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You are here: Home / Open Threads / And we have a winner!

And we have a winner!

by | 221 Comments

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Kay beat me to a quick post on the Virginia earthquake. I had written:

Apparently there was a moderate 5.9 earthquake that hit Virginia between Richmond and Charlottesville. I felt the shakes up in Baltimore and TPM reports folks felt something all around the region from NYC to North Carolina (and some reports from pretty far away as well).

Somehow, I’m certain that this is Obama’s fault for being on vacation. The only mystery will be which wanker will blame him first.

And with that let’s have an Open Thread.

But as I went to preview the post I saw Kay had already put one up and decided to stand down.

And then I saw this Diary by Kos and it appears that my joke about folks blaming President Obama was all too real. And which wanker was first out of the gate:

Roger_Simon_earthquake

I still look forward to the Politico headline about Michelle Obama feeding her family a dead chicken and using the bones for soup.

I guess we start the news cycle with the media we have and not the media we wish we had.

Cheers

Reader Interactions

221Comments

  3. 3.

    fasteddie9318

    Dennis, I think you’ve just broken the story that Roger Simon trolls here under the handle “jwest.” Good work.

  5. 5.

    Mark D

    I’d love for someone to go look around, say, late August 2006 to see what Simon had to say about Bush’s response to Katrina.

    Not that they’re the same, as people actually died in New Orleans. Today’s quake seems to have done — THANKS TO ALL THAT IS HOLY! (seriously) — very little damage to anything or anyone.

    Well, other than to conservatives’ feefees. But doesn’t everything nowadays?

  6. 6.

    Martin

    I say LIHOP. Dude flees DC for Martha’s Vineyard – clearly he knew there was going to be an earthquake, if he didn’t actively cause it. What other disasters has BHO been permitting strike this nation that he clearly doesn’t love?

  7. 7.

    JenJen

    Much as it pains me to defend Roger Simon, if you look at his Twitter timeline, he was doing a bunch of jokey tweets about the earthquake, and I think that was just one of them.

    I’m not saying he’s funny, just that he was trying to be.

  9. 9.

    fasteddie9318

    Although, to be fair, if President Black and the First Blacks really cared about the suffering of real Americans, they’d put the watermelon down and start sacrificing goats to their voodoo gods or whatever, amirite?

  10. 10.

    MattT - The Commish

    I was just going to post asking, “Who will be the first to blame Obama?” Too late.

  11. 11.

    drkrick

    The first thing I saw was an FB post blaming it on fracking near the epicenter. Stupidity knows no ideology, as usual.

  12. 12.

    MTiffany

    I still look forward to the Politico headline about Michelle Obama feeding her family a dead chicken and using the bones for soup.

    Wouldn’t feeding them a live chicken be more noteworthy?

  14. 14.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    What, exactly, should FEMA be doing? I’m sure they’re preparing for a potentially bad hurricaine, and this quake looks worse to me than to people who know them and experienced this one, but should FEMA be putting up temporary cell phone towers?

    Roger Simon used not to be such a dick back when I was reading him the pre-Murdoch Chicago Sun Times

  15. 15.

    fasteddie9318

    @JenJen: I think the “Seriously” there is announcing that he’s taking a break in the shitty jokes to bring you a shitty deep thought.

  17. 17.

    Sasha

    With Irene looking to cause major damage to the East Coast, I can’t help but wonder if any emergency funds that might be needed will be blocked by the House GOP unless some kind of trade-off (i.e., off-setting spending cuts) is part of it.

  18. 18.

    J.A.F. Rusty Shackleford

    Was anything substantial (a building, a bridge, etc) even damaged in the quake that the President could speak about?

  19. 19.

    dmsilev

    We can do better than that. Check out this amusing post from Yglesias. Apparently, some conservatives are pissy because they think it’s unfair to point out that actions (e.g. cutting funding of government services such as …earthquake monitoring) have consequences (earthquake monitoring becomes less effective).

  20. 20.

    4tehlulz

    Obama’s refusal to give up his vacation to open FEMA death camps is an indictment on his presidency.

  22. 22.

    lacp

    Supposedly a couple of windows broke in center city Philadelphia. Don’t know if FEMA’s in the glazier business or not.

  23. 23.

    Warren Terra

    Preliminary news reports haven’t mentioned so much as a bumped head, and the only disruption mentioned is that some office towers have been evacuated as a precaution. What the flipping heck is FEMA supposed to do? Distribute bottles of water to people whose municipal water supply is working just fine and whose perfectly functional refrigerators are making ice? Distribute tents and trailers to people sleeping in their own beds tonight?

