Wednesday, November 13, 2013

13 Nov - Blogs I'm Following

Singers at African Green Revolution Forum | Bi...Singers at African Green Revolution Forum | Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (Photo credit: Gates Foundation)
Nuclear Fusion ReactorNuclear Fusion Reactor (Photo credit: jurvetson)
Kick the Fossil Fuel Habit - An interview with...Kick the Fossil Fuel Habit - An interview with author Tom Rand (Photo credit: mars_discovery_district)
MSRE ReactorMSRE Reactor (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
English: Molten-Salt Reactor Experiment. React...English: Molten-Salt Reactor Experiment. Reactor building. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
English: Molten-Salt Reactor Experiment. Pumps.English: Molten-Salt Reactor Experiment. Pumps. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Warsaw skylineWarsaw skyline (Photo credit: Liwnik)
6:25am MST

Indigenous Environmental Network: UN Climate Summit in Warsaw: Capitalism and Fossil Fuels

brendanorrell@gmail.com at CENSORED NEWS - 2 minutes ago
Statement on the UN Climate Conference in Warsaw  by Tom Goldtooth, Executive Director, Indigenous Environmental Network Censored News The United Nations climate meetings involve the big powers of the United States and other industrialized “developed” countries. Lurking in the background are the financial sectors and investors of capital often having meetings in 4-5 star hotels. Everything

Vacation or Retirement?

Charles Barton at The Nuclear Green Revolution - 25 minutes ago
In my last Nuclear Green post I pointed to a problem which I lacked the capacity to explore. I did not elaborate in that previous post, but my reasons have to do with the health and vision problems I have been struggling with for some time. I also feel that the work that I once performed on Nuclear Green, has mow been taken over by others, who are better qualified than I am to carry it forward. When I first began writing about energy issues in 2007, the Molten Salt Reactor and thorium were virtually unknown. Kirk Sorensen had launched his crusade, and the the discussion on Energ... more »

CORPORATE CONTROL OF OUR FOOD

Bruce K. Gagnon at Organizing Notes - 41 minutes ago
*Click on graphic to enlarge* The solution? Buy local, eat local....boycott the corporate brands. Free ourselves from corporate domination of our food supply.* *

Typhoon Haiyan, Some Stories of Courage

Nonoy Oplas at Government and Taxes - 1 hour ago
I am speechless watching the photos, reading stories, of death and destruction in several provinces in central Philippines when typhoon Haiyan hit them last Friday, November 8. Facebook and twitter are sizzling with various stories and opinions. I can't add much on these. I will just repost this opinion from an anonymous person, shared in facebook today by several friends. I just added photos from various online sources. --------- (Personal account of a person who survived the Typhoon and does not want his name posted, made today) I wont be posting my whole experience as there's alw... more »

Eating Sesame Seeds Superior To Tylenol for Knee Arthritis by Sayer Ji

Stranger in a Strange Land at Stranger in a Strange Land - 1 hour ago
Eating Sesame Seeds Superior To Tylenol for Knee Arthritis by Sayer Ji Grreen Med Info, 10 November 2013 A remarkable new study published in the *International Journal of Rheumatic Diseases *confirms that *food is not only medicine, but sometimes superior to it. * Medical researchers working out of Tabriz University of Medical Sciences, Tabriz, Iran, sought to investigate the *effects of sesame seed supplementation on clinical signs and symptoms in patients with knee osteoarthritis*.[i] Knee osteoarthritis is a form of *degenerative joint disease* or degenerative arthritis ... more »

The soft, lilting German language

Not a sheep at Not a sheep - 1 hour ago

Stuxnet Struck Russian Nuclear Power Plant

Penny at Penny for your thoughts - 1 hour ago
Remember Stuxnet? The cyber warfare viral attack launched by US and Israel? More revelations about the extent of Stuxnet's reach have surfaced, courtesy of the head of Russian anti-virus firm Kaspersky Lab. Eugene Kaspersky, the CEO and Chairman of his namesake company, said that the sophisticated malware also infected a Russian nuclear plant around the height of reports on the threat during "the Stuxnet time," as he put it. When Stuxnet was made public in June 2010, a *New York Times *article contended that the worm was a creation of the United States and Israel to undermine Ira... more »

NY Parents Mad as Hell and Not Going to Take It Anymore

Judy Rabin at Schools Matter - 1 hour ago
Well it's about time. NY parents are finally raging against the Common Core and the punitive high stakes testing that labels their children failures. Has this insanity finally reached a tipping point? Stay tuned. Watch the video coming out of this meeting last night and share it widely. *"They also criticized the increased student testing and teacher evaluations associated with Common Core." * * * It's time for parents all across the country to stand up for their children and their children's teachers. It's time to end this "reign of error" and terror in education and get back to... more »

Flux repulsion may make a tiny C.C. natural

Luboš Motl at The Reference Frame - 3 hours ago
*A "Darwinian" proposal to solve the cosmological constant problem* Since the cosmological observations in the late 1990s, most of us took for granted that the Universe is filled with dark energy (currently believed to represent 68% of the energy density \(\rho=T_{00}\)) whose character may be refined as the ordinary positive cosmological constant (the "C.C.") i.e. \[ p=-\rho, \quad T_{\mu\nu}=\rho g_{\mu\nu} \] However, the energy density \(\rho\) seems to be extremely tiny in the apparently natural units of quantum gravity, \[ \rho\approx 10^{-123}\,m_{\rm Planck}^4 \] which is t... more »

The Pop 5: feminism at a pop culture glance

Megan MacKenzie at Duck of Minerva - 3 hours ago
The Pop 5 is a new ‘test’ series of posts touching on events in pop culture and linking them back (briefly, hopefully, and sometimes loosely) to IR and politics. The posts are meant to be LIGHT, but also to take seriously the influence of popular culture on how we understand the world. It is, after Continue reading

Dr Judy Wood - SEPTEMBER 11TH 2001 - now you see it now you don't.

