Friday, October 17, 2008
Auction of the week
Coffee with General Wesley Clark
Bidder BasicsTime Left 7d 6h 19m
Online Close Oct. 23, 2008 7:00 PM PDT
Leading Bid $900.00
Item Information
Estimated Value Priceless
Item Number 262
Item Description
Interested in having a cup of coffee with four-star General and netroots champion Wes Clark? Join the General for coffee and a discussion about the important challenges facing our country. Bring up to three friends and be ready for a wide-ranging discussion on anything from national security to the current state of our economy.
Special Instructions
Coffee with Clark will take place in Little Rock, D.C., Los Angeles, or New York City with up to four people. Details will be arranged in advance and are subject to General Clark's availability.
http://www.cmarket.com/auction/item/Item.action?_sourcePage=%2Fitem%2FbrowseImage.jsp&id=74615407
Diagramming Sarah
Can Palin's sentences stand up to a grammarian?
There are plenty of people out there—not only English teachers but also amateur language buffs like me—who believe that diagramming a sentence provides insight into the mind of its perpetrator. The more the diagram is forced to wander around the page, loop back on itself, and generally stretch its capabilities, the more it reveals that the mind that created the sentence is either a richly educated one—with a Proustian grasp of language that pushes the limits of expression—or such an impoverished one that it can produce only hot air, baloney, and twaddle.
I found myself considering this paradox once again when confronted with the sentences of Sarah Palin, the Republican vice-presidential nominee. No one but a Republican denial specialist could argue with the fact that Sarah Palin's recent TV appearances have scaled the heights of inanity. The sentences she uttered in interviews with Charles Gibson, Sean Hannity, and Katie Couric seem to twitter all over the place like mourning doves frightened at the feeder. Which left me wondering: What can we learn from diagramming them?
One thing we can't learn, of course, is whether her words are true or make sense. Part of the appeal of diagramming is the fact that just about any sentence can be diagrammed, even when it is gibberish. Cats chase mice and Mice chase cats present the same kind of entity to the diagrammer. So does Muffins bludgeon bookcases. If it's a string of words containing a certain number of parts of speech arranged in reasonably coherent order, it can be hacked and beaten into a diagram.
Once we start diagramming political sentences, the diagram's indifference to meaning can be especially striking. Stirring words like "I have a dream," the magisterial Declaration of Independence (a staple of diagramming teachers), bald-faced lies ("I am not a crook"), and crafty shadings of the truth ("I did not have sexual relations with that woman") can be diagrammed with equal ease. But some politicians—our current president included—offer meanderings in the higher realms of drivel that leave the diagrammer groping for the Tylenol ("Families is where our nation finds hope, where wings take dream") or the gin bottle ("I remember meeting a mother of a child who was abducted by the North Koreans right here in the Oval Office").
So let's take a crack at a few of Palin's doozies. From the Katie Couric interview:
It's very important when you consider even national security issues with Russia as Putin rears his head and comes into the air space of the United States of America, where—where do they go?
A diagrammer doesn't care about who "they" are in that last stuttered question or fuss over the problem of the head-rearing Putin coming into our "air space." A diagrammer simply diagrams. I didn't have a clue about what to do with the question that ends it. Otherwise, in its mice chase cats way, the sentence is perfectly diagrammable.
Other Palinisms are not so tractable. From the Charlie Gibson interview:
I know that John McCain will do that and I, as his vice president, families we are blessed with that vote of the American people and are elected to serve and are sworn in on January 20, that will be our top priority is to defend the American people.
I didn't stop to marvel at the mad thrusting of that pet political watchword "families" into the text. I just rolled up my sleeves and attempted to bring order out of the chaos:
I had to give up. This sentence is not for diagramming lightweights. If there's anyone out there who can kick this sucker into line, I'd be delighted to hear from you.
More booze and cake!
Cruel recession got you down? Buck up, pal. Good news abounds!
