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Link: Malaysian Woman To Be Caned For Drinking Beer
KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia — A judge in Malaysia has upheld a court verdict to cane a Muslim woman for drinking beer, news reports said Monday, re-igniting a controversy over Islamic justice in this moderate Muslim-majority country.
The worst part? The woman openly stated she is ready to be caned. You just can’t help some people.
Link: Kirk Cameron’s ‘Origin Of Species’ Plan: Distribute 50,000 Altered Darwin Books
Kirk Cameron, best known for his role in the 1980s sitcom Growing Pains, now spends much of his time advocating for far-right Christian evangelical causes.
In a video posted recently to YouTube, Cameron lays out a plan to subvert ‘Darwin Day’ on November 22, 2009 — a date marking the 150th anniversary of the publishing of Charles Darwin’s “Origin of Species.” Cameron says that he and like-minded activists plan to deliver 50,000 copies of an altered version of Darwin’s book to students at dozens of U.S. universities.
Cameron explains that this “very special” edition of the “Origin of Species” will include an introduction explaining “Adolf Hitler’s undeniable connection” to the theory of evolution, and highlighting “Darwin’s racism” and “his disdain for women.” Cameron’s edition also exposes the “many hoaxes” of evolutionary theory, while presenting a “balanced view of Creationism.”
This poor misguided soul needs to realize that after your acting career goes to hell, your job is NOT to make others’ careers, like Darwin’s, go to hell as well (especially dead people—too easy). But honestly, typical of the religious right, no? Take something that has been accepted as fact due to undeniable proof for 150 years, and totally adulterate it in one fell swoop. Church wins again!…. wait.
Link: US Taxpayers Pay Millions to Keep Despots Safe at UN
When the despots of the world roll into New York on Wednesday for the annual meeting of the U.N. General Assembly, American taxpayers will pay a hefty price to ensure their safety.
The cost of keeping the dictators safe? At least $20 million.
That’s how much New York City forked out during the first two weeks of last year’s General Assembly, according to a city official who spoke to FOX News on condition of anonymity.
And $20 million may be just the tip of the iceberg. The Bureau of Diplomatic Security, the Secret Service, the U.S. Marshal’s Service and the New York State Police will also be called in to provide protective details for several of the 138 heads of state expected to attend.
When you examine this issue, it’s actually pretty startling. Anne Bayefsky, senior fellow at the Hudson Institute, said it best—“The U.S. taxpayer pays 22 percent of the U.N.’s regular budget, which includes 20 percent of what is costs to allow [Ahmadinejad] to use the U.N. to spew hatred, anti-semitism and repeated calls for the annihilation of the Jewish state.”
It’s an outrage that the U.S. taxpayer must pay that amount, only to admit a man like Ahmadinejad, who will use the U.N. microphone to promote genocide.
Link: Ahmadinejad: Holocaust Denial A Source Of Pride
TEHRAN, Iran — Iran’s president said Monday he is proud to stoke international outrage with his latest remarks denying the Holocaust as he heads for the United Nations this week – showing he is as defiant as ever while his country comes under greater pressure to curtail its nuclear program.
Wow. What a dick.
Link: Federal Survey Finds Coal Ash Sites In 35 States
WASHINGTON — (AP) The toxic leftovers from burning coal for power are sitting in nearly 600 sites in 35 states, according to a federal survey released Tuesday.Spills have occurred at 34 of those sites over the last decade.
Many of the spills were minor compared with the disaster that occurred at the Tennessee Valley Authority’s power plant in Kingston, Tenn., in December. That spill, which flooded hundreds of acres of land, damaged homes and killed fish in nearby rivers, is not included in the data, although it triggered the EPA’s March request of 61 power companies for information on how they manage coal combustion waste.
Link: Milestone: 50 Percent of Fish Are Now Farmed
More and more fish are being raised on farms before they end up on dinner plates around the world. Aquaculture, or the culturing of fish in a controlled environment, now accounts for 50 percent of the fish consumed globally, a fact that’s putting tremendous strain on wild fish.
The big downside to fish farming: It requires large amounts of feed made from wild fish harvested from the sea.
“It can take up to five pounds of wild fish to produce one pound of salmon, and we eat a lot of salmon,” said lead author Rosamond L. Naylor, a professor of environmental Earth system science at Stanford University.
There are also concerns about spreading disease from farmed to wild fish.
Turning fish into fish food. Maybe I’m confused, but what the hells the point then?