Mike Philbin at PROGNOSIS II - 4 hours ago
in this interview, Dr Judy Wood explores the problem of TRYING TO ANALYSE HOW *THE MAGIC TRICK* was done and not 'who did exactly what with which secret technology' on the day of 9/11 aka September 11th 2001, and why. *The problem is the buildings turned to dust in mid air.* *911 was an attack on human consciousness - It numbed everyone.* *Our memory is malleable.* [source 108MORRIS108] and here's Judy Wood expounding upon perception i.e. *THE WORLD IS WHAT WE BELIEVE IT TO BE* at the Breakthrough Energy Movement conference in Holland 2012.

US CAUSED TYPHOON TO GET BASES IN PHILIPPINES?

Anon at aangirfan - 4 hours ago
On 5 November 2013, it was reported that *the USA and the Philippines are in disagreement about the USA's wish for a much increased military presence in the Philippines.* In October 2013, US Secretary of State John Kerry cancelled a visit to the Philippines. The USA wants access to Philippine military bases and wants to bring in aircraft, ships and other equipment to the Philippines. *The Philippines Defense Secretary, Voltaire Gazmin, said there is a dispute about whether the Philippines or the USA will control these bases. * Gamin said: "What will happen if we won't have access... more »

"... People do not have big salaries here and will obviously be interested in the salaries and the benefits in England."

Not a sheep at Not a sheep - 5 hours ago
That was said by the mayor of the Romanian mayor of two Romanian villages. Not that you'd know this if you relied upon the pro-EU, pro-unfettered immigration BBC

72 Hour Ultimatum: Are Democrats turning on Obama to save their own skin?...(video)

Adrienne at Adrienne's Corner - 6 hours ago
*must be, because we know they don't give one hoot or holler about the chaos that has been rained down on the heads of the American people.* Listen to uber-squid Matt Bennett, who is Senior Vice President for Public Affairs and a co-founder of Third Way, a group of even more squids who think they're smarter than the average bear, as he tells us bitter clingers how much better off we're going to be under Obamacare and how we should just give our long suffering hard-working president a tiny bit more time to get this whole clusterf**k off the ground. Frankly, I think the bear is smart... more »

ONE HUNDRED AND FORTY-TWO MILL - the price of dead artist painting dead artist - Bacon's Freud triptych sold

Mike Philbin at PROGNOSIS II - 6 hours ago
just when we're in the throes of global recession, this news of a record price paid for a work of art by a British artist just in c/o the LA Times. *The Bacon work, a triptych from 1969 titled “Three Studies of Lucian Freud,” depicts another painter, Lucian Freud, a friend of Bacon’s -- and ultimately an artistic rival -- sitting in three different positions on the same chair. The three panels are awash in bright orange and beige tones.*[source LA TIMES] That's NINETY MILLION POUNDS STERLING, at today's exchange rate. £90,000,000 is like £30,000,000 per triptych painting. Somebody... more »

Louisiana School Letter Grades: The Games Reformers Play

deutsch29 at @ THE CHALK FACE - 8 hours ago
Let me begin this post by stating that I am against the use of letter grades as a measure of school performance. Assigning a single letter grade to a school in order to determine school worth bespeaks the disguised agenda of privatization– nothing more. And yet, the grading of public schools abounds. Reformers insist that […]

Is The Democratic Party Serious About Fighting For LGBT Equality?

DownWithTyranny at DownWithTyranny! - 8 hours ago
The Democratic Party prides itself on being a big tent so the answer is both yes and no. Mainstream FDR progressives are very serious about equality-- like the Pennsylvania state Senator, DaylinLeach, in the video above. Confused conservatives who, for whatever reason, stumbled into the wrong party are not. When I was growing up, my grandfather, a dedicated Socialist, told me to never trust the Democrats. He pointed out how conservative Democrats-- mostly, but not exclusively, in the South-- were preventing equality under the law for the descendants of the African-Americans they ... more »

Change The World Wednesday (#CTWW) - Good News

Small Footprints at Reduce Footprints - 8 hours ago
Welcome to Change The World Wednesday (#CTWW)! Wondering how to live greener? You've come to the right place. Each week we challenge ourselves to try a new task ... or "amp up" something we're already doing. We raise our awareness, learn from each other and develop Eco-friendly skills which will improve our lives and protect our planet. Doing so together gives us power ... the power to Change The World! If this is your first visit, please click HERE for information and a complete list of all the challenges we've taken on so far. This post contains great information and I encourage ... more »

Sorry Russel. you’re wrong.

