The Animaniacs
Saturday, February 7, 2009
It couldn't happen to a 'nicer' guy
Rupert Murdoch's News Corp (home of Faux News) has reported a $6.4-billion loss in the second quarter of its fiscal year and we are overjoyed that the purveyor of hate and lies is losing his money - let him lose all of it.
More details here.
Repugicans still at it
The repugicans are still trying to screw this country over. Have a look at what they are demanding to be cut from the stimulus package so that the economy is further recessed rather than turned around ...
Latest Cuts To The Stimulus Package: Head Start, Child Nutrition, Food Stamps, Public Transit
Recession exposes holes in jobless benefit system
The government safety net designed to protect laid-off workers from financial catastrophe is falling short, leaving nearly half the 11.6 million jobless Americans without unemployment benefits.
Read the rest here.
$9 Million ATM Scam
A global flashmob of ATM thieves netted $9 million in fraud against ATMs in 49 cities around the world.
The person in the photo is believed to be one of the "cashers," low-level players, in a scheme devised from some mastermind -- a dangerous computer hacker or hacking ring authorities fear could strike again.
Here's how it all came down, according to information from the FBI and law enforcement sources:
The computer system for a company called RBS WorldPay was hacked. One service of the company is the ability for employers to pay employees with the money going directly to a card, called payroll cards, a lot like a debit card that can be used in any ATM. The hacker was able to infiltrate the supposedly secure system and steal the information necessary to duplicate or clone people's ATM cards.
"We've never seen one this well coordinated," the FBI said.
Then shortly after midnight Eastern Time on November 8, 2008 the FBI believes that dozens of the so-called cashers were used in a coordinated attack of ATM machines around the world.
"Over 130 different ATM machines in 49 cities worldwide were accessed in a 30-minute period on November 8th," Agents Rice said. "So you can get an idea of the number of people involved in this and the scope of the operation."
And I Quote
He that wrestles with us strengthens our nerves and sharpens our skill.
Our antagonist is our helper.
~ Edmund Burke
Our antagonist is our helper.
~ Edmund Burke
And, boy, do they ever ... antagonize that is.
Our Readers
Some of today's readers are in:
Modling, Neiderosterreich, Austria
Eindhoven, Noord-Brabant, Netherlands
Ulsan, Ulsan-Gwangyoksi, Republic of Korea
Ringgold, Georgia, United States
Barbarton, Ohio, United States
Modling, Neiderosterreich, Austria
Eindhoven, Noord-Brabant, Netherlands
Ulsan, Ulsan-Gwangyoksi, Republic of Korea
Ringgold, Georgia, United States
Barbarton, Ohio, United States
Daily Horoscope
Today's horoscope says:
Be very careful what you say.
That is good advice and I always do.
Be very careful what you say.
That is good advice and I always do.
Friday, February 6, 2009
Fire danger extreme in Australia
Maybe their fellows in the northern part of the country could send them some of their excess water?
Crews battled to contain dozens of wildfires across southeastern Australia on Saturday as temperatures soared to record levels and officials warned conditions were perfect for a deadly inferno.
At least 40 fires were blazing in New South Wales state, and more burned in Victoria and South Australia.
Most were in parks and bush land away from residential areas.
Forecasters said a heat wave that has stewed millions of people in the southeast in the past two weeks would peak at the weekend with temperatures of up to 117 F.
Hot, dry winds would also blow across the region, creating conditions very similar to those that caused the 1983 wildfire tragedy known as Ash Wednesday that killed 75 people.
*****
Crews battled to contain dozens of wildfires across southeastern Australia on Saturday as temperatures soared to record levels and officials warned conditions were perfect for a deadly inferno.
At least 40 fires were blazing in New South Wales state, and more burned in Victoria and South Australia.
Most were in parks and bush land away from residential areas.
Forecasters said a heat wave that has stewed millions of people in the southeast in the past two weeks would peak at the weekend with temperatures of up to 117 F.
Hot, dry winds would also blow across the region, creating conditions very similar to those that caused the 1983 wildfire tragedy known as Ash Wednesday that killed 75 people.
Items in the News
In Houston, school officials are bragging that they're treating teachers the same as they'd treat students -- having them prosecuted for drugs and prescription meds found in random searches of vehicles in school parking lots.
More details in the Houston Chronicle.
It's hard to comprehend it, but 19,000,000 American homes were vacant at the end of December - an all-time high.
More details at Bloomberg.
Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg has undergone cancer surgery, and remains hospitalized.
She opposed the treasonous Bush v Gore decision in 2000, so she has the wishes of every true American for her speedy recovery.
More details at MSNBC News.
More details in the Houston Chronicle.
It's hard to comprehend it, but 19,000,000 American homes were vacant at the end of December - an all-time high.
More details at Bloomberg.
Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg has undergone cancer surgery, and remains hospitalized.
She opposed the treasonous Bush v Gore decision in 2000, so she has the wishes of every true American for her speedy recovery.
More details at MSNBC News.
Actor James Whitmore dies of lung cancer
James Whitmore, the many-faceted character actor who delivered strong performances in movies, television and especially the theater with his popular one-man shows about Harry Truman, Will Rogers and Theodore Roosevelt, died today.
He was 87.
The Emmy- and Tony-winning actor was diagnosed with lung cancer the week before Thanksgiving and died this afternoon at his Malibu home,
His long-running "Give 'em Hell, Harry," tracing the life of the 33rd president, was released as a theatrical movie in 1975.
Whitmore was nominated for an Academy Award as best actor, marking the only time in Oscar history that an actor has been nominated for a film in which he was the only cast member.
His Teddy Roosevelt portrait, "Bully," was also converted into a movie.
He later became the TV pitchman for Miracle-Gro plant food, and used the product in his large vegetable garden at his Malibu home.
While not known for his politics, Whitmore was an early supporter of President Barack Obama.
He stumped for Obama during a 2007 rally at the Gibson Theatre at Universal Studios, telling the crowd that Obama had the wisdom "to deal with a very, very confused and complex country, and the world."
Whitmore also appeared in TV commercials in 2008 for the "First Freedom First" campaign, which advocates religious liberty and preserving the separation of church and state.
He was 87.
The Emmy- and Tony-winning actor was diagnosed with lung cancer the week before Thanksgiving and died this afternoon at his Malibu home,
His long-running "Give 'em Hell, Harry," tracing the life of the 33rd president, was released as a theatrical movie in 1975.
Whitmore was nominated for an Academy Award as best actor, marking the only time in Oscar history that an actor has been nominated for a film in which he was the only cast member.
His Teddy Roosevelt portrait, "Bully," was also converted into a movie.
He later became the TV pitchman for Miracle-Gro plant food, and used the product in his large vegetable garden at his Malibu home.
While not known for his politics, Whitmore was an early supporter of President Barack Obama.
He stumped for Obama during a 2007 rally at the Gibson Theatre at Universal Studios, telling the crowd that Obama had the wisdom "to deal with a very, very confused and complex country, and the world."
Whitmore also appeared in TV commercials in 2008 for the "First Freedom First" campaign, which advocates religious liberty and preserving the separation of church and state.
And you are surprised, how?
This comes as a surprise to no one (with the exception of the shrubby that it was exposed).
The bush administration overpaid tens of billions of dollars for stocks and
other assets in its massive bailout last year of Wall Street banks and financial
institutions, a new study by a government watchdog says.
Read more here
Economic Meltdown Continues
Employers slashed another 598,000 jobs off of U.S. payrolls in January, taking the unemployment rate up to 7.6%, according to the latest government reading on the nation's battered labor market.More at CNN
That doesn't show the true unemployment rate though. It does not count those who are completely discouraged from searching and those that are underemployed. The true unemployment stats are ranging upwards of 20%.
*****
Sami celebrate National Day
The Sami people of Europe's Arctic held their National Day today, with some gathering around bonfires and eating reindeer dishes to celebrate the survival of their ancient lifestyle over many efforts to assimilate it into mainstream culture.
The once-oppressed indigenous reindeer herders in northern Norway, Sweden, Finland and northwestern Russia began celebrating February 6th as their national day in 1993.
The date marks the first Sami national congress, when about 100 herders gathered in Trondheim, Norway, in 1917.
Norway's Crown Prince Haakon and Crown Princess Mette-Marit visited the Sami Parliament in the Arctic town of Karasjok, where temperatures were -20 Fahrenheit.
The royal palace also launched a Sami-language version of its Internet site today.
The Sami - also known as Lapps - settled with their reindeer herds some 9,000 years ago in Europe's Arctic, and now call themselves one nation of about 70,000 people spread across the four countries.
For generations, the Nordic ethnic majority sought to assimilate the Sami into the mainstream culture, by banning their language and culture, while Russian Sami were isolated by Iron Curtain for 70 years of Soviet rule.
Now Sami have their own parliaments, schools, newspapers and broadcasts in their own language.
Most Sami live modern lifestyles, and few still herd reindeer.
But throughout the Arctic today they turned out in colorful costumes, called Kofte, singing traditional yoik songs, and flying the Sami flag, to recall their roots.
In Finland, party guests in the Inari, 730 miles north of the capital, Helsinki, braved temperatures of -22 Fahrenheit as they stood outside near bonfires to eat traditional reindeer dishes.
In Sweden, Sami Nils Gustav Labba said his country's traditional herders are still "not that good" at celebrating compared to Norwegian Sami with their bigger events.
The once-oppressed indigenous reindeer herders in northern Norway, Sweden, Finland and northwestern Russia began celebrating February 6th as their national day in 1993.
The date marks the first Sami national congress, when about 100 herders gathered in Trondheim, Norway, in 1917.
Norway's Crown Prince Haakon and Crown Princess Mette-Marit visited the Sami Parliament in the Arctic town of Karasjok, where temperatures were -20 Fahrenheit.
The royal palace also launched a Sami-language version of its Internet site today.
The Sami - also known as Lapps - settled with their reindeer herds some 9,000 years ago in Europe's Arctic, and now call themselves one nation of about 70,000 people spread across the four countries.
For generations, the Nordic ethnic majority sought to assimilate the Sami into the mainstream culture, by banning their language and culture, while Russian Sami were isolated by Iron Curtain for 70 years of Soviet rule.
Now Sami have their own parliaments, schools, newspapers and broadcasts in their own language.
Most Sami live modern lifestyles, and few still herd reindeer.
But throughout the Arctic today they turned out in colorful costumes, called Kofte, singing traditional yoik songs, and flying the Sami flag, to recall their roots.
In Finland, party guests in the Inari, 730 miles north of the capital, Helsinki, braved temperatures of -22 Fahrenheit as they stood outside near bonfires to eat traditional reindeer dishes.
In Sweden, Sami Nils Gustav Labba said his country's traditional herders are still "not that good" at celebrating compared to Norwegian Sami with their bigger events.
Eigthy-four children dead from teething formula
The number of deaths from a tainted Nigerian teething formula has more than doubled, with 84 children killed by the syrup that contained a thickening agent normally used in brake fluid and antifreeze, the Health Ministry said.
The victims have ranged in age from 2 months to 7 years old, the ministry said in a statement late yesterday.
It indicated that about 75 percent of the 111 children who had been sickened since the poisonous batch of My Pikin Baby Teething Mixture hit shelves in November have died.
