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Police fatally shoot dog at Adams Morgan festival - Should police have shot Parrot? |
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BY MATT ZAPOTOSKY (from
The
Washington Post) |
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A D.C. police officer shot and killed a festival-goer's dog amid hundreds of
onlookers in Adams Morgan on Sunday afternoon in an incident that was either
completely justified or totally unnecessary, depending on whom you ask.
This much, witnesses say, is clear: Sometime after noon on Sunday, two dogs
started snapping at each other in the middle of a crowd enjoying cheese fries
and funnel cake at the annual Adams Morgan Day festival on 18th Street NW. D.C.
police officers soon got involved, and at some point, one of them shot and
killed the larger dog, described as either a pit bull or Shar-Pei mix.
The disagreement is in the details.. Read More |
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Turtle with boy's initials carved on its shell found by his father 47 years
later in same backyard |
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By Mark Frauenfelder (from
Boing Boing) |
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 It
was 1965 when a boy in Washington County carved his initials in a turtle’s shell
and then let it go. Now, 47 years later, the turtle is still alive and has been
found by the boy’s dad.
Holland Cokeley, 85, of South Strabane, Washington County, was walking in the
woods of his backyard with his neighbour’s dog, Zack. Zack began poking around
at something and Cokeley realized it was a turtle. He didn’t think much of it,
until he gave it a closer look.
“I picked it up, and I thought ‘Oh geez, this is Jeff’s turtle!’” said Cokeley.
“It’s been here for 47 years, and it still has the same the same markings on
it!” Jeff was 13-years-old in 1965 when he carved “JC” and “1965″ on the
turtle’s bottom shell and then released it back into the wild.
Jeff Cokeley now lives in New York State, but began laughing when his dad sent
him pictures of the turtle. Experts say under the right conditions in the wild,
eastern box turtles can live up to a hundred years. Holland Cokeley kept it for
a couple days and then released it, so it can wander for perhaps many more
years. |
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How Bad Things Are |
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In March 2009 Ben Bernanke, normally
neither the most cheerful nor the most poetic of men, waxed optimistic about the
economic prospect. After the fall of Lehman Brothers six months earlier, America
had entered a terrifying economic nosedive. But appearing on the TV show 60
Minutes, the Fed chairman declared that spring was at hand.
Read More |
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The honeybees are still dying |
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The eerie mystery of the vanishing honeybees has not been put to rest. |
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BY HANNAH NORDHAUS (from
Boing Boing) |
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In the last few weeks, three separate studies explored the effect of
insecticides on honeybee and pollinator health. One paper linked neonicotinoids,
a new class of systemic insecticides that have come into widespread use in
recent years, to impaired honeybee navigation; a second noted the effects of low
levels of the pesticides on bumblebee reproduction.
Read More |
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The GOP’s Fear of a Cool Obama |
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After Obama slow-jammed the news on Jimmy Fallon, Republicans put out two
ads reminding viewers that he's too cool, too popular and too, hmm, what else? |
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BY LESLIE SAVAN (from
The Nation) |
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Republicans used to exult in fielding candidates that voters would like “to have
a beer with.” This year, of course, their candidate doesn’t drink beer—in fact,
Mitt Romney’s so socially challenged that his advance team is wary about letting
him share cookies with voters. But lately Obama has been raising the ante on
social comfort, asking which candidate would you like to share a song or nod to
a pulsing beat with, and the GOP clearly considers this to be some kind of dirty
trick. Read More |
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T. Boone Pickens: America Can't Get A Real Energy Plan Going Because Of The Koch
Brothers |
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BY ROB WILE (from
Business Insider) |
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The controversial and mysterious Koch Brothers' may be bad for
America.
In an interview on Yahoo's Daily Ticker, T. Boone Pickens singles out brothers
Charles and David's Koch Industries, which among other items produces fertilizer
and chemicals, as single-handedly preventing the U.S. from setting a cohesive
energy policy.