Peter Cresswell at Not PC - 9 hours ago
Greens co-leader Russel Norman has made headlines for taking the opportunity for NZ parliamentarians to express sympathy with the 2,000 victims of the Philippines typhoon, and using it instead to tell the House it is another warning for the planet. The typhoon, the strongest since 2006, was the result of climate change, he said, an urgent message to humankind that Mother Nature won’t continue tolerate our wicked carbon-fuelled behaviour. Norman quoted an understandably emotional Filipino “climate negotiator” who had said "What my country is going through as a result of this extre... more »

Eat it, Chicago! The Freedom Tower One World Trade Center is taller than the Sears Willis Tower

KenInNY at DownWithTyranny! - 10 hours ago
*Yes, the mast counts! One World Trade Center (right) wins!* *by Ken* It all came down to the meaning of "tall." Or maybe "building." But just in time for the opening tomorrow of the modest 72-story 4 World Trade Center tomorrow, the Council on Tall Buildings and Habitat (what? you didn't know there was a Council on Tall Buildings and Habitat? how else would such great questions be decided?) has issued its longest awaited ruling: The mast atop New York's still-unfinished One World Trade Center, which brings it to the full 1776-foot height envisioned by original architect Daniel Li... more »

mars anomalies

Oberon at GlobaLove Think Tank - 11 hours ago

Unintended consequences: US ethanol revolution causes 'ecological disaster' ......... Meanwhile , as Over 50 US officials are in Brussels to negotiate the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) , folks debate whether by by limiting health, safety and environmental regulations in order to boost trade, the US and EU are“putting the corporation above the nation ? Another red flag is whether the trade agreement could behoove giant corporations like Monsanto, who could use the new ‘de-regulation’ to sue the EU for billions of dollars if they refuse to import GMO products ?

Fred Walton at Catharsis Ours - 11 hours ago
Unintended consequences: US ethanol revolution causes 'ecological disaster' Published time: November 12, 2013 19:15 Get short URL [image: John Moore / Getty Images / AFP] John Moore / Getty Images / AFP Share on tumblr Tags Biology, Ecology, Global economy,Global warming, Natural disasters,Politics , Science, Security, USA A new investigation has revealed that the United States’ ethanol mandate is severely harming the environment without producing enough tangible benefits. Since the Obama administration began implementing the ethanol mandate – requiring a certain level of the biofuel to ... more »

Europe watch - Germany sets forth its terms for governing Europe as CDU / CSU and SPD come closer to forming their Grand Coalition........Spain continues trying to baffle with BS - is that game coming to a close ? When does Greece go boom again - stated another way , when does play Lucy with the football to Greece's Charlie Brown ?

Fred Walton at Catharsis Ours - 11 hours ago
Germany ...... http://hat4uk.wordpress.com/2013/11/12/eu-future-breaking-berlin-moves-germany-out-of-the-line-of-fire-and-squarely-into-the-driving-seat/ EU FUTURE BREAKING: Berlin moves Germany out of the line of fire…and squarely into the driving seat BY JOHN WARD NOVEMBER 12, 2013 'BUSINESS-FRIENDLY' EU = VICTORY FOR BANKERS AND MULTINATIONALSS DANGER AHEAD FOR GREECEEC TO BE SIDELINED IN EZONE BANKING UNION HITLER WON AFTER ALL VICTORY FOR THE BANKFURTERS WOLFGANG SCHÄUBLE It is no longer possible to deny the Grossdeutschland “business friendly” agenda in Europe [image: scha... more »

NSA Blowback - Germany warns US facilities could be targeted ( by Germans not Al Qaeda ) in wake of NSA leaks !

Fred Walton at Catharsis Ours - 11 hours ago
http://rt.com/news/nsa-german-snowden-protest-619/ Germany warns US facilities could be targeted in wake of NSA leaks Published time: November 12, 2013 22:13 Get short URL [image: The entrance to the US Airbase is pictured in Ramstein, southern German (AFP Photo / Daniel Roland)] The entrance to the US Airbase is pictured in Ramstein, southern German (AFP Photo / Daniel Roland) Share on tumblr Trends NSA leaks Tags Germany, Intelligence, Internet, Protest,USA, Violence Officials in Germany have cautioned authorities to prepare for possible attacks against United States facilities overs... more »

Untitled

New Orleans Ladder at New Orleans Ladder - 12 hours ago
*Jefferson, Plaquemines parishes file wetland damage lawsuits against dozens of oil, gas, pipeline companies ~Mark Schleifstein*

STOPPED FOR SAYING HELLO

Bruce K. Gagnon at Organizing Notes - 13 hours ago
The police in Philadelphia stop a black man for walking down the street. His crime, he said hello to someone on the street. You can hear how the cops feel about black people and how they treat people. How much have things changed for blacks since slavery days?

Quickening of energy systems via the 11-11 portal brings accelerated changes…

Obi-Wan Kabuki at AMERICAN KABUKI - 13 hours ago
* * * * *Quickening of energy systems via the 11-11 portal brings accelerated changes…* 12 November 2013 Quickening of energy systems via the 11-11 portal brings accelerated changes in the inner and so-called outer. Increased levels of hu-man (hu-being) and Hue-Being participation have allowed expansion of portal breadth and depth. Expected results include enhanced sensitivity to energetic changes by “hu-manity” class of beings, upgraded mission awareness by Hue-Manity, and highly accelerated consciousness upgrades in all Gaia groups. Gaia Whole embraces this process, as it is l... more »

Spiraling Blue Higher Energetics Appear Around Gaia Globe…

Obi-Wan Kabuki at AMERICAN KABUKI - 13 hours ago
* * * * *Spiraling Blue Higher Energetics Appear Around Gaia Globe…* by ÉirePort Spiraling blue Higher Energetics appear around Gaia Globe, indicating full Gaia Ascension Portal activation. This point has been awaited for millenia, and (although minor adjustments may be indicated) is now complete. Subsequent required steps for hu-manity and Hue-manity Up-rising are now viable. ÉirePort | November 10, 2013 at 03:38 URL: http://wp.me/p2sFUY-qa

HOLLY GREIG AND THE CIA

Anon at aangirfan - 14 hours ago
Campaigner* Robert Green* has alleged that a pedophile ring abused a girl called *Hollie Greig* and a number of others. The claim that Hollie Greig had been sexually abused was first reported to Grampian Police in Scotland by Hollie's mother in 2000. *Hollie Greig and her mother.* "One of the children abused, according to Green... was Sylvia Major's daughter Cath. "Cath was already an adult, and a successful footballer, by the time her mother made friends with Hollie and Anne Greig. "'I wasn't a victim of child sex abuse,' the 37-year-old said. 'I was playing half-back for Sco... more »

Listen to @KarenLewisCTU. Studio Version @thechalkface!