"The death of any Nigerian child is a great loss to the nation," Health Minister Babatunde Oshotimehin said in the statement.
"The federal ministry of health sincerely regrets this painful incidence and sympathizes with the nation and the families directly affected."
Health officials said in early December that 34 children had died up to that point and that stores were returning their stocks of the formula meant to stop pain in teething children.
The Health Ministry statement didn't say if it believed all the tainted dosages had been returned.
Many bottles of the paracetemol-based formula were determined to contain a high concentration of diethylene glycol, commonly found in antifreeze and brake fluid.
Exposure can cause kidney and liver damage and may be fatal in large amounts.
The afflicted children were stricken with fever, convulsions, diarrhea and vomiting, and were unable to urinate after being given the product.
The deadly agent entered the production process for My Pikin Baby Teething Mixture when an official with the Lagos-based maker procured the tainted ingredient from an unregistered chemical dealer in a sprawling slum near the city's main dump, the National Agency for Food, Drug Administration and Control has said.
Several officials of the pharmaceutical maker, Barewa Pharmaceuticals Ltd., were under arrest along with several other suspects accused of helping provide the tainted ingredient.
The food and drug agency said the first sickened child was taken for treatment on November 19th of last year in Nigeria's far northern region.
Similar cases were documented in subsequent days in Nigeria's densely populated southwest, and investigators isolated the product as common to all the ailing children.
Health officials haven't said how many bottles of the bad formula were believed to have existed.
Officials say Barewa Pharmaceuticals appears to have been told it was purchasing propylene glycol, a normal ingredient in the teething formula.
They said that the pharmaceutical company had always bought that ingredient through approved channels before, but had turned to a new source for the ingredient used in the tainted batch.
Diethylene glycol is commonly found in antifreeze and brake fluid, and sometimes used illegally as a cheaper alternative to glycerin, which thickens toothpaste.
The contaminant has been implicated in poisoning cases around the world, including in Panama, where at least 116 people died after taking contaminated cough syrup, antihistamine tablets, calamine lotion and rash ointment made at a government laboratory.
Remember, these people poisoning these products are the same type of people the repugicans fawn all over!
The victims have ranged in age from 2 months to 7 years old, the ministry said in a statement late yesterday.
It indicated that about 75 percent of the 111 children who had been sickened since the poisonous batch of My Pikin Baby Teething Mixture hit shelves in November have died.
"The death of any Nigerian child is a great loss to the nation," Health Minister Babatunde Oshotimehin said in the statement.
"The federal ministry of health sincerely regrets this painful incidence and sympathizes with the nation and the families directly affected."
Health officials said in early December that 34 children had died up to that point and that stores were returning their stocks of the formula meant to stop pain in teething children.
The Health Ministry statement didn't say if it believed all the tainted dosages had been returned.
Many bottles of the paracetemol-based formula were determined to contain a high concentration of diethylene glycol, commonly found in antifreeze and brake fluid.
Exposure can cause kidney and liver damage and may be fatal in large amounts.
The afflicted children were stricken with fever, convulsions, diarrhea and vomiting, and were unable to urinate after being given the product.
The deadly agent entered the production process for My Pikin Baby Teething Mixture when an official with the Lagos-based maker procured the tainted ingredient from an unregistered chemical dealer in a sprawling slum near the city's main dump, the National Agency for Food, Drug Administration and Control has said.
Several officials of the pharmaceutical maker, Barewa Pharmaceuticals Ltd., were under arrest along with several other suspects accused of helping provide the tainted ingredient.
The food and drug agency said the first sickened child was taken for treatment on November 19th of last year in Nigeria's far northern region.
Similar cases were documented in subsequent days in Nigeria's densely populated southwest, and investigators isolated the product as common to all the ailing children.
Health officials haven't said how many bottles of the bad formula were believed to have existed.
Officials say Barewa Pharmaceuticals appears to have been told it was purchasing propylene glycol, a normal ingredient in the teething formula.
They said that the pharmaceutical company had always bought that ingredient through approved channels before, but had turned to a new source for the ingredient used in the tainted batch.
Diethylene glycol is commonly found in antifreeze and brake fluid, and sometimes used illegally as a cheaper alternative to glycerin, which thickens toothpaste.
The contaminant has been implicated in poisoning cases around the world, including in Panama, where at least 116 people died after taking contaminated cough syrup, antihistamine tablets, calamine lotion and rash ointment made at a government laboratory.
*****
Remember, these people poisoning these products are the same type of people the repugicans fawn all over!
Will of the American people
Tired of his low approval ratings, the shrub called up the head of the CIA and said, "I want your very best agent over here first thing in the morning."
Moments later, a call went out to the Middle East, and the most gifted American agent was headed back to Washington.
The next morning, the agent was escorted into the Oval Office. The shrub said, "I hear you're the best in the business. I can't trust what my staff tells me.
So I want you to visit every state in the union, every major city. I want you to stay out on the road until you have an idea of what the vast majority of Americans would like to see happen in the Oval Office. Understand?"
The CIA agent responded affirmatively. He left the White House and wasn't heard from for nearly four months. Finally, he showed up early on a Saturday morning, and the shrub saw him immediately.
The shrub said, "Did you find out what an overwhelming majority of Americans want done here in this office?"
"Yes, sir."
"Well, then, express the will of the people," the shrub ordered.
So the agent stood up, pulled out a gun, and shot him.
Moments later, a call went out to the Middle East, and the most gifted American agent was headed back to Washington.
The next morning, the agent was escorted into the Oval Office. The shrub said, "I hear you're the best in the business. I can't trust what my staff tells me.
So I want you to visit every state in the union, every major city. I want you to stay out on the road until you have an idea of what the vast majority of Americans would like to see happen in the Oval Office. Understand?"
The CIA agent responded affirmatively. He left the White House and wasn't heard from for nearly four months. Finally, he showed up early on a Saturday morning, and the shrub saw him immediately.
The shrub said, "Did you find out what an overwhelming majority of Americans want done here in this office?"
"Yes, sir."
"Well, then, express the will of the people," the shrub ordered.
So the agent stood up, pulled out a gun, and shot him.
Liars and Fools
Today's Liars and Fools are:
AP misleadingly compares Obama's hiring of progressives at DoJ to the shrub's and cabal's illegal hiring practices
Off-hand character assassination, courtesy of the AP
Faux's Brick: Obama has us on the road not just to Socialism but Communism
Sessions (r-Texas): Taliban is 'a model' for how GOP can become an 'insurgency'
Ex-Veep Dick slithers over to Politico to lie, yell BOO! and blame Obama for future terrorist attacks
Gonzales lies (again) that U.S. Attorneys were not 'fired for political reasons'
McPain, still lying, makes false distinction between stimulus, spending
McPain claims FDR 'exacerbated the Great Depression'
McPain opposes recovery package because it has 'corporate giveaways' he once campaigned for
Media advances bizarre PR that the shrub's and cabal's policies kept U.S. safe
Parroting repugican talking point, CNN's Dobbs baselessly claims recovery bill provides $4 billion in funding for "so-called advocacy groups such as ACORN"
ABC's Gibson falsely claims "CBO says only 25 percent" of recovery bill "would get to people within a year"
Wall Street Journal's Fund falsely claims "Hong Kong has had a flat tax for over 50 years"
Off-hand character assassination, courtesy of the AP
Faux's Brick: Obama has us on the road not just to Socialism but Communism
Sessions (r-Texas): Taliban is 'a model' for how GOP can become an 'insurgency'
Ex-Veep Dick slithers over to Politico to lie, yell BOO! and blame Obama for future terrorist attacks
Gonzales lies (again) that U.S. Attorneys were not 'fired for political reasons'
McPain, still lying, makes false distinction between stimulus, spending
McPain claims FDR 'exacerbated the Great Depression'
McPain opposes recovery package because it has 'corporate giveaways' he once campaigned for
Media advances bizarre PR that the shrub's and cabal's policies kept U.S. safe
Parroting repugican talking point, CNN's Dobbs baselessly claims recovery bill provides $4 billion in funding for "so-called advocacy groups such as ACORN"
ABC's Gibson falsely claims "CBO says only 25 percent" of recovery bill "would get to people within a year"
Wall Street Journal's Fund falsely claims "Hong Kong has had a flat tax for over 50 years"
House of Lords damns British surveillance society
A report from the House of Lords on surveillance in the UK damns the widespread use of databases, CCTVs, and other incursions on personal freedom, noting, "privacy is an essential prerequisite to the exercise of individual freedom," and questioning whether CCTVs are useful in fighting crime, and whether local councils should be allowed to surveil people at all.
Lord Goodlad, the former Tory chief whip and committee chairman, said there could be no justification for this gradual but incessant creep towards every detail about an individual being recorded and pored over by the state."The huge rise in surveillance and data collection by the state and other organisations risks undermining the long-standing traditions of privacy and individual freedom which are vital for democracy," he said. "If the public are to trust that information about them is not being improperly used there should be much more openness about what data is collected, by whom and how it is used."
The constitution committee makes more than 40 recommendations to protect individual privacy, including the deletion of all profiles from the national DNA database except for those of convicted criminals and a call for the mandatory encryption of personal data held by public and private organisations that are legally obliged to hold it.
But the report is silent on proposals from Jacqui Smith, the home secretary, for a "superdatabase" tracking everybody's emails, calls, texts and internet use and from Jack Straw, the justice secretary, to lower barriers on the widespread sharing of personal data across the public sector.
Youth hostel in a jumbo jet
An old jumbo jet -- began its life with Singapore Airlines, then served Pan Am and Transjet -- was rusting in Arlanda airfield in Stockholm, so Oscar Diös bought it and turned it into an airport youth-hostel. Stockholm has a 'few' great hostels and some quite unusual ones, too.
In December 2007, Sigtuna authorities granted a building permit for establishing Jumbo Hostel at the entrance to Arlanda airport. In January 2008, the aircraft was moved to a construction site parking where the first phase of the conversion has begun with the dismantling of the old interior, new paint and new decorations for the rooms. 450 seats are taken out and the plane is sanitized in its entirety. The hostel is built like any house, subjected to the same demands on climate control and isolation. It adheres to all common energy standards. Heating is achieved with an air-air inverter.Summer 2008 the plane was towed to its final destination at the entrance to Arlanda where it was placed on a concrete foundation with the landing gear secured in two steel cradles. Here, Jumbo Hostel are a spectacular landmark as a portal to Arlanda offering a view of the landing strip. No visitor to Arlanda will miss the new hostel!
UK university says sorry for excrement error
From the "You got to be sh_tting, me" Department:
A British university has apologized to a Ph.D. student for throwing away his treasured, seven-year collection of lizard dung.
Daniel Bennett told Times Higher Education magazine that he had collected the dung in the Philippines while studying the rare Butaan lizard, a relative of the Komodo dragon.
The material was to be studied as part of his doctoral research.
Bennett says the 77-pound bag was thrown away by cleaners at his lab at Leeds University in northern England.
He says the dung represented seven years' worth of field work, and its loss "left me reeling."
The university said Friday it had apologized.
Bennett says he rejected the university's compensation offer of 500 pounds and will "see them in court."
