Saturday, February 13, 2010

Headlines - Saturday

Just look at all the snow here. It's everywhere. Mountains, ground, trees. Highways. Understand? Get it? 
 
 
And now, breaking news from Utah - legislature passes non-binding resolution stickin' it to climate change fairies
 
The Desert Times tells us…

With most Democrats voting no, the Utah House approved a resolution Tuesday that questions global warming while asking the federal government not to proceed with "cap-and-trade" legislation or CO2 regulation.

Sponsor Rep. Kerry Gibson, R-Ogden, a dairy farmer said some argue that if the Environmental Protection Agency goes forward with cap and trade on CO2, it could lead to a "cow tax."

Cows like his own could be measured for "belches" and "other gases they produce," which in turn could lead to a head tax that would increase the cost of milk and meat to consumers.

Mr. Gibson, I think you should worry more about your own gases, but I digress. There is other news from Utah that we must consider in this light:

Fred Morrison, a pilot and carpenter most often credited with inventing that most ubiquitous of backyard toys, the Frisbee, died on Tuesday at his home in Monroe, Utah. He was 90 and had lung cancer.

Mr. Morrison, I salute you. I spent more time with my Frisbees in college than I did with my professors, and I think I came out ahead for that. Ultimate Frisbee, Frisbee Golf, you name it, I played it.

So there we have it: Utah, the land of great contrasts. It's like Texas, but with shiney undies.

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The real explanation of why President Obama seemingly can't get anything done, and who's really to blame, in clear, simple language: http://www.theygaveusarepublic.com/diary/4906/how-it-works

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Take GM Corn off the Shelves!
 
As Monsanto prepares to unleash its latest Genetically-Modified (GM) corn supercrop, the International Journal of Biological Sciences has revealed the true cost of these crops.

The study focused on three GM corn crops -- Mon 863, Mon 801 and NK 603 -- and found that they caused statistically significant rates of kidney and liver malfunction, as well as some heart, adrenal, spleen and blood damage in rats. These crops have been approved for consumption in the U.S. and many countries in Europe without proper research into their affect on human health.
 
 
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Wasn't Dubya Raised In Midland, Texas?
 
Iraq's Oil Ministry Tuesday announced the launch of a fourth state firm responsible for overseeing development in recently auctioned fields in the center of the country. The Midland Oil Company will join the North, South, and Maysan companies as the latest state-owned organization tasked with boosting production in the energy-rich nation.
 
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Note to Japanese whalers: Spraying pepper spray directly into the wind may not have the desired effect.
 
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And these are the people that Beltway pundits are calling a grassroots movement of ordinary Americans:
The Massachusetts man charged this week with stockpiling weapons after saying he feared an imminent "Armageddon" appears to have been active in the Tea Party movement, and saw Sarah Palin, who he said is on a "righteous 'Mission from God,'" as the only figure capable of averting the destruction of society.
 
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Sometimes you get a whole different story when you rotate the image.

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More of this please

Lawrence O'Donnell blows on torture defender: http://susiemadrak.com/?p=197 

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After warmest January in history, Vancouver airlifts snow for winter olympics

Airlifted snow

Record warmth is forcing the organizers of the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, British Columbia to helicopter in snow to cover mountains. The planet's changing climate is threatening the start of the Olympics, as "sloppy, foggy weather" has canceled training runs on both Whistler and Cypress Mountains. In Vancouver, the "average temperature in January was 44.9 degrees, besting the previous warm record of 43.3 in 2006 and well above the historic average of 37.9 degrees":

After the warmest January in Vancouver history, organizers moved more than 5,000 cubic meters of snow onto Cypress by helicopter and truck from nearby mountains. Some 750 workers are bringing in snow and building courses before competition starts on Saturday.

Vancouver's troubles are part of a broader trend of warmer winters across the Northern Hemisphere. Increased warmth and changing weather patterns have led to glacial retreat and unreliable snowfall across the globe, putting the future of alpine sports in jeopardy. Globally, we are in the warmest winter on record. Locally, the weather forecast for the Olympics "calls for more rain and warm temperatures for the next five days."

Update At ClimateProgress, Joe Romm boggles at the inability of people to see the relationship between Vancouver's record warmth and global warming.

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Gotta be honest - this is pretty gay-looking

Mitch McConnell is very sad his chief of staff is leaving. See for yourself:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KaQQxJsuDJg&feature=player_embedded

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell looks pretty much exactly like the grandmother from Little Red Riding Hood, minus the sexy bonnet. He cried, on the Senate floor, about his longtime chief of staff quitting to "spend more time with his family." This is very undignified, this weeping! Who does this? Who does this in public? Over staff turnover? Political Ticker
 
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Nothing hopey-changey about Palin's latest poll numbers

New poll finds that 70% of Americans don't think Palin is qualified to serve as President. How's that incompetence workin' out for ya?" – headline from the interweb.

7 out of 10 Americans believe "folksy" quitter is unqualified to be President, dogcatcher, including a metric buttload of her fellow republicans.

The 26 percent who say Palin is qualified is down 12 points from an ABC News/Washington Post poll from November. [The poll] also indicates that even a majority of Republicans now view Palin as not qualified to serve as commander-in-chief. According to the survey, 45 percent of conservatives see her as qualified, down 21 points from last November.

How's that snarky-spitey thing workin' out for ya?

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More corporate financial special treatment
 
For nuke plants this time.

President Barack Obama will announce next week loan guarantees for two new nuclear reactors, setting the stage for the first nuclear power plant to be built in the us in three decades.

The financial commitment will be made for the construction and operation of the two new reactors at a southern company plant in Burke, Georgia.

...there were no details on the value of the loan guarantees, but the official noted the white house's 2011 budget had tripled loan guarantees for nuclear power plants to more than $54bn. - financial times

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Goldman Sachs brings down another national economy? http://www.theygaveusarepublic.com/diary/4909/goldman-sachs-brings-down-another-national-economy

 

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