Timothy D. Slekar at @ THE CHALK FACE - 14 hours ago
Shaun and I are headed back to MidWest Family Broadcasting this week to record new STUDIO episodes of @the chalkface. We love the internet show but check out this studio version with Karen Lewis. What do you call it when you close 50 public schools that serve mostly minority and low income children? Be careful […]

Wednesday mini-ramble

Peter Cresswell at Not PC - 15 hours ago
If the press told the truth: [image: Embedded image permalink] “…*a fiscal nightmare that would only ever be undertaken by a government or council…” **Len's Trainset: "A fiscal nightmare"* – PM of NZ “Every job ‘saved’ in the Australian auto industry by assistance through the government costs taxpayers around $300,000.” And every new Ford and Holden costs them around $60,000 in subsidies. *The cars that ate taxpayers* – ANDREW BOLT Not before time. *Republicans Are Wising up on Immigration* – Alex Nowrasteh, CATO “I can only say: I'm sorry, America. As a former Federal Reserv... more »

This is how the highest court works, in Ontario, Canada

Denis Rancourt at Activist Teacher - 15 hours ago
From "U of O Watch": http://uofowatch.blogspot.ca/2013/11/court-of-appeal-for-ontario-finds-no.html Osgoode Hall -- Court of Appeal for Ontario The Court of Appeal for Ontario heard and decided the appeal of the champerty motion in the St. Lewis v. Rancourt case on November 8, 2013. The Court dismissed the appeal without wanting to hear the responding parties (St. Lewis and University of

Ancient Pashtun Proverb: A Woman's Place Is In The Home-- Or In The Grave

DownWithTyranny at DownWithTyranny! - 15 hours ago
Monday morning, Nasiruddin Haqqani, the son of the founder of Afghanistan's Haqqani network-- and that group's chief financial officer-- was shot deadin Islamabad by gunmen on a motorcycle. He was definitely on a worldwide "most wanted" list and the only surprise about his violent end is that he wasn't killed in a drone strike. His younger brother, Sirajuddin, heads the Haqqani network which is connected to the Taliban and has been one of the most effective groups against the U.S. occupation of Afghanistan. Syed Munawar Hassan has been the emir of Pakistan's biggest religious part... more »

Parsing the Anti-Drone Debate

Charli Carpenter at Duck of Minerva - 15 hours ago
As captured in the final images of this important new documentary, there seem to be at least three different debates going on about drones: The first is reflected in a recent op-ed titled “Five Ways Obama Could Fix Drones Right Now.” Here, Sarah Holewinski of CIVIC and Larry Lewis, a Center for Naval Analyses researcher Continue reading

The Trick To Being Rich In America Is Stealing From the Poor While Shaming Them for Being Poor (And Ignorant) (And Many Will Bless You for It!) Kidney Transplant = Higher Taxes On Rich? Untaxed Corp. Pass-Through Profits Knocking Out USA!!!  Koch Plot Blots Pub Ops?

The following essays are so simplified that after reading them almost everyone should understand (if they so desire) why the poor (or just lazy middle class) are being blamed for being poor (or not rich) by the rich, and further, why there is a concerted push to rid the U.S. of all social welfare programs (and middle-class jobs). After all, if none of the rich (corporations and individuals)

Why I Expect Nothing Out of Bauer-Ginsberg

Jonathan Bernstein at A plain blog about politics - 15 hours ago
Sparked by my dismissal of the president's electoral administration commission yesterday, Rick Hasen got an update about what the Bauer-Ginsberg Commission is up to. Short answer: holding hearings, doing research, planning on a January report. Which is all fine, and I have nothing against Bob Bauer and Ben Ginsberg. But I'll stick to what I said back in February: a presidential commission is the wrong way of going about this, and Bauer and Ginsberg are the wrong people to head it if the goal is to really change things. In particular: presidential commissions are excellent for one ki... more »

Where the Wild Things Were

What Is Sustainable at What Is Sustainable - 16 hours ago
For the first billion years of life on Earth, all of our ancestors were single celled. One day, we aren’t sure why, a hungry organism ate a delicious bystander, and became the first predator. Predation inspired evolution to become very creative. Some organisms became mobile by developing cilia or tails. Others shape shifted into multi-celled life forms. Critters developed scales, spikes, shells, fangs, and many other clever defenses. Thus, one group survived by dining on the unlucky, and the bigger group survived by evolving every imaginable trick for cancelling lunch dates w... more »

Project Moon Dust Revisited

KRandle at A Different Perspective - 16 hours ago
As I worked on a new book about the UFO secrets found in various government files, I was scanning one of the Project Blue Book microfilms, searching for a specific case. As the files slipped by I thought I saw the words “Moon Dust.” I stopped and reversed course much more slowly. On one of what they called the “project card” which was a short summary of the case, I did see the term Moon Dust. I located several different project cards that contained “Moon Dust” references. In those few files, I found indications that there was coordination between Blue Book and Moon Dust, at least b... more »

