CAROLINA NATURALLY

Sunday, November 29, 2009

Why one town may get 100s of new jobs

One car company's decision may turn around a hard-hit California city.

See what the jobs would help build

Also:

Unusual Holidays and Celebrations

Today is Electronic Greetings Day.

Daily Almanac

Today is Sunday, Nov. 29, the 333rd day of 2009.

There are 32 days left in the year.

Today In History November 29

Some of our readers today have been in:

Hamilton, Ontario, Canada
Dublin, Dublin, Ireland
Nottingham, England, United Kingdom
London, England, United Kingdom
Grenoble, Rhone-Alpes, France
Helsinki, Southern Finland, Finland
Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada
Paris, Ile-De-France, France
Rome, Lazio, Italy
Laval, Quebec, Canada
Baie-Comeau, Quebec, Canada
Marseille, Provence-Alpes-Cote D'Azur, France
Hamburg, Hamburg, Germany

as well as Argentina, Scotland, and the United States

Daily Horoscope

Today's horoscope says:

You've been so good for so long that it's high time you did something a bit naughty!
Call up one of your more mischievous friends and make a plan together.
Expanding your horizons is highly favored, so a road trip could be in order.
If you're in the mood, take the wheel and point yourself toward something you've never explored.
What you find at your destination will appear fairly bland -- but after a few introductions, you'll be thrilled with your discoveries.

This is gonna be good!

Saturday, November 28, 2009

The Military Budget Is Bleeding Us Dry. It's Time We Addressed That.

From Crooks and Liars

You know, between the crooks, the politicians and the payoffs, this issue shouldn't be a third rail anymore. Democrats need to decide which we can afford: Shoveling trillions of dollars into the military-industrial-congressional complex (and the pockets of defense donors), or rebuilding this country's economic and social infrastructure. David Sirota:

In 2000, the Pentagon admitted it has lost -- yes, lost -- $2.3 trillion. In 2003, the San Francisco Chronicle reported that a subsequent Department of Defense study said it was only $1 trillion. To put such numbers in perspective, contemplate what those sums could finance. $1 trillion, for instance, could pay the total cost of universal healthcare for the long haul. $2.3 trillion would cover universal healthcare plus the bank bailout plus the stimulus package.

Obviously -- obviously! -- these points are no cause for alarm and certainly no cause for defense spending reductions, right? All they must prove is that the archconservative Cato Institute, William Randolph Hearst's newspaper chain, National Journal employees and Pentagon officials are secretly America-hating liberals. And -- obviously! -- so are two of the most aggressive neoconservative hawks ever to hold government office, Sen. John McCain and Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld. After all, they’re the ones who issued those scathing statements about wasteful defense spending in the pop quiz above. That means they’re actually terrorist-appeasing lefties, right?

Really, how could anyone other than traitorous communists see the data and then consider backing the mildest Pentagon spending cuts? I mean, come on -- in a country whose paranoid conservative movement now makes a dead-serious ideology out of Stephen Colbert wisecracks, how dare any red-blooded American even think of pondering basic budgetary facts?

Of course here's a typical wingnut reaction:

Lost in all the typical liberal hyperventilating over increased defense spending during the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, is just how low current defense spending compared to the last 45 years.

Oh, well then! Quit yer griping!

Ho hum. Just another would-be domestic terrorist found with a bomb-making lab. Nothing to see here, just move along

From Crooks and Liars:

Gee, for some reason, this story hasn't managed to make it out of the local news and into the national headlines:

CUYAHOGA FALLS, Ohio – Following a pipe bomb explosion Monday night, police and federal law enforcement officials are trying to figure why a Center Avenue man turned his apartment into a bomb factory.

Police said no charges have been filed against Mark Campano, 56. Police found 30 completed pipe bombs in his apartment along with components to make more, plus 17 guns and hundreds of rounds of ammunition.

Campano is in an Akron hospital with injuries received when one of the bombs exploded.

As police and federal authorities puzzle over Campano's past and what he planned to do with the bombs, a former neighbor said Campano often railed against the government.

Barbara Vachon lived next door to Campano at the Center Park Place Apartments for several years and said he was a big reason she moved.

"He was always trying to get me and another neighbor to listen to anti-government tapes and watch anti-government videos," said Vachon. "I would never watch them. He was some kind of radical, and he didn't believe in the government."

She said there were other warnings.

"There were a few times I heard minor explosions from outside the apartment building, and he would scream that he had hurt himself," she said. "I never knew what he was up to."

Vachon said Campano seemed to be most active at night.

"There was a steady stream of creepy visitors going in and out of his apartment," she said.

The Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms is also investigating the case.

