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While Bush talks to cows, workers get milked
Wednesday, August 29, 2001
According to a national study published this year by the nonprofit Families and Work Institute, 25 percent of Americans feel so much pressure to work that they do not take all the vacation time they are owed. They may be loyal employees, but of those workers who curtail their vacations, 55 percent say they feel overworked. Of the workers who take all their vacation time, 27 percent feel overworked.
Wage slavery sucks.
The G-Spot: A Gynecological UFO?
Wednesday, August 29, 2001
The few studies dealing with the existence of the G-spot have been poorly done, Hines points out. "This science, or pseudoscience, for the existence of a G-spot is based entirely on a handful of females who were examined behaviorally to see if a G-spot existed. And only 4 of 12 women had behavioral evidence for a G-spot," he stressed.
No comment.
Bush Calls Tax Cut Right Medicine for Economy
Wednesday, August 29, 2001
The CBO projected the government would post a $9 billion shortfall, unless it tapped the revenue of the Social Security fund. Both Bush and Congress have promised not to do that.
My question is where is this nine billion dollars going to magically appear from? Out of thin air?
More likely out of the pockets of the poor. . .
Bush backs off pledge for Social Security Vow
The White House is backing away from its pledge to protect every cent of Social Security reserves in the face of a report today that the government is tapping Social Security taxes for other programs.
More B.S. from Bush.
Jesse Helms, White Racist
Wednesday, August 29, 2001
What really sets Jesse Helms apart is that he is the last prominent unabashed white racist politician in this country -- a title that one hopes will now be permanently retired. A few editorials and columns came close to saying that. But the squeamishness of much of the press in characterizing Helms for what he is suggests an unwillingness to confront the reality of race in our national life.
Maybe this is a surprise to the rest of the U.S., but not to those of us who have lived in North Carolina for the past thirty years.
This is typical shamefull press toadying nostalga.
His record is what it is.
Thanks, randomWalks :)
In Colorado creeks beer and fish do not mix
Wednesday, August 29, 2001
Coors is probably the most disgusting piss swill beer on the U.S. market today, so I don't know why anyone would want to drink it to begin with.
Coors, the right beer now!
Bush Close to Senate Panel Win for Alaska Drilling
Wednesday, August 29, 2001
Two Democrats look ready to sell out ANWR.
I've said it before and I'll say it again, Republicans will always beat Democrats in a fair fight because some Democrats are always more than happy to throw their supposed virtues out the window if they think it will buy them some short term political advantage.
I think they should change their name to the Sellout Party.
I'm constantly amazed that people think I'll vote for Democrats because they are somehow more moral than the Republicans.
Guess what? They aren't.
Green Groups Sue to Block Alaska Anti-Missile Site
The suit, filed in U.S. District Court in Washington, argues that the Defense Department violated federal law by failing to update an environmental impact statement on its ballistic missile defense program after revising it to include airborne lasers, sea-based interceptor missiles and space-based heat-sensing satellites.
Environmentalism and Other Quaint Ideas
Monday, August 27, 2001
Is the battle over?
It still might be winnable, but meanwhile, the paradigm that green advocates have assumed to be true since Silent Spring and before, of steadily improving environmental policies, clearly needs rethinking. Before even battles to stem the backsliding can be consistently won, a new environmental movement -- one whose public face is neither Beltway frauds nor dangling hippies with "forest names" -- will have to be built from the ground up. For the short term, it doesn't look good.
I really hate to find myself in agreement with this article. Now I shall crawl into bet and pull the covers up over my head.
I'm gonna get too depressed if I don't.
Global Warming: Early Warning Signs
Monday, August 27, 2001
Something to consider as you swelter in the August heat.
Thanks, Booknotes :)
Why Borneo's sun bears now attack
Monday, August 27, 2001
As loggers turn what little is left of Indonesia's rain forests into wasteland, sun bears turn aggressive.
This whole series of articles is quite informative.
Bush Extols Values; Steelworkers Want Relief
Monday, August 27, 2001
Bush seeks to prop up ailing U.S. steel industry, which just can't compete in the global marketplace. So much for the free market.
