Saturday, January 04, 2014

4 Jan - Blogs I'm Following II

Harper FallHarper Fall (Photo credit: Jamie Manley)
Former U.S. President George W. Bush, former M...Former U.S. President George W. Bush, former Mexican President Vicente Fox and Stephen Harper, right, at the Chichen-Itza archaeological ruins in 2006 (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Harper's FerryHarper's Ferry (Photo credit: Cocoa Dream)
Book burning in Canada... Fraudulent election, crooks and cons in the "house", gagging of scientists, MPs, media, RCMP, regulators, gutting the national protection of millions of our lakes and rivers, letting big oil write bills and regulate themselves while spending $hundreds of millions on propaganda, another $billion or so in court wasted trying to gut more laws and protections, then $3.1 billion goes missing. At what point can we remove these criminals? How is this even legal?
Dismantling of Fishery Library 'Like a Book Burning,' Say Canadian Scientists >http://bit.ly/IN16KB "Contents of the Maurice Lamontagne Library of the Department of Fisheries and Oceans thrown in a trash bin" >http://on.fb.me/18WN99q "1984 in 2013: Harper government’s assault on reason, scientists, ‘Orwellian’ and ‘alarming,’ warns former conservative pollster Allen Greg >http://huff.to/QAcSIK VIDEO: http://huff.to/1bzFIji Macleans Magazine Feature: 'With the muzzling of scientists, Harper’s obsession with control verges on the Orwellian' >http://bit.ly/11GGUxT Censorship is alive and well in Canada – just ask government scientists http://bit.ly/JeBDKY Harper government cutting more than $100 million and 500 jobs at the federal department in charge of protecting Canada’s water and oceans http://bit.ly/Kffjkw

Harper thinks like his sect http://thetyee.ca/.../2012/03/26/Harper-Evangelical-Mission/ You and I are Satan's helpers.
thetyee.ca
Signs mount that Canada's government is beholden to a religious agenda averse to science and rational debate.
 
Tragic example of fascism in USAmerica. They destroyed this man's life work and livelihood, for no good reason whatsoever. His flutes were no more dangerous than any other dried wood product. If it had been some rock star's guitar, it would be News... and the guitar would be a lot easier to replace than these special traditional flutes that require special bamboo that has been specially dried for at least two years. These were not something you could just run out to WalMart (or even a music store) and replace. Poor guy.
A Canadian flutist has been left baffled and distraught after U.S. customs agents decided to destroy his traditional, handcrafted Middle Eastern bamboo flutes. Border agents at JFK airport destroyed Boujemaa Razgui's bamboo flutes in December, considering them to be vehicles for 'exotic plant pathogens.' Read more: http://cbc.sh/upLH38l
 
THIS IS WHY THEY KILLED HIM According to a Russian article titled "Bombing of Lybia - Punishment for Ghaddafi for His Attempt to Refuse US Dollar," Qaddaffi made a similarly bold move: he initiated a movement to refuse the dollar and the euro and called on Arab and African nations to use a new currency instead, the gold dinar. Qaddafi suggested establishing a united African continent, with its 200 million people using this single currency. During the past year, the idea was approved by many Arab countries and most African countries. The only opponents were the Republic of South Africa and the head of the League of Arab States. The initiative was viewed negatively by the USA and the European Union, with French President Nicolas Sarkozy calling Libya a threat to the financial security of mankind; but Qaddafi was not swayed and continued his push for the creation of a united Africa.
 
 10:30pm MST

Libertarianism Isn't The Answer To Anything

DownWithTyranny at DownWithTyranny! - 30 minutes ago
According to ProgressivePunch's reckoning the 10 Republicans who have bolted their party's House leadership on crucial votes most frequently this session are: *•* Walter Jones (R-NC) *•* Chris Gibson (R-NY) *•* Justin Amash (R-MI) *•* Jimmy Duncan (R-TN) *•* Thomas Massie (R-KY) *•* Dana Rohrabacher (R-CA) *•* Mark Sanford (R-SC) *•* Morgan Griffith (R-VA) *•* Frank LoBiondo (R-NJ) *•* Tom McClintock (R-CA) Only three could be accurately described as "mainstream conservatives," which is what the Beltway media calls moderates these days, Gibson, LoBiondo and Griffith. The others re... more »

Video Bill Means at AIM West Part 3 of 4

brendanorrell@gmail.com at CENSORED NEWS - 1 hour ago
. Indigenous Peoples brought gifts of climate change knowledge and power of matriarchal societies to United Nations Bill Means, Lakota, speaks at AIM West in San Francisco in Nov. 2013. Part 3 By Brenda Norrell Censored News SAN FRANCISCO -- Bill Means, founder of the International Indian Treaty Council, describes the 30 year effort at the United Nations which culminated in the

Obamacare: We laugh to keep from crying...

Adrienne at Adrienne's Corner - 1 hour ago
*for sure!*

Who is to blame for the crisis in South Sudan?

Land Destroyer at Land Destroyer - 2 hours ago
The nascent civil war in South Sudan is a product of kleptocratic governance, systemic corruption, and political posturing that has reignited deep ethnic divisions between the nation’s two largest tribal groups. (Nile Bowie - RT) - The world’s youngest nation has been in disarray since December 14th, when sporadic gunfire and skirmishes broke out in the capital, Juba. Shortly after, South Sudan’s President Salva Kiir announced that a coup had been attempted by members of his own presidential guard allied with Riek Machar, the ambitious former vice president who was purged in July. ... more »

Some Major Developments In Egypt, Iraq, Syria, And Lebanon: General Sisi Will Run For Presidency, Terrorist Group Isis Is On The Rise But Faces Intense Backlash From Citizens And Fighters Across The Region, Violence In Iraq Reaches Mid-2006 Levels

