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Tea Party Groups Out AGAINST Net Neutrality
From Huffington Post:
Following the release of Google and Verizon’s controversial proposal on managing Internet traffic, which comes less than a week after the FCC abandoned efforts at a hammering out a compromise, Tea Party groups have taken a strong stance on the issue of net neutrality.
Specifically, they’re against it. The head of one Tea Party organization says she is concerned that the policy would increase government regulation and power, calling net neutrality one of many “assaults on individual liberties.”
As The Hill reports, “[a] coalition that included 35 Tea Party groups sent a letter to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) on Wednesday urging the agency not to boost its authority over broadband providers through a controversial process known as reclassification.”…
[continues at Huffington Post]
Obama and the Collective Psychological Meltdown of Fox News
By Jason Easley at Politicususa:
As President Obama’s first term moves along, Fox News is becoming more and more detached from reality. It used to be that FNC would broadcast stories that might have had a small basis in truth, but FNC has mirrored the slow psychological destruction of the Right, until all that remains now are delusions, dreams and conspiracy theories.
Fox News has gotten so desperate to bring down Obama and the Democrats that they are making up absolutely implausible stories. For example, the recent claim on Fox and Friends that Obama and the Democrats are planning a special tax hike just for Red States. Here is the video from Media Matters:
Fox and Friends host Steve Doocy asked…
Gulf States Order Blackberry Users To Cover Their Phones In A Tiny Burqa
Photo: Newsbiscuit
[disinformation ed's note: this is humor - not real news]
From Newsbiscuit:
New laws in Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates will require that every Blackberry user dress their phone a miniature burqa and face veil.
‘The Blackberry burqa means that people can still use their phones,’ said a Saudi government official, ‘but the tiny niqab that covers the screen will stop them from reading emails or accessing the Internet.’
The introduction of the burqa is intended to conceal the Blackberry from unwanted attention. With the veil in place only a tiny slit remains revealing just the time and date, thus preserving its modesty.
‘This is not about censorship or oppression,’ said UAE telecommunications regulator Mohammed al-Ghanem, ‘this is about preserving the essential purity of the Blackberry and protecting it from being corrupted.’
Some businessmen believe that making their phone wear a burqa can be very liberating. ‘It’s great,’ said one, ‘with the veil…
The Social Crisis in Appalachia
From the World Socialist Web Site::
This article is the first of a series on the history, economy, social and environmental conditions in the Appalachian region of the United States. Part 2 was published on July 24, part 3 on July 27, and part 4 on July 30. World Socialist Web Site reporters recently visited the coalfields of southeastern Kentucky and southwestern West Virginia and interviewed residents on their conditions of life. Accompanying interviews are posted in four parts here: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4.
The region has long suffered a deep economic distress. One-third of the 100 poorest counties in the United States, as measured by median household income, are concentrated in the coalfields. This “pocket of poverty,” as economists sometimes refer to it, has, for decades, recorded extremely high levels of deprivation, unemployment and all the social problems that accompany them. This has been exacerbated by the dearth of government spending on the region and…
Chopra on Limbaugh: Icon of Anti-Morality
When Michael Steele, the hapless chairman of the Republican Party, lost his bearings and called Rush Limbaugh’s style ugly and incendiary, everyone knew it was the truth. But it was a perfect example of an inconvenient truth. The right wing has long used ugly, incendiary speech the way baseball players use steroids: to artificially pump themselves up. Limbaugh has taken to saying that he wants Obama’s policies to fail because they spell the end of an America based on personal freedom. This isn’t just a grotesque exaggeration; it disguises the very thing the right wing has been doing when it curtailed civil liberties in the name of national security.
What Finding Alien Life Could Mean for Earth
Imagine that tomorrow morning scientists tell the world they’ve found evidence for a colony of aliens living only 35 million miles from Earth.
Do you think your neighbors would wig out – stocking up on Ramen noodles, and secluding themselves and the family schnauzer in the basement? Or do you believe most folks would simply mutter “whatever,” and go back to checking out new Facebook friends?
