I Gotcher Monday Right Here

Fuck you, NSA - Celebrity Edition:

And That's The Real Problem

Researchers at Virginia Commonwealth Univ have been studying the various aspects of River Health along portions of the James River, and while they came up with some rather alarming levels of toxins present in the blue crabs taken from the river, what they really discovered was a Political Controversy.  Imagine that.

Richmond Times Dispatch:

State officials say the public is not in danger.

“We do not have any reason to believe that current microcystin levels in the James River present a health threat,” said Rebecca LePrell, the Virginia Department of Health’s director of environmental epidemiology.

 Yeah, but:

(river ecologist Paul) Bukaveckas acknowledged that his expertise lies in river health and not human health.

“The only thing I can say is that in crab muscle tissue in certain times of the year, the toxins build up to levels that the World Health Organization considers unsafe for consumption.”

And just so we know what the big deal is (Ecotoxicology report out of California EPA from 2009):

Cyanobacteria, also known as blue-green algae, are a family of single-celled algae that proliferate in water bodies such as ponds, lakes, reservoirs, and slow-moving streams when the water is warm and nutrients are available. Many cyanobacteria species produce a group of toxins known as microcystins, some of which are toxic. The species most commonly associated with microcystin production is Microcystis aeruginosa [1]. Upon ingestion, toxic microcystins are actively absorbed by fish, birds and mammals. Microcystin primarily affects the liver, causing minor to widespread damage, depending on the amount of toxin absorbed. People swimming, waterskiing, or boating in contaminated water can be exposed to microcytins. Microcystins may also accumulate in fish that are caught and eaten by people. Finally, pets and livestock have died after drinking water contaminated with microcystins.

In the end, at least for some folks, it's all about the money:

Blue crabs are Virginia’s top commercial seafood catch and produced a $24 million harvest last year.

“Consumers can be utterly confident that the product they are purchasing is of the highest quality,” said John Bull, a spokesman for the Virginia Marine Resources Commission, which manages fish in Virginia’s tidal waters.

I'm not dismissing the potential for undue harm that can befall a particular business or even a whole sector when we get alarmed about something - especially when the alarm sounds a lot like "there's something wrong with the food".  That said, I need to feel more confident that the alarm isn't simply being muffled artificially (if not dismantled completely) - which has become something of a habit for way too many people in positions of power.

I have a call in to an old pal at the poison center in Richmond, but as of now, he hasn't called me back.  Update when/if that happens.

hat tip = Blue Virginia

None Of It's Real

Sunday Sermonization

Short and sweet, but I guess I should start with - Fuck you, NSA.

And Mr Obama - you could do with a little fuck you too.  I know; you have to say hardass things in a hardass way because sometimes you have to be a hardass.  I get it, but c'mon - you know for a plain fact that FISA's a joke and NSA is part of the biggest boondoggle ever because Security Nation is a good 80% theater.

We've got at least 16 'agencies' (that we're allowed to know of) scattered over god knows how many states, along with half-a-hundred Beltway Bandits filled with high-quality 'talent' like Eddie Snowden, soaking up jillions of dollars that they don't have to account for, doing shit in our names that we don't even get to know about.  What the fuck, bubba?

Gangbusters my ass - that whole conglomerated outfit belongs in Uncle Dub's barn with Mickey and Judy and a budget just big enough to cover the homemade costumes and finger paint for the scenery.

Fuck this shit.  It's Sunday - I'm goin' fishin'.

Truthers Beware

Paraphrasing Bill Maher: When you say "Bush had prior knowledge of 9/11", I know it to be bullshit because that sentence contains the two words 'Bush' and 'knowledge' together.



I know some really smart people who believe strongly that there's just too much about 9/11 that doesn't add up quite right.  And recently, somebody I respect deeply revealed she was among them - at least to a certain extent.  So I won't just point and laugh, because I continue to be curious and confused and doubtful, but also willing to look for new information and consider different angles where conspiracies are concerned, cuz...



So yeah - maybe there really is some fire at the bottom of all that smoke(?)

Today's Irony

The people who run a KFC franchise somewhere in Utah sat down together in the break room or huddled up in the boss's office or whatever, and they came up with a brilliant idea:

From Selfish Giving:

I just can’t understand what Kentucky Fried Chicken is thinking with its latest cause marketing program. This picture says it all. Buy a HALF-GALLON of soda – with 800 calories from 56 spoonfuls of sugar – for $2.99 and a buck goes to Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation.

First, what's the profit margin on a Mega Jug gotta be in order to allow a business to justify giving away 1/3 of the sales price?

