When you have a great and difficult task, something perhaps almost impossible, if you only work a little at a time, every day a little, suddenly the work will finish itself.
– Isak Dinesen
Ellen Goodman on why the Plan B “victory” is less than complete: AlterNet
With the FDA set to restrict over-the-counter sales of the ‘morning-after pill’ to people over 18, right-wingers are sending the message to young girls that motherhood is their punishment for having sex…
…There are still about 750,000 teenagers below 18 who get pregnant every year. About 70 percent of all Americans have sex by age 18. It’s no wonder that nine states have lower age restrictions for getting E.C. over the counter than the FDA is demanding.
We are about to get easier access to Plan B–B for Back-up. When plan A goes awry, when there are mistakes and accidents, more women will be able to be saved from the unhappy choices of an unwanted pregnancy. I’ll happily drink to that.
Military recruiters have increasingly resorted to overly aggressive tactics and even criminal activity to attract young troops to the battlefield, congressional investigators say…
Grueling combat conditions in
Iraq, a decent commercial job market and tough monthly recruiting goals have made recruiters’ jobs more difficult, the
Government Accountability Office said Monday. This has probably prompted more recruiters to resort to strong-arm tactics, including harassment or criminal means such as falsifying documents, to satisfy demands, GAO states…
…According to service data provided to the GAO, substantiated cases of wrongdoing jumped by more than a third, from about 400 cases in 2004 to almost 630 in 2005. Meanwhile, criminal cases — such as sexual harassment or falsifying medical records — more than doubled in those years, jumping from 30 incidents to 70.
Anybody surprised at this report? Yah, me neither.
A recruiter recently called and left a message for my 18 year old son on our answering machine: “This is XXXXXXXX calling for Matthew – um, uh, (pause) – Calling for Matthew…” Now I admit I have a non-standard last name (Italian), but it’s not that hard! This really cracked all three of us up: “You want me to go die in your oil war and /you can’t even try and pronounce my last name? I don’t think so!” was my son’s reaction.
China has officially banned The Simpsons and several other cartoon shows from airing during prime time to provide a boost to the country’s ailing animation industry.
Per Guangzhou’s daily Southern Metropolis News, the restrictions will apply to Homer and Bart, Bugs Bunny and the rest of the Warner Bros. ‘toon gang, Mickey Mouse and his Disney cohorts, and the Pokemon crew–and may even extend to the BBC’s Teletubbies.
It’s a long-held view in conservation circles that rural peasant activities are at odds with efforts to preserve biodiversity in the tropics. In fact, the opposite is often true.
Private investors, including Google’s two founders and the insurance giant Swiss Re are among others announcing plans to build a $100 million production facility for solar cell production in the San Francisco Bay area that is slated to be operational at 215 megawatts next year, and soon thereafter capable of producing 430 megawatts of cells annually. What makes this particular news stand out? Cost, scale and financial strength. The cost of the facility is about one-tenth that of recently completed silicon cell facilities.
Nanosolar is scaling up rapidly from pilot production to 430 megawatts, using a technology it equates to printing newspapers. That implies both technical success and development of a highly automated production process that captures important economies of scale. No one builds that sort of industrial production facility in the Bay Area – with expensive labor, real estate and electricity costs – without confidence. Similar facilities can be built elsewhere. Half a dozen competitors also are working along the same lines, led by private firms Miasole and Daystar, in Sunnyvale, Calif., and New York.
Extra Credit: Understanding in detail the patterns of biodiversity in a tropical forest or a coral reef requires an exploration of the multiple dimensions of natural laws that describe how species survive and co-exist. A look at the current competing theories among scientists is here (Warning: Interesting, but not entry-level material).
The nation’s governors, protesting what they call an unprecedented shift in authority from the states to the federal government, will urge Congress today to block legislation that would allow the president to take control of National Guard forces in the event of a natural disaster or a threat to homeland security.
In a sharply worded letter that will be transmitted to Republican and Democratic leaders in Congress this morning, the governors ask that a House-Senate conference committee remove a provision included in the House-passed version of the National Defense Authorization Act giving the president such authority.
This power grabbing Bush presidency has to be watched every moment. It sure seems to me that far from being afraid to support Bush publicly, this Republican Congress continues to rubber stamp Bush’s every whim.
It has passed the house already. My cheney congresscritter voted for it. It is up to the senate now, for when they come back from summer vacation, of which they all seem to be on, nowadays….all the critters, I mean. ;o) Can’t remember the actual number.
WASHINGTON – The government’s new order that all airline passengers put their shoes through X-ray machines won’t help screeners find a liquid or gel that can be used as a bomb.
The machines are unable to detect explosives, according to a Homeland Security report on aviation screening recently obtained by The Associated Press.
All this x-raying of shoes at airports is just for show. What a shock.
SYDNEY, Australia (Reuters) — Australian scientists have called on the country’s farmers to report any ugly sheep found in their flocks.
A campaign called “Xtreme sheep” aims to study sheep with undesirable wool features to unlock the genetic makeup of the prized merino and ensure production of its high quality fleece.
The South Australian Research and Development Institute (SARDI) said on Tuesday its search for “Australia’s ugliest merino lambs” may hold the key to securing the nation’s $2.1 billion wool industry.
