The Daily Drift

That's about it ...

Some of our readers today have been in:

Pietermaritzburg, South Africa

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

Bandar Seri Begawan, Brunei

Johor Bahru, Malaysia

Cape Town, South Africa

Kota Kinabalu, Malaysia

Lima, Peru

Chiriqui, Panama

Kabul, Afghanistan

Johannesburg, South Africa

Makati, Philippines

Islamabad, Pakistan

Ankara, Turkey

Manila, Philippines

Amman, Jordan

Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic

Sidoarjo, Indonesia

And the city of Wayzata here in the United States 

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Today in History

1014		The Byzantine Emperor Basil earns the title "Slayer of Bulgers" after he orders the blinding of 15,000 Bulgerian troops.
1536		William Tyndale, the English translator of the New Testament, is strangled and burned at the stake for heresy at Vilvorde, France.
1696		Savoy Germany withdraws from the Grand Alliance.
1788		The Polish Diet decides to hold a four year session.
1801		Napoleon Bonaparte imposes a new constitution on Holland.
1847		Charlotte Bronte's novel Jane Eyre is published in London.
1866		The Reno brothers–Frank, John, Simeon and William–commit the country's first train robbery near Seymore, Indiana netting $10,000.
1927		The first "talkie," The Jazz Singer, opens with popular entertainer Al Jolson singing and dancing in black-face. By 1930, silent movies were a thing of the past.
1941		German troops renew their offensive against Moscow.
1965		Patricia Harris takes post as U.S. Ambassador to Belgium, becoming the first African American U.S. ambassador.
1966		Hanoi insists the United States must end its bombings before peace talks can begin.
1969		Special Forces Captain John McCarthy is released from Fort Leavenworth Penitentiary, pending consideration of his appeal to murder charges.
1973		Israel is taken by surprise when Egypt, Syria, Iraq and Jordan attack on the Jewish holy day of Yom Kippur, beginning the Yom Kippur War.
1981		Egyptian president Anwar el-Sadat is assassinated in Cairo by Islamic fundamentalists. He is succeeded by Vice President Hosni Mubarak.

BBC Science News

• Relative of 'killer shrimp' found

Why We Need Insects–Even Pesky Ones

At first blush, many people would probably love to get rid of insects, such as pesky mosquitoes, ants and roaches.

Continue Reading

Upset dog broke out to visit owner in hospital

Zander the husky was so upset when his owner was hospitalized that the dog tracked him down and paid him a visit. John Dolan was taken to hospital last week. His wife says Zander took it hard. She says the dog sulked and even cried.

Then Zander, seemingly decided he had to be by his owner's bedside. Zander broke out of his Bay Shore, New York, home and made his way to the Good Samaritan Hospital Medical Center more than 2 miles away. He had to cross a busy four-lane road to get there.

A hospital employee found the dog on the street outside of building where Dolan was being treated. The Dolans got the 7-year-old husky from a shelter and nursed him back from starvation five years ago. Dolan says the dog has been like a son ever since.

YouTube link.

The couple believe Zander traced John's scent to the hospital. A few days later Zander tried a second visit. He was found on his walk there. The Dolans say this proves shelter dogs can be fantastic dogs and care for their owners as well as the owners care for the dogs.

There's an additional news video here.

Can Fido Catch Your Flu?

With the flu season ready to hit its usual peak in November, health experts are growing increasingly concerned about people passing illnesses on to their pets. Read more

M&M-eating bees produce multicolored honey

Beekeepers in north eastern France have been alarmed to find their bees producing honey in unnatural shades of green and blue. The beekeepers believe the source of the problem is a biogas plant close to Ribeauville in Alsace.

It is thought the bees have been eating the sugary waste from M&Ms, small chocolates in brightly-colored shells. The plant operator said it regretted the situation and had put in place a procedure to stop it happening again.

"We discovered the problem at the same time [the beekeepers] did. We quickly put in place a procedure to stop it," Philippe Meinrad, a spokesman from Agrivalor, the company operating the biogas plant said.

YouTube link. Also.

The company, which deals with waste from a Mars chocolate factory , said it would clean out the containers, store all incoming waste in airtight containers and process it promptly. As for the honey, the beekeepers say it is unsellable.

