August 19, 2010 archive

Matt Simmons Dies In ‘Hot Tub Accident’

Matt Simmons, who consistently claimed the oil spill was larger than was stated, and that there were leaks in the sea floor of the Gulf  died at age 67  a couple of weeks ago in his hot tub:

An autopsy by the state medical examiner’s office concluded Monday that he died from accidental drowning with heart disease as a contributing factor.

http://obits.nola.com/obituari…

On Saving Us From The Immoral, Or “Ready, Fire…Aim!”

It was about a week ago that we saw the ruling throwing out California’s Prop 8; that decision has now been appealed, and we will see, at some point in the future, how the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals handles the matter.

A couple of days later, I had a story up that walked through the ruling, describing the tactics used by the Prop 8 proponents, which, in the opinion of the Judge who looked at the evidence, were basically to try to scare Californians into thinking that gay people, once they’re able to get gay married, will somehow now be free to evangelize your kids and make them gay, too.

In the course of answering comments on the several sites where the story is up, I noticed that there were those who felt the Bible should be guiding our thinking here…that if it did, we would be better off than where we are today, with all those immoral gay people running around free to do all those immoral gay things.

This led me to an obvious question: are those who have been using the Bible as a sort of “divining rod” to figure out who is immoral and who is not…actually any good at it?

Embracing Chaos

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Coyote Laughs

Open Angel

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News at Noon

From Reuters

Jobless claims at 9-month high

By Lucia Mutikani

August 19, 2010

(Reuters) – New U.S. claims for unemployment benefits unexpectedly climbed to a nine-month high last week, yet another setback to the frail economic recovery.

Initial claims for state unemployment benefits increased 12,000 to a seasonally adjusted 500,000 in the week ended August 14, the highest since mid-November, the Labor Department said on Thursday.

Analysts polled by Reuters had forecast claims slipping to 476,000 from the previously reported 484,000 the prior week, which was revised up to 488,000 in Thursday’s report.

Et Tu, Howard Dean?

One after another, people we thought were progressives–people we thought had the same values as we do–have shown themselves to be, at heart, cultural rightists who sympathize with the darkest forces of our society.  Chris Dodd–I gave you fifty bucks during the ’08 campaign because I liked your stance on FISA.  Now you’ve shown yourself to be a servant of the banksters.  Can I have my money back please?  Barack Obama: I gave you a LOT more than fifty bucks, in “hope” that I’d see real “change”.  Now you’ve shown yourself to be a corporatist who hires the likes of Gibbs, Summers, Geithner, and Rubin; and the positions you take, deck chair here and there notwithstanding, are practically indistinguishable from those of Bush the Dimmer. Can I have that money back too?

But the most shocking thing I’ve heard recently is that Howard Dean, whom I admired and supported in his historic election campaign, has shown himself to be a cultural xenophobe who buys into the nonsensical anti-Muslim (and anti-Constitutional) world view of the likes of Sarah Palin and David Duke.

Et tu, Howard Dean?

Symbolism in Occupations

Our symbolic transfer from combat during ‘Nam was when we were sent over no longer as labeled ‘combat’ but as ‘advisors’ once again.

That started just before I left CI/SERE in early 1970 and headed into country, we were given military beanies, i.e. berets, with the operations patch on them and called ‘advisors’, never did meet my supposed ‘counterpart’ the whole year I was there.

Docudharma Times Thursday August 19

U.S. jobless claims jump to 9-month high of 500,000.

Unexpected climb is yet another setback for already frail recovery




Thursday’s Headlines:

Civilians to Take U.S. Lead After Military Leaves Iraq

Eat your art out: Artists develop a taste for food

USA

Poll shows more Americans think Obama is a Muslim

Mediator takes reins on gulf oil spill claims

Europe

Quelle horreur! Asterix surrenders to McDonald’s

Outspoken French politician presents new statue of Lenin

Middle East

Wikipedia editing courses launched by Zionist groups

In impoverished Gaza, electric company can’t collect its bills

Asia

Pakistan floods: Saudi Arabia pledges $100m

Obama wants Burmese rulers to face UN war crimes investigation

Africa

South Africa strike: 1.3 million government workers push for wage hike

Latin America

Haiti election: Struggle over Wyclef Jean’s eligibility could spark crisis

Muse in the Morning

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Muse in the Morning

An Opened Mind VI

You cannot raise the standard against oppression, or leap into the breach to relieve injustice, and still keep an open mind to every disconcerting fact, or an open ear to the cold voice of doubt.

–Learned Hand


Planet

Days Will Come

Days will come

when sanity will

regain supremacy,

when disease will

be battled without

political consideration,

when people’s deaths

will not be occasions

to seek out

personal advantage.

But not today.

–Robyn Elaine Serven

–December 1, 2005

Late Night Karaoke

They’re Building A Mosque In NYC!

(Cross-posted from The Free Speech Zone)

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Oh.

Well fuck me gently with a chainsaw!

That means these people come out.

What does relevance sound like?

This is usually how I sort:

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