Saturday, May 15, 2010

Pill-Popping Pitbull Needs Viagra to Live

A veterinarian suggested Viagra as a solution to keep the small pooch up and running.

And it appears to be working.

Read all about Ingrid’s (photo right) harrowing life and why Viagra is saving it.

Here’s a good read for a Saturday

Friday, May 14, 2010

Stupid is, stupid does: Palin still says ‘drill,baby,drill’

Image: Palin

Sarah Palin will say anything such as Obama would ban guns if he could just to please her audience.

In this case, for the National Rifle Association members who’ve been waiting with baited breath for someone to dare introduce ANY anti-gun legislation.

It’s been 18 months since Obama took office and they’re still waiting. They’re still cleaning their semi-automatic weapons every night, dreaming of parading down streets with them on their backs in a “patriotic” protest. I kinda feel sorry for the fools, but if they want to live their lives fearing someone is going to take away their weapons…so be it. One of these days their parade will come. So don’t worry loyal NRA members, you’ll get your dues worth someday when CNN shows you trying to shoot skeet on the White House Lawn!

 In her usual clever way, Palin is encouraging “mama grizzlies” to vote all Democrats out of public offices in November. Her desire to see Alaskadrill, baby, drill” is still strong, and it makes you wonder about those articles regarding her and her Big Oil buddies while she was in office. You have to hand it to her though, at the end of the day she got PAID for(and folks that’s why she decided not to finish her term as governor, because it paid peanuts compared to what she could get for public speaking and writing -more like dictating to someone who could write- right-wing rhetoric.

Listen folks…Kagan is an average American Aaand …

 

Cartoon source: Mike Lester / The Rome (GA) News-Tribune, Politicalcartoons.com

High on pot initiative passing? Intrade has investment for you

Somehow I just knew Wall Street vultures would figure out a way to make money BEFORE marijuana became legal.

I call it the Goldman-Sachs effect.

The Intrade prediction market, an on-line trading network that enables investors to buy and sell shares based on forecasting events, is trying to cash in on curiosity over the outcome of California's November vote on legalizing marijuana for recreational use.

Go here to read more.            Image Source

Friday Trivia Corner: World’s strangest vending machines

Image: Fresh Pizza, Italy

The world’s first vending machine apparently dates back to the first century, when Hero of Alexandria, a Greek mathematician, devised a coin-operated mechanism that would dispense holy water.

Perhaps because that was such a tough act to follow, vending machines didn’t really evolve again until the 19th century, when Industrial Age machines started selling postcards or gum.

From pizza to a bar of gold, the oddest items — instantly

PHOTO: ‘Let’s Pizza” machines, found in a few shopping malls and airports in Italy will make an individual pizza from scratch in just under three minutes for $5-$8.

Family sues teacher in taped beating of student

I have never heard of a woman teacher beating up a teenage boy in school. Maybe I’ve led a sheltered life. I don’t know.

The odd thing about this situation is there’s no explanation why she beat the boy up. I have to think he really pushed her button damn hard to have her react like this.

Not knowing these details makes it hard to understand how this could happen. The boy might have attacked her and she just got the better of him. Who knows?

Attack at Houston, Texas, school was caught by classmate on a cell phone

Thursday, May 13, 2010

Recycled cigarette butts keep steel pipes from rusting

Okay…I gotta hand it to the Chinese. Recycling nasty cigarette butts is a stroke of genius. Now, if they’ll just tie it in with the toxic drywall they’ve been selling us, homeowners can coat all the steel fixings in their house effectively stopping the toxic fumes from rusting them.

Call it serendipity. Call it whatever you want. No one knows toxic better than the Chinese.

China scientists find use for cigarette butts:

Toxic chemicals can be recycled to protect steel pipes from rusting

Photo source

It’s nice to know that our Canadian neighbors can get as stupid as us when it comes to sports!

Image: Habs fans

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41 arrested in Montreal after big Canadian win

Canadians fans celebrate in Montreal following a win against Pittsburgh in the Stanley Cup playoffs on Wednesday.

View related photos

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U.S. split over Ariz. immigration law

Image: U.S. Rep. Raul Grijalva

I’m simply amazed that 12 other states are considering enacting the same draconian law that Arizona has.

Protests draw attention, but crackdown has sizable support

U.S. Rep. Raul Grijalva (D-AZ) denounces Arizona's tough new immigration law on April 24, 2010 in Tuscon, Arizona.

Grijalva, who shut his Tuscon office the day before because of death threats, called for an economic boycott of Arizona because of the new law, which he called racist.

At the same time, polls show significant support for laws like it, and lawmakers have introduced similar measures, or have announced plans to do so, in at least 12 other states.

Wednesday, May 12, 2010

New Political Party – Tea Baggers on Steroids?

