Daily Kos Inspires Humanist Muslim Activism

"Eteraz is an online forum whose goal is to mobilize people of conscience throughout the world to identify, discuss, and take action on political and religious issues involving Islam and the Muslim world. Eteraz seeks a humanist vision of Islam for the future and looks to illuminate the wisdom and spirituality that made Islam a great religion historically by creating community, promoting informed opinions and more than anything else, moving its members to real world action.
Most, if not all topics touching on the religion and politics of Islam are appropriate at Eteraz. This forum represents people of widely diverging (and even conflicting) theologies. However, the soul of Eteraz is, and always has been, a) the simple idea that every human, man or woman, believer or atheist, wealthy or poor, has the same intrinsic worth, and can only be judged on the basis of his actions; and b) that it takes more than emails, and more than flowery articles, to stand up for the intrinsic worth of individuals."

Video Dog - Salon.com

"The cheese stands alone
Let's state the obvious: Tom Cruise has no style. Naturally, the sophistication and fabulousness of his Italian nuptials never threatened to displace, say, JFK Jr. and Carolyn Bessette's big day from the celebrity wedding hall of fame. Even so, there was something so promlike and disappointing about the TomKat wedding photos, particularly those shots of Katie, dressed like Catherine Zeta-Jones 20 years from now. But nothing compared to the news that Tom serenaded Katie at the reception with -- what else? -- 'You Lost That Lovin' Feelin'.' We can understand Tom (see also the Least Self-Aware Human on the Planet) choosing the frat-boy anthem he sang in 'Top Gun,' but what about his friends and family? Does no one love this man enough to look him in the eye and say, 'Come on, guy!'?"

Conservative plan to protest Wal-Mart - Yahoo! News

"Conservative leaders viewed these actions as a betrayal of Wal-Mart's traditions, which have included efforts to weed out magazines with racy covers and CDs with explicit lyrics.
'This has been Christian families' favorite store — and now they're giving in, sliding down the slippery slope so many other corporations have gone down,' said the Rev. Flip Benham of Operation Save America. 'They're all being extorted by the radical homosexual agenda.'
Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. spokesman David Tovar said the company's outreach to the gay-rights groups was part of a broader effort to best serve its diverse customer base.
'We take pride that we treat every customer, every supplier, every member of our communities fairly and equally,' Tovar said Tuesday. 'We do not have a position on same-sex marriage. ... What we do have is a strong commitment to diversity. We're against discrimination everywhere.'"

So mostly I find this stuff funny to watch, but every now and then you have to wonder why these people are so obsessed with gay sex?

Guardian Unlimited | Columnists | If you feel a commotion beneath your feet today, that'll be gazillions of unbaptised children moving out of Limbo

"Since the Middle Ages, Limbo has been for Catholics a place (in Dante's vision, a castle) where the souls of unbaptised children go. Aborted foetuses, too. But a 30-strong commission of theologians established by John Paul II has concluded that a nicer destiny is necessary - namely that all children who die do so in the expectation of 'the universal salvation of God', whether baptised or not. 'In effect, this means that all children who die go to Heaven,' a papal source told the Times earlier this week.
But this can't be right. There must be some naughty children who don't go to Heaven, but wind up in Purgatory awaiting intercessory prayers, and others who go straight to Hell. What is a papal source anyway? Why weren't they prepared to go on the record?
The Pope's announcement nevertheless will end centuries of heartlessness typified by Pope Pius X (1903-14), who declared Limbo to be a place where the unbaptised 'do not have the joy of God but neither do they suffer . . . they do not deserve Paradise, but neither do they deserve Hell or Purgatory'. What a revolting invocation of deserts! Instead, the Catholic church now believes that God wishes all souls to be saved. It seems remiss, to put it mildly, that the church took seven centuries to come to this more compassionate position.
Today Limbo's children will be able to scamper with their satchels and protractors towards Heaven, where - fingers crossed - God will make Heavenly sandwiches for packed lunches. Ovid's were rubbish."

Daily Kos: Bernanke Is Flooding the Economy With Money

"This is a classic case of 'ignore what they are saying, because what they are doing is speaking so loud:' While the Federal Reserve has been reporting rather flat money supply growth in M2 (blue line), in reality they have been dramatically increasing the cash (red and blue line) available for speculation.
Hence, that sloshing sound you heard. They have been providing the fuel for the rally, the huge M&A activity, the explosion in derivatives -- even the eye popping Art auctions are part of the shift from cash to hard assets. It is just supply and demand -- print lots of lots of anything, and that thing becomes increasingly devalued. It works the same for cash as it did for Beanie Babies.
Its not just the increase in Money Supply that should be concerning to investors -- its the misdirection about it. If Money Supply matters so little, as Fed Chair Bernanke has been out explaining to anyone who will listen, why pray tell has the Fed been working those printing presses overtime?"

Those bastards really will wreck the world economy...and why? Seriously, why?

Vatican concludes study on condoms - Yahoo! News

"Barragan said that Pope Benedict XVI is 'greatly concerned' by the issue and that the dossier was prepared at his request.
The Roman Catholic Church opposes the use of condoms as part of its overall teaching against contraception. It advocates sexual abstinence as the best way to combat the spread of HIV, the virus that causes AIDS.
But several leading churchmen have spoken out on the issue in recent years as the Vatican has come under increasing criticism for its position. Some — such as a one-time papal contender, retired Milan Cardinal Carlo Maria Martini — say that condoms were the 'lesser evil' in combatting the spread of AIDS. Other cardinals, however, have rejected their argument — an indication that the issue is still undecided at the Vatican."

Maybe I am being judgemental, but I think these bastards should end up in hell for dithering on this issue. Mind you I don't really believe in hell, but if there is one...they belong there for pontificating while millions die.

Fear - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

"Fear is a basic emotional sensation and response system ('feeling') initiated by an aversion to some perceived risk or threat."

I slept almost not at all last night. I knew before I tried to go to sleep, when I read a whole book in one gulp that sleep was unlikely. I used to love when that happened, but last night I was pissed. I knew I was doing it because my brain was panicking. Panicking over today, its implications and the unknown unplannable future. I war within myself all the time with this....the reliable, persistant and insatiable brain and the desirous, adventurous, insatiable self.

It is the passion flowing right on through your veins
And it's the feeling that you're oh so glad you came
It is the moment you remember you're alive
It is the air you breathe, the element, the fire
It is that flower that you took the time to smell
It is the power that you know you got it well
It is the fear inside that you can overcome
This is the orchestra, the rhythm and the drum

Com uma força, com uma força
Com uma força que ninguem pode parar
Com uma força, com uma força
Com uma fome que ninguem pode matar

It is the soundtrack of your ever-flowing life
It is the wind beneath your feet that makes you fly
It is the beautiful game that you choose to play
When you step out into the world to start your day
You show your face and take it in and scream and pray
You're gonna win it for yourself and us today
It is the gold, the green, the yellow and the grey
The red and sweat and tears, the love you got. Hey!

I told my brain in strong terms that it was a COWARD. That its fear was no only irrational but ineffecient, which is deeply challenging to its notions of methodical observation, incorporation and forward planning based on the best available assessment of data. My jaw slackened a little bit and I think I ended up sleeping a little bit and I hoped that the dream of Machu Picchu was a good omen.

Gender-bending boy fruit flies fight like girls - Yahoo! News

"WASHINGTON (Reuters) - In a study that sheds light on the biology of aggression, scientists swapped genes in gender-bending fruit flies to make boys fight like girls and girls fight like boys."

This is Your Story - The Progressive Story of America. Pass It On.

"As a citizen I don't like the consequences of this crusade, but you have to respect the conservatives for their successful strategy in gaining control of the national agenda. Their stated and open aim is to change how America is governed - to strip from government all its functions except those that reward their rich and privileged benefactors. They are quite candid about it, even acknowledging their mean spirit in accomplishing it. Their leading strategist in Washington - the same Grover Norquist – has famously said he wants to shrink the government down to the size that it could be drowned in a bathtub. More recently, in commenting on the fiscal crisis in the states and its affect on schools and poor people, Norquist said, 'I hope one of them' – one of the states – 'goes bankrupt.' So much for compassionate conservatism. But at least Norquist says what he means and means what he says. The White House pursues the same homicidal dream without saying so. Instead of shrinking down the government, they're filling the bathtub with so much debt that it floods the house, water-logs the economy, and washes away services for decades that have lifted millions of Americans out of destitution and into the middle-class. And what happens once the public's property has been flooded? Privatize it. Sell it at a discounted rate to the corporations.
It is the most radical assault on the notion of one nation, indivisible, that has occurred in our lifetime. I'll be frank with you: I simply don't understand it – or the malice in which it is steeped. Many people are nostalgic for a golden age. These people seem to long for the Gilded Age. That I can grasp. They measure America only by their place on the material spectrum and they bask in the company of the new corporate aristocracy"

War, religion, and gay rights - The Boston Globe

"The human race is undergoing a massive cultural mutation. The meaning of sexuality is being transformed as biology revolutionizes reproduction. Women are demanding equality across the globe. Men are being forced to reimagine their familial and social roles. Gays and lesbians are at the center of these changes. Their refusal to be silent and invisible is one of the era's great resources, a magnificent sign of hope."

Rape law reform roils Pakistan's Islamists - Yahoo! News

"Rape is already a common tool of revenge and settling tribal scores in Pakistan. The independent Human Rights Commission of Pakistan estimated in 2002 that a woman is raped every two hours and gang-raped every eight hours."

This is theoretically a hopeful article that the requirement of producing 4 male witnesses to rape is being reformed, but I read this sentence and I find hope elusive. Not because I don't think that eventually this won't be true anymore, but that within the human condition this is ever true and that for so many places in the world right now....this is "normal". How can we all be human if this is "normal"?