Of course, if this had been a Muslim extremist caught with such an arsenal, we'd be getting talk-show panels on Hannity featuring Michelle Malkin ranting at length about the threat of Islamic jihad, blah blah blah. Not to mention chatty discussion on Fox and Friends and Morning Joe.

But instead, because he's just a white anti-government extremist, hey, let's just give it a big shrug.

Holiday spending on the rise

The $10 billion spent in stores this Black Friday is up slightly from last year.

Online sales are soaring

Also:

How to fight holiday weight gain

A few simple steps can help you avoid those extra holiday pounds.

A proactive approach

Also:

How to pick the perfect digital camera

These guidelines can make shopping for a new camera less overwhelming.

There's more than megapixels

Also:

Health issues the healthy should watch for

These key areas should be monitored even by those with a clean bill of health.

Cancers that strike young adults

Also:

Most popular cars of 2009

The most searched-for brands reflect the strengths and failures of the industry.

5 of the top 10 share one trait

Also:

Fresh claim for fossil life in Mars rock

The 1996 claim that a meteorite contains microbe fossils from Mars has been boosted by the rejection of a non-biological explanation for the minerals.

Fresh claim for fossil life in Mars rock

Early Snowball Earth may have melted to a mudball

If the icy tropics of 700 million years ago were covered in dust, this could have helped melt the ice.

Early Snowball Earth may have melted to a mudball

Please don't pass health care reform, lest we be healthier and have more

From wingnut economist Greg Mankiw:

Put simply, the healthcare reform bill would make the United States more like western Europe. That may mean more security about healthcare, but it also means that future generations of Americans will likely spend more time enjoying leisure.

*****

Oh, Yeah - Like we wouldn't want that to happen, now would we!?

Arctic ice conditions much worse than satellite images suggested

For some reason, the deniers in the US can't recognize that there is a problem.
Ignorance is truly bliss for the teabaggers.

University of Manitoba researcher David Barber said experts around the world believed the ice was recovering because satellite images showed it expanding, but the thick, multi-year frozen sheets have been replaced by thin ice that cannot support the weight of a polar bear.

"Polar bears are being restricted to a small fringe of where this multi-year sea ice is. As we went further and further north, we saw less and less polar bears because this ice wasn't even strong enough for the polar bears to stand on," said Barber, who returned from an expedition to the Beaufort Sea in September.

Boost your Social Security benefits

These strategies will help you make the most of your Social Security benefits.

Tips for married and single people

Also:

Health Care Hell in America

The day after Thanksgiving, Blue Cross 'members' get a " Love Letter " in the mail from the crooks at Blue Shield of California.

A notification to announce that as of 1-1-2010 :

"Blue Shield will no longer reinstate policies that are canceled for nonpayment of premiums. This means that if your premiums are not paid in full and received by the due date, your policy will be canceled and you will need to re-apply for coverage."

In other words - fuck you.

Banks, world leaders play down Dubai debt threat

World leaders expressed confidence in the global economic recovery on Friday despite fears about a debt default by Gulf emirate Dubai, while major banks played down their exposure to the debt.

Banks, world leaders play down Dubai debt threat

Science News

Colossal star seen by Herschel

The death throes of the biggest star known to science have been observed by Europe's new space telescope, Herschel.

Caged 'cavemen' go on display at Warsaw zoo

Visitors to Warsaw's zoo are being greeted by two "Homo sapiens" peering out from a cage - humans in animal skins trying to spark interest in man's caveman ancestors.

Full Story

Tow truck driver arrested for illegal tow

Police say a tow truck driver purposely moved a woman's car from a legal parking spot to an illegal spot so he could tow her and collect money.

That driver, Jeremy Lee Blaine, is now charged with a crime.

"Where does it say you can't park here?" we asked Shannon Whitlowe outside a Family Dollar store in Gastonia.

"There is nothing right there that says you can't park here," she said.

Whitlowe admits the place where she parked isn't the most clearly defined parking spot.

But, there are no yellow lines or words screaming "no parking" here - like there are an aisle away - and she was just going to be a minute getting medicine.

"I had a sick child," Whitlowe said.

By the time she came out her car was gone.

Folks who work in the area say the tow truck driver camps out behind corners, waiting for a wrong move.

"The minute you walk in the store, they take off with your car and I think it's wrong," Whitlowe said.

So do police.

They arrested CRS Towing tow truck driver Jeremy Blaine and charged him with obtaining property by false pretense.

That's after a witness told police Blaine hooked up Whitlowe's car and allegedly moved it to an illegal spot, then took a picture of it there as if that's where he found it.

We asked police, what's the purpose of the picture?

