Zazzle.com still down

Not sure what's going on. Their new rollout must've had issues. Seems to have been down for a full day, now. Zazzle.com.

...they were up by the next day. Stuff is pretty much working. New look looks good.

Earthquake; Blogs Win

Just got a 5.6 out here. Me and another guy were in the office - I was rockin out to my headphones and started feeling something weird. So I kinda look around and see my coworker's face - he's got that 'wtf?' look. So, I took off my headphone and just sat there trying to figure out wtf was going on - shit was swayin - especially these gargantuan light fixture things we have. Told my co-worker he might want to move out from underneath the one he was under.

The blogs had people posting in real-time - saying stuff like, "Oh shit - an earthquake just hit as I'm posting this," or this guy, who says "the house is still swaying a little". Google News picked up this AP wire article about ten minutes after the quake.

It's pretty darn cool to be able to get immediate reaction from neighbors.

And all the Google Maps stuff helps, too.

White People on CNN

The parallels between the flood in New Orleans and the fires in Socal are uncanny. Water vs. fire. Black vs. White. Democrat vs. Republican.

Look - white victims are OK to put on tv, apparently.

...seriously - how many asshole socal republicans have been getting off on the new orleans fema trailers? let's listen for the roar of those same republicans as their asses are out on the street. assholes.

...white house cuts testimony on global warming - just as catastrophic global warming-fueled fire are tearing apart southern California.

Bill McKibben, leading environmentalist and one of the leading forces behind Step It Up. In 1989, he wrote the book “The End of Nature,” one of the first books to describe global warming as an emerging environmental crisis. His latest book is "Fight Global Warming Now: The Handbook for Taking Action in Your Community."

LightsOutSF.org

Turn your lights out for an hour. Install at least one CFL lightbulb. LightsOutSF.org.

Costa Rica says no to US

But the CIA says yes:

Chanting “No to the free trade pact” and “Costa Rica is not for sale,” demonstrators filled one of San Jos�’s main boulevards to show their opposition to the Central American Free Trade Agreement with the United States.

The Al Jazeera story actually includes a picture from the protest.

100,000 people out of a total population of 4 million - that's 2.5% of the entire population of the country protesting in the streets. Damn.

There's no way that thing passed legally. Must've had the CIA stuffing ballot boxes again.

Polls just a couple of days before the referendum said the anti-Costa Rica vote would go down bigtime. Guess the IHT didn't factor in CIA ballot-box stuffing and snuffing operations. Not to mention the work of USAID and various other anti-democracy organizations like the IRI.

...LA Times has a good pic. And some more info on dirty tricks by the rich:

But that was before a memo written by CAFTA advocates was leaked to the public this month, fueling outrage here. The document, dated July 29 and written by two high-level government officials with close ties to Costa Rican President Oscar Arias, outlined a campaign of dirty tricks intended to sway voters.

The authors proposed smearing CAFTA opponents by linking them to leftist firebrands such as Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez and Cuban President Fidel Castro. They called for a public relations campaign to "stimulate fear" among citizens about the alleged dangers of snubbing the deal.

They also advocated punishing local officials -- by withholding funds for public programs in their regions -- if their constituents repudiated CAFTA.

U.S. government issues the standard 'vote for this or starve ultimatum.

The WSJ feels some guilt for what they are about to let happen to the working class people of Costa Rica - so the WSJ prints a reader response to yet another right-wing pro-rich article.

...well, that wasn't just 'some reader' - it was Bernie Sanders, US Senator from Vermont, and avowed Socialist. Full article reproduced here.

...this article says no exit polls allowed - standard operating procedure for votes you expect to steal.