without significant damage.

The airport was designed by world-famous Italian architect Renzo Piano, and the terminal is the longest in the world at 1.7 km in length (it is served by a tram/train). There are two runways, and a third is planned as part of a future expansion. KIX has a good variety of restaurants and facilities, and just across the bridge is Rinku Town, one of the most extensive and entertaining shopping areas in all of Osaka Prefecture. You can also stay in the ANA Gate Tower Hotel at Rinku Town, located in the Rinku Gate Tower Building, the second tallest building in Japan after Yokohama’s Landmark Tower (Rinku Gate Tower is the same height as Osaka City’s WTC Cosmo Tower).

KIX is about 35-45 min. by limited express train (JR or Nankai Railways) from central Osaka City, and JR trains continue through Osaka all the way to Kyoto. Check out KIX’s website here. When you visit Osaka next, come through Kansai International Airport and learn why it is considered on of the best airports in the world.

Here is another good post on KIX that focuses more on the interesting architecture design of the airport and contains a number of terminal-building photographs.

New image in the antarctic glacier photoshop contest

…
Sinking Fast photoshop picture

Through the luscious valley of Cassie’s
more than ample cleavage
the rising dark loam marched upwards
relentlessly pausing just
long enough to kiss the sweet cherries
the bright headlights
of her swollen nipples so utterly delicious
forcing the naked mantrap
to tilt back her head gaze upwards at the
full moon sailing across
the star filled heaves after the delicate
curves of her shoulders
disappeared beneath the quaking surface
until the oval of her face
became an island floating atop the climbing
tide of the bubbling sand
cut off from the sounds of the sphere of life
when the loam poured
into her ear canals the lovely naked maid
silently awaited the moment
of her execution now swiftly approaching
unaware of the eerie laughter
coming form the gigantic flame filled gourd
as it observed in murderous
delight at the demise of another unweary
daughter of mother nature
as she disappeared forever into the earth