"America is rotting.
Not through neglect, but through design and timidity. The 1Percenters designed the rot, and the Party that historically represented us 99Percenters encourage it through timidity. This rot has been slow and steady for Forty years, and now, in the last decade, the rot has moved into high octane overdrive."
"Emergency workers used technology called capnography, which measures how much blood is traveling to the lungs and other organs. By seeing how much blood was still flowing through the body, EMTs could keep trying to revive the man.
'A pulse gradually returned,' anesthesiologist and cardiac care specialist Dr. Roger White wrote in the paper describing the incident. 'The effort was successful in large part because of capnography, which informed emergency workers that if they persisted, it was conceivable they'd have a survivor on their hands.'"
"WASHINGTON -- Health insurance profits are skyrocketing in 2010 compared to last year's returns and the outgoing chairman of the House subcommittee that oversees the companies is calling on them to return the profits to consumers in the form of premium reductions."
"Cocoa can only be grown close to the equator, mostly in West Africa, and farmers there lack incentives to replant the trees as they die. Cocoa trees take three years to mature. Small-scale producers of the delicious stuff earn just 80 cents a day selling to the mega-corporations that control the market."
"SAN FRANCISCO – Billionaire financier George Soros has thrown his weight behind California's marijuana legalization measure with a $1 million donation a week before the vote. The contribution reported Tuesday by The Sacramento Bee is the single biggest donation from an individual other than Proposition 19's main sponsor, Oakland medical marijuana entrepreneur Richard Lee."
"Why does The Daily Show's Jon Stewart pick on CNN so much?
Because 'you're terrible,' Stewart told CNN's Larry King Wednesday night. To King, he said: 'You know what you are? You're the last guy out of a burning building.'
"The crocodile survived the crash, only to be dispatched with a blow from a machete."
"This one-of-a-kind chandelier ($78.50, plus $17.50 shipping) is made from upcycled mason jars and lit with solar-powered lightbulbs. That's all in the plan for Treasure Again, an Etsy.com shop that lives by the phrase 'Do what you can, where you are, with what you have!'"
"Today, we're taking an important next step. As we move toward a clean energy economy, the White House will lead by example. I'm pleased to announce that, by the end of this spring, there will be solar panels and a solar hot water heater on the roof of the White House."
"For 70 years the Parisian apartment had been left uninhabited, under lock and key, the rent faithfully paid but no hint of what was inside."
"Just like some people distort the Koran to fit their crazy fanaticism, teabaggers twist ideals like 'Freedom' and 'Self Reliance' and 'Individualism' into something that is 180 degrees different. 'Freedom' is the freedom to hate anyone who isn't like 'us', 'Individualism' is ignoring anyone who is not as successful as 'we are' because it's their fault and they can go to hell, and 'Self Reliance' turned into simple selfishness."
The Tea Party has been billed as an organic grassroots operation, but a newly uncovered document obtained by Politico suggests the movement has been successfully co-opted as a Republican fundraising ploy.GOP political consultant Joe Wierzbicki floated the proposal a year ago today to create the Tea Party Express, a nationwide bus tour to "give a boost to our PAC and position us as a growing force/leading force as the 2010 elections come into focus." His idea eventually became one of the best known brands in the Tea Party movement.
The document cautioned planners to be careful when discussing the ruse to use Tea Parties for political gain. "We have to be very, very careful about discussing amongst ourselves anyone we include 'outside of the family' because quite frankly, we are not only not part of the political establishment or conservative establishment, but we are also sadly not currently a part of the 'tea party' establishment," Wierzbicki wrote.
Wierzbicki, who works for the Sacramento firm Russo Marsh + Rogers, went on to outline how conservative media including Fox News could be leveraged to hype the Tea Party Express. He recommended using "mentions and possibly even promotion from conservative/pro-tea party bloggers, talk radio hosts, Fox News commentators, etc..."
________
To reiterate: 'Go Fuck Yourselves, FAUX'.
Stewart calls out Fox News hypocrisy: ‘Go f*ck yourselves’ | Raw Story:"'They're tarring the entire Tea Party movement and the Republican Party,' Goldberg complained.'Bernie Goldberg is right!' Stewart exclaimed. When it comes to generalizing, just 'don't do it.'
But the Fox News pundits don't seem so worried about generalizations of liberals and the Democratic Party. Goldberg told MSNBC's Joe Scarborough that liberals think 'that whole middle of the country is made up of sort of jerks. You know, that's a Democratic thing. That's a liberal thing.'