"The biggest deterrent to an energy plan in America is Koch Industries," the BP
Capital founder tells Yahoo's Aaron Task. "They do not want an energy plan for
America because they have the cheapest natural gas price they've ever had, and
they're in the fertilizer business and they're in the chemical business. So
their margins are huge. And they do not want you to have an energy plan, because
if you had a plan, then natural gas prices would come up."
The second-largest private company in the United States, Koch Industries has
spent at least $5 million in lobbying in each of the past four years, and given
at least $1,000,000 in seven of the last eight election cycles, according to
data from OpenSecrets.
In 2008, the company spent nearly $18 million on lobbying for oil and gas
interests alone, according to Open Secrets. They've already spent $2.3 million
on oil and gas lobbying in 2012.
Pickens concedes that it is generally difficult to find the momentum to put
together a cohesive energy plan.
"It isn't a failure of the Democrats. It's not a failure of the Republicans.
It's a bipartisan failure. Over the years neither party could provide the
leadership to have an energy plan." |
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Second Amendment clearly applies to militia only |
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BY KRISTOPHER BICKEL (from
The Columbus Dispatch) |
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 Several
letters appeared recently concerning the meaning of the United States
Constitution’s Second Amendment. As a retired member of the U.S.’s and Ohio’s
militia, I have a better and different perspective on this discussion.
One must start with the U.S. Constitution; Article 1, Section 8: “Congress is
authorized ... to provide for calling forth the Militia to execute the Laws of
the Union, suppress insurrections and repel invasions.”
Read More |
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Battleground America |
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One nation, under the gun |
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BY JILL LEPORE (from
The New Yorker) |
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Just after seven-thirty on the morning of February 27th,
a seventeen-year-old boy named T. J. Lane walked into the cafeteria at Chardon
High School, about thirty miles outside Cleveland. It was a Monday, and the
cafeteria was filled with kids, some eating breakfast, some waiting for buses to
drive them to programs at other schools, some packing up for gym class. Lane sat
down at an empty table, reached into a bag, and pulled out a .22-calibre pistol.
He stood up, raised the gun, and fired. He said not a word.
Read More |
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U.S. health care requires an upgrade |
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BY JEROME SMITH (from
The Columbus
Dispatch) |
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 As
we await the Supreme Court’s invalidation of the only decent health-care
initiative this country has undertaken in decades, I wonder just what it is that
these Republicans think is so wonderful about our “health-care system.”
My wife and I pay $2,650 per month for high-deductable health insurance with no
dental, vision or disability benefits. We are both 61, neither of us drinks or
smokes or is overweight. We work out regularly and are very active people. We
are self-employed as Realtors.
Why so much? I have been successfully treated for bipolar disorder for years and
am a 21-year-sober recovering alcoholic. These two factors make me, essentially,
uninsurable.
How many couples out there can afford $32,000 per year for health insurance?
We have spent hundreds of hours looking for a solution, to no avail. The Ohio
Department of Insurance tells me they can offer me no solution unless I am
willing to go totally without any kind of coverage whatsoever for 6 months. How
can I possibly take that risk?
As for me, I will never vote for or support any Republican, ever. And most
Democrats are a disappointment as well. We need national health care, yes,
socialized medicine if you want to call it that.
What do we think Medicare is? Government exists to protect the health, safety
and welfare of its citizens. |
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The Supreme Court’s Dark Vision of Freedom |
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The court’s conservatives apparently believe in the land of the free. Circa
1804 |
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BY DAHLIA LITHWICK (from
Slate) |
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 The
fight over Obamacare is about freedom. That’s what we’ve been told since these
lawsuits were filed two years ago and that’s what we heard both inside and
outside the Supreme Court this morning. That’s what Michele Bachman and Rick
Santorum have been saying for months. Even people who support President Obama’s
signature legislative achievement would agree that this debate is all about
freedom—the freedom to never be one medical emergency away from economic ruin.
