Headlines - Wednesday September 8

 

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BP "teaching" environmental science is like Sarah Palin teaching geography or Franklin Graham teaching evolutionary theory:

BP, the energy giant responsible for the largest offshore oil spill in history, helped develop the state's framework for teaching more than 6 million students about the environment.

Despite a mixed environmental record even before the Gulf of Mexico disaster, state officials included BP on the technical team for its soon-to-be-completed environmental education curriculum, which will be used in kindergarten through 12th-grade classes in more than 1,000 school districts statewide.

Can't. Take. Much. More.

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Wisco: Two parties - big difference 

 

One thing I've been seeing a lot in comment threads lately is the idea that there's no real difference between Republicans and Democrats. On too many issues, you could legitimately argue that there isn't enough of a difference between the two, but to say there's no difference is just plain wrong. Part of what's driving the perception is the fact that Democrats made big gains in the last few election cycles, which practically guaranteed that Democratic incumbents would make up a wider band of the political spectrum. In a two party system, both parties have to be coalition parties and, as a result, the larger party will have more centrists. It will also have more people who would normally belong to the other party, but either couldn't get elected in that party in their districts or differ from party orthodoxy on a key issue -- say, abortion or environmentalism.
http://griperblade.blogspot.com/2010/09/two-parties-big-differences.html

 

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Remember when the Bush Administration announced its Afghan War escalation in late 2008? Remember when President Obama announced his first escalation in March 2009? Surely everyone remembers the massive escalation President Obama announced in December, which was supposed to set the stage for a July 2011 drawdown that's already been disavowed.

Well, a funny thing happened roughly halfway between the announcement of the escalation and the now thoroughly irrelevant "drawdown" date: http://news.antiwar.com/2010/09/06/petraeus-seeks-more-troops-for-afghanistan/

 

Not only will we be spending billions on our own soldiers, but we're gonna be spending at least $6 billion on AFGHANISTAN'S military and police - $6 billion PER YEAR.

 

 

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Prozac Army

A bit of news from Danger Room that should give you pause.

An untold number of active-duty troops and recent veterans of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are coming home with mental health conditions inflicted during service — and their spouses and children are suffering too. Now, with solid data slowly emerging from the nearly decade-long wars, the severity of the crisis is starting to show.

The use of psychiatric medications among 18 to 34-year-olds (both troops and their spouses) soared by 42 percent between 2005 and 2009, Army Times is reporting. Antidepressants were the most commonly prescribed medication, but the use of anti-psychotic meds — like Seroquel, which is used off-label to treat nightmares and insomnia caused by PTSD — nearly doubled. And the use of anti-anxiety drugs, like Xanax, surged by 72 percent.

The numbers are startling, but it's hardly surprising that prescription drugs have become the Pentagon's solution of choice, when they're essentially the only option. With both wars lagging on for years, and troops being redeployed despite psychiatric problems, the military's fast-tracked efforts at more effective alternatives can't keep up.

The article goes on to note that many of the drugs being prescribed can cause increase in suicidal thoughts as a side-effect, or have interactions that can kill. We already know suicides among the military are way up and "accidental deaths due to multi-drug use are on the rise — 68 among troops in 2009, compared to 24 in 2001."

This is your hollowed-out military after almost a decade of two dumb occupations. Over a million servicemen and women have rotated through those two occupations and as many as 60% of them may suffer from some kind of PTSD-related mental illness. It's no surprise that Veteran's Administration bills are one of the biggest (usually left unmentioned) fiscal costs of these misadventures in military careerism and political fig-leafing - - but the mental health repercussions to America haven't even begun to really bite yet.

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Psychic destruction in Belize

Two children are missing in Belize, and no one knows what happened to them. So a helpful 'psychic' declared that they had been fed to the crocodiles in a nearby sanctuary. The results were predictable.

Reports are that the mob shot and killed some of the 17 crocs held in captivity at the sanctuary. Also destroyed were the Rose's two story home that included a laboratory and nursery for baby crocs. One baby American Crocodile was to be flown to Chicago to the Wildlife Discovery Center in Lake Forest, Ill. USA for the first ever animal exchange program between Belize and the USA. Over $2,500 in vet supplies that were recently donated for a new humane society that Cherie, along with other locals were working on in Punta Gorda were also lost. "This one wrongful incident has effected and hurt many innocent people and animals," added Cherie.

The sanctuary looks like it was an amazing setup: all power was provided by solar and wind, they offered educational programs, they were training students, and they were also supporting local eco-tourism. And of course their primary mission was protecting endangered reptiles.

Now it's all destroyed by the lies of one ignorant fraud, whipping up a mob into a ridiculous frenzy. Even now the people who ran the sanctuary can't come back — they've been threatened with death.

Ignorance isn't just a passive failure. Ignorance topples and destroys the great things people build up.

The organizers are asking for donations — they're hoping to rebuild.

