Head Lice, Still Three Times More Popular Than Congress

Did you know ...

by Ilyssa Fuchs 

Truth be told, this is really an old story. However, after discussing this issue with friends over brunch, I came to the realization that this story did not get nearly as much publicity as it should have back in January when Public Policy Polling first released the numbers. Moreover, I wanted to address the topic again using the newest polling data on Congress’ approval ratings, which coincidentally was released just a few days ago.
Lots of people like to focus their attention on the shortcomings of the Obama Administration, but less attention is paid to Congress, the branch of government that actually has the power to make laws. This is an unfortunate fact, as aside from the executive power that the President has unilaterally via the Constitution, the fact is the executive branch operates at the directive of Congress. It’s how our system of checks and balances works, or at least how it is supposed to. When Congress is dysfunctional and members of both parties cannot compromise with each other (like we see in both the Senate and the House) and/or the party who holds a majority in Congress or more specifically in the House (in this case repugicans) refuses to compromise with the President, they make it extremely difficult for the President to get anything done.
By way of example, the President vowed to close Guantanamo Bay, but has been hamstrung by Congressional repugicans who attached a poison pill rider to the defense spending bill that ties the President’s hands and prevents him from shutting down the prison.

Image courtesy of Daily Kos 

Getting to the point. Back in January, PPP did a poll where they asked voters whether they had a higher opinion of either Congress or a series of unpleasant or disliked things.
The results were laughable but also extremely sad. According to the PPP press release:

“Voters said they had a higher opinion of root canals (32 for Congress and 56 for the dental procedure), NFL replacement refs (29-56), head lice (19-67), the rock band Nickelback (32-39), colonoscopies (31-58), Washington DC political pundits (34-37), carnies (31-39), traffic jams (34-56), cockroaches (43-45), Donald Trump (42-44), France (37-46), Genghis Khan (37-41), used-car salesmen (32-57), and Brussels sprouts (23-69) than Congress.”

At the time, Congress’ overall approval rating was holding steady at 9%. Today, as of the most recent polling numbers which were released three days ago, the Congressional approval rating increased to a whopping 12%. This means that if the PPP poll was conducted again today, head lice would most likely still be at least three times more popular than Congress — although they might almost be more popular than cockroaches. Think about that for a minute — people would overwhelmingly prefer head lice, root canals and carnies to Congress. I don’t know about you, but just thinking about head lice gives me the skeeves and I’ve never had them. Moreover, as someone who has had a root canal, I can tell you from first hand experience it is less than pleasant.
In closing, it is no secret that the President has been more than willing to reach across the aisle to attempt compromise with Congressional House repugicans on more than one occasion; much to the dismay of many on the left. The real problem with our current government isn’t the President (albeit that doesn’t mean he is perfect or that I agree with him on every issue) it is a Congress that cannot get it’s act together. Many of them would rather yell and scream at each other like whiny toddlers and rub sand in each other’s eyes like they were all at the playground, instead of actually working together and with the President to get something done. Even Democrats in the Senate have attempted to compromise with Senate repugicans on more then one occasion (also to the dismay of many on the left) only to be  mocked by Senate Republicans later through their obstructionist overuse of the filibuster, which they use to block pretty much every piece of legislation proposed. Unfortunately for us, until 2014 comes and we can vote the obstructionists out of Congress or until members of Congress decide to stop rubbing sand in each other’s eyes and get to work, Congress will remain far less popular than head lice. Even worse, little if anything positive will get done for our country.

Eleven Things The North Carolina Legislature Gave Us This Session

Lunatic Fringe 

North Carolinians rejoice. 
The NCGA is done until May 15, 2014.
However, the consequences of what they’ve caused since January will be felt for years to come. This is just a sampling of what we can thank them for.  

1. The start of Moral Mondays.

The Moral Mondays protests started this past spring to show outrage over various issues. From unemployment to abortion to Voting ID. Over 900 people were arrested during the 12 weeks of peaceful demonstration at the state legislative building.
The movement received national attention and helped to get a national conversation going about what was happening in North Carolina.
While a wonderful act of solidarity, it is sad such weekly protests had to happen to begin with.

2. Harsh abortion restrictions hidden in a motorcycle bill.

Originally the abortion bill, which could potentially close all but one clinic in the state, was put into an Anti-Sharia Law bill during a committee meeting with no public notice. After initial outrage, it was instead added into a bill about motorcycle safety (again without public notice).
While Gov. Pat McCrory promised he would veto any new abortion restrictions while on the campaign trail, he has made it clear he would sign this one into law, breaking his campaign promise.

3. The most restrictive Voter ID laws in the country.

One of the last things the legislature decided to ram through before they adjourned was a draconian Voter ID bill, which would make it extremely difficult for many people in the state to vote.
Included in this bill are requirements for government issued IDs, which do not include school or city government IDs, cutting early voting by a week, banning the pre-registering of 16 and 17-year-olds, ending straight party ticket voting, and same day voter registration just to name a handful of the new restrictions.
This bill is so blatantly obvious as a way to disenfranchise hundreds of thousands of North Carolina voters that the Department of Justice will likely file suit against the state.

4. The decimation of public education as North Carolinians know it.

The North Carolina budget has a lot of problems with it, but no group is hit harder than the education community.
In addition to cutting over 9,000 education positions statewide (including over 5,000 teachers) the budget provides no pay increases to teachers. The state, which had ranked 25th in teacher pay in 2008, now ranks 45th and will likely rank dead last without raises. The budget also eliminates the popular (and effective) Teaching Fellows Program, which has been named the “most ambitious teacher recruiting program in the nation.”
If all of this weren’t bad enough, the budget does not allocate any additional pay increases for those who go on and further their education through getting advanced degrees (unless those degrees are a requirement of their job). So a high school teacher who comes out of pocket to get their Masters would not be compensated for it in their salary.

