Return of the News Bucket

14 Comments

1. 

   CabinGirl on December 17, 2013 at 7:03 pm

   Dam, Italy’s got a goat problem.

   • 

     Marie2 on December 17, 2013 at 7:15 pm

     Are goats ever really a problem?  They are happy enough to chomp down on vegetation that sheep shun.  And what could be better than chèvre with herbs?  (Lavender goat cheese is heavenly.)

     • 

       Marie2 on December 17, 2013 at 7:44 pm

       Slate cheeseboard with soapstone chalk.  A small step up from a token gift but not by too much.

     • 

       CabinGirl on December 17, 2013 at 7:47 pm

       Now I’m hungry! 🙂

       The surefootedness of those goats is amazing.

2. 

   CabinGirl on December 17, 2013 at 7:09 pm

   From TPM

   Some members of the congregation were very conspicuously not retained. Cardinal Raymond Burke, former Archbishop of St. Louis, will no longer serve in the office.

   Burke is considered an outspoken critic of abortion and same-sex marriage and a favorite of conservative Catholics. He has also been publicly critical of Francis’s changes in the direction of the church. Burke retains his position as the head of the Vatican high court, the Apostolic Signatura.

   Burke drew attention in the U.S. in 2004 when he said he would deny Communion to Democratic presidential nominee John Kerry, a Roman Catholic who supports abortion rights.

   A step in the right direction…

   • 

     Marie2 on December 17, 2013 at 7:19 pm

     James Carroll in The New Yorker: A Radical Pope’s First Year.

     Still rather medieval on the issue of women; so, not going to see a female pope for a few hundred more years should the church last that long.

3. 

   CabinGirl on December 17, 2013 at 9:14 pm

   Here’s a look at some college executive pay: link

   • 

     Marie2 on December 17, 2013 at 9:25 pm

     I say we tax at 99% all salaries in excess of whatever the POTUS is paid.  And surcharge the organization/institution 25% for that excessive pay.

4. 

   BooMan on December 17, 2013 at 9:16 pm

   Steve M. seem unnaturally exercised by Frank Bruni’s shitty work output.  Still funny, though.  

5. 

   BooMan on December 17, 2013 at 9:25 pm

   Andrew Sullivan is taking Ron Fournier seriously, which is sub-mental.

6. 

   CabinGirl on December 17, 2013 at 9:30 pm

   This should surprise no one:

   Water samples collected at Colorado sites where hydraulic fracturing was used to extract natural gas show the presence of chemicals that have been linked to infertility, birth defects and cancer, scientists reported Monday…

   Nagel and her colleagues tested samples of surface water and groundwater from Garfield County, Colo., which, with its approximately 10,000 wells, is a center of oil and gas development driven by fracking. The research team gathered multiple water samples at five natural gas sites where spills of fracking wastewater had occurred over the last six years, Nagel said.

   The team tested for the presence of four different classes of endocrine-disrupting chemicals. Out of 39 water samples collected at five drilling sites, 89% showed estrogenic properties, 41% were anti-estrogenic, 12% were androgenic and 46% were anti-androgenic, according to the report. The samples were not tested for specific fracking chemicals or for concentrations of chemicals.

   LATimes

7. 

   MikeInOhio on December 17, 2013 at 9:35 pm

   I don’t know why, but I find this pretty amusing.

   Atheist Group’s Flying Spaghetti Monster Displayed In Wisconsin Capitol

   Well actually, I do know exactly why I find it amusing.

   Damn that freedom of speech, anyway.  Such an inconvenient thing, isn’t it?

8. 

   Marie2 on December 17, 2013 at 10:07 pm

   National Geographic:
   Washing Hands in Hot Water Wastes Energy.

   Suddenly that extremely thrifty, LA business owner that nixed hot water when he had his office building built in the 1960s doesn’t look as cheap.  (When he was in his late eighties, he sold the building and business separately because they were worth more that way.)

9. 

   BooMan on December 17, 2013 at 10:37 pm

   I feel like Alex Pareene pulled his punches with Richard Cohen.