CNN Rushes Rush*
Monday, August 27, 2001
As CNN's reputation falls like a cinder block, here's some more stupidity, courtesy of Rush Limbaugh.
American Foods Recalls Beef
Monday, August 27, 2001
Delicious wholesome E-coli contaminated meat. Yum!
Last week, American Foods reached a settlement with two women from Eau Claire and an Illinois family after more than 40 people in Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Iowa became ill last fall with a food-borne illness traced to ground beef sold at Cub Foods, which gets its meat from American.
American Foods remains a defendant in two other lawsuits linked to the E. coli outbreak last fall, Gary Hansen, an attorney for American Foods, said last week.
If that doesn't scare you, than please read the story below that was ignored by the mainstream media.
Ball Park Franks Fiasco: 21 Dead, $200,000 Fine
Bil Mar makes hot dogs--Ball Park franks hot dogs. You've seen them when you go to a baseball game at Tiger Stadium in Detroit and elsewhere. Last month, Sara Lee pled guilty to two misdemeanor counts in connection with a listeriosis outbreak that led to the deaths of at least 21 consumers who ate Ball Park Franks hot dogs and other meat products. One hundred people were seriously injured. The company paid a $200,000 fine.
Beef. It's not what's for dinner. . .
Powell To Skip U.N. Racism Conference
Monday, August 27, 2001
The U.S. - Israeli double standard continues.
I am not an anti-semite, but I am damn tired of my nation's endless and obsequious kowtowing to a tiny desert country with no resources that routinely oppressed and murdered other people for decades just because they don't they don't worship the same god.
On the other hand, the Palestinians could learn a thing or two about non violent protest. Blowing up civilians isn't a good way to get others to see your point of view!
CBO Report: Budget Will Tap Into Social Security
Monday, August 27, 2001
President Bush's tax cut and the nation's economic downturn will force the government to take $9 billion out of Social Security this year to pay for other operations, breaking a bipartisan commitment in Congress, congressional analysts reported Monday.
Hey George, thanks for stealing money from my eighty-five year old grandmother. Hope you're happy with your tax cut for the ultra rich.
Satellites Search for Ancient Artifact
Friday, August 24, 2001
Will a commercial satellite solve the mystery of Noah's Ark?
Aircraft imagery of Mount Ararat taken in June of that year (1949) and analyzed by U.S. intelligence officials includes a unique feature at the 15,500-foot level on the Northwestern Plateau. Then in 1973 and 1976, through the lenses of classified satellites, this "whatever-it-is" also purportedly stirred up the same community.
Bush Attacks Treatment Initiative
Friday, August 24, 2001
The other Bush this time:
A proposed ballot initiative that would require courts to offer treatment to certain drug offenders came under attack by Gov. Jeb Bush on Thursday. The initiative, called "Right to Treatment and Rehabilitation for Nonviolent Drug Offenders," would force judges to grant treatment or rehabilitation to anyone charged with simple possession of drugs or drug paraphernalia.
Stop U.S. Aid It's Costing Colombians Their Lives
In July of last year, paramilitaries massacred six residents of La Union in the same central square where residents were forced to gather last month. More than 80 of the nonviolent community's farmers, fathers, mothers, sons and daughters have either been killed or have disappeared since the peace community was created in 1997.
Marijuana Support at 30-Year High
Support for legalizing marijuana is at its highest level in at least 30 years, according to a USA TODAY/CNN/Gallup poll. The poll found that 34% favored legalizing marijuana use while 62% were opposed, the most support for legalization since pollsters began asking the question in 1969.
Slowly but surely the Drug War Fascists will be dragged forward.
Bush Covers Budget, Mideast, Condit in Press Conference
Friday, August 24, 2001
Bush is out to lunch (no surprise there):
Bush said he would dip into the Social Security surplus only "in case of economic recession or war." The administration's budget shows it close to the Social Security surplus, and a congressional estimate due next week is expected to show the government already tapping the Social Security surplus.
