Recent incidents show the ‘culture’ of sports has taken a terrible turn
Excerpt:
Is there something in our sports culture that condones the demeaning treatment of women by athletes, like the alleged acts of Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger (photo on left)?
The laws of physics actually accommodate the notion of time travel, through portals known as wormholes.
In an article in the Daily Mail this week, British cosmologist Stephen Hawking outlined not one, but three, theoretically realistic ideas for traveling through time one of which he says is even practical.
Yuma grower may be source of outbreak; 19 sickened in 23 states
Excerpt:
“Food and Drug Administration investigators are looking at a farm in Yuma, Arizona, as a possible source of a widespread E. coli outbreak in romaine lettuce.”
Key GOP senator says oil spill, immigration debate have derailed legislation
Excerpt:
“A key Republican senator negotiating with Democrats on a climate change bill said Friday it's "become impossible" to pass the legislation now because of disagreements over offshore and immigration reform.”
It’s 2:32 p.m. PST, and 845 viewers have stopped by to visit thus far. It’s fun seeing where visitors come from and wondering what they think when they stop by and take a peek. My thanks to you all, and don’t hesitate to stop by again.
“Though the Obama administration has stressed its involvement with the April 20 BP oil spill since "day one," at least one Interior Department official decided instead to phone it in and go white water rafting in the Grand Canyon with his wife and other officials.
Tom Strickland -- who serves as Interior Secretary Ken Salazar's chief of staff and the department's assistant secretary for fish, wildlife and parks -- traveled to the Grand Canyon on official business on April 27, three days after the oil leak was initially discovered.
The incident bears similarity to the decision by National Counterterrorism Center Director Michael Leiter to stay on a ski trip with his son in the days following the thwarted Christmas Day bombing.
Other administration officials have canceled trips and events to focus on the spill. The Minerals Management Service wisely canceled an awards luncheon in Houston with the oil industry (where BP was a finalist)!
EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson stayed away from the TIME 100 banquet where she was honored and Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano declined her Washington Post invite to the White House Correspondents Dinner in order to track the spill.”
Go here to read the rest. Photo source
I re-read this article three times and each time I came away with mixed feelings. Students were told they couldn’t wear an American flag on their T-shirts (a normally accepted practice at the school) on Cinco de Mayo because the majority of the school is Mexican-American, and would be offended because it’s “their holiday.”
One excuse was that the principal wanted to avoid fights between the five students wearing the flag and the angry Latino population. I thought this was AMERICA. What happened to those student’s rights? They can’t wear something that is normally acceptable because the Latino population wants to celebrate “their holiday?”
Those boys were being intimidated for doing nothing wrong and school authorities threatened suspension – and finally sent them home – for what reason?
Fear perhaps? Did school authorities think they’d lose control of the students if their flag-wearing peers didn’t concede and turn their T-shirts inside out? If so, then that’s pretty scary and tells you what’s happening on that campus – racial discrimination.
What do you think about the school’s action? Right or wrong?
Excerpt:
"They said we could wear it on any other day," student Daniel Galli said, "but today is sensitive to Mexican-Americans because it's supposed to be their holiday so we were not allowed to wear it today."
Read the full story here.
A deadly side-show to the massive oil spill drama is playing itself out with marine wildlife as BP uses record amounts of a toxic stew (environmentalists don’t even know all the ingredients in it, making it difficult to access the damage being done) that is supposed to help disperse the gushing oil.
Dispersants’ ingredients — ‘proprietary recipes like Coca-Cola’ — are secret
PHOTO: A sea turtle in the gulf surfaced Wednesday to feed, swimming through patches of oxidizing oil mingling with chemical dispersants used by BP to break up oil.
Excerpt:
“Most New Yorkers don’t know that last year, the New York Police Department arrested close to 50,000 people for marijuana possession at a staggering cost of nearly $100 million.”
While the State of California begins to debate the consequences of taxing and regulating cannabis for personal use, it's important to note the state is already taxing and regulating the agricultural product used by 2.9 million Californians monthly.
California Board of Equalization official Anita Gore told the Express this week that the board estimates it collects anywhere from $50 million to more than $100 million in sales taxes per year from medical cannabis dispensaries.
Go here to read the rest..
By Daryl Cagle
“My fellow Muppet alumni, Craig Yoe, sent me a copy of his newest book for a review. I collect editorial cartoon books and this is an unusual one.