"It would be to justify the means of the action which is, you know, shady," said Gastonia Police Sergeant Trent Conard.

Conard thinks greed is a reason for the illegal tow.

"They're preying upon people that, you know, times are rough on everybody and people don't need to be spending 100 dollar tow bills to get their cars out when they were legally parked to begin with," he said.

It's not thepolice department's first run in with local tow truck companies.

Conard says some companies put their signs up on city utillity poles, which is against city ordinance.

The signs get taken down.

Then, drivers say towing companies tell them too bad, they "were" there.

In fact, police say arguments over signs, locations and legalities are getting worse.

"And we're not going to put up with it," Conard said.

Whitlowe had to pay to get her car back from the towing company, even though police say the tow was illegal.

"It was 100 dollars cash and they would not let me pay by check or debit," she said.

The driver is due in court Monday.

Saturday Jam

Today's Saturday Jam is all about the Sun:

Walking On The Sun

Smash Mouth

Walking On Sunshine

Katrina and the Waves

Steal My Sunshine

Len

President Obama's Weekly Address

Prepared Remarks of President Barack Obama
Weekly Address
Thursday, November 26, 2009

For centuries, in peace and in war, in prosperity and in adversity, Americans have paused at this time of year to gather with loved ones and give thanks for life’s blessings. This week, we carry on this distinctly American tradition. All across our country, folks are coming together to spend time with family, to catch up with old friends, to cook and enjoy a big dinner – and maybe to watch a little football in between.

As always, we give thanks for the kindness of loved ones, for the joys of the previous year, and for the pride we feel in our communities and country. We keep in our thoughts and prayers the many families marking this Thanksgiving with an empty seat – saved for a son or daughter, or husband or wife, stationed in harm’s way. And we say a special thanks for the sacrifices those men and women in uniform are making for our safety and freedom, and for all those Americans who enrich the lives of our communities through acts of kindness, generosity and service.

But as much as we all have to be thankful for, we also know that this year millions of Americans are facing very difficult economic times. Many have lost jobs in this recession – the worst in generations. Many more are struggling to afford health care premiums and house payments, let alone to save for an education or retirement. Too many are wondering if the dream of a middle class life – that American Dream – is slipping away. It’s the worry I hear from folks across the country; good, hard-working people doing the best they can for their families – but fearing that their best just isn’t good enough. These are not strangers. They are our family, our friends, and our neighbors. Their struggles must be our concern.

That’s why we passed the Recovery Act that cut taxes for 95 percent of working people and for small businesses – and that extended unemployment benefits and health coverage for millions of Americans who lost their jobs in this turmoil. That’s why we are reforming the health care system so that middle-class families have affordable insurance that cannot be denied because of a pre-existing condition or taken away because you happen to get sick. We’ve worked to stem the tide of foreclosures and to stop the decline in home values. We’re making it easier to save for retirement and more affordable to send a son or daughter to college.

The investments we have made and tough steps we have taken have helped break the back of the recession, and now our economy is finally growing again. But as I said when I took office, job recovery from this crisis would not come easily or quickly. Though the job losses we were experiencing earlier this year have slowed dramatically, we’re still not creating enough new jobs each month to make up for the ones we’re losing. And no matter what the economists say, for families and communities across the country, this recession will not end until we completely turn that tide.

So we’ve made progress. But we cannot rest – and my administration will not rest – until we have revived this economy and rebuilt it stronger than before; until we are creating jobs and opportunities for middle class families; until we have moved beyond the cycles of boom and bust – of reckless risk and speculation – that led us to so much crisis and pain these past few years.

Next week, I’ll be meeting with owners of large and small businesses, labor leaders, and non-for-profits from across the country, to talk about the additional steps we can take to help spur job creation. I will work with the Congress to enact them quickly. And it is my fervent hope – and my heartfelt expectation – that next Thanksgiving we will be able to celebrate the fact that many of those who have lost their jobs are back at work, and that as a nation we will have come through these difficult storms stronger and wiser and grateful to have reached a brighter day.

Thank you, God bless you, and from my family to yours, Happy Thanksgiving.

Unusual Holidays and Celebrations

Today is International Aura Awareness Day.

As well as Eid-Al-Adha.

Daily Almanac

Today is Saturday, Nov. 28, the 332nd day of 2009.

There are 33 days left in the year.