Saman Mohammadi at The Excavator - 2 hours ago
*1. An excerpt from, "Egypt: Abdul Fattah Al Sissi 'to run for presidency'" Gulf News, January 4:* *Egypt's deputy prime minister and defence minister Abdul Fattah Al Sissi is expected to step down in the coming days to pave the way for his nomination in the upcoming presidential elections, Egyptian media reported.* *Al Wafd* newspaper reported that his exit will be part of a government reshuffle in the second half of January that will also see vice president Ziyad Baha’ Al Deen leave his post. The paper cited "political sources with connections to ruling cirlces", adding that the... more »

2013 in Review -- A Prayer to the Janitor of Lunacy,* Part 6 (and last!): In the words of Dan Quayle, "What a waste it is to lose one's mind"

KenInNY at DownWithTyranny! - 3 hours ago
*Exploiting tragedy for a buck; plus Miss America's not American?, "Quote of the Year" winner* *[*TO MEET THE JANITOR OF LUNACY, SEE PART 1]* *Miss America, Missouri-born Nina Davuluri -- zowie!* *by Noah* *THE MINDS OF CORPORATISTS: EXPLOITING TRAGEDY FOR A BUCK* What is it about the corporate mind? How do the idiots who make decisions in our corporations continually get it so wrong, so tasteless and obnoxious? Is it a mediocrity-rising- to-the-corner-office thing? Does the seduction of the perks that come with position make one oblivious? Is that why the Detroit car companies... more »

West Coast radiation 500 times normal, no alert is human rights abuse

urupiper at Yesterday 's Lies - 4 hours ago
Deborah Dupre *Human Rights Examiner* [image: U.S. government's Fukushima radiation coverup, an unspeakable human rights abuse] January 4, 2014 County health experts are "befuddled" about why West Coast radiation levels are at a minimum, five times higher than usual and as high as 500 times normal, according to officials. Government agents, however, continue failing to issue an alert and instead, advise that the heightened level of radiation poisoning is not unsafe for humans, a grave rights abuse. Since July 2012, this reporter has published articles about people on the U... more »

TRACKING DRONE KILLS

Bruce K. Gagnon at Organizing Notes - 4 hours ago
Since 2002, the US has launched 461 drone strikes, killing over 3,500 people - 457 of whom were civilians, according to recent research. The strikes occurred in Pakistan, Yemen and Somalia. The Pentagon recently released its annual report on the use of unmanned systems, which laid out a roadmap - through 2038 - of how the unmanned aerial vehicle program will continue to develop. RT's Meghan Lopez talks about the UAV program's past and future with Mary Ellen O'Connell, a law professor at the University of Notre Dame, and Abraham Wagner, an adjunct professor of international and pub... more »

The New York Crimes And The Washington Ghost Support Al-Qaeda Terrorism In Lebanon

Saman Mohammadi at The Excavator - 5 hours ago
*The Angry Arab - From the Washington Post: or how to make readers sympathetic to a car bomb:* "The bombing in the Shiite neighborhood of Haret Hreik, *which is controlled by Lebanon’s Hezbollah movement*". What does "controlled" mean? And does Amal, which has a most powerful presence there, also control the area? And what about those Shi`ites and atheists and non-Shi`ites who live there: are they also "controlled" by Hizbullah? *The Angry Arab - You tell me: does this language justify the bombing of civilians? From the New York Times:* "*While the neighborhood is residential*, *... more »

Thinking About Food in the Coming Year

theozarker at The Conflicted Doomer - 6 hours ago
January 4, 2014 Image courtesy of Simon Howden/ FreeDigitalPhotos.net Yesterday afternoon, my friends, Kathi and Mary, took me on what turned out to be a most excellent adventure. After taking me to pick up my medications, they treated me to … Continue reading →

Why does FREQUENCY have an impact on our health?

Breaking The Silence at Removing The Shackles - 6 hours ago
A great article by my amazing friend Vera about the impact of frequencies on our health. Please click the on the link below to go to Vera's site to watch the video included in the article (that for some reason I couldn't get to embed here, lol) Love D http://scenar4u.blogspot.com/2014/01/why-does-frequency-have-impact-on-our.html Sunday, 5 January 2014Why does FREQUENCY have an impact on our health? A UNIVERSAL TRUTH We are all interconnected at the most fundamental level of being and consciousness. Cosmic interstellar to intracellular - Resonant frequencies William Brown, a mo... more »

Boeing Saga Ends with 51% Favoring Revised Contract

Kenneth Thomas at Middle Class Political Economist - 7 hours ago
As I argued last month, the Puget Sound area of Washington state was easily the best place, from a strictly economic point of view, for Boeing to build its new 777x jetliner. This was confirmed when, despite the rejection of its union contract offer by a 2:1 margin and opening an auction for a new facility, Boeing came back to the union with a second contract offer (h/t *New York Times*). Yesterday, by a 51-49 margin, workers voted to accept the contract. The new contract ends the company's pension plan in favor of a 401(k), although it does not "affect the pensions already accrued... more »

Cheese it, it's the Kosher Kops!

KenInNY at DownWithTyranny! - 7 hours ago
*Is this bread kosher or not? Only the rabbi can say.* *by Ken* Sometimes I wonder what people outside the Jewish faith make of the truly nutty system of dietry prescriptions and (especially) *proscriptions* known as *kashrut*, or that which is "kosher." Oh, there was indeed once a logic to advising caution with regard to animal products like pork and shellfish, but those were overcome with attention to sanitation, improved harvesting, and regulation -- all without recourse to anything resembling Divine Imperative. And where it all turns truly nutty is in the fanatical separation... more »

"Do you want to pass along your apologies for this terrible joke?"

Craig at Is the BBC biased? - 7 hours ago
It's been a fair while since I've listened to Radio 4's *Chain Reaction*but as ChrisH at *Biased BBC *said there were some funny things in it I thought I'd give it a go. I won't re-mount my 'left-wing Radio 4 comedians' hobby horse - despite the interview's political turn with interviewee Frankie Boyle discussing his hunger strike in support of Shaker Aamer, the Saudi last British resident in Guantanamo Bay, and (with interviewer Kevin Bishop's help) and his mockery of Alex Salmond and other pro-independence Scots. After all, it wouldn't be a Radio 4 6.30pm comedy programme if lef... more »

Untitled

New Orleans Ladder at New Orleans Ladder - 8 hours ago
*Why Do Foles Fall In Lava? ~moosedenied*

Secure, Contain, Protect...