Dying species 'endangering' earth
Friday, August 24, 2001
This is contrary to the "everything's O.K." nonsense that the press has been handing us lately:
A 1998 survey of 400 scientists commissioned by New York's American Museum of Natural History found that nearly seven out of 10 of the biologists polled said they believed a "mass extinction" was under way.
Nearly all attributed the losses to human activity, especially the destruction of plant and animal habitats.
This is what I always point out when people I know say "Oh, buffalo, mountain lions and wolves are not extinct."
If species only exist in zoos, than they might as well be extinct.
Warm-up in the Alps
Friday, August 24, 2001
The Big Thaw continues:
A global study of 160,000 mountain glaciers and ice caps shows that the volume of the world's glaciers is declining, and that the rate of ice loss is continuing to speed up.
Seattle Weekly - The Politics of Pot
Friday, August 24, 2001
A blue blue is the sun.
A brown brown is the sky.
A green green are her eyes.
A million miles, a million miles.
Hey, don't you wanna go down?
Like some disgraced cosmonaut.
A million miles below their feet.
A million miles, a million miles.
I'll be with you girl.
Like being low,
Hey, hey, hey like being stoned.
I'll be with you girl.
Like being low,
Hey, hey, hey like being stoned.
Thanks, Random Walks :)
America's 'War on Drugs' Looks Unfairly Warped
Wednesday, August 22, 2001
According to the Washington-based Sentencing Project, African-Americans are 13 percent of drug users but represent 35 percent of arrests for drug possession, 55 percent of convictions and 74 percent of prison sentences. And there is little mystery why. First, there is location. Poor black city neighborhoods, not calm white suburbs, are the scene of big street sweeps.
A New Round of White Denial: Drugs and Race in the 'Burbs
In the instant case, the accused, from the Prince William County hamlets of Chantilly and Centreville are youths who reporter Josh White describes as "good kids," who "went bad." When was the last time a black or Latino drug dealer or gang-banger was described this way? To those who study media, implicit in most news coverage when they do it is the suggestion that it's because they were congenital criminals; it was their IQ or pathological underclass families. They don't "go" bad, they just "are" bad.
But when stories are written about pale-faced killers or dealers, or in this case both, sympathetic adjectives fill the pages. Crime becomes human interest -- a cautionary tale. We are encouraged to identify with the instigators of the mayhem in ways we never would be were they dark or poor.
Are you seeing a pattern here?
Exalted States
Wednesday, August 22, 2001
How does anesthesia generate mystical experiences?
White House Budget Forecast Shows Shrinking Surplus
Wednesday, August 22, 2001
Pop goes the budget surplus.
Thanks, George! Thanks, Congress!
Greece presses for loan deal on Elgin marbles
Tuesday, August 21, 2001
Great Britain offers to "loan" the Parthenon marbles they looted from Greece two hundred years ago in time for the Olympic Games in 2004. Classy of them.
The Parthenon Marbles
U.S. demand for natural gas drives threat to vast ecosystem
Tuesday, August 21, 2001
That giant sucking sound is natural gas being sucked out of the Alberta woods and piped to California.
Knowledge Indignation
Tuesday, August 21, 2001
Want online access to scholary information?
Now you'll have to pay for it.
There are many online publishing groups, but they're busy buying each other up, merging and accumulating all the world's books, archives, research, journals into an every-decreasing number of corporations. Microsoft bought up the rights to many of the world's famous photos years ago. This is the text version of that. The biggest player is the Anglo Dutch company, Reed Elsevier. Not far behind is the Canadian Thomson Corporation. Whatever you can think of in the world of news and specialist information, they're in it in a big way.
Thanks, Virulent Memes :)
Giving cannibalism a human face
Tuesday, August 21, 2001
The ever popular cannibalism update:
"We assume that cannibalism is always an aggressive, barbaric and degrading act," objects Beth A. Conklin, an associate professor of anthropology at Vanderbilt University. "But that is a serious over-simplification, one that has kept us from realizing that cannibalism can have positive meanings and motives that are not that far from our own experience."