That pale blue dot again

Craig at Is the BBC biased? - 16 hours ago
Again turning aside from the subject of BBC bias, the BBC News website reports on the latest image of Planet Earth taking from the further reaches of our solar system - this time an image taken by NASA's Cassini probe, seizing a rare opportunity to slip out of reach of the sun's rays and look back towards the inner solar system - and at us - from behind the Planet Saturn. This is the charismatic image on the BBC News website: But where is Earth? Well, go to NASA's own website and you will find out. Either that, or click on the image below: Ah, if only Sir Patrick Moore had stil... more »

Holy Trademark Infringement!

noreply@blogger.com (fern hill) at DAMMIT JANET! - 16 hours ago
So, today our Crack Mayor signed bobbleheads for idiots people who waited in line for hours. He signed and schmoozed for four hours. It's all good. It's for charity. But then the bobbleheads ran out, but the line-up didn't, so he started signing t-shirts. Ruh-roh. Wonder what the Ford Motor Company thinks of being connected to a crack-smoking, criminal-associating moron. Not to mention trademark infringement. Stay tuned. And if you're on the Twitter, retweet this. Hey @FordCanada! Have a look at this. pic.twitter.com/2iqgaaQXs7 You good with it? #topoli — Fern Hill (@fernhilldam... more »

Paiute children walking with Longest Walk 4 in Utah

brendanorrell@gmail.com at CENSORED NEWS - 17 hours ago
. . . . . Video by Bad Bear Photos by Carl 'Bad Bear' Sampson Censored News Carmelita shared this photo of her son, 7, running a mile today! As police and frackers return to Mi'kmaq land, and snipers reported jumping out of plane at 2 pm, the resistance camp continues in New Brunswick in severe cold. Meanwhile, the Long Walkers, including women

Arctic Icecap melting (NEW THEORY)

Abraham Ben Judea at Abraham says - 17 hours ago
There are a lot of theories, ideas and hypotheses regarding the cause of the disappearing North pole icecap. We all know that geologic formations has a major role in weather, such as mountain ranges. The same goes for undersea mountains and canyons the have a real and tangible effect on the position and strength of the ocean currents. Up until now geology and geologic formations has been ignored as far as the cause for the melting Arctic icecap. Currently the Bering strait is shallow a 14 meters and as deep 52 meters. This has not always been the case. Currently the Bering strai... more »

The Realist Report with John Friend

John Friend at John Friend's Blog - 17 hours ago
On this edition of *The Realist Report*, we'll be joined by *Ace Baker*, producer of the documentary *9/11 - The Great American Psy-Opera*. Ace and I will be discussing his 9/11 research. You can download the mp3 for this program *here*, or visit *The Realist Report* on BlogTalkRadio to subscribe via iTunes and view past programs.

Koch brothers aim to kill college kids

Libby Spencer at The Impolitic - 18 hours ago
Okay, so the Koch boys aren't hiring snipers to murder young people, but they may as well be randomly shooting them dead. The billionaire brothers new front group invented Creepy Uncle Sam to convince them to opt out of health care. Worth clicking to see the rest of the photos at the link. On Saturday, Generation Opportunity, a group in part funded by billionaire activists Charles and David Koch, threw a tailgate party with College Republicans outside the University of Miami football game to advocate against signing up for the insurance plans. What a humanitarian plan. Okay kids, ... more »

Court of Appeal strikes down mandatory minimum gun sentence

James C Morton at Morton's Musings - 18 hours ago
R. v. Nur, 2013 ONCA 677: [59] For convenience, I repeat the terms of s. 12: Everyone has a right not to be subjected to any cruel and unusual treatment or punishment. [60] Section 12 provides constitutional protection against state-inflicted punishment that is cruel and unusual. Section 12 claims can be based on the nature of the punishment, the conditions in which the punishment is served, the duration of the punishment, or some combination of those factors: see Peter W. Hogg, *Constitutional Law of Canada*, loose-leaf (2007-Rel. 1), 5th ed. (Toronto: Thomson Reut... more »

Your moment of Zen

Libby Spencer at The Impolitic - 18 hours ago
New York City, 45th Street, 1954: [Andreas Feininger photo via BechlossDCand hudsonette]

May Love bid him welcome

Craig at Is the BBC biased? - 18 hours ago
I really enjoyed listening to *Start the Week *yesterday. It was everything thoughtful, engaging radio should be - which makes a change. Plus it marked Andrew Marr's return to the programme after his illness. Its focus was on the poetry of George Herbert. That's partly why I listened to it - as Herbert is my favourite poet. The other reason was that Sir John Tavener, a composer who has fascinated me for well over twenty years, was one of the guests. I was curious to hear how Andrew Marr and he would engage with each other. Herbert, as a poet, was wholly preoccupied with matters o... more »

Star Wars: The Icelandic Saga

Southern Man at Southern Man - 18 hours ago
The whole thing, all six films, in one long post. Many liberties are taken, some of necessity and some of editorial choice; for example, Jar-Jar is slain early on. Here are a few excerpts: Long did they fight, and the lava burned around them all the while, and the ash fell upon them and choked them, and neither got an advantage on the other, and each fought with utmost ferocity. Their battle was both hard and long, but it ended when Víga-Óbívan cut Anakinn on the right thigh, so that almost all the muscle was hewn out, and Anakinn fell nearly into the lava and was unable to fight f... more »

Are Typhoon Disasters Getting More Common?