5. The assumption that all those on government assistance are drug addicts.

North Carolina followed several other states and passed a bill requiring drug testing those who receive welfare.
Not only is this insulting, as the rate of drug use among those on government assistance has been found to be at the same rates (or sometimes even lower) than then general population, but it is costly. In Florida, which has a similar law, actually lost money from having to test people. Even if a handful of people were found to be on drugs, it would have been cheaper to continue to pay them benefits than to do the drug testing they did.
In addition these bills hurt children. The majority of people who benefit from programs like welfare and SNAP are children, whose parents are the ones getting the benefits. Programs such as these could see the benefits stripped from parents who now can’t put food on the table for their children, or could cause those who have used tested substances to not even bother to apply.

6. The expansion of where you can carry your concealed weapon.

The legislature passed a measure making it legal for those with concealed permits to carry their guns into bars, playgrounds, and funerals, and to allow them to be locked in their cars on educational campuses.
In addition there will be no limit on the number of permits a person is allowed to have and city and county governments will not be permitted to pass laws restricting where those with concealed carry permits can carry their weapons. You’ll also be able to hunt with a silencer, just in case you thought you were giving your game too much of a chance.

7. The repeal of the Racial Justice Act.

The NCGA repealed the Racial Justice Act, a historic piece of legislation that allowed those on death row to appeal their sentence based on racial discrimination during their trial. The law was the first of its kind in the country and was hailed as a victory for civil rights. With its passage it also put a moratorium on executions in the state.
The Racial Justice Act was passed after a study at Michigan State University found striking patterns of racial discrimination throughout all aspects of capital cases, from charging to sentencing and jury selection.

8. The end of federal unemployment benefits.

In a bold move, and the first of its kind in the country, North Carolina rejected federal unemployment benefits affecting nearly 200,000 of the state’s long term unemployed.
With this new state law benefits for the unemployed run out after 20 weeks and changes the maximum amount of money a person can get from $535 to $350 a huge cut to a state that is struggling with unemployment.

9. A ban on Sharia Law.

This probably would have slipped more under the radar had legislators not originally tacked the abortion restrictions on to it.
Many agree this law is unnecessary, as there are already federal laws banning foreign law if it infringes upon state or U.S. constitutional rights.
There is also vague wording, which could make it harder for some religions to go through divorce proceedings like those in the orthodox Jewish community.
With North Carolina early on trying to establish a state religion, it is easy to see what they’re trying to do with this one.

10. Salary hikes to those in Gov. McCrory’s cabinet.

Teachers in North Carolina won’t see raises for the next two years, but Gov. McCrory decided to give members of his cabinet (which includes a number of prominent campaign donors) a hefty pay increase.
Increases range from 5 to 11 percent, which is far more than anything afforded to state employees in recent years.
When asked about these hikes, McCrory said, “I’m trying to make it at least where they can afford to live while running multibillion-dollar departments,”

11. Turning the state into a national laughing stock.

From The New York Times to The Washington Post to Rachel Maddow and The Atlantic the national media have shined an ugly spotlight on what the state government of North Carolina is doing.
The state, once a beacon of progress in the south, has been turned upside down into a complete and utter embarrassment and has given credence to the stereotypes that have plagued it for years.

The repugican Plan To Shutdown the Government To Defund Obamacare is Already Backfiring

Lunatic Fringe

The big repugican plan to shutdown the government unless Obamacare is defunded is already backfiring and setting up the repugican cabal for complete failure in 2014.
Ramesh Ponnuru of Bloomberg warned repugicans to drop their plan to defund Obamacare by shutting down the government, “Wingnuts on Capitol Hill think they have a chance to strike a mortal blow against President Barack Obama’s health-care overhaul this fall. If their plan goes forward, however, it will backfire. The plan is to oppose any bill to fund the government or increase the debt limit that also provides money for putting the health-care law in place. Because repugicans control the House, Democrats can’t continue borrowing or paying for government operations without repugican support. So, wingnuts say, repugicans should insist on defunding Obamacare as the price of that support.”
Ponnuru is also a senior editor at the National Review, who wants Obamacare gone, but he can see the political disaster that the plan to oppose all funding bills unless the ACA is defunded would bring on to the repugican cabal. This move would backfire on Republicans because the public would side with Obama and the Democrats. They would definitely blame the party that has spent nearly every second of the past two years obstructing everything, and the biggest reason of all that this would fail is that wingnuts and repugicans have overestimated the popular appeal of repealing Obamacare.
The repugicans see poll numbers that suggest that the country supports repealing the ACA, and assume that this should be their number one issue. Their problem is that repealing Obamacare isn’t the issue that people care most about. Since the economic collapse of 2008, the issues that has mattered most in every poll where they was asked about have been jobs and the economy.
In a recent National Journal poll, healthcare reform was listed as the third most important issue in the 2014 elections behind the economy and social issues (same sex marriage, abortion, etc.) Only 4% of Democrats said that it was the most important issue, compared to 20% of repugicans. It is clear that the repugican plan to shut down the government or cause a federal default unless Obamacare is defunded is more repugican preaching to the choir.
If repugicans go down this path, it will be a complete and utter disaster for them. They will have shutdown the government over an issue that isn’t a top priority for the American people. It seems like the only people who sit around worrying about Obamacare everyday are House repugicans and Faux News watchers. As long as repugicans keep ignoring the economy, Democrats win.
The rest of the country wants repugicans to work with Obama to improve the economy. The repugicans will not only be blamed for shutting down the government, but they will have shutdown the government and hurt millions of people over an issue that is only a top priority for their base.
This last gasp strategy of shutting down the government to stop the ACA is already dividing repugicans. There are many who are warning their cabal not to do this. Sen. Richard Burr (a repugican) called Sen. Mike Lee’s (r-UT) plan to shutdown the government unless Obamacare is defunded the dumbest idea that he has ever heard for a reason. It is an idea that is completely destined to fail.
The politics of this are bad. The fallout from following through on this would be worse, and it looks like House repugicans have found a new way to cost their cabal the 2014 election.

