The place where the world comes together in honesty and mirth. Windmills Tilted, Scared Cows Butchered, Lies Skewered on the Lance of Reality ... or something to that effect.
An American seized in Yemen in a sweep of suspected al-Qaida members had been a laborer at six U.S. nuclear power plants, and authorities are investigating whether he had access to sensitive information or materials that would be useful to terrorists.
Sharif Mobley, 26, worked for contractors at plants in New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Maryland from 2002 to 2008, mostly hauling materials and setting up scaffolding, plant officials said.
The philosophy held by douchebags, holding that no one other than themselves (or perhaps their close associates) matters in the least bit. Closely related to fascism, which has been practiced by control freaks such as Adolf Hitler.
It is utterly amazing how the wingnuts have it all backward. Just watch and listen to this video. Every single 'point' they assert that Obama (and by extension Democrats) is doing or is trying to do this nation is in reality what the shrub and the repugicans DID to this nation.
Also, them calling themselves 'patriots' is the most outrageous vile insult to we real patriots who have bled for our freedom.
In an effort to critically analyze another piece of pop music, Glenn Beck and his sidekicks reached the conclusion that Bruce Springsteen's 1984 hit "Born in the U.S.A." is critical of America and, therefore, unpatriotic. In fact, the song was deemed so unpatriotic by the former shock jock's crew that co-host Pat Gray declared it to be "anti-American." This simplistic version of patriotism appears to leave little room for any criticism of America, its policy, or the behavior of its people.
After Gray revisited Beck's earlier deconstruction of Woody Guthrie's "This Land Is Your Land," the gang turned its collective attention to Springsteen, with Gray getting the ball rolling by noting that Fourth of July fireworks displays often include "Born in the U.S.A." in the musical medley. Beck then broke into a spoken word version of the song.
Too much cancer screening, too many heart tests, too many cesarean sections. A spate of recent reports suggest that too many Americans - maybe even President Barack Obama - are being overtreated.
Germany's sex abuse scandal has now reached pope Benedict XVI: His former archdiocese disclosed that while he was archbishop a suspected pedophile priest was transferred to a job where he later abused children.
It shouldn't take a gorgeous super model and her rather handsome NFL husband to convince you to participate in this year's Earth Hour on Saturday, March 27 at 8:30 pm, but it certainly doesn't hurt. From time zone to time zone, the world's citizens will be turning off their lights. Giselle and Tom have their candles ready, do you?
Remarks of President Barack Obama
As Prepared for Delivery
Weekly Address
March 13, 2010
Lost in the news of the week was a headline that ought to be a source of concern for every American. It said, “Many Nations Passing U.S. in Education.” Now, debates in Washington tend to be consumed with the politics of the moment: who’s up in the daily polls; whose party stands to gain in November. But what matters to you – what matters to our country – is not what happens in the next election, but what we do to lift up the next generation. And the fact is, there are few issues that speak more directly to our long term success as a nation than issues concerning the education we provide to our children.
Our prosperity in the 20th century was fueled by an education system that helped grow the middle class and unleash the talents of our people more fully and widely than at any time in our history. We built schools and focused on the teaching of math and science. We helped a generation of veterans go to college through the GI Bill. We led the globe in producing college graduates, and in turn we led in producing ground-breaking technologies and scientific discoveries that lifted living standards and set us apart as the world’s engine of innovation.
Of course, other nations recognize this, and are looking to gain an edge in the global marketplace by investing in better schools, supporting teachers, and committing to clear standards that will produce graduates with more skills. Our competitors understand that the nation that out-educates us today will out-compete us tomorrow. Yet, too often we have failed to make inroads in reforming and strengthening our public education system – the debate mired in worn arguments hurled across entrenched divides.
As a result, over the last few decades, we’ve lost ground. One assessment shows American fifteen year olds no longer even near the top in math and science when compared to their peers around the world. As referenced in the news report I mentioned, we’ve now fallen behind most wealthy countries in our high school graduation rates. And while we once led the world in the proportion of college graduates we produced, today we no longer do.
Not only does that risk our leadership as a nation, it consigns millions of Americans to a lesser future. For we know that the level of education a person attains is increasingly a prerequisite for success and a predictor of the income that person will earn throughout his or her life. Beyond the economic statistics is a less tangible but no less painful reality: unless we take action – unless we step up – there are countless children who will never realize their full talent and potential.
I don’t accept that future for them. And I don’t accept that future for the United States of America. That’s why we’re engaged in a historic effort to redeem and improve our public schools: to raise the expectations for our students and for ourselves, to recognize and reward excellence, to improve performance in troubled schools, and to give our kids and our country the best chance to succeed in a changing world.
