Gay people have been a part of America since this nation's founding -- and long before that.
Wednesday, March 27, 2013
Did you know ...
That kids aren't getting drivers' licenses as much as before
Faux adds no new viewers for the second year in a row
That NYC cops spent a million hours over 11 years on marijuana arrests
If We Have a Debt Problem Why Aren’t repugicans Cutting the shrub's Spending?
The United States government spent $3.7 million on living ex-presidents last year, and over one third of that total went to the pretender the shrub.
Here is a breakdown of what the shrub is still spending big on the taxpayer dime, even though he is no longer the pretender:
$1.32 million – Allowance paid tothe shrub
$85,000 – the shrub’s telephone bill
$46,000 – the shrub’s postage and printing tab
$395,000 – Rent for the shrub’s Dallas office
The shrub commands gigantic speaking fees. Being an pretender is a license to print money on the speaking circuit, so it seems a little odd that while repugicans are trying to cut every program that is used by the poor and seniors, they haven’t said a peep about the shrub’s big tab.
Where is the repugican outrage over shrub’s spending? The repugicans like Paul Ryan, who love to suggest that the country is heading for doom because of debt, are oddly silent when the discussion turns to debts that are being run up by former pretender the shrub.
The shrub makes enough money on his own. If there really is a looming debt crisis, shouldn’t repugicans be suggesting that the shrub has got to do his part by cutting his spending?
Petition: force Congress to display logos of their corporate backers on their clothes
Since most politicians' campaigns are largely funded by wealthy companies and individuals, it would give voters a better sense of who the candidate they are voting for is actually representing if the company's logo, or individual's name, was prominently displayed upon the candidate's clothing at all public appearances and campaign events. Once elected, the candidate would be required to continue to wear those "sponsor's" names during all official duties and visits to constituents. The size of a logo or name would vary with the size of a donation. For example, a $1 million dollar contribution would warrant a patch of about 4" by 8" on the chest, while a free meal from a lobbyist would be represented by a quarter-sized button. Individual donations under $1000 are exempt.As funny as this is, it would be easy-ish to turn this into a browser plugin that looked for politicians' names in the pages you looked at, and automatically surrounded them with a semi-opaque halo of corporate logos that you could click on to see more.
Monsanto teams up with Congress to shred the Constitution
Our founding fathers did get a few things right. one of them was the concept of “separation of powers,” to ensure a system of checks and balances among the three branches of government: executive, legislative, and judicial. But a dangerous provision snuck into the budget bill passed last week in congress upends that system. without any hearings on the matter, the senate included language that would require the U.S. Department of Agriculture to essentially ignore any court ruling that would otherwise halt the planting of new genetically-engineered crops. - appetite for profit
...“these provisions are giveaways, pure and simple, and will be a boon worth millions of dollars to a handful of the biggest corporations in this country,” [sen. jon] tester said. “they deserve no place in this bill. we simply have got to do better on both policy and process.” - politico
Bobby Jindal’s Voucher Schools Teach That Slavery Was Good, and The KKK Are Great Guys
Bobby Jindal’s usage of Louisiana as a prop for his 2016 presidential campaign is doing a lot more damage to the state than the rest of the country can ever possibly imagine. However, Jindal’s isn’t just wrecking the state for today. His “school choice” plan is being used by the far right to teach rewritten history and whitewashed racism to the state’s children.
Jindal’s voucher schools will be free to teach lessons like slave owners were pretty good guys, “A few slave holders were undeniably cruel. Examples of slaves beaten to death were not common, neither were they unknown. The majority of slave holders treated their slaves well.”—United States History for christian Schools, 2nd ed., Bob Jones University Press, 1991.”
Louisiana’s kids will also be learning that the KKK is just misunderstood.
In Jindal Land’s classrooms, the KKK is really a reform organization that was concerned with morality, “[The Ku Klux] Klan in some areas of the country tried to be a means of reform, fighting the decline in morality and using the symbol of the cross. Klan targets were bootleggers, wife-beaters, and immoral movies. In some communities it achieved a certain respectability as it worked with politicians.”—United States History for Christian Schools, 3rd ed., Bob Jones University Press, 2001″
According to Crazy Crawfish’s Blog, “Louisiana’s state Superintendent of Schools, John White, is aware of these troubling texts being used, as is BESE president, Chas Roemer, but they believe a parent’s choice to send their kids to a school (that teaches slavery has gotten a bad rap) is not just ok, but should be defended at any cost. They feel it would be an injustice to interfere in the teachings of voucher schools. . . at least those that teach that ownership of other human beings was not something to be ashamed of, but something to be proud of.”
This is the kind of education that Bobby Jindal wants to give to all poor and middle class Louisiana kids, on the taxpayers’ dime.
Bobby Jindal is ruining Louisiana today, destroying the state for tomorrow, and he wants to be your next president.
Nebraska Cops Go Thug and Chase Down Man Filming Their Police Brutality
Here is the video:
According to PINAC, “Omaha police displayed an unbridled street gang brazenness when they chased a man who was video recording them abusing his brother into a private home, confiscating his phone and arresting him to ensure their actions would never see the light of day…Police also arrested a third brother inside the home they entered without a warrant, not to mention they knocked over a woman in a wheelchair.”
The Omaha police managed to use excessive force while arresting someone, then chased the person filming their conduct into a home, which they entered without a warrant, confiscated his video of the incident, charged him with disorderly conduct/obstructing police, and just for the sake of karma, knocked over a woman in a wheelchair.
Most law enforcement officers are decent people who perform dangerous jobs to the best of their ability, but it’s videos like this one that make all cops look bad. The Omaha police conspired with the local media to make sure that the video shot by the brother was not mentioned in any news reports, but their attempted cover up was thwarted by a neighbor who filmed the whole incident from a second story window.
Bad cops may be able to hide their brutality from the local press, but they can’t hide from YouTube.
Let this be a lesson to all who abuse their power. The cameras are everywhere, and we’re watching.