Koch’s 'Americans For Prosperity' Press Release Attacks Wrong Politician

Lunatic Fringe 

It's kind of sad and pathetic, really 
by Thomas Barr

How low can the almighty Koch brothers and Americans For Prosperity possibly sink in their attempts to brainwash voters? How about completely rewriting political history?
That’s exactly what they tried to do in a Florida press release this week where they attacked Florida Rep. Patrick Murphy, calling him a flip-flopper for voting for Obamacare in 2010 and then voting to delay the Obamacare mandates this year. The press release said in part:

“Rep. Murphy voted for the law back in 2010, yet he reversed himself and voted to delay both the employer mandate (in keeping with President Obama’s decision) and the individual mandate.”

Of course, if they had actually done any research on the topic before rushing their attack out to the world, they would have seen that Florida Rep. Patrick Murphy hadn’t even been elected to Congress yet in 2010 — he was just elected for the first time last year, defeating tea party darling Allen West for the seat.

So how in the world could Florida Rep. Patrick Murphy have somehow magically voted for Obamacare if he hadn’t even been elected to Congress? Ahh, this is where the story gets absolutely delicious. Rep. Patrick Murphy did actually vote for Obamacare in 2010… That would be Pennsylvania Rep. Patrick Murphy, who is no longer a member of Congress after losing his seat in the 2010 election. Former Pennsylvania Rep. Murphy has absolutely no relation to current Florida Rep. Murphy.
So here you have the Koch-backed Americans For Prosperity not bothering to do any actual research to verify the garbage they’re putting out to the public, accusing current Rep. Patrick Murphy of being a hypocritical flip-flopper based off of a vote that he never participated in, and couldn’t have participated in even if he wanted to, because he hadn’t been elected to Congress yet when it happened.
All this would have required is a ten second Google search to show that the two Rep. Murphy’s are two totally different people. But that’s too difficult for the Kochs and their allies — especially when it comes to the need for quick and impactful propaganda that can be easily spoon-fed to an eager and gullible public. And most especially when it involves evil, Socialist Obamacare.
Politifact ended up contacting Americans For Prosperity to see what the heck they were smoking when coming up with this press release. (As a side note, they gave the statement a “mostly false” rating. “Mostly false,” seriously? AFP literally rewrote history and put a Congressman in office two years before he was ever elected, and that only gets a “mostly false” rating? Give me a damn break! But I digress…)
From their fact-check:

We asked an Americans for Prosperity spokesman if it had mixed up Patrick Murphys.
“Yes, that’s an error, it was a mix-up with Murphy from PA. We sent out a corrected release a couple minutes later,” spokesman Christopher Neefus told PolitiFact Florida in an email July 24.
…In this case, when we looked at AFP’s newsroom page about Florida on July 24, it still contained the press release with the wrong information about Murphy.

Who cares about facts, right?

Obviously the Kochs and Americans For Prosperity don’t, as evidenced by their ridiculous ad against Obamacare, and their sensationalized over-the-top ad against the minimum wage (yes, if you make over $34,000 per year, you’re part of the 1%… of the world!)
This latest embarrassment is just another example proving the fact that the far right couldn’t care less about the truthfulness of what they talk about, as long as it makes an impact. As long as it can be sold with little effort to a tea party base that’s ravenous for more reasons to hate Democrats and President Obama. As long as it fits neatly within the realm of Faux News and dittohead talking points.
Who needs pesky facts when you’re perfectly content climbing Bullshit Mountain?

This is What a Subsidiary Of The Evil Koch Empire Looks Like

Lunatic Fringe

In  North Carolina, the closing of  the Pope Puppet show, means a break before the inevitable storm of more of the same policies Pope’s puppets passed in the past six months.
Even people who report on North Carolinian politics regularly acknowledge the dizzying pace by which repugicans rammed ideology driven laws through means it will take a while to figure out just how much damage they’ve done.
The daily events of this session make a Shakespearian Tragedy look like a Midsummer Night’s Dream.
When one looks at each law passed by the Pope repugicans in isolation, it’s easy to dismiss them as bad, but not tragic.  When taken together, North Carolina is a blue print of what a Koch Empire would look like. Saying it isn’t pretty would be an understatement.
The repugicans don’t care if North Carolina’s children can read – let alone compete in a world of technology and science.  The important thing is the understaffed and under resourced public schools will still be open and as Jerry Tillman put it: “the schools won’t close they will operate.”   Well because Jerry Tillman said it, I feel better.
The wet kiss they gave to charter schools  by redistributing funds previously allotted to the public education system means North Carolina’s children will learn important things – like creationism. Corporate owned charter schools don’t need to worry about meeting standards established by the State Board of education because literacy and book larnin are dangerous things.  They produce dangerous liberals.  No, it’s much better for children to understand that intellectual curiosity, science, critical thinking and facts are evil. They’ll be taught that they can pray away the gay, speaking tongues will cure all ailments, and Art Pope is the personification of god.  OK, this is hyperbolic.
The point is education in North Carolina was sold to corporations for whom the priority is to train a compliant work force.  It worked out so well for the Austro-Hungarian Empire.  What could possibly go wrong?
The Pope crowd gave a long wet kiss to the NRA with a law that encourages gun owners to provide their concealed weapons with a more fulfilling life as they will be allowed at restaurants, playgrounds and in bars.   Of course, taking a concealed weapon to a playground means nothing unless you can stand your ground  the way George Zimmerman did.  In reality, Art Pope gave Wayne Lapierre two long wet kisses this session.
In the name of manifesting poverty  because hungry peasants can’t fight back,  Pope repugicans introduced and passed a “tax reform”   package that requires people subsisting on an income of $12,000 to subsidize the $10,000 payout  from this law alone  that people earning $1 million per year so desperately need.
The governor aka to Art Pope and his puppets as junior partner was gleeful as he explained what flattening the State’s tax rates would mean for those creatures the right likes to call “job creators”

I firmly believe that this reform package will prove to be critically important to growing North Carolina’s economy and getting people back to work. This tax reform package puts more money in families’ budgets and will restore confidence for North Carolina businesses. Because of this package, job creators will think about relocating to our great state.

