Clipmarks | jklugman's clips

List of books Palin wanted banned--wow!

Sun, 07 Sep 2008 13:20:44 GMT

clipped by: papananook
clipper's remarks: Thanks to Eddie Angel on LJ

From Shakespeare to Huxley...92 in all... see entire list--it'll blow yer mind.

Clip Source: community.livejournal.com

Books (then) Mayor Sarah Palin tried to remove from Wasilla library. When the librarian refused to ban the books, Palin tried to get her fired. This information is taken from the official minutes of the Wasilla Library Board.

A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess

A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle

Annie on My Mind by Nancy Garden

As I Lay Dying by William Faulkner

Blubber by Judy Blume

Brave New World by Aldous Huxley

Bridge to Terabithia by Katherine Paterson

Canterbury Tales by Chaucer

Carrie by Stephen King

Catch-22 by Joseph Heller

Christine by Stephen King

Confessions by Jean-Jacques Rousseau

Cujo by Stephen King

Daddy's Roommate by Michael Willhoite

Decameron by Boccaccio

The Living Bible by William C. Bower

To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee

Twelfth Night by William Shakespeare

Webster's Ninth New Collegiate Dictionary by the Merriam-Webster

The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood

The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck

The Color Purple by Alice Walker

Palin the Fiscal Conservative

Sun, 07 Sep 2008 02:11:07 GMT

clipped by: lp97702
clipper's remarks: This is so typical....say one thing, done another...

Clip Source: www.bloglines.com

Who is McCain trying to kid? Here's Palin's record as Mayor of Wasilla, Alaska, from the vetting document (PDF) done by the Democrats in 2006, posted by Mudflats, the indispensable Alaskan blog. Yes, Palin has been vetted before - just not by McCain:

Debt Service Increased 69 Percent Under Palin.

Palin Left Behind Almost $19 Million In Long-Term Debt, Compared to None Before She Was Mayor.

In so many ways, Palin is a contemporary Republican: no abortions ever but mounds and mounds and mounds of debt for the next generation.

Long-Term Debt Was $3000 Per Capita When Palin Left, Compared to None Before She Was Mayor.

When Palin Left Office, 6.24% of Government Spending Was On Debt Service, Compared to None Before She Was Mayor.

Tags: palin

US Can Block Mad Cow Testing

Sun, 31 Aug 2008 23:43:16 GMT

clipped by: Imnclady

Clip Source: news.yahoo.com

Court: US can block mad cow testing

WASHINGTON - The Bush administration can prohibit meat packers from testing their animals for mad cow disease, a federal appeals court said Friday.

The dispute pits the Agriculture Department, which tests about 1 percent of cows for the potentially deadly disease, against a Kansas meat packer that wants to test all its animals.

Larger meat packers opposed such testing. If Creekstone Farms Premium Beef began advertising that its cows have all been tested, other companies fear they too will have to conduct the expensive tests.

The Bush administration says the low level of testing reflects the rareness of the disease. Mad cow disease has been linked to more than 150 human deaths worldwide, mostly in Great Britain. Only three cases have been reported in the U.S., all involving cows, not humans.

the Agriculture Department can only regulate disease "treatment.

no cure for mad cow disease

test is performed on dead animals,

ruled, the test is not a treatment.

Tags: disease, animals, court, us, death, farming

Arctic ice refuses to melt as ordered

Sun, 17 Aug 2008 06:04:48 GMT

clipped by: amgumen

Clip Source: www.theregister.co.uk

Just a few weeks ago, predictions of Arctic ice collapse were buzzing all over the internet. Some scientists were predicting that the "North Pole may be ice-free for first time this summer". Others predicted that the entire "polar ice cap would disappear this summer".

The Arctic melt season is nearly done for this year. The sun is now very low above the horizon and will set for the winter at the North Pole in five weeks. And none of these dire predictions have come to pass. Yet there is, however, something odd going on with the ice data.

A comparison of these maps (derived from NSIDC data) below shows that Arctic ice extent was 30 per cent greater on August 11, 2008 than it was on the August 12, 2007. (2008 is a leap year, so the dates are offset by one.

ice has grown in nearly every direction since last summer - with a large increase in the area north of Siberia

Northwest Passage (west of Greenland) has seen a significant increase in ice

Death Penalty- Alive

Fri, 05 Sep 2008 19:39:31 GMT

clipped by: klippety
clipper's remarks: As the only country of the industrial nations, the US and especially Texas are "leading " the capital punishment to new absurdity.

Clip Source: www.nytimes.com

As Texas Execution Nears, Hearing Is Set on a Claim That Judge and Prosecutor Had Affair

HOUSTON — With less than a week to go before the scheduled execution of a man who contends his murder trial was tainted by a love affair between the judge and the prosecutor, a state judge on Thursday ordered a hearing into the accusation and the Texas attorney general called for a review of the fairness of the trial.

On Wednesday, 22 prominent former judges and prosecutors — among them the former F.B.I. director William S. Sessions — urged Gov. Rick Perry to put off the execution to allow more time for a hearing to determine if the claim of an affair is true.