noreply@blogger.com (Roger Pielke, Jr.) at Roger Pielke Jr.'s Blog - 18 hours ago
This morning I have been engaged in a Twitter debate with Jeff Sachs, of Columbia Earth Institute, motivated by his tweet as follows. "Increasing Intensity of the Strongest Tropical Cyclones," published 2008, demonstrated that disasters like Haiyan becoming more common. — Jeffrey D. Sachs (@JeffDSachs) November 12, 2013 The reference is to a paper by Elsner et al. (2008) in *Nature* which shows an increase in the strongest tropical cyclones in some basins over the sub-climate time period of 1981-2005. Unfortunately for Sachs that paper does not show trends significant at the >90% l...more »

If it’s Sunday, they must have books to sell!

bob somerby at the daily howler - 18 hours ago
*TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 12, 2013* *The monetization of everything in the post-journalistic guild:* David Gregory had his hands full with Sunday’s Meet the Press panel. He was hosting a four-member panel, but three of his guests were peddling books! Here’s how the segment started: ANNOUNCER (11/10/13): Meet the Press is back with our political roundtable. Here this morning, Mark Halperin, Doris Kearns Goodwin, Donna Edwards and Joe Scarborough. Now, David Gregory. GREGORY: And welcome all! A lot to get to, including Chris Christie and the future of the Republican Party. *Joe, your bo... more »

Why Is The DCCC Leaning So Heavily In Favor Of Conservatives And Against Progressives?

DownWithTyranny at DownWithTyranny! - 19 hours ago
Steve Israel works to elect conservatives to Congress; Garrison and Aguilar Sean Sullivan covers national politics for *The Fix*. Prior to joining the *Washington Post* in the summer of 2012, Sean was the editor of Hotline On Call, *National Journal Hotline’*s politics blog. He has also worked for NHK Japan Public Broadcasting and ABC News. Sean is a graduate of Hamilton College, where he received a degree in Philosophy. He lives in Washington, D.C. If you read Sean's latest for the *Post*, Democrats Are Looking To Exapnd The 2014 House Map, Here's Where, you will have a better unders... more »

ENDA (Banning Sexual Orientation Discrimination) Passes In Senate What It Will Mean If It Becomes Law

Donna Ballman at Screw You Guys, I'm Going Home - 19 hours ago
ENDA is the Employment Non-Discrimination Act, and the Senate just passedit. I wouldn't get too excited yet, because unless Republicans lose their majority in the House in the midterm elections we aren't likely to see this become law anytime soon. Still, I thought it would be worthwhile to discuss what the law will do (and what it won't do) if passed in the House and signed into law. Read my article in AOL Jobs to find out what ENDA will do if it becomes law, and what it won't do, despite what detractors are saying.

Freedom Flame Awards 2013

Nonoy Oplas at Government and Taxes - 19 hours ago
Last Sunday night, November 10, I was one of the 14 individuals who were given the “Freedom Flame Awards” by the Friedrich Naumann Foundation for Freedom (FNF) Philippine office. It was a great honor for me. The citation why I was given the award was for “for his staunch advocacy for economic freedom and for his continuous support to the work of FNF.” Thank you very much to Jules Maaten, Country Director of FNF for the Philippines, for his trust and recognition of my modest contribution to spreading the ideas of economic freedom, rule of law and limited government in this part of t... more »

I WAS A FREE MAN

Bruce K. Gagnon at Organizing Notes - 20 hours ago
MB and I went to see "12 Years a Slave" last night and everyone should go see this important film. It shares the deeply sad and sadistic story of slavery in the US in pre-Civil War times. I am always struck in such stories by the total disruption of the African-American family and psyche. How can anyone of good conscience not see how several hundred years of slavery bears a multi-generational scar on the backs of black people to this day? Cotton fields have now been replaced by jails as the majority of black youth find themselves shackled inside prisons. There is no doubt to ... more »

Wild Bill: Grinding Up The Little Boys...

Adrienne at Adrienne's Corner - 20 hours ago
Most the time when I become a bit "silent" it's because I have nothing to say. Now I'm suffering the reverse - I have *too* much to say and not enough time to slap some syllables down on the page. Plus, trying to nail down the most important issues is difficult because I think it's *all *important One issue bleeds into another and it's difficult (almost impossible) to narrow the focus. So, instead I will have breakfast, go outside and get some gardening done before it rains, and maybe later, after partaking of some hard labor and sunshine, I'll be back. This is all part of t... more »

Catch of the Day

Jonathan Bernstein at A plain blog about politics - 20 hours ago
Greg Sargent (his emphasis) Let’s face it, the spin war over initial low enrollment figures just doesn’t matter that much. Because the story here is the same as it always was: *All that matters is whether the policy works in the long run.* If it does, then all of the spin of the moment — *low enrollment proves the law is in total collapse! Red state Dems are fleeing the wreckage wholesale*! — will be forgotten entirely, and Republicans will have to readjust to a political landscape in which the law is working for lots and lots of people. If it doesn’t — if the website doesn’t work i... more »

Vaccination During Pregnancy: Is It Safe?

