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Late Night: There's a Place Called Kokomo

73 people died in Jamaica this week as the Government searched for alleged drug trafficker Christopher "Dudus" Coke, whom the U.S. wants to extradite. Jamaican Prime Minister Bruce Golding is facing heavy criticism for the bloodshed.

Coke continues to elude authorities. Is he even in Jamaica? How about Bermuda, Aruba, Antigua, Martinique, Montserrat, Mustique, the Bahamas or....Kokomo.

The song, from the 1988 movie "Cocktail" was the Beach Boys best selling song ever.

This is an open thread, all topics welcome.

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    Reply to MT re. dealing w. oil in marshes... (5.00 / 1) (#1)
    by FoxholeAtheist on Thu May 27, 2010 at 10:40:29 PM EST
    From AP, May 24/10: Cleaning oil-soaked wetlands may be impossible:
    Cutting: With small spills, cleanup crews would sometimes slice out oiled vegetation and take it to a landfill...But if too much vegetation has to be removed, water from the gulf would roll in and turn wetlands to open water.

    Fire: Where conditions are right, crews could set fire to oil-coated plants. Other experts, though, warn it's tricky. If the marsh is too wet, the oil won't burn. Too dry, the roots burn and the marsh can be ruined.

    Microbial action: Over time, experts say weather and natural microbes will break down most of the oil. However, the crude will surely poison plants and wildlife in the months -- even years -- it will take for the syrupy muck to dissipate. Andy Nyman, with Louisiana State University, said the dispersants could slow the microbes from breaking down the oil.

    Berms: To keep oil from pushing deeper into Louisiana's marshes, Gov. Bobby Jindal and officials from several coastal parishes want permission to erect a $350 million network of sand berms linking the state's barrier islands and headlands.

    As previously discussed, berms aren't without risks; i.e. if water doesn't circulate in and out, the marshes can stagnate; if oil gets past, the berms trap it there. I just hope Jindal has done his homework to do it in the best possible way.

    People are fired up today (none / 0) (#11)
    by Militarytracy on Fri May 28, 2010 at 07:45:48 AM EST
    The residents are on the brink of taking matters into their own hands.  They have plans that they have drawn up that they will try to show the President who still doesn't want to pay for dredging and creating barrier islands.  They have groups of people dedicated to doing whatever needs done though because this is their home.  If any oil gets through, I would be amazed because the residents are so determined to prevent anymore damage I think they'd sit out there on night watches.  And thy probably will have to it sounds like.  More people angry over no skimmers at work.  The coastline is being used as the catchall, and then BP wants to come in and skim the sand off and throw it away.  There are horrible horrible thick slicks just a few miles off the coast now outside untouched beaches and it is getting to the point that almost anyone with a boat who can rig up some sort of skimmer is about to take to the water themselves and feck this government and BP and how they are on top of things.

    Parent
    Reading over at FDL this morning (none / 0) (#12)
    by Joan in VA on Fri May 28, 2010 at 08:10:52 AM EST
    that the dredging may be a very bad idea. Also, an idea that has been pushed for years before the gusher. I kinda feel suckered but I don't know enough to say whether it's the right or wrong thing to do for the right or wrong reasons.

    Agree that BP and the gov are criminal or incompetent or both.

    Parent

    The problem withthe FDL (none / 0) (#14)
    by Militarytracy on Fri May 28, 2010 at 08:46:24 AM EST
    write up is that the person writing it is convinced this is a conspiracy instead of an effort to save the wetlands, and the "conspiracy" isn't very well documented.  It is kind of a he said she said situation right now.  The oil will destroy the wetlands too and it will do so starting immediately.  The White House seems to understand what is going on, and it doesn't seem like they are willing to sign onto anything more destructive to the Wetlands than what currently exists.  I don't understand why we can't have temp berms that can be taken out after the oil danger has subsided.  Because of all the dispersant used, booming is no longer adequate.  And the booming has been so lackadaisically done it isn't even adequate where it could be adequate. If the White House wanted to get serious about skimming and controlled burns too they may not be in such a horrible pickle either.  Many locals, myself included, have had it with how lackadaisical our President and the White House and Feds are about this disaster.

    Parent
    Another issue I heard a scientist raise (none / 0) (#24)
    by ruffian on Fri May 28, 2010 at 10:09:56 AM EST
    on NPR this morning is whether the berms would last long enough to do any good anyway, due to currents, storms, etc. He did not want to see the sand dredged  into a berm and then wasted.