MathFiction: A Wrinkle in Time (Madeleine L'Engle)

"'And the fourth?' 'Well, I guess if you want to put it into mathematical terms you'd square the square. But you can't take a pencil and draw it the way you can the first three. I know it's got something to do with Einstein and time. I guess maybe you could call the fourth dimension Time.' 'That's right,' Charles said. 'Good girl. Okay, then, for the fifth dimension you'd square the fourth, wouldn't you?' 'I guess so.''Well, the fifth dimension's a tesseract. You add that to the other four dimensions and you can travel through space without having to go the long way around. In other words, to put it into Euclid, or old-fashioned plane geometry, a straight line is not the shortest distance between two points.' For a brief, illuminating second Meg's face had the listening, probing expression that was so often seen on Charles's. "

I dreamt last night about Machu Picchu and felt time jump. It was as if I really climbed the mountain and come upon it and it was one of the few times where the hope and desire for a place was overwhelmed by the actuality. I love those dreams.

Letters to AZ

"If you trust in Nature, in the small Things that hardly anyone sees and that can so suddenly become huge, immeasurable; if you have this love for what is humble and try very simply, as someone who serves, to win the confidence of what seems poor: then everything will become easier for you, more coherent and somehow more reconciling, not in your conscious mind perhaps, which stays behind, astonished, but in your innermost awareness, awakeness, and knowledge. You are so young, so much before all beginning, and I would like to beg you, dear Sir, as well as I can, to have patience with everything unresolved in your heart and to try to love the questions themselves as if they were locked rooms or books written in a very foreign language. Don't search for the answers, which could not be given to you now, because you would not be able to live them. And the point is, to live everything. Live the questions now. Perhaps then, someday far in the future, you will gradually, without even noticing it, live your way into the answer."

I have just spent some time, the last times presumably with the people I have met in AZ. I drove off thinking what if it was all a terrible failure? A mistake that cost me a year and half of my life....I should not have worried. For such a long time I have struggled with fear and envy of people who seem certain of things. I struggle with listening to my own internal voice. I have issues of faith, only not the kind pondered by philosophers or poets or religious folks. I struggle with having faith that living your life true to what you believe is enough. period. I was reminded of that this week. Hopefully I can begin anew. Thank you AZ. I wouldn't be near where and who I am without you.

Total ban on junk food ads for kids in UK

"New rules put forward by the media regulator Ofcom would also ban the use of celebrities, characters, free gifts and nutritional claims in the advertising of products aimed at primary school children.
The announcement comes as part of a drive to tackle the nation's growing problem of childhood obesity and follows a public consultation involving a variety of individuals and organisations.
According to Department of Health statistics, one million children could be obese by 2010 unless steps are taken to halt this rise."

Heart valves grown from womb fluid cells - Yahoo! News

"CHICAGO - Scientists for the first time have grown human heart valves using stem cells from the fluid that cushions babies in the womb — offering a revolutionary approach that may be used to repair defective hearts in the future. "

This stuff freaks me out....

Broadsheet - Salon.com

"Sit down, this one's going to blow your mind: According to the Associated Press, a 16-member Missouri legislative panel has submitted a report asserting that the U.S. has created a market for illegal immigrants by aborting all the Americans who would otherwise have held their jobs.
The report, from the state's House Special Committee on Immigration Reform, is so embarrassing that none of the six Democrats on the panel would sign their name to it, though all 10 Republicans did.
The report also includes the claim that 'liberal social welfare policies' keep government aid recipients living so high on the hog that they are unmotivated to get jobs, again creating a vacuum that pulls illegal immigrants across the border to work in terrible conditions for pennies an hour in their place. "

Some Women Allergic to Sex

"Women can be allergic to sex with men, but doctors are finding women can overcome this allergy through regular sex combined with treatments derived from semen."

Daily Kos: Why the Student Loan System in the U.S. should be Investigated

"Take the student loan industry, for example. Since 1994, the cost of attending college has skyrocketed, to where the average student can expect to graduate with over $18,000 in debt for a four year degree.
Sallie Mae, the largest provider of student loans, and former Government Sponsored Entity has seen its stock price rise by nearly 2000% during the same period. Its executives have paid themselves billions in stock bonuses. Its Chairman recently attempted to purchase a major league baseball team. Its CEO again topped the list of highest paid CEO's in Washington D.C.
Many don't realize that Sallie Mae lobbied for- and got- draconian legislation passed during the same time period. This legislation took away bankruptcy protection for all student loans- federally guaranteed or not. This legislation made it illegal for most borrowers to refinance their consolidated debt, even with lenders willing to accept less profit. This legislation gave the lenders collection powers that would 'make a mobster envious', to quote Harvard professor Elizabeth Warren. These powers include termination of public employment, income tax seizure, wage garnishment, suspension of professional licenses and certificates, and seizure of social security, and disability payments. This legislation has actually made it more profitable for lenders when students default, as opposed to remaining in good stead with their loans."

TIME.com: Exclusive: Charges Sought Against Rumsfeld Over Prison Abuse -- Page 1

"Just days after his resignation, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld is about to face more repercussions for his involvement in the troubled wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. New legal documents, to be filed next week with Germany's top prosecutor, will seek a criminal investigation and prosecution of Rumsfeld, along with Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, former CIA director George Tenet and other senior U.S. civilian and military officers, for their alleged roles in abuses committed at Iraq's Abu Ghraib prison and at the U.S. detention facility at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. "

Let the cards start falling!

so much for never again...

"November 10,2006 SNAGOVO, Bosnia-Herzegovina -- Forensic experts said Friday they found a new mass grave in northeastern Bosnia believed to contain the remains of more than 100 victims of the 1995 Srebrenica massacre where Serb forces buried some of the almost 8,000 victims.
The grave in Snagovo village, about 30 miles north of Srebrenica, was found after experts received a tip-off from an undisclosed source, said Murat Hurtic, head of Bosnia's Missing Persons Commission.
It is the seventh mass grave Hurtic's team has found near Srebrenica, the scene of Europe's worst massacre since World War II."

Britney dumps K-Fed, saves America at PunkAssBlog.com

"America and Britney became eye-averting trainwrecks together, but I wasn’t serious about their connection. Until now.
Two days ago, Britney Spears kicked K-Fed’s ass to the curb. And she did it via a humilating, well-deserved kick to the nuts: by sending him a text message. Similarly, America filed for divorce from the Republican Congress with a humiliating, well-deserved kick to the nuts: by taking custody of not one, but both Houses. "

I am embarrassed but I totally watch this show....

"There's more to the Girls Next Door than meets the eye. (Or maybe I was just naive ) Someone very involved in the Playboy world filled me in on what we DON'T see on the reality show. I'm not going to name names, so you'll have to figure it out, but it makes watching the show a LOT more interesting, looking for clues. Apparently ONE of the three girls (Holly, Kendra, and Bridget) is a hard-core lesbian and not the LEAST bit interested in men. Another of the girls is super freaky and into almost any kind of kinky sex. The third girl seems to have a genuine crush on Hef and just wants to keep him happy. The lesbian has claimed the super freak for her girlfriend and they regularly get it on in a wide variety of ways for Hef's amusement. The third one joins in if Hef says to. At his age, he's happy just to watch."

Funny story

So I have spent more time with cousins and uncles in the last week than I have in the past decade. It has been very informative to meet the extended family and I am amazed to see what behaviours might be more genetic rather than learned:)

On one of these occasions, our cousin who is currently residing in Jamaica Plain generously offered to host dinner. Thus my mom and another cousin trekked in to JP to have dinner with cousins, uncle and brother and sister. We of course also brought Brandy the family dog.

It is important to understand that Brandy is likely 16 years old, half blind and either deaf or really excellent at selective hearing. She is also rather spoiled.

So family has just eaten a great meal with much laughing and barb slinging when my mom asks "Where's the baby?" referring to Brandy. This launches an all out hunt for the dog. 8 people wandering around JP way calling out for the dog. Stress and concern as both my parents will likely descend into deep depression when we really do lose this dog.

Sister comes back around to cousin's house and notices that the humane society truck has pulled up across the street. She asks if our family called them and he says "No, #51 called us because they just found a dog" Sister looks at him funny, "really, cuz we just lost our dog..." The humane society fellow and my sister enter the house across the street and find Brandy SLEEPING in front of the fire place. Joy at the reunion you imagine? Nope. My sister calls Brandy, who ignores her completely. She has to walk over to Brandy and tap her before Brandy recognizes her and jumps up as if everything is perfectly normal. She brings Brandy back to cousins house where we all alternately tell her she is bold and hug her tremendously.

Evangelical summer camp shown in film to end | Entertainment | Film | Reuters.com

From the files of "the bigger they are, the harder they fall..."

"NEW YORK (Reuters) - Organizers of an evangelical summer camp for children featured in the documentary 'Jesus Camp' are discontinuing the camp because of negative reaction sparked by the film and recent vandalism at the camp site in Devils Lake, North Dakota.
'We have decided to hold different activities in future,' Pentecostal pastor and camp organizer Becky Fischer told Reuters.
Fischer was the central figure in 'Jesus Camp,' a documentary about Pentecostal evangelical Christians, some of whom send their children to summer camp where they pray, 'speak in tongues' and are urged to campaign against abortion."

How the World Works - Ted Haggard

"I'm looking for someone to turn the other cheek
I'll go on Larry King and tell him, Larry, I was weak
Deliver me from evil and deliver me from greed
Deliver me a hot stud and a couple grams of speed "

Oh yeah..by the way

Democrats kicked ass!