What's the matter, patriot? Don't enjoy seeing your stock portfolio slashed in half for greed-obsessed reasons beyond your control? None too pleased with how much of your 401(k) account has burned to a crisp, like John McCain's ethical boundaries? Home worth a fraction of what you paid and the neighbors have all moved away as squads of homeless people now squat in the 350K tract-McMansion next door, staring a mite too hungrily at your dog?
Housewives! Have you taken to the online message boards recently, posting bleak, depressing notes of fear and uncertainty after your husband lost his job of 20 years and the kids are asking uncomfortable questions? Or maybe you're one of the super-wealthy, quaking in your Upper East Side Gucci riding boots over the collapse of your family fortune and self-esteem and who, pray who, will polish the fleet of Aston Martins?
Or perhaps you're none of these, and you're just a sweet young thing, still in your what-the-hell-is-wrong-with-the-world phase, with no real idea what the hell a "portfolio" or "recession" or "hedge fund manager" actually are, but it doesn't really matter because you're still stuck with this sinking feeling that Something Is Deeply Wrong.
Do you know this feeling? The sense that the bumbling, squinty-faced dude in the White House is about to step down, and this wrecked economy, this decimated nation, this toxic sickness will be his final parting gift, like some sort of nasty STD he and his cronies passed on to you, while you didn't even realize you were getting royally screwed?
Well, enough whining. It's time to buck up and hunker down and tighten your belts and employ all those other metaphors that indicate frugality, squeezing, smallness, bitterness and frustration and Zoloft and mom 'n' dad sighing heavily at the kitchen counter, staring at a stack of bills and then over at their kids' evaporated college fund and saying, well, I guess community college won't be that bad.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/g/a/2008/10/15/notes101508.DTL
“Working Poor” report: Nearly 30 percent of US families subsist on poverty wages
A report released Tuesday by the Working Poor Families Project reveals that more than 28 percent of American families with one or both parents employed are living in poverty.
By Tom Eley
The report, "Still Working Hard, Still Falling Short," is based on data for the period from 2004 through 2006 gathered from the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, the US Census Bureau's American Community Survey and the Census Bureau's Current Population Survey.
The report finds that 9.6 million households can be described as low-income or "working poor"—defined as families that earn less than 200 percent of the official poverty level. There were 350,000 more such families in 2006 than in 2002. More than 21 million children now live in low-income working families—an increase of 800,000 in four years.
In 2006 there were more than 29 million jobs in the US that paid below the official poverty level—defined as $9.91 an hour for full-time labor—an increase of nearly 5 million poverty-wage jobs from 2002.
Family income inequality also increased rapidly between 2002 and 2006, the report says. In 2006, the top 20 percent of US households earned on average 9.2 times as much as the bottom quintile.
The "God"-less Debates
by Massimo Calabresi
In the nearly sixteen thousand words uttered last night in the debate between John McCain and Barack Obama, one was noticeably absent: God. The deity got not a single mention, not even a perfunctory "God Knows," or "Good God," or "God Bless America". In fact, in the three presidential debates, McCain and Obama have completed a surprising sweep: no mention of "God", the "Lord", or even a higher power.
In contrast, the word "God" was invoked twice during the first Bush-Kerry debate (both times in closing God Bless Americas by the candidates), twice in the second debate (once in a Kerry reference to the Pledge of Allegiance, and again by Bush with a departing GBA), and fully nine times in the third Bush-Kerry debate, seven times by Kerry and two by Bush. Sprinkled throughout the Bush-Kerry debates were the occasional "Lord", "heaven" or other divine references.
