Clipmarks | tabsey's Comments

Panel calls for new War Powers Act

Tue, 08 Jul 2008 17:57:50 GMT

clipped by: masbury
clipper's remarks: "The current War Powers Resolution is 'ineffective at best and unconstitutional at worst,' and should be scrapped"

Clip Source: cnnwire.blogs.cnn.com

Panel calls for new War Powers Act

WASHINGTON (CNN) — The United States needs a new law requiring that the president consult with Congress before going to war, a blue-ribbon panel led by two former secretaries of state will say Tuesday.

The current War Powers Resolution is “ineffective at best and unconstitutional at worst,” and should be scrapped, James A. Baker III and Warren Christopher write in Tuesday’s New York Times, previewing the conclusion of the year-long study they led.

The recommendation follows failed efforts by Democrats in Congress to put a stop to the war in Iraq or to put conditions on President Bush’s conduct of it. Congress passed a joint resolution to authorize armed force against in Iraq in 2002, but some Bush opponents say it should not have been interpreted as a blank check for the United States to invade and occupy the Gulf nation.

Tags: foreign policy, politics

Ordinary into Genius- Genes

Mon, 07 Jul 2008 10:40:18 GMT

clipped by: wildcat

Clip Source: io9.com

Scientists Identify Genes that Could Turn Ordinary People into Supergeniuses (or Mindless Drones)

It's clear that there's a specific set of genes responsible for brain development when you're in the womb, and that those genes affect your ability to learn later on. But now a group of researchers in the U.S. and Canada have identified those genes. And their discovery could represent the first step in tweaking brain development. It's possible that that knocking out some of those genes or adding extra copies of them to a developing baby could result in the tailor-made human minds of Brave New World: Some will be born to develop cutting-edge technologies, and others to be slow-witted and compliant.

Published this weekend in PLoS Genetics, the study is extraordinary not just because of its futuristic implications, but because of the cool new super-rapid system the researchers used to identify which genes are active during brain development. The technique is called RNA interference, or RNAi:

Tags: genetics, genes, dna, genius, drones

Solar powered Prius!!

Mon, 07 Jul 2008 02:55:31 GMT

clipped by: egoldstein
clipper's remarks: Now this is exciting news! This type of innovation is exactly what the world needs to help us lose our dependency on oil. It is also the type of progress that i believe will spur the economy out of its very nasty funk.

Clip Source: www.marketwatch.com

The move will make Toyota the first major automaker to install a popular model with solar panels. The redesigned Prius will have solar panels on the roof, which will supply part of the two to five kilowatts needed to power the air-conditioning unit, the Nikkei business daily reported.

Tags: alternative energy, oil, prius, solar

The World's First Flying Saucer: Made Right Here on Earth

Tue, 08 Jul 2008 15:04:44 GMT

clipped by: Mohir
clipper's remarks: Using an onboard source of energy (such as a battery, ultracapacitor, solar panel or any combination thereof), the electrodes will send an electrical current into the plasma, causing the plasma to push against the neutral (noncharged) air surrounding the craft, theoretically generating enough force for liftoff and movement in different directions (depending on where on the craft's surface you direct the electrical current).
The concept sounds far-fetched, but U.F. mechanical and aerospace engineering associate professor Subrata Roy plans to have a mini model ready to demonstrate his theory within the next year.

Clip Source: www.sciam.com

If a professor at the University of Florida (U.F.) has his way, the first flying saucer to grace Planet Earth's skies isn't likely to come from outer space but rather from Gainesville, where the faculty member is drawing up plans to build a circular aircraft that can hover in the air like a helicopter without any moving parts or fuel.

In other words, it will look like a UFO, but will actually be more of an IFO—an identified flying object.

The saucer will hover and propel itself using electrodes that cover its surface to ionize the surrounding air into plasma. Gases (such as air, which has an equal number of positive and negative charges) become plasma when energy (such as heat or electricity) causes some of the gas's atoms to lose their negatively charged electrons, creating atoms with a positive charge, or positive ions, surrounded by the newly detached electrons.