What we have been waiting to hear is how members of the Supreme Court—especially
the conservative majority—define that freedom. This morning as the justices
pondered whether the individual mandate—that part of the Affordable Care Act
that requires most Americans to purchase health insurance or pay a penalty—is
constitutional, we got a window into the freedom some of the justices long for.
And it is a dark, dark place.
Read More |
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 The
Flintstones is not a documentary. |
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- Lewis Black, to creationists that believe Jesus rode a dinosaur |
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One
man alone can be pretty dumb sometimes, but for real bona fide stupidity nothing
beats teamwork. |
| - Mark Twain |
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Do
you really think that the POTUS is really the one in power?
Do you really think that it matters who the current figurehead is?
Do you really think that your vote matters any more at all?
Do you REALLY think?
You should be pissed off at those that are REALLY in power, not the talking
heads that you see on the television that help the media owners sell more crap
to you. |
| - anonymous |
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First Gene Therapy
Successful Against Aging-Associated Decline: Mouse Lifespan
Extended Up to 24% With a Single Treatment |
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ScienceDaily (May 14, 2012) — A new study
consisting of inducing cells to express telomerase, the enzyme
which -- metaphorically -- slows down the biological clock --
was successful. The research provides a "proof-of-principle"
that this "feasible and safe" approach can effectively "improve
health span." Read
More |
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Obama Winning Investors
by 49%-38% Against Romney in Poll |
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BY MIKE DORNING (from
Bloomberg) |
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Global investors increasingly prefer President Barack Obama to Republican
challenger Mitt Romney and most say they believe the incumbent will remain in
the White House for another four years.
Read More |
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Sabotage: The new GOP plan |
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Paul Ryan and the Republicans' latest tactic is outright treachery: They
want to break the government |
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BY ANDREW LEONARD (from
Salon) |
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Paul Ryan is nothing if not indefatigable. On Wednesday, the Wisconsin
Republican introduced yet another budget bill. The targets of his cuts — a long
list of Democratic priorities — are painfully familiar. But this time around
Ryan wrapped them up in a new package of urgency: preserving national security!
Ryan and his fellow Republicans (and a not inconsiderable number
of Democrats) are desperate to find a way to avoid the dreaded
”sequester” — a package of around $600 billion in defense
spending cuts that are scheduled to start kicking in at the end
of this year. Never mind the holy grail of deficit reduction:
When the beggar with his hand stuck out is the Pentagon,
“entitlement” isn’t such a dirty word, after all.
Read More |
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Global Car Makers Announce 15-Minute EV Charging Standard |
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BY ARMAN BARARI (from
Motorward) |
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Looks like auto makers will beat mobile phone makers in launching a universal
charger that is compatible with most devices. And it’s pretty damn quick as
well. They say charging an electric vehicle using this system will take as
little as 15 to 20 minutes. Currently, fast chargers need 30 minutes to 1 hour,
and if you use the normal charger, it’s a 6-hour job.
Read More |
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Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer Signs Planned Parenthood Funding Ban |
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AP |
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PHOENIX — Gov. Jan Brewer on Friday signed into law a bill to cut off Planned
Parenthood's access to taxpayer money funneled through the state for
non-abortion services.
Arizona already bars use of public money for abortions except to save the life
of the mother. But anti-abortion legislators and other supporters of the bill
say the broader prohibition is needed to ensure no public money indirectly
supports abortion services.
Planned Parenthood Arizona claims a funding ban would interrupt its preventive
health care and family planning services for nearly 20,000 women served by the
organization's clinics. The organization says it will consider a legal
challenge.
The measure targeting funding for Planned Parenthood for non-abortion services
was one of several approved by Arizona's Republican-led Legislature related to
contentious reproductive health care issues this session. |
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Brown says daughter,
23, insured under health law |
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BY GLENN JOHNSON (from
The Boston Globe) |
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Senator Scott Brown, who won office vowing to be the 41st vote to block
President Obama’s health care law and who has since voted three times to repeal
it, acknowledged Monday that he takes advantage of it to keep his elder daughter
on his congressional health insurance plan.