The question’s not altogether fatuous, because this kind of discovery could happen soon, thanks to the efforts of astrobiologists – researchers who study the origin, nature and distribution of life.
Although we still haven’t found any biological activity elsewhere, it’s hardly inconceivable that before your car gets its next oil change, robot spacecraft could discover a horde of microbes hidden beneath the Martian sands. Or maybe a few years down the road, some astrobiology experiment will stumble across alien pond scum floating in Titan’s rime-frosted lakes,…
We Are Becoming a New Species: We Are Becoming ‘Homo Evolutis’
At TED 2009, now halfway through the near-weeklong binge of activities and presentations, Juan Enriquez energized and perhaps terrorized attendees with his brief look into the future of human affairs, and indeed, of the human species. What made Enriquez’ presentation so engaging was that his vision wasn’t that far off, this sci-fi future that he spoke of; it’s the future that is unveiling itself right before us, a future that we will all likely watch arrive, and our children will come to know as reality.
Chairman and CEO of Biotechonomy, Enriquez says that humanity is on the verge of becoming a new and utterly unique species, which he dubs Homo Evolutis. What makes this species so unique is that it “takes direct and deliberate control over the evolution of the species.” Calling it the “ultimate reboot,” he points to the conflux of DNA manipulation and therapy, tissue generation, and robotics as…
DEA Continues Pot Raids Obama Opposes
“The president believes that federal resources should not be used to circumvent state laws, and as he continues to appoint senior leadership to fill out the ranks of the federal government, he expects them to review their policies with that in mind,” White House spokesman Nick Shapiro said.
Medical use of marijuana is legal under the law in California and a dozen other states, but the federal government under President Bush, bolstered by a 2005 Supreme Court ruling, argued that federal interests trumped state law.
Dogged by marijuana advocates throughout the campaign, Mr. Obama repeatedly said he was opposed to using the federal government to raid medical marijuana shops, particularly because it was an infringement on states’ decisions.
Man Boldly Robs Colorado Store With Star Trek Sword
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. — Colorado police say a man with too much “Star Trek” on his mind used a sword modeled after the weapon carried by Klingon warriors to demand money from two convenience stores.
Investigators say the man took an unknown amount of cash from a 7-Eleven store Wednesday but left empty-handed when he tried to rob another store about 25 minutes later.
Police Lt. David Whitlock says no one was injured.
The StarTrek.com Web site says the double-pointed sword used by the Klingons on “Star Trek” is crescent-shaped and about a yard long. Police did not specify what material it was made of.
No one has been charged in the incident.
‘Drunken Negro Face’ Cookies On Sale at Greenwich Village Bakery
Gothamist: At at a time when any decent baker should have been selling racially harmonious black and white cookies by the truckload, one Greenwich Village bakery popular with celebrities and shows like Sex and the City has outraged neighbors by selling a “Drunken Negro Face” cookie in, um, “honor” of President Obama.
A shocked customer tells My Fox NY that Ted Kefalinos, proprietor of Lafayette French Pastry, asked her, “Would you like some drunken negro heads to go with your coffee? They’re in honor of our new president. He’s following in the same path of Abraham Lincoln; he will get his.”
Later, her friend stopped by the bakery and said Kefalinos corrected her about the name of the cookies—they’re actually drunken “N-word” cookies. She says the backwards baker then repeated the dark suggestion that, like Lincoln, President Obama “will get what’s coming to him.”
Go Secret Service, go!
…
Obama Aims for Oil Independence
Obama on the three steps to energy independence:
President Barack Obama has called for the US to become energy independent, saying its reliance on foreign oil and global warming posed threats.
Outlining his energy priorities, he said the country would not be held “hostage to dwindling resources, hostile regimes, and a warming planet”.
He called for greater fuel efficiency and an “energy economy” aimed at creating millions of jobs.
Our World May Be a Giant Hologram
For many months, the GEO600 team-members had been scratching their heads over inexplicable noise that is plaguing their giant detector. Then, out of the blue, a researcher approached them with an explanation.