Watch Out Urbanites, Here Come the Carnivores

Predators like coyotes, mountain lions and bears are adapting to urban living.  
Read more

Birds-of-Paradise Evolved in Lost Worlds

All 39 known birds of paradise from Papua New Guinea have been documented in a new book. Explore their brilliance. Read more

Animal Pictures

The Daily Drift

Under full sail ...

Some of our readers today have been in:

Islamabad, Pakistan

Kabul, Afghanistan

Kota Kinabalu, Malaysia

Makati, Philippines

Cape Town, South Africa

Bandar Labuan. Malaysia

Lima, Peru

Jerudong, Brunei

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

Dubai, United Arab Emirates

Jakarta, Indonesia

Petaling Jaya, Malaysia

Skopje, Macedonia

Johannesburg, South Africa

Johor Bahru, Malaysia

Veles, Macedonia

Chiriqui, Panama

Sarajevo, Bosnia & Herzegovina

Podgorica, Montenegro

Durban, South Africa

Surabaya, Indonesia

Kiev, Ukraine

Warsaw, Poland

Cairo, Egypt

Rzeszow, Poland

Don't forget to visit our sister blog!

Today in History

1762		The British fleet bombards and captures Spanish-held Manila in the Philippines.
1795		The day after he routed counterrevolutionaries in Paris, Napoleon Bonaparte accepts their formal surrender.
1813		U.S. victory at the Battle of the Thames, in Ontario, broke Britain's Indian allies with the death of Shawnee Chief Tecumseh, and made the Detroit frontier safe.
1821		Greek rebels capture Tripolitza, the main Turkish fort in the Peloponnese area of Greece.
1864		At the Battle of Allatoona, a small Union post is saved from Lt. Gen. John Bell Hood's army.
1877		Nez Perce Chief Joseph surrenders to Colonel Nelson Miles in Montana Territory, after a 1,700-mile trek to reach Canada falls 40 miles short.
1880		The first ball-point pen is patented on this day by Alonzo T. Cross.
1882		Outlaw Frank James surrenders in Missouri six months after brother Jesse's assassination.
1915		Germany issues an apology and promises for payment for the 128 American passengers killed in the sinking of the British ship Lusitania.
1931		Clyde Pangborn and Hugh Herndon complete the first heavier than air nonstop flight over the Pacific. Their flight, begun October 3, lasted 41 hours, 31 minutes and covered 5,000 miles. They piloted their Bellanca CH-200 monoplane from Samushiro, 300 miles north of Tokyo, Japan, to Wenatchee, Washington.
1965		U.S. forces in Saigon receive permission to use tear gas.
1966		A sodium cooling system malfunction causes a partial core meltdown at the Enrico Fermi demonstration breeder reactor near Detroit. Radiation is contained.

Non Sequitur

Jobless rate tumbles to near four-year low

The U.S. unemployment rate dropped to a near four-year low of 7.8 percent in September, a potential boost to President Barack Obama's re-election bid.

The Labor Department said on Friday the unemployment rate, a key focus in the race for the White House, dropped by 0.3 percentage point to its lowest point since January 2009 as employers added 114,000 workers to their payrolls.

The drop in the unemployment rate reflected an even bigger surge in new jobs captured by a survey of households and came even as Americans returned to the labor force to resume the hunt for work. The workforce had shrank in the prior two months.

Payrolls for July and August were revised to show 86,000 more jobs created than previous reported, mostly to reflect increases in government employment.
The jobless rate is now where it was when Obama took office in January 2009. Household employment increased 873,000, the most since June 1983, according to the household survey. The bulk of the gains were part-time jobs.

"There is something in these numbers for everyone. The rise in the participation rate shows somewhat of a real improvement in the labor market," said Omer Esiner, chief market analyst at Commonwealth Foreign Exchange in Washington. U.S. stock index futures rose on the report, while prices for Treasury debt tumbled. The dollar rose versus the yen and the euro.