Less money for people at the bottom of the economic ladder means even less to spend. We know this because it’s been tried before over and over again.  Even under the McBudget’s assumption that people have two full time jobs  and health insurance costs $20 a month, peasants pay for food, heat, childcare and education with love and fresh air.  Well okay, only love since fresh air impedes the job creators. What could go wrong?
Pope’s puppets gave themselves an 8% pay raise  paid  for by cutting unemployment benefits    If you don’t work you don’t eat  and we all know that unemployment is such an attractive lifestyle “choice”.
Obviously, with policies as popular as these Pope’s repugicans can’t rely on persuading voters to elect them.  So they passed a voter suppression bill, designed to remind “you people” who are black or brown, poor and young or old that voting means buying ID that wasn’t needed to vote before.  Hey, if you really care about your vote, you can do without that mythical $20 a month health insurance plan, or stop wasting money on food or ‘lectricity.  Better yet, stay home and leave the important decision making to privileged white men.  In the world according to Pope, that’s the way it should be.
Pay close attention to those informative ads promoting repugicans.  You don’t need to know who paid for them or if maybe they got a pay-off from Pope and his puppets.
Those greeters from the voter integrity project are really just there to make you feel welcomed and keep you honest – especially if you are black, brown, poor, old, young or just look like one of those suspicious people who would vote for the “Democrat” party.
When the Governor said he would sign a bill restricting abortion, he had the chutzpah to claim that he wasn’t breaking a campaign promise to veto any law that allows the state to interfere with women’s personal health care choices.
I guess he didn’t notice the few hard to detect hints in the bill.
Like the title of Section two: LIMITS ON ABORTION FUNDING UNDER HEALTH INSURANCE PLANS OFFERED THROUGH A HEALTH INSURANCE EXCHANGE OR BY
LOCAL GOVERNMENTS or the part that says:

(a) Pursuant to the authority granted to states under 42 U.S.C. § 18023(a), no qualified
health plan offered through an Exchange created under Subchapter III of Chapter 157 of Title
42 of the U.S. Code and operating within this State shall include coverage for abortion services.

He doesn’t think a law restricting insurance coverage in any way restricts women’s financial access to  reproductive rights.  He doesn’t think a law designed to close all but one of North Carolina’s reproductive care clinics somehow restricts women’s access to reproductive care.
McCrory is lying, of course the fact that his lips are moving are a big hint  Or he recently fell off a turnip truck or Rick Perry slipped him some of Texas’ version of a Koch brew known to have debilitating effects on rational thinking.
Actually, McCrory did have a Rick Perryesque slip up while announcing he would sign this bill.

…And that’s what we wanted to work on, vocational training in the State Personnel Act, strategic mobility formula, all had to do with job efficiency. The Three E’s, efficiency of government, education, and… um… education.

Some things you just have to hear to fully appreciate.  Just click on listen.
Maybe McCrory is so stoned on Texas Tea he doesn’t realize that Pope’s Puppets look upon him as a junior partner in “their” government.
Oh and that doesn’t include another law Pope’s repugicans passed before running out the back door.  McCrory is concerned about their environmental law  because of the regulations on landfills and billboards.  One would hope that McCrory’s concerns are about the effects of allowing garbage trucks to leak,  but that would entail caring about the health and well-being of North Carolinians.  Besides you know whar taking in other state’s garbage means.  Swimming pools, movie stars.
These and other freedoms from regulations to protect the environment are just the incentive “job creators” need.  So what if it leaves the poor without even fresh air to pay for things like food excluded from the McBudget.
If this session wasn’t enough to convince the North Carolinians who voted for these clowns to give them a permanent vacation, I don’t know what will.

Who is America at war with?

Things They Won't Tell You

Sorry, that's classified

The Pentagon has classified the list of groups that the USA believes itself to be at war with. They say that releasing a list of the groups that it considers to itself to be fighting could be used by those groups to boast about the fact that America takes them seriously, and thus drum up recruits. Ladies and gentlemen, I give you the most transparent administration in history.

In a major national security speech this spring, President Obama said again and again that the U.S. is at war with “Al Qaeda, the Taliban, and their associated forces.”
So who exactly are those associated forces? It’s a secret.
At a hearing in May, Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich., asked the Defense Department to provide him with a current list of Al Qaeda affiliates.
The Pentagon responded – but Levin’s office told ProPublica they aren’t allowed to share it. Kathleen Long, a spokeswoman for Levin, would say only that the department’s “answer included the information requested.”
A Pentagon spokesman told ProPublica that revealing such a list could cause “serious damage to national security.”

Who Are We at War With? That’s Classified

The Department of Homeland Security says it is illegal to freely play music in The United States

Paranoia Strikes Deep 

by Michael Martin 

Fact:
The Department of Homeland Security (An agency enacted through the Patriot Act) is now demanding through enforcement from The State Fire Marshalls that ALL LIVE MUSIC PLAYED IN THE UNITED STATES MUST HAVE A PERMIT FROM THE DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY.
This is an outrage to freedom and the ideals of The American people and our quickly evaporating rights.
This is just the start to the reality of what The Department of Homeland Security is going to do to the American citizens. The DHS is actually saying it is illegal to play music or operate a business where music is played for any reason without paying The Department of Homeland Security, and giving them much personal and private information. If The DHS can regulate the performance of a song where do you think they will stop? The fact is they won’t!
The Department of Homeland Security does not have the jurisdiction to enforce laws in The United States. They have purposefully and misleadingly attached themselves to The Fire Marshall to circumvent American constitutional rights and automatically give themselves jurisdiction in every business in The United States. This is enforced through the Fire Marshall’s inspection of commercial public businesses.

***

If this is just another of the endless stream of internet stories of dubious worth then it is a ho-hum another one those types of post.
However if it is valid - it is the end all ... our freedom(s) has been totally stripped from us.