Barbara Loe Fisher at Vaccine Awakening - 20 hours ago
* posted 11/12/2013* * **by Barbara Loe Fisher* It was 1977 when I found out I was going to become a Mom. I instinctively knew I needed to be careful while I was pregnant, especially during the first two trimesters when the major organ systems of the fetus develop at a rapid rate. In the 1960’s there had been a lot of publicity about babies dying or being born without arms or legs because women had taken a drug (Thalidomide) for morning sickness in the first or second trimester of pregnancy1 and I wanted to make sure I did everything I could to protect my health and the health of m... more »

As Opposed to Female Semen?

jurassicpork at Welcome Back to Pottersville - 20 hours ago
This bloated moron doesn't even know what a tautology is. OK, here are some examples of single mothers who are "semen receptacles": Widows of soldiers, marines and sailors who died fighting for their country in needless wars started by the same politicians Limbaugh champions. Widows of police officers and firefighters who died in the line of duty. Widows whose husbands were suddenly killed or died from illness. Women who were impregnated then given a Fare Thee Well by shiftless scumbags who didn't want the responsibility. Women who were "legitimately"... more »

The Challenger Disaster: Feynman on TV

Luboš Motl at The Reference Frame - 20 hours ago
On November 16th, Science Channel and Discovery Channel will air "The Challenger Disaster". Academy Award winner William Hurt will star as Richard Feynman. We were only shown 31 seconds but my preliminary feeling is that it might be enough to say a rather unexpected thing – that what this actor is missing to really resemble Richard Feynman is playfulness, some charisma (visually, in the behavior, gestures, as well as voice), and showmanship. But it should be very interesting, anyway. I hope that we, the viewers outside America, will eventually be able to watch it, too. Via... more »

WEATHER & WAR

Bruce K. Gagnon at Organizing Notes - 21 hours ago
- The typhoon that battered the Philippines with winds almost 200 mph should remind us that there is an emergency at hand. More than 700,000 people were displaced. Yes climate change is real. Yes our Mother Earth's body is in a state of toxic shock and she is thrashing about in pain. Yes we must change the way we live immediately if we hope to offer our children and their children any real chance of life. Yes that means we have to get off our fossil fuel addiction. Yes that means that the Pentagon, with the largest carbon boot print on the planet, must... more »

When Income Inequality Is All the Rage

Karen Garcia at Sardonicky - 21 hours ago
Everybody who's anybody in the ruling media class is all atwitter over Noam Scheiber's *New Republic* piece, officially introducing Elizabeth Warren as the antidote to the serial inevitability of Hillary Clinton. With the ascension of mildly progressive Bill de Blasio to the New York City mayorality this month, Occupy has risen from the premature grave that the corporate media dug for it in 2011 in order to make room for the re-election campaign of Barack Obama. But the president's approval ratings have plummeted to all-time lows. Obamacare is a universally acknowledged mess, not l... more »

The Panic Room

gail zawacki at Wit's End - 22 hours ago
Announcing the creation of The Panic Room - a facebook group for Ozonists, Ozonistas, Cassandras, Malthusians, and other doomers of all sorts...all are welcome! I was tired of being accused of being too dismal, even at sites that purport to be doomy, so TPR (it's a joke! I got over the panic part years ago!) is for those who know or even suspect that there is no hope humanity is going to wake up no matter how obvious it is to the few that we are despoiling the earth. And now...it's time for another comparison that depicts the mind-boggling deterioration of autumn leaves. November... more »

Plain Blogger Smackdown

Jonathan Bernstein at A plain blog about politics - 22 hours ago
Over at Greg's place yesterday, I used the hook of Virginia's wild count in the AG election as an excuse to call for more attention to election administration. Reid Wilson liked it: Good point from @jbplainblog: States really aren't that good at administering elections And then a backlash started. Michael McDonald: usually don't see errors from election night reporting >> cavass. Virginia very transparent unfair to VA election officials to use that transparency against them HHH Election Program: With all due respect, it's a silly argument; states are just using the canvass to ... more »

Tuesday Linkage

Charli Carpenter at Duck of Minerva - 22 hours ago
Killer Robot Blogging: This week, NGOs are massing in Geneva to encourage states party to the Convention on Conventional Weapons to consider banning autonomous weapons under the auspices of this treaty. This follows the UN Disarmament Committee meetings in New York in October, where multiple countries expressed concern about this issue. As in New York, Continue reading

The Endlessly Fatiguing Japanese-Korean Squabbling is the Worst it’s been in Decades

Robert Kelly at Duck of Minerva - 22 hours ago
I am so burned out on this issue, I’m ready to say we should just nuke the Liancourt Rocks (left) to end this whole thing. But it’s everywhere now in the regional media. Park pointedly won’t meet Abe, which the Japanese media is reading as a huge snub. She even said she’d talk to Pyongyang Continue reading

Uruguay: CRIDOVNI to Analyze UFO Photos

Inexplicata (IHU) at Inexplicata-The Journal of Hispanic Ufology - 22 hours ago
*Source: Planeta UFO and CRIFAT http://www.crifat.org/modules/news/article.php?storyid=19* *Date: 11.11.2012* Uruguay: CRIDOVNI to Analyze UFO Photos The issues raised by extraterrestrial life are as ancient as the story of civilization. Various sightings have already been reported in Punta del Este and its vicinity time and again. One of them took place on 9 October, when Fernanda Romero had the chance to photograph an unidentified flying object in the sky over Punta del Este – an image that could perhaps be evidence of the existence of extraterrestrial life. Starting with the ... more »

Continuing: Are the two tribes alike or different!

bob somerby at the daily howler - 22 hours ago
*TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 12, 2013* *Holland and Mooney diverge:* Are the two tribes alike or different? Are “conservatives” basically similar to us “liberals?” Or are they basically different from us? Are they perhaps not fully human, due to the way their brains work? Down through the annals of time, wars have emerged from questions like these. Tribal members, convinced of their greatness, have always tended toward the claim that The Others are totally different. Something is wrong with the brains of The Others! They don’t seem fully human! We humans are wired to think that way, but t... more »

DoDEA: What Can Happen without Corporate Education Reform, NCLB, RttT, etc.