  24. 24.

    r€nato

    So, let’s see if I have this right. A minor earthquake strikes the East coast and Obama is supposed to drop everything and run frantically back to DC.

    Terrorists fly planes into the WTC and it’s just fine for Bush to sit on his arse and read “The Pet Goat” for a few more minutes and nobody better say anything different.

  25. 25.

    Todd

    This was a joke tweet and it’s obvious if you look at his other tweets at the time.

    “Ron Paul promises further earthquakes if media continue to ignore him.”

    “We wouldn’t be having earthquakes like this if Hillary were president.”

    “S&P has downgraded earthquake to a 2.0.”

    I can’t tell from Kos post if he is seriously outraged or not. But if he is, it’s pretty lame. If it’s satire, then I’m just confused.

  26. 26.

    Suffern ACE

    I wonder if the prez could get some recess appointments in. Wouldn’t evacuating the Senate finally close down it’s appointment blocking pseudo session long enough to get some judges and ambassadors?

  28. 28.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    Roger Simon was the one who fantasized about riding around on Mitt Romney’s shoulders, wasn’t he?

  29. 29.

    Martin

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist:

    What, exactly, should FEMA be doing?

    Abolishing itself, obviously. Was FEMA there to sell lattes to evacuated office workers? No, Starbucks was. Who’s the real emergency management provider here?

  31. 31.

    r€nato

    @dmsilev: it’s also unfair to point out that Obama got Bin Laden and that his Libya policy has been proven a success.

    Why? SUTW

  33. 33.

    gogol's wife

    I can’t believe that tweet. But I’m so glad I saw this. We felt it in Connecticut, but I thought I was losing my mind or having an attack of vertigo.

  37. 37.

    Suffern ACE

    @Warren Terra: Yep. Apparently a nuclear plant has shut down and is running on its backup generators and there aren’t really all that many people, if any, without power. I’d nationalize the banks and call on the guardsmen to put down the rioters.

  40. 40.

    Stefan

    I like the explicit acknowledgment that he doesn’t even want the president to do something, he just wants him to “pretend to be doing something.”

    For what purpose? None! But at least engaging in a pointless, time-wasting piece of theatre is better than not because, because….oooooh, shiny!

  41. 41.

    dmsilev

    @r€nato: No no no. True (conservative) fairness would require constant repetition of the claim that Obama was just following the policies set up by the Bush administration for the death of bin Laden and for Libya. Of course, if something horrible happens (i.e. zombie bin Laden emerges from the ocean, seeking BRAINS), then fairness requires that Obama be blamed for that.

  43. 43.

    BGinCHI

    The DNC should run ads that show the earthquake and hurricane and then Rick Perry saying “as President I’ll keep the federal government out of your daily life.”

    Cut to the emergency room then fade to black.

  47. 47.

    Poopyman

    @Warren Terra: From WaPo:

    Buildings across the capital are evacuated after quake strikes 87 miles southwest of Washington. Some damage has been reported, including at the National Cathedral, where the tip of a spire fell off

    Hardly FEMA-worthy.

  50. 50.

    Dennis G.

    @Carbon Dated: In no time this will be a new meme and serious people will ask how could he stay on vacation when wine glasses rattled in the china cabinets of Georgetown.

    Roger may not have been the first, but he will put the meme into play. It is what he does.

  51. 51.

    r€nato

    Hey, do you all remember that time Bush staged that “Mission Accomplished” photo op in May 2003, which was entirely intended as pro-administration propaganda for the 2004 election?

  53. 53.

    Villago Delenda Est

    @r€nato:

    Yes, and that worked so well for him, too. Especially the part where he said the sailors did that on their own, with absolutely no help from anyone in the WH.

  55. 55.

    wesindc

    Moderate earthquake? Um it was pretty freaking intense if you live downtown DC with landfill underneath. I’m from CA and have been through quakes and this one ranks really high on the Wesley freak out scale.

  59. 59.

    jwest

    I hear they’ve made the Library of Congress into a makeshift refugee center.

    People are eating corpses, raping babies and shooting at rescue helicopters.

  60. 60.

    JenJen

    @Elizabelle:

    Talking Point Memo’s a bit breathless.

    No kidding! CNN and MSNBC are going way overboard with their coverage too. I guess we’re finding out that when an earthquake hits the actual Village, the Villagers get pretty excited and go on TV for hours to talk about what they felt. It’s growing more annoying by the minute.

  61. 61.

    MattR

    First news of damage I heard was to the National Cathedral in Washington. (EDIT: more specifically, three pinnacles suffered damage) Just further proof that Obama is a secret Muslim.