YouTube - Ted Haggard - Daily Show

It really is a problem when you cede the moral high ground to a drug dealing prostitute:)

Crooks and Liars » OLBERMANN: “This country was founded to prevent anybody from making it up as they went along.”

"Not four years removed from the most dismissive, the most condescending, the most ridiculing denials of the very hint at, as Mr. Rumsfeld put it, this 'nonsense'…
There you were, campaigning in Colorado, in Nebraska, in Florida, in Kansas — suddenly turning this 'unpatriotic idea'… into a platform plank.
'You can imagine a world in which these extremists and radicals got control of energy resources,' you told us. 'And then you can imagine them saying, 'We're going to pull a bunch of oil off the market to run your price of oil up unless you do the following.'
Having frightened us, having bullied us, having lied to us, having ignored and re-written the constitution under our noses, having stayed the course, having denied you've stayed the course, having belittled us about 'timelines' but instead extolled 'benchmarks'…
You've now resorted, Sir, to this?
We must stay in Iraq to save the two-dollar gallon of gas?"

Call, vote and keep up the hard work!

Beautiful Wedding, Christening and Comedy

Hello all,

I haven't been able to post recently as life has been a whirlwind of activity. Absoultely amazing fabulous weekend though. I am sick as a dog and utterly exhausted but happier than a pig in shit! My sister's wedding was a crazed logisitcal emotional frenzy of activity. Her twin's maid of honor dress' zipper busted 20 minutes before the limo was to arrive to take us to the chapel. Thanks to the cool head of a family friend, we found a tailor who fixed it in under 7 minutes and we made the limo. My friend Ann who had flown in from NC, because she loves me, had no luggage and showed up to the wedding barefoot carrying shoes that didn't quite fit.

The ceremony was absolutely beautiful and the wedding reception was amazing. Dancing laughing and drinking all around. We all retired to hotels and chatted until far too late.

Sunday I became Theo's godmother in a greek orthodox ceremony. Theo was highly displeased with the baptism, but it was great to actually participate in the ceremony. That night a bunch of friends went out for Alex's birthday to Grafton Street and the Hong Kong comedy club.

So now I am sick and exhausted and deeply happy. My sister is off to her honeymoon. I am defintiely staying in Boston and life is better than it has been in ages. I can't stop smiling.

Worried Sick

It started at the airport—the nausea, the headache, the dizziness—but I didn't say anything to my boyfriend

it's called jumping the shark George

"The federal government's 'no sex without marriage' message isn't just for kids anymore.
Now the government is targeting unmarried adults up to age 29 as part of its abstinence-only programs, which include millions of dollars in federal money that will be available to the states under revised federal grant guidelines for 2007.
The government says the change is a clarification. But critics say it's a clear signal of a more directed policy targeting the sexual behavior of adults.
'They've stepped over the line of common sense,' said James Wagoner, president of Advocates for Youth, a Washington, D.C.-based non-profit that supports sex education. 'To be preaching abstinence when 90% of people are having sex is in essence to lose touch with reality. It's an ideological campaign. It has nothing to do with public health.'
Abstinence education programs, which have focused on preteens and teens, teach that abstaining from sex is the only effective or acceptable method to prevent pregnancy or disease. They give no instruction on birth control or safe sex.
The National Center for Health Statistics says well over 90% of adults ages 20-29 have had sexual intercourse.
But Wade Horn, assistant secretary for children and families at the Department of Health and Human Services, said the revision is aimed at 19- to 29-year-olds because more unmarried women in that age group are having children. "

Updates

Hello,

I haven't posted recently due to terrible head cold. I hate head colds. I would much prefer lung congestion so I could at least think. I am soon to be taking more drugs and napping. I wanted to post an update though before I went offline for a while.

My sister gets married on Saturday and boatloads of relatives are arriving shortly. This will mean much logistical planning and likely many trips to Logan airport, oh the joy. My brother is bringing his girlfriend though and that is very exciting. Best part of the wedding agenda I have seen so far is that us bridesmaids will enter the reception to J/ Lo's "get right". Real best part is my two friends from high school are flying up to come to the wedding which should be awesome.

As for me, life is changing so quickly I think I am only kinda keeping up. I am likely leaving current employer and seeking employment back in the Boston area. Phoenix and I will never be friends, it just can't work. So it is back to Boston for me, for now. Till I get a new bug up my but to go somewhere else.

That's all for now.

Daily Kos: Press Freedom In America Sinks To New Lows -New Study

"The fact that this country, whose Constitution explicitly honors a free press, fares so poorly in this report is shameful. But what makes it worse is that, while the press in other nations is often suppressed by threats of violence, the main reason our media suffers is due to its own cowardice and ineptitude. This report is an exclamation mark for media reform and the movement to break up the Big Media conglomerates.
This sorry appraisal for the United States reflects squarely on the Bush administration and its open antagonism for the press. In its alleged quest to protect America from enemies whom we are told hate us for our freedoms, Bush has alighted on a unique defense:
If he takes away our freedom, they won't hate us anymore.
Charts:
20 Countries Ranking Highest In GDP
Ordered By Freedom Index ScoreRankCountryScore
1Netherlands0.50
2Switzerland2.50
3Belgium4.00
4Sweden4.00
5Canada4.50
6Germany5.50
7United Kingdom6.50
8South Korea7.75
9Australia9.00
10France9.00
11Italy9.90
12Spain10.00
13Japan12.50
14United States13.00
15Brazil17.17
16Turkey25.00
17India26.50
18Mexico48.53
19Russia52.50
20China94.00

20 Countries Ranking Highest In Both Population And GDP
Ordered By Freedom Index Score
RankCountryScore
1Canada4.50
2Germany5.50
3United Kingdom6.50
4South Korea7.75
5France9.00
6Italy9.90
7Spain10.00
8South Africa11.25
9Japan12.50
10United States13.00
11Poland14.00
12Brazil17.17
13Turkey25.00
14Indonesia26.00
15India26.50
16Thailand33.50
17Mexico45.83
18Russia52.50
19Iran90.88
20China94.00"

Women under attack in Iraq, Afghanistan - Yahoo! News

"'In Afghanistan, attacks on school establishments put the lives of girls at risk when they attempt to exercise their basic rights to education,' Guehenno said. 'Women and girls are raped when they go out to fetch firewood in Darfur. In Liberia, over 40 percent of women and girls surveyed have been victims of sexual violence. In the eastern Congo, over 12,000 rapes of women and girls have been reported in the last six months alone.'"

I liked the destiny stuff better...

"Relationships are non-linear
In practical terms, this means a small perturbation may cause a large effect (see butterfly effect), a proportional effect, or even no effect at all. In linear systems, effect is always directly proportional to cause. See nonlinearity.
Relationships contain feedback loops
Both negative (damping) and positive (amplifying) feedback are often found in complex systems. The effects of an element's behaviour are fed back to in such a way that the element itself is altered.
Complex systems are open
Complex systems in nature are usually open systems — that is, they exist in a thermodynamic gradient and dissipate energy. In other words, complex systems are usually far from energetic equilibrium: but despite this flux, there may be pattern stability. See synergetics.
Complex systems have a memory
The history of a complex system may be important. Because complex systems are dynamical systems they change over time, and prior states may have an influence on present states. More formally, complex systems often exhibit hysteresis.
Complex systems may be nested
The components of a complex system may themselves be complex systems. For example, an economy is made up of organisations, which are made up of people, which are made up of cells - all of which are complex systems.
Boundaries are difficult to determine
It can be difficult to determine the boundaries of a complex system. The decision is ultimately made by the observer
Dynamic network of multiplicity
As well as coupling rules, the dynamic network of a complex system is important. Small-world or scale-free networks which have many local interactions and a smaller number of inter-area connections are often employ"

Exxon Mobil posts $10.49B profit in 3Q - Yahoo! News

"DALLAS - Oil industry behemoth Exxon Mobil's earnings rose to $10.49 billion in the third quarter, the second-largest quarterly profit ever recorded by a publicly traded U.S. company. Its shares briefly rose to a 52-week high."

Not so invisible hands on your markets....

info for those who need it

"The kindness of strangers Getting access to emergency contraception -- always a time-sensitive task -- can be all too difficult for some women. (We're looking at you, Target, for refusing to stock Plan B.) Women who can't get a prescription for E.C. often have to rely on generous friends willing to part with a few birth control pills, or even turn to Facebook, the social networking site that allegedly has several underground networks dedicated to helping provide Plan B to high school and college students.