Why the God-free gab fest this time? A few possible reasons leap to mind. First, the country's focus is very much on real-world problems of everyday Americans right now. The economic crisis has eaten up much of the time in these debates, with lengthy exegeses on plans for job creation, tax plans and the $700 billion bailout plan. If there are no atheists in foxholes, perhaps there are agnostics amid bank runs.
http://www.time-blog.com/swampland/2008/10/the_godless_debates.html
The Hoover-Palin Ticket
 |
| AP photo / Gerald Herbert |
| Republican presidential candidate John McCain and his vice presidential running mate, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, at a rally in Bethlehem, Pa., on Oct. 8. |
And the winner is … Franklin Delano Roosevelt. Remember him—the great Democratic president who saved capitalism from the capitalists by reining in their exorbitant greed? Forget the Reagan Revolution heralding a new era of small government, which turned out to be nothing more than a fig leaf for legalized corporate crime. The hero of the hour is FDR, as the essential wisdom of his New Deal is now embraced by most Republicans as well as Democrats.
Roosevelt's legacy was acknowledged Monday when GOP presidential nominee John McCain absurdly accused his Democratic opponent, Barack Obama, of advocating policies pursued by Herbert Hoover, the Republican incumbent whom Roosevelt defeated in 1932. While clueless GOP vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin prattled on at the same rally about Reaganomics and getting government out of the way of business, most other Americans noticed—and are grateful—that the federal government now directly manages many of our biggest businesses in the all-important financial sector.
The banking bailout is pure FDR at his big-government best. Greedy bankers are being taken to the woodshed and read the riot act: If they behave, then they will once again have the opportunity to be filthy rich—that's the American way.
As McCain put it Tuesday: "I will begin by making certain that the $700 billion already committed to economic recovery is not used to further enrich the very people and institutions that invited these troubles with their own reckless conduct."
Yes, McCain finally gets it: "I will not play along with the same Washington games and gimmicks that got us into this terrible mess in the first place. I am going to Washington to fight for you." I didn't check whether this performance made it into the "Moment of Zen" in "The Daily Show With Jon Stewart," but it should have. "I am going to Washington" is a classic proclamation of stupidity that assumes the rest of us are unaware of where McCain has been these past three decades.
http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/20081014_robert_scheer_october_15_hoover_mccain/
What Publishing Can Learn From Music
The modern publishing business has been in existence since about 1800, but things are not looking so rosy in the ink-stained world. The publishing business is scared: if stagnating book sales and the creeping digital shakeup were not enough, the market meltdown has many tightening their belts while trying to figure out the future.
Still, there is no indication that books are going away, or are any less useful, needed or wanted now than they were 200 years ago. Books are still essential. People still love them.
The book publishing business has a great advantage over other big media industries. For various reasons, publishing is late to the digital party. So it can look to all the many mistakes the music business made in the past decade, and decide how to move into the uncertain future. Here is some unsolicited advice to ponder while ignoring the Dow.
Five Lessons Publishing Should Learn from Music
1. An iPod for Books Will Change Everything
The Internet, Napster, and Bit Torrents have all shaken up the music business, but it was the iPod that put the final nail in the coffin of the old business models: radio doesn't matter anymore, and barely anyone can remember what a CD is for. All of a sudden, the world is full of people who want to fill up their little white devices with music. In the book business, we've yet to see an iconic, affordable e-reader that people love. When we do, the game will change. Kindle Two apparently shows promise. The new Sony Reader is getting lots of good reviews. And Stanza, the new e-book app for the iPhone, makes Apple's handheld the most popular e-book reader in the world. What's more, Stanza has converted many e-book skeptics I know personally. Question for publishers: do you want to be where the readers are? Then find out where they are, and go there.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/hugh-mcguire/what-publishing-can-learn_b_134456.html
Who the Fuck is Joe the Plumber? That and Other Questions for John McCain
The Ostroy Report
The Ostroy Report is a fresh, aggressive voice in the fight against the Bush administration, the Republican Party and the powerful right-wing media. While our mission is to help Democrats regain the White House and build a greater majority in Congress, we're not afraid to criticize our own when warranted.