Woman sparked smuggling alert after washing powder sent to Jamaica mistaken for cocaine

Paranoia Strikes Deep 

A mother-of one from Birmingham has told how she sparked a cocaine smuggling alert after shipping washing powder to relatives in Jamaica. Now angry Sharon Jaddoo wants to be reimbursed for goods including cooking oil, rice, custard and toothpaste, which was lost when her four oil barrels crammed with the groceries were seized on the sunshine island. The 44-year-old, from Handsworth, spent months packing the 80 kilos drums with items for her partially-sighted aunt in Kingston.

But when they arrived in the Caribbean, customs officers pounced – with washing powder and even teabags apparently ripped open in the fruitless search for drugs. Sharon is now £440 out of pocket – and she wants it back. She said: ‘‘How stupid can you be? Hasn’t anyone told them you don’t smuggle drugs into Jamaica, you smuggle drugs out of Jamaica?” Sharon has already clashed with Swift Connections, the shipping company paid £370 to make the overseas delivery.

It has made a £200 “goodwill” payment, but denies any responsibility. The fault, management stress, lies with Sharon who they claim should have packed items with greater care. And they claim to have endured abuse from her. Director Philip Jackson was moved to send a letter warning: “You have abused several members of staff, telling one she is lucky she was in London or you would ‘deal’ with her.” Sharon spent seven months and £700 filling the drums for 77-year aunt Mavis, something she’s done on several occasion without a hitch.

She dubbed authorities “stupid” for mistaking her shopping for a cache of Class A drugs. But she candidly admits firing a broadside at shaken Swift Connection staff in Jamaica. “If you are rude to me, I’ll be rude to you,” she added. “They don’t know the meaning of abuse. At the end of the day, it’s my business. They are my things for my aunt.” Mr Jackson stressed the £200 payment was made “from a goodwill perspective” and was well above the calculated cost of items listed missing on a scrawled note from Sandra. “We just thought, ‘let’s move on, it’s not worth the hassle’.”

Random Celebrity Photos

Raquel Welch

Armed robber stopped to feed and cradle crying baby during break-in

Compassionate Crooks

The investigation into a recent armed robbery in South Tangerang, 20 miles from the Indonesian capital, Jakarta, has revealed that one of the perpetrators succumbed to his fatherly instincts while in the act and fed and cradled a crying infant to sleep while he was robbing a house. “When [the robbers] entered the home, the baby woke up and began crying,” Jakarta Police official Adj. Sr. Comr. Herry Heryawan said on Monday. “One of them fed the baby milk and then cradled him back to sleep.” The burglar, identified as Kojek Mista, was arrested over the weekend along with two others, Tamrin Simanjuntak and Fikri Rudianto. Tamrin was killed after he tried to escape, and police are still searching for two other people involved in the crime.

Kojek, along with his four peers, allegedly robbed a house in Bumi Serpong Damai Parkland in South Tangerang on June 22. “They carried guns, sharp weapons, a crowbar and duct tape. They entered the house by climbing [the walls of the backyard] around 3 a.m.,” Jakarta Police spokesman Sr. Comr. Rikwanto said. Kojek, who appeared at a press conference along with police officials, said that he and the other burglars immediately ascended to the second floor after breaking in. “The housemaid woke up, so I covered her mouth and then bound her arms and legs. I stuck the duct tape on her mouth,” Kojek said. “There were two housemaids, but the other one didn’t awake, so we let her be.”

The house owner, Fance Lewa, woke up as she heard the fuss, and screamed when she saw strangers in the house. Tamrin immediately pointed his gun at her, after which she fell silent. The robbers then tied Fance up, but then her baby boy woke up and began crying nonstop, causing the burglars to panic. “I asked his mother how to make him stop crying. She said he had to be fed with milk,” Kojek said. He then made the instant formula for the baby under Fance’s guidance. “The mother said it should be made with two spoons of milk and warm water. I gave it to the baby while cradling him,” Kojek said.

“Not long after that, the baby fell asleep, so I put him in bed. I have a kid, so I know how to cradle a baby.” The robbers proceeded to rob the house, stealing a laptop, several smartphones, some cash, jewelry and other items worth a total of Rp 50 million (£3,200, $4,900). “And then we escaped [by climbing] the backyard walls again,” Kojek added. Herry said Tamrin and Fikri were arrested in a house in Kembangan, West Jakarta, while Kojek was found in another house in Rawa Lumbu, Bekasi. Police seized from them two motorcycles, a machete and a crowbar, among other things. “The perpetrators may be charged under Article 365 [of the Criminal Code] on robbery, and are facing between eight and 10 years in jail,” Rikwanto said.

Man attempts to rob gun store with a baseball bat

Dumb Crooks

From the "That Special Kind of Stupid" Department

Derrick Mosely has had a few bright ideas in his 22 years, but this wasn’t one of them.

Common sense doesn’t always prevail when criminals are preparing plans for their next great heist. A 22-year-old man in Beaverton, Oregon, proved that on Thursday afternoon when he attempted to rob a store with a baseball bat. But it wasn’t just any store, it was a gun store. Yep. You know that saying, “Never bring a knife to a gun fight.” Apparently that holds true for bats as well, but some people just have to learn the hard way.
Derrick Mosley walked into Discount Gun Sales, smashed one of the glass cases with a bat and helped himself to an unloaded handgun. The store owner, who was – not too surprisingly – packing his own loaded pistol, very calmly like trained his sights on Mosley and demanded that he drop the gun, the baseball bat and a knife he was carrying. Mosley complied and was held at gunpoint until deputies arrived a short time later and arrested him without further incidence.
Mosley was charged first-degree robbery, first-degree theft, unlawful possession of a firearm and second-degree criminal mischief.
No one was injured during the robbery attempt, but there are unconfirmed reports that the store owner was seen shaking his head in disbelief at some point during the ordeal.

Pwning a house

Tech Savvy

Badly configured home automation systems are easy to locate using Google, and once you discover them, you can seize control of a stranger's entire home: "lights, hot tubs, fans, televisions, water pumps, garage doors, cameras, and other devices." The manufacturers blame their customers for not following security advice, but even "enthusiast" customers who think they've locked down their networks are sometimes in for a nasty surprise.

