Breaking news: President Obama to nominate Elena Kagan to the Supreme Court
Sunday, May 9, 2010
The Daily Drift
The Daily Drift
Today's horoscope says:Gossip is like fast food: it seems delicious before and during, but later on you just end up feeling disgusted with yourself.
If coworkers or friends insist on swapping other people's secrets and want you to join in, just find a way to discreetly move away.
There's no need to pass judgment or call them out -- it's just not your way to indulge in pointless chit-chat.
Some of our readers today have been in:
Hamilton, Ontario, Canada
Coffs Harbor, New South Wales, Australia
Brisbane, Queensland, Australia
Balikesir, Balikesir, Turkey
Bremen, Bremen, Germany
Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Bowmanville, Ontario, Canada
London, England, United Kingdom
Paris, Ile-De-France, France
Oldenburg, Niedersachsen, Germany
Shah, Alam, Selangor, Malaysia
Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
Moscow, Moskva, Russia
Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
New Delhi, Delhi, India
Santiago, Region Metropolitana, Chile
Colombo, Colombo, Sri Lanka
Treviso, Veneto, Italy
as well as Scotland, and the United States in such cities as Aliso Viejo, Mahopac, Katy, Mabank, Visala and more
Today is Sunday, May 9, the 129th day of 2010.
There are 236 days left in the year.
There are no unusual holidays or celebrations today.
As The World Turns
As The World Turns
Eyjafjallajokul (pronounced ay-yah-FYAH-lah-yer-kuhl) is still acting up ...
A new ash cloud closes some European airports and causes major trans-Atlantic travel problems.
Also: 
South Africa's police commissioner says an early U.S. exit would make his job a whole lot easier.
Also: Riot police clashed with thousands of communists demonstrating outside the government's main offices in the Nepalese capital on Sunday, injuring several protesters and police officers.
White House doesn't rule out sabotage in Thursday's wild Wall Street plunge
From The Hill:
President Barack Obama has not ruled out sabotage in Thursday afternoon's Wall Street panic.
White House press secretary Robert Gibbs said Obama's economic team was jolted by the news and met Obama shortly after the market plunged.
The president announced a full review Friday, and Gibbs said Obama is waiting to hear the results before ruling out possible causes, including sabotage.
Times Square bomb scare came cheap
Officials following the money trail say it doesn't take much cash to have an impact.
Also: Magnitude 7.4 earthquake rattles western Indonesia, prompting tsunami watch
The U.S. Geological Survey says an earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of 7.4 has rattled northern Sumatra in Indonesia.
Having a bad day
A Colorado man who claimed he was trying to defend himself from a mugger when he shot himself in the groin has been convicted of illegal discharge of a firearm.
On The Job
On The Job
Massive layoffs backfire on companies
A new study has bad news for firms that think big job cuts boost their prospects.
Also: It's The Economy Stupid
It's The Economy Stupid
Many costs that you've been paying all your life won't be a burden in your later years.
Also: 
Even intelligent people can make these emotionally driven money mistakes.
Also: Al Gore: Why the oil spill could change everything
Just as the oil companies told us that deep-water drilling was safe, they tell us that it’s perfectly all right to dump 90 million tons of CO2 into the air of the world every 24 hours. Even as the oil spill continues to grow—even as BP warns that the flow could increase multi-fold, to 60,000 barrels per day, and that it may continue for months—the head of the American Petroleum Institute, Jack Gerard, says, "Nothing has changed. When we get back to the politics of energy, oil and natural gas are essential to the economy and our way of life." His reaction reminds me of the day Elvis Presley died. Upon hearing the tragic news, Presley’s manager, Colonel Tom Parker, said, “This changes nothing.”
I am far from the only one who believes that it is not too much of a stretch to link the ongoing wars in Iraq, Afghanistan, and northwestern Pakistan—and even last week’s attempted bombing in Times Square—to a long chain of events triggered in part by our decision to allow ourselves to become so dependent on foreign oil.
Here at home, the illusion that we can meaningfully reduce our dependence on foreign oil by taking extraordinary risks to develop deep reserves in the Outer Continental Shelf is illuminated by the illustration below. The addition to oil company profits may be significant, but the benefits to our national security are trivial.
It's Only The Environment After All
It's Only The Environment After All
BP official says crystals formed inside the containment box, and crews had to move it aside.
Also: Why we call them 'wisdom teeth'
Those large molars in the back of your mouth don't make you wiser, so why the name?