“The Great Anti-War Cartoons” from Fantagraphics reflects Craig’s non-mainstream tastes applied to historical cartoons; he’s chosen cartoons that tend to use few or no words (American cartoonists in the 1800’s and early 1900’s were typically quite wordy) and Craig has chosen cartoons that focus on no war in particular, featuring common symbols that we’re used to seeing as favorites in international cartoon competitions, such as: bombs, skulls, generals with medals and images of the victims of war.”
Challenger to Democratic congressman hopes to ride wave of anti-government fervor to victory
Jackie Walorski has jumped from the Tea Party to the Republican Party in hopes of winning a Congressional seat. She brought all of her rhetoric with her:
Excerpt:
For Republican congressional candidate Jackie Walorski, this city is 2010’s version of the Normandy beaches on D-Day 1944.
Today’s senior citizens “fought for us” in World War II and “left bodies and blood on the beaches of Normandy,” Walorski said at a recent campaign stop in Kokomo, Ind. “Our fight of this generation is this ideological war that is brewing in this nation that is going to determine in November who we are as Americans.”
Here we go again. Walorski wants her country back. Note; she’s addressing senior citizens and invoking the 1950s as the good old days. For who? Oh that’s right…white middle classed Americans. Not for people of color at that time.
The fifties was full of paranoia that escalated into the sixties when people were building bomb shelters in case the Russian attacked. people like Joe McCarthy violated people’s rights and got away with it for a long time. I was there. It’s all about perceptions, and the angry white people calling to “take back the country” now are those same people – but older.
Excerpt:
“This is our country. It is time we stand together and take it back,” said Walorski, the favored candidate of the Tea Party movement. “This Constitution that I have raised my right hand to defend is under direct assault and I will not stand for it.”
Right on cue, these angry white Americans calling for their country back are accusing our president of being a Communist. Shades of McCarthyism still resonates with that generation. They will die someday, firmly convinced Communism is just around the corner.
Excerpt:
“I think he’s trying to turn the country into a communist nation,” Michigan City, Ind., insurance agent John Palman said about Obama. “And this is America. We’re not socialists; we’re not communists; this is America, we’re free, so far.”
Image source - Nate Beeler, The Washington Examiner / Politicalcartoons.com
Movement fears loss of moderates if ‘worst elements’ take over
Excerpt:
"I think there is an element of fear that 'our white country' is now being run by a black man. There is a sense that 1950s America is gone," said Herb Neumann, a white Democrat from Tulsa. "There's a sense of loss. I grew up in the 1950s, and I don't think that moving on is a bad thing."
Daryl Cagle, MSNBC.com
Daryl is MSNBC's own cartoonist.
Just in case anyone wants to know, the Feds are still playing the demonization game with marijuana. This is just further proof that the Feds are not going to go quietly in the night and respect state laws until the voters back them up against a wall with solid legislation legalizing the healing herb, and tells them to stop.
Excerpt:
“Los Angeles city prosecutors are sending letters to 439 medical marijuana dispensaries warning them that they must shut down by June 7, when an ordinance to control pot shops will finally take effect after years of debate and delay.”
There sure is a lot of big stories going on right now. From the Times Square bomb suspect nabbed at airport (photo on right)to the massive oil spill off the Mexican Gulf Coast - Gulf Coast watches path of oil spill, it seems disasters are the order of the day.
Ash is disrupting flights in Ireland, Britain, and Homeless people are feared killed in Nashville flooding (photo below).
Everywhere I look, the news seems pretty grim today. More examples: Mass. lifts boil water order for 2 million; Va. lacrosse player’s killing shocks classmates; How United-Continental merger impacts fliers; and an Out-of-control satellite threatens spacecraft!
This is only the tip of the iceberg for those bad boys at WalMart. They’re facing a huge gender bias case that’s going to make this settlement look like small potatoes.
Look out consumers! You’re going to ultimately pay the price.
Payment will settle handling, dumping claims at Calif. stores
“Stores Inc. has agreed to pay $27.6 million to settle allegations that it improperly handled and dumped hazardous waste at stores across California in a case that led to changes in the retailer's practices nationwide, prosecutors said Monday.
The settlement ends a five-year investigation involving more than 20 prosecutors and 32 environmental agencies that found violations at 236 of Wal-Mart's stores and distribution centers across California, including Sam's Club warehouse stores, said San Diego County District Attorney Bonnie Dumanis.”
The environment Donald J. Trump grew up in was something out of a mob movie. His wealthy racist father gave him a " small loan " o...