Jim Horn at Schools Matter - 22 hours ago
When NCLBA exempted Department of Defense schools, some whined that it was unfair: after all. Rather than protesting the grandiose stupidity of the law to begin with, the National School Boards Association contended that DoDEA schools should be put into the same vice as the the rest of America's schools that receive federal funds. Misery truly loves company. So what do we see as a result at the DoDEA schools (see earlier post here) after all these years of living without corporate charter schools, teacher evaluation based on test scores, value-added assessment, corporate missiona... more »

Is Charlie Crist A Real Democrat-- Or Just An Opportunist?

DownWithTyranny at DownWithTyranny! - 22 hours ago
Good time Charlie and Nan Rich-- only one is a Democrat In recent weeks, we met two congressional candidates, Jason Thigpen (D-NC) and Michael Cole (D-TX), running, respectively, againstRepublican incumbents Walter Jones and Steve Stockman. Both are recent converts to the Democratic Party. Thigpen was a Republican and Cole was a Libertarian. Each went through a personal oddessey that awoke them to the fact that their values were in line with those of the Democratic Party. Switching for each may not have been easy, but it was very natural. Neither had to change the platforms they were... more »

Read Stuff, You Should

Jonathan Bernstein at A plain blog about politics - 23 hours ago
Happy Birthday to Max Grodenchik, 61. And some good stuff: 1. Information and the structure of the Obama White House, from Andrew Rudalevige. 2. While Ezra Klain interviews Peter Baker about Bush and Cheney. 3. Henry Farrell on the new research on "cyber Pearl Harbor." Sounds right to me. 4. Rick Hasen on what might happen in VA-AG: the legislature could step in. 5. And goodbye, Thomas. Hannah Hess lets us know that it's gone next week.

What The Hell Is Wrong With Canada's Conservatives - "Conservatives Without Conscience"

leftdog at Buckdog - 23 hours ago
“Conservatives Without Conscience” by John W. Dean should be a 'must read' for all progressive*s* who are wondering what is wrong with Canada's Conservatiives. The author, John W. Dean, is a self admitted *'recovering conservative,*and was White House legal counsel for President Richard Nixon for three years but later become a key witness for the prosecution in the Watergate trials. Dean was NOT a Bush supporter, His book, published 7 years ago, *provides urgent warnings concerning the political mind set and aggressive behavior of the Right-wing in North America.His analysis of w... more »

A Silver Foot?

Owen Gray at Northern Reflections - 23 hours ago
Ann Richards, the late governor of Texas, claimed that George Bush the Elder was born with "a silver foot in his mouth." Justin Trudeau runs the risk of being tagged with the same epithet. His reference to China last week was another example of his tendency to speak before he thinks. Andrew Coyne writes: It’s just … weird. He was not challenged to “say something positive about China,” to which he might have replied with the standard hope that “prosperity and trade with the West will in time lead to a relaxation of the regime’s grip” or a backward glance at “the success of the m... more »

So that's how to get the house cleaned!

Not a sheep at Not a sheep - 23 hours ago
Wodka Vodka Commercial

The Overoptimism of Research Assistants

Greg Mankiw at Greg Mankiw's Blog - 23 hours ago
How long will it take to fix the health exchange website? I have no idea. But thinking about this issue reminded me of a time when I was a grad student, and Larry Summers was an assistant professor. Larry told me that his research assistants always vastly underestimated how long any task would take. His rule of thumb: Double the estimate the RA gives, and then move to the next higher time unit. So, if the RA says the task will take an hour, it will take two days. If the RA says it will take two days, it will take four weeks.

Fraud: Drug Companies Selectively Publish Studies to Push Anti-Depressants by Christina Sarich

Stranger in a Strange Land at Stranger in a Strange Land - 23 hours ago
Source: http://deadmansvitamin.com/2012/12/ Fraud: Drug Companies Selectively Publish Studies to Push Anti-Depressants by Christina Sarich Natural Society, 12 November 2013 The rate of psychiatric drug prescriptions has increased by more than 1000% in the last decade or so, and antidepressants or anti-anxiety medications are making pharmaceutical companies more money than a successful day at the race track.* But have they told you the truth about the effectiveness of their medications? In a telling study published by the New England Journal of Medicine, it was reported that dru... more »

STALKING THE FAUX EDUCATION REPORTERS: The wages of hiring straight outta Harvard!

bob somerby at the daily howler - 23 hours ago
*TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 12, 2013* *Part 2—Big-ass confusion in comments:* It isn’t Julia Ryan’s fault that she got hired by the Atlantic to write about an important subject she seems to know nothing about. Julia Ryan, Harvard ’13, didn’t hire herself! As for those who performed the hire, you can hardly blame them. Darlings! Ryan prepped at Exeter, then moved on to Harvard, from which she graduated in June! To the withered beings who run what’s left of an historic American journal, those credentials made Ryan the perfect choice to write about low-income kids! For whatever reason, and it... more »

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New Orleans Ladder at New Orleans Ladder - 1 day ago
*Stephanie Grace: Will oil, gas lawsuit keep erosion conversation going? ~N.O. Advocate* *Gaps in local storm data pose problems for estimating storm surge risk to local levees ~Sarah Drew, The Lens* *Red Cross helping U.S. families locate relatives in the Philippines ~Meg Gatto, WVUE* *#YolandaPH: Map Tour by StandbyTaskForce and GISCorps (DHN Members)* *Harry Shearer will discuss film comedy at a free New Orleans forum ~Chris Waddington*
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