It was the second last report before the November 6 election that pits Obama against repugican Mitt Romney. A Reuters/Ipsos poll released on Thursday after Wednesday's first presidential debate showed Romney gained ground and is now viewed positively by 51 percent of voters. Obama's favorability rating remained unchanged at 56 percent.

Persistently poor labor market conditions led the Federal Reserve in September to announce a plan to buy $40 billion worth of mortgage-backed securities each month until it sees a sustained turnaround in employment. The central bank, which also pledged to keep overnight lending rates near zero until at least mid-2015, hopes the purchases drive down long-term borrowing costs and spur the recovery.

The Fed's ultra-easy stance has started to free up credit, giving a lift to consumers, economists said. That, in turn, helped lift retail hiring in September.
Temporary help jobs, which are often seen as a harbinger for permanent hiring, fell 2,000 after being almost flat in August.
Manufacturing payrolls fell for a second straight month.
Construction employment rose 5,000, benefiting from the rise in home construction, as demand for housing rises against the backdrop of record low mortgage rates
Government payrolls rose 10,000 after increasing 45,000 in August. Average hourly earnings rose 7 cents last month, which could support spending.

Did you know

What was Romney wrong about during weds debates?

Obama's green jobs

Small business and taxes

How his tax plan would effect the deficit

Among other things

And get this: Romney/Ryan billboards without Romney or Ryan

About the 7 most over-used words on the internet

Big Bird to dog Romney at events

Brilliant.

Big Big appeared at a Mitt Romney rally in Abingdon, Virginia today.  It’s apparently a mystery who is sponsoring Big Bird (I thought it was the DNC, but apparently that’s not confirmed).  I hope someone is sponsoring him.  Because Big Bird needs to dog Romney and Ryan at every single event they do between now and the election, including the debates.

Big Bird protesting a Romney rally in Virginia today.

And here’s a new video from the DNC about Big Bird:

PBS head unloads on Romney

 

Save Big Bird, take Lehrer.

That pretty much sums up the mood of the country yesterday, in the day following the first presidential debate.
During that debate, republican Mitt Romney repeatedly rode over the moderator, PBS’ Jim Lehrer, and then proceeded to tell voters that, if given the chance, he’s planned on running over Big Bird too.  Here’s what Romney said:

“I’m sorry Jim, I’m gonna stop the subsidy to PBS,” he told moderator Jim Lehrer, who has worked for PBS since the 1970s. “I like PBS, I love Big Bird, I actually like you too, but I’m going to stop borrowing money from China to pay for things we don’t need.”

Romney claimed his malice towards PBS was motivated by the budget deficit, but in fact Republicans have been trying to kill PBS, and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, for nearly two decades – and it’s not about the deficit, it’s about far-right ideology.  As I pointed in my earlier post, repugicans think PBS, and shows like Sesame Street specifically, are indoctrinating American children in liberalism.
Seriously.
That’s why Mitt Romney has joined the Big Bird- bashing brigade.  Not for the budget.  For the far-right of the party.  It’s the same reason Romney has shown a recent interest in Lyme disease.  These positions seem obscure until you dig a little deeper and realize that Mitt Romney is actually, once again, playing to the fringes that have taken over the repugican cabal.
Fortunately, the head of PBS, Paula Kerger, is having none of it.  She went on CNN and blasted Romney.
“With the enormous problems facing our country, the fact that we are the focus is just unbelievable to me,” she said. Later, she called it a “stunning moment.”

 

PBS also issued a hard-hitting statement about Romney’s outburst:

We are very disappointed that PBS became a political target in the Presidential debate last night. Governor Romney does not understand the value the American people place on public broadcasting and the outstanding return on investment the system delivers to our nation. We think it is important to set the record straight and let the facts speak for themselves.
The federal investment in public broadcasting equals about one one-hundredth of one percent of the federal budget. Elimination of funding would have virtually no impact on the nation’s debt. Yet the loss to the American public would be devastating. PBS went on to note that surveys show Americans love PBS, don’t want to see it cut. She also pointed out that PBS raises six times as much money as it gets via federal funding.
I’ve been arguing for 16 years that Democrats should pick up the Big Bird mantle and slam it down on Republicans’ heads.  Going after PBS is “trying to kill Big Bird,” I told them. My former bosses weren’t interested in the messaging.  Fortunately, America is.
PS Brilliant satire from Alexandra Petri at the Washington Post, in an article titled “Mitt Romney is right about Big Bird.”  A quick excerpt, but go read the whole thing:

Frankly, I have always had problems with Big Bird. I don’t know what he is. He is six years old, according to the show’s count, but I have suspicions that he is in fact a fully grown man in a bird suit.