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TPM: Dallas pastor says Islam promotes pedophilia. Why do all the most assiduous scholars of Islam happen to be televangelists from the Bible Belt?

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Go read Timothy Noah on income inequality and check out the cool visuals he's put together.

Best takeaway from today's installment: "[I]ncome distribution in the United States is more unequal than in Guyana, Nicaragua, and Venezuela, and roughly on par with Uruguay, Argentina, and Ecuador."

Seriously, go read.

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In case you're not a fan of "fair and balanced", MediaMatters brings you up to speed.

Since President Obama's election, Fox personalities have expressed opposition to or called for the repeal of virtually every progressive achievement of the 20th century…

Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid
17th Amendment
16th Amendment
Americans with Disabilities Act
Civil Rights Act of 1964
Voting Rights Act of 1965
Nuclear arms control
Abortion rights
Labor unions
Department of Education
Unemployment insurance
Environmental Protection Agency
Progressive taxation

End of story.

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Tony Blair's autobiography has been turning up in the crime section of bookshops thanks to a Facebook and Twitter campaign.

I hope someone starts a campaign for Bush's soon-to-be-released book.

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Besides negative household income growth and fifty five year low job growth, it was dreamy. Tell me again why any Democrat is promoting more of this? More from the Center for American Progress.

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Franken-fish: Just say no.

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The irony is hysterical. Some twitwad starts an organization with the name DOVE, which encourages violence.

In this photo taken Monday, Aug. 30, 2010, Rev. Terry Jones poses for a photo at the Dove World Outreach Center in Gainesville, Fla. Jones vowed to go ahead with plans to burn copies of the Quran to protest the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks despite warnings from the White House and the top U.S. general in Afghanistan that doing so would endanger American troops overseas. (AP Photo/John Raoux)

Where's the outrage from Sarah Palin, Newt Gingrich, Glenn Beck and all the other conservative frauds who purport to support the troops?

The action of burning the Qurans itself is despicable and warrants harsh criticism from everyone across the political spectrum. But, where are all the voices from the right who used to ask "How high?" any time Petraeus said "jump."

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'Frat House for Jesus' senator: Each month we ask, 'Is anybody here having an affair?' http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2010/09/frat-house-jesus-senator-month-is-affair/

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An internal investigation conducted by BP has concluded that it can start drilling again immediately, hooray! Oh and also "Team BP" did nothing wrong, at all, and so if you Americans still need someone or something to pay for the stuff in the ocean, sue the oil rig owner Transocean or the chavs at Halliburton, because you can always blame Halliburton. But yes, this investigation exonerates BP, which did nothing wrong and was probably just enjoying a nice cup of tea while Transocean and Haliburton took turns throwing depth charges down Deepwater Horizon's oil well to "see what would happen." Whatever. At least Tony Hayward has his life back, sitting on his yacht in Sibera. [CNN] 

 

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Bi-Partisanship........

... is only necessary when Rushthuglibots are in the majority and need it to push their bullshit through

"A determined Republican stall campaign in the Senate has sidetracked so many of the men and women nominated by President Barack Obama for judgeships that he has put fewer people on the bench than any president since Richard Nixon at a similar point in his first term 40 years ago."

Nuclear option, anyone?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Someone wants to get the liberal base fuming and pissed at the President and pissing and moaning about "Bush's third term."

If not, this wouldn't have been put out there.

This leak is a two-fer. It is a clash between bosses, but it is also a clear attempt to drive a wedge between President Obama and the Democratic base seven weeks before the midterm election. When the liberal base is jumping up and down and shrieking about torture and betrayal and hypocrisy, then someone is getting exactly what they want. And without a doubt, the left will play right into their hands, I can already hear it.

And while the wailing and moaning and gnashing of teeth fill the air, the smokescreen will work like a charm, while the real maneuvers take place far from view.

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Mwahahahahahahaha!!! Pam Geller, hate-monger, Islamophobe and all-around embarrassment to the female gender, Jews and American ideals has been imortalized forever in the Urban Dictionary. And the definition is anything but complimentary. Heh.

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Yeah, well, maybe he died because he didn't want to be in captivity

Killer whale dies at Sea World "A 12-year-old male killer whale, who showed signs of being ill only the day before, died Tuesday afternoon at SeaWorld in San Diego, California, the park announced. ... The cause of death for Sumar won't be known until a necropsy is complete, SeaWorld said. Results may not be known for several weeks. ... "It's a very sad day," spokesman Dave Koontz told CNN. "He was a great young killer whale. He was sharp." ... Sumar, who weighed about 5,000 pounds, had been at SeaWorld San Diego since 2001, coming from an Ohio park. He was one of seven killer whales at SeaWorld and was able to exhibit about 100 "behaviors," Koontz said. ... The killer whale had no medical history or problems with behavior, the spokesman said, adding that there was no evidence of communicable disease."