Good morning 99percenters!

'Paddle in Seattle' Protesters Welcome Shell Drilling Rig with Two Words: Go Away
Thursday's protest comes ahead of a larger sHell No! demonstration—including mass flotilla and direct action—planned for the weekend

Paddling activists rolled out the un-welcome mat as Shell Oil's hulking 'Polar Pioneer' drilling rig—whose presence is opposed by many local citizens, environmentalists, and city officials—pulled into the Port of Seattle on Thursday afternoon.

About 20 kayakers met the 307-foot-tall, 400-foot-long rig in the waters of Elliott Bay, singing, chanting, linking arms, and bearing a banner that read, "Arctic Drilling = Climate Change." Among the group were members of the Duwamish Tribe, who paddled through the waves in a long wooden canoe and led the group in chanted songs, according to the Seattle Times.

The Times adds:

Law-enforcement officers were on the water and overhead to enforce a 500-yard safety zone while the Polar Pioneer was in motion. Coast Guard officials warned the activists beforehand that any disruption of safe navigation could result in arrests.

But the authorities allowed the activists relatively close to the rig when it briefly stopped, and there were no disturbances of note during the afternoon demonstration.

This evening's music features New Orleans r&b singer and self-appointed "Emperor of the Universe," Ernie K-Doe.

Cross-posted from GoS.

Mainstream thinking, not just Republican thinking, is consistently wrong. Justification and support for the Iraq War? WRONG. Catastrophically wrong. Multi-generational even. Centennial even. An amazingly catastrophic mass lapse of establishment "reason" indeed.

Rest in peace, BB.

B.B. King, Blues Legend, Dead at 89

Hello everyone. I have mostly checked out of the 24 hour news cycle. That includes expending too much energy slogging through the Internet.

The television side of the business is lacking substance.

How have 24-hour news stations affected society?

This evening's music features jazz and blues singer and civil rights activist Nina Simone.

Good Morning, I would like to apologize for my words that showed hostility and bad, negative judgements towards some member's comments of this community two days ago. I reflected on myself and see how much I have done wrong. Let me say that I try to do my best so that it will not happen again. I ask to forgive me for my words and hope you can do so one day in the future.

This evening's music features blues guitarist Francis "Scrapper" Blackwell.

Good morning 99ers!
Gulfgal is still traveling so you'll have to put up with me for another day.

Morning News Dump and Johnny Rivers.

McKibben Blasts Obama Over Arctic Drilling as Activists Ready for Fight
Founder of 350.org says that now, "as with Keystone, it will be up to the environmental movement to block Shell's plan."

Faced with the imminent arrival of the Shell drilling fleet and newly announced White House backing for Arctic oil exploration, activists and environmentalists are readying for a fight.

In a New York Times op-ed on Tuesday, 350.org co-founder Bill McKibben blasted the Obama administration's decision on Monday to grant the oil giant conditional approval to begin drilling operations in the Beaufort and Chuchki Seas this summer.

McKibben said that, despite his rhetoric, President Barack Obama has repeatedly exhibited "climate denial of the status quo sort," where people "accept the science, and indeed make long speeches about the immorality of passing on a ruined world to our children," but then ultimately "deny the meaning of the science, which is that we must keep carbon in the ground."

"Even in this most extreme circumstance, no one seems able to stand up to the power of the fossil fuel industry. No one ever says no," McKibben writes. He notes that now, "as with Keystone, it will be up to the environmental movement to block the plan."

This evening's music features Chicago blues and boogie-woogie piano player Jimmy "Papa" Yancey.