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Whee...newslinking again..
Jan. 24th, 2008 08:03 amFISA is back before congress and of course, Cheney insists it must be passed. Fortunately, Dodd has declared he and Feingold will filibuster and Edwards is asking folks to support them.
Palestinians are flooding into Egypt. This follows after Israel instigated a fuel blockade of Gaza after a section of the wall separating Israel from the Palestinian sections was bombed. More here.
So, Bushco has been having a big push for nuclear power of late. One itty bitty problem with that: for nuclear power plants, you need one thing (other than uranium and a way to bury your waste that won't leak into the groundwater etc): WATER. The southern drought in the US may cause many of the nuclear plants to have to shut down there. As a result, people in these states may be soon paying astronomical prices for power as the state seeks to buy energy off the grid from other plants --- which I predict will spike all of our prices as well (anyone remember the fun of California deregulation in 2000?) One thing I don't see the article mentioning is if the plants will run on a minimum level or not ( Read more... ) Not quite the panacea for coal, at least, not if making sure that affordable electricity is available to everyone. Oh, wait, I forgot, Bushco.
Not that it's news if you've been following, but just for the record, biofuels hurt the environment too. 1) It drives food prices up. 2) In places where land is scarce, say oh - IndoAsia, they promote deforestation. 3) If you live somewhere that there are water shortages, again - India and China, crops require a TON of water to make into fuels. That is one of the small pluses of oil actually, it's the distallation to remove water and separate the components that gives you gas etc. (assuming I remember enough of my organic chemistry...)
Speaking of India,there have been mysterious crocodile deaths. No clue yet if it's parasites, pollution, or a combo.
By the way, the Supreme Court has refused to hear the Enron case...
US Army Foces Command has recommended reducing the current tours from 15 months to 12 months to relieve stress on the forces. Of course, this would be contingent on changing needs in Afghanistan and Iraq and Petraeus's recommendation to Congress in the summer.
In Indiana, if you don't have photo ID, you don't vote., unless of course, you use a mail in ballot. The GOP in Kansas is trying to pass a similar law. The US Supreme court is scrutinizing if this violates the 14th amendment - especially in light of how hard it is nowadays for folks who don't have a copy of their birth certificate to get any form of photo ID.
Congress and the White House are movign ahead with a stimulus plan. Please tell me we at least learned enough from the 70s and 80s to not be printing more money??? Deja vu sucks. Don't forgot, this recession is the Iraq recession!
Donor marrow + donor organ may allow transplant patients to avoid long courses of anti-rejection drugs. As someone who has read many of the articles from the clinical trials of this procedure, I like how the possibility of graft vs host disease isn't mentioned at all. However, they don't get into specifics and if they make sure that the marrow transplanted has no mature immune cells (ie, stem cells and progenitor cells only), the risk of that is lowered greatly.
A gene has been identified that may explain why some don't respond to antidepressants.
Last native speaker of Alaskan Eyeak language has died. Fortunately, she helped researchers make a Eyeak dictionary.
The US attorney-gate probe deepens:
Over 900 lies were told by the White House in the lead up to the Iraq war. The sad thing -- it will someday be a subdiscipline in political history to try to quantify the entire number of lies during the Bush administration. Let alone, attributing them to a specific liar.
Like everyone else, I was shocked by Ledger's death - and very glad that the news came over the radio as I parked my car instead of earlier. However, not everyone is in the same condolence phase. For starters, Gibson mocked Ledger's death and carerr on the air. And the Baptist-Westboro church that is famous for protesting funerals of military veterans has declared that it will protest Ledger's funeral because he lived in defiance of God. Their reason? Apparently playing a gay character in the movies is equivalent of calling God a liar. Can someone mail them a bible with the relevant passages about glass houses and all that highlighted?
On his cable channel, Al Gore declared he's for marriage equality. Oh my lord, excuse me as I go mourn once again what might have been for this country in the past 7 years.
In case it happened too quietly (and assuming you even knew he was in the race), Fred Thompson officially dropped out of the presidential race.
New manifesto suggests preemptive Nuclear strikes - written for the pentagon by retired NATO officers and strategists. Oh boy...again with the deja vu!
Female genital mutilation is not unique to Africa - it also occurs among Muslim populations in Indonesia.