Tags: ufo, flight, technology, aircraft

President Bush Edits Thomas Jefferson

Mon, 07 Jul 2008 23:14:36 GMT

clipped by: dulios
clipper's remarks: Christianity neither is, nor ever was a part of the common law.
-Thomas Jefferson, letter to Dr. Thomas Cooper, February 10, 1814

Clip Source: scienceblogs.com

Bush Edits Out Jefferson's Religious Views

President Bush was at Monticello for a 4th of July celebration and he delivered an address. But it's quite telling that his speechwriters, in quoting Jefferson, cut out an anti-religious statement from a long and famous quote. Here's the way Bush put it:

"May it be to the world, what I believe it will be -- to some parts sooner, to others later, but finally to all -- the Signal of arousing men to burst the chains, and to assume the blessings and security of self-government."

Now let's look at the full quote

May it be to the world, what I believe it will be, (to some parts sooner, to others later, but finally to all,) the signal of arousing men to burst the chains under which monkish ignorance and superstition had persuaded them to bind themselves, and to assume the blessings and security of self-government.

Tags: bush, jefferson, independence day, religion

Australia's Climate Change Report Reads "Like a Disaster Novel"

Tue, 08 Jul 2008 01:39:42 GMT

clipped by: Socratoad

Clip Source: www.socialmedian.com

Australia's Climate Change Report Reads "Like a Disaster Novel"

The conclusions of a new report written by Australia's top climate scientists are grim: Heatwaves are expected to increase 10-fold while droughts will almost double in number and become more widespread -- possibly impacting an area twice as large as now. Rainfall is also projected to continue its long decline throughout the country.
The report's release prompted agriculture minister Tony Burke to compare the Bureau of Meteorology and CSIRO's (Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization) findings to "a disaster novel," according to Read the full article

A Little Welcome Home from the Torture Masters

Mon, 07 Jul 2008 03:45:31 GMT

clipped by: righthand
clipper's remarks: "As they ridiculed me, they took delight most in mocking letters I had received from readers in England. I had now been without food and water and the toilet for 12 hours, and having been made to stand, my legs buckled. I vomited and passed out. All I remember is one of them gouging, scraping and clawing with his nails at the tender flesh beneath my eyes. He scooped my head and dug his fingers in near the auditory nerves between my head and eardrum. The pain became sharper as he dug in two fingers at a time. Another man had his combat boot on my neck, pressing into the hard floor. I lay there for over an hour. The room became a menagerie of pain, sound and terror."

Clip Source: www.guardian.co.uk

From triumph to torture

Clip Source: www.ukzn.ac.za

Clip Source: www.guardian.co.uk

I presented a young Palestinian, Mohammed Omer, with the 2008 Martha Gellhorn Prize for Journalism

shares the prize of £5,000 with Dahr Jamail. At 24, he is the youngest winner

Clip Source: www.ips.org

Clip Source: www.guardian.co.uk

An Israeli bulldozer crushed his home while the family were inside, seriously injuring his mother

Clip Source: www.peaceworkmagazine.org

Clip Source: www.september11news.com

Clip Source: www.guardian.co.uk

Dutch ambassador, Jan Wijenberg, "he is a moderating voice,

seized by Shin Bet,

call his embassy escort and was told forcefully he could not

"Where's the money?"

"Where is the English pound you have?"

surrounded by eight Shin Bet officers, all armed

I stripped down to my underwear

Avi put his hand on his gun. I began to cry: 'Why are you treating me this way?

'This is nothing

gun out, pressing it to my head and with his full body weight pinning me on my side, he forcibly removed my underwear

dance

I vomited and passed out

gouging, scraping and clawing with his nails at the tender flesh beneath my eyes

combat boot on my neck

ambulance

a hospital

signed a statement indemnifying the Israelis

medic refused

Clip Source: www.pbsguide.org

Clip Source: www.palestinechronicle.com

Clip Source: www.guardian.co.uk

Dutch embas

Tags: israel, torture, journalist, award, prize, theft, shinbet

Victims of Hurricane Katrina.

Tue, 08 Jul 2008 15:18:58 GMT

clipped by: Socratoad
clipper's remarks: This over the top display of greed and corruption makes me physically ill

Clip Source: www.cnn.com

BILOXI, Mississippi (CNN) -- Prisons in Mississippi got coffee makers, pillowcases and dinnerware -- all intended for victims of Hurricane Katrina.

