Apparently, Glenn Beck can call the president of the United States a racist on national television and keep his job, but if you’re an NPR executive who says the same thing privately about a bunch of nameless Teabaggers — you’ve gotta go.
Thursday, March 10, 2011
Gulf Spill Sickness Wrecking Lives
Nearly a year after the oil disaster began, Gulf Coast residents are sick, and dying from BP's toxic chemicals.
http://english.aljazeera.net/indepth/features/2011/03/201138152955897442.html
Illinois Abolishes Death Penalty, Clears Death Row
Most nations, including virtually all of Europe, have abandoned the death penalty. Among the 58 that still use it, according to Amnesty International, are the United States, China, Thailand, Egypt, Iran, Iraq and Japan.
Twenty people have been freed from death row after evidence surfaced to show they were innocent or had been convicted improperly. Then-Gov. George Ryan halted executions in 2000 rather than risk killing an innocent man. The state's last execution took place in 1999
Wednesday, March 9, 2011
Tennessee Cops Posed as a Defense Attorney To Get Suspect To Incriminate Himself
It seems that in 2008, Monroe County Sheriff's Detectives Doug Brannon and Pat Henry actually posed as a federal defense attorney in an attempt to get incriminating information out of suspect John Edward Dawson, who was in jail on a host of charges, including theft and drug distribution. Not only that, but in doing so, they also talked Dawson into refusing to cooperate with his public defender and to plead guilty to the charges against him. They communicated with Dawson via a jailhouse informant.
Dawson's public defender was so taken aback by his assurances to her that he had a "federal lawyer" who had worked out all of his charges, that she actually asked for a psychiatric evaluation. When all this came to light, Dawson's (real) attorney asked for a continuance in his case so she could assess the damage. Remarkably, Tennessee Tenth Judicial Judge Amy Reedy refused the request, ruling that Dawson made "a real dumb decision" and that he had "picked his poison."
http://reason.com/blog/2011/03/08/tennessee-cops-posed-as-a-defe
Mother Denied Abortion, Then Had To Watch Baby Die
Nebraska’s new abortion law forced Danielle Deaver to live through ten excruciating days, waiting to give birth to a baby that she and her doctors knew would die minutes later, fighting for breath that would not come.
http://nebraska.statepaper.com/vnews/display.v/ART/2011/03/07/4d746bd70eb25
Tuesday, March 8, 2011
'At Least 20 Dead' in Car Bomb in Faisalabad, Pakistan
The Pakistani Taliban said they carried out the attack, saying it was to avenge the death in custody of one of their members.
U.S. Sets $223B Deficit Record
The federal government posted its largest monthly deficit in history in February, a $223 billion shortfall that put a sharp point on the current fight on Capitol Hill about how deeply to cut this year’s spending.
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2011/mar/7/government-posts-biggest-monthly-deficit-ever
Monday, March 7, 2011
Are Conservatives Turning on Glenn Beck?
The Weekly Standard's William Kristol has taken Beck to task for his stance on Egypt. Some say it's a sign that the Right is fed up with one of Fox News' most vivid personalities
http://theweek.com/article/index/211897/are-conservatives-turning-on-glenn-beck
White House Brewing its Own Beer
U.S. President Barack Obama has asked his staff to brew beer in the White House. The blog Obama Foodoramaa, which reports on Obama's food initiatives, said this week the president and First Lady asked their chefs to take up the popular hobby.
The couple presented the first batch of the homebrew -- the White House Honey Ale -- to guests at their SuperBowl party in February. Close to 100 bottles were produced and there were no leftovers after the party.
http://www.torontosun.com/news/world/2011/03/05/17507621.html
Docs Turn Away Unvaccinated Patients
According to a 2001 American Academy of Pediatrics survey, 23 percent of physicians reported that they "always" or "sometimes" tell parents they can no longer be the child's pediatrician if they won't get the proper shots.
http://abcnews.go.com/Health/Wellness/docs-turn-unvaccinated-patients/story?id=13037217
Sunday, March 6, 2011
The GOP Offer Lame Brain Reasons Why Americans Should Not Have Safe Roads
It is inconceivable that any serious party would vote against infrastructure improvements or mass transit development, but Republicans stood on the floor of the House and gave lame-brain excuses why funding for highways, bridges, and mass-transit was a wasteful use of resources. Democrats gave passionate responses that outlined the virtues of government spending on real projects that create jobs, improve America’s transportation system, protect Americans’ safety, and preserve the environment, but their informative speeches fell on deaf ears. Republicans after all, are not interested in any programs that work for the American people and they demonstrated their contempt in grand fashion. The Republicans who spoke against transportation funding were shameless, and their reasons for opposing the programs were an embarrassment.