Another positive thing is that the “defective” lambs are usually killed, to avoid spreading any contamination. Perhaps after the researchers extract the required DNA, the lambs could be sent to Australian petting zoos, thus sparing their lives? It’s a thought… 🙂
The P-I’s Julia Youngs, in her Wednesday column, “United Nations breaks its promise,” conveys a highly distorted view of the U.N.’s mission, functions and accomplishments. The U.N. does not make promises. The U.N. formulates resolutions and then attempts to provide an umbrella for their enforcement with authorities delegated by the Security Council and with member nations’ participation. The U.N. does not employ a peacekeeping force of its own available for immediate deployment. It must rely on force contributions from member nations under conditions set by the Security Council and acting under instructions that often do not provide for armed intervention. Under those conditions and in the absence of the appropriate resources, enforcing Security Council resolutions may be difficult. The U.N. Interim Force in Lebanon is a case in point. It is unfortunate that the very council members who now criticize UNIFIL are the same members who did not give it the resources to do its job.
NEW YORK (Reuters) – The U.N. Security Council should impose sanctions on Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir and other top officials for blocking a U.N. bid for peace in the Darfur region, Human Rights Watch said on Monday.
In a letter to the council, the New York-based group also called for an expansion of an arms embargo to cover all of Sudan, not just Darfur, and authorization of more than 20,000 U.N. troops, which the Khartoum government has not allowed into Darfur.
“Civilians in Darfur are in urgent need of protection and the Sudanese government admits it can’t save them from the violence,” Human Rights Watch Africa Director Peter Takirambudde said in a separate statement.
“The Council should impose personal, targeted sanctions on top Sudanese officials responsible for preventing U.N. troops from being sent to Darfur,” he said. A Human Rights Watch spokeswoman said this included al-Bashir.
Ellen Goodman on why the Plan B “victory” is less than complete: AlterNet
What she said.
from a new GAO report: AP/Yahoo
Anybody surprised at this report? Yah, me neither.
A recruiter recently called and left a message for my 18 year old son on our answering machine: “This is XXXXXXXX calling for Matthew – um, uh, (pause) – Calling for Matthew…” Now I admit I have a non-standard last name (Italian), but it’s not that hard! This really cracked all three of us up: “You want me to go die in your oil war and /you can’t even try and pronounce my last name? I don’t think so!” was my son’s reaction.
I think I lost a slash along the way in there…
Unbelievable. I guess that makes it easy to decide whether to answer the call or just say “He’s not here. Ever.”
China is banning The Simpsons: E! Online
Time for tubby bye-bye…
Bu-bye, Tinky-Winky!
The latest technomarvel from the “What? Me Worry?” Administration: A proposed U.S. system to protect satellites from solar storms or high-altitude nuclear detonations might cause radio communication blackouts. New research suggests if activated, a so-called “radiation belt remediation” system could significantly alter the upper atmosphere, seriously disrupting the world’s high frequency radio transmissions and GPS navigation.
Rising temperatures will raise the risk of wildfires, droughts and floods over the next 200 years, UK scientists warn.
NASA’s Spitzer Space Telescope, with its powerful infrared vision, was able to unearth nearly 2,300 embryonic solar systems in the Orion cloud complex, a collection of turbulent star-forming clouds that includes the well-known Orion nebula.
It’s a long-held view in conservation circles that rural peasant activities are at odds with efforts to preserve biodiversity in the tropics. In fact, the opposite is often true.
An exploration of Why and How biodiversity loss threatens human well being is presented here.
Global warming is contributing to an unusually harsh typhoon season in China that started around a month early and has left thousands dead or missing, Chinese government officials and experts say. Others, in Taiwan and Australia, express reservations [making Dick Cheney happy].
Extra Credit: Understanding in detail the patterns of biodiversity in a tropical forest or a coral reef requires an exploration of the multiple dimensions of natural laws that describe how species survive and co-exist. A look at the current competing theories among scientists is here (Warning: Interesting, but not entry-level material).
Link to WaPo article behind free subscription.
The nation’s governors, protesting what they call an unprecedented shift in authority from the states to the federal government, will urge Congress today to block legislation that would allow the president to take control of National Guard forces in the event of a natural disaster or a threat to homeland security.
In a sharply worded letter that will be transmitted to Republican and Democratic leaders in Congress this morning, the governors ask that a House-Senate conference committee remove a provision included in the House-passed version of the National Defense Authorization Act giving the president such authority.
This power grabbing Bush presidency has to be watched every moment. It sure seems to me that far from being afraid to support Bush publicly, this Republican Congress continues to rubber stamp Bush’s every whim.
Well, we know they’d love to have an excuse to declare martial law, and they need the manpower to do it with. I hope it doesn’t pass.
It has passed the house already. My cheney congresscritter voted for it. It is up to the senate now, for when they come back from summer vacation, of which they all seem to be on, nowadays….all the critters, I mean. ;o) Can’t remember the actual number.
Link
WASHINGTON – The government’s new order that all airline passengers put their shoes through X-ray machines won’t help screeners find a liquid or gel that can be used as a bomb.
The machines are unable to detect explosives, according to a Homeland Security report on aviation screening recently obtained by The Associated Press.
All this x-raying of shoes at airports is just for show. What a shock.
And now for something a bit different:
Aussies on lookout for ugly sheep
SYDNEY, Australia (Reuters) — Australian scientists have called on the country’s farmers to report any ugly sheep found in their flocks.
A campaign called “Xtreme sheep” aims to study sheep with undesirable wool features to unlock the genetic makeup of the prized merino and ensure production of its high quality fleece.
The South Australian Research and Development Institute (SARDI) said on Tuesday its search for “Australia’s ugliest merino lambs” may hold the key to securing the nation’s $2.1 billion wool industry.
Another positive thing is that the “defective” lambs are usually killed, to avoid spreading any contamination. Perhaps after the researchers extract the required DNA, the lambs could be sent to Australian petting zoos, thus sparing their lives? It’s a thought… 🙂
United Nations essential to world peace and security
Overweight ‘top world’s hungry’
UN urged to impose sanctions on Sudan’s president