Neighborly dispute resulted in tit-for-tat windscreen smashing with bow and arrow and shotgun
A dispute between neighbors early on Sunday morning ended with one man
shooting an arrow through the windows of a truck and the other man under
arrest for blowing out the windshields of his neighbor car with a
shotgun blast. Dwayne Peters, 31, of Marstons Mills, Massachusetts, went
to the home of his next door neighbor, Nathan Hess, 30, between 1:30
and 2am, Barnstable police Detective Valerie Hemmila said.
While there, Peters brought up some racial “stuff” and the two men, who had both been drinking, argued and fought. After Hess managed to get Peters out of his house, Peters stayed on the property and threw things at the house. Hess got his bow and shot an arrow through the window of Peters’ truck, which was in the driveway. Peters was not near the truck at the time. The arrow shattered both windows of the truck and lodged in a trailer in the yard next door.
In retaliation, Peters went to his home and got a shotgun which he used to shoot out both the front and back windshields of Hess’ Volvo before returning to his home where he fired several more blasts into the air. Peters' mother called police, as did other neighbors. When police responded shortly after 3am, they found Peters walking with a shotgun. As Barnstable police officers arrived, Peters charged the officers’ cruiser, throwing himself across the hood of the car.
The officers arrested Peters without further incident. Officers recovered a 12-gauge shotgun and several spent shotgun shells at the scene, which were seized, along with the bow and arrow. Peters was charged with discharging a firearm within 500 feet of a dwelling, injury to real or personal property, carrying a firearm without a license, disorderly conduct, unlawful possession of ammunition and carrying a loaded shotgun on a public way. He was held on $5,000 cash bail and is scheduled to be arraigned in Barnstable District Court. Hess will be summonsed for malicious destruction of property over $250.
While there, Peters brought up some racial “stuff” and the two men, who had both been drinking, argued and fought. After Hess managed to get Peters out of his house, Peters stayed on the property and threw things at the house. Hess got his bow and shot an arrow through the window of Peters’ truck, which was in the driveway. Peters was not near the truck at the time. The arrow shattered both windows of the truck and lodged in a trailer in the yard next door.
In retaliation, Peters went to his home and got a shotgun which he used to shoot out both the front and back windshields of Hess’ Volvo before returning to his home where he fired several more blasts into the air. Peters' mother called police, as did other neighbors. When police responded shortly after 3am, they found Peters walking with a shotgun. As Barnstable police officers arrived, Peters charged the officers’ cruiser, throwing himself across the hood of the car.
The officers arrested Peters without further incident. Officers recovered a 12-gauge shotgun and several spent shotgun shells at the scene, which were seized, along with the bow and arrow. Peters was charged with discharging a firearm within 500 feet of a dwelling, injury to real or personal property, carrying a firearm without a license, disorderly conduct, unlawful possession of ammunition and carrying a loaded shotgun on a public way. He was held on $5,000 cash bail and is scheduled to be arraigned in Barnstable District Court. Hess will be summonsed for malicious destruction of property over $250.
Drunk man who fell off wharf thought he had been wrestling crocodiles
A drunk man who fell off Darwin's Stokes Hill Wharf in Australia told police he had been fighting crocodiles.
The 42-year-old man plunged 12m into the sea below but managed to swim to a platform at the bottom of a stairwell.
He was found by Customs officers. Senior Sergeant Debbie Gabolinscy said: "He suffered a few scrapes, bumps and soreness.
"He was a bit confused and thought he had got his injuries wrestling crocodiles."
The 42-year-old man plunged 12m into the sea below but managed to swim to a platform at the bottom of a stairwell.
He was found by Customs officers. Senior Sergeant Debbie Gabolinscy said: "He suffered a few scrapes, bumps and soreness.
"He was a bit confused and thought he had got his injuries wrestling crocodiles."
Australian police hunt for stolen dinosaur
Police in Canberra's north are appealing for help to find a giant
fibreglass dinosaur that was stolen from outside the National Dinosaur
Museum at Gold Creek. The Utahraptor statue stands 1.6 meters tall and
three meters long and is valued at $2,400.
It was taken from the Nicholls site at some stage on Thursday night. The museum's Ben Wardle says the statue appears to have been targeted by thieves after being moved for landscaping renovations. "We've been adding some large granite boulders, just making the garden a bit more accessible and enjoyable," Mr Wardle said.
"We'd left a couple of the life-like fiberglass dinosaurs unsecured overnight, and in the morning we discovered that one was missing.It is quite heavy and awkward, it would require more than one person to carry it, and it wouldn't fit in an ordinary sedan." Mr Wardle says the museum would love the dinosaur statue to be returned. "Even if it was just returned anonymously," he said.
Superintendent Brett Kidner says anyone who spots the life-like dinosaur statue should call CrimeStoppers. "Its brown in color with dark stripes across the back," he said. "It would probably stick out fairly obviously on a trailer or possibly someone may have put it into the back of a truck."
It was taken from the Nicholls site at some stage on Thursday night. The museum's Ben Wardle says the statue appears to have been targeted by thieves after being moved for landscaping renovations. "We've been adding some large granite boulders, just making the garden a bit more accessible and enjoyable," Mr Wardle said.
"We'd left a couple of the life-like fiberglass dinosaurs unsecured overnight, and in the morning we discovered that one was missing.It is quite heavy and awkward, it would require more than one person to carry it, and it wouldn't fit in an ordinary sedan." Mr Wardle says the museum would love the dinosaur statue to be returned. "Even if it was just returned anonymously," he said.
Superintendent Brett Kidner says anyone who spots the life-like dinosaur statue should call CrimeStoppers. "Its brown in color with dark stripes across the back," he said. "It would probably stick out fairly obviously on a trailer or possibly someone may have put it into the back of a truck."