Roobin at THROUGH THE SCARY DOOR - 8 hours ago
I should have mentioned earlier the winner of the SCP-2000 contest (which I didn't realise was based around a science fiction theme) is this, not my favourite but still good. It's based around a counter-factual that William Burroughs and Brion Gysin often discussed, that modern humans have been around for half a million years, but modern civilisation only six thousand years. There has been, it seems, ample time, for more than one civilisation to rise up, fall down and fade into the faintest of memories.

Sharon O'Donnell and Jumping the Shark

Phil at A Very Public Sociologist - 8 hours ago
Politics is a rum business. That's why you have to make sure criticisms of your opponents are grounded in fact and take the whole view, not just the bits you find convenient. Unfortunately, occasionally something can catch you unawares. You spot a piece that sounds plausible, undermines government spin about a foolish, flagship policy and you share it with your Twitter chums. It goes viral and you bask for a minute in the smug glow of self-satisfaction. Then something starts pulling at you. You go through what looked like a good demolition when, in fact, it's a shoddy piece of supp... more »

Target has a new problem - More trouble for Target after 40,000 gift cards sold over the holidays fail to work ! This occurs as the massive debit and credit card debacle is still an unsolved crime !

Catharsis Ours - 8 hours ago
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2531660/MORE-trouble-Target-40-000-gift-cards-sold-holidays-not-properly-activated.html More trouble for Target after 40,000 gift cards sold over the holidays fail to work - Target failed to scan the correct barcode on thousands of gift cards - - Shoppers being told the cards have no value when at the check out - - Target urged shoppers to seek help in-store or by calling the number on the back of their gift card - - It comes 10 days after the store suffered a major data breach, leaving hackers to get their hands o... more »

The Grating Magpie

Craig at Is the BBC biased? - 8 hours ago
Some sounds really set my nerves on edge. One is the sound of magpies in spring and summer. Their harsh, grating cackle makes me think of machine gun fire. With that thought comes an association of magpies with viciousness and murder. Many's the early summer morning when I've awoken to the sound of that cackle and the subsequent squawks of panic, desperation and fear from other, smaller birds as their myriad babies face butchery at the sharp beaks of raiding magpies. Yes, I know that's anthropomorphic, sentimental, irrational twaddle on my part, and that I - a grown man - should be ... more »

FRIENDS OF SIR JIMMY SAVILE

Anon at aangirfan - 8 hours ago
*1.* Sir Jimmy Savile is known to have had dinner with* Admiral Sir Michael Boyce*, Chief of the UK Defence Staff at the time of 9 11. ( http://www.dailymail.co.uk/) *Admiral Sir Michael Boyce and General Tommy Franks* *2.* Savile visited Israel in 1975 to advise *Israel's President Ephraim Katzir* on a matter of security. Savile addressed the cabinet of Menachem Begin. Savile was also a friend of President Sadat's wife. (JIMMY SAVILE FIXED IT FOR ISRAEL). *Begin, Sadat, Katzir* *3. *Savile spent 11 consecutive Christmases at the home of *Margaret Thatcher.* *Margaret Thatch... more »

John Friend on Inside the Eye - Live! w/ Dennis Fetcho

John Friend at John Friend's Blog - 9 hours ago
I was a guest on Dennis Fetcho's radio program *Inside the Eye - Live!*this morning during the second hour. We talked about a lot of different subjects, including *the recent ADL attack on yours truly*, the *fake "Holocaust" narrative of WWII*, and media manipulation. You can download the program *here*.

Bringing Qatar Down A Notch or Two: Egypt Summons Qatar's Ambassador

Saman Mohammadi at The Excavator - 9 hours ago
Population of Qatar: 2 million. Population of Egypt: 84 million. Qatar is upset with Egypt's political decisions? Too bad. Qatar: Kindly Shut The Fuck Up. If you love the Muslim Brotherhood so much then make them your rulers in your neck of the woods and leave the Egyptian people and nation alone to decide their fate. Don't act like war can't be brought to your doorstep and don't pretend that you live in some kind of oasis in the middle of hell. An excerpt from, *"Egypt summons Qatari envoy after criticisms of crackdown"* Reuters, January 4: *Egypt's foreign ministry summoned... more »

Cleverness Sends Us (All of Us) Over the Edge (Yay, Neanderthals?)

Don't you just hate it when you miss a good book? I know I do (take a look at one I'm currently kicking myself over). All hominids have African ancestors. Some of them migrated to Asia, where Neanderthals first walked onto the stage. Some Neanderthals moved to Europe maybe 300,000 years ago, where they hung out in cool temperate forests. Their primary weapon was a heavy thrusting spear

Live from Planet BBC...

Craig at Is the BBC biased? - 9 hours ago
Radio 4's Immigration: Good for Whom? was billed by the BBC as a debate between "two leading liberal thinkers" - Prof Paul Collier of Oxford University and David Goodhart of the centre-left Demos think tank - and Nazek Ramadan of Migrant Voices and Susie Symes, Chair of the Museum of Immigration and Diversity. It was hosted by *The World Tonight*'s Ritula Shah. It was wholly predictable that it would be a classic BBC discussion, "neatly balanced between two wary left-wing supporters of mass immigration and two enthusiastic left-wing supporters of mass immigration." And so it prov... more »

What Mattered This Week?

Jonathan Bernstein at A plain blog about politics - 10 hours ago
Last time here before the big move... I'm certainly on board with Greg Sargent's comments this week that the spin over the first few days of ACA exchange plans kicking in doesn't matter. As far as what does matter on this holiday week...I'm sort of thinking that Kerry's continuing press on Israel/Palestine might matter. How, I'm not sure. And perhaps it doesn't really...very hard to tell. But I'll go with that one. What do you have? What do you think mattered this week?

