Showing posts with label science. Show all posts
Showing posts with label science. Show all posts

Wednesday, July 20, 2011

Ain't Free Market

Truth? Only compromised deals where everyone is equally at fault.... or some similar bullshit.

Daily Kos: Some Things Are True

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Indeed, why.

The coming economic catastrophe: Why do we still listen to free-market ideologues? - By Joseph E. Stiglitz - Slate Magazine

Just a few years ago, a powerful ideology—the belief in free and unfettered markets—brought the world to the brink of ruin. Even in its heyday, from the early 1980s until 2007, American-style deregulated capitalism brought greater material well-being only to the very richest of the richest country of the world. Indeed, over the course of this ideology's 30-year ascendance, most Americans saw their incomes decline or stagnate.
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Joy.

Murdoch and the British phone-hacking scandal: Why the U.S. should prosecute News Corp. and strip its TV licenses if it's guilty. - By Eliot Spitzer - Slate Magazine

Much more importantly, the facts already pretty well established in Britain indicate violations of American law, in particular a law called the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. The Justice Department has been going out of its way to undertake FCPA prosecutions and investigations in recent years, and the News Corp. case presents a pretty simple test for Attorney General Eric Holder: If the department fails to open an immediate investigation into News Corp.'s violations of the FCPA, there will have been a major breach of enforcement at Justice. Having failed to pursue Wall Street with any apparent vigor, this is an opportunity for the Justice Department to show it can flex its muscles at the right moment. While one must always be cautious in seeking government investigation of the media for the obvious First Amendment concerns, this is not actually an investigation of the media, but an investigation of criminal acts undertaken by those masquerading as members of the media.
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A Growing Trend of Leaving America - US News and World Report

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Landmark transplant uses stemcell-coated artificial windpipe | The Raw Story

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Monday, July 11, 2011

Utta Butta Solo

Lot's to say about the impending Grand Screw about to come down on our collective heads by Obama, Republicans and Democrats. But....

DAMN, this was incredible. Marry me, Hope Solo.

Wambach, Solo key dramatic US win over Brazil:
"The Americans are moving on to the semifinals after one of the most riveting games in the history of the Women's World Cup — beating Brazil 5-3 on penalty kicks after a 2-2 tie.
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U.S. Women Beat Brazil After Stunning Goal At Women's World Cup (VIDEO)

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Then there's this just for kicks.



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Tuesday, June 21, 2011

Candidate Waltz

Centro-matic's new records, Candidate Waltz drops today. Purchase a copy from this most excellent band:



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Seriously. What the hell is wrong with the rest of you states. Thank you, Miss California. Thank you.

Newly Crowned Miss USA Was One Of Only Two Contestants Who Believe In Evolution | ThinkProgress:

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Monday, April 25, 2011

Guts

The 2nd picture of the volcano erupting is amazing:

NASA Celebrates Earth Day With Stunning Photos Of, You Guessed It...Earth | TPM Photo Galleries

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Very interesting. Football teams as socialist commies.

The Science Behind College-Football Helmet Stickers | Playbook:
"When small rewards become visible trophies of status within a group, male players change their approach in competition, sacrificing their own best interest to serve the needs of the team."
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As with blood, several types of human gut | The Raw Story

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Can. Not. Wait.

Behind The Scenes Of The Hobbit [VIDEO]

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Wednesday, November 17, 2010

One Way Bang

Come on, science! Banking on you to get us off this dirtball.

Proof of extra dimensions possible next year: CERN | Raw Story:
"Scientists at the CERN research center say their 'Big Bang' project is going beyond all expectations and the first proof of the existence of dimensions beyond the known four could emerge next year."
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Not sure why there's resistance to this, and yes, the private sector could roll wit it.

Scientists propose one-way trips to Mars - Yahoo! News

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Hard out there for a baby anaconda.

Anaconda Babies Live Birth: Can They Survive Piranha And An Ocelot? (VIDEO)

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I hate you, Ryan Reynolds.

GQ's 2010 Babe of the Year: Scarlett Johansson: Photos: GQ

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Wednesday, October 20, 2010

Collider

Oh baby. Bring it on. Love this stuff.

CERN scientists eye parallel universe breakthrough - Yahoo! News:
"And as their Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at CERN near Geneva moves into high gear, they are talking increasingly of the 'New Physics' on the horizon that could totally change current views of the universe and how it works.

'Parallel universes, unknown forms of matter, extra dimensions... These are not the stuff of cheap science fiction but very concrete physics theories that scientists are trying to confirm with the LHC and other experiments.'"
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And this guy is in the lead?!?