    Lots of issues....no need to see a conspiracy.

    Parent

    Important topic (none / 0) (#26)
    by jbindc on Fri May 28, 2010 at 10:14:22 AM EST
    Especially as NOAA has predicted this to be an active hurricane season - on par with 2005 when Katrina and Rita hit - due to El Nino dissipating.

    14 to 23 Named Storms (top winds of 39 mph or higher), including:

    8 to 14 Hurricanes (top winds of 74 mph or higher), of which:

    3 to 7 could be Major Hurricanes (Category 3, 4 or 5; winds of at least 111 mph)



    Parent
    Just adds to the tragedy that this (5.00 / 1) (#29)
    by ruffian on Fri May 28, 2010 at 10:25:25 AM EST
    spill happened in an area that is already so fragile and damaged from man-made engineering efforts. Not to mention competing interests in the state between the oil economy that risks the health of the marine environment, and the fishing economy that depends on it. The powers that be liked to believe that they could coexist.

    Parent
    A cone of silence? (5.00 / 1) (#10)
    by Militarytracy on Fri May 28, 2010 at 07:36:59 AM EST
    About the wildlife deaths due to the oil?  The deaths of birds has been removed from some of the websites that belong to the bird rescues per BP.  Over 200 dead sea turtles have been found, but no report as to cause of death.  Tissue samples were taken, but conclusions not available.  BP is whimpering today too saying "blame game" not fair.  Hmmmmm, who was it again who was first up at the finger pointing blame game plate during congressional hearings?  That would be BP.  It used to be everyone elses fault until we were all able to understand the infrastructure of the problem.  And now we know who is at fault.

    Botticelli: Sex and Drugs (none / 0) (#2)
    by squeaky on Thu May 27, 2010 at 11:13:26 PM EST
    Botticelli's painting [Venus and Marshttp://www.art-interview.com/Issue_008/Issue_images/Botticelli_001.jpghas been r], has been recently been interpreted in a scandalous way:

    A fruit held by a satyr in the bottom right of the painting has been identified as belonging to Datura stramonium, a plant with a history of sending people mad and making them want to strip off their clothes. Its hallucinogenic effects were recorded in Ancient Greek texts and it has since been used as an aphrodisiac and a poison....

    The plant is highly poisonous. Guy Barter, of the Royal Horticultural Society, said that it became notorious in the late 17th century when it was eaten by British soldiers visiting Jamestown, Virginia. "They went off their heads for a few days," he said....




    Links (none / 0) (#3)
    by squeaky on Thu May 27, 2010 at 11:16:23 PM EST
    Wow, Squeaky.... (5.00 / 1) (#4)
    by jeffinalabama on Fri May 28, 2010 at 12:07:38 AM EST
    I'm neither an art historian nor an artist-- what do you think of this interpretation? I'm just kind of bumfuzzlwd by the interpretation. I guess
    i should add that I'm not a pomoligist, also!

    Parent
    Makes Sense To Me (5.00 / 1) (#6)
    by squeaky on Fri May 28, 2010 at 12:11:58 AM EST
    I particularly like the part where the fruit is offered to the viewer, so that everyone can rock out...

    Artists and their patrons have often had these sorts of inside jokes... the official view and the naughty one...

    Parent

    I think thar aspect of art is (none / 0) (#7)
    by jeffinalabama on Fri May 28, 2010 at 12:18:01 AM EST
    fascinating. I wonder how many folks through history picked up on it.

    Parent
    Certainly Enough Viewers (5.00 / 2) (#8)
    by squeaky on Fri May 28, 2010 at 12:23:05 AM EST
    To keep it interesting...  And the great pieces always have ambiguity, and layers of meaning, from the profound to the banal.

    The viewer always participates in decoding the piece, in any case. What they bring to it, through personal experience, book knowledge and imagination keeps the work alive and interesting through out the ages.


    Parent

    Try deconstructing (none / 0) (#35)
    by jondee on Fri May 28, 2010 at 11:26:50 AM EST
    Hieronymus Bosch. You could spend the better part of a couple of lifetimes.

    Parent
    If you want scandal (none / 0) (#34)
    by jondee on Fri May 28, 2010 at 11:21:46 AM EST
    with a lot of Renaissance artists, generally you dont have to look much further than the contemporary accounts and autobiographical materials.