The real threat of cannibalism is not a moral one, but instead a physical one, namely the spread of diseases such as the deadly kuru.
No, I don't advocate killing people and eating them.
Then again, we kill plenty of other animals and eat them.
My view is that one kind of meat is much like any other kind.
Thanks, Simcoe :)
This bull is so small it could sit on a single human blood cell
Tuesday, August 21, 2001
Last week scientists from Osaka University revealed the tiniest sculptures ever made: depictions of a bull about the size of a single blood cell. The bulls, fashioned by computer-controlled laser, are 10 millionths of a metre long and seven millionths high. Human hair is about 100 millionths of a metre wide, meaning that 10 of the bull sculptures could stand nose to tail across the width of a single hair.
Let's get small!
Photo 1 Photo 2 Photo 3 Photo 4
Sources: Sen. Jesse Helms to Retire
Tuesday, August 21, 2001
"Senator No" gone in January 2003, Strom "I'm older than dirt" Thurmond gone as well.
Let ne just say good riddance to two fossils whose time is long, long past. Let us pray that their sucessors are at least a tad bit more enlightened!
Number of Shark Attacks Average Despite Worries
Tuesday, August 21, 2001
The real story regarding sharks, Burgess said, is "not shark bites man, but man bites shark. The reality is that humans have been killing off 100 million individual sharks per year by overfishing. Meanwhile, sharks are killing eight humans per year."
Another example of the media hyping to death a problem that doesn't exist while ignoring serious problems going on in the world.
Atlas shows night sky pollution
Tuesday, August 14, 2001
Why you can't see the stars in the suburbs.
Light pollution is a form of pollution like any other. How about giving those of us who like to look at the stars a break and leaving those outside floodlights off for a change?
The World Atlas of the Artificial Night Sky Brightness
Chumming the Chesapeake Is Popular, but Is It Sporting?
Tuesday, August 14, 2001
Real fishermen (and women) don't use chum.
An even bigger problem is that of the disasterous problem of overfishing and overconsumption of ocean fish, which is why I've stopped eating seafood.
It's time to give the oceans a rest.
Capitalizing on the Anti-Capitalist Movement
Tuesday, August 14, 2001
While extreme in its co-optation of protesting techniques, Nike is hardly the only company jumping on the anti-corporate bandwagon. Apple, IBM and the Gap have all played with protest-chic. Apple has imposed their "Think Different" slogan onto billboards of Cesar Chavez, Malcolm X, and -- most recently -- young, red-flag waving militants. The Gap has seized on the graffiti aesthetic by dressing their windows in fake black spray paint that reads "Freedom" and "We the People." They've even hung anarchist flags alongside their sweatshop-produced low-riding jeans.
Stop the world, I wanna throw up.
Kill Shot
Tuesday, August 14, 2001
Your Drug War tax dollars at work, killing the innocent.
Judge Dismisses Barbie Lawsuit
Tuesday, August 14, 2001
Corporate thought control denied. Hooray!
Thanks, kill your tv.com :)
The Internet's new borders
Saturday, August 11, 2001
The myth of a free and unfettered internet:
It is true that filtering and geolocation are not watertight, and can be circumvented by skilled users. Filters and firewalls can be defeated by dialling out to an overseas Internet access-provider; geolocation can be fooled by accessing sites via another computer in another country. E-mail can be encrypted. But while dedicated dissidents will be prepared to go to all this trouble, many Internet users are unable to change their browsers' home pages, let alone resort to these sorts of measures. So it seems unlikely that the libertarian ethos of the Internet will trickle very far down in countries with authoritarian regimes. The upshot is that local laws are already being applied on the Internet. Old-style geographical borders are proving surprisingly resilient.
(Bold annotation mine)
Governor Threatens to Bar U.S. Plutonium Shipments
Saturday, August 11, 2001
Mr. Hodges says the Bush administration has reneged on a plan worked out by the Clinton administration to move the plutonium out of the Savannah River Site, near Aiken, S.C., after it is converted to power- plant fuel or encased in glass. Without a guarantee that the radioactive material will eventually be moved out of the state, he said in an interview today, he will "do whatever it takes" to keep it from coming in.