Now, there's another alternative -- on Wednesday Feministing tipped us off to the cheerily named initiative Emergency Kindness, which launched on Oct. 21. Emergency Kindness makes E.C. available online so that every woman with Internet access can get the drug when she needs it.
It works like this: Users submit Plan B requests using Emergency Kindness' online form. The organization then alerts two of its 'Janes' (members of a volunteer network that, sadly, brings to mind the pre-Roe era's community of underground abortion providers), who arrange to overnight or hand-deliver emergency contraception to the woman in need, free of charge. If asked, the Janes will disguise the E.C. to help keep the client's needs confidential. Emergency Kindness asks that clients disclose any other medications they're taking, and provides information on how Plan B works, but doesn't ask for clients' ages. The woman behind the network, who goes by 'San Cai,' personally screens each potential new Jane. (If you're interested in becoming a Jane, go here.) And we particularly love the manifesto promising a no-judgment, no-shame attitude for those seeking E.C.
It's not a perfect system, by any means, and we sure wish women didn't have to go underground for easy access to emergency contraception. But given the curr"

New ad on bushies

so Orwellian they disturb me viscerally

Russian commander: Tu-160s penetrate US airspace undetected - Wikinews

"A senior Russian air force commander has claimed that new, upgraded Tu-160 bomber aircraft were unchallenged by US air defense systems when they penetrated a radar zone near the Canadian coast in US territory during an April training exercise, reports the Russian news agency RIA Novosti.
Commander of Russia's long-range strategic bombers, Lieutenant General Igor Khvorov said that the bombers successfully carried out four mock Tu-95MS cruise missile launches, 200 mock bombings, and 53 mock sorties during the exercise. The RIA Novosti reported that the United States Air Force is currently investigating how the Tu-160's escaped detection.
Lieutenant General Igor Khvorov said, 'They were unable to detect the planes either with radars or visually.'
Khvorov denies any link of the tests to the current US-Iranian tension, saying, 'Of course, our exercises did not have anything to do with the situation in Iran, but their organization indirectly echoed in that region.'"

yah don't say? really...DUH morons

"Telling women they can't do well in math may turn out be a self-fulfilling statement. In tests in Canada, women who were told that men and women do math equally well did much better than those who were told there is a genetic difference in math ability.
And women who heard there were differences caused by environment — such as math teachers giving more attention to boys — outperformed those who were simply reminded they were females.
The women who did better in the tests got nearly twice as many right answers as those in the other groups, explained Steven J. Heine, a psychology professor at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver.
Expectations, it turns out, really do make a difference.
'The findings suggest that people tend to accept genetic explanations as if they're more powerful or irrevocable, which can lead to self-fulfilling prophecies,' said Heine.
The math study is the latest since Harvard University's president ignited controversy last year by suggesting that innate gender differences may partly explain why fewer women than men reach top university science jobs. The comment eventually cost him his job."

Evangelicals losing the kids

Despite their packed megachurches, their political clout and their increasing visibility on the national stage, evangelical Christian leaders are warning one another that their teenagers are abandoning the faith in droves.

Boo hoo hooo...I feel for their plight, I really do. Us secular progessives are claerly luring them to the dark side...heh heh heh.

Asshattery continues

"The letter, written in Spanish and mailed last week to an estimated 14,000 Democratic voters in central Orange County, tells recipients: 'You are advised that if your residence in this country is illegal or you are an immigrant, voting in a federal election is a crime that could result in jail time.'
In fact, immigrants who are naturalized U.S. citizens can legally vote.
State and federal law do prohibit threatening or intimidating voters, though, and the complaints about the letters that began surfacing this week prompted state and federal investigations"

Olbermann: 'Beginning of the end of America' - Countdown with Keith Olbermann - MSNBC.com

"We have handed a blank check drawn against our freedom to a man who has said it is unacceptable to compare anything this country has ever done to anything the terrorists have ever done.
We have handed a blank check drawn against our freedom to a man who has insisted again that “the United States does not torture. It’s against our laws and it’s against our values” and who has said it with a straight face while the pictures from Abu Ghraib Prison and the stories of Waterboarding figuratively fade in and out, around him.
We have handed a blank check drawn against our freedom to a man who may now, if he so decides, declare not merely any non-American citizens “unlawful enemy combatants” and ship them somewhere—anywhere -- but may now, if he so decides, declare you an “unlawful enemy combatant” and ship you somewhere - anywhere.
And if you think this hyperbole or hysteria, ask the newspaper editors when John Adams was president or the pacifists when Woodrow Wilson was president or the Japanese at Manzanar when Franklin Roosevelt was president.
And if you somehow think habeas corpus has not been suspended for American citizens but only for everybody else, ask yourself this: If you are pulled off the street tomorrow, and they call you an alien or an undocumented immigrant or an “unlawful enemy combatant”—exactly how are you going to convince them to give you a court hearing to prove you are not? Do you think this attorney general is going to help you?"

California insurer Blue Cross settles lawsuit - Yahoo! News

"Plaintiffs in the case claimed they had been left to pay crippling hospital bills -- some in excess of 100,000 dollars -- after Blue Cross had retrospectively cancelled medical coverage"

I assume they mean retroactively, but still how depressing.

Arizona ranked dumbest in U.S.

"Arizona ranked dumbest in U.S. "
Comparison of states' education systems, per-pupil funding among criteria in survey
John Faherty
The Arizona Republic
Oct. 18, 2006 12:00 AM
Arizona has the dubious distinction of being the dumbest state in the Union, according to an independent research and publishing company in Kansas. "

And um by the way....
2006 smartest states
1. Vermont.
2. Massachusetts.
3. Connecticut.
4. New Jersey.
5. Maine.
45. Alabama.
46. Alaska.
47. California.
48. Mississippi.
49. Nevada.
50. Arizona.

WTF Oprah?

So we had satellite radio for the cross country journey and we listened to a lot of talk radio. I hadn't been that exposed to talk radio before this little sojourn. As such, I only knew of many of the hosts from commentary on their shows. So it was enlightening to actually listen to them for myself. I discovered strange things, such as Dr. laura, depite being an obvious nutbag is quite fun to listen to and often dead on in her assessment of people's situations. So when we ventured over to Oprah and friends I was expecting to really enjoy the programming with the exception of Dr. Phil who I think is an obnoxious, useless blowhard. Here I heard Marianne Williamson. There are not words in existence to describe the idiocy exemplified, but here is a smattering from the XM site, with commentary.

"Romantic Love
Original Air Date: Week of October 10, 2006
How do you attract the mate you desire and keep them and yourself happy? Marianne is joined by marriage and family therapist, Dr. Pat Allen, to share advice that she says opened her eyes to the truth (read bland unimaginative hope for conformity) about romantic relationships.

According to Dr. Allen, the success of a romantic relationship rests on two principles:

A man's greatest psychic craving is that his thoughts be respected. (are you thinking to yourself, well what do women want? I was curious on where she was going as I rather enjoy having my thoughts respected by my romantic partner. wait for it....)

A woman's greatest psychic craving is to have her feelings cherished. (that's right ladies, you bundle of misunderstood uncherished emotional vomiting, your deepest pysche just wants to be told that you are loved and cherished...much like puppies do...it gets better)
Based on these underlying desires, Dr. Allen spells out some of the ways couples can achieve a lasting romantic relationship: (because it is deeply and profoundly romantic to have a dynamic of owner and sensitive cute puppy)

Show respect for your man's thought processes, don't coddle his emotions. Don't ask, 'How do you feel?' but rather 'What do you think?'
The key to being loved by a man is not what you achieve or do, but in who you are inside.
A woman is most powerful and most attractive when she exudes her feminine (apparently defined as passive/magnetic..no I'm not kidding ) energy.
Husbands and wives each have within them both masculine and feminine energies that need to be balanced, complementary and noncompetitive. (This sentence is why I hate these asshats so much, because this sentence is true in a lot of ways and yet completely contradicts every other asshat thing she has said)
Focus on complementary energy rather than competitive energy. Competitive energy diminishes intimacy. " (now, not for nothing, but I know more than one couple who find a good wrestle leads to not only intimacy but also to some other very enjoyable activity)

So in summation, avoid listening to this woman, or listen just to remind yourself how sad it is that you aren't getting paid a lot of money to talk, because if she is considered profound....yeah I should be making lots more money.

We need a new plan...soon

"At the moment, vegetable growers and packers are virtually unregulated. “Farmers can do pretty much as they please,” Carol Tucker Foreman, director of the Food Policy Institute at the Consumer Federation of America, said recently, “as long as they don’t make anyone sick.”
This sounds like an alarming lapse in governmental oversight until you realize there has never before been much reason to worry about food safety on farms. But these days, the way we farm and the way we process our food, both of which have been industrialized and centralized over the last few decades, are endangering our health. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimate that our food supply now sickens 76 million Americans every year, putting more than 300,000 of them in the hospital, and killing 5,000. The lethal strain of E. coli known as 0157:H7, responsible for this latest outbreak of food poisoning, was unknown before 1982; it is believed to have evolved in the gut of feedlot cattle. These are animals that stand around in their manure all day long, eating a diet of grain that happens to turn a cow’s rumen into an ideal habitat for E. coli 0157:H7. (The bug can’t survive long in cattle living on grass.) Industrial animal agriculture produces more than a billion tons of manure every year, manure that, besides being full of nasty microbes like E. coli 0157:H7 (not to mention high concentrations of the pharmaceuticals animals must receive so they can tolerate the feedlot lifestyle), often ends up in places it shouldn’t be, rather than in pastures, where it would not only be harmless but also actually do some good. To think of animal manure as pollution rather than ferti"

things you learn driving across country

We are in Memphis. We went out on Beale street. There was a girl singing jazz at one place. She was a bit giddy to be singing jazz. We went to BB King's after that and the band there was great. We are behind schedule but glad to have stopped. So things we have learned:

• Oklahoma might possibly be the longest most boring state ever. Avoid.
• Alburqueque has a balloon festival this weekend. We missed it:( But, we had awesome food with friends and bro got the infection in his finger drained. That was gross, but he had to get a shot in the butt. That was funny.
• Badly dressed (and I mean feathered hair, one fellow who looked like those guys who compete in fishing challenges in Upper penisula Michigan and another fellow who had his sweater tucked into his jeans) white people over 40 dancing their heart out to Beyonce's "Crazy in Love" is life affirming in a way that should be studied.
• Bugles are really very tasty.