Bit of a smelly situation there, wot?
A British university has apologized to a Ph.D. student for throwing away his treasured, seven-year collection of lizard dung.
Daniel Bennett told Times Higher Education magazine that he had collected the dung in the Philippines while studying the rare Butaan lizard, a relative of the Komodo dragon.
The material was to be studied as part of his doctoral research.
Bennett says the 77-pound bag was thrown away by cleaners at his lab at Leeds University in northern England.
He says the dung represented seven years' worth of field work, and its loss "left me reeling."
The university said Friday it had apologized.
Bennett says he rejected the university's compensation offer of 500 pounds and will "see them in court."
*****
Bit of a smelly situation there, wot?
Offer on eBay leads to guitar-theft suspects
Just like they thought they would ...
Police in northern New Jersey say they've plucked some suspects in a string of guitar thefts.
Investigators said that someone spotted an instrument on eBay that was stolen from a relative in Roselle Park.
The seller was a Lakewood business that had two other hot guitars but didn't know they were stolen.
Police used surveillance video from the business to identify an undisclosed number of suspects.
Roselle Park police Sgt. Manuel Jimenez says all are male juveniles from New Jersey.
The three guitars were stolen by five masked bandits who beat up two apartment residents before taking the guitars.
They are among several worth more than $11,000 stolen in Roselle Park, Summit and Montclair since November.
Crooks are so dumb.
Police in northern New Jersey say they've plucked some suspects in a string of guitar thefts.
Investigators said that someone spotted an instrument on eBay that was stolen from a relative in Roselle Park.
The seller was a Lakewood business that had two other hot guitars but didn't know they were stolen.
Police used surveillance video from the business to identify an undisclosed number of suspects.
Roselle Park police Sgt. Manuel Jimenez says all are male juveniles from New Jersey.
The three guitars were stolen by five masked bandits who beat up two apartment residents before taking the guitars.
They are among several worth more than $11,000 stolen in Roselle Park, Summit and Montclair since November.
*****
Crooks are so dumb.
Twenty Five Things About Me
It's all the rage right now so here goes:
1. I am tall and broad shouldered
2. I am honest and speak the truth -even if you do not like it
3. I am a great chef
4. I am a poet
5. I am dead center politically - though I always err on the side of humans in lieu of corporations
6. I am an Archeologist
7. I am an ordained minister
8. I have several post graduate degrees
9. I am fluent in several languages
10. I am a 'great' grandfather as well as a great-grandfather
11. I prefer dogs to cats
12. I would rather be in the mountains
13. I am Scots (with a dash of Native American)
14. I am one of the last of a dying breed -a true Southern Gentleman
15. I believe in love at first sight - I've seen it happen
16. I am an omnivorous reader
17. I always defend 'the little guy'
18. I am a crack shot with rifle or hand gun
19. I sleep very little
20. I do not drink alcohol of any kind and never have
21. I do not smoke and never have
22. I do not use 'street' or OTC drugs and my doctor says getting me to use prescription drugs is akin to getting blood from a turnip.
23. I love tea - all kinds of tea
24. I love camping
25. I have many hobbies and interests
And that's about it.
1. I am tall and broad shouldered
2. I am honest and speak the truth -even if you do not like it
3. I am a great chef
4. I am a poet
5. I am dead center politically - though I always err on the side of humans in lieu of corporations
6. I am an Archeologist
7. I am an ordained minister
8. I have several post graduate degrees
9. I am fluent in several languages
10. I am a 'great' grandfather as well as a great-grandfather
11. I prefer dogs to cats
12. I would rather be in the mountains
13. I am Scots (with a dash of Native American)
14. I am one of the last of a dying breed -a true Southern Gentleman
15. I believe in love at first sight - I've seen it happen
16. I am an omnivorous reader
17. I always defend 'the little guy'
18. I am a crack shot with rifle or hand gun
19. I sleep very little
20. I do not drink alcohol of any kind and never have
21. I do not smoke and never have
22. I do not use 'street' or OTC drugs and my doctor says getting me to use prescription drugs is akin to getting blood from a turnip.
23. I love tea - all kinds of tea
24. I love camping
25. I have many hobbies and interests
And that's about it.
Afghans face death over translation of Quran
No one knows who brought the book to the mosque, or at least no one dares say.
The pocket-size translation of the Quran has already landed six men in prison in Afghanistan and left two of them begging judges to spare their lives.
They're accused of modifying the Quran and their fate could be decided Sunday in court.
The trial illustrates what critics call the undue influence of hardline clerics in Afghanistan, a major hurdle as the country tries to establish a lawful society amid war and militant violence.
The book appeared among gifts left for the cleric at a major Kabul mosque after Friday prayers in September 2007.
It was a translation of the Quran into one of Afghanistan's languages, with a note giving permission to reprint the text as long as it was distributed for free.
Some of the men of the mosque said the book would be useful to Afghans who didn't know Arabic, so they took up a collection for printing.
The mosque's cleric asked Ahmad Ghaws Zalmai, a longtime friend, to get the books printed.
But as some of the 1,000 copies made their way to conservative Muslim clerics in Kabul, whispers began, then an outcry.
Many clerics rejected the book because it did not include the original Arabic verses alongside the translation.
It's a particularly sensitive detail for Muslims, who regard the Arabic Quran as words given directly by God.
A translation is not considered a Quran itself, and a mistranslation could warp God's word.
The clerics said Zalmai, a stocky 54-year-old spokesman for the attorney general, was trying to anoint himself as a prophet.
They said his book was trying to replace the Quran, not offer a simple translation.
Translated editions of the Quran abound in Kabul markets, but they include Arabic verses.
The country's powerful Islamic council issued an edict condemning the book.
"In all the mosques in Afghanistan, all the mullahs said, 'Zalmai is an infidel. He should be killed,'"
Zalmai recounted as he sat outside the chief judge's chambers waiting for a recent hearing.
Zalmai lost friends quickly.
He was condemned by colleagues and even by others involved in the book's printing.
A mob stoned his house one night, said his brother, Mahmood Ghaws.
Police arrested Zalmai as he was fleeing to Pakistan, along with three other men the government says were trying to help him escape.
The publisher and the mosque's cleric, who signed a letter endorsing the book, were also jailed.
There is no law in Afghanistan prohibiting the translation of the Quran.
But Zalmai is accused of violating Islamic Shariah law by modifying the Quran.
The courts in Afghanistan, an Islamic state, are empowered to apply Shariah law when there are no applicable existing statutes.
Afghanistan's court system is stacked against those accused of religious crimes.
Judges don't want to seem soft on potential heretics and lawyers don't want to be seen defending them, said Afzal Shurmach Nooristani, whose Afghan Legal Aid group is defending Zalmai.
The prosecutor wants the death penalty for Zalmai and the cleric, who have now spent more than a year in prison.
Sentences on religious infractions can be harsh.
In January 2008, a court sentenced a journalism student to death for blasphemy for asking questions about women's rights under Islam.
An appeals court reduced the sentence to 20 years in prison.
His lawyers appealed again and the case is pending.
In 2006, an Afghan man was sentenced to death for converting to Christianity.
He was later ruled insane and was given asylum in Italy.
Islamic leaders and the parliament accused President Hamid Karzai of being a puppet for the West for letting him live.
Nooristani, who is also defending the journalism student, said he and his colleagues have received death threats.
"The mullahs in the mosques have said whoever defends an infidel is an infidel," Nooristani said.
The legal aid organization, which usually represents impoverished defendants, is defending Zalmai because no one else would take the case.
"We went to all the lawyers and they said, 'We can't help you because all the mullahs are against you. If we defend you, the mullahs will say that we should be killed.' We went six months without a lawyer," Zalmai said outside the judge's chambers.
The publisher was originally sentenced to five years in prison.
Zalmai and the cleric were sentenced to 20, and now the prosecutor is demanding the death penalty for the two as a judge hears appeals.
Zalmai pleaded for forgiveness before a January hearing, saying he had assumed a stand-alone translation wasn't a problem."You can find these types of translations in Turkey, in Russia, in France, in Italy," he said.
When the chief judge later banged his gavel to silence shouting lawyers and nodded at Zalmai to explain himself, the defendant stood and chanted Quranic verses as proof that he was a devout Muslim who should be forgiven.
Shariah law is applied differently in Islamic states. Saudi Arabia claims the Quran as its constitution, while Malaysia has separate religious and secular courts.
But since there is no ultimate arbiter of religious questions in Afghanistan, judges must strike a balance between the country's laws and proclamations by clerics or the Islamic council, called the Ulema council.
This is why religious nuts should never be allowed, period. Much less allowed to have any influence whatsoever.
The pocket-size translation of the Quran has already landed six men in prison in Afghanistan and left two of them begging judges to spare their lives.
They're accused of modifying the Quran and their fate could be decided Sunday in court.
The trial illustrates what critics call the undue influence of hardline clerics in Afghanistan, a major hurdle as the country tries to establish a lawful society amid war and militant violence.
The book appeared among gifts left for the cleric at a major Kabul mosque after Friday prayers in September 2007.
It was a translation of the Quran into one of Afghanistan's languages, with a note giving permission to reprint the text as long as it was distributed for free.
Some of the men of the mosque said the book would be useful to Afghans who didn't know Arabic, so they took up a collection for printing.
The mosque's cleric asked Ahmad Ghaws Zalmai, a longtime friend, to get the books printed.
But as some of the 1,000 copies made their way to conservative Muslim clerics in Kabul, whispers began, then an outcry.
Many clerics rejected the book because it did not include the original Arabic verses alongside the translation.
It's a particularly sensitive detail for Muslims, who regard the Arabic Quran as words given directly by God.
A translation is not considered a Quran itself, and a mistranslation could warp God's word.
The clerics said Zalmai, a stocky 54-year-old spokesman for the attorney general, was trying to anoint himself as a prophet.
They said his book was trying to replace the Quran, not offer a simple translation.
Translated editions of the Quran abound in Kabul markets, but they include Arabic verses.
The country's powerful Islamic council issued an edict condemning the book.
"In all the mosques in Afghanistan, all the mullahs said, 'Zalmai is an infidel. He should be killed,'"
Zalmai recounted as he sat outside the chief judge's chambers waiting for a recent hearing.
Zalmai lost friends quickly.
He was condemned by colleagues and even by others involved in the book's printing.
A mob stoned his house one night, said his brother, Mahmood Ghaws.
Police arrested Zalmai as he was fleeing to Pakistan, along with three other men the government says were trying to help him escape.
The publisher and the mosque's cleric, who signed a letter endorsing the book, were also jailed.
There is no law in Afghanistan prohibiting the translation of the Quran.
But Zalmai is accused of violating Islamic Shariah law by modifying the Quran.
The courts in Afghanistan, an Islamic state, are empowered to apply Shariah law when there are no applicable existing statutes.
Afghanistan's court system is stacked against those accused of religious crimes.
Judges don't want to seem soft on potential heretics and lawyers don't want to be seen defending them, said Afzal Shurmach Nooristani, whose Afghan Legal Aid group is defending Zalmai.
The prosecutor wants the death penalty for Zalmai and the cleric, who have now spent more than a year in prison.
Sentences on religious infractions can be harsh.