He Bought a Firetruck
Gabriel
always wanted a firetruck, since he was a little boy. He never grew out
of that infatuation with firetrucks, so at age 32 (and a half), he
bought one.If we based decisions on practicality, we'd all drive Taurcedes until we had kids, then we'd get minivans and we'd all be miserable. At 65, we'd retire and finally get that entry-level Porsche Boxter that we'd been wanting for the past 40 years. That doesn't sound like a good plan to me.Read the rest of the story of how he got his firetruck from Ohio to his home in Montana: Here.
The coolest toys in the world aren't practical. Koenigsegg certainly aren't. Jet fighters - nope. Army tanks - nope. Did you know that you can buy old aircraft carriers on eBay? Can you imagine wake boarding behind one of those things? "Cool" just isn't practical. I've come to terms with that.
So I went ahead and pulled the eBay trigger and was elated to get truck 1213 for just $100 more than the reserve price. A total of $3,600 which also happened to be the hard limit my wife had imposed on this particular invaluable transaction.
Making fuel from air pollution
Excess carbon dioxide in the Earth’s atmosphere created by the
widespread burning of fossil fuels is the major driving force of global
climate change, and researchers the world over are looking for new ways
to [...]
The G-Cans
Tokyo's Vast Underground Temple-Drains
The Startling Rise of Disability in America
As the American economy has moved away from manufacturing to information services and the economy limps along, not keeping up with the number of people who need jobs, the U.S. Social Security Disability program has boomed. This boom covers up the real numbers of people who would otherwise be on welfare or counted among the unemployed. NPR looks at several factors that made this happen: for example, disability is for people who can no longer perform heavy labor, and don't have the education or skills for other jobs.
One woman I met, Ethel Thomas, is on disability for back pain after working many years at the fish plant, and then as a nurse's aide. When I asked her what job she would have in her dream world, she told me she would be the woman at the Social Security office who weeds through disability applications. I figured she said this because she thought she'd be good at weeding out the cheaters. But that wasn't it. She said she wanted this job because it is the only job she's seen where you get to sit all day.And disability payments shift the expense of maintaining people without jobs away from states and onto the federal government.
At first, I found this hard to believe. But then I started looking around town. There's the McDonald's, the fish plant, the truck repair shop. I went down a list of job openings -- Occupational Therapist, McDonald's, McDonald's, Truck Driver (heavy lifting), KFC, Registered Nurse, McDonald's.
A person on welfare costs a state money. That same resident on disability doesn't cost the state a cent, because the federal government covers the entire bill for people on disability. So states can save money by shifting people from welfare to disability. And the Public Consulting Group is glad to help.Other factors come into play, but the result is that 14 million Americans receive a disability check every month -and health care through Medicare. Learn more about the trend at NPR.
PCG is a private company that states pay to comb their welfare rolls and move as many people as possible onto disability. "What we're offering is to work to identify those folks who have the highest likelihood of meeting disability criteria," Pat Coakley, who runs PCG's Social Security Advocacy Management team, told me.
Most Mothers Give Infants Solid Food Too Early
More than a third of U.S. mothers start feeding their infants solid food too soon, a new study finds.
How Toenail Clippings Could Solve a Toxic Mystery
Thirty years after a toxic chromium spill, New Jersey residents will find out if they have been exposed.
Researchers form new nerve cells – directly in the brain
The field of cell therapy, which aims to form new cells in the
body in order to cure disease, has taken another important step in the
development towards new treatments. A new report from researchers [...]
Researchers Figure out How to Get Rid of an Earworm
Sometimes my wife complains of an earworm--a song that's stuck on a repeating loop in her head. I respond by loudly playing the Lexx theme song a lot. Later, she'll say that that song is stuck in her head. So I'll loudly play "Joxer the Mighty"
a few dozen times.* Then, for reasons that are unclear, she stops
telling me what she's thinking. Presumably the problem has gone away.Why does my brilliant method work? Now researchers led by music psychologist Dr. Ira Hyman of Western Washington University have found out. If you want to get rid of an earworm, you need to use all of your working memory on another task, such as solving a puzzle:
Researchers claim the best way to stopping the phenomenon, sometimes known as earworms – where snippets of a catchy song inexplicably play like a broken record in your brain – is to solve some tricky anagrams.
This can force the intrusive music out of your working memory, they say, allowing it to be replaced with other more amenable thoughts. [...]
“The key is to find something that will give the right level of challenge,” said Dr Ira Hyman, a music psychologist at Western Washington University who conducted the research. “If you are cognitively engaged, it limits the ability of intrusive songs to enter your head.
“Something we can do automatically like driving or walking means you are not using all of your cognitive resource, so there is plenty of space left for that internal jukebox to start playing. [...]
“Verbal tasks like solving anagrams or reading a good novel seem to be very good at keeping earworms out,” said Dr Hyman, who now hopes to examine whether similar techniques could be used to prevent other intrusive thoughts caused by anxiety or obsessiveness.
Sun Gods From Around The World
Here's a light-hearted look at solar deities - both male and female - from around the world.
Return to Antikythera
The Antikythera shipwreck — source of the famous ancient clockwork
Antikythera Mechanism — has remained shockingly unexplored in the 100
years or so that we've known about it. In fact, other than a visit by
Jacques Cousteau in 1970s, there hadn't been any official, scientific
excavations until last year. Turns out, there's a lot of stuff left to find at the site,
from a ship's anchor and storage jars to a collection of bronze
fragments — which could either turn out to be something mundane, like
nails from the boat, or more clues to the Mechanism. According to The
Guardian's Jo Marchant, "little bronze fragments" describes what the
gears of the Antikythera Mechanism looked like before they were detached
from rock and cleaned of rust.
Earth News
A new theory could explain how colliding tectonic plates
manage to burp up deep rocks at the same time they are swallowing
others.
A new study may help explain some of the mysteries surrounding foreshock earthquakes.
Where's the Edge of the Solar System?
If you thought finding a definition for Pluto was contentious, try defining the edge of the solar system.
