When all is said and done, the weather and love are the two elements about which one can never be sure.
– Alice Hoffman
– Alice Hoffman
Recent Posts
- Day 14: Louisiana Senator Approvingly Compares Trump to Stalin
- Day 13: Elon Musk Flexes His Muscles
- Day 12: While Elon Musk Takes Over, We Podcast With Driftglass and Blue Gal
- Day 11: Harm of Fascist Regime’s Foreign Aid Freeze Comes Into View
- Day 10: The Fascist Regime Blames a Plane Crash on Nonwhite People
the people in this administration can sleep at night, with the things they’ve done? Wonder no more: ABC News
You just fit the DSM-IV criteria for sociopath more and more each day, W.
Ah, the sleep of the clueless. I’ve been pondering lately about what it is about conservatism that turns my stomach so much. I’ve come to the conclusion that the more conservative one is, the more the tendency is towards being a sociopath. Conservatives seem devoid of the capacity for empathy. Conservatism is more of a mental disorder or disease than a philosophy or political view.
I’ve had lots of pondering time lately… connectivity problems.
I’ve been wondering where you’ve been. I hope the connectivity stuff is fixed!
Not fixed, but at least I’m able to surf and comment so it’s much better. Jeeze, talk about withdrawl. 🙂
.
DOHA, Qatar (AP) — Iraq capitalized on its only real chance and beat South Korea 1-0 to stay on track for its first Asian Games’ soccer gold in more than two decades.
Host Qatar upset defending champion Iran 2-0 to reach the final for the first time.
Iraq, who endured a chaotic build-up to the Games which saw one member of their football federation murdered and their coach receive death threats, reached their first final in 24 years.
Asian Games Soccer Finals: Qatar vs. Iraq
"But I will not let myself be reduced to silence."Yesterday’s Informed Comment from Juan Cole brought Bush’s escalation plans into sharp focus and the picture is frightening for our troops:
Not only that, but in order to send so many more troops, they will HAVE to call reservists back again and again or actually call them into active duty. My stomach flips at what is to come even though it will probably result in further erosion of the republican brand for good. Our poor used and abused troops are about to be sent into the meat grinder.
this telling testimony has been conveniently deleted from this AP story yesterday during the overnight re-write:
There aren’t enough bodies left to send. They not only broke Iraq, they have systematically destroyed the Army and Marine Corp.
Two new NASA-funded studies of ozone in the tropics using NASA satellite data not previously available are giving scientists a fuller understanding of the processes driving ozone chemistry and its impacts on pollution and climate change. Ozone pollution caused by burning in southeast Asia can combine with atmospheric oscillations to create high ozone readings across the southern US, from LA to Dixie (see map at link).
The idea that comets delivered the chemical “seeds” for life to the early Earth has been given a big boost. Scientists studying the tiny grains of material recovered from Comet Wild-2 by NASA’s Stardust mission have found large, complex carbon-rich molecules. They are of the type that could have been important precursor components of the initial reactions that gave rise to the planet’s biochemistry.
The stars and gas that are seen in galaxies account for only a few percent of the gravitating material in the Universe. Most of the rest has remained stubbornly invisible and is now thought to be made of a new form of matter never yet seen on Earth. Researchers have discovered, however, that a sufficiently big radio telescope could make a picture of everything that gravitates, rivaling the images made by optical telescopes of everything that shines – giving us a means to “see” dark matter.
Rates of the most common form of breast cancer dropped a stunning 15 percent from August 2002 to December 2003, researchers reported yesterday. They proposed a reason for the drop that was just as stunning: It probably occurred, they said, because at that time, millions of women abandoned hormone treatment for the symptoms of menopause after a large national study concluded that the hormones slightly increased breast cancer risk.
From the Toronto Star: Canada and other wealthy nations should prepare for a flood of environmental refugees, and treat them the same as those who flee political danger, experts say. The number of people fleeing the spread of deserts or climate-change impacts such as drought and flooding is likely to hit 50 million within a decade and soar to between 135 million and 200 million by 2050.