Friends for Life: An Emerging Biology of Emotional Healing - New York Times

Not the best science writing I have seen, but still I find this fascinating. I think is some ways I found it counter-intuitive that being around an angry person would affect my level of anger. It simultaneously decreases your level of control over your mood, while increasing your responsibility for the people you surround yourself with. I suppose, though, that if you believe that the below is an accurate interpretation of the data, that Oprah, Wicca and the Golden Rule are speaking to a universal truth now proved out by science. It comforts me when perception of how the world works seems to align with scientific data. Sometimes just because you feel it...it really is true:)


"Mirror neurons offer a neural mechanism that explains emotional contagion, the tendency of one person to catch the feelings of another, particularly if strongly expressed. This brain-to-brain link may also account for feelings of rapport, which research finds depend in part on extremely rapid synchronization of people’s posture, vocal pacing and movements as they interact. In short, these brain cells seem to allow the interpersonal orchestration of shifts in physiology.
Such coordination of emotions, cardiovascular reactions or brain states between two people has been studied in mothers with their infants, marital partners arguing and even among people in meetings. Reviewing decades of such data, Lisa M. Diamond and Lisa G. Aspinwall, psychologists at the University of Utah, offer the infelicitous term “a mutually regulating psychobiological unit” to describe the merging of two discrete physiologies into a connected circuit. To the degree that this occurs, Dr. Diamond and Dr. Aspinwall argue, emotional closeness allows the biology of one person to influence that of the other.
John T. Cacioppo, director of the Center for Cognitive and Social Neuroscience at the University of Chicago, makes a parallel proposal: the emotional status of our main relationships has a significant impact on our overall pattern of cardiovascular and neuroendocrine activity. This radically expands the scope of biology and neuroscience from focusing on a single body or brain to looking at the interplay between two at a time. In short, my hostility bumps up your blood pressure, your nurturing love lowers mine. Potentially, we are each other’s biological enemies or allies.
Even remotely suggesting health benefits from these interconnections will, no doubt, raise hackles in medical circles. No one can claim solid data showing a medically significant effect from the intermingling of physiologies.

Arizona's Urban Sprawl Stretches Shelter System

"In 2004, the Governor's State Plan on Domestic and Sexual Violence reported over 100 domestic violence-related homicides in Arizona during the previous year. In 'Breaking the Cycle,' a resource book developed to assist victims and service providers, Napolitano wrote that domestic violence was the No. 1 call for service among state law-enforcement agencies and that Arizona had the second highest domestic violence murder rate in the country."

I wonder what rank Massachusetts is?

my gypsy heart....

Attached is the route I'm taking home. I'm leaving again. I'm very happy I get to spend the next few months at home, but spent the week struggling with all of this. Life really does change on a dime and while normally I'm happy as long as its not boring, this has been a little much, even for me. It's a long drive....at least I have satellite radio:)

Feeling a little crazy? there is a reason...

"Tonight's full Moon will be almost 12 percent bigger than some of the full Moons this year, according to NASA, setting up a fine viewing opportunity when it rises in the evening.
The reason: The Moon is near perigee, the point on its slightly out-of-round orbit that is closest to Earth.
This Moon is called the Harvest Moon, owing to its timing of being nearest the autumnal " Farmers in the past relied on it to harvest all night. The Harvest Moon is not always closer and bigger than normal.

NEIL YOUNG LYRICS
"Harvest Moon"
Come a little bit closer
Hear what I have to say
Just like children sleepin'
We could dream this night away.
But there's a full moon risin'
Let's go dancin' in the light
We know where the music's playin'
Let's go out and feel the night.
Because I'm still in love with youI want to see you dance again
Because I'm still in love with youOn this harvest moon.
When we were strangersI watched you from afar
When we were lovers I loved you with all my heart.But now it's gettin'late
And the moon is climbin' highI want to celebrate
See it shinin' in your eye.Because I'm still in love with youI want to see you dance again
Because I'm still in love with you
On this harvest moon.

more reasons for city living....

"The findings show that, across a wide range of settings, women are more at risk of violence by an intimate partner than from any other type of perpetrator,' said Dr Claudia Garcia-Morena of the World Health Organization.
The prevalence ranged from four percent in cities in Japan and Serbia to more than 30 percent in rural areas in Bangladesh, Ethiopia and Peru. The violence was most severe in rural rather than urban settings, the report said."

Marijuana may help stave off Alzheimer’s - Alzheimer's Disease - MSNBC.com

"WASHINGTON - Good news for aging hippies: smoking pot may stave off Alzheimer’s disease.
New research shows that the active ingredient in marijuana may prevent the progression of the disease by preserving levels of an important neurotransmitter that allows the brain to function."

Virtue

"Virtue describes the inner qualities that we are born with and develop throughout our life. The truth is, in order to be in harmony you need to be able to create the flow for your own existence. Many times when things are not working out for us, it may simply be that we have not have discovered the type of virtue or internal power we need (to apply) in order to overcome an obstacle or manoeuvre a situation. Having the power to apply or manifest the virtue (appropriately) is yet another part of this equation. "

The crossroads are moving and I am taking a long path. I felt certain for a moment, but in the cold light of travel planning I am shook to the bone. I wish for savvy. I am heading east for awhile. It's a long way from here and I hope crossing the long way lets me get there in time. I am so sad. I don't want to be. I want this to have been worth it in hindsight. Still I fear the whole adventure was a terrible waste of precious time.

Daily Kos: Garrison Keillor: Roll call of Senate damned

" The U.S. Senate, in all its splendor and majesty, has decided that an 'enemy combatant' is any non-citizen whom the president says is an enemy combatant, including your Korean greengrocer or your Swedish grandmother or your Czech au pair, and can be arrested and held for as long as authorities wish without any right of appeal to a court of law to examine the matter. If your college kid were to be arrested in Bangkok or Cairo, suspected of 'crimes against the state' and held in prison, you'd assume that an American foreign service officer would be able to speak to your kid and arrange for a lawyer, but this may not be true anymore. Be forewarned. "

Slimming photos with HP digital cameras - HP Digital Photography Center

How vain am I for wanting this?

so should have learned stats...

ECHIDNE OF THE SNAKES: "Let's not go quite that fast. I looked at the original research summary, and what it states is that weeks worked by the mother had no correlation with childhood obesity. So when moms work, kids don't get fat. Get it? What the study did demonstrate was that childhood obesity was positively associated with mothers who work long hours per week, and only then for the educated white mothers, and that is the percentage Harford chooses to cite in his article. There was no relationship between childhood obesity and working hours for the black or Hispanic mothers. It might be worthwhile to dig out the sample numbers here. How many white and educated mothers did the study include?Let's not go quite that fast. I looked at the original research summary, and what it states is that weeks worked by the mother had no correlation with childhood obesity. So when moms work, kids don't get fat. Get it? What the study did demonstrate was that childhood obesity was positively associated with mothers who work long hours per week, and only then for the educated white mothers, and that is the percentage Harford chooses to cite in his article. There was no relationship between childhood obesity and working hours for the black or Hispanic mothers. It might be worthwhile to dig out the sample numbers here. How many white and educated mothers did the study include?"

Lazy, lazy lazy

"No, not that way. A study released last month in the journal Psychological Science appeared to show that what we think is attractive, or beautiful, is whatever requires the least amount of effort."

amazing...

Billmon: "This guy obviously was confused. He seemed to be under the impression he was living in a free country:
Mr. Howards, 54, said . . . he was taking his 8-year-old son to a piano lesson on June 16 at the Beaver Creek Resort about two hours west of Denver when he saw Mr. Cheney at an outdoor mall. Mr. Howards said he approached within two feet of Mr. Cheney and said in a calm voice, “I think your policies in Iraq are reprehensible,” or as the lawsuit itself describes the encounter, “words to that effect.”
Mr. Howards said he then went on his way. About 10 minutes later, he said, he was walking back through the area when Agent Reichle handcuffed him and said he would be charged with assaulting the vice president. Local police officers, acting on information from the Secret Service, according to the suit, ultimately filed misdemeanor harassment charges that could have resulted in up to a year in jail.
Good to see the Secret Service is living up to its initials.
I think Cheney must still be sore about this incident. Mr. Howards should consider himself lucky he didn't get a shotgun blast in the face."

Timing, luck & good planning

Destiny
For each and every person, there is a destination to which they are bound in their lifetime. In addition, no two people can play the same role. We are in the process of creating our destination every minute of the day via our decisions and interactions. Each and every one of us is born with an intrinsic series of dynamics existing within our unique potential - our personality - which we enact throughout our lives accordingly.

I am again at a crossroads, faced with options with ambiguous pros and cons. I committed to "going with my gut", but find my gut is as confused as my mind when faced with the actual options. I get envious of imaginary people who have some innate structure for seeing all options as opportunities. I envy true optimists who see experience and wisdom in every/any road taken. My less rational parts cling to the idea that there is a correct choice, a path that will really crack open the world for me to explore. I still wish for things I don't really believe exist. Is that hope? Is that self destructive? I know enough now to realize that everyone struggles. Confidence does not mean certainty and ambivalence doesn't mean lack of focus or ambition. I know this viscerally and yet still have ridiculous nostalgia for the time when I thought confidence, ambition and focus would yield the BEST plan ever. I will continue forward,a s there really is no other option. I struggle to embrace whatever folly may result from the best laid plans.

hmmmm....

"'The patent system is being abused by private actors to the detriment of the mostly unaware public. Our health, our freedom, and our economic prosperity are all under assault from bogus rights meted out to the few with the power and expertise to game a system originally established hundreds of years ago to promote progress within society as a whole. The government, through primarily a captured patent office utterly failing to achieve its mission and skewed policies implemented into patent law by Congress and the courts, is not just failing to defend the public interest from abuse of the patent system, but is omplicit in and supportive of such efforts.'
Them's fighting words!
The Monsanto patents in question involve the methods by which genes from one organism are inserted into another. Ravicher's contention is that by the time Monsanto got around to patenting these methods, they were not new and unusual enough to constitute an invention worthy of protection.
Despite Ravicher's previous success, one would have to guess that the odds of success in invalidating these patents are long. But seen in a larger context, the attack on the patents is just one element of a broader pushback against Monsanto's assertion of intellectual property rights in an ongoing clash with traditional farming practices. "

Seriously?

