[ian807]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Fishman', ' ')where do you come up with this c%%p?

[efarmer]

Well the physics is correct for a large release of methane in a small area to defeat the buoyancy of a craft and have it sink. I don't see how it scales up to tsunami size though. If you believe in mythology in addition to physics, I am aware of a small scale experiment in a bathtub, where a toy boat was only able to be perturbed by the amount of methane that could be applied, but was sunk abruptly by the reaction of eNeptune when he decided the experiment was over and it was time to vacate the laboratory.

[mcgowanjm]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('efarmer', 'W')ell the physics is correct for a large release of methane in a small area to defeat the buoyancy of a craft and have it sink. I don't see how it scales up to tsunami size though. If you believe in mythology in addition to physics, I am aware of a small scale experiment in a bathtub, where a toy boat was only able to be perturbed by the amount of methane that could be applied, but was sunk abruptly by the reaction of eNeptune when he decided the experiment was over and it was time to vacate the laboratory.

[Timo]

OK, i've figured it out. The US Southern Command is commanded by a graduate of Akron University, with the Zips being deep in his heart. News last week that LeBron James would be headed to Miami just didn't sit well with him, and so to retaliaite, he's packing his bags, and those of 7,000 Marines and leaving. The exclamation point to his protest is that not only is he leaving Miami, he's leaving the country!

Mystery solved.

[ian807]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('efarmer', ' ')I don't see how it scales up to tsunami size though.

[mcgowanjm]

OK, except those are our ships, our supplies.

All can be left at Tampa/Pensacola.

thank you. Or I can send my buddies down to repo
your sorry ass' equipment. ;}

[Timo]

It's interesting that the PO headline this morning says that Venezuala could double Saudi Arabia in terms of recoverable oil. My guess is that Colombia will cease to be the headquarters of the worlds sugar production, and Senor Chavez will become the next new super villain. We'll team up with Colombia to take Chavez out of power, and open up his personal private oil reserves for BP, Exxon, Shell, Bambi, etc..... Nothing solves an economic depression like a new war, especially if there's a tangible asset afterwards to exploit as a reward.

[Cid_Yama]

Venezuela Accuses Dutch Military Reconnaissance Planes Of Violating Airspace
$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'P')resident Hugo Chavez's government complained Tuesday that a Dutch military aircraft violated its airspace and urged the Netherlands to stop provoking Venezuela, saying diplomatic relations could be hurt.

In a statement, Venezuela's government said it detected three separate incursions last week, "even through the aircraft used techniques to hide its position and identification."

Venezuela did not give details on the origin of the flights, but Chavez has accused the Netherlands in the past of letting the United States use Dutch islands off Venezuela to prepare a possible military attack against his country.

[mcgowanjm]

First, on the above, and surgical strikes:

The US, now like Israel, has 12 hours to win it's next war.

Second, $this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'V')ia: Financial Times:

“The bottom line here is that Americans don’t believe in President Obama’s leadership,” says Rob Shapiro, another former Clinton official and a supporter of Mr Obama. “He has to find some way between now and November of demonstrating that he is a leader who can command confidence and, short of a 9/11 event or an Oklahoma City bombing, I can’t think of how he could do that.”

[Cid_Yama]

Other political considerations.
$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'T')he assertions come just months before Curaçao, which has relied for centuries on trade with Venezuela, will gain greater autonomy from the kingdom of the Netherlands when the Netherlands Antilles is dissolved as a unified political entity this fall. The Dutch will continue to oversee aspects of Curaçao’s foreign policy, though a vocal minority here favors full independence, and Mr. Chávez’s talk could stoke that thinking.

“When you are small, you have to be wise, and when the big ones are in a quarrel, small countries have to stay out of that,” said Helmin Wiels, 51, the leader of Pueblo Soberano, a leftist party here that wants to expel the American surveillance planes.

But for now, the breakup of the Netherlands Antilles is expected to be a largely uneventful political reorganization in which the Netherlands will maintain its control of defense and foreign-relations issues for all the islands involved, including continuing to allow the American aircraft to be based at Curaçao’s airport.

The planes have used the airport since an agreement was signed in 2000. The agreement will expire this year, and the Dutch have said they plan to approve a five-year extension.

In a speech in Copenhagen last December, Mr. Chávez asserted that Curaçao and Aruba, another self-governing Dutch island, were located within Venezuela’s territorial waters.

[ian807]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Cid_Yama', 'T')hird option, what knowledge was revealed to him when he took office that may have changed his course. What would an imminent permanent energy crisis, or imminent global climate catastrophe do to change one's political agenda?

If you knew it was the end of the world as you've known it, a social agenda would probably fall to a much lower place on your priority list, or fall off the list all together. Political expediency would rule the day.

[EnergyUnlimited]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('ian807', '
')Something unpleasant is happening in that part of the world, though its origins may be in North Korea, Russia or Afghanistan. We just don't know about it yet.

[Sixstrings]

Getting into this conversation late.. just want to say it's interesting I haven't heard this Costa Rica operation mentioned anywhere in mainstream news. You'd think this would be significant and newsworthy, this many troops and ships involved. So it's odd that it hasn't been mentioned at all (at least that I've seen, and I watch a lot of news).

[ian807]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Sixstrings', 'S')o it's odd that it hasn't been mentioned at all (at least that I've seen, and I watch a lot of news).

[Sixstrings]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('ian807', 'T')he mainstream media is a propaganda tool for wealthy. Almost all media is owned by one of six (http://www.freepress.net/ownership/chart/main) corporations whose board members are the same people who sit on the boards of banks, oil companies, etc. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interlocking_directorate) and who employ lobbyists without number.

Blogs are still relatively uncensored and most are unfinanced. There's still some unvarnished truth to be had there, for now.

[ian807]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Sixstrings', 'I') have a hard time buying into the "corporate media conspiracy."

[hope_full]

The fact that NONE of the major media outlets have even mentioned this is really, really fascinating (and a little disturbing). If they're moving the SOUTHCOM fleet because the oil wreaks havoc with big engines, then why aren't they telling us that?

Too much silence from the big mouths in Washington. Worrisome.

Hope_Full

[ritter]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('hope_full', ' ')If they're moving the SOUTHCOM fleet because the oil wreaks havoc with big engines, then why aren't they telling us that?

[Plantagenet]

.......Do you know where exactly the fleet is going? Which port?

[Timo]

I hope this doesn't start a big fight, or even a little fight, but i have to acknowledge something about this whole escapade. The article that started this whole thread quotes some Costa Rican website saying that the government of Costa Rica "authorized" the entrance of 46 US warships into their country. The article continued with the capabilities of those ships in terms of helicopters and manpower, but i didn't read any quotes from any Costa Rican government authority on the purpose of that authority, or the timing, or length of stay, or any other coversion of any port down there for long term US presence. I don't doubt that the Costa Rican government gave the authority to the US to move all these ships and personnell down there. What i do doubt is that the US has any immediate plans for doing so. Maybe this authority was obtained by the US in advance of some concrete plans being made, but i can't see the entire US Southern Command this quickly just packing up and leaving, oil spill or not. This might explain why we haven't heard anything about this is the MSM, because there aren't actually any plans to exercise this authority. Yes, we have that authority. Is there any immediate secret government plot taking place to pack up and get out of Miami? I'll believe it when i see it.