  63. 63.

    Elizabelle

    @General Stuck:

    Stuck: I was enjoying your flickr feed this morning. Beautiful pics of birds and Charlie, enchanting in any weather.

    What kind of camera do you use?

    The birds were amazing, caught in mid-flight, so clean and clear. Not even a bird-watcher, and I was mesmerized.

  64. 64.

    Villago Delenda Est

    @jwest:

    People are eating corpses, raping babies and shooting at rescue helicopters.

    Republican congressional staffers. The veneer of civilization comes off them faster than a prom dress hits the floor.

  65. 65.

    Zifnab

    Republicans: “WHY ISN’T THE PRESIDENT DOING ANYTHING?!”

    Obama: “I’m declaring a national emergency and sending legislation to Congress that will free up ten million dollars to help clean up the mess.”

    Republicans: “OMG! TYRANNICAL GOVERNMENT! DEATH PANELS! HE RAISED MY TAXES!”

    Obama: “‘eff it then, I’m going back to golf.”

    Bush: “Miss me yet? Heh heh.”

  69. 69.

    Villago Delenda Est

    @JenJen:

    Well, you know, it’s on the EAST COAST, which is serious country, unlike those fruits and nuts out there in LA-LA-land.

  71. 71.

    Violet

    @BGinCHI:

    I think it’s time we sacrificed a virgin.
    __
    Where’s Christine O’Donnell?

    Bristol Palin’s revirginized herself.

  72. 72.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @jwest:

    People are eating corpses,

    Was it Virginia Foxx adn Patrick McHenry? ’cause that’s just their usual mid-afternoon snack

  73. 73.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    If Obama was a REAL president who cared about real Mitt Rommeny kind of people Obama would be on the Capital Mall RIGHT now PERSONALLY handing out bottled mineral water and high threat count Egyptian cotton towels to those poor distressed real people! We’re looking at broken windows, fallen ceiling titles and even spilled beers! WE NEED ACTION NOW!

  74. 74.

    Martin

    The DJIA was up 300 points today, so clearly the market approves of the President’s handling of this emergency.

  75. 75.

    Villago Delenda Est

    @Elizabelle:

    Geeze, no kidding. Minor shakeup and the entire universe is collapsing on itself.

    Yawn. Wake me up when a volcano erupts in Maryland, will you?

  76. 76.

    Violet

    @JenJen:
    It really is annoying. It reminds me of when the weather gets hot in NYC and they spend half the day talking about the “heatwave the country is experiencing.” Uh, dumbasses, NYC is not “the country” and it’s hot as hell in the south for most of the summer, so why not report on that every year?

    They’re so provincial it’s pathetic. Idiots.

  77. 77.

    BGinCHI

    @Violet: Is that what happens when enough people tell you to go fuck yourself?

    I’ll say this though, you put a Palin down a volcano, the volcano stays dead.

  78. 78.

    gex

    The news media would have a much better story if those damn building codes didn’t make buildings so sturdy. Maybe if they fluff fiscal conservatives and glibertarians more this will change.

  80. 80.

    j

    Seriously, Roger Simon should abandon his twitter account and stop pretending to be a journalist. Or at least make it look like is is trying to be one.

  81. 81.

    Meredith

    @Elizabelle: They’re all a bit breathless. This coverage is reaching the level of absurdity. These people have waaaay too much time on their hands.

  82. 82.

    Elizabelle

    @Meredith:

    They’re just lucky there’s nothing else going on in the United States today that could use some reporting.

    Nothing.

  83. 83.

    Duckest Fuckingway: Ask not for whom the Duck Fucks. . .

    People here in DC are really struggling to turn this into something scary.

    Personally, there have been F-15 flybys that are scarier.

  85. 85.

    gex

    @Stefan: It all makes sense if you understand how they view the President as Daddy. We all know there’s no bogeyman in the closet. But children feel better if Dad checks it out and gives the all clear.

  86. 86.

    Satanicpanic

    Oh cool, can we just move the White House to California to save the president the trouble of flying out here every time we have an earthquake?

  87. 87.

    The Dangerman

    @Meredith:

    This coverage is reaching the level of absurdity. These people have waaaay too much time on their hands.

    Sounds like the ones that rushed back to their buildings were the Beltway Media, so is it wrong for me to hope that this was just a precursor to a bigger quake?

  89. 89.

    Elizabelle

    @General Stuck:

    Canon Rebel XT with a sigma zoom lens

    Noted. Thank you. Gonna get me a real camera one of these days. Researching that one now.

    Would bet my nature and pet pics won’t come out as well as yours for a lonnnng time, though.