"'In principle, the stock market represents the discounted value of the future profits of corporate America. If the value rises because the economy can now be seen as growing more rapidly, then this is certainly good news. But, if future profits are projected to be higher because of lower wages or lower corporate taxes (e.g. a higher tax burden on workers or fewer public services), why should the mass of the population, who own little or no stock, celebrate?'
Good question -- especially when most indicators suggest that the economy is actually slowing. In fact, one theory for why oil prices are declining so rapidly is that speculators are selling off their holdings precisely because they fear an economic slowdown next year will depress worldwide energy demand.
Which brings us back to square one. If it is true that the Dow's recent vim and vigor is a result of falling oil prices, then what investors are actually celebrating is the likelihood of an oncoming recession. Woo hoo!"

creeps

"Oct 2, 2006 — NEW YORK (Reuters) - Wal-Mart Stores Inc. is pushing to create a cheaper, more flexible work force by capping wages, using more part-time workers and scheduling more staff on nights and weekends, The New York Times reported on Monday.
Wal-Mart executives say they embraced the new policies for a large number of their 1.3 million workers to better serve customers, the newspaper said.
But some Wal-Mart workers say the changes are further reducing their modest incomes and putting a strain on personal lives, the Times reported.
Investment analysts and store managers say Wal-Mart executives have told them the company wants to transform its work force to 40 percent part-time from 20 percent, the Times reported. "

A call to action as our gov't votes for Torture

"What gate did we think we were crashing, exactly? A gate to a garden party? A cotillion, perhaps? An ivory tower nestled in the green, green fields of Oxford?
For the past couple of years, this site has been about nothing but taking control of a weak, ineffective and inbred party, making it strong with new leadership and new vision, and taking our country back from a rabid majority gang of power-hungry, self-serving, religious-pandering, imperialistic, militaristic, corrupt cronies. That, at least, was why I was here.
What? Were all the diaries entitled 'Worst. President. Ever.' just little jokes we made in cyberspace, as of much importance as flippant little theater reviews? Did we not realize years ago that this administration fully intended to gut the Constitution, create a unitary executive and render not just the Geneva Conventions but our Bill of Rights quaint?
We were all just - ha ha ha - kidding? Did we - we who pride ourselves on being so media savvy - buy into the spin that we were 'alarmist' and 'extremist' with all our dire warnings and that deep down, we never really believed it would come to this?
I sure as hell wasn't kidding. And I didn't think the rest of you were, either. This torture bill ... I'd call it a line in the sand but for the fact that there have been so many lines in the sand in the past six years there's no sand left. We're down to bedrock now, folks, and it ain't pretty. But then, I'd always assumed we never expected it to be. Frankly, I always thought it would come to this. This and far, far worse.
But that's why I thought we were here, to rebuild and retake control of a political party, not abandon it. After all, who's got the power? Ask Howard Dean. We've got the power.
This is democracy, people. Seize it. Take control. Grab hol"

fascinating and disturbing

"California has a population of about 36 million and commands 55 electoral votes, far more than any other state. But the 12 inland states of the Great Plains and Far West (all won by Bush in 2004), with a combined population of 23 million, account for 59 electoral votes. Those 13 million extra Californians must not be real Americans after all, since their votes counted for so much less (.00000153 electoral votes apiece) than those of Arizonans, Nevadans, Idahoans or Nebraskans (.00000257 electoral votes each). Similarly, the 44 Democrats in the current Senate actually represent more citizens, and received more votes, than do the 55 Republicans. "

Is the homeland where America's heart is? | Salon Books

"Neither side in America's cultural and political wars -- Brian Mann calls the two camps the 'metros' and the 'homelanders' -- can quite get what they want. Homelanders have controlled Congress for 12 years and the White House for six. They've packed the federal judiciary with right-thinking conservatives who view our Constitution as a form of Talmudic writ whose interpretation requires reading the minds of those bickering 18th century farmers, the ones who got together in Philadelphia to figure out how to govern a rural nation of 13 states with a combined population smaller than present-day Arkansas. Yet big government has done nothing but get bigger, abortion remains a legal and (in most states) commonplace medical procedure, HBO programming includes the word 'fuck' every 38 seconds, homosexuals show no signs of melting away in shame, fewer and fewer people go to church, and undocumented immigrants have shown up in virtually every corner of the country, where they work hard at the jobs nobody else will do at all. On the other hand, the metropolitan liberals and moderates whose values seem to dominate the texture of actual American life can do nothing to stop a governing party that starts overseas wars for bad reasons, punishes poor people for living in the path of a hurricane, encourages environmental destruction and eagerly hands over as much power as possible (except that of the police state) to big corporations. "

I am in love

in a way I never saw coming.

Newsweek covers aorund the world

perception is reality...one of these things is not like the others.

The Female Brain

It has been a frequent topic of conversation on the project that I am working on, the differences between the genders....it is also a topic I frequently read about and attempt to understand where science meets cultural perception. It is a particularly frustrating topic because of items like the below. There is so much "data" put out there in a pseudoscientific form that implies research and analysis, when in fact there is little of either. I think both genders "feel" that there are inherent differences between the genders, it seems like there must be...but then actual research puts that assumtion on fragile ground. It's not that I want the limitations of a "conclusive" scientific analysis, but it does "feel" like with current technology we should be closer to a more scientific understanding of our brains.

"Fact-checking 'The Female Brain'
Louann Brizendine's book 'The Female Brain,' which argues that there are strong neurological differences between the sexes, has been stirring up all kinds of controversy lately. But today in the Boston Globe, Mark Liberman, a trustee professor of phonetics at the University of Pennsylvania, fact-checks the book and finds that it comes up a few miles short.
Liberman starts by debunking a favorite saying among armchair psychologists and certain scholars: 'Women talk more than men.' This truism is often presented as scientific fact, and is used time and again to support a cultural perception of women as inherently communicative. But according to Liberman, measurements of how much men and women talk are all over the map -- it's possible to find claims of women's and men's daily word usage ranging anywhere from '50,000 vs. 25,000 down to 5,000 vs. 2,500.' Brizendine's 'The Female Brain' places the daily word differential at 20,000 for women vs. 7,000 for men. But Liberman is skeptical about Brizendine's source: a self-help book written by Allan Pease. In the past six years, Pease has cited widely different counts of men's and women's daily word usage, and is also the author of the assuredly fun reads 'Why Men Don't Have a Clue and Women Always Need More Shoes' and 'Why Men Can Only Do One Thing at a Time and Women Never Stop Talking.' In his analysis, Liberman found that 'Pease and his coauthors never cite any specific studies as the source of these various numbers.' "

Identical Twins Not So Identical

"Other studies have shown that the brains of identical twins look different upon close inspection of the wiring.
The new research, among the first to provide a detailed look at such differences at the genetic level, was led by Manel Esteller of the Spanish National Cancer Center in Madrid. The scientists studied 40 pairs of twins in Spain, Denmark and the United Kingdom, aged three through 74. The participants were surveyed on a range of health, exercise, eating habits and other lifestyle issues. Their blood was analyzed for epigenetic differences.
The youngest set of twins had the most identical genomes. Genetically, the oldest twins were the least alike.
Gene expression and behavior is altered by a process called methylation. Scientists think a better understanding of methylation could aid cancer research.
'One would expect identical twins to develop and express genes at the same levels, but in fact this changes over time,' Plass said. 'We think that methylation plays a genome-wide role in these changes.'"

Tall Women More Likely to Have Twins

"Taller women have more of an insulin-like growth factor that has been linked to height and to the rate of twins in previous work. Dr. Gary Steinman, an obstetrician at Long Island Jewish Medical Center, compared heights of 125 women who had twins and 24 who had triplets to the average height of U.S. women."

It is now official I am never giving birth!

cuz mcdreamy rules

"With a choice between the season premieres of Grey's Anatomy and CSI Thursday night, channel surfers, by and large, chose the ABC doctor drama.
Per final numbers from Nielsen Media Research, Grey's Anatomy won the 9-10 p.m. time slot with 25.4 million viewers; CSI trailed with 22.6 million. "

Crooks and Liars � Fox Clinton Interview - Part 1 - Osama bin Laden

Watch a democrat that can actually fight back, kick a reporter's ass :)

Another blow to the idea of fairness

Some of the courtrooms are not even courtrooms: tiny offices or basement rooms without a judge’s bench or jury box. Sometimes the public is not admitted, witnesses are not sworn to tell the truth, and there is no word-for-word record of the proceedings.
Nearly three-quarters of the judges are not lawyers, and many — truck drivers, sewer workers or laborers — have scant grasp of the most basic legal principles. Some never got through high school, and at least one went no further than grade school.

This is in New York, not a third world country...

But The Times reviewed public documents dating back decades and, unannounced, visited courts in every part of the state. It examined records of closed disciplinary hearings. It tracked down defendants, and interviewed prosecutors and defense lawyers, plaintiffs and bystanders.
The examination found overwhelming evidence that decade after decade and up to this day, people have often been denied fundamental legal rights. Defendants have been jailed illegally. Others have been subjected to racial and sexual bigotry so explicit it seems to come from some other place and time. People have been denied the right to a trial, an impartial judge and the presumption of innocence.
In 2003 alone, justices disciplined by the state included one in Montgomery County who had closed his court to the public and let prosecutors run the proceedings during 20 years in office. Another, in Westchester County, had warned the police not to arrest his political cronies for drunken driving, and asked a Lebanese-American with a parking ticket if she was a terrorist. A third, in Delaware County, had been convicted of having sex with a mentally retarded woman in his care.
New York is one of about 30 states that still rely on these kinds of local judges, descendants of the justices who kept the peace in Colonial days, when lawyers were scarce. Many states, alarmed by mistakes and abuse, have moved in recent decades to rein in their authority or require more training. Some, from Delaware to California, have overhauled the courts, scrapped them entirely or required that local judges be lawyers.
But New York has no such requirement. It demands more schooling for licensed manicurists and hair stylists.