All three presidential debates are now history. With just 20 days left until the election, judging from the polls and Sen. John McCain's overall sub par performance Wednesday night in which he needed a knockout but failed to get one, it looks as though Sen. Barack Obama is well on his way to becoming the 44th President of the United States. That is of course barring any acts of terrorism, widespread election fraud and/or large-scale racism. As a post-mortem to the debate, I have some questions for McCain:
1. Who the fuck is Joe the Plumber, and why is he so important to have been mentioned 21 times by you? And, why is he the only American you referred to the entire evening?
2. Is Joe the Plumber a $40,000 per year working stiff or the wealthy owner of the plumbing company? In your repeated populist references to him, you implied that he's just your average blue-collar worker, yet all of your tax and health policy examples clearly had him as the more affluent entrepreneur in control of his workers' fates.
3. Who the hell cares about William Ayers and Acorn? Did you not see the new NY Times/CBS News poll indicating that voters are utterly fed up with your dirty politics and smear attacks on Obama? With the Dow down another 700 points earlier in the day, and with the economy's meltdown scaring the bajesus out of Americans, how about talking about something they're all really interested in?
Plumber Joe starts a blog
 | |
| October 16th, 2008 And he told the world what he really wants: "You want to help me out? Don't pour your grease down the god damn drain." Also Samuel L Jackson is now on team Bob Barr and Obama bragged that he can kiss anyone he wants.   That's it--I'm now a Barr-man by Samuel L. Jackson I could kiss anybody I want by Barack Obama John has it good by Ringo Starr My five-point plan to the presidency by Peyton ManningI'm using daylight savings time to reset the national debt clock by Henry PaulsonRegards, The News Groper Editors | |
Thursday, October 16, 2008
Spend Valentine’s Day With John Ashcroft!
Nothing says "I love you" like a romantic cruise with John Ashcroft and Tom Tancredo. The Young America's Foundation cordially invites you to "surprise your sweetheart" with tickets to a ten-night adventure on the high seas with a bunch of über-conservative old white dudes. Because trust me–no girl can say no to spending Valentine's Day sharing "pressing thoughts with individuals who have done so much to advance the Conservative Movement."
Here's the saccharine, weirdly timed invitation (click to enlarge):
Prices start as low as $4,281 per person, so you better reserve your spot while it's still available.
http://www.pushback.org/2008/10/15/spend-valentines-day-with-john-ashcroft/
The Congressman Most Likely to Accept Your Friend Request
 (By Brendan Hoffman -- Getty Images) |
By Mary Ann Akers And Paul Kane
Rep. Jose Serrano (D-N.Y.) is really into Facebook. We're talking about a guy who turns 65 later this month, and he doesn't even call it "the" Facebook, the way a certain other person, in the very highest echelons of government, once famously referred to "the" Google.
"I just passed 1,200 friends!" Serrano excitedly told On the Hill yesterday.
Most every member of Congress has an official Facebook fan page, marked by the same official photo of a waving American flag. But Serrano actually has his own personal Facebook page, which he operates without the help of staff. He constantly updates it, adds new photos he takes himself, and shares his thoughts on everything from the delicious avocado he ate the other day to his beloved, beleaguered Yankees to his hope that Barack Obama is elected president.
McCain's brother blasts campaign strategy
In e-mail statement, he calls on top aides to "Let John McCain be John McCain"
WASHINGTON - Frustrations inside John McCain's camp boiled over on the eve of Wednesday night's presidential debate as the candidate's brother unleashed an e-mail blasting the campaign's "counter-productive" strategy."Let John McCain be John McCain," wrote Joe McCain in a missive sent out shortly before midnight Monday. "Make ads that show John not as crank and curmudgeon but as a great leader for his time."
McCain's younger brother was sharply critical of unnamed top campaign officials who "so tightly 'control the message'" that they are preventing reporters from speaking with those, like himself, who know the candidate best. His complaint echoed those of other McCain intimates who have chafed for months at orders not to speak with the news media without advance permission from the campaign.