Take note of this new party – ‘A Third Position’  

A3P Activists Join Tax Protests Across the Nation

If you ask me, their party message, “The message of liberty, sovereignty, identity”  conceals a darker side to these people’s goals.

They have been courting tea party members who think their “on the right track” to saving America…from everything. They think Arizona’s new immigration law is great. They sound like a new Tea party on steroids if the following is true:  

According to Alexa, the premier website for web-traffic metrics, the American Third Position has the most trafficked party website in the U.S, followed closely by the GOP, whose site has been online for over a decade. In only 4 months, the A3P has grown from but a small handful of people into a national network of growingly-sophisticated political activists.

A3P members say:

“With certainty, had the establishment not cut off all routes to the democratic process for those with differing opinions – aka Americans – this superior performance would be reflected in the composition of the body of politicians who determine the course of the nation.

As the political establishment continues to attack the American way of life, the party will inevitably grow stronger. The website ranking will follow accordingly.”

A3P: 18,409 -GOP: 19,544 -DEM: 24,356 -LIB: 24,423 - GRE: 125,027 - CON: 167,893

U.S. struggling to ward off evolving cyber threat

More than 100 spy agencies working to gain access to systems, official says

Excerpt:

“The United States is losing enough data in cyber attacks to fill the Library of Congress many times over, and authorities have failed to stay ahead of the threat, a U.S. defense official said on Wednesday.

In a sobering assessment, the Defense Department's Jim Miller said more than 100 foreign spy agencies were working to gain access to U.S. computer systems, as were criminal organizations.” Photo source

Guest opinion: Feds oppose marijuana legalization for all the wrong reasons

Posted by Paul Armentano (Deputy Director of NORML and the NORML Foundation)

So this is your administration on drugs. Any questions?

Obama drug plan ‘firmly opposes’ legalization as California vote looms
via The Hill

“The Obama administration said Tuesday that it “firmly opposes” the legalization of any illicit drugs as California voters head to the polls to consider legalizing marijuana this fall.

The president and his drug czar re-emphasized their opposition to legalizing drugs in the first release of its National Drug Control Strategy this morning.

“Keeping drugs illegal reduces their availability and lessens willingness to use them,” the document, prepared by Drug Czar Gil Kerlikowske, says. “That is why this Administration firmly opposes the legalization of marijuana or any other illicit drug.”

Is anyone surprised? You shouldn’t be. After all, this is the same Gil Kerlikowske that has said repeatedly that legalization is not in his vocabulary, and publicly stated, “Marijuana is dangerous and has no medicinal benefit.” And this is the same administration that recently nominated Michele Leonhart to head the DEA — the same Michele Leonhart who overruled the DEA’s own administrative law judge in order to continue to block medical marijuana research, and publicly claimed that the rising death toll civilians attributable to the U.S./Mexican drug war “a signpost of the success” of U.S. prohibitionist policies.”

Creators of massive hamburger hope for Guinness fame

People help assemble a 590 pound hamburger at ...

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People help assemble a 590 pound hamburger at Yonge Dundas Square in Toronto, Canada on Thursday, May 6, 2010.

The burger's creators hope it will be deemed by Guinness World Records to be the world's largest.… Read more

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Police: High school hoops star actually 22

What I find interesting in this unusual story is that the man in question must have looked really young to pose as a 16-year old when he’s actually 22-years old.Imagine what a facade he must have kept up for years. He even claimed to be homeless and the high school basketball coach took him in.

One more interesting tidbit: the school in question, Permian High School, was used as a model for the prime time show “Friday Night Lights.”

Man formerly starred in Florida, posed as 16-year-old

Excerpt:

“The revelation means Permian likely will have to forfeit the 2009 basketball season in which the 6-foot-5 player known as Jerry Joseph led the team to District 2-5A state playoffs and earned newcomer of the year accolades.”

Image source

 

Tuesday, May 11, 2010

Fears surround over-the-counter genetic tests

Image source

Shoppers able to check propensity for Alzheimer's, breast cancer, diabetes

Beginning Friday, shoppers  in search of toothpaste, deodorant and laxatives at more than 6,000 drugstores across the nation will be able to pick up something new: a test to scan their genes for a propensity for Alzheimer's disease, breast cancer, diabetes and other ailments.

There’s 16 faces in this picture – how many can you find?

Image source

Oil companies pass the buck for big spill as the lawsuits pour in

Image: Lamar McKay, Chairman and President of BP America, waits to testify

At Senate hearing, lawmaker predicts 'liability chase' among companies

As BP critics stand up behind him, Lamar McKay, chairman and president of BP America, waits to testify Tuesday before the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee in Washington.

View related photos

 

As oil gushes out, damage claims pour in…

Fisherman, hotel operators and others likely to seek compensation

Image: Sign for "Oil Spill Law Group" in Bayou LaBatre, Ala.