The state's Department of Wildlife, Fisheries and Parks took more coffee makers, cleaning supplies and other items.

People check out the second story of a home sitting on the ground in Biloxi, Mississippi, after Katrina in 2005.

Plastic containers ended up with the Mississippi Department of Finance and Administration.

Colleges, volunteer fire departments and other agencies received even more.

But the Mississippi hurricane victims who originally were intended to receive the supplies got nothing, a CNN investigation has found. Watch victims tell why they need the items »

Our Genocidal track record

Sat, 05 Jul 2008 14:38:19 GMT

clipped by: papananook
clipper's remarks: I know, y'all think I hate America...Not so, but I despise what the people of the USA has done in so many instances of genocidal hypocrisy...I cannot celebrate our Independence without seeing all the death and destruction we have brouht to the brown, red and yellow segments of Mankind. I'm thoroughly disgusted with 'Murrika today and especially of the last 8 years. Our collective karma is disastrous and the Empire will fall, just like all Empires do. The "Noble Experiment" in Democracy gets a big FAIL. Despite all the good we have done, the USA is a racist, war-loving, greedy, Earth-polluting, voracious nation. Pretty sad when you think about it, neh?

Clip Source: clipmarks.com

I just watched that excellent documentary, The Revolution, on PBS yesterday to see if they would come close to the truth, and they did. I was especially impressed with the segment on how Gen.George Washington wrote especially virulently racist orders to commit genocide on the Iroqouis nation during the fight vs. the British...The order was to obliterate every man, woman and child, and burn the villages of the Natives--a scorched earth policy that was carried out.
This is how our country began and despite the Constitution and all our high ideals, we have committed genocide all thru the 227 yr. history of the USA and before, from the first colonists all the way until Iraq. In the name of "Freedom", "Christian values" and all the other lies the USA brainwashes us with, the white power structure has hated people of color all along. What a sham. Happy 4th of July, fellow'Murrikans!

Physics of the Impossible

Mon, 07 Jul 2008 07:16:31 GMT

clipped by: einbar
clipper's remarks: 'If this all sounds like pie in the sky, think again. After all, how would physicists 200 years ago have reacted if you'd told them about the internet, the atomic bomb or the moon landings? What would they have made of Einstein's theory of relativity?"

Clip Source: www.bryanchristiedesign.com

Clip Source: www.independent.co.uk

Precognition may not be possible, but a speculative physicist can predict a future of teleportation and starships

Michio Kaku doesn't know the meaning of the word "impossible".

for those of us not au fait with the process of speculating on the future of physics, he's split his impossibilities into three categories. Class I impossibilities are technologies which are impossible today, but don't violate the known laws of physics. Kaku reckons that these impossibilities – including things such as teleportation and psychokinesis – might be possible in some reduced form sometime within the next couple of hundred years.

Class II impossibilities such as time machines and hyperspace travel are at the very edge of our scientific understanding, and may take millions of years to become possible.

Class III impossibilities, are technologies which break the laws of physics as we know them.

Call for sex lessons at age 4! don't know what 2 comment on this?

Sat, 05 Jul 2008 00:56:30 GMT

clipped by: mugofcoffee
clipper's remarks: Glad that they haven't introduced a new technology that would teach the "sex lessons" when the child is still in the mother's womb!

Clip Source: news.bbc.co.uk

Call for sex lessons at age four

Children as young as four should be given compulsory sex education, two leading sexual health charities say.

The Family Planning Association and Brook told BBC Newsbeat more should be done to cut abortion rates and sexually transmitted infections among teenagers.

They argue gradual education from such a young age would help children not to rush into sex when they were older.

The Department for Children, Schools and Family said it was reviewing the

delivery of sex education in schools.

Children aged four might be taught about the names of body parts and basic ideas about different relationships.

The government is not giving young people enough information about sex and relationships, the charities add.

He added: "All the evidence shows that if you start sex and relationships education early - before children start puberty, before they feel sexual attraction - they start having sex later.