The World's Most Amazing Waterfalls
Penguins once thrived in Africa
Africa isn’t the kind of place you might expect to find
penguins. But one species lives along Africa’s southern coast today, and
newly found fossils confirm that as many as four penguin species
coexisted on [...]
Animal News
It's one of the rare examples of the phenomenon in sharks.
Moms of this worm-like creature grow an extra layer of
fat-rich skin and their young scrape it off and eat it as they're
growing.
If a seal crawls in a forest....a hunter finds him.
Dog found owner's wedding ring among acres of woodland
A mother who thought her beloved wedding ring was lost forever was
shocked when
her dog led her to its exact spot among acres of woodland. Jayne Brady,
from Greasby, Wirral, Merseyside, was devastated when she realized her
titanium and gold wedding band had slipped off her finger during her
daily errands last month. The 43-year-old had searched everywhere for
the piece of jewellery and put up signs appealing for people to look out
for it in Arrowe Country Park but had no luck.
She had lost it at the beginning of February but it wasn’t until more than three weeks later that her boxer dog, Roxy, picked up a stick in the park to reveal the sparkling ring. Mother-of-two Jayne said: “I had taken the day off work and had a few things to do like take the children to nursery and go to the petrol station as well as walk the dogs. So when I noticed the ring was gone later that evening I knew it had to be in one of the three places.
“I contacted the park rangers who opened up the locked bin for me because we thought it could have slipped off as I put my dogs’ mess in there. I put up posters all over the place, hoping that by some sort of miracle I would get it back but nothing. So you can imagine my surprise when three weeks and one day exactly later, Roxy was rummaging around the fields at Arrowe Park and wanted me to pick up a stick for her to chase after. But as I picked up the stick, there was my ring just sitting on top of the grass. I was totally blown away and couldn’t believe it had been there the whole time.
”I was sure that I would never see it again because we had had really bad weather since I lost it so thought it would have been well trodden into the ground. I know I am very lucky to have found, especially as the rangers told the grass was about to be cut days later!” Now Jayne, who has been married to her husband Brian for three years, is hoping she can keep her ring safe in future. She added: “It wasn’t the best timing of losing the ring as our anniversary was just over a week away at the time. But I will definitely be keeping a close eye on it now and am very grateful to Roxy for leading me to it!”
She had lost it at the beginning of February but it wasn’t until more than three weeks later that her boxer dog, Roxy, picked up a stick in the park to reveal the sparkling ring. Mother-of-two Jayne said: “I had taken the day off work and had a few things to do like take the children to nursery and go to the petrol station as well as walk the dogs. So when I noticed the ring was gone later that evening I knew it had to be in one of the three places.
“I contacted the park rangers who opened up the locked bin for me because we thought it could have slipped off as I put my dogs’ mess in there. I put up posters all over the place, hoping that by some sort of miracle I would get it back but nothing. So you can imagine my surprise when three weeks and one day exactly later, Roxy was rummaging around the fields at Arrowe Park and wanted me to pick up a stick for her to chase after. But as I picked up the stick, there was my ring just sitting on top of the grass. I was totally blown away and couldn’t believe it had been there the whole time.
”I was sure that I would never see it again because we had had really bad weather since I lost it so thought it would have been well trodden into the ground. I know I am very lucky to have found, especially as the rangers told the grass was about to be cut days later!” Now Jayne, who has been married to her husband Brian for three years, is hoping she can keep her ring safe in future. She added: “It wasn’t the best timing of losing the ring as our anniversary was just over a week away at the time. But I will definitely be keeping a close eye on it now and am very grateful to Roxy for leading me to it!”
Live bomb found in squid
A fishmonger in the south of China was gutting a squid for a customer when his
knife hit an eight-inch live bomb
The squid, which was itself more than three feet-long, was caught in the shallow waters off Guangdong province, China, and taken to the fish market in Jiaoling county. "This sort of squid lives close to the shore and normally makes a meal of small fish and prawns," said the fishmonger, who gave his name only as Mr Huang to the Guangzhou Daily newspaper.
"Perhaps he thought the bomb was his favorite food and gulped it down. He certainly had a big belly when he was caught," he added. The bomb weighed around three pounds and was shaped like an aubergine. Local police suggested it might have been dropped by a fighter jet but did not date it.
Mr Huang said the police had arrived promptly after he called an emergency number and that they had taken it away and performed a controlled explosion. The police said that despite the age of the bomb, and its rusty exterior, it remained active and could have detonated.
The squid, which was itself more than three feet-long, was caught in the shallow waters off Guangdong province, China, and taken to the fish market in Jiaoling county. "This sort of squid lives close to the shore and normally makes a meal of small fish and prawns," said the fishmonger, who gave his name only as Mr Huang to the Guangzhou Daily newspaper.
"Perhaps he thought the bomb was his favorite food and gulped it down. He certainly had a big belly when he was caught," he added. The bomb weighed around three pounds and was shaped like an aubergine. Local police suggested it might have been dropped by a fighter jet but did not date it.
Mr Huang said the police had arrived promptly after he called an emergency number and that they had taken it away and performed a controlled explosion. The police said that despite the age of the bomb, and its rusty exterior, it remained active and could have detonated.
Ten Incredible Two-Headed Animals
Yet, as fantastical as it might sound, animals with two (or, more rarely still, three) heads exist in real life as well. And while they may not be as funny, terrifying or gigantic as their fictional counterparts, they're definitely just as strange.
Tuesday, March 26, 2013
The Daily Drift
First Drive-In Theater, Los Angeles, 1935
Carolina Naturally is read in 191 countries around the world daily.
Yesterday, Life got in the way of our publishing this blog fully so the abbreviated version was thrown out there. What can we say, it happens ...
Today is Make Up Your Own Holiday Day
Today is Make Up Your Own Holiday Day
Don't forget to visit our sister blog!