Would-be congressman Daniel Webster tried to ban happy hour | Raw Story:
"Daniel Webster, the Republican challenger to Rep. Alan Grayson (D-FL), introduced legislation in 1991 that would have banned bars across Florida from holding happy hours."
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A perfect killing machine? Of course, man-made.

Cancer is a man-made disease, study claims - Health - Cancer - msnbc.com

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Weeeeeeee!



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Tuesday, October 19, 2010

Robot Robot

Really not much different than any current pop star. Just as robotic and the auto-tune is built in.

Man hands are kinda freaky, though. Flesh-bots aren't too bad.

You're welcome. Happy nightmares.



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Not all Republicans are racists, but all racists ARE Republican. Just sayin'.

Brian Kilmeade sez: 'Not all Muslims are terrorists, but all terrorists are Muslims.' Oh really? | Crooks and Liars

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Did wonders for the acid scene.

BBC News - How Mandelbrot's fractals changed the world:
"During the 1980s, people became familiar with fractals through those weird, colourful patterns made by computers.

But few realise how the idea of fractals has revolutionised our understanding of the world, and how many fractal-based systems we depend upon."
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Monday, October 18, 2010

Time is Not on Our Side

Well, this really screws up my schedule.

Time, like all good things, may come to an end, study says

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National Treasures.

Helen and Margaret’s Pledge to America � Margaret and Helen

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Remember when the U.S. use to tackle the BIG PROJECT. Yeah, remember. Aww. Good times, weren't they. Good times.

World’s longest tunnel breaks down Swiss Alpine barrier | Raw Story

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Your god is a terrorist. Albeit a terrorist with a flair for the beautiful.

Statue of Liberty lightning picture by Jay Fine | Metro.co.uk

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Tuesday, October 05, 2010

Punk Kids

Punk ass kid.

81-year-old charged with murder of 94-year-old man:
"McDougall is accused of taking a metal rod from the closet and hitting Nguyen multiple times in the head. Nguyen died at a hospital."
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I'd rather we say 'goodbye'.

Say hello to mechanically separated chicken. It’s...:
"Basically, the entire chicken is smashed and pressed through a sieve—bones, eyes, guts, and all. it comes out looking like this.

There’s more: because it’s crawling with bacteria, it will be washed with ammonia, soaked in it, actually. Then, because it tastes gross, it will be reflavored artificially. Then, because it is weirdly pink, it will be dyed with artificial color.

But, hey, at least it tastes good, right?

High five, America!"
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Cool. Hope we don't kill them all.

Ocean May Hold 750,000 Species Not Yet Discovered : TreeHugger:
"While 250,000 marine species were counted, researchers estimate that some 750,000 remain undiscovered."
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Freaky

Hold back time, don’t climb the stairs: study | Raw Story:
"Climbing the stairs or to the top of a mountain really can age you, but don't worry you can set the clock back by taking a quick trip in the car, a new study said Friday.

Scientists in Boulder, Colorado say they have proved what every schoolchild learns in the classroom about Einstein's theory of relativity -- that time flies at altitude but paradoxically slows down when people speed up."

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Tuesday, September 21, 2010

A Better Chocolate

I was stoked to see this with all of the Unions bashing by Republicans and the Obama Administration.

Video: Saints and Vikings players show union solidarity - Shutdown Corner - NFL� - Yahoo! Sports:
"Minutes before the New Orleans Saints and Minnesota Vikings kicked off the 2010 NFL season, players from both teams stepped on the field and raised one finger into the air in a show of union solidarity.

The move was a public message to owners that players are united in negotiations for the upcoming collective bargaining agreement, which threatens to derail the 2011 season."
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Of course all of the uber rich, announcer assholes got all uppity about it, because in their Taliban like view, Unions are like women and children.... not seen and not heard.

Tiabbi takes them to task. Read the entire article, it is a good.

This country needs much more union protest. Voilent, if need be.

On ESPN and "Replaceable" People -- RollingStone.com

So it seems the whole sports world is abuzz about the decision by the Minnesota Vikings and New Orleans Saints players to raise a finger in the air before the season-opening game as an expression of union loyalty -- "We are one" -- in a year in which the players and the owners are negotiating a new collective bargaining agreement. I watched that gesture during the game and knew it was going to inspire the usual sneering (it started almost immediately, with Al Michaels chirping, "There's nothing like starting an NFL season with a labor statement"), as voices from all corners (including, unbelievably, many former NFL players) denouncing the absurdly brief, silent, and inoffensive demonstration as a tasteless interruption of our God-given right to nonstop mindless entertainment.