The convicted murderer, Charles D. Hood, 39, is scheduled to be executed on Wednesday for the murder and robbery in 1989 of a couple he lived with in Plano, just north of Dallas.

Musim father burns Christian daughter alive

Fri, 15 Aug 2008 03:54:17 GMT

clipped by: Antara
clipper's remarks: what can you say?

Clip Source: www.worldnetdaily.com

Muslim father burns Christian daughter alive

Man slices out girl's tongue, ignites her after 'heated debate on religion'

A Saudi Arabian Muslim father cut out his daughter's tongue and lit her on fire upon learning that she had become a Christian.

The child became curious about Jesus Christ after she read Christian material online, the Gulf News reported.

Her father read of her Internet conversation, detached her tongue and burned her to death "following a heated debate on religion," according to an International Christian Concern report.

The father is employed by the muwateen, or Commission for Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice. The muwateen are police tasked by the government with enforcing religious purity. The man has been taken into custody, and his identity has not been released.

Tags: religion, islam, christianity, another dead girl

Married Women Hate Sex

Fri, 22 Aug 2008 18:25:14 GMT

clipped by: swampfoxz
clipper's remarks: Also, according to our survey:
• 23% of the women who have sex do it because they love their husbands and want to make him happy.
• 49% of the women have sex because they want it.
• 26% of the women surveyed say their sex lives took a turn for the worst after they had children.

Even momogic contributor and sex therapist Dr. Shannon Fox was surprised by the results of our survey. "It is sad to see that half of the women polled described their sex lives as depressing, embarrassing or a hassle. That is a lot of unhappy women! That means that even the women who are having sex more often aren't happy with the quality of the sex they are having."

Clip Source: www.momlogic.com

Married Women Hate Sex

Sexless marriage: Millions of moms are in one, yet it's taboo to talk about it. Momlogic asked 2,500 married women to reveal the dirty details about their sex lives after marriage and we were shocked by what we found--half found sex to be a depressing, embarrassing or a hassle! PLUS: Three moms and a deprived husband share their stories of sexless marriage. AND: Expert advice for spicing up your relationship.

The most eye-opening findings:

50% of women find sex either depressing, embarrassing or a hassle: We also found out that although 77% of the women claim their sex life is somewhat to very important to them, 54% of married women admit they're the ones who don't want to have sex.

According to 29% of married women, they're just too tired: Not too surprising--at least to those of us with young kids-- that this was the main reason women say they don't want to have sex.

What would women rather do than have sex?

take a bubble bath.

read a book.

Tags: married women, hate, sex

McCain Health Policy Advisor: There Are No Uninsured Americans!

Thu, 28 Aug 2008 20:11:49 GMT

clipped by: dulios
clipper's remarks: Voila! Problem solved! Just don't count them. Ignore them. Screw them. Voila!

Unbelievable. Emergency room care is NOT health care. These people really are heartless, because they can't be so stupid as to not understand that preventative medicine is not only cheaper, it also saves, lengthens, and improves lives. So they just must be heartless. I don't know what else to call them. Unless I depart from polite discourse.

Clip Source: www.dallasnews.com

Texas once again led the nation with the highest percentage of residents without health insurance, a U.S. Census Bureau report showed Tuesday

But the numbers are misleading, said John Goodman, president of the National Center for Policy Analysis, a right-leaning Dallas-based think tank. Mr. Goodman, who helped craft Sen. John McCain's health care policy, said anyone with access to an emergency room effectively has insurance, albeit the government acts as the payer of last resort. (Hospital emergency rooms by law cannot turn away a patient in need of immediate care.)

"So I have a solution. And it will cost not one thin dime," Mr. Goodman said. "The next president of the United States should sign an executive order requiring the Census Bureau to cease and desist from describing any American – even illegal aliens – as uninsured. Instead, the bureau should categorize people according to the likely source of payment should they need care.

"So, there you have it. Voila! Problem solved."

Tags: for the love of money is the root of all evil

McCain advisor: Stop calling people un-insured

Fri, 29 Aug 2008 23:39:37 GMT

clipped by: masbury
clipper's remarks: Wants executive order requiring the Census Bureau to "cease and desist" from describing any American as uninsured. "Will cost not one thin dime," he brags. Problem solved.
Really, he says that!

Clip Source: www.dailykos.com

As the Census Bureau reports that California has the highest number of uninsured people, and Texas has the highest percentage of residents, a McCain adviser utters some remarkably stupid analysis:

But the numbers are misleading, said John Goodman, president of the National Center for Policy Analysis, a right-leaning Dallas-based think tank. Mr. Goodman, who helped craft Sen. John McCain's health care policy [the McCain camp distances themselves], said anyone with access to an emergency room effectively has insurance, albeit the government acts as the payer of last resort

Instead, the bureau should categorize people according to the likely source of payment should they need care.

"So, there you have it. Voila! Problem solved."

Tags: healthcare, insurance

Concerns Surround Todd Palin For Being A "Shadow Governor"

Sun, 31 Aug 2008 05:00:22 GMT

clipped by: BartendingBear
clipper's remarks: Elect one, get two!