Insteon chief information officer Mike Nunes says the systems that I’m seeing online are from a product discontinued in the last year. He blamed user error for the appearance in search results, saying the older product was not originally intended for remote access, and to set this up required some savvy on the users’ part. The devices had come with an instruction manual telling users how to put the devices online which strongly advised them to add a username and password to the system. (But, really, who reads instruction manuals closely?)
“This would require the user to have chosen to publish a link (IP address) to the Internet AND for them to have not set a username and password,” says Nunes. I told Nunes that requiring a username/password by default is good security-by-design to protect people from making a mistake like this. “It did not require it by default, but it supported it and encouraged it,” he replied.
In Thomas Hatley’s case, he created a website that acted as the gateway for a number of services for his home. There is a password on his website, but you can circumvent that by going straight to the Insteon port, which was not password protected. “I would say that some of the responsibility would be mine, because of how I have my internal router configured,” says Hatley who describes himself as a home automation enthusiast. “But it’s coming from that port, and I didn’t realize that port was accessible from the outside.”
The company’s current product automatically assigns a username and password, but it did not during the first few months of release — which is one of the products that Trustwave’s Bryan got. If you have one of those early products, you should really go through with that recall. Bryan rated the new authentication as “poor” saying that cracking it would “be a trivial task for most security professionals.”

When 'Smart Homes' Get Hacked: I Haunted A Complete Stranger's House Via The Internet

Mermaid swimming school proves to be popular

News of the positive sort

A unique school in Manila is helping young women make their marine dream a reality. The Philippine Mermaid Swimming Academy opened last May and has been attracting aquatic students of all ages.

Pupils pay 1,800 pesos, which is around £26.50, ($41), for a two-hour pool session and tutoring from a group of coaches that include scuba divers, free divers and competitive swimmers.

The school also provides mono-fins and a set of fake scales to complete the mermaid look. Instructor Arabelle Jiminez thinks mermaids have a lot to teach people: "We have this notion that the mermaids are beautiful, are playful, are fun, and adventurous, and graceful.

YouTube link.

"So that is what we want to impart to the kids also." The coaches teach their students to do dolphin kicks, bubble rings, handstands and blow kisses underwater. Teachers also hope graduates will leave with a renewed respect for marine life.

Why Do Some People Only Have Bad Luck?

Scientific Minds Want To Know

Why Do Some People Only Have Bad Luck?

If you believe in bad luck, you're more likely to suffer bad luck.

Peru archaeologists find hall for human sacrifice

Scientific Minds Want To Know

An ancient ceremonial ground used by a Pre-Columbian civilization for human sacrifices has been uncovered on Peru's northern coast, archaeologists said on Thursday.

Excavations at the San Jose de Moro site [Credit: SPI]

The discovery appears to reinforce prevailing theories about a ceremony known as "the presentation" that was carried out by the Moche people, an agricultural civilization that flourished between 100 B.C. and 800 A.D.

Archaeologists working at the San Jose de Moro site [Credit: SPI]

Carlos Wester La Torre, director of the Bruning Museum in Peru and a leader of the dig, said the ceremonial site likely hosted ritual killings of prisoners of war. Photographs taken at the site show more than half a dozen skeletons on the floor of the hall.

A skeleton from the ancient Moche culture, which is recently excavated and found in a tomb, is seen at the San Jose de Moro Archaeological site in Trujillo [Credit:Reuters/Mariana Bazo]

"There was a great ceremonial hall or passage integrated into the rest of the architecture that establishes the presence of certain figures of the Moche elite and also the practice of complex rituals such as human sacrifice," Wester told Reuters.

Students clean skeletons from the ancient Moche culture, which is recently excavated and found in a tomb, at the San Jose de Moro Archaeological site in Trujillo [Credit:Reuters/Mariana Bazo]

His team uncovered a 60-meter-long (197-foot-long) corridor opening up to face three equidistant porticos and five thrones on the archaeological site's main pyramid.

A worker cleans a skeleton from the ancient Moche culture, which is recently excavated and found in a tomb, at the San Jose de Moro Archaeological site in Trujillo [Credit:Reuters/Mariana Bazo]

The remnants of a mural found within the corridor depict three high priests whose ornamentation confirms the involvement of the culture's political leadership in the ceremony, he said.

A student classifies bones belonging to a person from the ancient Moche culture, which is recently excavated and found in a tomb, at the San Jose de Moro Archaeological site in Trujillo [Credit:Reuters/Mariana Bazo]

Peru is believed to be one of the places in the world where agriculture first developed and has hundreds of ancient archaeological sites, including the Inca ruins of Machu Picchu.

Prehistoric civilization found along Silk Road

Scientific Minds Want To Know

Archaeologists have unearthed relics that suggest prehistoric humans lived along the Silk Road long before it was created about 2,000 years ago as a pivotal Eurasian trade network.

The ruins of a Han Dynasty (202 BC - 220 AD) Chinese watchtower made
of rammed earth at Dunhuang, Gansu province, the eastern
edge of the Silk Road [Credit: WikiCommons]

An excavation project that started in 2010 on ruins in northwest China's Gansu Province has yielded evidence that people who lived on the west bank of the Heihe River 4,100 to 3,600 years ago were able to grow crops and smelt copper, the researchers said.

The site is believed to date back to the Han Dynasty (202 BC - AD 220).

Over the past three years, archaeologists have discovered a variety of copper items, as well as equipment used to smelt metal, said Chen Guoke, a researcher with the Gansu Provincial Institute of Archaeology.

"People back then mainly dealt with red metal. They also began to make alloys," said Chen, who is in charge of the excavation project.

Chen added that a rare copper-smelting mill was also found in the ruins.

"The mill is the earliest of its kind that has been unearthed. It will be of great help for studies of the history of Chinese craftsmanship," said Zhang Liangren, a professor at Northwest University in Xi'an, capital of Shaanxi Province.

