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The place where the world comes together in honesty and mirth.
Windmills Tilted, Scared Cows Butchered, Lies Skewered on the Lance of Reality ... or something to that effect.


Wednesday, February 24, 2010

Old is New

Enough said.

Murdoch's UK tabloid blasted in parliamentary report

Despite what Murdoch's team have suggested, this is much more serious and more widespread than a single, rogue reporter.

The 167-page report by a cross-party select committee is withering about the conduct of the News of the World, with one MP saying its crimes "went to the heart of the British establishment, in which police, military royals and government ministers were hacked on a near industrial scale".

MPs condemned the "collective amnesia" and "deliberate obfuscation" by NoW executives who gave evidence to them, and said it was inconceivable that only a few people at the paper knew about the practice.

The culture, media and sport select committee was also damning of the police, saying Scotland Yard should have broadened its original investigation in 2006, and not just focused on Clive Goodman, the NoW's royal reporter.
*****
You know Murdoch, he of Faux News ownership infamy.
Seems the British aren't as accommodating of his bullshit as are the wingnuts here.

The House passed bill to repeal health insurance industry's anti-trust exemption by 406 - 19 margin

Reining in the health insurance industry really is bipartisan:
By a vote of 406-19, the House passed the Health Insurance Industry Fair Competition Act (HR 4626), introduced by Reps. Tom Perriello (D-VA) and Betsy Markey (D-CO). This bill is designed to restore competition and transparency to the health insurance market – by repealing the blanket antitrust exemption afforded to health insurance companies by the McCarran-Ferguson Act of 1945. Under this legislation, health insurers will no longer be shielded from legal accountability for price fixing, dividing up territories among themselves, sabotaging their competitors in order to gain monopoly power, and other such anti-competitive practices.
Pretty amazing to see so many repugicans vote against their insurance industry benefactors. They must be hoping that the insurance industry controls enough votes in the Senate to kill this bill. But, it is pretty amazing that so many hard-core repugicans didn't want to be seen as supporting protecting the insurers.

Here's the list of the 19 repugican House members who chose to stick with the insurance companies, a cabal that includes some of the worst of the worst in the House repugican caucus. You'll note the Minority Leader is one of them: Akin (KS), Boehner (OH), Brady (TX), Broun (GA), Buyer (IN), Franks (AZ), Garrett (NJ), Jenkins (KS), Jordan (OH), King (IA), Lamborn (CO), Linder (GA), Moran (KS), Paul (TX) Price (GA), Ryan (WI), Sensenbrenner (WI), Tiahrt (KS) and Westmoreland (GA).

This is the second time this week that the "party of NO" said yes. Five repugican Senators voted to end the repugican filibuster of the jobs bill on Monday night. Then, six of the repugican hypocrites who filibustered [Alexander (TN), Cochran (MS), Inhofe (OK), Lemieux (FL), Murkowski (AK) and Wicker (MS)] ended up voting for final passage today.

McCain tries to tie repugican primary opponent to birthers

A repugican using the birthers, who are in bed with the Teabagger movement, to tar his opponent.
Remember, the birther conspiracy theory - that President Obama wasn't really born in the US and thus is not constitutionally eligible to be president - was highlighted, and well-received with a standing ovation, at the recent Teabagging conference in Tennessee.
So it's actually quite interesting that McCain is trying to use the fringe in a negative way, rather than embracing them.
Then again, they don't quite like him anyway.
But still, it means McCain suspects that Arizona repugicans aren't as fringe as the birthers and possibly the Teabaggers.

The dogs are fighting themselves ... you got to love it.

Nicaragua denies cancer treatment due to pregnancy

The American Taliban (excuse me, the radical religious right) is no doubt thrilled with this decision.

Nicaraguan authorities have withheld life-saving treatment from a pregnant cancer patient because it could harm the fetus and violate a total ban on abortion.

A state-run hospital has monitored the cancer spreading in the body of the 27-year-old named only as Amalia since her admission on February 12 but has not offered chemotherapy, radiotherapy or a therapeutic abortion, citing the law.

The decision has ignited furious protests from relatives and campaigners who say the woman, who has a 10-year-old daughter and is 10 weeks pregnant, will die unless treated. The cancer is suspected to have spread to her brain, lungs and breasts. They have petitioned the courts, government and the pan-regional Inter-American Commission on Human Rights to intervene.

Whale Kills SeaWorld Trainer During Show

http://www.sensibleerection.com/images/entry_thumbnails/1267062060_
Sources at SeaWorld Orlando said that a whale that had been at the park since 1992 attacked and killed a female trainer Wednesday afternoon.
Shamu Stadium, SeaWorld Orlando

Full Story

Credit card companies get aggressive

Credit card companies get aggressive

You may receive a letter warning that some transactions won't be authorized "even in an emergency."

Epic windfall tranforms Indian reservation

Epic windfall tranforms Indian reservation

The discovery of billions of barrels of oil helps right a huge wrong from the 1950s, tribal officials say.

Stolen at birth, man finally learns identity

Stolen at birth, man finally learns identity

Decades after a brutal kidnapping, a father's quest to find his son finally pays off.

Industries where jobs are disappearing

10 industries where jobs are disappearing

Department stores will cut one in 10 positions in coming years, but other sectors will be hit harder.

More
Also:

Teacher's heroic act ends school shooting

Teacher's heroic act ends school shooting

When a man with a rifle opened fire on middle-school students, math teacher David Benke sprang into action.