The younger McCain called this news management strategy "counter-intuitive, counter-experiential, and counter-productive" because it conflicts with his brother's reputation for openness. The clampdown "has gradually bled away all the good will that this great man had from the press," he wrote.
Top Tampa GOP Figure Circulates Joke About Killing Obama
Al Austin, a longtime, high-level Republican fundraiser from Tampa, today sent to his list of political contacts an e-mail containing a joke that refers to the assassination of Barack Obama.
When asked about the e-mail, Austin said it was a mistake and apologized and that he wouldn't knowingly have circulated it. He said he planned to send an apology and retraction to the same e-mail list.
Al Austin/ Tribune file photo
The joke concerns a group of schoolchildren discussing the definition of "tragedy" as opposed to "great loss" or "accident." The punch line comes when one child says that if an airplane carrying Obama and his wife, Michelle, "was struck by a 'friendly fire' missile and blown to smithereens," the event might be a tragedy "because it certainly wouldn't be a great loss, and it probably wouldn't be an accident either."
Austin acknowledged sending the e-mail to his list of political contacts but said he forwarded it without fully reading it and didn't know what it said. That list included at least two reporters.
Banjo brain surgery
by Vaughan
Although the banjo wasn't in the hands of the surgeons it was still an essential part of the operation. It was played by legendary Blue Grass musician Eddie Adcock who was having surgery install a deep brain stimulation device to treat an essential tremor that had been affecting his playing.
The BBC News story has a video of the neurosurgery and the banjo playing, and it is pure genius. Probably the best thing you'll see all year.
Essential tremor is a condition where there is a continuing deterioration in areas of the brain that control movement. This causes a tremor that usually appears when the person tries to act or move, although can lead to a 'resting tremor' that's also present at other times.
Essential tremor is not Parkinson's disease, which, while also associated with tremor, is a much more serious and disabling condition in many ways. There does seem to be a link though, as people with essential tremor are more likely to develop Parkinson's, although this still only happens in the minority of cases.
However, deep brain stimulation can be used to treat the movement difficulties of both Parkinson's and essential tremor. It involves sinking an electrode into the thalamus, a deep brain area that is part of the motor loop - a circuit that helps co-ordinate movement.
In fact, there are two parts to the motor loop - the direct and indirect pathway - an each play a complementary part in directing movement, and each of which needs to be balanced with itself and with each other. When damage to these circuits affects this balance, the result is that it causes too much activity one way, which causes a compensatory response the other, and so on.
Imagine two people, completely unaware of each other, trying to balance an uneven seesaw. The oscillations in the control system cause oscillations in movement, and this is what you can see in tremor.
DBS works by sending electrical impulses at a certain frequency into the thalamus to dampen down the oscillations. However, the oscillatory push-push cycle is not the same for everyone, and the best spot in the motor loop itself will also differ.
To get the best result the surgeons tweak the electrical pulse settings and try different areas.
To make sure it's having the desired effect, the patient is awake and they ask them to move. When they see that they've hit the sweet spot and the pulses are in time, they know their job is done.
http://www.mindhacks.com/blog/2008/10/banjo_brain_surgery.html
Joe the Plumber
Hi, my name is Joe. I have been in the plumbing trade for about 12 years. I am experienced in all areas of residential service and repair. I will always run a fair and honest business. I sell only high quality materials and will stand behind them if ever there is an issue. All labor and parts come with a standard one-year warranty, and it is clearly noted on my invoices. I am not out to sell you something you don't need and I am happy to install anything you would wish to supply. I will listen to you about your plumbing issues and then we can discuss options. If you have any plumbing questions, please fill free to call me at any time. I will do my best to answer any question's you may have. I can provide you with any new plumbing fixtures you may require, or I can simply repair what you presently have in your home, if you would prefer. I offer free estimates to replace your existing main water service from the City water meter to your house. I believe 100% customer satisfaction comes first. Thank you for your interest. Joe The Plumber
McCain Hearts ACORN! Was Keynote Speaker at Group's 2006 Rally!