The Making of a Gay American: New Jersey Governor James McGreevey -- New York Magazine

Ironically, the dividing experience of my sexuality helped me thrive in that environment. As I climbed the electoral ladder—from state assemblyman to mayor of Woodbridge and finally to governor of New Jersey—political compromises came easy to me because I’d learned how to keep a part of myself innocent of them. I kept a steel wall around my moral and sexual instincts—protecting them, I thought, from the threats of the real world. This gave me a tremendous advantage in politics, if not in my soul. The true me, my spiritual core, slipped further and further from reach.

The growing practice of embryo eugenics. By William Saletan - Slate Magazine

"Once you screen for one gene, it's tempting to screen for others. The woman who's targeting arthritis, for example, added that gene to an already-planned test. Another patient, described in the same article, set out to scan his embryos for colon cancer and ended up chucking two more for Down syndrome. 'You kind of feel like you shouldn't be doing it,' his wife confessed. 'But then why would we go through all of this and not take those extra precautions?' Soon, you're hunting even for dormant genes. A PGD technique unveiled three months ago can find genes that won't harm your child but might, if combined with other genes, cause disease in a later generation. British patients are already asking clinics to filter out embryos carrying such genes."

Stories of this nature have been around for ages, although the details and the numbers coming out now are clearly more than anecdotal. As much as I try, I don't know how I feel about this issue. It really is very morally, ethically confusing. Anyone else?

U.S. Health-Care System Gets a "D" - Yahoo! News

"The U.S. health-care system is doing poorly by virtually every measure. That's the conclusion of a national report card on the U.S. health-care system, released Sept. 20. Although there are pockets of excellence, the report, commissioned by the non-profit and non-partisan Commonwealth Fund, gave the U.S. system low grades on outcomes, quality of care, access to care, and efficiency, compared to other industrialized nations or generally accepted standards of care. Bottom line: U.S. health care barely passes with an overall grade of 66 out of 100. "

ugh

"'Deliver Us From Evil' focuses on a northern California priest, Father Oliver O'Grady, who admits on camera to being an active pedophile who was harbored by the church for more than 30 years. Lionsgate will release it on October 13."

I don't know if I could watch this.

Confessions of an Ex-Mortgage Lender - Yahoo! News

"Confession Time.
The strategy of lenders, he learned, is to maintain an uneven playing field with their clients. 'The average person only gets a mortgage every seven years. How can you become good at something you do every seven years, especially if you're dealing with somebody who knows all the ins and outs and is doing this several times a day?' he recently told BusinessWeek.com.
After a year of putting up with what he felt was the industry's lack of integrity, Janusz left the business for good. Still, he felt he was privy to information that the public rarely gets to see. He vented his frustrations -- and spilled his guts -- in the 2005 book Kickback: Confessions of a Mortgage Salesman (Insight).
The book details the sophisticated traps lenders set for clients they see as suckers. 'If somebody came in wearing cowboy boots and ripped-up jeans, those are the people you took to the cleaners on fees. That was the unwritten rule -- we were looking for people we'd see as having less-than-perfect credit.'"

Backstory: 'St. Jack' hits the religious right - Yahoo! News

"It's not discomfort with religious values in public life that's behind his new drive, the senator insists, but concern that religion is being used to deliberately divide Americans. Politics practiced rightly is the glue that keeps a diverse nation together and the catalyst that moves it forward, he believes. Yet today the political arena is plagued by rancor and incapable of resolving the most crucial issues confronting America. He sees a link between that unhappy state and the power of Christian conservatives within his own party. He's stirring a ruckus, he hopes, so that others will speak up."

European Tribune - Community, Politics & Progress.

"Enormous losses at one of the nation's largest hedge funds resurrected worries yesterday that major bets by these secretive, unregulated investment partnerships could create widespread financial disruptions.
The hedge fund, Amaranth Advisors, based in Greenwich, Conn., made an estimated $1 billion on rising energy prices last year. Yesterday, the fund told its investors that it had lost more than $3 billion in the recent downturn in natural gas and that it was working with its lenders and selling its holdings 'to protect our investors.'"

women scientists and penis transplants

Hello all,

Sorry I haven't posted anything. I am completely swamped by a job I migh tnot have in a couple of months. Here is a link to Broadsheet which continues to post. Hope everyone is doing well and talking like a pirate.

Regards,
Siobhan

Daily Kos: If the light of hope dances and curls about your spine

"All things by immortal power,
Near and Far
Hiddenly
To each other linked are,
That thou canst not stir a flower
Without troubling of a star."
Francis Thompson quotes "

Germans reconsider religion

"'Christianity, and nothing else,' he wrote, 'is the ultimate foundation of liberty, conscience, human rights, and democracy, the benchmarks of western civilization. To this day, we have no other options [to Christianity]. We continue to nourish ourselves from this source. Everything else is postmodern chatter.'"

Ten reasons we already miss Ann Richards

Ann Richards, the famously silver-tongued and silver-haired former governor of Texas, died Wednesday from complications of esophageal cancer. She was 73. Here's just some of what we'll remember and miss about her:
1. Richards used her wit not only to disarm her political opponents but to encourage other women to get into politics: "Let me tell you, sisters, seeing dried egg on a plate in the morning is a lot dirtier than anything I've had to deal with in politics," she said.
2. As a homemaker raising four kids, Richards became politically involved by volunteering on campaigns, including helping elect Sarah Weddington, the 25-year-old lawyer who had successfully argued Roe v. Wade before the Supreme Court, to the Texas House. Richards called Weddington the first "out-and-out feminist activist" she'd ever met, according to the Washington Post.
3. Two years after undergoing rehab for alcoholism in 1982, Richards was elected state treasurer, making her the first woman elected to a statewide post in Texas in 50 years. Of her return from addiction, she said: "I believe in recovery, and I believe that as a role model I have the responsibility to let young people know that you can make a mistake and come back from it."
4. When Richards gave the keynote address at the Democratic National Convention in 1988 -- where she zinged the elder George Bush -- "Poor George. He can't help it. He was born with a silver foot in his mouth" -- she also reminded the audience that she was only the second woman to give the keynote address at the convention in 160 years. The first was Barbara Jordan.
5. Richards may have lost her reelection bid to George W. Bush in 1994, but she beat another rich Texas oilman in her first governor's race: Clayton "Claytie" Williams, who during the campaign compared rape to the weather: "As long as it's inevitable, you might as well lie back and enjoy it." That race was dubbed a match between "Claytie and the Lady," in which "the Lady" prevailed by a narrow margin. Sixty-one percent of women voters supported her, and she became the second woman ever to be governor of Texas.
6. As a feminist, Richards championed ratification of the Equal Rights Amendment in Texas. She led workshops for women campaign managers and political candidates before being elected to office herself. When she became the first woman in half a century to serve as governor, she celebrated by holding up a T-shirt that showed the State Capitol and read: "A woman's place is in the dome."
7. As governor, Richards made it a priority to appoint more women, African-Americans and Hispanics to state boards than any previous Texas governor. Before she left office in 1995, she said: "I did not want my tombstone to read, 'She kept a really clean house.' I think I'd like them to remember me by saying, 'She opened government to everyone.'" According to KWTX-TV she appointed "the first black University of Texas regent; the first crime victim to join the state Criminal Justice Board; the first disabled person to serve on the human services board; and the first teacher to lead the State Board of Education."
8. For her 60th birthday, Richards got a license to ride a motorcycle.
9. Late in life, Richards continued her advocacy for reproductive freedom. Appearing at a pro-choice rally in Austin in 2003, she denounced the influence of "a small group of religious right-wingers" on the Bush administration's policies and on Texas' abstinence-only sex education programs. One of her daughters, Cecile Richards, is now president of Planned Parenthood.
10. In her later years, Richards established the Ann Richards School for Young Women Leaders, which will open in 2007. Her family requests that memorial gifts be made to the school, through the Austin Community Foundation.
There'll never be another Ann Richards, but here's hoping her school graduates generations of her successors.
-- Katharine Mieszkowski

Daily Kos: WSJ on Bush economy: when in hole, stop digging

Seriously, for those of you making large economic decisions, read this. it is disturbing.

italian vogue pictures

Ok so I have received much feedback on these pictures that challenges my original assessment of them as inherently offensive. I think they are supposeded to be politically charged photos. I think they are degrading, but maybe that is the point..a police state is degrading, challenged by the fact that the models face don't express that they are being degraded. It's confusing but I retract my inital assessment.

heh heh

"'We met with the wives and girlfriends of gang members and they were worried some were not handing over their guns and that is where they came up with the idea of a vigil or a sex strike,' the mayor's spokesman told Reuters news agency.
'The message they are giving them is disarm,' he added.
Studies found that local gang members were drawn to criminality by the desire for status, power, and sexual attractiveness, not economic necessity, Colombian radio reported.
One of the girlfriends, Jennifer Bayer, told Britain's Guardian newspaper: 'We want them to know that violence is not sexy.'
Ms Bayer said the women had come up with a strike anthem rap song that included the lyrics: 'As women we are worth a lot. We don't want to fall for violent men because with them we lose too much.' "

Can we build a sane citadel somewhere?