Read More |
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The “Daily Show” guide
to my enemies |
| As a producer, I met people whose
political views I detested. The hardest part was admitting they
weren't so bad |
| BY MICHAEL RUBENS (from
Salon) |
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| For two years I was a field producer for
“The Daily Show With Jon Stewart.” The field producer is the
person who guides the creation of the pre-taped segments, the
ones where the correspondent travels somewhere to interview and
heartily agree with some person who holds, uh, fascinating ideas
about the world. This meant I spent a lot of time with people
whose causes or philosophies I found blecchy — the sort of folks
who would fit nicely in the overlap of a Venn diagram whose
circles included Bachmann supporters, fans of Rush Limbaugh, and
people who wear tricorn hats and exercise their Second Amendment
rights at Tea Party rallies. You know – assholes.
Read More |
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| Near death,
explained |
| New science is shedding light on what
really happens during out-of-body experiences -- with shocking results. |
| BY MARIO BEAUREGARD (from
Salon) |
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| In 1991, Atlanta-based singer and songwriter
Pam Reynolds felt extremely dizzy, lost her ability to speak, and had difficulty
moving her body. A CAT scan showed that she had a giant artery aneurysm—a
grossly swollen blood vessel in the wall of her basilar artery, close to the
brain stem. If it burst, which could happen at any moment, it would kill her.
But the standard surgery to drain and repair it might kill her too.
Read More |
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| And now for more evidence of why America is
becoming a third world country |
| BY LARRY LAIRD |
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 “Journalists”
like those of Fox News quoting unsubstantiated (and ultimately ridiculously
wrong) reports, worded in such a way as to be presented as facts, then hiding
behind a “?” as an excuse when they are shown to be full of shit.
People that jump on every story printed as if it were true, if it fits their
agenda. Earth 6012 years old… yes! Temperature trends can be ignored! Yes!…
Obama is a secret Muslim terrorist plant! Yes!
Politicians like Bachmann and Palin that use false information like this to
discredit and diminish the respectability of their own country.
Other politicians publicly stating that they would rather see America fail than
move forward under a leader (any leader) of the opposing party.
We are in a downward spiral of gullibility, intentional misinformation, lack of
honor and accountability, with so-called journalists and commentators (Limbaugh
and Beck) leading the decline of core American values. And as the recent
elections show, it is working, the American people are being led by the nose
down the path of ignorance and corporate slavery. |
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| Forget Dem vs Rep, Left vs Right, Liberal vs
Conservative — It’s Us vs Corporations |
| BY LARRY LAIRD |
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 Are
we/have we devolved into a de facto fascist country where the line between
government and big business is hard/impossible to distinguish? Or is it worse
than that? Add in law enforcement (local to federal) with diminishing limits on
power who are often called upon by corporations to enforce their business needs
(eg, MPAA & RIAA) and you have a dangerous mix. At least for us not running the
corporations.
Every generation or so, a major secular shift takes place that shakes up the
existing paradigm. It happens in industry, finance, literature, sports,
manufacturing, technology, entertainment, travel, communication, etc. I would
like to discuss the paradigm shift that is occurring in politics.
For a long time, American politics has been defined by a Left/Right dynamic. It
was Liberals versus Conservatives on a variety of issues. Pro-Life versus
Pro-Choice, Tax Cuts vs. More Spending, Pro-War vs Peaceniks, Environmental
Protections vs. Economic Growth, Pro-Union vs. Union-Free, Gay Marriage vs.
Family Values, School Choice vs. Public Schools, Regulation vs. Free Markets.
The new dynamic, however, has moved past the old Left Right paradigm. We now
live in an era defined by increasing Corporate influence and authority over the
individual. These two “interest groups” – I can barely suppress snorting
derisively over that phrase – have been on a headlong collision course for
decades, which came to a head with the financial collapse and bailouts. Where
there is massive concentrations of wealth and influence, there will be abuse of
power. The Individual has been supplanted in the political process nearly
entirely by corporate money, legislative influence, campaign contributions, even
free speech rights. |
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