Forget about people actually supporting unions in a labor disagreement: they apparently don't even want to see them, not if it's going to delay a football game by three whole seconds. There were actually arguments across the media landscape to the effect that NFL players were out of line bringing their labor disagreement into our living rooms, the implication being that any display of union activity is somehow unseemly or ( I love this) selfish. We have a whole reality-show culture celebrating the cause of people eating centipedes and stabbing each other in the back for cash prizes and fame, but football players quietly showing union solidarity is tasteless. If you can explain that one to me, please don't hesitate to write in.
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Here is the anti-union folk's agenda.

This is What Class Warfare Looks Like � Main Street

AMERICAblog News: 64% of US wealth went to top 10% since Reaganomics

Op-Ed Columnist - The Tax-Cut Racket - NYTimes.com:
"How did we get to this point? The proximate answer lies in the tactics the Bush administration used to push through tax cuts. The deeper answer lies in the radicalization of the Republican Party, its transformation into a movement willing to put the economy and the nation at risk for the sake of partisan victory."
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Hows about another vaca down to the Gulf, Obama. Another swim with the daughters, perhaps? Enjoy some of the toxic seafood.

Heckuva job.

Shocking Fish Kill Reported In Plaquemines Parish (PHOTO):
"Over at The Upshot, National Affairs Reporter and Louisiana native Brett Michael Dykes has some shocking photos of a massive fish kill that Plaquemines Parish Billy Nungesser has been distributing to the media. Dykes ably sets the scene: 'What you see above isn't a rural gravel road. It's a Louisiana waterway, its surface completely covered with dead sea life -- a mishmash of species of fish, crabs, stingray and eel.'"
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Why do we not have glass cathedrals honoring science. If there is every an alter I would worship at it is the one that has the power make chocolate even tastier. Water to wine? Fuck that. Give me a chocolate that I can't even imagine.

BBC News - Cacao genome 'may help produce tastier chocolate'

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Thursday, August 19, 2010

Dean is Wrong

Howard Dean is my write-in for Prez in 2012.

Dean suggests ‘compromise’ on Park 51: No point doing ‘something good’ if met with ‘enormous resistance.’

He's dead wrong on this issue and his logic is so twisted, it makes me think the Dems are trying to be too cute by half in dealing with this non-issue.

Either we have religious freedom or we don't. Islam did not attack us on 9/11.

Also, if you don't live in NYC, shut the fuck up.

And Jon Oliver on the Daily show said it best when he stated that by the anti-muslim community center folks (it isn't a Mosque, btw) logic, we should ban all Catholic Churches from being built anywhere near a elementary school.

Also, by this logic, we in San Francisco can ban all Mormon Cult buildings due to their financial support against granting gays equal rights.

You are dead wrong, Dean, and your comment that liberals need to be flexible is pretty fucking stupid. I think we've been flexible way too much.

"Of course, if progressive movements throughout history had followed Dean’s advice, there’d be very little progress. During the health care debate, Howard Dean boldly said, “I’m going to fight for a public option until we get one. It really is that simple. … We will not stop because Democrats in Washington say it’s done. We will not wait 20 years — 10 years — we will not wait a single year — because we will not stop until every American has the option to voluntarily buy into a program like Medicare.” It appears that running into the “enormous resistance” of the U.S. Senate and political opposition from the insurance, drug, and medical-industrial industries did not stop Dean from fighting for a public option. One has to wonder why he feels like it would be enough to sacrifice the rights of American Muslims to peacefully worship where they please."
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Though, he did get this right:

Dean: Individual Mandate Will Be Removed From Health Care Reform By 2014:
"On Friday, the former DNC chair took his skepticism with the individual mandate to a different, more provocative level. Appearing on MSNBC, Dean predicted that the policy will be removed from the legislation by the time much of the reform is implemented in 2014."
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For people who ask why I'm so pissed at OA. Here's a partial list.

Daily Kos: Olbermann said it. Rude Pundit said it better.