Finally, some real homeland security: Seeking to make rail shipments of chlorine and other hazardous chemicals less vulnerable to attack, the Homeland Security Department intends to announce a proposed rule to require railroads to track continuously tanker cars for “toxic inhalation hazards” and bar them from leaving the cars unattended or parked for long periods. The proposal would also clarify how government workers inspect tank cars and railyards for compliance, establish rules on the chain of custody and handoff of dangerous cargoes and set communications requirements. Each year, the railroads carry 1.7 million shipments of hazardous materials, of which 100,000 are toxic chemicals prone to becoming airborne in an accident. About 80 percent of the shipments that can become poison gases are chlorine, for purifying water and other applications, or anhydrous ammonia, for fertilizer.
Some 10,000 US researchers – including 52 Nobel Laureates – have signed a statement protesting about political interference in the scientific process and demanding a restoration of scientific integrity in government policy.
Officials scrambled Wednesday to determine what has caused the deaths of thousands of mallard ducks in south-central Idaho near the Utah border. Although wildlife experts are downplaying any links to bird flu, they have sent samples to government labs to test for the deadly H5N1 flu strain, among other pathogens. Officials with the federal Department of Homeland Security have been also called in to help with the probe. “We think the possibility of avian flu is very remote but we’re not ruling anything out at this point in time,” said Dave Parish, regional supervisor for the Idaho Department of Fish and Game. “We want to make sure all the bases are covered.”
I’ve been wondering about the drop in breast cancer rates since reading it yesterday. Is that really enough time (2002 to 2003) to determine that hormone therapy was responsible for a good number of the cancers? It just seems like the drop would have been several years down the road. I hope it’s true!
I’m not a doctor, so if anyone has a medical background please jump in here.
My (limited) understanding is that the process by which normal cells become cancerous occurs in several steps, which happen over a period of time (each step has a slow rate). Something like smoking causes cancer only many years later because it acts in the early part of the process, starting cells down the road to cancer, but the process overall is still slow because there are later, slower steps in the overall process.
For hormones and breast cancer, the effect could be on cells at the last step in the process or even newly cancerous cells. If they were to get a jolt at that step to speed them up, the cancer development process could accelerate quickly. And if you took away the triggering cause at that point, the drop in cancer could show up quickly, too. For a fast-growing tumor, a year and a half is a pretty long time.
Anyway, that’s my semi-educated guess; hopefully someone with more medical expertise than I will join the conversation…
Ok, here’s more info:
Thank you – that’s very understandable.
.
RAFAH (ABC) Dec. 15 — Violence at Rafah erupted after Israel temporarily barred Haniyeh from returning to Gaza after a tour of Muslim countries. Angry Hamas militants stormed the border terminal and engaged in a gunbattle with security forces stationed there who are loyal to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, of Fatah.
After Haniyeh finally crossed, unidentified men began firing toward him in an attack that killed one of his bodyguards and wounded his son.
Gunmen opened fire as Ismail Haniyehcrossed at a Rafah border checkpoint.
(Reuters)
Ismail Radwan, a Hamas spokesman, said Mohammed Dahlan “planned and organized” what he called a “cowardly assassination attempt” and said those behind the shooting “will not escape punishment.”
"But I will not let myself be reduced to silence."News of corporate/government public responses from GetHuman.com. Note to corporate America: hire the humans, fire the idiots who bought voice mail.
Damnit Janet usually keeps us abreast of this story, but haven’t seen her around lately.
Reporter Summoned to Testify Against War Resister
Losing Arab Allies’ Hearts and Minds
.
The Pentagon called them “among the most dangerous, best-trained, vicious killers on the face of the earth,” sweeping them up after Sept. 11 and hauling them in chains to a U.S. military prison in southeastern Cuba.
The Associated Press was able to track 245 of those formerly held at Guantanamo. The investigation, which spanned 17 countries, found:
"But I will not let myself be reduced to silence."You’re on Candid Camera: Israeli PM Olmert caught.