(Were There Any Preconditions?)
Blogged by Brad FriedmanUPDATED WITH VIDEO: McCain Tells ACORN Gathering 'What Makes America Special Is What's In This Room Tonight'...
The once-honorable Republican's campaign has even seen fit to produce a video smear ad, attempting to tar Obama with "associations" with ACORN, and alleging the group has committed "massive voter fraud" to boot! (They've yet to produce any actual evidence for that, unfortunately.)
But more than just attending the ACORN-sponsored February 2006 rally, ACORN confirms in a statement today that McCain was actually the keynote speaker!
So now, they wonder, why it is that McCain seems to have "lost that loving feeling"?
Palin as President
Run your mouse over all the objects in the room and on the windows and doors. When the cursor changes to the 'hand', click!
Palin As President
I.O.U.S.A.
Robert Bixby, head of the nonpartisan Concord Coalition, testifies before Congress.
By Roger Ebert
A letter to our grandchildren, Raven, Emil and Taylor: I see you growing up into such beautiful people, and I wish all good things to you as you make the leap into adulthood. But I have just seen a documentary titled "I.O.U.S.A." that snapped into sharp focus why your lives may not be as pleasant as ours have been. Chaz and I had the blessing of growing up in an optimistic, bountiful America. We never fully realized that we were paying for many of our comforts with your money.
A letter to our grandchildren, Raven, Emil and Taylor: I see you growing up into such beautiful people, and I wish all good things to you as you make the leap into adulthood. But I have just seen a documentary titled "I.O.U.S.A." that snapped into sharp focus why your lives may not be as pleasant as ours have been. Chaz and I had the blessing of growing up in an optimistic, bountiful America. We never fully realized that we were paying for many of our comforts with your money.Let me explain. There is something called the "national debt." In the movie's interviews with ordinary people, it has a hard time finding anyone who knows exactly what that is. Well, I've never exactly known, either. I thought I knew, but it never came up in conversation, and it became a meaningless abstraction, even though in 2009, the debt will pass $9 trillion. You might think of those as dollars our nation has spent without having them.
What will this mean to you? It will mean you will live in a country no longer able to pay for many of the services and guarantees we take for granted. In 40 years, when you are still less than my age, it looks like the government will only be able to pay for three things: Interest on the national debt, "some" Social Security and "some" Medicare. It will not be able to afford any of the other functions it now performs.
How did we get into this situation? With a federal government that has been throwing bad money after good. Of all the presidents in the last century, the only one who was able to achieve a balanced budget and produce a surplus was Bill Clinton. He did that by bravely raising taxes and cutting spending. Our current president, George W. Bush, is now finishing up eight years of throwing around money like a drunken sailor. His fellow conservatives, like Rush Limbaugh, like to talk about "tax and spend Democrats." But they seem to be "don't tax and spend even more Republicans."
Not that this film takes sides. It is non-partisan and includes many Republicans who agree with its argument that the country is headed for disaster within the lifetimes of many now living.
42 WRITERS FOR LIBERTY
Welcome to the 42 Writers for Liberty website, part of Liberty's urgent campaign, Charge or Release. The campaign opposes the Government's current proposals to extend pre-charge detention in terrorism cases from 28 to 42 days.
The site is constructed as a calendar to illustrate graphically the sheer length of time it is proposed that a person be held without being charged with any offence. Simply click on a day to open up a text from one of the 42 writers who have contributed to the project. You may find a story, an essay, a poem, a statement or even an interview – all a response to the simple question 'What do you think of the proposed extension to 42 Days?'
It is a measure of the unpopularity of the proposed legislation that not a single writer declined to contribute on the grounds that they in fact supported it. Whereas 42 of the best novelists, essayists, memoirists, poets and journalists around sent us the uniquely powerful contributions you will read on this site.