'That's what we call a fair generalization,' said a sarcastic Stewart. 'By the way, the anti-generalizers at Fox want you to know that generalizing is the least of the liberals problems,' explained Stewart. And to make the point, The Daily Show's research staff had no trouble find plenty examples of conservative pundits at Fox News doing their own generalizing.
'The left in this country is invested in defeat in Iraq,' said Cal Thomas.
'Liberals see just about everything through the prism of race,' according to Goldberg.
'The left always paint Christians as hate mongers,' Glenn Beck told O'Reilly.
Jon Stewart concluded with just three word for the hypocrites at Fox News: 'Go f*ck yourselves.'"
_______
Rockets, man.
Asteroid, bitches!
Obama: NASA Still Has Space Adventures Ahead:"Asteroids zip by Earth fairly often and have occasionally smacked the planet with disastrous results. For example, asteroids have been blamed for the extinction of the dinosaurs.Landing on an asteroid would give scientists a better idea of how to handle a future killer asteroid that could wipe out much of life on Earth. Also, it would be a feat sure to win great attention – and there is far less gravity than the moon, meaning it would be easier and cheaper to leave."
_______
Finishes what he starts and very well organized.
Man delivers obituary to newspaper, hangs himself:
"The Mountain Democrat newspaper published part of the Allan Leo Peters II suicide note accompanying the obituary. The 64-year-old man wrote he'd been struggling with emphysema and had trouble breathing. He wrote, 'Yes, I have hanged myself (At least I hope I did).'
The suicide note and obituary arrived at the newspaper Tuesday night, but went unopened until the following day. It included a $90 money order, the cost of publishing an obituary."
_______
Pretty damn amazing:
Red Bull Skydive Team Pulls Off Incredible Stunt: Man Jumps From Plane To Plane In Midair (VIDEO)
"Employees of the CIA-connected private security corporation Blackwater diverted hundreds of weapons, including more than 500 AK-47 assault rifles, from a U.S. weapons bunker in Afghanistan intended to equip Afghan policemen, according to an investigation by the Senate Armed Services Committee."
"The Senate is holding a hearing today where several current and former Blackwater employees will be testifying, but honestly the only way Congress would stop giving Blackwater money is if it started registering black people to vote."
"The risk – and it is real – is that the response will be waves of bitter cynicism, particularly among the young people for whom the Obama campaign was their first taste of politics. Most won't switch parties, they'll just do what young people used to do during elections: stay home, tune out."See:
"WASHINGTON — Whither the youth vote? A year after backing Barack Obama by an overwhelming 2-to-1 ratio, young adults are quickly cooling toward Democrats amid dissatisfaction over the lack of change in Washington and an escalating war in Afghanistan.
A study by the Pew Research Center, being released Wednesday, highlights the eroding support from 18-to-29 year olds whose strong turnout in November 2008 was touted by some demographers as the start of a new Democratic movement."
"A Houston Chronicle analysis of congressional campaign contributions in the 2010 election season found that Texans are shipping millions of dollars to out-of-state candidates this year, and most of the recipients are Democrats.
Eight of the top 10 non-Texas recipients of Lone Star State political money are Democrats. Overall, Democrats are receiving about 60 percent of the $6,823,766 in Texas money headed to Senate and House candidates in other states, according to Federal Election Commission filings through Feb. 10."
"'You tell people that Marsha Paludan had a stroke, and you have to tell them twice,' says her daughter, Kari Paludan-Sorey, an opera singer in the Washington area. 'No one believes it. People think my mother is indestructible.'
In a place called WhiteStone, the teacher has become the student. This longtime master of movement strains to re-learn the simplest of motions that she once took for granted."
"They all work with President George W. Bush and were appointed to lucrative, obscure jobs by him in the closing days of his administration -- jobs that can pay as much as $3,000 an hour."
"Blowing your nose to alleviate stuffiness may be second nature, but some people argue it does no good, reversing the flow of mucus into the sinuses and slowing the drainage.
Counterintuitive, perhaps, but research shows it to be true."
"SAN JOSE, Calif. - Todd Davis has dared criminals for two years to try stealing his identity: Ads for his fraud-prevention company, LifeLock, even offer his Social Security number next to his smiling mug.
Now, Lifelock customers in Maryland, New Jersey and West Virginia are suing Davis, claiming his service didn't work as promised and he knew it wouldn't, because the service had failed even him."
"Will gay marriage help boost California's economy? Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger hopes so."
"'Engineering, stand by for warp drive.' With that command, the 'Star Trek' crew of the U.S.S. Enterprise prepared to hurl the spaceship through the cosmos at superluminal speeds. Warp drive is another one of those science fiction technologies, like teleportation and time travel, that have some scientific basis. It just hasn't been achieved yet. However, scientists are working on developing an interstellar spacecraft engine that is similar to the matter-antimatter engine of the Enterprise."