A new sign advertises the "Oil Spill Law Group" in Bayou LaBatre, Alabama. A BP lobbyist says the company has already paid $3.5 million in damages.

View related photos

Long-suffering tribe fears oil may strike final blow

The native Houma people, who have long relied on fishing and trapping in the marshlands of Louisiana, have been through a lot as a tribe.

They have been robbed of their lands, subjected to segregation, witnessed the steady erosion of marshlands and been displaced by hurricanes. Now, some fear the oil slick that threatens to invade the bayou could be the final blow to their culture and traditions.

Antoine Dardar

Antoine "Whitney" Dardar (right), a Houma tribal elder, has been fishing and trapping in the bayou near Golden Meadow, La., for his whole life.

 

Monday, May 10, 2010

Coming Soon: As It Stands will review a new book to be released in June - ‘Denial: A Memoir of Terror’

Denial: A Memoir of Terror

Every now and then someone asks me to read their book and to do a review on it. I’m not really sure why I’m picked for this honor, but it’s happened several times in the last 18 months.

I’m certainly not a respected book critic, nor do I ever expect to be one. I do love reading and there’s very little I won’t read. My curious mind is constantly on the prowl. Research is a joy I lavish upon myself.

Karen Louie-Joyce, the web manager for Jessica Stern, a world-class social scientist, Harvard lecturer, and one of the foremost U.S. experts on terrorism and post-traumatic stress disorder, contacted me with a request to review Stern’s new book.

In her new book DENIAL: A Memoir of Terror, Jessica investigates her own unsolved adolescent sexual assault at the hands of a serial rapist, and, in so doing, examines the horrors of trauma and denial.

The book is in the mail,thanks to Karen, and I should have it by the end of the week. I’m not sure how long it is, so I won’t make any predictions on when the review will appear. But fear not readers, I will do my best. As some of you may know, trauma is a subject near to me as I’m a Vietnam veteran with service-connected PTSD.

More toxic jewelry for kids recalled – guess where it’s from?

Cadmium: Walmart, Claire's pull children's jewelry from shelves

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We can thank China once more for sending us toxic products. If it isn’t kids toys it’s drywall!

Claire's bracelets have high levels of harmful cadmium

Also:

Cadmium: Walmart, Claire's pull children's jewelry from shelves

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Reefer madness: The race to save corals

Introduction

Coastal development and overfishing contribute to decline

Climate change, coastal development and overfishing have effectively wiped out nearly a fifth of the world's coral reefs, and by the end of this century they "are unlikely to look much like the reefs that we are familiar with today," said Peter Mumby, a marine biologist at the University of Queensland in Australia, who envisions smaller and weaker reefs that harbor fewer fish.

"But there will still be reefs and they will still be very important," he said. "And so what we really have to do is take all the steps we can locally to preserve reefs for future generations, including Australia's Great Barrier Reef, shown here.

Click here to see 7 ways you can help locally.

Sunday, May 9, 2010

As It Stands: Oil politics legacy: Destroying gulf coast ecosystem since 1950s

oil_spill_on_fire

By Dave Stancliff/For the Times-Standard

Posted: 05/09/2010 01:30:19 AM PDT

The Deepwater Horizon oil spill may signal the final battle in a war on the fragile ecosystems of the coastal states that was launched decades ago by Big Oil.

Oil companies steadily destroyed the Gulf Coast's ecosystems since the 1950s, when they carved canals through the marsh to make way for drilling rigs and pipelines, according to John Lopez, director of sustainability at the Lake Pontchartrain Basin Foundation.

No one knows exactly how much oil is escaping (estimates keep going up). Last week President Obama said, “We're dealing with a massive and potentially unprecedented environmental disaster.” Environmentally, the spill couldn't have happened at a better time to cause maximum damage to wildlife and the fishing industry.

As if that damage isn't bad enough, even the coastal land is threatened, as the dwindling marsh grasses will be killed by the oil. “The result,” said Michael Parr, vice president of the American Bird Conservancy “could mean the elimination of a natural barrier that keeps Louisiana's coastline from eroding.”

Go here to read the rest.

Related stories: Federal regulators haven’t kept up up with oil drilling expansion

               Try to divert Gulf oil aborted; tar blobs hit Ala.

                   Photos from the Deepwater Horizon oil leak in the gulf

UPDATE:

Blogs/web sites that have picked up today’s column: (as of 10:16 a.m. PST) 

Politics Today 

ALL Voices   

Political Wind                                     

Examiner.com Eureka

Google News

Oil Online

Caring for Environment

My Blue Planet

Waterintel.com

It's Time to Pay Up Donnie!

It's looks like there will be some prime real estate going on the market soon in New York City. Convicted rapist and former president ...