Link: Lead Levels in Lipstick Much Higher Than Previously Reported, Says FDA
It took two years, but the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has finally made good on its promise to conduct its own analysis of lead in lipstick. The results, suffice to say, ain’t pretty. The FDA, which published its analysis in the July/August 2009 issue of the Journal of Cosmetic Science, found lead in all 20 of the lipsticks it tested, with levels ranging fro 0.01 parts per million (ppm) to 3.06ppm—more than four times the highest level of 0.65ppm reported in the groundbreaking 2007 study by the Campaign for Safe Cosmetics (CSC), which uncovered lead in more than 60 percent of 33 popular lipsticks.
Link: Great Pacific Garbage Patch is Worse Than We Thought
It’s a rumor that we hoped would never be confirmed: at least 1,700 miles of plastic trash is floating in what is commonly known as the Great Pacific Garbage Patch. Up until this point, scientists only had a vague idea of the scope of the trash they would find in the North Pacific Gyre, a vortex where four ocean currents meet. Isolated patches have been reported by sailors and fishermen, but now researchers, sailors, journalists, and government officials on a nearly four-week journey through the gyre say that plastic shards and netting abound in a space bigger than the state of Texas.
Link: Ahmadinejad Urges Prosecution of Political Rivals
CAIRO — President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad lashed out at his chief political rivals on Friday, calling on judiciary officials to “decisively” and “mercilessly” prosecute them for challenging the legitimacy of his electoral victory and tarnishing the image of the state.
What a dick. A small one. Not only is he literally of shorter stature, he clearly doesn’t have much self-esteem if he needs to see his rivals mercilessly prosecuted for what reason? Oh yeah—he feels threatened by their “legitimate” loss in the election.
Link: Obese People Have ‘Severe Brain Degeneration’
A new study finds obese people have 8 percent less brain tissue than normal-weight individuals. Their brains look 16 years older than the brains of lean individuals, researchers said today.
Those classified as overweight have 4 percent less brain tissue and their brains appear to have aged prematurely by 8 years.
“That’s a big loss of tissue and it depletes your cognitive reserves, putting you at much greater risk of Alzheimer’s and other diseases that attack the brain,” said Thompson. “But you can greatly reduce your risk for Alzheimer’s, if you can eat healthily and keep your weight under control.”
Sounds pretty serious, and easily prevented if you ask me. Then again, how the hell are we supposed to abide by every study that comes out, when I read the results of a dozen every day? Doomed to fail.
Link: Young Obama backers AWOL from health care fight
NEW YORK — Add this to President Barack Obama’s problems in selling his health care overhaul: A lot of the tech-savvy activists who helped put him in office are young, feeling indestructible and not all that into what they see as an old folks issue.
It’s a crucial gap in support and one the White House may have to correct if Obama is to regain the momentum and get Congress to act on his top domestic priority.
I am honestly curious—where the hell is everyone? Maybe we don’t care in today’s fast paced twitterific world, but health care will one day be important for us younger voters as well.
Link: Nose Bleeds: World of Warcraft
I just stumbled upon an article titled, World of Warcraft ‘more addictive than cocaine’. Apparently, the popular computer game World of Warcraft has been described as “more addictive than cocaine” after it sent a teenager into convulsions after he played non-stop for 24 hours.
Two things. First—great title. Dropping ‘cocaine’ will get anyone’s attention, whether it’s true or not. Second—more addictive than cocaine? A software company, comprised of humans just like you and I, built this game from nothing. And this very same company profits millions of dollars when people are apparently suffering from serious addiction problems. Why are some forms of cocaine legal, but not all? Sounds like we’ve got another drug war on our hands (except this time, it isn’t the Mexicans).
P.S. Get a life, nerds!
Link: Taliban Targets Jewish Ties
The Taliban has released footage showing its members searching for Afghan people who voted in last week’s elections, reports Al Jazeera.
The video shows Taliban fighters stopping vehicles and checking people’s fingers for signs of the indelible ink used to prevent people from voting twice. People with ink stains were apparently abducted by the Taliban.
The Taliban had threatened to cut off ink-stained fingers before polling took place to deter citizens from voting.
Link: Debit Card Trap
Some bankers claim the [overdraft] system benefits debit card users, allowing them to keep spending when they are out of money. But interest rate calculations tell a different story. Credit card companies, for example, were rightly criticized when some drove up interest rates to 30 percent or more. According to a 2008 study by the F.D.I.C., overdraft fees for debit cards can carry an annualized interest rate that exceeds 3,500 percent.
Link: Poll: Pakistanis oppose Taliban, still revile US
While Pakistan has found the surge in Taliban militants who attack their lands and cities to be an oath of war, it seems as though over the past decade, Americans have done something of the same. Great foreign policy work on our part. Fail again—
ISLAMABAD (AP) — Pakistanis’ views on the Taliban have shifted dramatically in the past year, with 70 percent now opposing the militants, a poll released Thursday said. The United States doesn’t fare well either, with 64 percent of Pakistanis seeing Washington as an enemy.