Mars Hill wrests future converts searching for identity and purpose from the dominion of available sex and drugs that still make post-grunge Seattle a countercultural destination. Driscoll promises his followers they don't have to reprogram their iTunes catalog along with their beliefs -- culture from outside the Christian fold isn't just tolerated here, it's cherished. Hipster culture is what sweetens the proverbial Kool-Aid, which parishioners here seem to gulp by the gallon. This is a land where housewives cradle babies in tattooed arms, where young men balance responsibilities as breadwinners in their families and lead guitarists in their local rock bands, and where biblical orthodoxy rules as strictly as in Hasidism or Opus Dei.
Following Driscoll's biblical reading of prescribed gender roles, women quit their jobs and try to have as many babies as possible. And these are no mere women who fear independence, who are looking to live by the simple tenets of fundamentalist credo, enforced by a commanding husband: many of the women of Mars Hill reluctantly abandon successful lives lived on their own terms to serve their husbands and their Lord. Accountability and community is ballasted by intricately organized cells -- gender-isolated support groups that form a social life as warm and tight as swaddling clothes, or weekly coed sermon studies and family dinner parties that provide further insulation against the secular world. Parents share child care, realtors share clients, teachers share lesson plans, animé buffs share DVDs, and bands share songs.

If I were a better human I would give up sushi....

"'There is almost no more bluefin tuna to be fished in some of the oldest fishing grounds, especially in West Mediterranean,' the group said in a statement in which it called on the European Union to ban commercial fishing during the breeding season."

I think...

maybe sometimes that reality scares me.

link to actual photos. creepy photos

I wish I could say it as well-Billmon Does it brilliantly

The Sixteen Acre Ditch
Five years after 9/11, this is what Ground Zero looks like (or will, once the NYFD removes the jerry-rigged memorial "pool" it created for Shrub's photo op):
Five years after Sept. 11, 2001, ground zero remains a 16-acre, 70-foot-deep hole in the heart of Lower Manhattan. High above it, a scaffolded bank building, contaminated during the attack, hulks like a metal skeleton, waiting endlessly to be razed . . ."The problem," as John C. Whitehead, 84, the former chairman of the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation, said baldly in an interview last spring, "is the 16-acre ditch."
If you had told me, five years ago, that on the fifth anniversary of the worst terrorist attack in history Ground Zero would still be nothing but an enormous hole in the ground, I wouldn't have believed you -- just as I wouldn't have believed that a major American city could be thoroughly trashed by a Category 4 hurricane and then left to moulder in the mud for a year while various federal, state and local bureaucrats and hack politicians tried to make up their minds what to do.
I would have said that while those kinds of things can and do happen in Third World kleptocracies or decaying Stalinist police states, they're simply not possible in the richest and most powerful nation in history. Even if the voters could somehow be bamboozled into accepting such incompetence, the wealthy elites and corporate technocrats who own and operate the world's only remaining superpower would never stand for it.
You can learn a lot about a country in five years.
What I've learned (from 9/11, the corporate scandals, the fiasco in Iraq, Katrina, the Cheney Administration's insane economic and environmental policies and the relentless dumbing down of the corporate media -- plus the repeated electoral triumphs of the Rovian brand of "reality management") is that the United States is moving down the curve of imperial decay at an amazingly rapid clip. If anything, the speed of our descent appears to be accelerating.
The physical symptoms -- a lost war, a derelict city, a Potemkin memorial hastily erected in a vacant lot -- aren't nearly as alarming as the moral and intellectual paralysis that seems to have taken hold of the system. The old feedback mechanisms are broken or in deep disrepair, leaving America with an opposition party that doesn't know how (or what) to oppose, a military run by uniformed yes men, intelligence czars who couldn't find their way through a garden gate with a GPS locator, TV networks that don't even pretend to cover the news unless there's a missing white woman or a suspected child rapist involved, and talk radio hosts who think nuking Mecca is the solution to all our problems in the Middle East. We've got think tanks that can't think, security agencies that can't secure and accounting firms that can't count (except when their clients ask them to make 2+2=5). Our churches are either annexes to shopping malls, halfway homes for pederasts, or GOP precinct headquarters in disguise. Our economy is based on asset bubbles, defense contracts and an open-ended line of credit from the People's Bank of China, and we still can't push the poverty rate down or the median wage up.
I could happily go on, but I imagine you get my point. It's hard to think of a major American institution, tradition or cultural value that has not, at some point over the past five years, been shown to be a.) totally out of touch, b.) criminally negligent, c.) hopelessly corrupt, d.) insanely hypocritical or e.) all of the above.
It's getting hard to see how these trends can be reversed. Maybe they can't (which would explain why all empires, at least so far, have eventually declined and fallen.) In the past I've used the economic concept of market failure to describe the process whereby dissident voices and uncomfortable views are gradually weeded out of the "marketplace of ideas," allowing errors to go uncorrected, lies to go unchallenged (or ignored) and ideological orthodoxy to calcify into self-delusion:
Watching the punditocracy spin its ideological wheels these days, it's hard not to be reminded of the later years of the Soviet Union -- a nation dedicated to proposition that the marketplace of ideas should never be allowed to clear. As the system declined into senility it, too, became increasingly detached from reality. Soviet pundits and academic ideologues churned out reams of bad ideas and stupid policies. Soviet Krauthammers advised the Politburo to invade Afghanistan. ("It will be a cakewalk.") Soviet [James] Glassmans told it to crank up the central planning. ("Traditional capitalist measures of valuation mean nothing.")
When the public discourse on Edward R. Murrow's old network consists of Katie Couric introducing Rush Limbaugh's buffoonish views, you know the intellectual and ideological rot is well advanced -- maybe not quite as far as the Soviet Union in the '80s, but getting there. One of my favorite books about the Soviet collapse was titled "The Age of Delirium" which I think perfectly captured the progressive insanity of a system that could no longer even understand, much less believe, its own lies. I think of that book practically every time George W. Bush or Dick Cheney or Donald Rumsfeld open their mouths in public.
Some time ago, back when I still had comments on this blog, a jihadi sympathizer left a note on one of my posts bragging about his movement's success in taking down the Soviets -- just as the armies of the Prophet succeeded in taking down the Persian Empire. The new Rome (that is, us) would be next, he boasted.
At the time I thought it was daft -- exactly the kind of thing a crazed religious fanatic would say. But these days I'm not so sure. The jihadis in Afghanistan didn't really take down the Soviet empire -- they just delivered a very hard punch to a giant that was already falling. Looking at the state of America five years after 9/11, it no longer seems completely implausible that the same thing might one day be said of us.
This is not, I know, the most inspiring way to commemorate the fifth anniversary of the event that essentially kicked off the new American century -- which at this point seems unlikely to last even a decade. If you want the standard patriotic rhetoric (hallowed ground, blessings of democracy, forward strategy for freedom, etc.) you'll have no trouble finding it elsewhere. There's no shortage of the stuff today (whitehouse.gov is a good place to start). But I personally don't think the record of the past half decade (or the current condition of Ground Zero) really justifies that kind of self-serving, self-justifying pablum.
Do you?

They go after their own

"The group, which advocates tax cuts, free trade and limited government, has raised more than $700,000 for Chafee's conservative challenger and helped put the moderate senator at risk in Tuesday's Republican primary in Rhode Island."

Seriously you would think that the available polling would tell them to back off their own, but alas these nutjobs don't get how much trouble they are in.

Zoroastrians Keep the Faith, and Keep Dwindling - New York Times

"There is a palpable panic among Zoroastrians today - not only in the United States, but also around the world - that they are fighting the extinction of their faith, a monotheistic religion that most scholars say is at least 3,000 years old. "

Zoroastrianism predates Christianity and Islam, and many historians say it influenced those faiths and cross-fertilized Judaism as well, with its doctrines of one God, a dualistic universe of good and evil and a final day of judgment.

Microbes can clean up toxic waste dumps

"Microbes found in old waste sites in Australia not only tolerate lethal soil and water cocktails created by waste petroleum and chlorine, but can break them down so they no longer threaten humans, the scientist said on Friday.
'We have isolated bacteria which can live on those waste compounds,' Megha Mallavarapu, from a government-backed environmental research center based in South Australia state, told Reuters."

The 30-year-old virgins

"Some people may think Amanda is unique, maybe even a freak. But the fact is, there are a surprising number of women -- smart, savvy and attractive women -- who still haven't lost their virginity into their 20s or 30s. According to a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report, 7 percent of unmarried women between ages 25 and 29 have never had sex; neither have 5 percent between 30 and 34 and 4.3 percent between 35 and 39. It's hard to say how many of these women are actually waiting until marriage, but it's safe to assume that quite a few aren't. This month Jane magazine is sponsoring a contest to get a 29-year-old virgin laid, a cheap publicity stunt that misses the bigger point: Why does a 'funny, gorgeous' virgin need to place what is essentially an ad for sex at all? There was time when virginity was a prize, a treasure to be guarded and a badge of honor, but now, it seems that for the modern career woman virginity is nothing but a curse. What's worse, the longer she waits the harder it is to find a guy -- not just the right guy, but any guy -- to do the honors. Which prompts the question, Has the sexual revolution ironically made it impossible for a mature woman to get laid for the first time? "

Scientists see new global warming threat

"As the Earth warms, greenhouse gases once stuck in the long-frozen soil are bubbling into the atmosphere in much larger amounts than previously anticipated, according to a study in Thursday's journal Nature.
Methane trapped in a special type of permafrost is bubbling up at a rate five times faster than originally measured, the journal said."

Wow

"A new study of nearly 6 million births has found that 'the risk of deaths to newborns delivered by voluntary Caesarean section is much higher than previously believed,' the New York Times reports. The study, which will be published in this month's issue of Birth: Issues in Prenatal Care, is particularly important because, according to its authors, it is the first to examine the risk of cesarean delivery among low-risk mothers 'who have no known medical reason for the operation.' "