  90. 90.

    PurpleGirl

    Bush and FEMA ignored Katrina for the first few days after it struck. The Republicans just want to draw a parallel to that event using the earthquake even though there was hardly any damage anywhere which requires federal intervention. They (the Republicans and the Villagers) want to be able to say “both sides ignored a natural disaster”, yadda, yadda, yadda.

  93. 93.

    Duckest Fuckingway: Ask not for whom the Duck Fucks. . .

    OTOH, I can now say that if you ride Metro, in a real emergency you will die in a silver and brown metal box!

  96. 96.

    Anne Laurie

    @BGinCHI:

    I think it’s time we sacrificed a virgin.
    __
    Where’s Christine O’Donnell Ross Doubthat?

    This is no time for amateur grifters — an earthquake in Our Nation’s Capital calls for the very public sacrifice of a serious, professional virgin!

  100. 100.

    BGinCHI

    @Anne Laurie: Correction accepted, though I think Santorum would also be a good pick.

    We might have to enlarge the volcano hole if we use Ross.

    /yes, “volcano hole” is a technical term

  101. 101.

    JPL

    A local church puts up messages and today’s was judgment day is near, are you ready? What does that even mean? It reminds me of my youth in the confessional spouting about disobeying my parents. No matter what I did I always got the same three Hail Mary’s.

  102. 102.

    Amir Khalid

    The reporting is all about people being surprised, maybe a little alarmed; but no actual damage or casualties anywhere.

    Just saw video of the ABC News report. Meh. They were straining hard to make the story bigger than it actually was. I sense they were disappointed that there wasn’t any cool video they could show of actual damage or casualties. That would have been good for ratings. Newsfolk live for that kind of thing.

  103. 103.

    dww44

    @fasteddie9318: LOL. Seriously, isn’t Roger Simon supposed to be nominally non-partisan or neutral or something? Sheesh, I’ve known for sometime that he reminds me of “oiliness”, but this tweet is proof. Then again, I make it a point never to click on Politico. Nothing there for me.

  108. 108.

    Loneoak

    A 5.8 earthquake relatively near Cole’s house and no one makes a fat joke about Tunch?! Or Cole?!

    For fuck’s sake.

  111. 111.

    Makewi

    Obama’s non reaction to the earthquake has nothing to do with the fact that he is a horrible one term president.

  113. 113.

    The Dangerman

    @Loneoak:

    A 5.8 earthquake relatively near Cole’s house and no one makes a fat joke about Tunch?! Or Cole?!

    Tunch was a (rather large) target before the rumbling stopped. Along with Governor Christie (have Christie and Tunch ever been photographed together; I thought not).

  114. 114.

    Elizabelle

    I am amused by how many Balloon Juicers will admit to having been in the loo when the quake hit.

    Starting to rival last night’s drapes and curtains thread, but not there yet.

  115. 115.

    licensed to kill time

    @Loneoak: Cole tweeted about it himself:

    There’s an earthquake in my house every time Tunch jumps off the bed. about 3 hours ago via TweetDeck

  117. 117.

    The Dangerman

    @Elizabelle:

    Starting to rival last night’s drapes and curtains thread, but not there yet.

    Missed it; link please?

    During a Big One (around a 7, IIRC) a while back, I was standing in the restroom facility, doing my, um, business, when it hit; it’s rather disconcerting when the target is swaying (other than when highly Juiced, of course, in which case, one doesn’t care).

  118. 118.

    Svensker

    @Poopyman:

    Some damage has been reported, including at the National Cathedral, where the tip of a spire fell off

    Huffpo is reporting “National Cathedral damaged in quake!”

  121. 121.

    MattR

    @Loneoak: @licensed to kill time: Don’t be so quick to discount Tunch as a factor. He is roughly the equivalent of 17 middle age South Koreans, right? I linked the story somewhere earlier, but here is a nice excerpt

    Seventeen people performing a vigorous Tae Bo workout caused tremors that forced the evacuation of a South Korean skyscraper earlier this month, the building’s owners say.
    __
    Prime Group, owner of the 39-story TechnoMart commercial-residential high-rise in Seoul, said 17 middle-aged people were working out to the pop song “The Power” by Snap on July 5 when their movements set the upper floors of the tower shaking for 10 minutes, according to a report from the Korea JoongAng Daily.
    __
    Scientists recreated the event in the 12th floor gym, according to a report in the Korea Times.

  125. 125.

    Martin

    LOL. Seen on twitter:

    Text “You spilled your chai latte” to 90999 to donate $1 to the victims of the U.S. East Coast earthquake.