Today in History
| 1517 | The famous Flemish composer Heinrich Issac dies. | |
| 1799 | Napoleon Bonaparte captures Jaffa, Palestine. | |
| 1804 | Congress orders the removal of Indians east of the Mississippi River to Louisiana. | |
| 1804 | The territory of New Orleans is organized in the Louisiana Purchase. | |
| 1827 | German composer Ludwig Van Beethoven dies in Vienna. He had been deaf for the later part of his life, but said on his death bed "I shall hear in heaven." | |
| 1832 | Famed western artist George Catlin begins his voyage up the Missouri River aboard the American Fur Company steamship Yellowstone. | |
| 1885 | Eastman Film Co. manufactures the first commercial motion picture film. | |
| 1913 | The Balkan allies take Adrianople. | |
| 1918 | On the Western Front, the Germans take the French towns Noyon, Roye and Lihons. | |
| 1938 | Herman Goering warns all Jews to leave Austria. | |
| 1942 | The Germans begin sending Jews to Auschwitz in Poland. | |
| 1950 | Senator Joe McCarthy names Owen Lattimore, an ex-State Department adviser, as a Soviet spy. | |
| 1951 | The United States Air Force flag design is approved. | |
| 1953 | Eisenhower offers increased aid to the French fighting in Indochina. | |
| 1953 | Dr. Jonas Salk announces a new vaccine against polio. | |
| 1954 | The United States sets off an H-bomb blast in the Marshall Islands, the second in four weeks. | |
| 1961 | John F. Kennedy meets with British Premier Macmillan in Washington to discuss increased Communist involvement in Laos. | |
| 1969 | The Soviet weather Satellite Meteor 1 is launched. | |
| 1969 | Writer John Kennedy Toole commits suicide at the age of 32. His mother helps get his first and only novel, A Confederacy of Dunces, published. It goes on to win the 1981 Pulitzer Prize. | |
| 1979 | The Camp David treaty is signed between Israel and Egypt. | |
| 1982 | Ground is broken in Washington D.C. for the Vietnam Veterans Memorial. | |
| 1989 | The first free elections take place in the Soviet Union. Boris Yeltsin is elected. | |
| 1992 | An Indianapolis court finds heavyweight boxing champion Mike Tyson guilty of rape. |
Who names their kid Jihad?
It’s a fascinating story,
in part because Europe looks at freedom of speech much differently than
we do in the states. Our laws here tend to protect political speech
more than in some European countries at least. In this case, a young
French (presumably Muslim, based on the rest of the article) 3-year-old
boy named “Jihad” goes to nursery school wearing a t-shirt with the
phrase “I am a bomb” written on the front, and on the back it reads
“Jihad Born Sept. 11.”You can see a picture of the t-shirt on this page.
The thing is, the boy’s name is Jihad, and he was born on September 11.
Little Jihad’s teacher, thinking the shirt was praising the September 11 attacks, called the principal who called the mother. The mom, who was born in Morocco, apologized and said had no intent to convey a political message. Everyone thought the matter was over.
Well, the principal contacted his higher-ups, they contacted the city’s conservative mayor, who then contacted the local prosecutor. So Jihad’s mom, and his uncle who bought the shirt (who also claims he never considered the shirt political, and didn’t even mean it as a joke), were called in by the police for questioning, which can be a particularly scary experience in France as compared to the US, where it’s still not fun.
Mom was asked all sorts of odd questions like whether she timed the birth for September 11, and uncle was questioned about terrorist links, of course.
Initially they were going after the mom and uncle for a several thousand dollar fine, but now have reduced their request to a symbolic one euro fine. But, as the Post notes, good luck getting on an airplane ever again after being convicted of having sympathies with the September 11 attacks.
I really do find this story fascinating, because it gets to the heart of what I used to love about 60 Minutes back when we were kids, and LA Law (of all things) did a good job of this as well – presenting both sides of a story in a way that you full appreciated each side, and even felt your loyalties shifting as you learned more facts. This story felt that way to me. At first, I was outraged that a mother would put that shirt on her kid (not that I’d prosecute). Now I’m not sure what to think.
Is it really possible that the mom and the uncle had no idea that the t-shirt would be perceived as it was? And then there’s the larger question of countries have laws against such things as, basically, hate speech. We protect such speech here, generally. In Europe, less so. Then again, Europe has had a different history than we’ve had, in terms of the impact of hate on the continent (though this particular law was passed way before Hitler). But you could argue that slavery was our unique history based on hate, so perhaps things aren’t that different there than here, in terms of each locale having a history of discrimination.
What do you think? Is naming your kid Jihad akin to that story we ran years about the couple that named their Adolf Hitler Campbell (his siblings were named JoyceLynn Aryan Nation and Honszlynn Hinler Jeanne)? And should the mom face any kind of official blowback for putting a t-shirt like this on her kid, even if she did in fact mean it to be a reference to September 11 (which she denies)?
The thing is, the boy’s name is Jihad, and he was born on September 11.
Little Jihad’s teacher, thinking the shirt was praising the September 11 attacks, called the principal who called the mother. The mom, who was born in Morocco, apologized and said had no intent to convey a political message. Everyone thought the matter was over.
Well, the principal contacted his higher-ups, they contacted the city’s conservative mayor, who then contacted the local prosecutor. So Jihad’s mom, and his uncle who bought the shirt (who also claims he never considered the shirt political, and didn’t even mean it as a joke), were called in by the police for questioning, which can be a particularly scary experience in France as compared to the US, where it’s still not fun.
Mom was asked all sorts of odd questions like whether she timed the birth for September 11, and uncle was questioned about terrorist links, of course.
Decoration in the Great Mosque of Paris
Eventually, the prosecutor did find a law to go after the mom and her
brother (the boy’s uncle) for a 1918 law called “apology for a crime.”
I did some research on “apologie de crime” and it exists in Argentina
as well (I’m sure among other places). It seems to be exactly what it
sounds like – publicly defending a crime, in this case the prosecutor
alleges that the uncle and mother are defending the September 11
attacks.Initially they were going after the mom and uncle for a several thousand dollar fine, but now have reduced their request to a symbolic one euro fine. But, as the Post notes, good luck getting on an airplane ever again after being convicted of having sympathies with the September 11 attacks.