In January 2008, a court sentenced a journalism student to death for blasphemy for asking questions about women's rights under Islam.
An appeals court reduced the sentence to 20 years in prison.
His lawyers appealed again and the case is pending.
In 2006, an Afghan man was sentenced to death for converting to Christianity.
He was later ruled insane and was given asylum in Italy.
Islamic leaders and the parliament accused President Hamid Karzai of being a puppet for the West for letting him live.
Nooristani, who is also defending the journalism student, said he and his colleagues have received death threats.
"The mullahs in the mosques have said whoever defends an infidel is an infidel," Nooristani said.
The legal aid organization, which usually represents impoverished defendants, is defending Zalmai because no one else would take the case.
"We went to all the lawyers and they said, 'We can't help you because all the mullahs are against you. If we defend you, the mullahs will say that we should be killed.' We went six months without a lawyer," Zalmai said outside the judge's chambers.
The publisher was originally sentenced to five years in prison.
Zalmai and the cleric were sentenced to 20, and now the prosecutor is demanding the death penalty for the two as a judge hears appeals.
Zalmai pleaded for forgiveness before a January hearing, saying he had assumed a stand-alone translation wasn't a problem."You can find these types of translations in Turkey, in Russia, in France, in Italy," he said.
When the chief judge later banged his gavel to silence shouting lawyers and nodded at Zalmai to explain himself, the defendant stood and chanted Quranic verses as proof that he was a devout Muslim who should be forgiven.
Shariah law is applied differently in Islamic states. Saudi Arabia claims the Quran as its constitution, while Malaysia has separate religious and secular courts.
But since there is no ultimate arbiter of religious questions in Afghanistan, judges must strike a balance between the country's laws and proclamations by clerics or the Islamic council, called the Ulema council.
*****
This is why religious nuts should never be allowed, period. Much less allowed to have any influence whatsoever.
More rain forecast for Australia's wet north
Water levels began to drop slightly across the vast flooded region of northern Australia on Friday, but a forecast of more heavy rain will stymie recovery and cleanup effort.
Queensland state Premier Anna Bligh visited the hardest-hit area and pledged 500,000 dollars to help northern towns recover, asking Australians to add their own contributions.
"The place is totally waterlogged, and we've got more very heavy rain appearing as I speak," Bligh told Australian Broadcasting Corporation radio after flying over the town of Ingham in a helicopter.
The Herbert River in Ingham dropped by 3 in the last 24 hours but could return to its Monday peak of 40 feet if the low pressure storm system off the coast dumps the expected 11+ inches on the town this weekend.
While overflowing rivers and heavy rainstorms are normal during northern Australia's November-to-April tropical cyclone season, the Bureau of Meteorology has predicted above-normal monsoonal activity this season.
The government said that storms since late December have caused an estimated $109 million dollars in damage.
More than 60 percent of Queensland is under water - 400,000 square miles, or twice the area of Spain.
Ingham has been hardest hit, with 2,900 homes damaged or flooded in a weekend storm and hundreds of people evacuated.
Queensland state Premier Anna Bligh visited the hardest-hit area and pledged 500,000 dollars to help northern towns recover, asking Australians to add their own contributions.
"The place is totally waterlogged, and we've got more very heavy rain appearing as I speak," Bligh told Australian Broadcasting Corporation radio after flying over the town of Ingham in a helicopter.
The Herbert River in Ingham dropped by 3 in the last 24 hours but could return to its Monday peak of 40 feet if the low pressure storm system off the coast dumps the expected 11+ inches on the town this weekend.
While overflowing rivers and heavy rainstorms are normal during northern Australia's November-to-April tropical cyclone season, the Bureau of Meteorology has predicted above-normal monsoonal activity this season.
The government said that storms since late December have caused an estimated $109 million dollars in damage.
More than 60 percent of Queensland is under water - 400,000 square miles, or twice the area of Spain.
Ingham has been hardest hit, with 2,900 homes damaged or flooded in a weekend storm and hundreds of people evacuated.
Our Readers
Today our readers have hailed from:
Monterrey, Neuvo Leon, Mexico
Sarpsborg, Ostford, Norway
Paso Robles, California, United States
Yerevan, Yerevan, Armenia
Beaufort, South Carolina, United States
Monterrey, Neuvo Leon, Mexico
Sarpsborg, Ostford, Norway
Paso Robles, California, United States
Yerevan, Yerevan, Armenia
Beaufort, South Carolina, United States
Thursday, February 5, 2009
Landlord unaware tenants were victims of massacre
From the "Yeah, and the moon is made of green cheese" Department:
The landlord of a California woman killed at a Christmas Eve party says it didn't realize she was dead when it asked her ex-husband to pay her late rent.
Alliance Residential Co. said Thursday that it would not pursue the outstanding balance on the home of Alice Ortiz and her son Michael.
It had told Ortiz's ex-husband, Carlos, to pay $1,655 in rent, plus penalties for not giving notice in vacating the home.
Alicia and Michael Ortiz and seven other family members were killed December 24, 2008 by a gunman dressed as Santa Claus.
He then burned the house and killed himself.Alliance says it was "unaware of the tragedy."
The company manages Broadstone Foothill Apartment Homes, where the Ortiz family lived in Upland.
The landlord of a California woman killed at a Christmas Eve party says it didn't realize she was dead when it asked her ex-husband to pay her late rent.
Alliance Residential Co. said Thursday that it would not pursue the outstanding balance on the home of Alice Ortiz and her son Michael.
It had told Ortiz's ex-husband, Carlos, to pay $1,655 in rent, plus penalties for not giving notice in vacating the home.
Alicia and Michael Ortiz and seven other family members were killed December 24, 2008 by a gunman dressed as Santa Claus.
He then burned the house and killed himself.Alliance says it was "unaware of the tragedy."
The company manages Broadstone Foothill Apartment Homes, where the Ortiz family lived in Upland.
'Evangelists' stealing from homes
From the "This is why you never allow 'witnesses' in your door" Department:
Police in Nashville said two young burglars covered their intent by talking religion. Police arrested a 19-year-old and a 17-year-old and charged them with aggravated burglary. The Tennessean reported the teens were going through a neighborhood, knocking on doors while carrying church bulletins.
Police in Nashville said two young burglars covered their intent by talking religion. Police arrested a 19-year-old and a 17-year-old and charged them with aggravated burglary. The Tennessean reported the teens were going through a neighborhood, knocking on doors while carrying church bulletins.
Police said if someone answered the door, one of the youths would talk about religion. If no one was home, the residence was burglarized.
But police said three homes in the area were burglarized, with electronic equipment stolen.
Authorities said they recovered stolen goods from a car the suspects were driving.
Science News
Mammoth remains found at California construction site
Workers digging at a downtown San Diego construction site have uncovered the prehistoric remains of an 8-foot-long mammoth.
A backhoe operator working at the Thomas Jefferson School of Law site unearthed a 20-foot-long tusk Wednesday.
School spokesman Chris Saunders says experts called in from the San Diego Natural History Museum uncovered the animal's skull and other bones.
Museum paleontologist Pat Sena says it's a "pretty important find" and that it's rare to find mammoth remains with such an intact skull, foot bones and tusk.
Full-sized mammoths, about 8 to 14 feet tall like elephants, became extinct around 10,000 years ago. But experts believe the specimen found this week dates back as far as a half-million years ago.
Man shows up drunk to serve intoxication sentence
From the "Does the term 'moron' mean anything to you?" Department:
Iowa Authorities say an Iowa City man may not have picked the best time to get loaded when he showed up drunk to serve a public intoxication sentence. Now he faces another charge.
Police say the 19-year-old showed up at the Johnson County Jail on Tuesday to serve his three-day sentence and officials smelled alcohol on his breath.
Court records say tests showed the man had a blood-alcohol content of 0.101 percent when he arrived at the jail.
A court date on the new charge hasn't been set.
Court records say the man pleaded guilty to public intoxication in May 2008 and was convicted of public intoxication second-offense last December.
Loopholes allow contaminated food to go unchecked
Lawmakers reacted angrily today when told that ...
food makers and state safety inspectors are allowed to keep tests results secret.
That keeps federal health officials in the dark even when products have been contaminated by salmonella or other dangerous bacteria.
Read more here
Mystery stink of New York revealed
The mysterious and coaxingly delicious smell of maple syrup that has been terrorizing New Yorkers for years, wafting about on its mysterious errands, has been run to ground.
It is fenugreek, emitted from a New Jersey perfume plant.
It is fenugreek, emitted from a New Jersey perfume plant.
The first wave arrived in October 2005, drawing thousands of New Yorkers onto the streets for a lively debate. Was it maple syrup? Caramel? A freshly baked pie? But as quickly as it arrived, it had vanished. Then, last month, the smell returned.Both times, the city’s police and 311 information lines were flooded with calls. Many feared bioterrorism cloaked in an pleasant aroma.
On Thursday, the city announced that the mystery had been solved. The source of the odor was a plant in North Bergen, N.J., which processes seeds of the herb fenugreek to produce fragrances.
Town can't declare inflatable rat a pest
In a case that pitted an International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers union local against a central Jersey town, the high court ruled unanimously that the rodent is protected speech under the First Amendment.
"The township's elimination of an entire medium of expression without a readily available alternative renders the ordinance over broad," Justice John E. Wallace Jr. wrote for the court.
The super-sized rat, sitting on its hind legs and bearing fangs, is a national symbol used by organized labor to signal a labor dispute.
It had been blown up and displayed at a 2005 labor event in Lawrence Township until police enforced a law that bans banners, streamers and inflatable signs, except those announcing grand openings.
A labor official was fined $100 plus $33 court costs.
The event was staged by the union to protest low wages being paid to electricians by an out-of-area contractor.
An appeals court panel ruled in 2007 that the town could ban the big black rat and affirmed the labor official's fines.
The panel found the ordinance was content-neutral and was aimed at enhancing aesthetics and protecting public health and safety.
The union appealed. Its lawyers argued the law violates their right to free expression and suppresses protest.
The township claimed the union's use of the rat was a form of commercial speech, less deserving of First Amendment protections.
The state Supreme Court found that the law wasn't neutral, and therefore was unconstitutional.
It said an ordinance "that prohibits a union from displaying a rat balloon, while at the same time authorizing a similar display as part of a grand opening, is content-based."
Kentucky halts FEMA meals that use tainted peanuts
Kentucky officials say they've stopped distributing FEMA emergency meals for winter storm survivors that may contain recalled peanut butter.
The Federal Emergency Management Agency says some emergency meal kits for storm victims in Kentucky and Arkansas may include packets of peanut butter that are part of a national recall over possible salmonella contamination.
Kentucky officials said they have received no complaints about illnesses from the peanut butter but are advising people to discard any packets they've received.
Arkansas officials say they have located two trailers where the meals were stored and none of those had been handed out.
More than 1,000 items have been recalled in the salmonella outbreak that has sickened at least 550 people, eight of whom have died.
The Federal Emergency Management Agency says some emergency meal kits for storm victims in Kentucky and Arkansas may include packets of peanut butter that are part of a national recall over possible salmonella contamination.
Kentucky officials said they have received no complaints about illnesses from the peanut butter but are advising people to discard any packets they've received.