  126. 126.

    jeffreyw

    …including at the National Cathedral, where the tip of a spire fell off and skewered a priest, pinning him like a butterfly in a museum case.

    This gives me a very bad feeling…

  127. 127.

    Makewi

    @Chyron HR:

    I love it how often you folks drop racist tropes around here, pretending that’s what other people must be thinking. Unfortunately for you, that sort of thinking is pretty rare these days. Which, sadly for you, just makes your use all the more obvious.

    Even so, Obama is a horrible president.

  130. 130.

    Mike Goetz

    This is OT, but somehow spiritually related to the current thread. A quote from Harold Bloom:

    “We have this horrible contemporary phenomenon in the Tea Party – a real menace not only to America but to the world. Because if it goes on like this, they will destroy our economy and they will destroy America. They have no democratic vision, and I don’t mean with a capital “D”, I mean with a small “d”. They frighten me. They’re like the early followers of Adolf Hitler, and I’m willing to be quoted on that. They are a sickening phenomenon. That is because they have not read deeply and widely enough.”

  133. 133.

    Elizabelle

    On a slightly more serious note: jgabriel, who I usually think is pretty sharp, pointed out on the Kay earthquake thread that Colorado and Virginia have both had once in a century earthquakes within hours of each other.

    I would put this down to coincidence, but anyone seen any good scientific reporting on any possibility quakes are linked?

    jgabriel mused that we just don’t know the explanation yet.

  137. 137.

    j

    @The Dangerman: Happened to me in an airplane. I was standing there minding my own business and the “fasten seat belt” light went on. It was like Luke Skywalker during his light saber training. I did my best during the turbulence, but…

  142. 142.

    Makewi

    @gwangung:

    It’s OK that you forgive the assumed ironic use of racism around here. Your seizing of the mental moral high-ground gives you that right. Hero.

  144. 144.

    Dennis SGMM

    The Reagan Revolution, Bush Tax Cuts, the Clinton Health Care Plan…

    Those damned dirty racists are everywhere I tells ya!

  145. 145.

    Belafon (formerly anonevent)

    Conservatives should expect us to wonder about statements like these considering how many times they have lapped the Onion.

  146. 146.

    General Stuck

    @Makewi:

    haven’t you heard,

    On bus tour, Obama embraces “Obamacare,” says “I do care”

    I remember when you first arrived here Scarlet, all full of Bullshit fight and so sure that no health care reform would evah get passed. And look at you know, trolling again, with nuthin’ but dashed wingnut dreams. Won’t even matter if Obama loses the election, cuz VIVA LA OBAMACARE

    hahahahahahahhhahhahhhah!!

  148. 148.

    BGinCHI

    Politico Headline:

    GOP Presidential Field Commits Suicide, Anticipates End Times, Realizes God is Going To Smite Them If They Don’t Get Out Now

  149. 149.

    Makewi

    @General Stuck:

    Later, when it’s not the great fix that you hope it will be – when you are busy finding the right people to blame for why it just didn’t work out the way you had hoped, at least we will have this moment to look back on. The time when you won one and all the world was magic.

  151. 151.

    Martin

    Clearly this has been part of Barry’s plan to destroy monuments erected to honor our founders – first weaken them with secret underground seismic activity, and then topple them with a powerful manufactured hurricane.

    You know where hurricanes come from? Africa, that’s where.

  152. 152.

    scav

    I especially admire his sneakiness-in-chief’s ability to apparently get two shield earthquakes to go off at once. Talk about stealth powers . . .

  153. 153.

    gnomedad

    @PurpleGirl:

    They (the Republicans and the Villagers) want to be able to say “both sides ignored a natural disaster”, yadda, yadda, yadda.

    Since the day he took office, they’ve been itching for Obama’s 9/11, Obama’s Iraq, Obama’s No WMD, Obama’s Katrina, Obama Still Hasn’t Gotten Osama (oops), Obama’s {insert Dubya fail here} …

  154. 154.

    General Stuck

    @BGinCHI:

    GOP Presidential Field Commits Suicide, Anticipates End Times, Realizes God is Going To Smite Them If They Don’t Get Out Now

    Isn’t like a spaceship, or something supposed to come fetch the Mormons when it all turns to shit. Or is that the Scientologists?

  155. 155.

    Dennis SGMM

    @Makewi:
    As opposed to doing nothing and then looking back on the good ol’ days when healthcare spending was only 16% of GDP.

  156. 156.

    Makewi

    @Dennis SGMM:

    Oh, I don’t ever do nothing. OTOH sitting around and complaining that other people have shit that you don’t is kind of like doing something, so I guess that’s something.