"He shook his cell phone off his belt, kicked off one shoe and used his toe to dial 911. Rescuers used a thick metal bar to pry the machinery off his arms."
"A Japanese civil servant was demoted for logging more than 780,000 hits on pornographic Web sites on his office computer over nine months, an official said Friday"
"I-Doser is some program you download and it plays music that synchronizes with your brainwaves or something and makes you feel like your own drugs. I could be completely wrong here, because I didn't actually read anything about it, but I'll post some of their captivating marketing bullshit here:"
"DBT Pre-Party @ CineRock on, y'all!!!
Date: January 10, 2008
Time: 7:00 PM
DBT Pre-Party @ Cine January 10, 2008 7 PM Free and open to the public.
Tonight's event is a pre-party for the Drive-By Truckers' benefit show at the 40 Watt later in the evening.
We will be auctioning off rare DBT items, artwork from local artists, signed music memorabilia, books and gift certificates from local Athens retailers and restaurants.
The auction includes: original Wes Freed artwork, a Patterson Hood guitar, signed memorabilia from David Cross, Zach Galifianakis, Patton Oswalt, Widespread Panic, R.E.M., Bill Wyman, Ben Mize (Counting Crows), AirTran Airline tickets, and artwork from Jeff Owens, Adam Smith, Elliot McPherson and Jimmy “Capman” Straehla.
LOCATION: Cin� (downtown Athens - just blocks from the 40 Watt. On 234 West Hancock Ave between Pulaski and Hull Streets in the old Snow Tire building)."
"Jane Hambleton has dubbed herself the 'meanest mom on the planet.'
After finding alcohol in her son's car, she decided to sell the car and share her 19-year-old's misdeed with everyone — by placing an ad in the local newspaper.
The ad reads: 'OLDS 1999 Intrigue. Totally uncool parents who obviously don't love teenage son, selling his car. Only driven for three weeks before snoopy mom who needs to get a life found booze under front seat. $3,700/offer. Call meanest mom on the planet.'"
"WARSAW (Reuters) - A Polish man got the shock of his life when he visited a brothel and spotted his wife among the establishment's employees. Polish tabloid Super Express said the woman had been making some extra money on the side while telling her husband she worked at a store in a nearby town."
Two weeks ago, the kids and I went on a trip to visit friends in San Antonio, Texas. On the way we stopped at a rest area just off the interstate. What happened next made me very uneasy...
I was drinking coffee heavily so that I would stay awake and needed to relieve myself pretty badly. I pulled into a rest area, locked the car doors, left the kids sleeping in the car, and went into the restroom. When I entered I noticed it was unoccupied except for a pair of sneakers visible under the second stall.
As I unzipped at one of the urinals and began to relieve my burning bladder I heard a voice say "Hey, what's up?". I looked around and there was no one else in the restroom. After a moments hesitation, I answered "Not much".
A little time went by and he says, "What ya doing?".
I didn't feel very comfortable talking to someone in a stall but I didn't want to be rude and answered, "Uh...we are heading to San Antonio to visit friends."
"Want to come over?", he says.
At this point I am really uncomfortable and I finish up and scoot over to the sink to wash up. "No I don't think so.", I replied. Wow, was this something else. I had never even had someone next to me with a wide stance before and now I've got someone in the stall asking me over!
As I reached for the paper towels to dry my hands I hear, "Hey man, can I call you back? There's some asshole in the bathroom answering every thing I say."
"Ever dreamed of scaling a city skyscraper like Spider-Man? Well, scientists say they are getting close to designing a real-life 'Spider-Man suit' which would allow the wearer to stick to the side of buildings. Coming to a skyscraper near you... Coming to a skyscraper near you... The breakthrough came after research into a microscopic 'velcro' used by real spiders, which allows them to cling to smooth surfaces while being easy to detach."
"Married men do less housework than live-in boyfriends, finds an international survey."
So, just like Al Capone, Rove has been felled by the smallest of his peccadillos.
It's a story of intrigue, injustice and backroom influence peddling: The case has now attracted attention across the United States and around the world. Forty-four former attorneys general from across the nation—Democrats and Republicans—have petitioned Congress asking that a special investigation be undertaken to examine the now obvious gross irregularities associated with the case. Here is the case in a nutshell:"
"TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — With large swaths of the Gulf Coast still in ruins from Hurricane Katrina, rich federal tax breaks designed to spur rebuilding are flowing hundreds of miles inland to investors who are buying up luxury condos near the University of Alabama's football stadium.