Ripley’s Botched Attack on Ravitch: A Euro Is Not a Dollar

deutsch29 at @ THE CHALK FACE - 10 hours ago
In December 2011, writer Amanda Ripley published a post in which she tried hard to discredit education historian Diane Ravitch’s claim that the US poverty level is a factor in the 2009 PISA rankings. Even though Ripley’s piece is over two years old, I only read it yesterday. In her smug attempt to discredit Ravitch’s interpretation of […]

How to Help the Working Poor

Greg Mankiw at Greg Mankiw's Blog - 10 hours ago
Click here to read my column in Sunday's* NY Times*.

A note from an administrator on new bathroom policies. Hilarity.

Shaun Johnson at @ THE CHALK FACE - 10 hours ago
I give it to you in all its glory. And I will emphasize what particular gem, whereby students checking in and out of the bathroom helps meet a common core standard (or CCS). Who knew that every thing I do on a daily basis, from taking a leak to brushing my teeth, could be applied […]

LAND OF SCRIPT: What should Schieffer do?

bob somerby at the daily howler - 10 hours ago
*SATURDAY, JANUARY 4, 2014* *Epilogue—Inventing the script about Rice:* It’s stunning to see the way our upper-end, elite “journalism” works. The higher up the ladder one goes, the more pathetic the conduct becomes. The more the work is tied to script in this, our nation of script. The more a star’s “journalistic” disasters will be enabled by silence. In September 2012, a powerful script took shape about the attack in Benghazi. In last Sunday’s New York Times, David Kirkpatrick debunked two key parts of that script, while leaving Susan Rice lodged beneath the bus. Kirkpatrick named... more »

THE HUNGER GAMES

Bruce K. Gagnon at Organizing Notes - 10 hours ago
- Our Gov. LePage (right-wing Republican corporate hack) is running for reelection on the backs of the poor. He wants to drain "welfare" in order to kill it. In Maine's largest city of Portland the governor has decided to move the state welfare office from the downtown area out near the airport which means folks, already without transportation, will have even more difficulty getting there. Very slimy politics. - It reminds me of when I was attending the University of Florida after getting out of the Air Force. I was using the GI Bill to pay for school... more »

Out of the mouth of a merely far-right-winger comes a cry of pain at the peril from far-far-far-right-wingers in West Virginia

KenInNY at DownWithTyranny! - 11 hours ago
*"Career-long tool of the mining industry" Shelley Moore Capito* *by Ken* As I've mentioned, I sometimes get my best insight into the minds, such as they are, of the far-far-far-right-wingers from the merely far-right-wingers. (Wasn't it Freud who said, "It takes one to know one"?) By now it's no surprise to hear the MFRWs tsk-tsk-ing the FFFRWs. Ever since the screaming insanity of the FFFRWs began reaching deafening proportions during the later years of the reign of "Chimpy the Prez" Bush, the sound finally began to reach the nervous systems of the MFRWs. Among the more prominen... more »

Kate Braun : Waxing Crescent Moon is Time to Set New Goals

thorne dreyer at The Rag Blog - 11 hours ago
Moon Musings: The Waxing Crescent Moon -- which falls on January 4–5, 2014, is a time to set goals for positive changes in your life. Waxing crescent moon. Image from Wikimedia Commons. By Kate Braun | The Rag Blog | January 3, 2013 Waxing moons are times to set new goals, recognize new objectives, promote new growth, and set forces in motion to help you achieve these goals, objectives,

Why Aren't Prep Schools Following Corporate Reforms?

Shaun Johnson at @ THE CHALK FACE - 11 hours ago
Reblogged from Diane Ravitch's blog: This is a terrific article about the elite prep schools and the fact that they do not follow the "reforms" that are now pushed by the U.S. Department of Education, the Gates Foundation, the Broad Foundation, and other corporate reformers. Here are some quotes from the article: Go ahead and […]

Thailand: Civil War is Impossible

Land Destroyer at Land Destroyer - 11 hours ago
But terrorism dressed as "civil war" likely. Vigilance and swift, decisive action against regime's leadership can stop it. *January 4, 2014* (Tony Cartalucci) - The embattled regime of Thailand's Thaksin Shinawatra and his substantial Western backers are attempting to hold peace, stability, and the nation's future hostage in order to extort from Thailand the perpetuation of their current grip on power. Chief among their threats is the myth of an impending "civil war." Unfortunately for them, and despite their best efforts, in order to have a "civil war," you must first have a divi... more »

Nashville School Board Backs Away from Pearson Nonsense-Based Reading Test

Jim Horn at Schools Matter - 11 hours ago
During the early years of the Reading First corporate feeding frenzy that dumped a cool billion dollars a year into worthless reading programs blessed by crackpot, Reid Lyon, and a handful of his corrupt cronies housed principally at the University of Oregon, a reading assessment called DIBELS became required if your state or city wanted a shot the Reading First grants. It is based, essentially, on counting how many nonsense syllables a child can correctly identify in 60 seconds. Surprise--Pearson has developed its own brand of nonsense based reading assessments marketed under the... more »

Most Distant Galaxy Disproves Palin's Young Universe Theory

Len Hart at The Existentialist Cowboy - 11 hours ago
*by Len Hart, The Existentialist Cowboy* Texas astronomers have utterly disproved Sarah Palin! They have discovered the most DISTANT object in the universe, an object some 13.7 billion light years from earth. The light we see from that galaxy began its journey toward the earth some 13.7 billion years ago. Therefore, Palin's young universe of a mere 6,000 years is false and Palin is unfit to teach a grammar school, let alone, run a nation. Palin believes that the age of the universe is but a mere 6,000 years, a figure that she (or her preacher man) may have concocted by adding up the... more »

Buy your own birth control...

Adrienne at Adrienne's Corner - 11 hours ago
*instead of getting "free" birth control after, of course, paying exorbitant monthly premiums and a huge deductible.* Seriously, are people really that stupid? Silly question. We have a world spinning out of control, massive unemployment, completely unsustainable personal and national debt, and all these loons can talk about is the "war on women?" From Doug Ross: Archdiocese of New York: Obamacare exemptions granted to any and all... except those with Judeo-Christian belief No exemption for you, little ladies.