I am not a muppet hater. But I would be curious if Big Bird is capable of supporting himself without government aid. He sounds like a 47 percenter to me — have you ever seen him pay taxes? Just because you are six years old and a bird does not mean I should have to pay for entitlements like food. Who is paying for the lavish nest that he shares with his teddy bear, Radar? Where are the adults in his life?

When is he going to get a job? He can’t still be six years old. That is not how time works. I am no longer six, and Big Bird was six before I was.

Romney: I lied to top donors, 47% comments “completely wrong”

Last night, Mitt Romney flip-flopped on the 47%.  The comments were “completely wrong,” Romney now says.

Bring out that old Etch-a-Sketch, because Flip Flop Romney is back.  Recall the words of Romney communications director Eric Fehrnstrom back in March:

FEHRNSTROM: Well, I think you hit a reset button for the fall campaign. Everything changes. It’s almost like an Etch A Sketch. You can kind of shake it up and restart all of over again.

First, let’s remind ourselves of exactly what Mitt Romney told a gathering of rich donors:

There are 47 percent of the people who will vote for the president no matter what. All right, there are 47 percent who are with him, who are dependent upon government, who believe that they are victims, who believe the government has a responsibility to care for them, who believe that they are entitled to health care, to food, to housing, to you-name-it. That that’s an entitlement. And the government should give it to them. And they will vote for this president no matter what…These are people who pay no income tax.
Romney went on: “[M]y job is is not to worry about those people. I’ll never convince them they should take personal responsibility and care for their lives.”

Mind you, for the last month – it’s been almost a month – Romney stood by the comments disparaging half the country.  He admitted that they were “inelegantly stated,” but he stood by them.  At length.  From Politico:

Romney pushed back in an impromptu press conference Monday evening saying that the video did not fully capture his comments and that the video did not fully capture his views.
He did not step away from the major point of a government generated economy over a free enterprise-based approach.
“I am talking about a political process of drawing people in my campaign… My campaign is about helping people take more responsibility,” Romney said.
“This is ultimately a question (about) the direction of the country. Do you believe in a government centered society that provides more and more benefits or do you believe instead in a free enterprise society where people are able to pursue their dreams.”
Romney did say that he comments we’re “not elegantly stated.. I am sure I can state it more clearly and effectively than I did in a setting like that.”
He added, “The president’s approach is attractive to people who are not paying taxes because frankly my discussion about out lowering taxes isn’t as attractive to them and therefore I am not likely to draw them into my campaign as those that are in the middle.”

And rnc chair Reince Priebus stood by the comments as well, telling CNN that Romney was “on message.”
But now, nearly a month later, suddenly Mitt Romney has a life-changing experience and admits that his comments writing off half the country, at length, comments which he defended for a month, were “completely wrong.”  A month later he realizes this.
Here’s Romney’s newest position on the 47%:

Romney: '47 Percent' Comments Were 'Completely Wrong'

So Romney lied to his top donors.  Why?  Why did he lie to them?  Has he lied to other top donors?  Is he lying to us now?
Why didn’t Romney realize his comments were completely wrong a month ago?  Why did he defend them if he knew they were “completely wrong”?  So you mean, Romney lied to the American people for the past month when he said his comments were accurate (albeit inelegant)?
And what happened to cause Romney ton only now realize that his comments are wrong?
I’ll tell you what happened.  Romney’s son Tagg is busy “reinventing” his dad for the 100th time, and one of the things he told poppy is that he has to come clean on the 47% remarks.
This man is incredibly disingenuous.  He will say anything to anyone to get elected President.  He used to claim that he was better on gay rights than Ted Kennedy.  Now he panders to the farthest of the gay-hating far-right, while his wife campaigns at conferences sponsored by officially-designated hate groups.  Ted Kennedy, he ain’t.
But then what is Mitt Romney?  What does he actually believe on anything?   He’s flip-flopped on gay rights.  He flip-flopped on health care reform again and again and again and again and again and again. He’s flipped on immigration a few times, on gay adoption, the auto bailout, on guns, on his own college, on SuperPACs, on Solyndra, on carbon pollution, on stem cells, on abortion, on contraception, on Iraq, on climate change, on taxes, on the recession a lot.
He flip-flopped on catfish.
He even flip-flopped on flip-flopping.
That’s why fellow repugican, fellow mormon, John Huntsman called Romney “a perfectly lubricated weathervane on the important issues of the day.”
That’s a nice way of saying that Mitt Romney is a congenital liar.