The researchers also discovered carbonized barley and wheat seeds, as well as stone hoes and knives used for farming, said Zhang, adding that some adobe houses were also found this year.

The finds indicate that east-west exchanges started prior to the Han Dynasty, as adobe architecture, barley and wheat originated in central and west Asia, according to Zhang.

A series of previous discoveries during the past decade have also provided evidence of the existence of prehistoric civilization along the Silk Road.

From 2003 to 2005, archaeologists excavated the Xihetan ruins in Gansu's city of Jiuquan.

"We were surprised to find a pen for cattle and sheep preserved in the ruins. The find was unprecedented," said Zhao Congcang, another professor at Northwest University.

Footprints of the livestock and their skeletons were also found at the site.

In 2005, researchers from China and Japan completed a three-year excavation project at the Mozuizi ruins in Gansu's city of Wuwei, finding traces of a primitive tribe that lived about 4,500 years ago.

Starting from the ancient city of Chang'an, now known as Xi'an, the ancient Silk Road extends to the Mediterranean region in the west and the Indian subcontinent in the south. Its total length is over 10,000 km, with 4,000 km located within China.

In January, China, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan jointly submitted an application to the UNESCO for adding the Silk Road to the World Heritage List for 2014.

Indian army 'mistook Jupiter and Venus for Chinese spy drones'

Oops, our bad

India's army reportedly spent six months watching "Chinese spy drones" violating its air space, only to find out they were actually Jupiter and Venus. Tensions have been high in the disputed Himalayan border area between the two nations in recent years, with India frequently accusing its neighbor of making incursions onto its territory. Things came to a head during a stand-off in April when Chinese troops were accused of erecting a camp on the Indian side of the de facto boundary known as the Line of Actual Control (LAC). By that stage, Indian troops had documented 329 sightings of unidentified objects over a lake in the border region.

Requested by the army, the Indian Institute of Astrophysics, Bangalore, deputed two astronomers to Ladakh  to resolve the mystery of the two objects. The astronomers were told that the first object, viewed from a location about 4,715 meters above sea level near Thakung, appeared in the horizon at about 6pm and remained visible until about 5am. The second object appeared at 4am and faded away at 11am. The sightings emerged amid what defense analysts say are simmering concerns within the Indian Army about cross-border transgressions and the use of unmanned aerial vehicles by the Chinese to look into Indian territory.

“Our task was to determine whether these unidentified objects were celestial or terrestrial,” Tushar Prabhu, a senior astronomer and a member of the IIAP team, said. The IIAP operates the world’s highest telescope at Hanle, Ladakh, about 150km south of the location where the sightings were reported. Army lance naik Sheminderpal Singh, a regular observer at Point 4715, told the astronomers that he had noticed a delay of four minutes in the appearance of one of the objects each consecutive day. Singh also told them that the object seemed to be the brightest light in the sky and always appeared to move with respect to the stars.

The IIAP team told the Indian Army to use a theodolite to record the horizontal angle and vertical elevation of the two objects. Army personnel performed these observations and submitted the data to the IIAP. The astronomers have concluded that the object observed from Point 4715 is Jupiter as the observations coincide with the planet’s diurnal motion and the apparent motion of the object due to the rotation of the Earth. The description of the second unidentified object that appeared early in the morning suggests that it is Venus, which is currently moving behind the Sun and will in the coming months appear as an evening object.

Astronomical News

Scientific Minds Want To Know

NASA Gets 402 Ideas for Dealing With Asteroids

NASA received 402 ideas for finding asteroids that may be on a collision course with Earth and for relocating a small asteroid into an orbit around the moon for future study. 

Brown Dwarf Exoplanet Identified

Brown dwarfs are often referred to as "failed stars," but that moniker may have to be slightly modified to reflect one brown dwarf's ability of birthing planets -- a very star-like trait.

Granny Scares the Bears Away

Odds and Sods

Bears are rather dangerous animals when they don't see angry granny Zina! Probably they have already met her once and the meeting was not so pleasant for them. More

What Bears Do in the Woods

Odds and Sods

(YouTube link)

The Alberta Parks Department trained a camera trap on a particular tree to see what happens. The results are shown in this time-lapse video. You'll see plenty of different animals, but one bear decided this was the best tree in the world -and told all his friends!

Shrek (the sheep) and sheep wool

Animal News

Excerpts from an article at Modern Farmer:

[For] six years, this New Zealand [sheep] managed to avoid spring shearings by hiding in a cave. By the time he was found in 2004, his owners couldn’t even tell he was a sheep... When Shrek was eventually sheared.. there was enough wool to produce 20 men’s suits....

Which led us to some basic questions:...We turned to Dave Thomas, head of sheep studies at the University of Wisconsin, Madison....

Modern Farmer: Let’s get right down to business. Will wool just keep growing and growing if humans don’t cut it off? 

Dave Thomas: For domestic sheep like the Merino [Shrek's breed], the answer is yes.

MF: So domestic sheep have evolved based on the way we groom them?

DT: That’s right. Primitive sheep like Bighorns in the West still shed most of their wool every year. And domestic sheep, the ones raised primarily for their meat, will do some shedding. But for the majority of sheep, there is continual, year-round wool growth...

MF: Are there potential health issues?

DT: Full fleece can be bad in very hot weather, sometimes leading to heat stress. There are also mobility issues: if a sheep with long wool lies down on a heavy incline, it can be impossible for them to roll off of their backs. In extreme cases, they can die.

MF: ...What about vision? It looked like Shrek would have a hard time seeing through that mess.

DT: That is what you would call “wool-blind,” when the sheep’s vision is actually impaired. 

Photo (adjusted for temperature and tint) from Modern Farmer, where there are additional photos of Shrek being sheared and his post-shearing status.

Animal Pictures

The Daily Drift

The Daily Drift

Good Question

Carolina Naturally is read in 192 countries around the world daily.

Oh, my, Auntie! ...