Answer: on average, the cost of a soft drink at a fast food joint is somewhere between 13¢ and 20¢.  So if you take the high end - and even if you double it - the franchise is still way ahead.  Nuthin' wrong widdat - just sayin'.  They built their Feel-Good Campaign around the (prob'ly) biggest margin item on the menu, so let's not get too misty-eyed over their 'sacrifice'.

Second, this is one of the big reasons I don't fit in with most companies anymore.  My Stoopid-Shit-Tolerance-Threshold has gotten too low.

hat tip = facebook friend RS

Let There Be Weekend

...and let it begin with Fuck You, NSA.

Little Guy Wins One

And he may be set to win another one - big

The wild west atmosphere in Russia since the USSR fell apart, has pointed up some of the worst examples of Unfettered Market Capitalism.  But 2 days ago, we learned that a little pluck and imagination - plus a pair of brass balls - just might get you a shot at some payback.

From Business Insider:

In 2008, Dmitry Agarkov received an unsolicited letter from Tinkoff Credit Systems (TCS) offering the 42-year-old Russian man a credit card with what he found to be unattractive rates.

While most people would have just thrown away the letter, Agarkov decided to do something different. He scanned the contract in the letter into his computer and altered it in his favor, including, for example, a 0% interest rate, no fees, and no credit limit. Moreover, every time the bank didn't stick to these rules, they'd be fined 3 million rubles — $91,000 — which of course would go to Agarkov. If they broke the contract, they'd have to pay Agarkov 6 million rubles ($182,000).

Agarkov's altered contract was, surprisingly, accepted and he received a credit card. "The Bank confirmed its agreement to the client's terms and sent him a credit card and a copy of the approved application form," Agarkov's lawyer Dmitry Mikhalevich told Kommersant this week.

I'll be kicking myself for a while for not thinking of this one.

hat tip = Democratic Underground

Today's Pix

 

Kenny The Kooch

Ken Cuccinelli is losing to a guy who has all the charisma and star-quality of a handful of wet dryer lint.

Here's a taste of how easy it's been so far for the McCauliffe campaign's 'creative' team:



Let's review:

First
Some say The Kooch was in on it from the start, but at minimum, Cucchinelli got splashed with the scandal of Gov (Vaginal Bob) McDonnell's dealings with "arch-fiend" Jonnie Williams. (and the scramble is on to avoid an indictment, or at least to postpone it til after the election)

Second
The negative ad above points out that Cuccinelli pushed hard for funding for these "crisis centers", which are little more than places to thump your bible at taxpayer expense.  I think it's odd that most people don't see what's wrong with spending tax dollars to push an agenda item that's obviously religious, but it's just flat-out crazy for people to accept spending tax dollars on an effort that actually raises the probability that a young mother and her baby will require years of taxpayer provided assistance because she went to one these stoopid "clinics" and got talked out of using effective birth control.  Go figure.

Third
We had a major dust-up last year at UVa when (McDonnell appointee) Helen Dragas manipulated the Board of Visitors into firing President Terry Sullivan (Sullivan was re-instated after a very ugly and really-fun-to-watch dog fight).  The story line everybody insisted on sticking with was that Dragas had it in for Sullivan - because Sullivan was dragging her feet when it came to mapping out a good strategy for future blah blah blah.  Bullshit.  It's never about what they tell us it's about.  Very soon after Sullivan was installed, Kenny the Kooch started his campaign against Michael Mann.  Sullivan defended against two major efforts coming from the AG's office, and eventually won in the Va Supreme Court.  That kinda thing always makes a politician look bad, and when that politician decides to run for Governor, one of the first orders of business is to shit on anybody he thinks needs a little payback.  Taking a big important scalp sends a big important message - Don't Fuck With The Kooch.  Unfortunately (for Kenny), none of it worked the way he needed it to work.  If you're stomping around trying to show everybody you've got the big dick and you intend to knock things over with it, you damn sure better make it happen.  The Kooch couldn't pull it off, so he's been shown up as a paper tiger.  And that's bad enough when it comes to the voters, but it's really really really bad when the big-dollar donors - who've been paying very large amounts expecting Mr Super Hard-Ass Authoritarian - end up with nothing but a cloud of smoke and ash instead.

Of course, anything can happen - so I have to remember to hedge my bets a little.  But something special has to happen for Kooch to get back in this race.

Oh yeah - do we even have to mention the negative effects of Cucchinelli's "running mates"?

EW Jackson - GOP candidate for Lt Gov

Mark Obenshain - GOP candidate for AG

I just don't know where we get these chumps in a state that gave us 4 out of the first 5 presidents.  And I'm not fond of seeing the bottom of the barrel from way down inside like this.