  157. 157.

    scav

    actually, thinking about how many bottled water bottles and lattes might have been spilled in the panic, has anyone checked for tsunami warnings?

  162. 162.

    Heliopause

    I guess we start the news cycle with the media we have and not the media we wish we had.

    Part of the problem is that Presidents indulge this kind of stupidity. Bush got hammered by the press right after Katrina and so tried to appease them with the “heckuva job Brownie” moment, the AF1 overflight, the speech in New Orleans. Ditto Obama with those ridiculous photo ops on the Gulf Coast. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again; I don’t blame Bush a bit for looking detached during the Katrina crisis, I blame him for his cronyism and ineffectual government. What a President looks like is for pea brains in the mass media, what he concretely does is for the rest of us.

    I don’t much expect it from Obama or anybody else but one of these years I’d like to see a President simply ignore the Roger Simons of the world.

  164. 164.

    MikeJ

    @lamh34:

    A nuclear power plant that was shut down after an earthquake struck central Virginia Tuesday had seismographs removed in 1990s due to budget cuts…

    Paging Bobby Jindal….

    Earthquake monitoring isn’t far removed from volcano monitoring.

  165. 165.

    Derf

    and this just in.

    Mark Knoller blames Obama for todays earthquake.
    http://theobamadiary.com/2011/08/23/cbs-mark-knoller-whitewashes-bush-from-2009-deficit/
    GOP pre-emptively blames Obama’s slow response to the Hurricane that may hit the US soon. Karl Rove saying “it’s Obama’s Katrina” yet again like the last 100 times he said that.

    Bachmann was quoted as saying all these things are clearly signs god is angry with REAL Americans for letting Obama get elected…and gay marriage..yea that too….of course!

  166. 166.

    Violet

    @Meredith:
    Yeah, what’s the country in northern Africa where stuff is happening? Starts with an “L”? I think it might have a many-decades-ruling crazy dictator who’s being overthrown by his people? Something? Sound familiar?

    No? Oh, well, back to the latte-jostling earthquake that traumatized the Village, then! I hear Luke Russert’s penny loafers had a bit of bottled water spilled on them! He’s being checked out by medics right now!

  168. 168.

    ET

    hahahahahahaha

    “theamazinghubs: RT @LouBrutus: #ICanHonestly say a 5.8 earthquake in DC is the biggest shakedown the city has had since Marion Barry was Mayor.”
    –http://twitter.com/theamazinghubs/status/106074246937186304

  172. 172.

    Dennis SGMM

    @Makewi:

    I likely have a much better health care plan than you do. What I want is the now-hidden costs that we all pay for the emergency room care that is the only recourse for the uninsured to be replaced by regular medicine. If you’re so stupid that you ignore the fact that slowing health care cost increases by doing that will result in more money in your pocket then you’re probably wearing a helmet full time.

  173. 173.

    Martin

    The Associated Press reports that US intelligence and military officials say no one can be sure who controls the Libyan government’s weapons stockpiles, from tons of mustard gas and raw nuclear materials to some 30,000 shoulder-fired rockets that can threaten aircraft.
    __
    The officials say the stockpiles appear to be under Libyan government control, despite rebel advances into the capital of Tripoli. That may or may not be good news, depending on whether troops loyal to embattled leader Muammar Gaddafi honour international agreements not to use the material.
    __
    One fear is that Gaddafi might use the weapons to make a last stand, or that al-Qaeda may acquire them. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss intelligence matters.
    __
    Two US State Department weapons teams are working to secure the sites in rebel-held areas.

    BOOTS ON THE GROUND! ARM THE KUCINICH!

  174. 174.

    Herbal Infusion Bagger

    If only we had lowered marginal tax rates on the rich and abolished the EPA, this earthquake would never have happened.

  176. 176.

    Makewi

    @Dennis SGMM:

    Hero. Bravely having conversations with himself where he comes across as heroic and smart – and with better health insurance to boot! Thank God for you dood!

  178. 178.

    Dennis SGMM

    @Makewi:

    Yep, that’s me; heroic and smart. I’m also damned good looking for my age.

    Your reply might have been a bit more effective though if you’d answered my point rather than resorting to schoolyard banter.

  179. 179.

    gogol's wife

    I really need to know how Tunch, Lily, and Rosie are. This is getting ridiculous. I don’t even know what John Cole had for dinner last night.

  180. 180.

    Dennis SGMM

    @Martin:

    …to some 30,000 shoulder-fired rockets that can threaten aircraft.