The nuclear waste wars continue.
For those of you pushing to build more nuclear power plants, forget about it. It ain't gonna happen. People don't want nuclear reactors and nuclear waste in their backyards.
Marines Accuse Eight in Osprey Aircraft Probe
Saturday, August 11, 2001
If the officers are found guilty, they could receive letters of reprimand that go into their permanent files. Such letters can be used later to reduce an officer's retirement package by demoting him at retirement to the last rank he held honorably, military lawyers said.
Ooh! Letters of reprimand! I'm sure these scumbags are just shaking in their jackboots. The military will no doubt sweep this under the rug just like they always do.
This is another in a seemingly infinite line of military personel being slapped on the wrist for causing the deaths of innocent people.
See USS Greenville collision, EA-6B cable car collision.
I have nothing but the utmost admiration and respect for the vast majority of men and women in our armed forces, who serve their nation with honor, professionalism and selflessness.
I do object to the massive amount of incopetence and waste in the hierarchical structure of the military. There can not be two sets of judicial standards, one for civilians and one for the military.
Equal justice under the law must apply to all.
Rush takes aim at UFO politics
Saturday, August 11, 2001
Has-been gasbag Rush Limbaugh is so desperate for attention that he's decided to take on the UFO crowd.
Limbaugh attacking UFO declassification as a "liberal agenda" is like a hippo break-dancing in Spandex. He draws major-league attention to what his fellow ideologues would just as soon leave under a rock, and the guy winds up looking like a dork.
Doesn't the radical right always end up looking like a bunch of clueless dorks?
Couple Dies Off Florida Keys in Sex-Plane Hijack
Saturday, August 11, 2001
This is why I only have sex on the ground.
Sure, it's not as exciting, but it's a whole lot safer!
Adherents.com - Religions in Literature
Wednesday, August 8, 2001
Exhaustive survey of religion references in Science Fiction, from Abkhazians to Zurvanism.
Cheney Sends Congress Energy Letter
Sunday, August 5, 2001
Dick Cheney declares himself above the law.
Vice President Dick Cheney wrote to Congress this week refusing to turn over documents detailing deliberations on President Bush's energy policy. Doing so would "unconstitutionally interfere" with the White House's duties, he said.
Consider me disgusted.
For Unions, Protecting Jobs Trumps Environmental Concerns
Two unions, the International Brotherhood of Teamsters and the United Auto Workers, lobbied hard in the House for provisions that would allow oil drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska and set fuel efficiency standards for cars and sport utility vehicles far below what environmentalists had sought.
Hall of Shame
The Democrat rats who sold the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.
Arctic Ignorance and Bliss
The screech of machinery, the dust trails of trucks, the glint of midnight sun off acres of aluminum buildings, this will be our giant fire ring to signal the end.
What Would Jesus Drive?
Like an infatuated lover who refuses to see any of his sweetheart's faults, America has fallen hard for the sport utility vehicle -- an environmental disaster on wheels.
Stumbling in the dark
Sunday, August 5, 2001
Clean, cold logic on the foolishness of the Drug War, courtesy of The Economist.
Bush Spending One Month at Ranch
Saturday, August 4, 2001
President Bush seems to bolt from the White House every chance he gets. He begins a monthlong vacation on his Texas ranch Saturday, and by the time he returns he will have spent nearly two months of his presidency there.
So much for the traditional value of hard work.
Life After Tyranny
Friday, August 3, 2001
He goes to North Korea so you don't have to.
The Rigged Missile Defense Test
Friday, August 3, 2001
If you believe anything the Pentagon says, then you are most likely too stupid to be helped.
Jim Morrison Simulation
Friday, August 3, 2001
Yeah! C'mon! From the people that brought you SimShatner (perhaps).
In fact, if you run both of these in a seperate window, you can see Shatner's histrionics performed to the tune of "Back Door Man"!
(FlashFlashFlashFlashFlash, sorry!)
Thanks, shikencho :)
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