Today In History November 28

Our Readers

Some of our readers today have been in:

Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand
Seoul, Kynoggi-Do, Korea
London, England, United Kingdom
Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland
Leiden, Zuid-Holland, Netherlands
Bristol, England, United Kingdom
Delhi, Delhi, India
Paris, Ile-De-France, France
Bratislava, Bratislava, Slovakia
Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain
Berlin, Berlin, Germany

Daily Horoscope

Today's horoscope says:

Flex your muscles a little bit today -- it's been too long since you reminded yourself how powerful you really are, especially in a group or team environment.
You have a lot of good ideas to contribute, and it's high time you became more of a leader.
People around you are going to be very receptive to any suggestions you make now, and they are looking for the new ideas you are sure to have.
Push things in the direction you want them to go.

All Right!

Friday, November 27, 2009

Muppets score with classic-rock hit

The Muppets' fun, furry take on Queen's "Bohemian Rhapsody" becomes a Web sensation.

See why

Also:

Easy meals from Thanksgiving leftovers

Give your post-Thanksgiving dishes a fresh flavor with recipes that anyone can make.

Sweet potato cupcakes

Also:

Retailers encouraged by holiday shopping

The start of the holiday shopping season brings signs of renewed spending.

But consumers have changed

Also:

Detox diet for holiday overindulgence

Bounce back after huge holiday meals with these cleansing teas and healthy eating tips.

How much water to drink

Also:

A 'Cash for Clunkers' for appliances

Another tax-supported shopping program is expected in the coming weeks.

What's included

Also:

Why New York's apples are going unpicked

The Empire State's orchards are being carpeted with red as fruit is left to drop to the ground.

Losing proposition

Also:

The most recession-proof jobs right now

These five careers have immediate openings and long-term potential.

Salaries up to $90K

Also:

White House crashers met Obama

The Virginia couple who crashed a state dinner met the president in the receiving line.

Security 'embarrassed'

Also:

Sticking it to the wingnuts

Roomba Takes Down a Deadly Viper

You probably have done this yourself: used your vacuum cleaner and gotten something wrapped around a rotating brush, perhaps a string.

In this case a Roomba, that autonomous robotic vacuum cleaner, did the same, but with a venomous viper in Israel.

Full Story

NC Busts Reveal Fake IDs Booming

The state continues to see a booming business in fake IDs.

NC Busts Reveal Fake IDs Booming

China executes 2 for child abductions

China has executed two men for abducting and selling 15 children, many of whom were taken as babies or toddlers and have not yet been reunited with their parents, state media said Friday.

Full Story

Chemists Produce a New Blue

Blue is sometimes not an easy color to make.

Full Story

Iran seizes lawyer's Nobel Peace medal

Human rights lawyer and Nobel laureate Shirin Ebadi says the government has confiscated her medal.

'Shocking'

Also:

Brazil: 'Gringos' must pay to save Amazon

Brazil president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva says rich nations should pay to protect the rain forest.

Global-warming blame

Also:

Cancer drug may treat diabetes

Mark Pescovitz is a transplant surgeon and medical research scientist.

Today, he and his colleagues published a paper in the New England Journal of Medicine about a new way to slow and possibly even stop the progression of type 1 diabetes, also known as juvenile-onset diabetes.

The approach uses the drug Rituxan, normally indicated to treat non-hodgkins lymphoma and rheumatoid arthritis.

From Reuters:

"What this study does is open the door to a whole new way to approaching type 1 diabetes," Dr. Mark Pescovitz of Indiana University, who led the study, said in a telephone interview.
Rituxan, known generically as rituximab, is made by Genentech, a unit of Roche Holding AG and Biogen Idec Inc. It was designed to wipe out immune cells known as B lymphocytes, which proliferate out of control in lymphoma.
The same cells are also involved in the autoimmune destruction of healthy cells and tissue seen in rheumatoid arthritis and, in theory, in juvenile diabetes.
Usually, by the time diabetes symptoms appear, 80 to 90 percent of those insulin-producing cells have been destroyed. The Pescovitz team gave Rituxan hoping to save the remaining cells.
The treatment worked at first and the body produced more insulin. But over time, the effects faded, and insulin production began to decline at the same rate as among people who received placebo.
Pescovitz said he was not disappointed. Further tests will show if repeated treatments with Rituxan or newer drugs that also eliminate B lymphocytes will keep insulin production up.

"Cancer drug preserves insulin cells in diabetes"

Plants Have a Social Life

From Wired:

After decades of seeing plants as passive recipients of fate, scientists have found them capable of behaviors once thought unique to animals. Some plants even appear to be social, favoring family while pushing strangers from the neighborhood.

Research into plant sociality is still young, with many questions unanswered. But it may change how people conceive of the floral world, and provide new ways of raising productivity on Earth’s maxed-out farmlands.