And to Obama's defenders, from the professional flacks like Gibbs to the amateur hero worshippers people around here, howzabout answering the criticisms for once, instead of attacking the messenger or changing the subject with a list of exaggerated achievements. Go ahead:
*Justify giving torturers and war profiteers a pass
*Justify prosecuting whistleblowers
*Justify ordering assassinations
*Justify claiming the right to imprison people FOREVER without trial
*Justify 30,000 more troops in Afghanistan at a cost of 30 billion dollars a year
*Justify appointing Ken Salazar
*Justify not firing Ken Salazar for his incompetent oversight of MMS
*Justify letting BP try to cover up the size of the spill through the massive use of dispersants
*Justify the formation of a Cat Food Commission on Social Security stacked with people who are on the record in favor of slashing it
*Justify campaigning for Blanche Lincoln after she threatened to filibuster health care insurance reform if it had the public option
*Justify candidate Obama's 180 on FISA and subsequent lying about safeguards that the bill did not contain
*Justify appointing two of the architects of the biggest rip-off in human history, Geithner and Bernanke, to his economic team
*Justify having a prominent, homophobic backer of Proposition H8 give the invocation at the inaugural. Out of all the clergymen in the world
*Justify caving in to the right-wing noise machine instead of confronting it on ACORN, Van Jones and Shirley Sherrod
*Justify record defense budgets
*Justify the lack of a strong stand on net neutrality
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Add this to the list.

'No Precedent' For Proposed Cuts To Food Stamp Benefits

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Has my full support and coin. We need more Atheist in the mix in a bad way.

Daily Kos: An Atheist Running for Congress:
"Doubt and skepticism are part of human nature. Many people who consider themselves religious admit to having occasional doubts about their beliefs. The politically expedient solution to this problem would be to admit that we have had doubts but finally conclude that we believe. What if, however, after looking at the entire picture we are more comfortable with the doubts than the belief? If it is acceptable to have doubts, is it not then acceptable to be a nonbeliever?

Many of the founding fathers of this country came here for religious freedom, but they were escaping countries where rulers told them how to worship not countries that were ruled by nonbelievers. Although many of the founding fathers were Christians, others were skeptics and Deists. Thomas Jefferson, author of the Declaration of Independence, extolled 'a wall of separation between church and state'. James Madison, principal author of the Constitution, wrote, 'Religion flourishes in greater purity without than with the aid of government.'"
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Bring it on.

Reverse-Engineering of Human Brain Likely by 2030, Expert Predicts | Gadget Lab | Wired.com:
"“The singular criticism of the singularity is that brain is too complicated, too magical and there’s something about its properties we can’t emulate,” Kurzweil told attendees at the Singularity Summit over the weekend. “But the exponential growth in technology is being applied to reverse-engineer the brain, arguably the most important project in history.”

For nearly a decade, neuroscientists, computer engineers and psychologists have been working to simulate the human brain so they can ultimately create a computing architecture based on how the mind works."
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Tuesday, July 06, 2010

Absolutely Nothing

War. What the fuck is it good for. Killing people and draining treasure. That's about it.

Hey, look, a great idea.

Conyers throws in with Grayson, co-sponsors ‘War is Making You Poor Act’ | Raw Story

Rest assured this will never happen. We don't do 'great ideas' in the U.S.

Just a fund raising ploy.

And it is called an 'escalation' not a goddamned 'surge'.

"It seems that Rep. John Conyers (D-MI) would agree, perpetual war is making you poor.

To begin rectifying the situation, he's joined with Congressman Alan Grayson (D-FL) in co-sponsoring the 'War is Making You Poor Act,' which would limit defense spending to $548.9 billion: the exact figure alloted in the fiscal year 2011 budget.

The act also seeks to utilize an additional $159.3 billion set aside for 'discretionary' operations abroad to relieve the full federal income tax burden on every American's first $35,000 earned per year, or up to $70,000 per year for married couples."
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Pffft. 100 billion over 5 years. We aren't stupid, Gates. That's couch money at the Pentagon.

Try half a trillion this year.

Daily Kos: BIG: �Gates calls for 100 billion in cuts to Defense Budget

Why is this Republican hack holdover from BushCo still in charge?



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Fucking hippie... who happens to be right per norm.

Kucinich: ‘We are losing our nation to lies about the necessity of war’:
"'We are losing our nation to lies about the necessity of war. Bring our troops home. End the war. Secure our economy.'"
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She use to do good work... until they smeared the shit out of her. Now, she's just another asshole, access driven 'reporter' avoiding journalism at all cost. Thank good for Taibii.

Lara Logan, You Suck -- RollingStone.com:
"Anyone who wants to know why network television news hasn't mattered since the seventies just needs to check out this appearance by Logan. Here's CBS's chief foreign correspondent saying out loud on TV that when the man running a war that's killing thousands of young men and women every year steps on his own dick in front of a journalist, that journalist is supposed to eat the story so as not to embarrass the flag."
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Sign me up.