Immaculate conception

Libby Spencer at The Impolitic - 12 hours ago
Because it's cold outside and the news is stupid.

GUEST no more. Welcome John Kuhn to our lineup!

Shaun Johnson at @ THE CHALK FACE - 12 hours ago
Revered Superintendent John Kuhn joined our erudite rabble here At the Chalk Face. Let us all welcome him. Check out his author page here and we look forward to JOHN KUHN: Empowering Educators. Tagged: at the chalk face, john kuhn, superintendent

“How Are We Supposed To Live?” Michigan Workers Discover Obamacare Means Impoverishment

urupiper at Yesterday 's Lies - 12 hours ago
[image: Political Outcast] Posted By Mark Horne on Dec 30, 2013 [image: obama pharaoh] NBC does some actual reporting on Obamacare. This is what is happening all over the country. *The 41 employees of Extreme Dodge in Jackson, Mich., are very familiar with trade-ins, but this year they’re learning about trade-offs as they come face to face with the new realities of health care. A few workers say they’re getting a great deal, but most have a severe case of sticker shock.* *“I feel like I’ve been taken to the cleaners,” said Neal Campbell, a salesman.* *The news was presented at... more »

Maui Needs You Help - Ride The GMO Legislation Wave To A Healthier Hawaii

Stranger in a Strange Land at Stranger in a Strange Land - 13 hours ago
Maui follows Kaua'i's lead: Bill introduced to require disclosure of pesticides & GMOs, as well as buffer zones between GMO crops and schools, medical facilities, daycare facilities and similar operations. Its goal is "to inform the public ...and protect against direct, indirect and cumulative negative health impacts." Maui needs your help: Please email Councilmember Riki Hokama Tell him, as a visitor to Maui - you don't want to be poisoned on your vacation. Ask him to pass the GMO/Pesticide Bill!. Phone calls are even better: to Councilmember Riki Hokama: ask him to bring up C... more »

Could robots soon have brains that function like HUMANS? Computer chip that carries out tasks without being asked - and learns from its mistakes - to go on sale

urupiper at Yesterday 's Lies - 13 hours ago
[image: MailOnline - news, sport, celebrity, science and health stories] - *The chip can mimic the human ability for perception, action, and thought* - *It will improve everything from navigation to speech, and facial recognition* - *The chip's memory will function as synapses would in the brain, with processors acting as neurons* - *It could also one day create systems that perform better than humans* By Ellie Zolfagharifard *PUBLISHED:* 07:59 EST, 2 January 2014 Computers are about to enter an age where they can perceive, act and even think for themselves, us... more »

From @johnkuhntx: Ed Reform’s Atari Problem

johnkuhntx at @ THE CHALK FACE - 13 hours ago
My cousin John Michael had the first Atari I ever saw. Not long after, my cousin Philip got one. I went to their houses every chance I got, and while I was there I hogged their video game machines as much as I could. I still remember the spongy feel and new plastic smell of […]

The Devil in the Details

Karen Garcia at Sardonicky - 13 hours ago
Since American students now rank a dismal 21st in scientific proficiency among their global peers, it should come as no surprise that four in ten American adults do not believe in the evolution of species. According to a recent Pew poll, the number of people denying that human beings slowly evolved over millions of years is about the same as it was four years ago. The main difference is that the belief gap appears to be widening based upon political party affiliation: In 2009, 54% of Republicans and 64% of Democrats said humans have evolved over time, a difference of 10 percentage ... more »

Getting something off her chest

LeDaro at LeDaro - 14 hours ago
Lucky Putin. *Russian President Vladimir Putin gets an eye-opening experience as he is confronted by a topless demonstrator with a message written on her back during a tour of the Hanover Fair in Hanover, Germany, on April 8. He was accompanied by German Chancellor Angela Merkel.*NBC. I think Putin is having fun and thinking bring on more. :)

Fukushima nuclear debacle updates - January 4 , 2014 - Completely deficient of Souls Japan and Tepco - note Tepco attempts to fleece employes out of relocation funds ......This follows pimping of the homeless to do deadly Fukushima clean up work - crimal syndicates have their hands in this blood pie as well ( nothing to see here folks , move along ) , sadly the homeless don't even se their full pay ( which is only minimum wage ) as two thirds is skimmed off - and some of the homeles actually wind up in debt through the arrangement ( which is why I call this pimping the homeless ) !

Fred Walton at Catharsis Ours - 14 hours ago
Ex SKF..... http://ex-skf.blogspot.com/2014/01/tepco-demands-its-own-employees-to.html SATURDAY, JANUARY 4, 2014 TEPCO Demands Its Own Employees to Return the Nuclear Accident Compensation Money, Mainichi Shinbun Says This has got to be a new low for TEPCO, though TEPCO continues to surprise. From Mainichi Shinbun (1/4/2014; part): 福島原発事故避難:東電 社員に賠償金返還を要求 TEPCO demands employees who were displaced by Fukushima I NPP accident to return [part of] the compensation money 東京電力福島第1原発事故による避難に伴う賠償金を巡り、東電が昨春以降、社員に対し既に支払った1人当たり数百万円から千数百万円の賠償金を、事実上返還するよう求めていることが関係者の証言で分かった。確認されただけで、総額は1億円を超... more »

Bitcoin news for January 1 , 2014 - A look back at 2013 , a look ahead !

