March 2008
“That Sadr emerged victorious, and that Iran succeeded in brokering the deal that...”
– The Lessons of Basra by Robert Dreyfuss in The Nation
As Jobs Vanish, Food Stamp Use Is at Record Pace →
The number of Americans receiving food stamps, who must have near-poverty incomes to qualify for benefits averaging $100 a month per family member, is projected to reach 28 million in the coming year, the highest level since the aid program began in the 1960s. Eligibility is determined by a complex formula, but basically recipients must have few assets and incomes below 130 percent of the poverty...
A Civil War Iraq Can’t Win →
Much of the reporting on this fighting in Basra and Baghdad — which was initiated by the Iraqi government — assumes that Mr. Sadr and his militia are the bad guys who are out to spoil the peace, and that the government forces are the legitimate side trying to bring order. This is a dangerous oversimplification, and one that the United States needs to be far more careful about endorsing.
Antarctica's Wilkins Ice Shelf eroding at an... →
So far, the shelf has lost about 3 percent of its total extent, which covers an area more than twice the size of Rhode Island and is up to 820 feet thick. But all that sits between the shelf’s new seaward edge and a vast expanse of much weaker shelf ice is what researchers dub a “thread” of strong ice. And Wilkins’s erosion is happening faster than researchers projected.
Decline Of US Newspapers Accelerating →
Figures released by the Newspaper Association of America show that the decline of newspapers is more rapid than previously thought, with total print advertising revenue in 2007 plunging 9.4% to $42 billion compared to 2006, the biggest drop in revenue since 1950, the year they started tracking annual revenue.
Peak oil? Consider it solved →
The growing threat of global warming requires deep reductions in national and global oil consumption starting now, peak or no peak. Relying on unconventional oil like tar sands and liquid coal to make up a supply shortage, as the oilmen say we must, would be climate catastrophe. More supply is not the answer to either our oil or our climate problem — reducing consumption of oil is.
Schizophrenia Linked to Rare, Often Unique Genetic... →
The findings are forcing scientists to rethink the reigning model of how genes and environment conspire to cause the debilitating disease, which affects about 1 percent of the population worldwide. “If the genetics tells us that schizophrenia is really 10 different disorders, then let’s have 10 treatments that optimize the outcomes for everyone and not just use the same drugs for...
Former Surgeon General, Dr. Jocelyn Elders:... →
The American College of Physicians’s position paper urges “reclassification into a more appropriate schedule, given the scientific evidence regarding marijuana’s safety and efficacy in some clinical conditions.”
Now THIS is a truely modern spiritual: Immortal...
Nuclear is UK's new North Sea oil - minister →
In an ambitious speech that will alarm the anti-nuclear lobby, John Hutton, the business secretary, will argue that the UK’s nuclear programme should go beyond replacing the existing stock of 23 reactors, which provide 20% of the country’s energy. Instead nuclear should contribute “a significantly higher proportion” of the nation’s energy needs in the years ahead,...
“Borrow and Waste,” should be the mantra chanted at Republicans—especially those...”
– Susan J. Douglas
“Bitch may be the new black, but Black is the new Presdent, bitch.”
– Tracy Morgan, rejoinder to “30 Rock” costar Tina Fey’s “Bitch Is the New Black” monologue on Weekend Update
“On your skirts is found the lifeblood of the innocent poor. You shall be put to...”
– Jeremiah
“God damn America. That’s in the Bible for killing innocent people. God damn...”
– Rev. Jeremiah Wright
“America is going to hell if we don’t use her vast resources to end poverty.”
– Dr. Martin Luther King
“Of all the members of the Federal Open Market Committee, five members of the...”
– Posted by Mark Thoma on Economist View
Tibet and the trouble with unassailable national... →
Outside of Young Frankenstein there isn’t really any such thing as a “good time” for rioting, but this might be an especially bad time for China to have a bout of punishing ethnic unrest.
“The [Chinese] government is showing more confidence and learning more about...”
– Michael Anti, a well-known Chinese blogger
“Hate the sinner but love the sin.”
– Aimee Mann - High on Sunday 51
“The reason I joined the Marine Corps was to get into gunfights…. I hate all this...”
– An unnamed U.S. Marine in an interview with embedded reporter (and former Marine officer) David J. Morris, “America’s dangerous trigger finger,” Salon.com, April 26, 2007. (via nbr)
“We have over a million Iraqi dead. We have over 5 million Iraqis displaced. We...”
– Former Staff Sgt. Camilo Mejia, Chairman of Iraq Veterans Against the War
Stephanie Bolling Interviews Clifton Hicks for... →
1,121 Muslim suicide bombers have blown themselves... →
What is astonishing is the sheer scale of the suicide campaign, the vast numbers of young men (only occasionally women), who willfully destroy themselves amid the American convoys, outside the Iraqi police stations, in markets and around mosques and in shopping streets and on lonely roads beside remote checkpoints across the huge cities and vast deserts of Iraq. Never have the true figures for...
The survey found that higher-calorie, energy-dense... →
“Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.”
– Arthur C. Clarke, Profiles of The Future, 1961 (Clarke’s third law) English physicist & science fiction author (1917 - 2008)
Relax Your Mind
nbr:Relax your mind Relax your mind Ooh, it’ll make you live a great long time Sometimes you’ve got to relax your mind. When the light turns green Ooh push down on your gasoline One time you’ve got to relax your mind. When the light turns red Ooh, shove your breaks down to the bed, One time you’ve got to relax your mind. Relax your mind, Relax your mind, Oh it’ll make you feel so fine some times,...
President Bush and seven top officials of his... →
President Bush made 232 false statements about weapons of mass destruction in Iraq and another 28 false statements about Iraq’s links to Al Qaeda. Secretary of State Powell had the second-highest total in the two-year period, with 244 false statements about weapons of mass destruction in Iraq and 10 about Iraq’s links to Al Qaeda. Rumsfeld and Fleischer each made 109 false statements,...
WatchTestimony from Winter Soldier
“1. If every word were tattooed into our skin, would it be a good fit?”
– The Man on the Celling by Steve Rasnic Tem & Melanie Tem (First of 25 of the 487 Rules of Storytelling, p. 231)
World Water Day Celebrated on March 22
One-in-five people in the world do not have access to safe drinking water, and two-in-five lack access to improved sanitation services. By 2025, close to two billion people will be living in regions with severe water scarcity, according to a United Nations report.
Egypt's president has ordered the army to increase... →
Many of Egypt’s 70m population, about half of whom live below the poverty line, survive on subsidised bread.
Glaciers suffer record shrinkage →
Average glacial shrinkage has risen from 30 centimetres per year between 1980 and 1999, to 1.5 metres in 2006. There are many canaries emerging in the climate change coal mine. The glaciers are perhaps among those making the most noise and it is absolutely essential that everyone sits up and takes notice.
“It’s good to be back in Iraq.”
– Vice President Dick Cheney on a visit to Baghdad to mark the fifth anniversary of the US invasion of Iraq.
“I must say, I’m a little envious. If I were slightly younger and not employed...”
– Pres. G.W. Bush speaking to U.S. servicemembers in Afghanistan via videoconference, Thursday, March 13, 2008 (from Reuters via Truemors) (via nbr)
DanteWorlds →
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