I really do find this story fascinating, because it gets to the heart of what I used to love about 60 Minutes back when we were kids, and LA Law (of all things) did a good job of this as well – presenting both sides of a story in a way that you full appreciated each side, and even felt your loyalties shifting as you learned more facts. This story felt that way to me. At first, I was outraged that a mother would put that shirt on her kid (not that I’d prosecute). Now I’m not sure what to think.
Is it really possible that the mom and the uncle had no idea that the t-shirt would be perceived as it was? And then there’s the larger question of countries have laws against such things as, basically, hate speech. We protect such speech here, generally. In Europe, less so. Then again, Europe has had a different history than we’ve had, in terms of the impact of hate on the continent (though this particular law was passed way before Hitler). But you could argue that slavery was our unique history based on hate, so perhaps things aren’t that different there than here, in terms of each locale having a history of discrimination.
What do you think? Is naming your kid Jihad akin to that story we ran years about the couple that named their Adolf Hitler Campbell (his siblings were named JoyceLynn Aryan Nation and Honszlynn Hinler Jeanne)? And should the mom face any kind of official blowback for putting a t-shirt like this on her kid, even if she did in fact mean it to be a reference to September 11 (which she denies)?
Did you know ...
About the dark side of the personal finance industry
The republicans can't hide their racist Obama hate
Why Democrats shouldn't put social security and medicare on the table
Why medical bills are killing us
Bob Dole Tells the repugican cabal to ‘close its doors to make repairs’
How can you be sure that your party is truly off course? Consistently bad polling is a start, an inability to win national elections is another clue. But for the final nail in the repugican cabal’s coffin, we have the revered former repugican Senator Bob Dole’s deep disappointment and shock at the modern day repugican cabal.
After the 89-year-old repugican wheeled his way back onto the Senate floor in 2012, hoping to pass an international treaty modeled on his historic Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990, he got quite a shock. Dole was betrayed by his own cabal, including a senator from his own state of Kansas: The treaty was killed by his own Cabal.
The Boston Globe covered Dole’s reaction to the loss, which he blames on his party’s anti-government rhetoric. Dole called for the party to take a time-out to make repairs:
As Dole sat in his Washington law office in February, still stunned by the outcome, he blamed his own party and suggested a headline: “repugican cabal closes its doors to make repairs.” The repugican cabal, added Dole, one of the party’s most revered figures, “needs a timeout” to tone down the antigovernment rhetoric.It must have been a shock for Dole to discover just how crazy his own cabal has become. It’s a shock for anyone who pays attention. Those who don’t pay attention play the false equivalency game, but the legislative process tells the truth.
In Dole’s case, we have a solid treaty based on existing legislation that had bipartisan support; a treaty first negotiated by former the shrub. Let that sink in. Among many other countries, Afghanistan (where we are allegedly fighting for freedom) has ratified this treaty, but we have not.
The treaty ratification was killed as all but 8 repugicans voted against it. Minority Leader Mitch McConnell has dragged the Senate into the tea party repugican ditch (his filibuster record speaks for itself). The tea party was against it because they hate anything the UN does; they see the UN as imposing on American exceptionalism. They would rather have Mitt Romney taking orders from Netanhayu than be a part of the United Nations.
In order to justify this, the Republicans put the head of the Home School Legal Defense Fund on the stand (you can’t make this stuff up). He spewed the typical paranoia of the far right, hysterically proclaiming that ratifying this treaty would give the UN control over his kid because his kid wears glasses. Quote: “The definition of disability is not defined in the treaty and so, my kid wears glasses, now they’re disabled; now the UN gets control over them.”
Sounds crazy, right? After all, UN treaties are not American law, and we already have that law on the books and no one has come for the kids, not even anyone from the “evil” Democratic Party, as described by the home schooler head. Okay, so the home schooling advocate is a bit nuts. But wait. repugican Senators James Inhofe and Jim DeMint began echoing the home schooler’s hysteria, adding (falsely) that the treaty covered abortion. Oh yes, There’s nothing like the poison pill of the abortion debate to deliberately kill a bill/treaty/discussion.
Bob Dole, meet the new repugican cabal.
The modern day repugican cabal doesn’t believe government should do anything. Anything. Anything at all, except serve as a function to collect taxes that can be redistributed to corporate entities poised to grift off of the government (see Gov Rick Scott’s infamous Medicare fraud history as an example of the Great repugican cabal Privatization Heist).
Nothing echoes more clearly the problems in DC than Dole describing his governing principles during 89-90 session. When he was the Minority Leader in the Senate, he says he thought he was there to do something, and as such, he saw it as his “job” to meet the Democrats halfway. He described an agreement with the Democratic Majority Leader to never criticize one another, to build a relationship of trust. Dole concluded, “I thought when I was elected I was supposed to do something.”
Imagine that. He thought he was being paid to actually do something for the country other than swear fealty to the paranoid rantings of the repugican base.
The tea party is Boycotting Faux News Because It Is Too Liberal
A group of tea party activists who are upset over Faux News for in their view not investigating Benghazi enough, and supporting immigration reform are boycotting the network.
This is the group’s second boycott, and they are claiming that they are taking down Faux News as punishment for becoming a leftist outlet, “Firstly, the ratings numbers. Despite the much shorter lead/advertising time, at first I was quite disappointed to see what seemed to be only an 8% drop in the ratings on Thursday, the 1st night. A number that slight is difficult to average out because ratings fluctuate within the the margin of error, but 8% seems about right. Then looking over the numbers, we see that FAUX is continually lower now than it had been before the first boycott. What has and is happening seems clear; of the 22% that walked away during the 1st boycott, it seems 10% – 12% never went back. That means the current 2nd boycott thus far is doing almost as well as the 1st one, except that the balance of the numbers past the 8% never stopped boycotting – they just went. Curiouser and Curiouser. We’ll see how the weekend shapes up; the numbers should be out by Monday or Tuesday at the latest.”