"Winning is Fun and Makes You Strong One of the things Rove always understand is that. The most fun the Democrats had in this entire decade is when they stood firm on Social Security, not only refusing to support some version of the non-existent Bush plan, but also refusing to put up an 'alternative' so that some middle ground compromise could be found which was 90% what the president wanted. They defied the pundits, they stood together, they beat Bush and the Republicans. As Josh Green explains in his Atlantic Monthly article about Rove (no link sorry), out now at a timely moment, killing Social Security wasn't just a plan to kill Social Security, it was a key part of the plan to destroy Democrats. Miraculously, they didn't let themselves be destroyed. Sadly, they seem to have forgotten how fun that was. -Atrios 10:36"
"Anyway, I thought the most interesting anecdote in the article reflected on President Bush, not Rove: Dick Armey, the House Republican majority leader when Bush took office (and no more a shrinking violet than DeLay), told me a story that captures the exquisite pettiness of most members of Congress and the arrogance that made Bush and Rove so inept at handling them. 'For all the years he was president,' Armey told me, 'Bill Clinton and I had a little thing we'd do where every time I went to the White House, I would take the little name tag they give you and pass it to the president, who, without saying a word, would sign and date it. Bill Clinton and I didn't like each other. He said I was his least-favorite member of Congress. But he knew that when I left his office, the first schoolkid I came across would be given that card, and some kid who had come to Washington with his mama would go home with the president's autograph. I think Clinton thought it was a nice thing to do for some kid, and he was happy to do it.' Armey said that when he went to his first meeting in the White House with President Bush, he explained the tradition with Clinton and asked the president if he would care to continue it. 'Bush refused to sign the card. Rove, who was sitting across the table, said, 'It would probably wind up on eBay,'' Armey continued."
The head of a Chinese toy manufacturing company at the center of a huge U.S. recall has committed suicide, a state-run newspaper said Monday."
"WASHINGTON - It's a battery that looks like a piece of paper and can be bent or twisted, trimmed with scissors or molded into any shape needed. While the battery is only a prototype a few inches square right now, the researchers at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute who developed it have high hopes for it in electronics and other fields that need smaller, lighter power sources. 'We would like to scale this up to the point where you can imagine printing batteries like a newspaper. That would be the ultimate,' Robert Linhardt a professor at the Center for Biotechnology and Interdisciplinary Studies at RPI said in a telephone interview."
"A so-called 'anti-wrinkle' pizza created by a nutritionist in southern Italy has caused a stir, with pizza purists protesting against the desecration of the national dish. The 'primula' pizza is made up of three times the amount of fibre found in a classic pizza and boasts that it contains more magnesium and iron, thanks to its ingredients, including wholemeal flour, La Stampa newspaper reported Monday."
"Miss America can add crime fighter to her resume. Lauren Nelson recently went undercover with police in New York for a sting targeting sexual predators.
Officers with Suffolk County's computer crimes unit created an online profile of a 14-year-old girl that included photographs of Nelson as a teenager.
'I got to chat online with the predators and made phone calls, too,'
"MONTGOMERY, Ala. - The state House and Senate approved separate resolutions apologizing for slavery Tuesday — one day after Confederate Memorial Day, an official state holiday.
'An apology goes a long way,' said Sen. Hank Sanders, a Democrat from Selma who sponsored his chamber's resolution. 'Some of us can't begin to heal until we have an apology. Some of us can't move into reconciliation until we have an apology.'"
BERLIN — An early-morning German bank customer had a bit of a shock when he found a horse already in line at the automatic teller machine in front of him. It seems the horse's owner, identified only as Wolfgang H., had a bit too much to drink the night before and decided to sleep it off inside the bank's heated foyer, police said Tuesday.
The 40-year-old machinist told Bild newspaper he had had "a few beers" with a friend in Wiesenburg, southwest of Berlin, and decided to hit the hay in the bank on his way home.
"It was late, it was already dark and cold," he was quoted as saying.
_______
Very cool."WASHINGTON (AP) - For the first time astronomers have discovered a planet outside our solar system that is potentially habitable, with Earth-like temperatures, a find researchers described Tuesday as a big step in the search for 'life in the universe.'The planet is just the right size, might have water in liquid form, and in galactic terms is relatively nearby at 120 trillion miles away. But the star it closely orbits, known as a 'red dwarf,' is much smaller, dimmer and cooler than our sun.
In your face, grim reaper!
"LONDON (Reuters) - A British man celebrated his 100th birthday with 25,000 pounds ($50,000) in winnings on Tuesday after he beat the bookmakers with a wager that he would live for a century.