    Maybe Qaddafi forgot to buy the batteries for the launchers. As I recall there has been only one shoot-down of a NATO aircraft.

  183. 183.

    Kd bart

    It’s obvious that Obama ignored the memo regarding Earthquake’s desire to strike the East Coast of the US.

  184. 184.

    gogol's wife

    @Maude:

    I was being (somewhat) facetious. But I see that his avatar isn’t Tunch any more, but an Obama-logo-colored alien or something.

  186. 186.

    Libby's Person

    I used to be a geologist, and I spent 10 years in Los Angeles, so here are my “factoids of the day”, if anyone is interested. (Sorry for the lack of humor!)

    — Small to moderate earthquakes can and do happen pretty much anywhere. Big suckers only happen in certain lucky places, mostly (but not exclusively) at plate boundaries, particularly ones where one plate is being shoved under another. California, where the plates are moving sideways past each other, experiences small earthquakes all the time, and pretty big ones every 100-200 years. Seattle, where one plate is getting shoved under another, gets a smattering of small ones, and will experience a very large earthquake some time in the next few hundred years or so. The east coast and central US get occasional quakes that we don’t really understand, but most probably represent small stress adjustments in response to things happening at far-off plate boundaries.

    — Shaking from earthquakes in the central and eastern US is felt much further from the epicenter than on the west coast. The western US, which is a plate boundary, is chopped into little pieces by young faults, which allows chunks of ground to go up and down without dragging neighboring chunks of rock all the way up and down. The center and eastern part of the country, which are in the center of a plate, has very few young faults, so it acts like an intact sheet rather than like a bunch of blocks, and the shaking is transmitted much further laterally.

    — A 5.8 earthquake is huge for the eastern US (or any place in the middle of a plate), and so this is unlikely to be just a foreshock. That said, it is true that there has been at least one enormous quake in the eastern US, the 1812 New Madrid earthquake. This cluster of quakes (magnitudes estimated as ranging from 7.0 to 8.1) was felt strongly over a 50,000 square mile area, and moderately over a 1 million square mile area. Geologists still don’t completely understand why this quake occurred, but it was within the failed rift zone under the Mississippi River valley, it’s assumed to have something to do with crustal weakness associated with that ancient system of faults. Virginia is not within this zone.

    Class dismissed.

  188. 188.

    licensed to kill time

    @Kd bart: Dude, Cole just tweeted that an hour ago:

    Wingnuts are right. Obama shouldn’t have ignored last month’s NS memo that warned “Mild uneventful eathquake plans east coast strike.” about 1 hour ago via TweetDeck

    eta: or dudette, sorry if…

  194. 194.

    scav

    @Libby’s Person: Ditto to @Dennis SGMM, only I’d argue that if you can give a lecture like that, it’s more a case of stratigraphy of career choices rather than used-to-be status. Granted, I do rather expect to be doing the other geoscience (graphy, not ology) well into the decomposition phase of my existence but I may be non-standard. I assume this will be on the test but will it be multiple guess or essay and is there a lab?

  197. 197.

    Dennis SGMM

    @scav:
    A lab? On noes! The only mineral with which I’ve had extensive experience is Leaverite. As in “That’s not gold, you dummy. Leaverite were you found ‘er.”

  198. 198.

    Elie

    @General Stuck:

    the Preying Mantis is my fave — WOW — Fierce assed MF. Glad I’m not his/her size.

    Was watching a cool special on Natl Geo on bugs… watched a standoff betw a Mantis and a Katydid…Mantis jumped first but it didnt work and he ended up Katydid dinner. Oh well.

    I love Mantises and watching them turn their little heads (thank god littler than me) to look at me when I find one in the garden. Its wild to see an insect contemplate you! They let me know by their presence that my garden is in balance. I never use any insectiside shit… (slug beer and traps being the exception). wish we had more butterflies, but my neighbors love ChemLawn too much — sigh. My cross the street neighbor is a potato farmer and believes in nuclear herb and insectisides…

  199. 199.

    Dennis SGMM

    @Makewi:

    Your reply was about as effective as a wooden watch. Make sure that you don’t strain your shoulder while patting yourself on the back.

  200. 200.

    Elie

    @Libby’s Person:

    Very appreciated. thanks

    Being on the West Coast and 90 miles north of Seattle at that, I am preparing for THE BIG ONE. No — not really and hope not in my lifetime since I would be kissing my ass goodbye being right on the coastline.

    Framing this politically, the East Coasters always think that every little shaky thing is a Big Deal — so it doesnt surprise me that medium is amplified to huge out there…

  201. 201.

    scav

    @Omnes Omnibus: well, in the present instance, there might be some fieldwork and you might have to chew on a few rocks (although I have forgotten which exact instance that was useful and whether or not it involved feldspar). Wasn’t really a physnoid myself.