Paul Ryan: 60% of US is moochers who aren’t “American”

In a story reminiscent of Mitt Romney’s attack on the 47% of Americans who he says think of themselves as “victims,” Ben Craw and Zach Carter of the Huffington Post report today that Paul Ryan has repeatedly criticized 60% of Americans, who he calls “takers,” for getting more money from the federal government than they put in.  (People who put in more than they take are called “makers” by Ryan.)Not mentioned in the HuffPost story, and buried at the end of their video showing Ryan repeatedly mentioning “takers” and “makers,” is Ryan accusing “takers” – 60% of the country – of not being “American,” not “want[ing] the American dream,” and not “believ[ing] in the American idea.”
This comes on the heels of Mitt Romney’s retraction today of his 47% comments, after a month of defending them.
Here’s Ryan’s standard talking point, per HuffPo:

“Right now about 60 percent of the American people get more benefits in dollar value from the federal government than they pay back in taxes,” Ryan said. “So we’re going to a majority of takers versus makers in America and that will be tough to come back from that. They’ll be dependent on the government for their livelihoods [rather] than themselves.”

HuffPost has video showing appearance after appearance in which Ryan repeatedly criticizes the “60%” of Americans that he says take more than they give to America. So clearly Ryan didn’t mis-speak. This is a core tenet of the man’s beliefs, that 60% of our country is made up of people who aren’t “American”:

Paul Ryan Rhyme Time

Particularly troubling is what Ryan says at the end of the Huffington Post video:

“The good news is, most people in America don’t want to be a ‘taker,’ they want to be American, they want to be a ‘maker’.”

So “takers” aren’t “American.”
In a different speech, Ryan explains that only makers “want the American dream… believe in the American idea.”  So 60% of Americans don’t believe in the American dream, and don’t believe in the American idea, according to the Republican vice presidential candidate.
The Romney/Ryan campaign has yet to explain how they plan on winning the election with only 40% of the vote.

Father and son accused of mimicking limp of girl with cerebral palsy

Hope Holcomb, 10, is like any other young girl. She loves to play and to be outside. She also doesn’t let cerebral palsy slow her down. But she says she has been afraid to leave her home in East Sparta, which is South of Canton in Stark County, Ohio, because she says she is being bullied by her 9-year-old next door neighbor and his father.

Hope’s grandmother shot video last week at the bus stop. In it you can see a boy and his father, William Bailey, walking slowly with a limp. “It started last year we had trouble on the bus, she was miserable she didn’t want to ride the bus, cried every morning,” said Tricia Knight, Hope’s mother. ”He treats her like crap, and most recently the dad got involved.”

After watching the video, Hope’s parents, Tricia and Mike, felt they needed to bring the bullying situation to the public’s attention. “It makes me sick too, to think that a grown man would tease a 10-year-old disabled girl that has never done a thing to any of them for no reason, and now she doesn’t want to get on the bus to go to school,” said Mike Knight. The dad in the video, William Bailey, wouldn’t talk, but his wife Vickie says this is a fight between two families and they call each other names.

YouTube link.

“He did get out of the car, you’ve seen the video I am sure, my kid was walking like, but no offence to Hope so why they are taking it that way, I have no idea,” Vickie Bailey said. Both families have filed complaints with the prosecutor’s office. No criminal charges have been filed. The prosecutor says she will review all the reports and meet with the families next week to determine what if any charges should be filed.