Under the leadership of an outstanding Education Secretary, Arne Duncan, we launched a Race to the Top, through which states compete for funding by committing to reform and raising standards, by rewarding good teaching, by supporting the development of better assessments to measure results, and by emphasizing math and science to help prepare children for college and careers.
And on Monday, my administration will send to Congress our blueprint for an updated Elementary and Secondary Education Act to overhaul No Child Left Behind. What this plan recognizes is that while the federal government can play a leading role in encouraging the reforms and high standards we need, the impetus for that change will come from states, and from local schools and school districts. So, yes, we set a high bar – but we also provide educators the flexibility to reach it.
Under these guidelines, schools that achieve excellence or show real progress will be rewarded, and local districts will be encouraged to commit to change in schools that are clearly letting their students down. For the majority of schools that fall in between – schools that do well but could do better – we will encourage continuous improvement to help keep our young people on track for a bright future: prepared for the jobs of the 21st century. And because the most important factor in a child’s success is the person standing at the front of the classroom, we will better prepare teachers, support teachers, and encourage teachers to stay in the field. In short, we’ll treat the people who educate our sons and daughters like the professionals they are.
Through this plan we are setting an ambitious goal: all students should graduate from high school prepared for college and a career – no matter who you are or where you come from. Achieving this goal will be difficult. It will take time. And it will require the skills, talents, and dedication of many: principals, teachers, parents, students. But this effort is essential for our children and for our country. And while there will always be those cynics who claim it can’t be done, at our best, we know that America has always risen to the challenges that we’ve faced. This challenge is no different.
As a nation, we are engaged in many important endeavors: improving the economy, reforming the health care system, encouraging innovation in energy and other growth industries of the 21st century. But our success in these efforts – and our success in the future as a people – will ultimately depend on what happens long before an entrepreneur opens his doors, or a nurse walks the rounds, or a scientist steps into her laboratory. Our future is determined each and every day, when our children enter the classroom, ready to learn and brimming with promise.
It’s that promise we must help them fulfill. Thank you.
Don't worry, there's nothing unusual about how you're feeling right now.
All you need is someone to talk to and snuggle up with -- and after all the times you've done just that for several dear ones, it really shouldn't be too hard to find someone who's willing to accommodate you.
Oh, and if it is?
Well then it's a good time to increase your circle with some more available friends.
So besides the millions of dollars of lobbyist money from Wall Street, what's stopping this?
An overwhelming majority of Americans wants Wall Street subjected to tougher regulation in the aftermath of the bank bailout and the bonus scandals that have rocked the U.S. financial sector, according to a Harris poll released on Thursday.
The findings suggest that 82 percent of Americans want the government to clamp down more strongly on Wall Street excesses, with a particular emphasis on bonus schemes that have rewarded employees at loss-making companies such as American International Group.
China's human rights record worsened last year as authorities increased harassment of activists and repression in the Xinjiang region, the US State Department said Thursday.
"The government's human rights record remained poor and worsened in some areas," the annual report by the State Department said.
It said Beijing "increased the severe cultural and religious repression of ethnic minorities" in Xinjiang, the western region that last year saw deadly clashes between China's Han majority and the local Uighur people.
The State Department said China "continued to repress Uighurs expressing peaceful political dissent and independent Muslim religious leaders," by trying to associate the predominantly Muslim people with terrorism.
The era in which increasing numbers of people were willing to pay a premium for locally grown food or for 'organic' clothing appears to be ending. Poverty has become common in many US suburbs, triggered by 'the economy,' and in particular by the preceding fad of having a huge home with low property taxes in the far suburbs . For an example, see the emblematic story in the StarTribune, Poverty is hitting the suburbs with more sting. Here is the money quote: "People went out to get low land prices and new houses," he said. "Frankly, they were living on the edge on two incomes. When suddenly somebody loses a job, they're in trouble."
Competitors in one of the annual cheese rolling races at Cooper's Hill, Gloucestershire
A famous 200-year-old event in which competitors chase cheeses down a steep English hillside has been cancelled this year due to health and safety concerns, organizers said.
The Maldives definitely knows who's paying the bills these days... The low-lying Indian Ocean nation has declared the entirety of its 90,000 square mile Exclusive Economic Zone a shark sanctuary, banning all fishing as well as imports and exports of shark fins.
Keep America Safe group draws backlash after dubbing lawyers who defended terrorist suspects 'al-Qaida seven' Liz Cheney and her organisation have called lawyers who acted for accused terrorists the "al-Qaida seven".
Not long after the Twin Towers fell, Dick Cheney declared the death of more than two centuries of American tradition. "It will be necessary for us to be a nation of men, and not laws," he said. The then vice-president did his best to follow through by riding roughshod over the constitution and international laws by promoting torture, indefinite detention without trial and support for secretive military tribunals in which defendants were stripped of many of their rights.