"They are much more likely to use contraception and practise safe sex."

Why Shakir Can't Read

Tue, 01 Jul 2008 14:24:24 GMT

clipped by: Charlie Martel 732AD

Clip Source: www.americanthinker.com

July 01, 2008

Why Shakir Can't Read

I was talking to a friend the other day who teaches at an elementary school and has a student whom I shall name Shakir. Shakir is ten, and he's barely literate. My friend's class is not a large one; she has five to eight students. She also has a teaching assistant, and between them, the kids receive a lot of personal, one-to-one attention. Nevertheless, Shakir still can't read.

The why of this phenomenon is quite important; you see, there are lots of Shakirs in the black community. For he is one of many kids flunking his way through the educational system, even as he advances through it. I think there are many causal factors for Shakir's non-performance in school; amongst them are Shakir himself and his priorities; the instability of his family; his community culture; and, the school system itself.

10 Most Awesomely Bad Moments of the Bush Presidency

Thu, 03 Jul 2008 13:57:23 GMT

clipped by: righthand

Clip Source: www.alternet.org

The 10 Most Awesomely Bad Moments of the Bush Presidency

Printed on July 3, 2008

warrantless wiretapping;

Valerie Plame; Scooter Libby's sentence commuted;

Bush believes Rafael Palmeiro is innocent;

soldiers face neglect at Walter Reed;

signing statements;

the Kyoto treaty ripped up;

; loyalty oaths;

the fake turkey;

a staged teleconference with troops

staged FEMA press conference,

extraordinary rendition,

support for junk science;

endorsement of neo-creationist "intelligent design";

inaction against global warming;

record oil prices;

record budget deficits;

record trade deficits;

two recessions;

no-bid contracts;

bin Laden still at large;

the Federal Marriage Amendment;

stem cell research vetoed;

waterboarding ban vetoed

"Last throes";

"Old Europe";

"It's hard work";

"Bring it on";

"Yo, Blair!";

"I'm the decider"

"I'm the commander guy"

"I'm a war president";

"This is the guy who tried to kill my dad"

"Let the Eagle Soar"

John Bolton

Kenny Boy

"So?"

Blair talks Bush out of bombing al-Jazeera

John Roberts

Sam Alit

Tags: bush, president

McCain campaign: special treatment for compliant media

Mon, 07 Jul 2008 01:59:23 GMT

clipped by: masbury
clipper's remarks: VIP section on airplane for media who never challenge the Senator. I guess this is like "embedded" reporting.

Clip Source: www.dailykos.com

This week, the media continued to bend over backwards to repeat whatever narrative McCain wants them to. He even refurnished his airplane with a VIP section for the most obedient reporters.

Top McCain aide Mark Salter said "‘only the good reporters’ would get to sit in the specially-configured section for interviews. ‘You’ll have to earn it,’ he said." So how can these reporters "earn" a seat? Never challenge the Senator

Tags: mccain, politics

State of emergrncy for crumbling Pompeii

Mon, 07 Jul 2008 07:59:49 GMT

clipped by: pokkets
clipper's remarks: 13,000 people once lived in Pompeii, which is now being visited by around 2.5 million tourists each year, while the 1/3 that remains uncovered has become a Naples garbage dump.

Clip Source: www.abc.net.au

Silvia Aloisi

The Italian government has declared a state of emergency at Pompeii in an effort to rescue one of the world's most important cultural treasures.

A Italian cabinet statement says it will appoint a special commissioner for Pompeii, the ancient Roman city buried by an eruption of the Vesuvius volcano in 79 AD and now a UNESCO World Heritage site.

Bogus tour guides, illegal parking attendants and stray dogs also plague visitors.

2.5 million tourists visit Pompeii each year, making it one of Italy's most popular attractions, and many have expressed shock at the site's decay

"Every year at least 150 square metres of fresco and plaster work are lost for lack of maintenance," says Antonio Irlando, a regional councillor responsible for artistic heritage

"The same goes for stones: at least 3000 pieces every year end up disintegrating," he says.

Two-thirds of the 66 hectare town, home to some 13,000 people in the Roman era, have been uncovered since serious excavations began 260 years ago.