It gets a little warm in July . . .
Light blogging travel days coming up.
July 2010
Voters In Maricopa County Get It
Maricopa County, which includes the Phoenix Metro area, extends far enough North to include Wickenburg which is where our new home will be. The statistics below show a significant shift to the right, probably because of the county’s voters collective disgust with The administration and Congress in D.C. and approval of Arizona Governor Jan Brewer‘s Constitutional gun and immigration enforcement policies.
From the Campaign Spot:
A Sudden Shift in Maricopa County Voter Registration
By Jim Geraghty
This June in Arizona’s Maricopa County, 227 voters switched from no affiliation or some other party to the Democratic party. This includes 44 former registered Republicans.
Another 211 voters switched to “independent”; this total included 55 Democrats and 69 Republicans.
Another 217 left the Democratic party to become “Party Not Designated.”
And 530 joined the Republican party, including 190 former registered Democrats and 252 who were “Party Not Designated.”
Emphasis added.
Idiots Playing with Fire
I hope those two dumbasses go down hard in November and can do no further damage to the economy. But that’s probably just wishful thinking . . .
Solar “Conveyor Belt” Speeds Up
This is an interesting article on the SOHO website. The speeding of the internal plasma circulation is connected with the deepest solar minimum in a century.
One of the outstanding questions facing solar physicists is the origin of the solar magnetic cycle: What drives the 11-year sunspot cycle? We have just passed an extended and deep minimum, unlike any in the past 100 years. The late onset of the new solar cycle (#24) and the unusually deep minimum between cycles 23 and 24 took all experts by surprise, which suggests that there is a fundamental lack in our understanding of the origin of the solar activity cycle.
Image: Artist’s concept of the Sun’s meridional circulation, a large scale flow that transports solar plasma from the equator to the poles and back like a giant conveyor belt. Credit: Science@NASA
The Sun’s meridional circulation is a massive flow pattern within the Sun that transports hot plasma near the surface from the solar equator to the poles and back to the equator in the deeper layers of the convection zone, similar to a “conveyor belt”. The flow is rather slow, with typical speeds of 10-15 m/s (20 to 30 mph). The structure and strength of this meridional flow is believed to play a key role in determining the strength of the Sun’s polar magnetic field, which in turn determines the strength of the sunspot cycles. One class of dynamo models predicts that a stronger meridional flow produces weaker polar fields, whereas another class of models predicts stronger polar fields (and a shorter sunspot cycle) for the same flow. [more]
Red Gerbera Daisies
Last week we went to the home improvement center’s garden shop and picked up a pair of potted Gerberas to replace the lilies in the porch planters. These are the brightest red Gerberas I’ve ever had. There will be plenty of color on the porch for the next couple of months.
Help Defend Arizona Against Obama’s Reckless Lawsuit
This is just in from the office of Arizona Governor Jan Brewer. Obama’s monumental waste of taxpayer money waging a political war:
Arizona needs your help to defend against Obama lawsuit
Today, we received official notice of the federal government’s lawsuit against the state of Arizona.
I am sure you will agree with me that the Administration’s lawsuit is an outrageous use of taxpayer money and a sure sign that the President is more interested in politics than securing our southern border.
This lawsuit follows the President’s immigration speech in which he called for comprehensive immigration reform that – not surprisingly – includes a path to citizenship for those who entered our country illegally.
Let me be clear, I will defend the rule of law all the way to the Supreme Court of this land if necessary. I will continue to demand that the Federal government live up to its responsibility to control our Southern border and to protect our homeland. And, I will oppose the President’s amnesty plan.
But I need your immediate help today.
In order to respond to President Obama’s lawsuit I have set up a legal defense fund to pay the legal fees that Arizona has been forced to incur as a result of all of these lawsuits.
I urge all Americans who want a secure border to contribute to this fund immediately.
This is not just an Arizona issue, this is an American issue. Are we or are we not going to enforce the rule of law in America? The burden alone should not be shouldered by Arizonans. Arizona needs you to answer the call today, right now.
Click here to contribute now.
Make no mistake; Arizona’s immigration law affects the safety and well-being of every U.S. citizen. The federal government has failed to enforce the rule of law.
As long as the Federal Government refuses to do its job, I will ensure that Arizona continues to live by a rule of law.
Your immediate donation of $250, $125, $75 or whatever you can afford will go directly into fighting President Obama’s lawsuit. I do ask that you make this very important commitment today so we can immediately begin to defend against the President’s actions.
Arizona is the front line of our nation’s illegal immigration crisis. The federal government is broken and our border is not secure. That is why Arizona had to act.
I will not stop fighting to protect our country. I will defend us in federal court and we will continue to do the job President Obama refuses to do.
Join me today by clicking here now.
Sincerely,
Governor Jan Brewer
We’re in . . .
Cherie Hibiscus
I posted a photo of one of my Santana hibiscus flowers last month. Over the holiday weekend, a flower on my Cherie hibiscus opened up. I took this photo this morning under overcast skies.
Despite the gloomy weather, the colors of this flower are very bright. If I recall correctly, these will be blooming all summer. Click on the image to see full-sized.
I looked this variety up on the web and found a site with the name of the variety and a full description:
Hibiscus rosa-sinensis ‘Cherie’
TROPICAL HIBISCUS CHERIE
Tropical Hibiscus A profusion of large, showy orange, single flowers, with a maroon throat, are set against a background of dark green foliage. Blooms from spring through fall when planted in a well drained, full sun planting site.