Also: The Kremlin is trying to rehabilitate Stalin, just like the wingnuts are doing with McCarthy
It's interesting to read that the Russian government is trying to polish Stalin's image.
For the past several years, some wingnuts have been trying to rewrite the history of Joe McCarthy's anti-communism, in order to suggest that he wasn't all that bad of a guy either.
Kind of ironic that the rewriting is happening on both ends of the political spectrum, from the communists to the anti-communists.
What do they hope to achieve?
It is troubling that either side feels that the black mark somehow hampers their efforts, as though they'd like to be more like Stalin, or McCarthy, if the public were just more amenable.
For the past several years, some wingnuts have been trying to rewrite the history of Joe McCarthy's anti-communism, in order to suggest that he wasn't all that bad of a guy either.
Kind of ironic that the rewriting is happening on both ends of the political spectrum, from the communists to the anti-communists.
What do they hope to achieve?
It is troubling that either side feels that the black mark somehow hampers their efforts, as though they'd like to be more like Stalin, or McCarthy, if the public were just more amenable.
Good News
...and bad news:
Good - one less repugican ...
Bad - an even worse wingnut will likely take his place.
Opponents say Bob Bennett wasn't wingnut enough for ultrawingnut Utah.
Also: Rastafarian inmates spend 10 years in isolation for hair
Kendall Gibson would seem to be one of Virginia's most dangerous prisoners. For more than 10 years he has lived in segregation at the Greensville Correctional Center, spending at least 23 hours every day in a cell the size of a gas station bathroom. In a temporary home for the worst of the worst - inmates too violent or disruptive to live among the rest of society's outcasts - he has been a permanent fixture.
He is there, he says, not for his crimes but for a crime he will not commit - a crime against God. The only thing imposing about Gibson is his long black dreadlocks, resting on the front of his shoulders so they won't drag the ground as he shuffles along in his orange jumpsuit.
It is his hair - winding locks he considers a measure of his Rastafarian faith - that makes him a threat, according to Virginia Department of Corrections Operating Procedure No. 864.1. The rule took effect on Dec. 15, 1999. Inmates had two choices: cut their hair no longer than their collars and shave their beards, or be placed in administrative segregation.
In the beginning, Gibson was among as many as 40 inmates who opted for confinement over cutting. By 2003, when a handful of the inmates filed a federal lawsuit against the department over their detention, 23 remained in segregation. The lawsuit failed. Some cracked under the pressure of constant isolation with no visits from loved ones, educational or religious programs or commissary. Some went home.
Today, it's difficult to tell exactly how many remain in isolation. The Department of Corrections won't volunteer the information, but has confirmed 10 names. Not everyone can handle it, Gibson says. For those weak in mind or spirit, the walls can easily close in on them.
"People always ask how I can smile in a place so negative," he says. The Rastafarian God, Jah, "is my answer. Without Jah in my life I wouldn't be able to handle it."
Like most of the Rastafarians in segregation, Gibson didn't become a believer until after he entered prison. He was 18 and had a long time to do, sentenced to 47 years on robbery, abduction and gun charges.
He is there, he says, not for his crimes but for a crime he will not commit - a crime against God. The only thing imposing about Gibson is his long black dreadlocks, resting on the front of his shoulders so they won't drag the ground as he shuffles along in his orange jumpsuit.
It is his hair - winding locks he considers a measure of his Rastafarian faith - that makes him a threat, according to Virginia Department of Corrections Operating Procedure No. 864.1. The rule took effect on Dec. 15, 1999. Inmates had two choices: cut their hair no longer than their collars and shave their beards, or be placed in administrative segregation.
In the beginning, Gibson was among as many as 40 inmates who opted for confinement over cutting. By 2003, when a handful of the inmates filed a federal lawsuit against the department over their detention, 23 remained in segregation. The lawsuit failed. Some cracked under the pressure of constant isolation with no visits from loved ones, educational or religious programs or commissary. Some went home.
Today, it's difficult to tell exactly how many remain in isolation. The Department of Corrections won't volunteer the information, but has confirmed 10 names. Not everyone can handle it, Gibson says. For those weak in mind or spirit, the walls can easily close in on them.
"People always ask how I can smile in a place so negative," he says. The Rastafarian God, Jah, "is my answer. Without Jah in my life I wouldn't be able to handle it."
Like most of the Rastafarians in segregation, Gibson didn't become a believer until after he entered prison. He was 18 and had a long time to do, sentenced to 47 years on robbery, abduction and gun charges.
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