Republicans Believe in 'Climate Change,' Not 'Global Warming'
New research suggests that Republicans are far more likely to believe in the vaguer-sounding "climate change" than "global warming." The findings, published in Public Opinion Quarterly, show a 60 percent to 44 percent gap among self-identified Republicans in a large survey who endorsed the notion of "climate change" versus "global warming."
Meaning that 16 percent of Republican respondents apparently weren't aware that "climate change" is synonymous with "global warming."
Why the Mideast Revolts will Help Al-Qaeda
The rush in the West to proclaim the advance of democracy in the Arab world has led to the propagation of an ill-conceived and dangerous corollary: that the revolts in the Middle East and North Africa also mark the irrelevance of al-Qaeda and other Islamist militant groups.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2011/03/04/AR2011030402322.html
Prison Rape and the Government
A large majority of inmates who have been sexually abused by staff or by other inmates never report it. And corrections officials, with some brave exceptions, have historically taken advantage of this reluctance to downplay or even deny the problem.
According to a recent report by the Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS), a branch of the Department of Justice, there were only 7,444 official allegations of sexual abuse in detention in 2008, and of those, only 931 were substantiated. These are absurdly low figures. But perhaps more shocking is that even when authorities confirmed that corrections staff had sexually abused inmates in their care, only 42 percent of those officers had their cases referred to prosecution; only 23 percent were arrested, and only 3 percent charged, indicted, or convicted. Fifteen percent were actually allowed to keep their jobs.
http://www.nybooks.com/articles/archives/2011/mar/24/prison-rape-and-government/?pagination=false
Crackpot Ideas
No one suggests using cocaine in pregnancy is harmless. But unlike alcohol, which in heavy doses can cause a set of birth defects known as fetal alcohol syndrome, cocaine is not associated with any pattern of defects. Nor does it produce infantile withdrawal, like opiates. Today there is something approaching scientific consensus that cocaine increases the risk of low birthweight and perhaps premature delivery.
Saturday, March 5, 2011
Only in America: Banning 'Booty' from the Bible
Some words that won't appear in the new version of the New American Bible: "Booty," "holocaust," and "cereal." Instead, thanks to the popular Bible's first update since 1970, readers will find "spoils of war," "burnt offerings," and "grain."
http://theweek.com/article/index/212715/only-in-america-banning-booty-from-the-bible
Dog Eats Owner’s Foot
The 61-year-old man, who had no feeling in his feet because of his condition, woke up on his couch with part of his foot — including three toes — missing. Veterinarians say the dog doesn’t need to be put down, as its instinctual for them to eat dead and infected tissue as a way to prevent a larger infection.
http://www.rawstory.com/rawreplay/2011/03/dog-ate-owners-infected-foot-as-he-slept
Christian Mob Surrounds Muslim Man Outside the White House
Conservative media and particularly Fox News has been keen in months past to gin up stories about Islamic tribal laws being implemented across the United States. While this is in fact not happening anywhere in the US, it has become a point of intense concern to some religious fundamentalist Christians, who take the media spin seriously.
War, Debt and Democracy
As the United States takes up the decision to lift its self-imposed debt ceiling, we would do well to remember why America's public debt is as large as it is, and how it matters. With the rise of the Tea Party, Republicans may rail against raising the debt ceiling, but they are likely to back down in the end, because, among other things, debt-funded wars – say, in Afghanistan and Iraq – are easier to defend than pay-as-you-go wars that voters must finance up front with taxes.
http://english.aljazeera.net/indepth/opinion/2011/03/201132124833293367.html
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