Chinese Companies 'Renting' White People

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Come on, luck of the gene draw. Daddy's needs to live to 100.

Scientists Discover Keys to Long Life - WSJ.com


Tuesday, June 29, 2010

Immortal Dog vs. Bionic Cat

Clint Webb for Senate. Because, why not? We'll elect a bunch like him anyway.



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They givin' back err jobs.

Colbert, Immigrant Farm Workers Challenge Pundits And Unemployed To 'Take Our Jobs':
"And don't count on a big paycheck. Farm workers are excluded from federal overtime provisions, and small farms don't even have to pay the minimum wage. Fifteen states don't require farm labor to be covered by workers compensation laws.

Any takers?

'The reality is farmworkers who are here today aren't taking any American jobs away. They work in often unbearable situations,' Rodriguez said. 'I don't think there will be many takers, but the offer is being made. Let's see what happens.'"
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Assholes.

More Millionaires Put Money Into Jets, Jewelry, Give Less To Charity

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GOP says Schwarzenegger a 'disappointment' - Politics - Washington Post - msnbc.com

Disappointment?! Hell, the entire state was druuuunk as fuck when we held this special election. On the ballot was a porn star, a Gary Coleman, a handful of homeless dude plus a host of other freaks. We picked the most ridiculous of the bunch. Expectations were not high.

"Organizers said the actor-turned-politician declined an invitation to the event. The truth is, he would not have been welcome. After nearly six years in office, Schwarzenegger has few friends left in either party. The state budget deficit hovers around $20 billion; his approval rating has sunk below 25 percent."
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Humor....

Immortal Dog Is The Most Awesome Dog (VIDEO)

Vs.

Reality.

'Bionic Cat' Gets New Life With Prosthetic Paws

Strange.

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Thursday, June 17, 2010

Fake President Maddow

The Obama speech that should have been.

I'm down with drafting Maddow in '12.

Fake President Maddow's Oval-Office-in-her-own-head address on MSN Video

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Goddammit.

Sea creatures flee spill, gather near shore - Disaster in the Gulf- msnbc.com:
"GULF SHORES, Ala. - Dolphins and sharks are showing up in surprisingly shallow water just off the Florida coast. Mullets, crabs, rays and small fish congregate by the thousands off an Alabama pier. Birds covered in oil are crawling deep into marshes, never to be seen again.

Marine scientists studying the effects of the BP disaster are seeing some strange — and troubling — phenomena.

Fish and other wildlife are fleeing the oil out in the Gulf and clustering in cleaner waters along the coast. But that is not the hopeful sign it might appear to be, researchers say."
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Goddamn right! If a law applies to an individual, it applies to a corporation, now that the activist, NeoCon Supreme Court has defined 'things' as 'people'.

Some white collar motherfuckers need to be frog marched into prison. Image needs to replay on every TV station for a month.

BP: Beyond Punishment | The Nation:
"A punitive society is not the best kind of society: there's a real virtue in forgiveness, in second chances. But for years we've been applying Rand Paul's 'accidents happen' principle to those at the top while heaping blame, scorn and draconian punishment on those at the bottom. Punitive damages are capped for corporations, while punitive policies proliferate for citizens. This tears the social contract apart, and the only way to repair it is to apply the same principles of accountability up and down the social hierarchy. We should start with BP."
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What Jack Donaghy says:

Alec Baldwin: This Land Is Your Land:
"I can't get this song out of my head. You know the lyrics.

This land is your land, this land is my land
From California, to the New York Island
From the redwood forest, to the gulf stream waters
This land was made for you and me

I just keep thinking about these lyrics.

Here's another thing I keep thinking about. How this corporate boot-licking band of board room-loving reactionaries that are calling the shots from the Republican side of the Supreme Court are going to rule on any BP-related litigation that may make it to their chamber. This is the court that, on behalf of making sure that CEO's continue their death grip on legislative reform, ruled that corporations have the same rights as individuals vis a vis campaign contributions."
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One trillion that will never, ever, ever see a cut, ever b/c no politician has the balls to do it.

Needs to be done, though.

Commission outlines $1 trillion in defense budget cuts | Raw Story:
"Defense companies put billions into PR campaigns for the necessity of this or that project that runs over cost. Legislators have every career incentive to lard the defense budget with job-creating bloat for their districts. The media treats civilian and military spending as two entirely different entities, with military spending emerging from a magical, never-ending fountain of cash. And then there’s the general jingoism that equates curbed defense spending with a deficit of patriotism."
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Storming the gates. We are coming for you.