    In some ways, many of those people were like the Mick and Keiths of their day.

    Cellini's autobiography has it all: black masses, sorcery, affairs and more affairs, duels, political back stabbing (and literal back stabbing)..

    Parent

    jondee... (none / 0) (#36)
    by kdog on Fri May 28, 2010 at 11:30:35 AM EST
    to answer you from yesterday, if you recall...the day umps and refs have guns and arrest powers is the day I hang up my spikes.

    That's the beauty of sports and games...if you don't like the rules you don't have to play.  Still trying to figure out how to opt out of this big game, with all the rules that make me sick.

    Parent

    Move (none / 0) (#38)
    by jbindc on Fri May 28, 2010 at 11:34:38 AM EST
    Move to... (none / 0) (#39)
    by kdog on Fri May 28, 2010 at 11:45:37 AM EST
    where slightly different rules make me sick...that's not worth the packing and unpacking:) It's a worldwide epidemic.

    Parent
    Hey man (none / 0) (#43)
    by jbindc on Fri May 28, 2010 at 01:11:05 PM EST
    I didn't say it would be EASY to go somewhere without rules. :)

    Parent
    The only way I can see (none / 0) (#40)
    by jondee on Fri May 28, 2010 at 11:57:09 AM EST
    is to go the mountain man route; have enough scratch to pay everyone off; or, finding a way to put that passion and creativity to use making a space all your own in the center of the cyclone..

     

    Parent

    Option C... (none / 0) (#41)
    by kdog on Fri May 28, 2010 at 12:00:10 PM EST
    which I like to call under the radar livin'...with mountain man as the back-up plan:)

    Parent
    Sounds ike a book title (none / 0) (#42)
    by jondee on Fri May 28, 2010 at 12:03:09 PM EST
    Now, there's a project for ya!

    Parent
    A long-awaited sequel... (none / 0) (#44)
    by kdog on Fri May 28, 2010 at 01:16:32 PM EST
    to "You Just Can't Win"...if Jack could see how John Law and prisons roll today he'd really flip his lid!

    Parent
    apropos of nothing, folks... (none / 0) (#5)
    by jeffinalabama on Fri May 28, 2010 at 12:10:52 AM EST
    If y'all see Cream City posting, please aske her to contact me...bobodix AT yahoo... questions about Wisconsin. Anyone else who can help, I have some Q's...

    Cream City is, I think, in Italy. (none / 0) (#9)
    by caseyOR on Fri May 28, 2010 at 12:58:37 AM EST
    The last comments of hers that I read had her packing for Italy. I don't know when she is getting back or if she will be online during her trip.

    Parent
    So typical... (none / 0) (#13)
    by kdog on Fri May 28, 2010 at 08:36:12 AM EST
    some high-school seniors get what is probably the most valuable of lessons for our age from their teachers..and the teachers are placed on leave because of it due to parent complaint.

    No good deed goes unpunished.

    That needs to be distributed (none / 0) (#15)
    by Militarytracy on Fri May 28, 2010 at 08:54:36 AM EST
    all over AL.  You can't believe how the local police here violate the kids' rights.  My daughter was so secretive, I didn't know how bad the problem was till just recently.  This whole community though is so shame based it's pathetic.  Apparently though, when the kids are parked in a parking lot talking to each other and cops pull up....they search your effing car, without a warrant.  They pull the kids out of the cars and line them up, and go through the cars.  I have never heard of such a thing....ever.  It happened twice to our daughter.  And of course nothing was ever found or I might have known about this bull$hit earlier.  So she was totally shaken down twice, for nothing, just because they wanted to.

    Parent
    I can believe it... (5.00 / 1) (#18)
    by kdog on Fri May 28, 2010 at 09:32:21 AM EST
    that's s.o.p. for the NYPD Tracy...I've had my car tossed...hard to consent, or even know wtf is going on, when one cop has his hand on your junk molesting you while two more are already in the glovey and center console.

    For the crime of being white in a black neighborhood deemed a "known drug area"...things are tough all over kid.

    Parent

    I think (none / 0) (#16)
    by jbindc on Fri May 28, 2010 at 09:02:26 AM EST
    explaining to kids their constitutional rights is something that should be a part of every civics class.; however, I think this would have been more palatable had the material not come from a self-proclaimed anarchist group and another group that advocates for drugs.