To show you how far off the ledge these folks have fallen, they had this to say about Bill O’Reilly’s ratings, “In related developments, media is now starting to laud O’Reilly’s ratings, even though they are half of what they were two years ago. IMO this is due entirely to their displaying approval of FAUX now that it has gone left, essentially abandoning FAUX’s core audience that made then wealthy, an act of unconscionable, cold-blooded betrayal.”
The group’s objective is to, “To restore the same scrutiny to the Office of the President by the media that was enjoyed by presidents past like Richard Nixon, and presumably with the same results.”
The tea partiers want Faux News to go far right, and they believe that this will lead to the impeachment of President Obama. (In their view, Obama should be impeached for Benghazi.)
Ironically, many of the activists who are outraged about Benghazi probably got their information from Faux News. Faux created this paranoid audience, so it is no surprise that like Frankenstein’s monster they have turned on their creator. There are many, many reasons why Faux News is on a downhill slide of decline, but going too far to the left isn’t one of them.
What this boycott is really about is that Faux News demonized the black president and Hispanics for years, so a segment of their audience is in full blown rebellion because Faux execs suggested that might be a good idea to tone down the immigrant hate by a couple of notches.
The tea partiers view this as a move to the left, when it reality it was a slight hat tip to demographics and reality.
The juiciest turn of the worm is that the very hate Faux News nurtured and grew, is now trying to destroy it.
Clean energy under attack from ALEC-backed fake freemarketeers
by Sami Grover
Led by the usual false cries for a "level playing field", and under the pretense of saving rate payers money, corporate-backed political movers are chipping away at renewable energy standards, all-the-while ignoring the massive direct and indirect subsidies enjoyed by the fossil fuel lobby.
Who's behind it all? I have a feeling you might be able to guess.
NC politicians attack bipartisan renewables legislation
In my own state of North Carolina, General Assembly members have introduced the absurdly named "“Affordable and Reliable Energy Act”, a bill which will repeal the state's Renewable Energy Portfolio Standard, despite it having been originally enacted with bipartisan support and the vocal approval of the state's main energy producers. Environmental activist and entrepreneur Tim Toben, whom I interviewed back in 2007 and who I consider to be a good friend, has a blistering take down of the absurdity of these moves:
A statewide public opinion survey taken at the end of January found 83 percent of the state’s registered voters agreed that state leaders and elected officials should seek more alternative and renewable energy sources. Seventy percent said the state having a policy that encourages greater use of renewable energy and energy efficiency is a good idea.Oil-backed lobby groups acting in the shadows
Sure, our conventional ways of producing electric power are needed and will continue for the foreseeable future to be dominant. But it would be foolhardy to crush North Carolina’s growing and important clean energy industry. So, if our General Assembly is true to its rhetoric about enhancing our economic climate, encouraging entrepreneurs and creating jobs, the misnamed “Affordable and Reliable Energy Act” will get forgotten in its committee maze.
But if the public is so overwhelmingly in support of clean energy innovation, where in the world is such opposition coming from? As with efforts to use oil money to undermine science education, it appears the fingerprints of the secretive ALEC—the American Legislative Exchange Council—are all over this particular effort too. In fact the Institute for Southern Studies has a detailed profile of the ALEC- and fossil fuel industry connected politicians who are spearheading this effort.
Most interesting is the questionable role of Duke Energy, which may be saying one thing publicly, and quite another in private:
Duke Energy is on the record as supporting North Carolina's REPS law, but at the same time it's a paying member of ALEC (despite calls to resign) and helped finance the group's conference held last spring in the company's hometown of Charlotte, N.C. That's where the Electricity Freedom Act -- ALEC's model bill to repeal REPS -- was drafted by the Heartland Institute, a prominent climate science denial group that's received significant funding from fossil fuel interests including the Kochs and Exxon Mobil, another major funder of climate disinformation.The playing field has never been level
Now, lest anyone be fooled by the free market rhetoric of a level playing field, let's get one thing straight—the playing field has been tipped for so long in favor of the fossil fuel monopolies that it is absurd to suggest that clean energy is getting more than its fair share. Whether we're talking direct subsidies and tax breaks for fossil fuels, or the indirect subsidy of a failure to put a price on carbon and leaving us all to shoulder the bill, the advantages run deep. Even the Federal Aid Highway Act was an indirect subsidy for an automobile-centric and oil driven economic paradigm that remains with us to this present day.
ALEC's nation-wide anti-renewables drive
As the Environmental Defense Fund documents, North Carolina is far from an isolated case. ALEC and the Heartland Institute are attacking renewable energy standards across 29 states, all the while draping their corporate bullying tactics with the age-old disguise of astroturf fiscal conservatism.
It's a move that should be met with considerable outrage, especially by true fiscal conservatives. The government has been picking a winner for years in this fight.
It's time the public had a say.
Coal company kicks 10,000 workers off health care
by Chris Tackett
In a corporate sleight-of-hand, the promises won with a lifetime of hard work and hard bargaining disappeared first into a holding company. Now, if the bankruptcy judge agrees, they will disappear into thin air.If you've ever got the sense that some environmentalists consider the fossil fuel industry as being evil, it is stories like this that are to blame. So you might be surprised to see the 350.org founder and climate activist defending coal miners, but just like advocating for action to address climate change, defending these workers is the right and moral thing to do.
Or, to put it more explicitly, here’s a handwritten note from Shirley Wells of Sullivan, Kentucky: “Over the years thousands were killed in explosions, fires, roof falls, and many other accidents. ... Many others suffer from the slower death called black lung disease ... confined to their homes, dependent on oxygen.”
If Patriot has its way, they won’t have the medical cards that pay for their treatment. And as one miner after another points out in the letters, they bargained hard for those cards, preferring guaranteed medical care over higher wages precisely because of the toll the work took on their bodies.