Catharsis Ours - 14 hours ago
2013 in review..... http://www.coindesk.com/china-cyberspace-bitcoin-2013-in-review/ From China to Cyberspace: Bitcoin’s Year in Review John Law (@scotonomist) | Published on December 31, 2013 at 06:00 GMT | *News* inShare3 Share 54 *Welcome to CoinDesk’s Yearly Review 2013 – a look at the five hottest, most controversial and thought-provoking events in the world of digital currency through the eyes of skepticism and wonder. Your host … John Law.* It is a legal requirement for journalists to write an end-of-year roundup, and John Law is nothing if not law-abiding. One valid set of ... more »

Wounded Knee Photos 1890 -- 1973

brendanorrell@gmail.com at CENSORED NEWS - 14 hours ago
More photos at Denver Post http://blogs.denverpost.com/captured/2014/01/02/wounded-knee-1890-1973-photos/

BBC Bias and Normalcy Bias

Craig at Is the BBC biased? - 15 hours ago
The first weekend *BBC Breakfast* paper review of the year featured the man who is evidently the programme's most regular paper reviewer, Simon Fanshawe. Simon is a writer, broadcaster and Labour Party supporter. He holds strong views and doesn't hold back from expressing them. Take this morning. In the first paper review he began by gloating over Nick Griffin's bankruptcy, denounced the 'Daily Express' as "scandalous" for its reporting of the Romania-Bulgaria immigration story, attacked politicians for jumping on the anti-immigration bandwagon, extolled the economic benefits o... more »

Buenos Aires: La Chacarita Cemetery in Pictures

Inexplicata (IHU) at Inexplicata-The Journal of Hispanic Ufology - 15 hours ago
In preparing the *Moonlight on Tombstones* article I requested the assistance of journalist and photographer *Marcelo Metayer*, who most graciously agreed to provide photographs for the section on the La Chacarita Cemetery in his native Buenos Aires, whose landmarks and monuments he has chronicled in visual form. The photos of this extensive necropolis, housing the remains of politicians, artists and musical giants like Carlos Gardel, the best known Tango singer of the 20th century, truly deserve to be presented separately for the enjoyment of *INEXPLICATA*’s readers, so that the ce... more »

Thatcher's Ugly Children

Owen Gray at Northern Reflections - 15 hours ago
The longer a leader stays, the more his or her party takes on the leader's personality. That's certainly the case with Stephen Harper's Conservatives. Andrew Coyne writes that, whatever good news the Conservatives may have to deliver, it gets drowned out by their in your face ugliness: How could a government presiding over such a strong economy be so unpopular? It is unusual enough for a governing party to fall, and stay, below 30% in the polls. But to do so in good times? Unheard of. And while governments sometimes are obliged to take a hit early in their tenure, traditionally th... more »

Untitled

New Orleans Ladder at New Orleans Ladder - 15 hours ago
*Saints face challenges in playoff game with Eagles ~Ramon Antonio Vargas* *A different team, a different time ~Ashley Morris* *Why would Governorcist Bobby Jindal open a $4M contract with NYC-based Corporate Turn-Around Specialists? ~WVUE* ~*Alvarez & Marsal* is being asked to look at health and human services, transportation, public safety, revenue, debt collection, facility management and other general management and financial issues for the state, with a goal of saving tax dollars. *Dangerous Winter Blast Plunging into Central and Eastern U.S. this Weekend ~DisasterMap.net*~*"[P... more »

Turkey political corruption updates - January 4 , 2014 - Key comments from President Gul - Turkish President Abdullah Gül has emphasized the importance of the conclusion without outside intervention of an ongoing major graft investigation, which has shaken the roots of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party) and led to the resignation of three ministers. ...... Parliament Speaker Cemel Cicek : Independence of judiciary done away with ..... EP rapporteur Oomen-Ruijten: International plot claims ‘pure nonsense'

Fred Walton at Catharsis Ours - 15 hours ago
President Gül warns against intervention in judicial process [image: Read Comment] 1 [image: Add to Google] 1 [image: President Gül warns against intervention in judicial process] Turkish President Abdullah Gül (Photo: Today's Zaman) 3 January 2014 /TODAY'S ZAMAN WITH REUTERS, İSTANBUL Turkish President Abdullah Gül has emphasized the importance of the conclusion without outside intervention of an ongoing major graft investigation, which has shaken the roots of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party) and led to the resignation of three ministers. Gül also underlined the inde... more »

Trip Advisor's "12 trips of a lifetime"

KenInNY at DownWithTyranny! - 15 hours ago
*Soar in a balloon above unique landscapes*: *This is the most striking image of the Trip Advisor "12 trips of a lifetime," and looks like it might indeed be a cool thing to do -- except for someone with a pathological terror of heights, who probably has no business in a balloon. (Click on the photo to enlarge it.)* *by Ken* [*Click to enlarge*]You'll be pleased to hear that Howie is back on terra firma, in Quito (Ecuador), after his sea galavant around the storied Galápagos Islands. Long-time readers know that his travels often take him to off-the-beaten-path destinations, whil... more »

Transsexuals and the Legal System - Scottish Edition

Zoe Brain at A.E.Brain - 15 hours ago
From the Daily Record: A TRANSGENDER woman has demanded an apology from bungling sheriff court workers who sent an offensive note with her divorce papers. Becky Kent was stunned when she read a handwritten memo which officials had forgotten to remove from her paperwork. It was stuck on top of her divorce decree and sent to her. The scribbled Post-it note read: “Colin it’s right!!! Man – changed his name to woman’s name – statutory declaration attached!!! Takes all sorts!!” The letter had also been addressed “Dear Sir”. Doesn't exactly give one warm fuzzies about being treated respec... more »

CCSS: The Black Hole of Education

Angel Cintron Jr. at @ THE CHALK FACE - 15 hours ago
Stop me if you’ve heard this one before: the Common Core is “Obamacore.” No? If you haven’t, then you’ve been living under a rock, somewhere. Yes, the infamous Common Core State Standards (CCSS) has drawn criticism from the political left, and the right. It’s fascinating to witness both sides of the political spectrum unite against […]