We would like to thank all of the writers involved, as well as the site designer Richard McCoy and the staff of Liberty.
With your help, we can stop this now – please do circulate the site URL as widely as you can and visit www.chargeorrelease.com for more information about the campaign. The more pressure on the Government now, the less likely this unjust proposal is to become law.
Hari Kunzru
Simon Prosser
Anya Serota
Rush Limbaugh Says Angry Blacks Are In 30 Year Plot To Train Black Children as Militants
By John Amato
As we are witnessing, the conservative movement is in shambles now and the only thing they can do is spew racist hatred out into the world and hope it sticks to their audience in droves. And how is the conservative right going to make sure race is all you can think of when you think of the name Obama?
How about by making the case that blacks in general are lazy, angry, and engaged in a 3 decades old plot to train black children as militants against the US? It's those scary black terrorists again. Don't think anyone would actually SAY that? Think again. Listen to it in Rush Limbaugh's own words.
http://crooksandliars.com/john-amato/rush-limbaugh-says-blacks-are-angry-and
Cancer of the Devil
by Olivia Judson
Last week, the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) released its latest report on the state of the world's species. It makes for gloomy reading. Although there have been a few triumphs — species increasing their numbers thanks to conservation efforts — the general picture is one of decline. A quarter of all mammal species are now endangered, mostly because their habitat is disappearing. But of all the mammals now on the endangered list, from the fishing cat to the Caspian seal, the most startling is the Tasmanian devil.
Tasmanian devils live on the island of (surprise!) Tasmania, off the south coast of Australia. They are marsupials: their young are born tiny (about a third of a gram — that's a hundredth of an ounce), then fed on milk and carried in a pouch. As adults, devils are thick-set, thuggish-looking animals, with massive teeth that they use to chomp up carcasses, bones and all. Although they are far from enormous — the biggest males weigh in at around 14 kilograms (30 pounds), about the size of a French bulldog — Tasmanian devils are the largest carnivorous marsupials to have, so far, escaped extinction.
But over the last 12 years, the population has crashed — in some areas, population numbers have fallen by 90 percent. The dramatic decline has led the IUCN to move the species from "least concern" a decade ago to "endangered" now. Some think it could be extinct within 25 years. The reason? An infectious cancer.
Some human cancers are infectious in the sense that they are caused by infectious viruses. Cervical cancer, for instance, is caused by human papilloma virus, which spreads from one person to another during sex.
But the cancer that's killing the Tasmanian devils is different. The cancer cells themselves are infectious.
http://judson.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/10/14/cancer-of-the-devil/index.html
Wednesday, October 15, 2008
Three Months Ahead of Schedule
by Andrew Tobias
Five hundred sixteen years ago yesterday, Christopho Columbo discovered Japan (or thought he did; actually it was the Bahamas ), claimed it for Spain
Which brings us to . . .
THE DEBT
President Bush continues to exceed all expectations. Our 232 years of accumulated National Debt, I have been writing in this space for some years, "will have reached $10 trillion or so by the time President Bush leaves office – up from under one trillion when Ronald Reagan took office."*
Well, he hasn't left office yet, and he's already there – and with a quarter trillion to spare!
You go, Mr. President.
*Consider: 75% of all the debt our 43 presidents have racked up since 1776 was racked up by just three of them: Reagan, Bush, and Bush.
THE TRAGEDY
It didn't have to be this way.
It wasn't necessary to slash taxes on the rich – even a previous version of John McCain opposed doing that.
Nor was it necessary to oppose the kinds of regulation that could have kept unqualified buyers from getting loans (the less pumped the bubble, the less painful the bust).
And it surely wasn't necessary to invade
Here's what a 41-year-old Barack Obama told a crowd of
I know that even a successful war against
Clear thinking. A steady temperament. Don't forget to vote.
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