Poster of the Day
Posted on March 10th, 2010
at 18:28
by:
Bloodstar
Liberals and Libertarians on Everything and Nothing
|
|
BloodstarLiberals and Libertarians on Everything and Nothing |
|
For strange and awesome discoveries like this:
A team of scientists at MIT have discovered a previously unknown phenomenon that can cause powerful waves of energy to shoot through minuscule wires known as carbon nanotubes. The discovery could lead to a new way of producing electricity, the researchers say.
Do you think corporations would fund research just cause, and discover something like this? and that’s not meant as snarky as it sounds. There are times in which universities and federal funding make sense. Research and Development is one of those times. In particular, when investigating things that have no current industrial or technological application, academic research really shines.
This is unusual. So unusual in fact that it’s the 7th one in the South Atlantic ever recorded. it’s not going to be a threat to land, but it’s could be a leading indicator of things to come in the North Atlantic. or maybe it’s just a random event, who knows at this point. But I do find it interesting that more storms have happened in the last decade than ever before in the south Atlantic Previously. just for fun here is a list of all tropical or Subtropical storms in the South atlantic ever recorded.
1974
1991
2004 (2 stormsincluding Cyclone ‘Catarina’)
2006
2009
2010 (this one)
Well well, People may think everything sucks, but businesses and stocks don’t:
One year after U.S stocks hit their post-financial-crisis low on March 9, 2009, the benchmark Standard & Poor’s 500 Index has risen more than 68 percent, and it’s up more than 41 percent since Obama took office. Credit spreads have narrowed. Commodity prices have surged. Housing prices have stabilized.
“We’ve had a phenomenal run in asset classes across the board,” said Dan Greenhaus, chief economic strategist for Miller Tabak & Co. in New York. “If he was a Republican, we would hear a never-ending drumbeat of news stories about markets voting in favor of the president.”
…
monthly job losses have abated, from 779,000 during the month Obama took office to 36,000 last month. Corporate profits have grown; among 491 companies in the S&P 500 that reported fourth-quarter earnings, profits rose 180 percent from a year ago, according to Bloomberg data. Durable goods orders in January were up 9.3 percent from a year earlier. Inflation is tame, and long-term interest rates remain low.
Damn, think how things would be had nothing been done!
And yes, the deficits suck. but IIRC correctly, it was massive deficit spending that got us out of the great depression, and chances are massive deficit spending may have been the solution for getting us out of this mess, even if we don’t like that idea. And trust me, the libertarian me shudders from the concept, but just because we don’t like an idea, doesn’t make it untrue.
I would like to ask McCain and Lieberman to respectfully stop being scared little fuckers who want to tear more holes in the constitution in their evident fear that a few big scary evil terrorists are some how so dangerous that we need to rip up the constitution so they can sleep better at night:
A close reading of the bill suggests it would allow the U.S. military to detain U.S. citizens without trial indefinitely in the U.S. based on suspected activity.
McCain and Lieberman you don’t deserve respect for being such scared little children. So please, retire and quit trying to solve everything with a horrible bill designed to play on the fear of people. There is no way this can pass constitutional muster, but since people won’t be able to bring a suit, (as they’ll be held outside the legal system), nothing will be around to challenge the law.
I dunno, maybe someone can challenge on their behalf, but that’s going to be difficult to gain standing, particularly if the person isn’t permitted contact with the rest of the world.
Indefinite detention without trial for US citizens is a awful horrible nasty idea no matter what they may be accused of doing. So, Yeah, McCain and Lieberman, for proposing this bill, please just fuck off.
It’s one Poll, let’s see how other polls play out, but I’ll trust the Economist over most other sources:
There is a small margin of support for the health care reform proposals put forth by the Obama Administration, with 53% supporting them and 47% opposing.
How is the rot and corrosion in our souls feeling now? How does it feel to know that people were tortured… to death to make you feel safer? some of the people wanted to hurt us and some of them were just sheep herders who were turned in for the money. How does it feel to know that we tortured and killed people who had nothing to do with terror? To make you feel safer? How does it feel to know that we waterboarded people for so long, that they simply gave up and quit fighting, accepting death rather than struggling to live? Some of the people were bad people, and some of these people were innocent. Does it make you feel better knowing that innocent people died to make you feel like America was “doing something”?
The CIA’s waterboarding regimen was so excruciating, the memos show, that agency officials found themselves grappling with an unexpected development: detainees simply gave up and tried to let themselves drown. “In our limited experience, extensive sustained use of the waterboard can introduce new risks,” the CIA’s Office of Medical Services wrote in its 2003 memo. “Most seriously, for reasons of physical fatigue or psychological resignation, the subject may simply give up, allowing excessive filling of the airways and loss of consciousness.”