Palestinians are flooding into Egypt. This follows after Israel instigated a fuel blockade of Gaza after a section of the wall separating Israel from the Palestinian sections was bombed. More here.
So, Bushco has been having a big push for nuclear power of late. One itty bitty problem with that: for nuclear power plants, you need one thing (other than uranium and a way to bury your waste that won't leak into the groundwater etc): WATER. The southern drought in the US may cause many of the nuclear plants to have to shut down there. As a result, people in these states may be soon paying astronomical prices for power as the state seeks to buy energy off the grid from other plants --- which I predict will spike all of our prices as well (anyone remember the fun of California deregulation in 2000?) One thing I don't see the article mentioning is if the plants will run on a minimum level or not ( Read more... ) Not quite the panacea for coal, at least, not if making sure that affordable electricity is available to everyone. Oh, wait, I forgot, Bushco.
Not that it's news if you've been following, but just for the record, biofuels hurt the environment too. 1) It drives food prices up. 2) In places where land is scarce, say oh - IndoAsia, they promote deforestation. 3) If you live somewhere that there are water shortages, again - India and China, crops require a TON of water to make into fuels. That is one of the small pluses of oil actually, it's the distallation to remove water and separate the components that gives you gas etc. (assuming I remember enough of my organic chemistry...)
Speaking of India,there have been mysterious crocodile deaths. No clue yet if it's parasites, pollution, or a combo.
By the way, the Supreme Court has refused to hear the Enron case...
US Army Foces Command has recommended reducing the current tours from 15 months to 12 months to relieve stress on the forces. Of course, this would be contingent on changing needs in Afghanistan and Iraq and Petraeus's recommendation to Congress in the summer.
In Indiana, if you don't have photo ID, you don't vote., unless of course, you use a mail in ballot. The GOP in Kansas is trying to pass a similar law. The US Supreme court is scrutinizing if this violates the 14th amendment - especially in light of how hard it is nowadays for folks who don't have a copy of their birth certificate to get any form of photo ID.
Congress and the White House are movign ahead with a stimulus plan. Please tell me we at least learned enough from the 70s and 80s to not be printing more money??? Deja vu sucks. Don't forgot, this recession is the Iraq recession!
Donor marrow + donor organ may allow transplant patients to avoid long courses of anti-rejection drugs. As someone who has read many of the articles from the clinical trials of this procedure, I like how the possibility of graft vs host disease isn't mentioned at all. However, they don't get into specifics and if they make sure that the marrow transplanted has no mature immune cells (ie, stem cells and progenitor cells only), the risk of that is lowered greatly.
A gene has been identified that may explain why some don't respond to antidepressants.
Last native speaker of Alaskan Eyeak language has died. Fortunately, she helped researchers make a Eyeak dictionary.
The US attorney-gate probe deepens:
But recent behind-the-scenes activity in several investigations suggests that the issue that roiled Congress in 2007 could re-emerge in the heat of the election year. Two inquiries by the House and Senate ethics committees are examining whether several congressional Republicans, including one running for the Senate this year, improperly interfered with investigations.
Over 900 lies were told by the White House in the lead up to the Iraq war. The sad thing -- it will someday be a subdiscipline in political history to try to quantify the entire number of lies during the Bush administration. Let alone, attributing them to a specific liar.
Like everyone else, I was shocked by Ledger's death - and very glad that the news came over the radio as I parked my car instead of earlier. However, not everyone is in the same condolence phase. For starters, Gibson mocked Ledger's death and carerr on the air. And the Baptist-Westboro church that is famous for protesting funerals of military veterans has declared that it will protest Ledger's funeral because he lived in defiance of God. Their reason? Apparently playing a gay character in the movies is equivalent of calling God a liar. Can someone mail them a bible with the relevant passages about glass houses and all that highlighted?
On his cable channel, Al Gore declared he's for marriage equality. Oh my lord, excuse me as I go mourn once again what might have been for this country in the past 7 years.
In case it happened too quietly (and assuming you even knew he was in the race), Fred Thompson officially dropped out of the presidential race.
New manifesto suggests preemptive Nuclear strikes - written for the pentagon by retired NATO officers and strategists. Oh boy...again with the deja vu!
Female genital mutilation is not unique to Africa - it also occurs among Muslim populations in Indonesia.