In fact, he had even predicted the noise before he knew they were detecting it. According to Craig Hogan, a physicist at the Fermilab particle physics lab in Batavia, Illinois, GEO600 has stumbled upon the fundamental limit of space-time — the point where space-time stops behaving like the smooth continuum Einstein described and instead dissolves into “grains”, just as a newspaper photograph dissolves into dots as you zoom in. “It looks like GEO600 is being buffeted by the microscopic quantum convulsions of space-time,” says Hogan.
If this doesn’t blow your socks off, then Hogan, who has just been appointed director of Fermilab’s Center for Particle Astrophysics, has an even bigger shock in store: “If the GEO600 result is what I…
Obama Signs Order to Shut Guantanamo Prison
WASHINGTON — On Day Two of his administration, President Barack Obama began overhauling U.S. treatment of terror suspects, signing orders to close the Guantanamo Bay detention center, review military trials of suspects and ban the harshest interrogation methods.
With three executive orders and a presidential directive signed in the Oval Office, Obama started reshaping how the United States prosecutes and questions al-Qaida, Taliban or other foreign fighters who pose a threat to Americans.
Human Spaceflight Should Drive Evolution
Plans for human exploration of the solar system and beyond often polarize opinions among the public and scientific communities.
Some believe that humanity should progress outwards one stage at a time, while others insist that greater scientific returns are to be had by launching bolder missions, with humans exploring the planets sooner rather than later. Dr. Kai Multhaup, a physicist working at the Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität Münster in Germany, is firmly in the “one step at a time” camp, as he recently explained at Europlanet’s Planetary Science Congress.
“Human spaceflight is not just about science, I see it as a driver for evolution. We are an exploratory species, and when we have the technology to go somewhere, we do. It’s about culture and the human desire to evolve and expand, and to protect ourselves against catastrophes which can erase life on planets and end civilizations.”
Why Horror Sequels Wear Out Their Welcome
Horror sequels are rotten. They’ve zoomed way past horror remakes on my scary movie hate-list.
In fact, thanks to stuff like the shocking and surprisingly awesome “Dawn of the Dead” remake and the new 3D version of “My Bloody Valentine” (a film with no agenda except to throw lots of blood and guts at your face, provided your glasses are on), I can’t even say I hate the concept of the remake on principle anymore. Those two, all by themselves, can help me forget that I paid money to see the reboots of “When a Stranger Calls,” “Black Christmas” and “Prom Night.”
But popular franchises that don’t know when to lay down the chainsaw — sequels that are energetic as strippers on the breakfast shift — are bilking horror fans of money that could be spent buying vintage “Mark of the Devil” barf bags on eBay. Here’s where they go wrong:
Mystery Roar from Faraway Space Detected
LONG BEACH, Calif. — Space is typically thought of as a very quiet place. But one team of astronomers has found a strange cosmic noise that booms six times louder than expected.
The roar is from the distant cosmos. Nobody knows what causes it.
I guess in space, someone CAN hear you scream…
Super Mario on an Oud
“It may be too much to hope for, but maybe someday, when all of us are on YouTube, talking about Super Mario, maybe we’ll all realize how much we have in common, rather than how different we all are. Maybe then, the world will know peace.”
Super Mario on an Oud
“It may be too much to hope for, but maybe someday, when all of us are on YouTube, talking about Super Mario, maybe we’ll all realize how much we have in common, rather than how different we all are. Maybe then, the world will know peace.”
Cheney Admits Authorizing Detainee’s Torture
Monday, outgoing Vice President Dick Cheney made a startling statement on a nation-wide, televised broadcast.
When asked by ABC News reporter Jonathan Karl whether he approved of interrogation tactics used against a so-called “high value prisoner” at the controversial Guantanamo Bay prison, Mr. Cheney, in a break from his history of being press-shy, admitted to giving official sanctioning of torture.
“I supported it,” he said regarding the practice known as “water-boarding,” a form of simulated drowning. After World War II, Japanese soldiers were tried and convicted of war crimes in US courts for water-boarding, a practice which the outgoing Bush administration attempted to enshrine in policy.