Editorial - The Message From Arkansas - NYTimes.com:
They may not have won, but discontented Democrats sent an important message to the Obama administration on Tuesday by mounting an unexpectedly strong primary challenge to Senator Blanche Lincoln of Arkansas. For the White House to minimize the efforts of unions and others who helped support that challenge suggests a tone-deafness to the growing restlessness in the Democratic Party."
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I mean, my god, how shitty of a state is SC. You can only vote on, essentially what is a POS PC running Windows with no paper trail. All tallys are stored in the computer. Hell, I could hack that.

Still livin' in Rove's world.

The BRAD BLOG : 'Experts' Eye 100% Unverifiable E-Vote System in 'Win' of SC's Mystery U.S. Senate Nominee:
"In Lancaster County, Rawl won absentee ballots over Greene by a staggering 84 percent to 16 percent margin; but Greene easily led among Election Day voters by 17 percentage points.

In Spartanburg County, Ludwig said there are 25 precincts in which Greene received more votes than were actually cast and 50 other precincts where votes appeared to be missing from the final count.

'In only two of 88 precincts, do the number of votes Greene got plus the number we got equal the total cast,' Ludwig said.

Greene also racked up a 75 percent or greater margin in one-seventh of all precincts statewide, a mark that Ludwig notes is even difficult for an incumbent to reach."
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Too spot on by the Onion.

This writing style is the template for every piece of shit news organization out there.

Candidate May Have Lied About Heroic Death In Vietnam | The Onion - America's Finest News Source:
"MONTGOMERY, AL—In a major scandal that could cast doubt on his political future, U.S. Senate candidate Chris Wilfred came under fire this week for comments he made alleging he had died heroically while fighting in the Vietnam War."
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Check out the two cool pictures on the right:

Scientists say planes can cause rain, snow

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I'd like to go colonized one, please.

Kepler space telescope finds possible planets:
"The Kepler space telescope seeking Earth-like planets in a far-off region of the Milky Way has discovered more than 700 planetary 'candidates' - some that just might be the right size and in the right places for life to be possible."
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Tuesday, June 15, 2010

Cap Smear



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Cap Smear @ 2:08 is must see TV:



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Dead rich chicks walking... or rather, 'running'. Let's go Jerry!

Harold Meyerson - Calif. GOP primary winners look headed for defeat:
"There's a reason Arnold Schwarzenegger is the only Republican elected to a major statewide office in California since 1994 -- and it's not his celebrity status. It's because, when he was first elected governor, he did not have to run in and win a Republican primary: He was elected in a special recall election open to candidates and voters from all parties.

Whitman and Fiorina had no such luck. In winning their nominations, they said things deeply offensive to a fatally large swath of California voters. Their campaigns may be gold-plated, but they have ears of purest tin."
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Larry Flynt is so smart.

Stephen Hawking On Religion: 'Science Will Win' (VIDEO):
"When Sawyer asked if there was a way to reconcile religion and science, Hawking said, 'There is a fundamental difference between religion, which is based on authority, [and] science, which is based on observation and reason. Science will win because it works.'"
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Hawking has spoken.

6-story Jesus statue in Ohio struck by lightning - Yahoo! News:
"MONROE, Ohio – A six-story-tall statue of Jesus Christ with his arms raised along a highway was struck by lightning in a thunderstorm Monday night and burned to the ground, police said."
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What a picture.

Hard to port! Eject Goose, eject! | Bad Astronomy | Discover Magazine

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Thursday, June 10, 2010

Bubbles

Seriously thought about leaving a link up to this site for an entire week as my blog post.

It is funny and true. But the truth of it makes it also sad. Very, very sad. But hilarious!

THINGS REPUBLICANS HATE | A place where Republicans can bond.:
"America is a free country. This doesn’t refer to its citizens exclusively, it also includes the nation as a whole. Europeans (Queers), Asians (Chinese) and the rest of the world (losers) are devoted to making certain concepts universal. As Americans, we shun that idea. We’re going to do whatever we want and the rest of the world can deal with it."
THINGS REPUBLICANS HATE | A place where Republicans can bond.:
"Conservatives and Liberals are often at odds concerning past events and their accuracy. For instance, Liberals think that Bill Clinton was a successful president. Bill Clinton cheated on his wife and he is fat, so that cancels everything else out. As we go further back in time, liberal ideas become more outrageous."
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Damn right, Labor.