Clip Source: www.andrewhalcro.com

In the aftermath of the Walt Monegan firing, one question keeps surfacing over and over again; why does the governor's husband, Todd Palin appear to hold so much power?

The stories started last year when Representative Ralph Samuels told me about going into a meeting, he thought would be private, with Governor Sarah Palin. Much to his surprise, Todd Palin was there and proceeded to sit through the entire meeting.

Other lawmakers have shared similar stories and were shocked at how inappropriate Todd's presence was at meetings with the governor.

The most alarming indication of Todd Palin's reach into state government came just yesterday.

Last month, a group of Alaskans filed a freedom of information act for emails

The serious concern about these emails is that they were prohibited from being released to the public due to executive privilege, even though Todd Palin was copied on these same emails.

Todd Palin is not a member of the executive branch,

Todd Palin is a member of the general public.

Women More Skeptical of Palin Than Men

Sat, 30 Aug 2008 19:29:37 GMT

clipped by: jklugman
clipper's remarks: It will be interesting to see if this pattern holds up in other polls.

Via Andrew Sullivan.

Clip Source: www.fivethirtyeight.com

What's interesting, however, is that while there is a gender gap in these numbers, it's not the one many observers were anticipating.

Rather, along a variety of metrics, men like the Palin choice better than women:

Tags: sarah palin, 2008 election, public-opinion, poll, polls, andrew sullivan

The pundits say it will be a surprise. I say no surprise

Thu, 28 Aug 2008 00:35:26 GMT

clipped by: willhelm
clipper's remarks: McCain WILL pick Mitt Romney. Take it to the bank. Though I still wish it would be Palin.

Clip Source: features.csmonitor.com

James Carville, Greenberg’s longtime political partner (the two were central to Bill Clinton’s improbable victory in the 1992 presidential campaign), has a more colorful way of assessing vice-presidential picks. Does the candidate “make the opposing campaign manager throw up.”

Carville doesn’t name names, but he predicts McCain will surprise us. “McCain and I share something in common,” says the Ragin’ Cajun. “We’re both craps shooters. And just by nature, craps shooters always want to put their stack in the middle of the table.”

The Democratic analyst and pollster Stan Greenberg said Wednesday they see nothing to fear from a Romney pick, await a surprise.

QUIZ: What American Accent Do You Have?

Sun, 20 May 2007 17:30:27 GMT

clipped by: Kore7
clipper's remarks: If you think you don't have an accent, think again. This short quiz is a way to find out which dialect of American English you speak.

Different regional accents become more prevalent in countries at different times throughout the years for various socio-economic and geographical reasons. These accents come to be perceived as "neutral" or "accent-less" by the majority during these times. For a while, the American dialect sometimes called "Standard Midwestern" has dominated but, like accents themselves, this "standard" constantly evolves.

Recently, the spoken aspects of American English have trended westward along with the population center of America. Many features distinct to Northeastern accents (think NYC, Boston) are being replaced in popularity with those from Western accents (think LA) across America. This shift tends to be more prominent the younger the speaker is.

Clip Source: www.gotoquiz.com

What American accent do you have?

To most Americans, an accent is something that only other people have, those other people usually being in New York, Boston, and the South. And of those other people, half of the ones you meet will swear they "don't have an accent."

Well, strictly speaking, the only way to not have an accent is to not speak. If you're from anywhere in the USA you have an accent (which may or may not be the accent of the place you're from). Go through this short quiz and you'll find out just which accent that is.

Tags: america, speech, accent, dialect, linguistics, quiz, fun, northeast, west, vowels

Kids with pets grow up to be snorers: study

Sun, 24 Aug 2008 10:50:03 GMT

clipped by: tabsey

Clip Source: www.abc.net.au

Thinking of buying a pet for junior? Consider this: children who grow up in the company of cats, dogs or other furry friends are more likely to become snoring adults, according to a new study.

Snoring is no laughing matter. Besides sleep deprivation - for the snorer, and especially for anyone within earshot - snoring is linked to more serious consequences.

It increases the risk of cardiovascular disease, such as heart attacks or a stroke, and can even result in premature death.

Earlier research has shown that a tendency to snore can be established early in life.

To find out why, researchers led by Karl Franklin of University Hospital in Umea, Sweden asked more than 15,500 randomly selected people in Nordic countries about their early childhood, and their snoring habits.

Just over 18 per cent of the respondents fit the profile of habitual snorers, defined as "loud and disturbing snoring at least three nights in a week."

It's OK If You're A Republican

Sun, 24 Aug 2008 00:06:32 GMT

clipped by: jklugman

Clip Source: krugman.blogs.nytimes.com

Glenn Greenwald has done the homework. In 2004 the right went all out on the theme that John Kerry was a wimp because he married into money. Rush Limbaugh repeatedly called him a “gigolo.”

Now, Fox News says that talking about John McCain’s many houses is “bashing the American dream.”

Of course, I guess it’s different because McCain is a war hero. Oh, wait …

Tags: paul krugman, glenn greenwald, hypocrisy, rush limbaugh, john mccain, john kerry, fox, fox news