The great enemy of the truth is very often not the lie — deliberate, contrived and dishonest, but the myth, persistent, persuasive, and unrealistic. Belief in myths allows the comfort of opinion without the discomfort of thought.
— John F. Kennedy
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Sorry for being out of pocket unannounced the last couple of days; had to take an unexpected trip without internet access. 🙁
So long, and thanks for all the fish: There will be virtually nothing left to fish from the seas by the middle of the century if current trends continue, according to a major scientific study. Stocks have collapsed in nearly one-third of sea fisheries, and the rate of decline is accelerating. And it’s not just fish, but all seafood. Writing in the journal Science, the international team of researchers says fishery decline is closely tied to a broader loss of marine biodiversity. But a greater use of protected areas could safeguard existing stocks.
On Tuesday NASA agreed to briefly interrupt International Space Station assembly missions for a final maintenance shuttle visit to the Hubble space telescope, targeted for May 2008. Without servicing by a shuttle crew, the telescope is expected to last only another two or three years.
Ukraine said Thursday it planned to reprocess tons of highly toxic rocket fuel left over from Soviet times and convert it into environmentally safe fertilizer.
The possibility of a large asteroid colliding with Earth in 2029 is zero, Russia’s top astronomer said Thursday. The near-earth asteroid Apophis, discovered in mid-2004, caused a brief period of alarm in December 2004, when scientists calculated that there was as much as a 1 in 37 probability of it colliding with the earth.
Don’t tell Rick Santorum, but Romanian and U.S. scientists have found evidence modern humans and Neanderthals interbred as Homo sapiens spread across Europe 35,000 years ago.
A U.S. research team says it has invented a “reactive flash volatilization process” that converts soy oil and sugar into hydrogen and carbon monoxide. The mixture called synthesis gas, or syngas, is used to make chemicals and fuels, including gasoline, and the new process works up to 100 times faster than current technology.
The Bush administration is seeking world permission to produce thousands of tons of a pesticide that an international treaty banned nearly two years ago, even though U.S. companies already have huge stockpiles of the chemical. Methyl bromide has been used for decades by farmers to help grow plump, sweet strawberries, robust peppers and other crops, but it also depletes the Earth’s protective ozone layer. The United States and other countries signed a 1987 treaty promising to end its use by 2005, but hey, you know how it goes with treaties and the US these days…
So many culprits, so little rope: Two federal agencies are investigating whether the Bush administration tried to block government scientists from speaking freely about global warming and censor their research, Sen. Frank Lautenberg, D-N.J., said Wesnesday. He was informed that the inspectors general for the Commerce Department and NASA had begun “coordinated, sweeping investigations of the Bush administration’s censorship and suppression” of federal research into global warming. In the words of the picante sauce commercial, “Somebody get a rope.”
Thank you for putting this up today, Knox!
No problem! 🙂
ALL seafood. In my lifetime?
The idea in the 70s to phase out those super fishing trawlers that scooped up everything on the seabed was dismissed.
Wow.the dimunition of marine life will also impact food supplies on land too. Looks like one long famine. We did it to ourselves.
do the British hate America and our freedoms?
Sounds like someone needs a healthy dose of imported democracy!
Well, if you ask us Canucks, we’ll throw Tony Blair in the mix for good measure.
Why do we hate the Empire? (which one you ask… it’s not an either/ or answer…)
Come now spidey, we don’t have an empire.
We just have troops in everyone else’s countries, and want their governments do what is in our best interest.
Can’t you see the difference?
I’m so sorry e, my mistake.
Would you like some flowers? We have an abundence up here waiting for you…
He’s a threat to world peace say allies, Brits, among them, sees Bush more dangerous than Kim Jong-il.
Could it be setting the stage for the Saddam verdict due to be announced on November 5th?
John Negroponte made an unannounced visit to Baghdad just 5 days after Stephen Hadley
Congress Tells Auditor in Iraq to Close Office, Oops! not just any office. Congresspeople cry foul after they vote without reading the bill.
Interesting. Yesterday, Michael Chertoff received the prestigious Henry Petersen Award but Petersen’s grandson, one of the family members who would normally present the award, declined to present. Wonkette has all. (H/T:Huffpost)
Ex-Judges: Detainee Law Unconstitutional.
Nick Turse surveys American Prison Planet and ask why is KBR, a Halliburton subsidiary, building on U.S. soil detention centers for “an unexpected influx of immigrants or new programs that require additional detention space?”
The Google’s Youtube $1.6 B, stumble that’s out of focus
So much violent death…my heart rips each time I read of it.
Hey ManEe, did you see this?
(warning, there is a picture of some kind of evil troll attached to this article) link
I found it through the frontpage of dKos. Markos had Pederson’s name misspelled in the headline for a while as ‘Perderson’. Hopefully that’s not an omen (perder). Actually, given Markos’s track record for predictions, maybe we should hope it is! Ha!
yeah, saw it last night on one of the Az blogs. I’m not surprised the race tightened, Pederson has finally been paying some major attention to Southern Az, which he’ll need to carry decisively to counterbalance the Phx metro area (a sea of red).
Bill Clinton held a rally last night here, 10000 people showed up. I was supposed to go but something came up. It’ll be an interesting weekend.
(p.s. Jim is leading Kyl by 4% in early voting)
I see that Immigration states that this wasn’t a unplanned raid but had months of extensive research and planning..well I guess their ‘research’ sucks then doesn’t it. Rounding up Americans with American parents based on what was that again..oh yeah skin color..no research needed to come to that conclusion.
Houston janitors are trying to earn an adequate living.
If you are in an area where actions are taking place, bring the strikers something to eat or drink on the picket line, read their handouts and take requested actions, honk and wave, and DON’T cross picket lines.
dirty tactics.
if Joe sore loser is, as polls indicate, ahead of Lamont why the thuggery?
He just can’t help himself, relying on GOP – sleep with dogs wake up with fleas.
Yeah, not exactly the actions one would expect from someone with a 10-point lead, are they?
I guess they aren’t as sure of themselves as they’d like us to believe. And I’m wondering when the YouTube of what happened is going to turn up?
if there are Karma gods out there, I pray Lamont prevails…that CT voters have had enough.
Did you see C&L? Joe was on Imus this AM said that ‘he would caucus with Democrats to maintain his seniority,” but will vote “very independent”.
..sleep with the GOP.
Thing is if Joe wins and there’s a narrow outcome in the Senate, we’ll be beholden to him. And he’ll love that.
If he wins, may he choke on it!