Arkansas officials say they have located two trailers where the meals were stored and none of those had been handed out.
More than 1,000 items have been recalled in the salmonella outbreak that has sickened at least 550 people, eight of whom have died.
Watson and Holmes
Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson went on a camping trip. As they lay down for the night, Holmes asked: "Watson, look up into the sky and tell me what you see".
Watson said "I see millions and millions of stars".
Holmes: "And what does that tell you?"
Watson: "Astronomically, it tells me that there are millions of galaxies and potentially billions of planets. Theologically, it tells me that God is great and that we are small and insignificant. Meteorologically, it tells me that we will have a beautiful day tomorrow. What does it tell you?"
Holmes: "Elementary, my dear Watson. Somebody stole our tent".
Watson said "I see millions and millions of stars".
Holmes: "And what does that tell you?"
Watson: "Astronomically, it tells me that there are millions of galaxies and potentially billions of planets. Theologically, it tells me that God is great and that we are small and insignificant. Meteorologically, it tells me that we will have a beautiful day tomorrow. What does it tell you?"
Holmes: "Elementary, my dear Watson. Somebody stole our tent".
What's the difference?
What's the difference between a lawyer and a catfish?
One is a scum sucking bottom dweller and the other is a fish!
One is a scum sucking bottom dweller and the other is a fish!
Daily Funny
An Illinois man left the snowballed streets of Chicago for a vacation in Florida. His wife was on a business trip and was planning to meet him there the next day. When he reached his hotel, he decided to send his wife a quick e-mail.
Unable to find the scrap of paper on which he had written her e-mail address, he did his best to type it in from memory. Unfortunately, he missed one letter, and his note was directed instead to an elderly preacher's wife whose husband had passed away only the day before. When the grieving widow checked her e-mail, she took one look at the monitor, let out a piercing scream, and fell to the floor dead.
At the sound, her family rushed into the room and saw this note on the screen:
Dearest Wife,
Just got checked in. Everything prepared for your arrival tomorrow.
Your Loving Husband.
P.S. Sure is hot down here.
Unable to find the scrap of paper on which he had written her e-mail address, he did his best to type it in from memory. Unfortunately, he missed one letter, and his note was directed instead to an elderly preacher's wife whose husband had passed away only the day before. When the grieving widow checked her e-mail, she took one look at the monitor, let out a piercing scream, and fell to the floor dead.
At the sound, her family rushed into the room and saw this note on the screen:
Dearest Wife,
Just got checked in. Everything prepared for your arrival tomorrow.
Your Loving Husband.
P.S. Sure is hot down here.
Liars and Fools
In today's edition of Liars and Fools we bring you a classic from a liar and a fool.
O'relly claims to have been 'in combat' alluding to a military background and then does the backsliding two-step when he his immediately called on it by a telephoner caller - before he rudely hangs up on the caller and continues the backsliding two-step.
O'relly claims to have been 'in combat' alluding to a military background and then does the backsliding two-step when he his immediately called on it by a telephoner caller - before he rudely hangs up on the caller and continues the backsliding two-step.
O'Really in the military? I think Not!
Salary Cap or no more money
President Obama drew the line and set a cap for executive salaries or no more bailout funds saing 'we're taking the air out of the golden parachutes'.
This is a great thing and long, long overdue. I would however would have liked to see the Cap set at 50K instead of the 500K - no executive is worth more than 50k a year ... none whatsoever.
In fact the BofA head douche-bag isn't worth 5k much less the in excess of 20Million he is currently getting - which if he wants more money than they have already gotten from the bailout (that they are using to give themselves bonuses and throw outrageous parties with while bilking the poor and working peopl out of every dime they can manage to) he will have to give up ... and this is only one version of the same story being played out in every 'financial institution' (and others) that has gotten bailout monies.
This is a great thing and long, long overdue. I would however would have liked to see the Cap set at 50K instead of the 500K - no executive is worth more than 50k a year ... none whatsoever.
In fact the BofA head douche-bag isn't worth 5k much less the in excess of 20Million he is currently getting - which if he wants more money than they have already gotten from the bailout (that they are using to give themselves bonuses and throw outrageous parties with while bilking the poor and working peopl out of every dime they can manage to) he will have to give up ... and this is only one version of the same story being played out in every 'financial institution' (and others) that has gotten bailout monies.
Even the repugs hate dimbulb ...
... yet he is their 'leader'?!
In further proof of how devoid of any concept of reality the repugicans are one finds this at The Daily Beast.
From The Daily Beast:
They still don't get it, that they're a joke, do they?
In further proof of how devoid of any concept of reality the repugicans are one finds this at The Daily Beast.
From The Daily Beast:
An october 24, 2008, poll conducted by the Democratic research firm Qreenberg-Quinlan-Rosner has Rush Limbaugh enjoying a public-approval rating of just 21 percent among likely voters, while 58 percent have “cold” feelings toward the right-wing radio-talk-show host. Limbaugh was the least popular of the all the political figures the firm polled. he polls seven points lower than Rev. Jeremiah “god damn America” Wright and eight points below former weather underground domestic terrorist William Ayers.
Limbaugh is so unpopular that only 44 percent of republican voters reported “warm” feelings toward him, ten points less than those who felt the same way about Limbaugh’s top competitor, Fox News’ Sean Hannity, and a full 20 points lower than Fox News itself.
It is all in the head
How about the new header?
I promise the 'curious puppy' and the 'patient bear' headers will be back for those that said they liked either one of those, but I have several I will be rotating on a irregular basis, so keep on reading Carolina Naturally and see what header I am showcasing.
I promise the 'curious puppy' and the 'patient bear' headers will be back for those that said they liked either one of those, but I have several I will be rotating on a irregular basis, so keep on reading Carolina Naturally and see what header I am showcasing.
We're at Fifty
Carolina Naturally had fifty thousand readers in the month of January.
Not too shabby, not too shabby at all.
Thank you.
Not too shabby, not too shabby at all.
Thank you.
Taking aim at governor Palin
An animal rights group is getting help from actress Ashley Judd in its campaign to try to stop Alaska's practice of killing wolves and bears from airplanes.
Judd appears in a new Internet video for Defenders of Wildlife, and targets not only the state's predator control program but also one of the program's chief supporters, governor Sarah Palin.
"It's time to stop Sarah Palin and stop this senseless savagery," Judd says in the video posted on a Web site operated by the political arm of the group, Defenders of Wildlife Action Fund.
Palin, the former repugican vice presidential candidate, countered that the program is scientifically based and an important tool to sustain moose and caribou populations for Alaska subsistence hunters.
Yeah, Sarah and the moon is made of green cheese, too. Go bite a walrus's arse will, ya?!
Judd appears in a new Internet video for Defenders of Wildlife, and targets not only the state's predator control program but also one of the program's chief supporters, governor Sarah Palin.
"It's time to stop Sarah Palin and stop this senseless savagery," Judd says in the video posted on a Web site operated by the political arm of the group, Defenders of Wildlife Action Fund.
Palin, the former repugican vice presidential candidate, countered that the program is scientifically based and an important tool to sustain moose and caribou populations for Alaska subsistence hunters.
*****
Yeah, Sarah and the moon is made of green cheese, too. Go bite a walrus's arse will, ya?!
Most-wanted Nazi died in Cairo in 1992
The report said Heim was living under a pseudonym and had converted to Islam by the time of his death from intestinal cancer.
ZDF said that in a joint effort with the New York Times, it located a passport, application for a residence permit, bank slips, personal letters and medical papers - in all more than 100 documents - left behind by Heim in a briefcase in the hotel room where he lived under the name Tarek Hussein Farid.
Simon Wiesenthal Center head Nazi hunter Efraim Zuroff said he has not seen the documents and that while it seems that there is "definitely a strong possibility" they point to Heim's death in Cairo 16 years ago, they need to be examined by experts.
If it turns out to be true, however, he said that "the German police have a very important investigation on their hands in terms of prosecuting people who helped Aribert Heim escape justice."
He pointed out that Ruediger Heim has previously said that the only contact he had since his father went into hiding in 1962 were two notes that appeared in his family's mailbox, and that he had no idea if he was alive or dead.
"Ruediger has been lying," Zuroff said. "Either he is lying now or he was lying before, and he has a vested interest in this so anything he says has to be taken with a certain amount of skepticism and suspicion - and the most important thing is missing: the body. There's no grave, there's no corpse, there's no DNA tests."
Ruediger Heim refused to comment on the discrepancies in what he has said, or on the assertion that his father had died in 1992."The whole story is very emotional, and I'm not able to say anything at this time," he said.
ZDF reported that Heim was buried in a cemetery for the poor in Cairo, where graves are reused after several years "so that the chance of finding remains is unlikely."
Born June 28, 1914 in Radkersburg, Austria, Heim joined the local Nazi party in 1935, three years before Austria was bloodlessly annexed by Germany.
He later joined the Waffen SS and was assigned to Mauthausen, a concentration camp near Linz, Austria, as a camp doctor in October and November 1941.
While there, witnesses told investigators, he worked closely with SS pharmacist Erich Wasicky on such gruesome experiments as injecting various solutions into Jewish prisoners' hearts to see which killed them the fastest.
In 1961, German authorities were alerted that Heim was living in Baden-Baden and began an investigation, but when they finally went to arrest him in September 1962, they just missed him - he apparently had been tipped off.
Heim would be 94 today if still alive.
Heim fled through France and Spain before crossing into Morocco, and eventually settling in Egypt, ZDF and the Times reported, citing Ruediger Heim.
He lived in Cairo at the Kasr el Madina hotel for the 10 years leading up to his death, the report said.
Ruediger Heim told ZDF that he first visited his father in 1976, organizing the visit through his aunt and arranging to meet with him in a hotel.
"He recognized me right away," Heim recalled.
"It was a meeting of worlds. I was there for 14 days."
But, he said, he did not talk with his father about the allegations against him - largely because he said he wasn't fully aware of them himself.
"I didn't ask him 'how many people did you kill' because I didn't know, I didn't know any concrete details," he told ZDF.
"Later, on other visits, I got to know his life better."
The Tylenol Murders ... 25 Years on
The FBI announced Wednesday that it is working with Illinois state and local police to review evidence related to the 1982 Tylenol murders.
"This review was prompted, in part, by the recent 25th anniversary of this crime and the resulting publicity," the FBI said in a written statement.
"Further, given the many recent advances in forensic technology, it was only natural that a second look be taken at the case and recovered evidence."
The anniversary coincided with a number of tips to law enforcement agencies related to the crimes, the FBI said.
Agents searched the Cambridge, Massachusetts, house of James W. Lewis, Wednesday. He was convicted of sending an extortion note to Johnson & Johnson but denied having anything to do with the poisonings.
Lewis's wife LeAnn is listed as administrator of a Web design company called Cyberlewis.com. The Web site lists the company's address as the same address that authorities searched Wednesday.
On its Web site is posted a note that says, in part,
" ... I was villified (sic) globally as the Tylenol Man, accused of being the mass murderer who spiked Tylenol with cyanide in Chicago back in 1982, killing seven. Those grotesque accusations obviously were false, otherwise I could not be writing these words. After 25 years, the Tylenol murders remain unsolved. I have lived a long, bizarre life and I have seen a lot, yet I am literate and lucid enough to view and describe, compare and contrast hugely diverse worlds, cultures and topics, without a moment of boredom, all with an eye to professionalism, demographics and marketability plus ears and heart sensitive to good taste and victims' feelings."