Do you look in the mirror in the morning? Do you accept the responsibility for what we did as a country?
the memos also reveal that the Bush-era Justice Department authorized the CIA to use it in combination with other forms of torture. Specifically, a detainee could be kept awake for more than seven days straight by shackling his hands in a standing position to a bolt in the ceiling so he could never sit down. The agency diapered and hand-fed its detainees during this period before putting them on the waterboard.
Was waterboarding just a little bit of water? meant to scare the victim? Do you still believe that trope?
One of the more interesting revelations in the documents is the use of a saline solution in waterboarding. Why? Because the CIA forced such massive quantities of water into the mouths and noses of detainees, prisoners inevitably swallowed huge amounts of liquid – enough to conceivably kill them from hyponatremia, a rare but deadly condition in which ingesting enormous quantities of water results in a dangerously low concentration of sodium in the blood.
…
Therefore, “based on advice of medical personnel,” Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Steven Bradbury wrote in a May 10, 2005, memo authorizing continued use of waterboarding, “the CIA requires that saline solution be used instead of plain water to reduce the possibility of hyponatremia.”
The agency used so much water there was also another risk: pneumonia resulting from detainees inhaling the fluid forced into their mouths and noses. Saline, the CIA argued, might reduce the risk of pneumonia when this occurred.
“The detainee might aspirate some of the water, and the resulting water in the lungs might lead to pneumonia,” Bradbury noted in the same memo. “To mitigate this risk, a potable saline solution is used in the procedure.”
And rather than confront the reality of what America has done, rather than understand what we permitted to happen, we respond with a yawn or a ‘they had it coming cause we know that all arabs are terrorists, even the sheep herders.’ or a shrug and bury our head in the sand, and proclaim how much better America is than anyone else, we wave our flags and show into the air about how we would never do these things, because we’re America, and even if we did do these things, well that’s ok, we’re America after all, and if we do it, it must be right.
So try to bury it, try to ignore it, try to put the stain on the very Soul of America out of your mind. if you’ll sleep better at night, then that’s your choice.
But I choose to look into the dark places of America’s heart, and I choose to fight to ensure that those dark places are illuminated. I believe in an America that *is* better than other countries, both in spirit and deed. And maybe people won’t be punished for torturing and murdering, but the more light we shine on what we let happen, then perhaps the next time someone considers adding more stains to America’s soul, they’ll choose the right path, the right choice, and not step into the darkness.
Because he’d dead to the Republicans, they’ve turned their back to him and have embraced their new darling Rubio I mean, these numbers are BRUTAL.
Rubio now leads Crist 60-28, including a staggering 71-17 lead with conservatives. Crist has a 49-36 advantage with party moderates, but they account for just 31% of likely primary voters compared to 65% who describe themselves as conservative.
Rubio is benefiting from a widely held sentiment among Florida GOP voters that Congressional Republicans are too liberal and that Crist would add to the problem. 41% of them think that the party leadership in Washington is too liberal, and with those folks Rubio holds an 83-10 lead. 50% think that Crist himself is too liberal and with those voters Rubio’s advantage expands even wider to 90-5.
For being a popular Governor, Crist is absolutely hammered by his own party. Again, the Republican party has decided their path to power is to become even more conservative, which means that anyone who doesn’t fit their mold, is going to get hammered from the far far right.
I just don’t think the Republicans understand the concept of moderation anymore. And hopefully that extremism will be their downfall. The Republicans won’t succeed because of their strategy, they’ll succeed in spite of it, because the economy doesn’t recover, or some other awful horrible event occurs that means bad things happened. It’s just unfortunate that the Republican party is cheerleading these events.
I say half jokingly, if they find a fact acting antidepressant, it’ll be outlawed because it’s too effective, but this particular drug class looks really promising:
“Scopolamine was found to reduce symptoms of depression within three days of the first administration. In fact, participants reported that they experienced relief from their symptoms by the morning after the first administration of drug,” explained Dr. Furey. “Moreover, one-half of participants experienced full symptom remission by the end of the treatment period. Finally, participants remained well during a subsequent placebo period, indicating that the antidepressant effects persist for at least two weeks in the absence of further treatment.”
Anyone who’s ever experienced major depression can tell you there are few things as awful to be in or debilitating to experience. and unless you have, there is honestly no way to compare where your head goes and how absolutely devastating things are. So there are a ton of trials left to go through, and side effects to evaluate, but this is a fantastic first step.
Just a pity the guy wasn’t a little more ummm… horrified
Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy
Just watch the whole thing.