  202. 202.

    Elie

    There is some argument upstring betw Makewi (oh no, surfacing again!) and Dennis SGMM. I have not a fucking clue what they are talking about. Is geology or geography involved? Are surfaces rubbing against each other? Do we need a lubricant?

    Gogol’s wife — you are so right! We have no idea what John Cole had for dinner and that is much more interesting..

  203. 203.

    Dennis SGMM

    @Elie:

    We live in the foothills of the San Gabriels so even the Whittier and Northridge quakes didn’t cause much damage. OTOH, we’re surrounded by faults and if the Big One ever hits we’re going to lose gas, electricity, water and road communication with the outside world. This isn’t my imagination; I had a long talk with our town’s Disaster Manager about it. He said that if you don’t have at least two weeks’ worth of food and water you will suffer.

  204. 204.

    Elie

    @Dennis SGMM:

    On the other hand, if you are on the Big ZIP quake (big subduction ) between Seattle and Vancouver BC, who cares?

    I feel your pain. Were you arguing that you should or should not keep said food and water stocks?

    I know that we should and its one of those things that I will get to some day but figure that running from the tsunami is probably going to be more important so have a “plan” for grabbing the cat, my purse with all the cards,id and such, and my sneakers and heading up the bluff as fast as my knobby knees will carry me.

  205. 205.

    Mnemosyne

    Can any East Coasters watching cable tell us if Dr. Kate has been interviewed yet? It’s not a real earthquake until she’s on your teevee.

  206. 206.

    Marginalized for stating documented facts

    Yes, Obama should use his magical powers to prevent earthquakes.

    (rolls eyes.)

  207. 207.

    Derf

    @Marginalized for stating documented facts: Silly goose. All’s we ask is that he teleports to the epicenter within minutes and starts clearin brush or somethin…..ya know. But wes alls knows he is too much of an elistist chicago thug who is soft on terrissts an such an a commie socialist facist.

  210. 210.

    Karen

    So the earthquake is Obama’s fault but the fall of Tripoli had nothing to do with him.

    Got it.

    Gotta love how the media lets the right wing twist reality and trip over its own tongue without calling them on it.

    Guess the next thing they’ll gush about is how Rick Perry held the earth on his broad shoulders and ended the earthquake and saved the world.

    Yes it’s facetious and ridiculous but in a world where a Dem tweeting pictures of his junk is worse than a GOPper advertising in Craig’s List as a temporary sugar daddy, emails 18 year old boys and refuses to resign (and oddly, the main street media says fuck all about it) and the main street media says NOTHING about Perry’s desire to secede from the US government a year ago, I can easily believe that if McCain had become President instead of Obama and Sarah Palin shot him dead and became the new President, the media would not say. A. Fucking. Word.

  212. 212.

    Ron

    Ed Gillespie tweeted earlier: ” POTUS on the golf course when quake hit. What are the odds of that?”

  213. 213.

    Libby's Person

    @Dennis SGMM:

    It’s probably too late now for this to get to you (I ran off to play with my dog), but I now do something called “sustainability science.” Basically, fear-driven research on how the hell we ever can make any progress on any big problem in this screwed-up world.

  214. 214.

    Tehanu

    As an Angeleno I’m falling down laughing at the idea that a 5.9 quake means ANYTHING. OK, maybe since it’s far from a plate boundary it’s a little more shaky than the ones we get out here. Hell, the floor shakes more than that when my cat jumps down from the table. Yawn….

  215. 215.

    Dennis SGMM

    @Elie:
    A little late here. We have food, water, battery radio, candles, heavy gloves, leaf bags, duct tape, bailing wire, paracord, flashlights, tarps, kitchen matches, a bottle of brandy, and many batteries stored in a new 55gal trash can out back where we (Hope) nothing will fall on it. Along side it are a shovel, crosscut saw, six foot pinchbar (Tool used in the old days for moving freight cars by “pinching” the wheels), a sledge hammer, and an axe, wrapped in a tarp sealed with duct tape. We also have smaller three-day kits in each of the cars. They include food, water, hiking boots (w/two extra pairs of socks), glow sticks, flashlight, battery AM-FM radio, sheath knife, heavy gloves, food and water.

    If the house falls down on us in our sleep at least the neighbors will be jubilant.

  219. 219.

    Kane

    Now the beltway media might be able to grasp the proposal of addressing the need to repair and rebuild America’s infrastructure.

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