For 50 years, residents of the French village of Pont-Saint-Esprit have tried to understand the "cursed bread" incident, a moment of terrifying mass insanity and hallucinations that left at least five dead and dozens in asylums. Now the mystery is solved: the CIA secretly spiked the bread from the bakery with enormous quantities of LSD as part of its cold war mind-control experiments, at least according to recently uncovered documents. The allegation originates with H P Albarelli Jr., an investigative journalist who uncovered the documents while researching his forthcoming book, A Terrible Mistake: The Murder of Frank Olson and the CIA's Secret Cold War Experiments.
One man tried to drown himself, screaming that his belly was being eaten by snakes. An 11-year-old tried to strangle his grandmother. Another man shouted: "I am a plane", before jumping out of a second-floor window, breaking his legs. He then got up and carried on for 50 yards. Another saw his heart escaping through his feet and begged a doctor to put it back. Many were taken to the local asylum in strait jackets... Scientists at Fort Detrick told him that agents had sprayed LSD into the air and also contaminated "local foot products".
Mr Albarelli said the real "smoking gun" was a White House document sent to members of the Rockefeller Commission formed in 1975 to investigate CIA abuses. It contained the names of a number of French nationals who had been secretly employed by the CIA and made direct reference to the "Pont St. Esprit incident." In its quest to research LSD as an offensive weapon, Mr Albarelli claims, the US army also drugged over 5,700 unwitting American servicemen between 1953 and 1965.
A judge last night unsealed a 2,200-page forensic report by expert Anton Valukis into Lehman's collapse which includes scathing criticism of accounting "gimmicks" used by the failing bank to buy itself time. These included a contentious technique known as "repo 105" which temporarily boosted the bank's balance sheet by as much as $50bn (£33bn).
Wanna bet no one goes to jail over nearly destroying the global economy?
FDR had it right when he called them the "banksters"
They are already ignorant in Texas and they want their kids to be be even more ignorant.
The idiots in the Lone Star are pushing to change the text books used by students to 'learn' from to reflect their myopic and wrong views so that the next generation of students in Texas will have their heads shoved further up their asses than their parents do.
The new texts are proposed to include:
Race - there are only white people
Religion - there are only christians (read ... protestant) and heathens
Sex - Only between married male and female couples (with the male in charge)
History - Humans and Dinosaurs lived side by side
Significant Cultural Movents - An example of which was removing hip-hop as an example of a “significant cultural movement” in American society for high school history. Country music remains.
*****
Now, removing hip-hop is the correct thing they propose (the only correct thing in the entire proposal), country and music should never be used in the same sentence and is in no way a 'significant cultural movement'.
Constance McMillen didn't believe her Mississippi school district would really call off her senior prom rather than allow her to show up with her girlfriend and wear a tuxedo.
The analysis shows that people buying health insurance on their own in the individual market from 2004-2007 still paid 52% of their health expenses, on average, out of their own pockets. In other words, people bought insurance and paid premiums and still on average paid for about half of their health costs themselves. This compares with a much lower out-of-pocket share for employer-sponsored coverage of 30%.
This points to what has really been going on in the individual insurance market. There has recently been a great deal of focus on increases in individual insurance premiums such as the proposed Anthem increase in our home state. Such premium increases are eye-popping and greater scrutiny by regulators is appropriate. But there is another phenomenon in the non-group market even more pervasive than large premium hikes; it’s what is known in the industry as "buy-downs." When insurers inform members of large premium hikes, they commonly suggest that the increase can be mitigated (or sometimes even eliminated) by switching to a lower cost policy (which means a policy with higher deductibles and/or greater limits on benefits). Data from ehealthinsurance.com bear this out: The average deductible for family plans in the individual market increased from $2,760 in 2008 to $3,128 in 2009 -- just one year later. After years of these buy-downs, you end up with what we found in our recent analysis; insurance that, on average, pays for only about half of people's health care bills.
It's one of the (if not the) rarest flower in the world: the Middlemist's Red exists in only two known locations: a greenhouse in the UK, and a garden in New Zealand. Imported to Britain two hundred years ago from China, back when flowers where a luxury item, it has since been exterminated in its original homeland. And now the Middlemist is blooming again--nice looking flower, right?
One man tried to drown himself, screaming that his belly was being eaten by snakes. An 11-year-old tried to strangle his grandmother. Another man shouted: "I am a plane", before jumping out of a second-floor window, breaking his legs. He then got up and carried on for 50 yards. Another saw his heart escaping through his feet and begged a doctor to put it back. Many were taken to the local asylum in strait jackets... Scientists at Fort Detrick told him that agents had sprayed LSD into the air and also contaminated "local foot products".
Decapitated group 'were Vikings' 