“When I was in school, researchers assumed that some plants were better or worse than others at getting resources, but they were blind to the whole social situation,” said Susan Dudley, a McMaster University biologist. “I went looking for it, and to my shock, found it. And we’ve found more of it since.”

In a paper published in the November American Journal of Botany, Dudley describes how Impatiens pallida, a common flowering plant, devotes less energy than usual to growing roots when surrounded by relatives. In the presence of genetically unrelated Impatiens, individuals grow their roots as fast as they can.

Plants Have a Social Life, Too

Science News

From BBC-Science:

Hammerhead shark mystery solved

A hammerhead shark's unusual shape gives it outstanding vision, according to a study which may solve a centuries-old mystery.

Past climate anomalies explained

Unusually warm and cold spells in climate history are linked to how oceans responded to temperature changes, a study says.

Chirps and whistles help estimate the size of bird populations

Monster worm and sea star frenzy caught on camera

THE BIG PICTURE

Cop News

In Cop News

Arizona's "tough" sheriff Joe Arpaio's crew forces inmate to give birth while shackled, then won't allow her to hold baby

Schwarzenegger: A Tax Deadbeat

If you've been following the adventures of the California governator, you've been discovering that not only are he and his wife serial traffic scofflaws, but apparent tax dodgers as well.

Here's the latest:

The United States government might have a bigger budget to work with -- if one bodybuilding governor would pay the back taxes it appears he never got around to paying.

According to documents filed in L.A. County Superior Court, Arnold Schwarzenegger owes the IRS $39,047 from 2004 and $40,016 from 2005.

In total the Guv owes $79,064.00 ... and as we all know, he's definitely not saving the money for rainy day traffic violations.

An official at the L.A. County Recorder's Office said their system shows the lien is still active.

Unusual Holidays and Celebrations

Today is:

Buy Nothing Day,
Flossing Day,
Maize Day,
and
Sinkie Day

as well as

Yawn Arafat

Daily Almanac

Today is Friday, Nov. 27, the 331st day of 2009.

There are 34 days left in the year.

Today In History November 27

Our Readers

Some of our readers today have been in:

Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Montreal, Quebec, Canada
Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
Derby, England, United Kingdom
Maribor, Maribor, Slovenia
Mumbai, Maharashtra, India
Paris, Ile-De-France, France
Dortmund, Nordrhein-Westfalen, Germany
Copenhagen, Kobenhavn, Denmark
Amsterdam, Noord-Holland, Netherlands
Vancouver, British Columbia

as well as Scotland, and the United States

Daily Horoscope

Today's horoscope says:

Ready to let loose and have some real fun?
Good, because the universe is willing to help.
Right now the stars are anything but short on creative ways to enjoy the company of others -- and they just so happen to have set up shop in your house of entertaining.
How about having the whole crew over to your place for pizza, movies and games?
Break out Pictionary and stay up late laughing.
You owe it to yourself.

Party!

Thursday, November 26, 2009

Wingnuts going back to Hell

Repugicans going home ...

Dinner crashers no strangers to celebrity

The couple who crashed a White House dinner may have been vying to join a reality show.

Also:

Counterfeit 20 shows up at local restaurant

Dateline - Wilmington NC:

Fat Tony's General Manager Jason Warnick holds a counterfeit $20 bill that was used at the restaurant last week.

Counterfeit 20 shows up at local restaurant; area merchants warned

Man Dies in Nutty Putty Cave Accident

Nutty Putty Cave sounds like it's a made-up name, but it is not. Nutty Putty cave in a tourist attraction in Stansbury Park, UT, and John Edward Jones, 26, was stuck in a narrow crevice.

Full Story

Dubai request for debt 'standstill' raises fear

Just a year after the global downturn derailed Dubai's explosive growth, the city is now so swamped in debt that it's asking for a six-month reprieve on paying its bills - causing a drop on world markets Thursday and raising questions about Dubai's reputation as a magnet for international investment.

Dubai request for debt 'standstill' raises fear

Palin Punk'd By Canadian Comedian Again

This bitch is so stupid ...

Sarah Palin has been tricked by a second Canadian comedian.
Last year, she was "punk'd," made to think she was talking to French president Nicolas Sarkozy when in reality it was The Masked Avengers, a Quebec comedy duo. At a recent stop on her "Going Rogue" book tour , Sarah Palin told Canadian comedian Mary Walsh that Canada should get rid of its public health care system (which will go over poorly with Canadians; more on that later).

Full Story

Dana Perino On Terrorism

It seems the attacks on the U.S. during the shrub's term, on September 11, 2001, were such a minor occurrence that they aren't even worth remembering. Just more evidence of the stupidity of those on the right - as if that was necessary.

These losers just keep insisting on displaying their stupidity.