FBI spokeswoman Gail Marcinkiewicz said two searches in Cambridge were under way "related to an ongoing investigation."
Criminal charges have not been filed in the seven Chicago-area killings, which occurred after Extra-Strength Tylenol capsules were laced with potassium cyanide in 1982.
The killings led to changes in packaging of over-the-counter drugs.
Our Readers
Some of our readers today hailed from:
Salvador, Bahia, Brazil
Mechelen, Antwerpen, Belgium
Issaquah, Washington, United States
Juneau, Alaska, United States
Exeter, England, United Kingdom
Salvador, Bahia, Brazil
Mechelen, Antwerpen, Belgium
Issaquah, Washington, United States
Juneau, Alaska, United States
Exeter, England, United Kingdom
Daily Horoscope
Today's horoscope says:
One of the nicest things about being in overload is that you can kick the operation up to overdrive, generating more power.
Hallelujah, Amen to that.
One of the nicest things about being in overload is that you can kick the operation up to overdrive, generating more power.
Hallelujah, Amen to that.
Wednesday, February 4, 2009
Chatter
In this installment of 'CHATTER', I will be dealing with only one forum.
I have received four emails about this ... the questioning if the forum is still viable.
As a former member of the forum in question who has seen it 'go to hell in a hand basket' with the wing-nuts perverting it from its targeted demographic and from the mass exodus of other members due to those same said wing-nuts to other (and better forums) I can say without a doubt the forum in question is no longer viable.
The same old tired wing-nut fantasies and fallacies are all that one finds there - this on a forum 'supposedly' open, yet consistently proves itself not to be so, a forum which has nothing to do with politics but was invaded by the wing-nuts anyway and when those of saner and more reasoned demeanor objected and stood up to counter the wing-nuts they were systematically purged from the forum all the while being accused of the very things the wing-nuts were (and continue to) doing.
So, yes, the forum is no longer viable as a forum for their targeted demographic or anyone else of consequence for that matter.
I have received four emails about this ... the questioning if the forum is still viable.
As a former member of the forum in question who has seen it 'go to hell in a hand basket' with the wing-nuts perverting it from its targeted demographic and from the mass exodus of other members due to those same said wing-nuts to other (and better forums) I can say without a doubt the forum in question is no longer viable.
The same old tired wing-nut fantasies and fallacies are all that one finds there - this on a forum 'supposedly' open, yet consistently proves itself not to be so, a forum which has nothing to do with politics but was invaded by the wing-nuts anyway and when those of saner and more reasoned demeanor objected and stood up to counter the wing-nuts they were systematically purged from the forum all the while being accused of the very things the wing-nuts were (and continue to) doing.
So, yes, the forum is no longer viable as a forum for their targeted demographic or anyone else of consequence for that matter.
Masked man sticks up convenience store with a Klingon sword
From the "You don't hear things like this everyday" Department:
A masked man armed with a Klingon Batleth robbed a 7-11, then tried it again at another convenience store, where the clerks laughed him out of the room.
A masked man armed with a Klingon Batleth robbed a 7-11, then tried it again at another convenience store, where the clerks laughed him out of the room.
The first robbery was reported at 1:50 a.m., at 145 N Spruce St. The clerk told police a white man in his 20s, wearing a black mask, black jacket, and blue jeans, entered the store with a weapon the clerk recognized from the Star Trek TV series.Masked Man Robs Convenience Stores With Klingon Sword: Clerks Recognize Sword As BatlethThe robber demanded money and left with an undisclosed amount.
A half hour later, police received a call from a 7-Eleven at 2407 N. Union Blvd., where a man matching the previous description entered the store with a similar weapon. He also demanded money from the store clerk. The clerk refused and the robber "transported" himself out of the store on foot.
Both clerks described the weapon as a Star Trek Klingon-type sword, called a "Batleth."
Fossils found of 42-foot-long snake
Researchers have unveiled fossils of the world's largest snake, a 42-foot-long relative of the boa constrictor. Paleontologists from the University of Toronto dubbed the species Titanoboa cerrejonensis for the Cerrejón region of northern Colombia where they found the remains.From Science News:
Analyses of the rocks surrounding the Titanoboa fossils suggest that the behemoth lived on coastal plains in a wet tropical rainforest, the same type of environment frequented today by anacondas, paleontologist Jason Head of the University of Toronto in Mississauga, Ontario, and his colleagues report.
However, the researchers speculate, the climate in which Titanoboa lived was much hotter than today’s. The maximum body size that a snake species can reach is related to the average annual temperature of the environment in which it lives.
From Science News: Giant Snakes Scary, But Useful As Climate Calibrators
From Cryptomundo: Snake Longer Than School Bus Discovered!
From Cryptomundo: Snake Longer Than School Bus Discovered!
And you wonder ... why archeology and paleontology are so much fun!? Things like this discovery that's why!
And I Quote
"The Obama girls love living in the White House.
One complaint, though. Sometimes, at midnight,
when the moon is full, they can hear the squeaking
hinges on Dick Cheney's coffin."
One complaint, though. Sometimes, at midnight,
when the moon is full, they can hear the squeaking
hinges on Dick Cheney's coffin."
~ David Letterman
The Internet
The South Korean government will spend an estimated $24.6-billion to build a better internet infrastructure, so that every South Korean can have 1 Gbps service by 2012.
That's about 96 times faster than the 3-10Mbps service that's considered top notch (and at top dollar) in America.
That's about 96 times faster than the 3-10Mbps service that's considered top notch (and at top dollar) in America.
More at Tech Fragments.
Shoved greeter sues cop
From the "It's about time somebody did!" Department:
A 71-year-old Wal-Mart greeter who contends he was shoved to the ground by a Chattanooga detective when he asked the detective for a receipt and touched his arm has filed a federal damage lawsuit.
A 71-year-old Wal-Mart greeter who contends he was shoved to the ground by a Chattanooga detective when he asked the detective for a receipt and touched his arm has filed a federal damage lawsuit.
The Wal-Mart employee, Bill Walker, says in the suit that Chattanooga has a history of failing to discipline or otherwise prosecute its officers. The suit names the detective, an accompanying officer and the city.
Read the rest here.
Did You Know ...
Banks and lenders are cutting Americans' line of credit, even (or especially) for customers who pay on time.
And that the giant corporations that have received huge government bailouts with no strings attached are leading the way at cutting credit.
And that the giant corporations that have received huge government bailouts with no strings attached are leading the way at cutting credit.
More in the Boston Globe.
Items in the News
... to screw the 'little guy'!
IBM is offering to help pay relocation costs for its laid-off employees -- if they'll move to India, China, Brazil, or other developing markets, and apply for work at IBM offices there.
More on this.
General Motors and Chrysler are using a portion of their bailout billions to sue the Obama administration over his decision to allow California and other states to enact more serious fuel standards.
More on this.
If you use your American Express card at Wal-Mart, they'll recalculate your credit score and possibly lower your credit limit or cancel your card.
More on this.
One of the shrub's and cabal's last-minute rule changes allows drug makers to more easily peddle their medicines for "off-label" -- non-approved -- uses.
More on this.
AT&T passes along fraudulent billing by third-party or fake phone companies, so you might want to check your bill closely.
More on this.
IBM is offering to help pay relocation costs for its laid-off employees -- if they'll move to India, China, Brazil, or other developing markets, and apply for work at IBM offices there.
General Motors and Chrysler are using a portion of their bailout billions to sue the Obama administration over his decision to allow California and other states to enact more serious fuel standards.
If you use your American Express card at Wal-Mart, they'll recalculate your credit score and possibly lower your credit limit or cancel your card.
One of the shrub's and cabal's last-minute rule changes allows drug makers to more easily peddle their medicines for "off-label" -- non-approved -- uses.
AT&T passes along fraudulent billing by third-party or fake phone companies, so you might want to check your bill closely.
What they are saying
Some of what they are saying ...
James Cave says "I love this blog!"
Alison Holder says "Great job, keep it up."
Huong Peng says "Nice blog."
Horst Haberland says "Ich Lieben"
Patty Jensen says "Your blog opened my eyes, thank you."
Jennifer Lacky says " I look forward to reading this blog everyday."
James Cave says "I love this blog!"
Alison Holder says "Great job, keep it up."
Huong Peng says "Nice blog."
Horst Haberland says "Ich Lieben"
Patty Jensen says "Your blog opened my eyes, thank you."
Jennifer Lacky says " I look forward to reading this blog everyday."
B'rrrr Friggin' Rabbit
It's bloody cold outside right now!
We are going into the single digits overnight around here with the winds howling and no cloud cover to act as a blanket to keep what little warmth that is in the atmosphere close to the ground.
B'rrrr Friggin' Rabbit, Indeed!
Don't let the economic crisis get in the way of addressing global warming.
Addressing US lawmakers this past week, former Vice President Al Gore urged let them to not let the economic crisis get in the way of addressing global warming. Snip from transcript:
We have arrived at a moment of decision. Our home - Earth - is in grave danger. What is at risk of being destroyed is not the planet itself, of course, but the conditions that have made it hospitable for human beings.Moreover, we must face up to this urgent and unprecedented threat to the existence of our civilization at a time when our country must simultaneously solve two other worsening crises. Our economy is in its deepest recession since the 1930s. And our national security is endangered by a vicious terrorist network and the complex challenge of ending the war in Iraq honorably while winning the military and political struggle in Afghanistan.
As we search for solutions to all three of these challenges, it is becoming clearer that they are linked by a common thread – our dangerous over-reliance on carbon-based fuels. As long as we continue to send hundreds of billions of dollars for foreign oil – year after year - to the most dangerous and unstable regions of the world, our national security will continue to be at risk.
As long as we continue to allow our economy to remain shackled to the OPEC rollercoaster of rising and falling oil prices, our jobs and our way of life will remain at risk.
Moreover, as the demand for oil worldwide grows rapidly over the longer term, even as the rate of new discoveries is falling, it is increasingly obvious that the roller coaster is headed for a crash. And we’re in the front car.
10-year-old dies, found hanged at school
A 10-year-old Illinois boy has died after he was found hanging from a hook in his elementary school bathroom.
Officials at Oakton Elementary School in Evanston called 911 after finding fifth grader Aquan Lewis unresponsive at about 3 p.m. Tuesday.
School janitor Elliott Lieteau says the boy had been pulled off a hook and was lying on the floor when he entered the restroom.
He says he performed CPR on the boy.
Anquan was pronounced dead early Wednesday at Children's Memorial Hospital in Chicago.
The Cook County medical examiner's office says Lewis was apparently found hanged.
Authorities have released few details about the incident.
But school district spokeswoman Patricia Markham called it an accident.
What in the seven hells makes a 10-year-old commit suicide?!?!?!
There better be some serious questions being asked and answered in Illinois!
Officials at Oakton Elementary School in Evanston called 911 after finding fifth grader Aquan Lewis unresponsive at about 3 p.m. Tuesday.