Alec Holden, from Epsom, south west of London, had placed a 100 pound bet with bookmaker William Hill almost 10 years ago that he would live to be 100 years old.
The retired engineer said a daily diet of porridge and playing chess was the key to his longevity -- as was remembering to keep breathing."
"I'm not sure how Reid pulled this one off, but a GOP effort to strip the Senate Iraq supplemental of withdrawal deadlines survived a close vote. The vote was 50-48-2."
"Within three weeks, the United States could face a constitutional crisis over President Bush's war policy in Iraq. The president and his allies seem to want this fight. Yet insisting upon a confrontation will be another mistake in a long line of bad judgments about a conflict that grows more unpopular by the day"
"WASHINGTON — Americans overwhelmingly support a congressional investigation into White House involvement in the firing of eight U.S. attorneys, and they say President Bush and his aides should answer questions about it without invoking executive privilege.
In a USA TODAY/Gallup Poll taken Friday-Sunday, respondents said by nearly 3-to-1 that Congress should issue subpoenas to force White House officials to testify."
A 117-page document obtained by Salon.com highlights a “secretive plan” by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) to “gut” the Endangered Species Act.
The law, which is credited with saving the American Bald Eagle from extinction,” would be changed to limit the number of species that can be protected,” curtail preserved acres of wildlife habitat, and “dilute legal barriers that protect habitat from sprawl, logging or mining."
Bush administration officials throughout the government have engaged in White House-directed efforts to stifle, delay or dampen the release of climate change research that casts the White House or its policies in a bad light, says a new report that purports to be the most comprehensive assessment to date of the subject."
Doctors have rejuvenated post-heart attack patients by injecting them with stem cells, said two studies released Sunday.
The clinical trials delivered stem cells to hearts whose stiff, post-attack scar tissue kept them from pumping blood as they should, according to the studies presented at the American College of Cardiology meeting of 30,000 specialists in New Orleans, Louisiana until March 27."
San Francisco's Board of Supervisors voted 10-1 this afternoon to make the city the first in the nation to prohibit petroleum-based plastic checkout bags in large markets and pharmacies."
"Toby, a 2-year-old golden retriever, saw his owner choking on a piece of fruit and began jumping up and down on the woman's chest. The dog's owner believes the dog was trying to perform the Heimlich maneuver and saved her life.
Debbie Parkhurst, 45, of Calvert told the Cecil Whig she was eating an apple at her home Friday when a piece lodged in her throat. She attempted to perform the Heimlich maneuver on herself but it didn't work. After she began beating on her chest, she said Toby noticed and got involved."
"LOS ANGELES - 'An Inconvenient Truth,' the documentary that turned former vice president Al Gore's power-point presentation on global warming into an engaging and entertaining film, won the Oscar Sunday night."and
......
"My fellow Americans," Gore said to laughter from the crowd. "People all over the world, we need to solve the climate crisis. It's not a political issue, it's a moral issue. We have everything we need to get started with the possible will to act. That's a renewable resource. Let's renew it."
"'He is more popular now than he ever was in office, and he knows it,' says Laurie David, one of the producers of 'Inconvenient Truth' and a Hollywood environmental activist (and wife of 'Seinfeld' co-creator Larry David) who has traveled around the world promoting the film with Gore. 'He's a superhero now.'"
Earlier this month, the highly-rated Sloan School of Management at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the U.S. launched its response to the problem, the Laboratory for Sustainable Business.
Interactive computer-based simulations will let students to play the role of entrepreneurs seeking to maximize their profits investing in companies that do not harm the environment."
"People have a harder time coming up with alternative solutions to a problem when they are part of a group, new research suggests."
"I am disgusted with the norm in business and sports that if you are a really big winner, you can get away with being a creep," Sutton said. "My dream is that leaders of all organizations will eventually treat acting like an -- hole as a sign of bad performance rather than an excuse for good performance."
"Have you seen this thing? It's new. It's a giant, powerful, gas-powered trike. It's a three-wheeler, a Y-framer with two wheels up front, one giant one in back, ridden like a motorcycle but which apparently has comfort and stability approaching a car while still giving you (they say) the wind-in-your-face thrill of a bike but is roughly 50 times more stable and safe and easy to ride and you are therefore much less likely to accidentally lay it down while taking a sharp 40 mph turn in the city and lose your kneecap."
"WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) -- A fishing crew has caught a colossal squid that could weigh a half-ton and prove to be the biggest specimen ever landed, a fisheries official said Thursday.
If calamari rings were made from the squid they would be the size of tractor tires, one expert said."
"In our collective culinary imagination, there is a mythical Italian grandmother perpetually simmering a pot of ragu"