No, Maurice, It Won't Happen Here

noreply@blogger.com (fern hill) at DAMMIT JANET! - 15 hours ago
Canadians, especially Canadians who don't follow the Culture Wars® in the US, may be shocked by how endangered abortion rights are becoming down south. In fact, the Guttmacher Institute reports that fetus fetishists had another banner year in 2013. The New York Times reports: “I think we are at a potential turning point-- either access to abortion will be dramatically restricted in the coming year or perhaps the pushback will begin,” said Suzanne Goldberg, director of the Center for Gender and Sexuality Law at Columbia University. The anti-abortion groups, for their part, feel e... more »

Not Taking Sides (says Lucy Winkett)

sue at Is the BBC biased? - 15 hours ago
At times like this I almost regret leaving Biased-BBC because our “Is” readership is comparatively limited, and our contributions come and go more or less unremarked. We don’t promote ourselves or spam other blogs with links and ads. Maybe we should, but we don’t. We don’t orchestrate festivals or raise money for massive publicity stunts either. Speaking for myself, the obscurity of “Is” doesn’t bother me, until something like Bethlehem Unwrapped comes along. As many people as possible should be made aware of what was wrong with it. I detect that Lucy Winkett herself is even be... more »

Gorby, Mrs T and John Redwood

Craig at Is the BBC biased? - 16 hours ago
Sticking with Radio 4's *UK Confidential *and those fascinating 1984 National Archive releases, the programme featured extracts from the exchanges between Mrs Thatcher and Mikhail Gorbachev at their famous first meeting in December of that year - and very interesting they were too. What we didn't hear on Martha Kearney's programme was some of the added detail contained in the reports of the meeting. For that you have to listen to archivist Simon Demissie on the podcast from the National Archive. Here are a couple of examples: At one point Thatcher does question him on the poin... more »

Harper's LMFAO Program

Alison at Creekside - 16 hours ago
*CBC* : "Effective Dec.31, 2013, the government will no longer approve *labour market opinion applications* from employers looking to hire foreign workers in the sex trade industry, a spokesperson for the department of Employment and Social Development Canada told CBC News. An LMO is usually required to prove the need to hire a temporary foreign worker over a Canadian one." Usually. Usually you need an LMO to prove there's no Canadian looking for the same work. Unless of course you're an Alberta employer looking to hire some temporary foreign workers as steam-fitters, pipe-fitters,... more »

JFK50: Henry Cabot Lodge

Paul Coker at News Spike - 16 hours ago
Telephone Conversation Between President Johnson and Senator Richard Russell, Washington, May 27, 1964, 10:55 p.m. Johnson: One of our big problems there, Dick, the biggest, between us and I don't want this repeated to anybody, is Lodge. Russell: I know it. Johnson: He ain't worth a damn. Russell: Why, of course. Johnson: And he can't work with anybody. He won't let anybody else work. We get the best USIA man to put all on all the radios and try to get them to be loyal to the government and to be fighting and quit deserting. Russell: He thinks he's the emperor out t... more »

HPV Vaccines: My Journey Through Gardasil Injuries by Elizabeth Wagner

Stranger in a Strange Land at Stranger in a Strange Land - 18 hours ago
ElizabethFinding Hope after a Gardasil Disaster By Elizabeth Wagner, Minnesota Sane Vax, Inc, 25 September 2014 I thought an ounce of prevention was worth a pound of cure. Little did I realize how my simple decision to add Gardasil to my cancer prevention strategy would result in so many new health conditions. Sometimes, I wish it were possible to get unvaccinated. Prior to Gardasil, I was an extremely healthy and active 26 year old woman. I was always involved in sports and worked out five times per week. I was enjoying a successful career and on my way up the corporate ladder.... more »

Dr. David Acer, Dentistry and the AIDS Crisis

Paul Coker at News Spike - 18 hours ago
*"Three years into the Acer investigation, I had fallen deeply into a U.S. Government cover-up... [t]he Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and Florida health officials had covered up almost all of the incriminating evidence linking Dr. Acer to thirty six serial killers studied by the FBI."* *"I was forced to conclude the authorities covered up the evidence implicating Dr. Acer to prevent the media, and subsequently the public, from probing into his background. The legal testimony in the case indicated he believed he was dying of a virus that the government had create... more »

10 Signs That You Are Truly Happy

Stranger in a Strange Land at Stranger in a Strange Land - 19 hours ago

The Validity of Marriage after Transition in the US

Zoe Brain at A.E.Brain - 20 hours ago
From Indiana Public Media: Sanders says the ruling will likely serve as an example when this issue comes up in other courts. “Around the country there are probably more couples in this situation than many people realize.” Sanders says. “That is a couple who was male and female at the time being married and then one of them transitioned genders and many of them wished to stay married.” Sanders says couples in this situation need confirmation their marriage won’t become void automatically if one of the parties undergoes a gender change. Sanders says the Indiana appellate court’s decisi... more »

Herbalism, Not Big Pharma, is Oldest and Most Effective Medicine by Christina Sarich

Stranger in a Strange Land at Stranger in a Strange Land - 20 hours ago
For Better Health Herbalism, Not Big Pharma, is Oldest and Most Effective Medicine by Christina Sarich Natural Society. 2 January 2014 *While many pharmaceutical medications are disruptive to the overall functioning of the body, numerous herbs actually support the natural healing powers of our own bodies. Herbs can be so effective at healing that we are still using them even after thousands of years.* A primary reason many of us frown on herbal medicine in modern times is because mainstream Western medicine shuns it. Big pharma spends billions of dollars to make sure we buy paten... more »

USA VERSUS ISRAEL...