School janitor Elliott Lieteau says the boy had been pulled off a hook and was lying on the floor when he entered the restroom.
He says he performed CPR on the boy.
Anquan was pronounced dead early Wednesday at Children's Memorial Hospital in Chicago.
The Cook County medical examiner's office says Lewis was apparently found hanged.
Authorities have released few details about the incident.
But school district spokeswoman Patricia Markham called it an accident.
*****
She may call it an accident but the coroner says it was suicide.What in the seven hells makes a 10-year-old commit suicide?!?!?!
There better be some serious questions being asked and answered in Illinois!
83 years after teen disappears, police reopen case
Talk about 'Cold Cases' ...
British detectives said this week they are looking into the 1926 disappearance of a 16-year-old after hearing new evidence about a deathbed confession made decades ago.
The investigation is believed to be one of the country's oldest cold case reviews ever.
Emma Alice Smith disappeared as she cycled between her home and a nearby railway station 83 years ago.
Her disappearance has been unsolved - and her body missing - ever since.
But that could soon change: David Wright, the teenager's great-nephew, said that he came forward to tell police about the confession, a long-held family secret.
Wright said his mother told him that in the 1950s, a man - whose identity has not been revealed - claimed responsibility for the teenager's death, but the confession was never made public.
Police also were not told at the time.
Wright's mother was told about the confession by her aunt, Emma Alice's sister, Lily, who died in 1995.
"A gentleman, on his deathbed sometime in 1952 to 1953, had confessed to killing her sister.
But she felt she was unable to bring it to light because her own father had just passed away," Wright said.
"It was also a very small community and to make an accusation like that would have been scandalous in those days."
Those sorts of things were hushed up or brushed under the carpet."
In December 2007, Wright broke the silence and went to police in Sussex, asking them to look into his great-aunt's disappearance.
Last month, they said they planned to reopen the case.
"I was very, very surprised when they said they would investigate it.
I didn't think anyone would be interested," he said.
Emma Alice had worked as a servant in a large house near her home in the village of Waldron, about 60 miles south of London.
She was the second of eight children; Wright's grandfather was Emma Alice's older brother.
Police said they want to find Emma's body for her family's sake rather than to make an arrest.
"The family are keen to trace the body of Emma, if that is possible, in order that she can be given a proper burial and laid to rest with her close family," said Detective Chief Inspector Trevor Bowles, of the Sussex Police Major Crime Branch.
"A number of local people have already assisted us and have been able to fill in some of the many gaps which exist."
Given the years which have passed, this is inevitably a difficult task.
"Detectives are fitting the cold case investigation around their existing caseload, Detective Inspector Mike Ashcroft said.
He said that officers, using maps of the time, have already identified the likely path Emma Alice would have taken, and that they will begin searching the ponds along the 2.5 mile route between her home and the railway station.
Experts have already assured the detectives that human remains will still be present, even after more than eight decades of decomposition.
"I'm pretty certain that if there's a body in a pond, we'll find it," Ashcroft said.
British detectives said this week they are looking into the 1926 disappearance of a 16-year-old after hearing new evidence about a deathbed confession made decades ago.
The investigation is believed to be one of the country's oldest cold case reviews ever.
Emma Alice Smith disappeared as she cycled between her home and a nearby railway station 83 years ago.
Her disappearance has been unsolved - and her body missing - ever since.
But that could soon change: David Wright, the teenager's great-nephew, said that he came forward to tell police about the confession, a long-held family secret.
Wright said his mother told him that in the 1950s, a man - whose identity has not been revealed - claimed responsibility for the teenager's death, but the confession was never made public.
Police also were not told at the time.
Wright's mother was told about the confession by her aunt, Emma Alice's sister, Lily, who died in 1995.
"A gentleman, on his deathbed sometime in 1952 to 1953, had confessed to killing her sister.
But she felt she was unable to bring it to light because her own father had just passed away," Wright said.
"It was also a very small community and to make an accusation like that would have been scandalous in those days."
Those sorts of things were hushed up or brushed under the carpet."
In December 2007, Wright broke the silence and went to police in Sussex, asking them to look into his great-aunt's disappearance.
Last month, they said they planned to reopen the case.
"I was very, very surprised when they said they would investigate it.
I didn't think anyone would be interested," he said.
Emma Alice had worked as a servant in a large house near her home in the village of Waldron, about 60 miles south of London.
She was the second of eight children; Wright's grandfather was Emma Alice's older brother.
Police said they want to find Emma's body for her family's sake rather than to make an arrest.
"The family are keen to trace the body of Emma, if that is possible, in order that she can be given a proper burial and laid to rest with her close family," said Detective Chief Inspector Trevor Bowles, of the Sussex Police Major Crime Branch.
"A number of local people have already assisted us and have been able to fill in some of the many gaps which exist."
Given the years which have passed, this is inevitably a difficult task.
"Detectives are fitting the cold case investigation around their existing caseload, Detective Inspector Mike Ashcroft said.
He said that officers, using maps of the time, have already identified the likely path Emma Alice would have taken, and that they will begin searching the ponds along the 2.5 mile route between her home and the railway station.
Experts have already assured the detectives that human remains will still be present, even after more than eight decades of decomposition.
"I'm pretty certain that if there's a body in a pond, we'll find it," Ashcroft said.
Former Gitmo inmates on Saudi wanted list
A Saudi government spokesman says 11 of the Saudis on its recently issued most wanted list are former Guantanamo detainees.
Gen. Mansour al-Turki of the Saudi Interior Ministry said that among the 85 people listed by the government, 11 had been released from the U.S. detention facility in Cuba and passed through government-sponsored rehabilitation programs.
A total of 117 Saudis have been freed from Guantanamo, al-Turki says, with the vast majority not getting into further trouble.
Monday, the Saudis issued a wanted list of Saudis and two Yemenis living abroad and suspected of involvement with al-Qaida.
Gen. Mansour al-Turki of the Saudi Interior Ministry said that among the 85 people listed by the government, 11 had been released from the U.S. detention facility in Cuba and passed through government-sponsored rehabilitation programs.
A total of 117 Saudis have been freed from Guantanamo, al-Turki says, with the vast majority not getting into further trouble.
Monday, the Saudis issued a wanted list of Saudis and two Yemenis living abroad and suspected of involvement with al-Qaida.
Australian state on snake alert
The rain-battered residents in northeastern Australia were on alert today for snakes in their bathrooms and crocodiles in the road following repeated storms that have sent local wildlife in search of dry land or a safe haven.
More than half of Queensland state was declared a disaster area Tuesday because of the rains that started in late December and are expected to continue.
In Queensland's hardest-hit town of Ingham, David Harkin was preparing to evacuate after watching floods wash through his two-level home.
He said he's seen several snakes around his home since the latest storm hit Sunday.
"That's why I keep the broom here (at the front door) to chase the snakes away," he told reporters.
Some 2,900 homes have been damaged in Ingham and hundreds of people evacuated to a temporary shelter.
More than half of Queensland state was declared a disaster area Tuesday because of the rains that started in late December and are expected to continue.
In Queensland's hardest-hit town of Ingham, David Harkin was preparing to evacuate after watching floods wash through his two-level home.
He said he's seen several snakes around his home since the latest storm hit Sunday.
"That's why I keep the broom here (at the front door) to chase the snakes away," he told reporters.
Some 2,900 homes have been damaged in Ingham and hundreds of people evacuated to a temporary shelter.
DEA quits Bolivia
The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration has removed all its agents from Bolivia, complying with orders by President Evo Morales, officials said.
The DEA began pulling agents out several weeks ago and the last agents left Thursday, the Los Angeles Times reported. The development comes even as Bolivian officials say coca cultivation and cocaine processing are growing.
Read the rest here.
*****
Yeah, and if you believe it - I have this land about three miles east of Miami I am looking to unload, cheap!
Environmental Foursome
The American Institute of Physics has a great resource in "The Discovery of Global Warming" -- a deep and long look at the history of climate science. If you're interested in understanding how the interdisciplinary scientific consensus on the reality of deadly human-caused climate change arose, this is the right place to start.
It is an epic story: the struggle of thousands of men and women over the course of a century for very high stakes. For some, the work required actual physical courage, a risk to life and limb in icy wastes or on the high seas. The rest needed more subtle forms of courage. They gambled decades of arduous effort on the chance of a useful discovery, and staked their reputations on what they claimed to have found. Even as they stretched their minds to the limit on intellectual problems that often proved insoluble, their attention was diverted into grueling administrative struggles to win minimal support for the great work. A few took the battle into the public arena, often getting more blame than praise; most labored to the end of their lives in obscurity. In the end they did win their goal, which was simply knowledge.The scientists who labored to understand the Earth's climate discovered that many factors influence it. Everything from volcanoes to factories shape our winds and rains. The scientific research itself was shaped by many influences, from popular misconceptions to government funding, all happening at once. A traditional history would try to squeeze the story into a linear text, one event following another like beads on a string. Inevitably some parts are left out. Yet for this sort of subject we need total history, including all the players — mathematicians and biologists, lab technicians and government bureaucrats, industrialists and politicians, newspaper reporters and the ordinary citizen. This Web site is an experiment in a new way to tell a historical story. Think of the site as an object like a sculpture or a building. You walk around, looking from this angle and that. In your head you are putting together a rounded representation, even if you don't take the time to inspect every cranny. That is the way we usually learn about anything complex.
Climate Change Economics is an excellent, thorough and ongoing look at the economics of climate change mitigation. Aimed at legislators and people interested in policy implications of climate change, CCE offers a series of well-organized directories of white papers and technical information from a variety of sources for people trying to understand why it makes good economic sense to take immediate, drastic measures to curb emissions and mitigate the effects of anthropogenic climate change.
In practice, economists' analyses of the effects of climate change and the positive and negative returns to mitigation efforts have generally come to agree that a constant discount rate is not appropriate, and that the rate must generally decline over time. They do NOT agree on a rate at which to start the calculations, nor on the way in which the rate should be reduced over time.Looking back at the table, it is obvious that the rate that applies at first - and how long it applies - will play a major role in the prevent value derived. Using a 5% rate for the first decade, for example, would leave under 62% of the FV in the PV, even if the discount rate used for the rest of time was zero. That is why many analysts claim that the discount rate for possibly catastrophic outcomes (possible but not known) should be negative relative to the known investment results, which would push calculations of PVs toward using the 0.6% rate rather than in the direction of the 7% rate.
This argument is not based on risk alone, which is what is used in investment analysis, but on the combination of risk and uncertainty, factors that combine to shape all forecasts, but especially those of processes and events about which we know relatively little, such as the processes of global climate change and species survival and extinction.
So the question of the initial discount rate used, and why it is used, is central to any analysis of the economics of climate change and alternative policies intended to slow the growth of greenhouse gasses.
A frequent shibboleth used by the climate change deniers is that the Medieval Warm Period -- a period of apparent global climate change in medieval times -- indicates that the Earth's climate rises and falls all the time, and that therefore, human beings don't cause global warming. In this paper, scientists from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration investigate the best scientific findings on the Medieval Warm Period hypothesis, with special emphasis on the massive, wide-ranging, independent UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. They conclude that "the late 20th and early 21st centuries are likely the warmest period the Earth has seen in at least 1200 years."