Story
Also:

The dangers of a daily aspirin

The dangers of a daily aspirin

Some people taking the drug to reduce the risk of a heart attack may want to reconsider.

The Atlantic Gets Its Own Great Plastic Garbage Patch

From Treehugger:

sea education association atlantic plastic photo
Plastic marine debris collected in a surface plankton net tow. Photo: Sea Education Association.

Though it hasn't garnered nearly as much attention as its plastic-ridden analog in the Pacific, the North Atlantic Ocean too has its very own gigantic patch of floating plastic waste. Recently the 5 Gyres project has brought some attention to it, and now BBC News reports that scientists from the Sea Education Association have completed a 20 year study on it:

Grizzlies Move into Polar Bear Territory

From Treehugger:

grizzly bear denali photo

In Manitoba, Canada, grizzly bears are officially listed as extirpated—a species that does not exist locally, though it is present in the wild elsewhere. With confirmed sightings in the province becoming more frequent, however, this classification may soon change.

If grizzlies become established north of Hudson Bay, researchers say, they could pose a serious threat to the region's polar bear populations.

Daily Riddle

How do you tell two 'Tea Party' members apart?

Ask their wife. After all, she's their mother ...

Lapdogs are Middle Eastern

Well, there goes some wingnut's day
The gene that turned a wolf into a Yorkshire terrier originated in the region more than 12,000 years ago.

Lapdogs are Middle Eastern

I suppose they'll be put on the 'terrier' watch list now.

Monster crocodile was ancient human nightmare

Our ancestors would have been no more than a snack for a newly identified man-eating crocodile.

Monster crocodile was ancient human nightmare

The fossilized remains of a gigantic 10m-long predatory clam-busting shark have been unearthed in Kansas.

Liars and Fools

Cop News

How Neanderthals met a grisly fate ...

... devoured by humans
Neanderthal

Photograph: Action Press/Rex Features

Dish of the day?

One of science's most puzzling mysteries - the disappearance of the Neanderthals - may have been solved.

Modern humans ate them, says a leading fossil expert.

Full Story

Van Gogh Experts Authenticate Unusual Painting

A newly authenticated Van Gogh has gone on display 35 years after a discredited art collector bought it in Paris, convinced it was painted by the famed Dutch master but never able to prove it.

Unusual Painting is Van Gogh's

NC Woman Gets Marijuana Delivered, Expected Computer

NC Woman Gets Marijuana Delivered, Expected Computer The Salisbury woman called police after she opened a box with 45 pounds of marijuana inside.

Expected Computer

Navy will soon let women serve on subs

The Pentagon has moved to lift a decades-old policy that prohibits women from serving aboard Navy submarines, part of a gradual reconsideration of women's roles in a military fighting two wars whose front lines can be anywhere.

Ugliest creatures on the planet

Number one on the hit parade: The Blobfish

The blobfish, is boneless with a humanlike face. Marine biologists say it lives in the deep waters off the coast of Tasmania.

Ugliest creatures on the planet

Huge space-junk collision averted

Huge space-junk collision averted

Mayhem in the heavens is avoided when two space objects just miss crashing into each other.

Poll shows fewer health care fears

Poll shows fewer health care fears

With President Obama's plan in limbo, Americans have less concern about its effect on them.

New dinosaur species discovered in Utah

New dinosaur species discovered in Utah

The giant creatures were embedded in stone so hard that explosives were necessary.

How a hobbit is rewriting the history of the human race

homo-floresiensis-hobbit
A painting of what researchers believe Homo floresiensis may have looked like.

The discovery of the bones of tiny primitive people on an Indonesian island six years ago stunned scientists. Now, further research suggests that the little apemen, not Homo erectus, were the first to leave Africa and colonize other parts of the world.

Full Story

Today is ...

Today is Wednesday, February 24, the 55th day of 2010.

There are 310 days left in the year.

Today In History February 24

Today's unusual holidays and celebrations are:

They're aren't any.

Our Readers

Some of our readers today have been in:

Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh, India
Gatineau, Quebec, Canada
New Delhi, Delhi, India
Edinburgh, Scotland, United Kingdom
Mississauga, Ontario, Canada
Augsburg, Bayern, Germany
Vienna, Wien, Austria
Munich, Bayern, Germany
Zagreb, Grad Zagreb, Croatia
Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland
Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
Hobart, Tasmania, Australia
Portsmouth, England, United Kingdom
Bucharest, Bucuresti, Romania
Dundee, Scotland, United Kingdom
Mayaguez, Mayaguez, Puerto Rico
Kitchener, Ontario, Canada
London, England, United Kingdom
Islamabad, Islamabad, Pakistan
Caracas, Distrito Federal, Venezuela

as well as Mauritius, Belgium, and in cities across the USA, like - Deltona, Alpharetta, Lompoc, Longmont, Saugerties, Nitro, Batavia, Herndon, Lithia, Lubbock, Ogden, Manassas and more

Daily Horoscope

Today's horoscope says:

No fair being tired.
It's your time to shine, and there's at least one person out there -- at the very least -- who wants to spend some time with you.
They've been patient for days, while you toiled away, being dutiful and honorable.
Now it's their turn for your attention.
How could you possibly deprive them of it?
Why would you want to?
Take a cool shower, make some coffee and rally.
You can do it!

Can do!