Anon at aangirfan - 20 hours ago
[image: Friends for Ever] *Iranian kids by Hamed Saber* Zbigniew Brzezinski sees Eurasia (Europe and Asia), as the center of global power. Brzezinski believes that the USA must ensure that no country, other than the USA, should be allowed to dominate Eurasia. Hence the policy of 'divide and rule'. Hence bombs in Volgograd and Lebanon. The journalist Pepe Escobar has written about pitting Sunni against Shi'ite and Arabs against Iranians. *All in Play in the New Great Game * / *Asia Times * Pepe Escobar refers to various rivalries: *1.* The USA versus China. *2.* Iran (Shi'ite... more »

Free will is hard to define but it exists

Luboš Motl at The Reference Frame - 20 hours ago
Sabine Hossenfelder wrote an essay arguing that the free will doesn't exist even though she can't quite define the concept. To decide whether the free will "exists", I think it's almost necessary to define what this concept means. Wikipedia says: Free will is the ability of agents to make choices unconstrained by certain factors. Factors of historical concern have included metaphysical constraints (such as logical, nomological, or theological determinism), physical constraints (such as chains or imprisonment), social constraints (such as threat of punishment or censure), and mental ... more »

The Real 'Alien' Prequel - CRASHLANDING - banned film idea

Mike Philbin at PROGNOSIS II - 21 hours ago
Woah, what was that? I thought the Alien Franchise was for adults, oh well. I just got banned from the Prometheus 2 forum hosted by Scified.com, for posting a series of scenes (that might (or might not) be in chronological order) for a *REAL ALIEN PREQUEL*, which Prometheus clearly wasn't, it 'seeming to be' a REBOOT of the entire 'alien' franchise. Oh, that was a very long sentence, but I'll leave it as-is. Code-named CRASHLANDING, this pre-Alien treatment uses that art of H.R. Giger in as complete a fashion as is possible. Weird how this ties in to my 'something got stolen' dream ... more »

UK Conspiritorial

Craig at Is the BBC biased? - 21 hours ago
The National Archive at Kew has released the official Cabinet papers from 1984 under the thirty-year rule. Their website contains a half-hour podcast where two of the archivists at Kew run through the highlights from the latest batch. Both are excellent, engaging speakers and what they have to say is very interesting and pleasingly free of obvious spin. Every year at this time Martha Kearney presents *UK Confidential, *an hour long Radio 4 special devoted to the latest release*. *This too was very interesting and covered much the same ground as the National Archive podcast - th... more »

Updates On Syria [1.4]: Syria Informs The UN Of Turkey's Systematic Support For Jihadist Terrorists, More Than Half of Syria's Manufacturing Industry Has Been Destroyed, Syrian National Council Says It Will Not Attend Geneva II Conference

Saman Mohammadi at The Excavator - 21 hours ago
*1. An excerpt from, "Ankara suspected of arming jihadists in Syria" by Semih Idiz, Al-Monitor, January 3:* Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who is already having to cope with a major scandal that has severely undermined his claim of being a relentless fighter against corruption in high places, is now faced with a fresh crisis involving Syria that has the potential to not only further undermine his credibility but also to damage Turkey’s ties with its Western allies. *The latest debacle follows a scoop by mass circulation daily Hurriyet involving a truck laden with weap... more »

dream - selling the dream - advertising space in your sleep time?

Mike Philbin at PROGNOSIS II - 21 hours ago
very weird things are happening in the dream time, the sleep time, the other life of this 48-y.o. blogger. On New Year's Day it was the realisation that I could deny ANY DREAM CONTENT, question it, just say "No!" to it, if I wanted. Last night i.e. four days later, it was AN ACTUAL ADVERTISEMENT for a product/service: I literally woke up I got so angry. Where my dream time had been quite quiet since NYD's "No!", I had been having an abnormally vivid and lively series of dreams. Dream after dream after dream. Question has to be asked, "Why is a 48-y.o. man like myself still experie... more »

Friday Baseball Post

Jonathan Bernstein at A plain blog about politics - 22 hours ago
It's Hall of Fame time. Can't miss this one. As we all know, this year's ballot for the real voters is unlike any normal one: instead of being about which marginal guys deserve to be in, it's about dealing with the strategy of what to do with far more deserving players than the rules allow. There was a bit of this last year, but now it's getting silly. So. Some sorting is in order. Last year I had nine easy choices: Bonds, Clemens, Biggio, Piazza, Schilling, McGwire, Raines, Trammell, and Bagwell, all of whom are back this year. Then I had three bubble guys, and said I would have v... more »

The Way We Were

Whitewraithe~ at Northerntruthseeker - 23 hours ago
Congratulations to all my friends who were born in the 1930's, 1940's, 50's, 60's, 70's, and the early 1980s - [image: Pledge-Allegiance-1950s] First, we survived being born to mothers who smoked and/or drank while they carried us and lived in houses made of asbestos. They took aspirin, ate blue cheese, raw egg products, loads of bacon and processed meat, tuna from a can, and we didn't get tested for diabetes or cervical cancer. Then after that trauma, our baby cribs were covered with bright coloured lead-based paints. We had no child proof lids on medicine bottles, doors or cab... more »

Wise Wisdom for 2014

Whitewraithe~ at Northerntruthseeker - 23 hours ago
*Earlier today, I received these images from my daughter and wanted to share them with everyone. Feel free to pass them on.* [image: importantimage] [image: creationimage] [image: truthimage] [image: conspiracytheoristimage] *Whitewraithe~*

VIDEO - AGENDA: Grinding America Down

Whitewraithe~ at Northerntruthseeker - 23 hours ago
The Most Important Documentary On America Ever; Destroying America From Within *by: Josey Wales* There is nothing that is taking place in America today that can’t be understood by examining the 100-year history of the efforts to destroy America from within. This is a documentary that takes an in-depth look at the root of our decline in America; socialism with the ultimate goal of global communism. This documentary also lays out names and dates and groups that have an active and growing agenda to bring America down to a third-world country, from Karl Marx to the Fabian Socialists t... more »

SOCIAL JUSTICE: U.S. shocking redistribution of wealth in the past five years

Whitewraithe~ at Northerntruthseeker - 1 day ago
*WW~Notes: Here ya go, this is "socialism" plain and simple. The political progressives call it "social justice." Justice for who - I wonder?* [image: richpoor] Anyone reviewing the data is likely to conclude that there must be some mistake. It doesn't seem possible that one out of twenty American families could each have made a million dollars since Obama became President, while the average American family's net worth has barely recovered. But the evidence comes from numerous reputable sources. Some conservatives continue to claim that President Obama is unfriendly to business, ... more »
 
 

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