In summary, it appears that the late 20th and early 21st centuries are likely the warmest period the Earth has seen in at least 1200 years. For a summary of the latest available research on the nature of climate during the "Medieval Warm Period", please see Box 6.4 of the IPCC 2007 Palaeoclimate chapter. To learn more about the "Medieval Warm Period", please read this review published in Climatic Change, written by M.K. Hughes and H.F. Diaz. (Click here for complete review reference). Discussion of the last 2,000 years, including the Medieval Warm Period, and regional patterns and uncertainties, appears in the National Research Council Report titled "Surface Temperature Reconstructions for the Last 2,000 Years", available from the National Academy Press.
From Nature's excellent Climate Change section, excellent summation of the year's research into anthropogenic climate change -- that is, the hard scientific evidence from unbiased, independent scientists indicating that climate change is real, caused by humans, and dangerous to the planet.
4. The hockey stick holds upA follow-up to the infamous 1998 'hockey stick' curve confirmed that the past two decades are the warmest in recent history. Climatologist Michael Mann's contentious graph has become a symbol of the fierce debates on evidence for global warming, to the extent that an independent investigation into the study was performed at the request of US Congressman Joe Barton. The 2006 report that resulted from the Barton enquiry criticized Mann and colleagues for their reliance on tree-ring data from bristlecone pines as a proxy to reconstruct Northern Hemisphere temperatures over the past 1,000 years. Although their earlier work had been largely vindicated, in September the same team revised their global surface temperature estimates for the past 2,000 years, using a greatly expanded set of proxies, including marine sediments, ice cores, coral and historical documents (Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. USA 105, 13252–13257; 2008). The team reconstructed global temperatures with and without inclusion of the tree-ring records: without their inclusion, the data showed that recent warming is greater than at any point in at least the past 1,300 years; inclusion of tree-ring data extended this period to at least 1,700 years. According to the Christian Science Monitor: "It still looks a lot like the much-battered, but still rink-ready stick of 1998. Today the handle reaches further back and it's a bit more gnarly. But the blade at the business end tells the same story."
The S word
... let it snow, let it snow, let it snow ...
A few inches of the white stuff is on the ground right now.
The weather gurus got it right this time.
(Of course they said we'd not see any snow here but higher in the mountains would)
Now everyone can go outside and make naked snow-angels or is that make snow-angels naked - I can't remember which way it goes right now.
Or maybe go for a hot fresh Kripsy Kreme!
A few inches of the white stuff is on the ground right now.
The weather gurus got it right this time.
(Of course they said we'd not see any snow here but higher in the mountains would)
Now everyone can go outside and make naked snow-angels or is that make snow-angels naked - I can't remember which way it goes right now.
Or maybe go for a hot fresh Kripsy Kreme!
Liars and Fools
Liars and Fools for the day are:
Meet the Press', Gregory lies saying Social Security will "pay out more than it's taking in by 2010"
That is mathematically impossible (even with the fuzzy numbers the repugicans are so fond of using in lieu of actual numbers).
Dimbulb: the shrub wasn't partisan
Oh, my gawd! Tell me another one, quick!
Faux's O'Really declares war on the New York Times after it calls him out on immigration
And they are quaking in their boots to be sure ... not!
CBO report debunks repugicans' stimulus talking point
It isn't hard to debunk any 'talking point' the repugicans spew ... a hunk of granite could (and probably has or will)
Washington Post's Kagan falsely claims OMB "has ordered a 10 percent cut in defense spending"
Well, that is a bold faced lie.
repugicans turn to Joe the Plumber (who's not a plumber) for economic advice on stimulus bill
Need I say more ...
Expect no penalty for Dick Armey's sexist comment on-air
Probably got this one right, more's the pity.
Wall Street Journal ignores reality in claiming US corporate tax rate "is higher than in all of Europe"
Damn, it must be wonderful in Fantasyland this time of year.
Faux News chooses tax delinquent Morris to criticize Daschle's tax problems
Ok, I get it - the old 'takes one to know one' thing, right?
Steele's uninformed new talking point: No government has ever created a job
If you need more proof he's an idiot read this drivel.
FAUX Business is still misrepresenting the CBO analysis of Obama's stimulus plan
Ok, is this new?
Faux's Brick mocks government acronym that doesn't exist
Thus living up to his moniker 'Brick' as in 'Thick as a ...'
ABC's Tapper ignored CBO report, advanced repugicans' claim that recovery bill is "not a stimulus plan"
Ignoring reality is just standard routine for these bozos.
Washington Times echoes recovery bill falsehoods on undocumented immigrants, ACORN
Again, are you surprised?
That is mathematically impossible (even with the fuzzy numbers the repugicans are so fond of using in lieu of actual numbers).
Dimbulb: the shrub wasn't partisan
Oh, my gawd! Tell me another one, quick!
Faux's O'Really declares war on the New York Times after it calls him out on immigration
And they are quaking in their boots to be sure ... not!
CBO report debunks repugicans' stimulus talking point
It isn't hard to debunk any 'talking point' the repugicans spew ... a hunk of granite could (and probably has or will)
Washington Post's Kagan falsely claims OMB "has ordered a 10 percent cut in defense spending"
Well, that is a bold faced lie.
repugicans turn to Joe the Plumber (who's not a plumber) for economic advice on stimulus bill
Need I say more ...
Expect no penalty for Dick Armey's sexist comment on-air
Probably got this one right, more's the pity.
Wall Street Journal ignores reality in claiming US corporate tax rate "is higher than in all of Europe"
Damn, it must be wonderful in Fantasyland this time of year.
Faux News chooses tax delinquent Morris to criticize Daschle's tax problems
Ok, I get it - the old 'takes one to know one' thing, right?
Steele's uninformed new talking point: No government has ever created a job
If you need more proof he's an idiot read this drivel.
FAUX Business is still misrepresenting the CBO analysis of Obama's stimulus plan
Ok, is this new?
Faux's Brick mocks government acronym that doesn't exist
Thus living up to his moniker 'Brick' as in 'Thick as a ...'
ABC's Tapper ignored CBO report, advanced repugicans' claim that recovery bill is "not a stimulus plan"
Ignoring reality is just standard routine for these bozos.
Washington Times echoes recovery bill falsehoods on undocumented immigrants, ACORN
Again, are you surprised?
Man accused of threatening Obama pleads not guilty
A Colorado man accused of threatening to kill President Barack Obama and blow up a suburban Minneapolis mall has pleaded not guilty.
Twenty-year-old Timothy Gutierrez of Cortez appeared in federal court in Durango on Tuesday for arraignment and a detention hearing.
He was ordered detained without bond.
Gutierrez is charged with sending threatening e-mails to the FBI in Washington, D.C.
Prosecutors say the first e-mail threatened Obama, and the second said explosives would be used to damage or destroy property at the Mall of America.
Gutierrez has said the threats were a prank.
He turned himself in January 29th at the FBI's office in Durango.
Hey, Gutierrez let me clue you in on something ... if it was - as you say - a prank ... t'weren't funny, McGee
Twenty-year-old Timothy Gutierrez of Cortez appeared in federal court in Durango on Tuesday for arraignment and a detention hearing.
He was ordered detained without bond.
Gutierrez is charged with sending threatening e-mails to the FBI in Washington, D.C.
Prosecutors say the first e-mail threatened Obama, and the second said explosives would be used to damage or destroy property at the Mall of America.
Gutierrez has said the threats were a prank.
He turned himself in January 29th at the FBI's office in Durango.
*****
Hey, Gutierrez let me clue you in on something ... if it was - as you say - a prank ... t'weren't funny, McGee
Our Readers
Some of our readers today have been in:
Cambridge, England, United Kingdom
Morganton, North Carolina, United States
Sarajevo, Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bosnia and Herzegovina
Bucharest, Bucureste, Romania
Sheridan, Oregon, United States
Cambridge, England, United Kingdom
Morganton, North Carolina, United States
Sarajevo, Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bosnia and Herzegovina
Bucharest, Bucureste, Romania
Sheridan, Oregon, United States
Tuesday, February 3, 2009
The Birds, The Bees and the gop
Over at The In Box they posted this nice piece on the idiocy that is the repugicans
Republican leaders and pundits have shredded the Democrats' stimulus package on various fronts, but a recurring theme is sex education, contraception, and family planning.And they still wonder why we laugh our collective arses off every time they open their mouths ...
Matt Drudge's headline today: "$335,000,000 FOR STD PREVENTION IN ECONOMIC STIMULUS BILL."
"How can you spend hundreds of millions of dollars on contraceptives?" fumes House minority leader John Boehner. "How does that stimulate the economy?"
Here's the New York Times' Treatment:Mr. Boehner and other Republicans have taken issue with the large chunk of funding in the stimulus package — some $300 billion all told — that will go to shore up the budgets of states.
That figure includes billions in state aid to education and such controversial pieces as millions in spending for family-planning initiatives.
I think this kind of wink-nudge sex-stuff is dangerous for the GOP. Yes, it plays beautifully with the rural-conservative base.
By way of example, here's Rush Limbaugh's take:“When I think of reducing budget deficits, it would never occur to me to think about eliminating people. (A reference to abortion.) If [Nancy Pelosi] wants fewer births, I have the way to do this, and it won’t require any contraception. You simply put pictures of Nancy Pelosi … put pictures of Pelosi in every cheap motel room in America today, that will keep birth rates down because that picture will keep a lot of things down."
Snicker, snicker.
The truth is that in suburbs and the cities -- where Republican support is tanking -- voters are perfectly comfortable with family planning and contraception.
A survey conducted in Minnesota found that 89% of parents support modern, comprehensive sex education. That compares with less than 10% who supported abstinence-only programs.
(The study was conducted between 2006 and 2007 and was published in the Journal of Adolescent Health.)
All of which is not to say that this stimulus bill shouldn't draw a critical review from Republicans. That's what opposition parties are for.
But surely the GOP can find a zinger-issue that doesn't re-enforce their image as the chastity-and-Bible-belt party?
The Music Died Fifty Years Ago
From the USAToday article:
Fifty years after The Day the Music Died — songwriter Don McLean's description of the Feb. 3, 1959, plane crash that killed musicians Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens and J.P. "The Big Bopper" Richardson — rock 'n' roll fans are marking the event both in Iowa, where the private plane went down in a frozen cornfield near Clear Lake, and in Holly's hometown of Lubbock, Texas.Clear Lake's Surf Ballroom, recently designated a landmark by the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and the venue for the trio's final gig the night before they died, hosts a week-long series of seminars and other remembrances that culminates with a sold-out tribute concert Monday. Next Monday and Tuesday in Lubbock, activities at the Buddy Holly Center include a fan fair, panel discussions, and screening of former Beatle Paul McCartney's film The Real Buddy Holly Story.
So in Honor of 'The Music' we offer ...
Buddy Holly
Ritchie Valens
J.P. 'the Big Bopper' Richardson
"... I don't remember if I cried
when I read about his widowed bride
but something touched me deep inside
the Day the Music Died ..."
The Music is dead - Long live the Music!
when I read about his widowed bride
but something touched me deep inside
the Day the Music Died ..."
The Music is dead - Long live the Music!
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