There's a famous quote by Mahatma Gandhi: "I like your Christ, I do not like your Christians. Your Christians are so unlike your Christ."
An appropriate remix of this quote could be, "I like fossil fuel workers, I do not like the fossil fuel industry. The fossil fuel industry is so unlike fossil fuel workers."
By this, I mean to say that by and large, the laborers that work in the fossil fuel industry are probably good, hard-working people. Many of these people are supporting families and simply doing the work available in their region. And we mourn for their families when they are killed on burning oil rigs or in exploding coal mines or suffer economic injustice.
Environmental debates are often framed with an Us Versus Them dynamic. If we are to achieve our goal of protecting the environment for future generations, we should strive not to let the debate be seen as a fight between environmentalists versus fossil fuel workers, but rather a fight between moral or immoral choices. As much as environmentalists may dislike the fossil fuel industry and want to see it put out of business, McKibben is right to highlight the immoral actions of Patriot coal and the gross injustice of treating workers in this way.
Brain activity changes in children at risk of schizophrenia predate onset of symptoms
Research from the University of North Carolina has shown that
children at risk of developing schizophrenia have brains that function
differently than those not at risk. Brain scans of children who have
parents or siblings [...]
Physical activity during youth may help reduce fracture risk in old age
Get out there and regularly kick that soccer ball around with
your kids, you may be helping them prevent a broken hip when they are
older, say researchers presenting their work at the American Orthopaedic
[...]
Health News
Mediterranean Diet Aims to Keep Heart Healthy
A taste of the Mediterranean may just reduce one's chances of having a heart attack or stroke, according to health experts.
'Healthy' options on fast food menus may not be so healthy
"CBS This Morning" reports that while more and more fast food chains
are adding so-called healthy options to their menus, they may not have
your best interest at heart.
Chlorox Tooth Paste
Chlorox Tooth Paste? I had to look it up to see if this was a hoax. I found a 1920 publication with a letter of praise to Nulyne Laboratories followed by an offer to send the toothpaste to any dentist free of charge to use on their patients. Mind you, current Chlorox products are not recommended for use on your teeth. More
Researchers Built Carna Botnet to Perform Internet Census
But to scan the entire Internet would require a botnet, so they built one.
Curt Hopkins of The Daily Dot wrote:
Carna turned out to be an effective way of measuring a big chunk of the Internet, but there’s one major catch: It’s illegal and invasive, which no doubt explains why the researcher has remained anonymous. Carna was, as per the name, a botnet, a type of malware secretly loaded into any device it could penetrate. At its peak, the botnet controlled an estimated 420,000 devices.Find out more over at the Daily Dot. | The research paper: Internet Census 2012
“We used the devices as a tool to work at the Internet scale,” wrote the Carna author. “We did this in the least invasive way possible and with the maximum respect to the privacy of the regular device users.”
Although Carna was allegedly designed to minimize intrusion and avoid damaging an infected device or process, it remains a virus that a hacker used to infect millions of devices with no notice and no permission.
Australian motorist raced for his life against massive tornado
Two Australian men made a dramatic escape from a tornado in New South
Wales after the twister touched down only metres from their car.
Daniel Clarke, 24, has told how he was driving from the town of Mulwala to nearby Barooga when the tornado, which was around 50 metres wide at its base, appeared in a field next to them.
YouTube link.
Nearby power lines exploded with a blue flash as they were hit by the whirling column of air. With rain and debris hammering the windscreen as the tornado advances towards them, Mr Clarke reverses at speed before performing a hand-brake turn in the road.
But the twister continues to barrel through the adjoining field, travelling almost parallel to their car at a speed of approximately 50mph. "I've never seen a demonstration of Mother Nature like that, it was just very intense and very scary," said Mr Clarke said.
Daniel Clarke, 24, has told how he was driving from the town of Mulwala to nearby Barooga when the tornado, which was around 50 metres wide at its base, appeared in a field next to them.
Nearby power lines exploded with a blue flash as they were hit by the whirling column of air. With rain and debris hammering the windscreen as the tornado advances towards them, Mr Clarke reverses at speed before performing a hand-brake turn in the road.
But the twister continues to barrel through the adjoining field, travelling almost parallel to their car at a speed of approximately 50mph. "I've never seen a demonstration of Mother Nature like that, it was just very intense and very scary," said Mr Clarke said.
Small Asteroid Behind East Coast Meteor Friday
A 3-foot boulder was big enough to light up the skies over the East Coast, experts say.
Miniature horse trained to help boy with rare illness
A miniature horse named Zoe is helping a special needs preschooler at an Alaska elementary school deal with mobility problems.
The horse is being trained to help 4-year-old Zaiden Beattie get around Russian Jack Elementary School in Anchorage. Zaiden has been diagnosed with A-T, or ataxia-telangiectasia, a genetic disorder that progressively robs him of his ability to coordinate movement, such as walking.
Zoe is the only service horse in an Alaska school and after multiple online searches, the only service horse Principal Elizabeth Hornbuckle could find at any school in the nation.
YouTube link.
Zaiden's mother, Lesley Zacharias, is training Zoe to help Zaiden lift himself out of a chair and walk steadily by grasping onto handles on the little horse's specially made harness. The horse is being trained to pick up objects and perform other tasks that could also help Zaiden.
The horse is being trained to help 4-year-old Zaiden Beattie get around Russian Jack Elementary School in Anchorage. Zaiden has been diagnosed with A-T, or ataxia-telangiectasia, a genetic disorder that progressively robs him of his ability to coordinate movement, such as walking.
Zoe is the only service horse in an Alaska school and after multiple online searches, the only service horse Principal Elizabeth Hornbuckle could find at any school in the nation.
Zaiden's mother, Lesley Zacharias, is training Zoe to help Zaiden lift himself out of a chair and walk steadily by grasping onto handles on the little horse's specially made harness. The horse is being trained to pick up objects and perform other tasks that could also help Zaiden.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