It really sucks that Obama and his asshole lackeys hate the Democratic base so much.

Messina and Rahm need to go.... soon. Very soon.

So sick of electing Republican Lite.

AFL-CIO: "Labor isn’t an arm of the Democratic Party"; �SEIU: No Support for Blanche

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Of course they are.

Class action lawsuit: Retailers selling gas hotter than 60 degrees rip off consumers | Raw Story

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There's been a ban in San Francisco proper for a couple of years now. Coming to your state in the near future, rest-of-America.

Daily Kos: Bye Bye Plastic Bags:
"The California Assembly voted 41 to 27 to ban single-use plastic grocery bags, and the bill is expected to pass the senate and get signed by Gov. Schwarzenegger. Should it pass, you'll have to bring reusable bags to the store or pay at least 5 cents apiece for recycled paper bags when getting your goods bagged."
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I'd be better off too if'n I gots to see two chicks kiss every day. I'll be here all week. Thank you. Thank you ladies and germs.

The Mommy Files : Study: Children of lesbian couples better off

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Bubbles. Just say the word. It'll make you smile.

Scientists hit on universal theory of bubbles | Raw Story:
"In order to minimise surface area, he explained, a bubble forms an almost perfect hemisphere when it is in contact with a solid or liquid surface. When it pops, a two step process unfolds, creating a ring of smaller bubbles.

Until now, the exactly how that happened was not understood."
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Thursday, May 06, 2010

Neofeudalism

Help our friends in Nashville:

So Nashville Is Flooded… How Can I Help? [Flood 2010] | Nashvillest

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2nd amendment. That's all they care about. The rest do not matter. As long as they can shoot somebody. The conservative movement is as fucked up as they come.

Bloomberg 'Terror Gap' Argument Shot Down By Pro-Gun GOP Senators:
"New York City Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg's appeal to what he called 'common sense' at a congressional hearing Wednesday morning failed to sway two Republican senators who said that giving the government the ability to block the purchase of guns by suspected terrorists would undermine the Second Amendment's right to bear arms.

'Shouldn't FBI agents have the authority to block sales of guns and explosives to those on the terror watchlists -- and deemed too dangerous to fly? I actually believe that they should,' Bloomberg told senators. Federal law currently only allows the government to block guns sales for a very limited number of reasons, and being on that list is not one of them. (For more background, see Tuesday's article on the subject.)"
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Yup:

Daily Kos: Slouching toward neofeudalism:
"The financial crisis that grips our nation's states and cities has a malicious source, and Governor Tim Pawlenty recently named that source: public school teachers.

'It used to be that public employees were underpaid and over-benefited. Now they are over-benefited and overpaid compared to their private-sector counterparts.'

The school teacher, the policeman, the firefighter - these are now the faces of what is wrong with America today. It doesn't matter that studies by the Bureau of Labor Statistics say otherwise, America can no longer afford their overpaid, middle-class salaries.

At least that is what the right-wing media is telling us."
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Hopeful, but the FCC head is a dick.

Josh Silver: Congress to FCC: Do Whatever It Takes to Protect the Internet

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Nice one, Harry.

Harry Reid: GOP 'Making Love To Wall Street':
"'The Republicans are having difficulty determining how they're going to continue making love to Wall Street,' Reid, the Senate majority leader, said in a press briefing."
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I'd like to go to Mars, now, please.

How Capt. Kirk Changed the World - NASA Science

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Wednesday, May 05, 2010

Liberal-Tarians

"Help with my luggage". "Wide Stance". Etc, etc.

Just another day in Hypocritistan.

Exposed: Christian leader caught with male escort says he needed help with his luggage | Raw Story:
"A Christian leader and prominent neuro-psychiatrist who co-founded the Family Research Council with evangelist James Dobson took a ten-day European vacation with a callboy he met through RentBoy.com and was caught in an airport with the escort by a Miami newspaper."
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What Kos says:

Daily Kos: Libertarians viewed more favorably by Democrats than Republicans:
"The notion that Republicans are libertarian is ludicrous. They stick their noses into our bedrooms, into our doctors' offices, into churches. They demand the roundup of people who don't look like them. They whine about Miranda rights and due process. They are more concerned about the rights of big energy conglomerates, than they are about the rights of people to enjoy long walks on pristine beaches. They whine about true independent and free media that doesn't validate their ideology. They freak out about anyone who doesn't believe in their god, or worse, in any god at all.

For the American Taliban, 'liberty' means their ability to impose their beliefs and lifestyle on the rest of society.