    Parent
    I'll take a valuable lesson... (none / 0) (#17)
    by kdog on Fri May 28, 2010 at 09:24:26 AM EST
    from whoever is offering...it's the message that counts, not the messenger.

    Unfortunately reminders of creater-endowed rights are hard to come by these days...ya gotta look to the fringe since authoritarianism went mainstream.

    Parent

    Well, no (none / 0) (#19)
    by jbindc on Fri May 28, 2010 at 09:40:24 AM EST
    Just as you would look at a pamphlet distributed by the police department with suspicion, many people would look at an anarchist group and pro-drug group with the same suspicion.  It's not like the groups whose pamphlet was distributed don't have their own biases, so I wouldn't necessarily rely on their accuracy.

    Think of it this way - would you have the same reaction if an anti-choice group had pamphlets handed out at school that showed dead fetuses and said things like "abortion causes infertility" (which is not true)?  

    So, I disagree - the messenger DOES count.

    Parent

    I see your point... (none / 0) (#21)
    by kdog on Fri May 28, 2010 at 10:01:24 AM EST
    but would clarify that the messenger only matters in regards to the prejudices of the person getting the message.

    I would be skeptical of a police pamphlet...because I have a prejudice against the police.  That doesn't mean the police, or in this case anarchists, can't be right.

    Parent

    Which is why (none / 0) (#22)
    by jbindc on Fri May 28, 2010 at 10:04:41 AM EST
    Many sources need to be checked out.  That's why I read a couple of conservative blogs - see what they're saying.  I don't agree with them most of the time, but every once in a while, they make a good point.

    And I am circling this date on the calendar in red - kdog said

    That doesn't mean the police... can't be right.


    Parent
    Don't get used to it...:) (none / 0) (#25)
    by kdog on Fri May 28, 2010 at 10:12:02 AM EST
    Just tryin' to always remain aware of my bias.

    Speaking of bias...would the teachers be suspended over a parental complaint about a police pamphlet....I think not.

    Parent

    Probably not (none / 0) (#27)
    by jbindc on Fri May 28, 2010 at 10:16:49 AM EST
    But whether you like it or not, the police are recognized "experts" in this area, while an anarchist group and pro-drug group are not.

    And you also wouldn't have had one of the kids say "They are teaching us how to hide our drugs from the police in Civics class!"

    Parent

    Yeah... (none / 0) (#28)
    by kdog on Fri May 28, 2010 at 10:24:52 AM EST
    a smart kid would say..."they're teaching me to surrender my rights in civics class!".

    And I do not concede that the police dept. is any greater authority than an anarchist group when it comes to the Bill of Rights...If the cops know it, they ain't follwing it on the regular....which is worse than not knowing it.

    Parent

    Sweeping generalizations! (none / 0) (#30)
    by jbindc on Fri May 28, 2010 at 10:31:36 AM EST
    :)

    Parent
    Likewise my friend... (none / 0) (#32)
    by kdog on Fri May 28, 2010 at 10:46:07 AM EST
    likewise:)

    Parent
    And that's the problem right there (none / 0) (#20)
    by SeeEmDee on Fri May 28, 2010 at 09:58:16 AM EST
    "...ya gotta look to the fringe since authoritarianism went mainstream.

    I can't help but recall all the 'social studies' I had in high school, where differing societies were examined as to their values,  government, etc. We were constantly reminded of the difference between 'free' societies' such as ours and the Communist world. The idea was to warn the present and future generations of what happens when extremists get their hands on the levers and buttons of power.

    But it appears that some people never 'got it'. Or, worse, some did.

    For example, the NeoCons deliberately set out to make 'liberal' a swear word, in order to cause a disconnect between the ideals of classic liberalism (rights, freedoms, and government being a  protector of them, etc.) and political action, and instead conflate liberalism with with libertinism and licentiousness.

    By causing that break, by establishing that meme in the minds of those who are not aware of the fact that they were being manipulated this way, it created the environment where to proclaim yourself a liberal is to invite the worst calumnies and innuendos...whereas, a 'conservative' (as these NeoCons define the concept) who favors 'law and order' authoritarianism always gets a free pass, for they are improperly seen (especially after the Bush Too years) as the 'conservators' of social integrity and mores.