Today is Aunties Day 

Don't forget to visit our sister blog: It Is What It Is

Today we thought we would list all the readers reading this blog as we posted instead of cherry picking a few throughout the day. Turned out to be illuminating. Not only were we being read around the world but in places you wouldn't expect - The best always prevails.

North America

Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic

San Juan, Puerto Rico

Nassau, Bahamas

Britania, Mississauga, Thunder Bay, Chatham, Guelph, Templeton, Byward Market, Winnipeg, Vancouver, Toronto, Waterloo, Sioux Lookout, Kingston, Halifax, Kenora, and Chatham, Canada

Zapopan, Mexico City, Tijuana, Naucapan De Juarez, and Tlalnepantla, Mexico

Kingston, Jamaica

Sobieski, Cecero, Trego, Hoschton, Paoli, and Bithlo, United States

Central America

Guatemala City and Santa Lucia Milpas Altas, Guatemala

Panama, Panama

Tegucigalpa, Honduras

San Jose, Costa Rica

Tiptapa, Nicaragua

South America

Valencia, Venezuela

Lima, Peru

Bogota and Medellin, Colombia

Sao Paulo, Rio De Janeiro, Joinville, Fortaleza, Jundai and Curitiba, Brazil

Quito, Ecuador

Buenos Aires, Argentina

Santiago, Chile

Europe

Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina

Bialystok, Warsaw, Gliwice and Lodz, Poland

Zhovtivody, Odessa and Kiev Ukraine

Reykjavik, Iceland

Vilnius and Dainana, Lithuania

Budapest, Hungary

Bristol, Kent, Woking, London and Birmingham, England

Athens, Greece 

Mirkovo, Sofia and Ruse, Bulgaria

Bremen, Rothe Erde, Sulzbach and Bochum, Germany

Novosibirsk, Tomsk, Khabarovsk and Ryazan', Russia

Dublin, Ireland

Laval, Cerny, Rouen and Montpellier, France

Madrid, Cadiz and Malaga, Spain

Rome, Calagirone, Ravenna, Milan, Lucca, Italy

Oslo, Sandsli and Myre, Norway

Nokia, Finland

Bucharest, Romania

Vienna, Austria

Amsterdam, Netherlands

Zurich, Switzerland

Prague, Czech Republic

Louvain-La-Neuve, Belgium

Gilleleje and Horsholm, Denmark

Riga, Latvia

Asia

Colombo, Peta Kotte and Sri Jayewardenepure Kotte, Sri Lanka

Karachi and Rawalpindi, Pakistan

Hue, Hanoi and Ha Dong, Vietnam

Bangkok, Thailand

Kuala Lumpur and Puchong, Malaysia

Kuwait, Kuwait

Dhaka, Bangladesh

Ankara and Istanbul, Turkey

Tangerang, Jakarta and Jagirsidosermo, Indonesia

Beirut, Lebanon

Seoul, Korea

Patna, New Delhi, Chennai, Thiruvananthapuram, Karur, Udaipur, Mumbai, Bangalore, Gorakhpur and Trichur, India

Hong Kong, Hong Kong

Kathmandu, Nepal 

Tokyo, Osaka-Shi and Fukuoka-Shi, Japan

Rangoon, Burma

Singapore, Singapore

Riyadh, Saudi Arabia

Rasht, Esfahan, Bandar 'Abbas, Tehran and Hamadan, Iran

Phnom Penn, Cambodia

Guangzhou, China

Dubai, United Arab Emirates

Africa

Cairo, Egypt

Cape Town, Sandton, Johannesburg and Durban, South Africa

Rabat, Morocco

Harare, Zimbabwe

Djibouti, Djibouti

Buea, Cameroon

Kampala, Uganda

Kaduna, Nigeria

Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso

Algiers, Algeria

Australia/Pacific

Quezon City, Cebu City, Davao City, Mandaue City, Manila, Bagumbayan, Makati, Olongapo, Cacayn De Oro, Pasig and Mandaluyong City,  Philippines

Papeete, French Polynesia

Homebush, Australia

Today in History

1540		Henry VIII of England marries Catherine Howard; Thomas Cromwell is beheaded on Tower Hill in England.
1615		French explorer Samuel de Champlain discovers Lake Huron on his seventh voyage to the New World.
1794		Robespierre is beheaded in France.
1808		Sultan Mustapha of the Ottoman Empire is deposed and his cousin Mahmud II gains the throne.
1835		King Louis-Philippe of France survives an assassination attempt.
1863		Confederate John Mosby begins a series of attacks against General Meade's Army of the Potomac.
1868		The 14th Amendment to the Constitution, which guarantees citizenship to all those born or naturalized in the United States, is adopted.
1898		Spain, through the offices of the French embassy in Washington, D.C., requests peace terms in its war with the United States.
1914		Austria-Hungary declares war on Serbia, beginning World War I.
1920		Pancho Villa surrenders to the Mexican government.
1932		The Bonus Army of impoverished World War I veterans is violently pushed out of Washington, D.C.
1941		A Japanese army lands on the coast of Cochin, China (modern day Vietnam).
1945		A B-25 bomber crashes into the Empire State Building in New York City, killing 13 people.
1965		President Lyndon Johnson sends an additional 50,000 troops to South Vietnam.
1988		Israeli diplomats arrive in Moscow for the first time in 21 years.
1990		A fire at an electrical substation causes a blackout in Chicago. Some 40,000 people were without power for up to three days.
1996		Discovery of remains of a prehistoric man near Kennewick, Washington, casts doubts on accepted beliefs of when, how and where the Americas were populated.
2005		Irish Republican Army (IRA) announces an end to its 30-year armed campaign in Northern Ireland.
2005		Britain experiences its most costly tornado to date, causing 40 million Sterling Pounds of damage to Birmingham in just four minutes. There were no fatalities.

Non Sequitur

Did you know ...

Did You Know ...

That a former climate reporter alleges Reuters was hostile to publishing global warming stories

A 7-year old sends letter to NASA asking how to be an astronaut; NASA replies

Hey, it's the Goodyear zeppelin!