So of course they would react negatively to the word, since they equate it with libertinism. For a movement predicated on imposing its mores on the rest of society, this is obviously deeply offensive."
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Larry Flynt is so awesome:

Stephen Hawking Explains How To Build A Time Machine:
"Stephen Hawking, a self-described 'physicist, cosmologist and something of a dreamer,' offers instructions on how to build a time machine in an article for the Daily Mail. 'All you need is a wormhole, the Large Hadron Collider or a rocket that goes really, really fast,' the article promises.

Hawking roots his premise in Einstein's theory of relativity, suggesting that since time moves faster in some places than others, it's quite possible to move along this 'river' into the future--but not back to the past."
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Universities of Wall Street.

Catch the documentary. It is online, too:



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1. Funny 'cause it is true. 2. Funny because it is Louis C.K. 3. Apropos funny or something.

NSFW language:



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Wednesday, April 28, 2010

Something We Wouldn't Want to Meet

Skimmer's are Republican darlings; the folks they are fighting for tooth and nail.

What Atrios says:

Eschaton:
"The Skimmer Economy

Some day I hope more people realize that large segments of our economy don't actually do anything (health insurance, much of finance/real estate), they simply position themselves in the middle of transactions and take their cut. That isn't to say there are no transactions which legitimately require skilled middlemen, or that there is no legitimate function for the finance and banking industries, but to a great degree the skimmers just don't do anything productive at all. Except take our money."
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I spent a couple of years in AZ. As a Dem, the A-xenophobes (R) have just handed us a gift. Will be interesting to see how the Dems screw it up.

And isn't having to carry papers at all times rather.... well, Nazi-ish?

I thought Dems were the Nazi/Commie/Socialist. Makes about as much sense as a Glenn Beck chalk board.

Linda Greenhouse: Arizona Is A 'Police State,' 'I'm Not Going Back':
"I'm not going back to Arizona as long as it remains a police state, which is what the appalling anti-immigrant bill that Gov. Jan Brewer signed into law last week has turned it into.

What would Arizona's revered libertarian icon, Barry Goldwater, say about a law that requires the police to demand proof of legal residency from any person with whom they have made 'any lawful contact' and about whom they have 'reasonable suspicion' that 'the person is an alien who is unlawfully present in the United States?' Wasn't the system of internal passports one of the most distasteful features of life in the Soviet Union and apartheid-era South Africa?"
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Sound of crickets.

Why Aren’t Tea Partiers Protesting Arizona’s Big Government Overreach On Immigration?:
"Isn’t the whole premise of the Tea Party movement that overreaching government poses a grave threat to individual freedom? It seems to me that a law allowing individuals to be detained and interrogated on a whim — and requiring legal residents to carry identification documents, as in a police state — would send the Tea Partyers into apoplexy. Or is there some kind of exception if the people whose freedoms are being taken away happen to have brown skin and might speak Spanish?"
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SF is boycotting AZ.

City Insider : City workers banned from official travel to Arizona

So is Mexico.

Some truckers plan boycott over Arizona immigration law - Politics AP - MiamiHerald.com

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I made a similar comment recently.

Justice for thee, but not for me.

Boggles the mind:

Greenwald: Obama DoJ prosecutes Bush corruption whistleblower, but not Bush war crimes

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Larry Flynt is right!

BBC News - Stephen Hawking warns over making contact with aliens:
"He explained: 'We only have to look at ourselves to see how intelligent life might develop into something we wouldn't want to meet.'"
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Talk about your skimmers.

Congratulations Comcast; You're The Worst Company In America! - The Consumerist:
"After four rounds of bloody battle against some of the most publicly reviled businesses in America, Comcast can now run up the steps of the Philadelphia Museum of Art and hold its hands high in victory -- it has bested everyone else to earn the title of Worst Company In America for 2010."
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Big placebo in the sky.

Placebo effect beats God, Prozac:
"This is the story of three drugs. Except one is not really a drug at all and is merely an illusion, a nifty construct, an intense belief that it might be a drug, even though, as mentioned, it is very much not. We just think it is. Isn't that strange? Wonderful? Both?

The three drugs -- which, sorry, are not so much drugs as they are modes of comprehending our own weird little minds, needs and inherent psychoses -- are presented here by way of two recent studies that essentially reinforce what similar studies have been declaring for years and decades and, in the second case, since the ancient mystics suckled wild plants in the forest, licked God, found the source of the soul, and said, you know, holy f--."
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