    Authoritarianism has indeed become mainstream, and the resulting diminution of individual rights is but one of the sad symptoms. And the worst part about it is that the vast majority of citizens in this putatively free country would cheerfully surrender what's left of their and (even more gleefully) their neighbor's rights with nary a thought.

    Best wishes (none / 0) (#23)
    by jbindc on Fri May 28, 2010 at 10:05:40 AM EST
    Breaking (none / 0) (#45)
    by jbindc on Fri May 28, 2010 at 02:40:16 PM EST
    Gary Coleman has died.

    Parent
    Glenn today (none / 0) (#31)
    by jbindc on Fri May 28, 2010 at 10:32:40 AM EST
    Another great column.

    The Miami Herald's Carol Rosenberg reports that, this week, yet another federal judge has ordered the Obama administration to release yet another Guantanamo detainee on the ground that there is no persuasive evidence to justify his detention.  The latest detainee to win his habeas hearing, Mohammed Hassen, is a 27-year old Yemeni imprisoned by the U.S. without charges for 8 years, since he was 19 years old.  He has "long claimed he was captured in Pakistan studying the Quran and had no ties to al Qaida," and that "he had been unjustly rounded up in a March 2002 dragnet by Pakistani security forces in the city of Faisalabad that targeted Arabs."  Hassen is now the third consecutive detainee ordered freed who was rounded up in that same raid.  The Obama DOJ opposed his petition even though the Bush administration had cleared him for release in 2007.  He has now spent roughly 30% of his life in a cage at Guantanamo.

    Continue reading
    What's most significant about this is that Hassen is now the 36th detainee who has won his habeas hearing since the Supreme Court in 2008 ruled they have the right to such hearings -- out of 50 whose petitions have been heard.  In other words, 72% of Guantanamo detainees who finally were able to obtain just minimal due process (which is what a habeas hearing is) -- after years of being in a cage without charges -- have been found by federal judges to be wrongfully detained.  These are people who are part of what the U.S. Government continues to insist are "the worst of the worst" who remain, and whose release is being vehemently contested by the Obama DOJ.

    The real disgrace here is that the U.S. Congress, in 2006, enacted the Military Commissions Act, which explicitly denied all Guantanamo detainees any rights to habeas review.  The widely loved Lindsey Graham -- along with the profoundly noble Joe Lieberman and John McCain -- were the prime sponsors of that provision.  Think about what that means, what the people who voted for that (including 12 Democratic Senators) tried to do:  had the Supreme Court not struck down that provision by a 5-4 vote in Boumediene, all of these innocent people would continue to be denied any rights of judicial review, and would unjustly languish in prison indefinitely.  The people who voted for the Military Commissions Act, and the 4 Supreme Court Justices who sought to uphold it, knowingly acted to deny scores of innocent prisoners any opportunity for judicial review.  That's as warped and as evil as it gets.



    Thank goodness (none / 0) (#33)
    by CST on Fri May 28, 2010 at 10:56:15 AM EST
    for 3 branches of government.

    It's not perfect by any means, but it sure is better than the alternative.

    Parent

    I did not know that (none / 0) (#37)
    by brodie on Fri May 28, 2010 at 11:31:16 AM EST
    the Beach Boys' biggest selling record was 1988's Kokomo.  A quarter century after they were formed and began hitting the charts, and their biggest doesn't come until more than two decades later.

    Gotta be close to some sort of record right there.

    I did know that John Phillips (Mamas & Papas) was the co-author of their hit.  Did not know Brian Wilson, the BB's talented chief songwriter, had no hand whatsoever in it.

    Not Kansas... or for that matter California (none / 0) (#46)
    by CST on Fri May 28, 2010 at 03:30:39 PM EST
    "A court in Switzerland has upheld the appeal of a man who was fined for rambling naked."

    Link

    "Swiss federal law states that public nudity is not a crime."

    But get this... the area where he was fined for his naked hiking:

    "is traditionally a rather devout and conservative region, which only gave women the vote in 1990. "

    emphasis mine.  1990???  At first I thought that has GOT to be a typo.  I mean swiss federal law allows public nudity but didn't protect the right of women to vote????  It wasn't.  Link 2.

    Does Switzerland (none / 0) (#47)
    by jbindc on Fri May 28, 2010 at 03:37:56 PM EST
    have mosquitoes?

    Parent
    probably not (none / 0) (#48)
    by CST on Fri May 28, 2010 at 04:18:11 PM EST
    in the mountains...

    Parent