EU Anti-Roma Violence Flares Anew

You'd think that right wingers would find new victims for focusing their fear based violence but Roma, Jews, Muslims and Gays still have to watch their backs because no one else will - or so it seems. Before we humans destroy the planet, you think we will ever stop looking for someone to blame all our fears and self-hate on?

Amplify’d from www.spiegel.de

Right-Wing Militants on Patrol

A New Wave of Anti-Roma Violence in Hungary

The Hungarian village of Gyöngyöspata has once again become home to violence between right-wing radicals and its Roma populace. Dozens of extremists marched into the town on Wednesday, one day after provoking brawls with the Roma who live there. It is the continuation of a trend. Read more at www.spiegel.de

 

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Genetic Modification Meltdown in nuts!

Forget that pistachios are not native to Australia. The lesson is - you plant genetically uniform (aka GMO or monopoly Monsanto seeds) plants, you risk huge, massive, really big crop failure. 50% down and half of those inedible - those are big numbers.



What would the result be if 50-75% of the world's alfalfa, wheat, rice, or oat crop failed in one season? Can you imagine at least 1 billion dying of hunger and another billion or so from war, revolution, and genocide?



OK, OK. I know. You want to go back to watching your reruns of Seinfeld.

Amplify’d from www.wired.com

Australia Pistachio Disaster Hints at Agricultural Breakdown

The culprit was anthracnose, a fungal disease best known for infecting mangoes. It raced through the industry, resulting in a harvest some 50 percent smaller than expected — and half of that was inedible.

“The wide cultivation of genetically uniform plant populations fosters rapid evolution among the pathogens,” said Scot Nelson, a plant pathologist at the University of Hawaii. “Because of this greed, new pathogens or newly reported host-pathogen combinations arise almost daily around the world.” Read more at www.wired.com

 

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S&P Expert? At what? Covering their...?

September 8, 2008 S&P said they were thinking about dropping Lehman Brother's from A1 rating to A. Lehman Brothers filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on September 15, 2008. So we should trust their judgment, as much as we trust all the other high fliers of Wall Street? How many people are still out of work from the burst housing bubble that they rode as well as any did? How much money have they returned to anyone for mistakes made? Weren't they co-conspirators to the biggest fraud in last 50 years?

Amplify’d from www.latimes.com

Thank you, Standard & Poor's

Michael Kinsley

Standard & Poor's may know nothing that I couldn't find out, but it certainly knows more than I've bothered to find out. (And how about you?) And how its experts assess all this publicly available information is surely worth knowing, isn't it? Read more at www.latimes.com

 

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In my "state" "birthers" are aliens

In my state of mind, the birthers now led by wanna-be-still-famous Trump seem to be from some alien place where logic is absent and denial has replaced reality - all perfect for a new Donald show! But read this article if you need further proof.

Amplify’d from www.guardian.co.uk

The birthers' constitutional illiteracy

For the birthers, the translation of "natural born citizen'" is simply "those born inside the United States". To them, anyone born outside the United States is ineligible for the presidency. They are wrong.

The Naturalisation Act of 1790 provided that "the children of citizens of the United States that may be born beyond Sea, or out of the limits of the United States, shall be considered as natural born Citizens." Read more at www.guardian.co.uk

 

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Nuclear waste: Keep out – for 100,000 ye

Nuclear waste: Keep out – for 100,000 years | Art and design | The Guardian

So... what kind of sign would you put up to warn people not to enter? "For Sale by Owner who thought nuclear power was safe - reduced price!"

- Sent using Google Toolbar

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TB - Still World Threat!

Lancet Study: TB Screening

The World Health Organization estimates that roughly 2 billion people – nearly 1 in 3 – are infected with the TB bacilli, and of those, 1 in 10 will develop active TB during his or her lifetime.

- Sent using Google Toolbar

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Equal pay, respect, promotion - now!

Always the same - she works hard for the money but get the respect, pay, honor and ... that she deserves? Not yet - why not?

Amplify’d from www.youtube.com

See more at www.youtube.com

 

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Statists Posing as Conservatives?

According to a new law in Michigan, the Governor and the State Treasurer can declare any unit of local government in financial emergency, take it over and then disband it. Local voters, democracy, forget it! Government at whim of Governor and State Treasurer. Benton Harbor, Michigan: "A state-appointed emergency financial manager has suspended the decision-making powers of Benton Harbor officials in a move that's likely the first act of its kind under a new state law." http://www.thetimesherald.com/article/20110416/NEWS05/110416011/Emergency-chief-takes-action-against-Benton-Harbor

Amplify’d from michiganmessenger.com

First suit filed over Emergency Manager law

The city’s two pension funds sued Gov. Rick Snyder and state Treasurer Andy Dillon in federal court today to block part of a new emergency manager statute. Read more at michiganmessenger.com

 

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Big Macs, Deforestation, and Slavery?

In Brazil the Big Mac attack and the Crave bring on deforestation and slave labor - are you loving it - getting outside the bun - and oops killing the planet and the Amazon?

Amplify’d from www.greenpeace.org

Deforestation and slave labour still linked to Brazilian cattle industry

14 slaughterhouses in the Brazilian state of Acre. These slaughterhouses are being sued by the public prosecutor for buying cattle from farms who have been fined by the Brazilian Environmental Police for illegal deforestation, and from farmers who are accused of using slave labour. One of the slaughterhouses being sued is JBS – the largest exporter of meat products in the world. Read more at www.greenpeace.org

 

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25% chance your meat will make you sick!

One in four samples bought in supermarkets contained meat with bacteria resistant to at least three drugs against staph infections. If you gotta eat meat - eat organic or cook it until it resembles cardboard...

Amplify’d from www.wired.com

Multi-Drug Resistant Staph in 1 in 4 Meat Samples

A team of researchers from Arizona bought meat and poultry in five cities across the United States

52 percent of those staph isolates were resistant to at least three antibiotics that are commonly used in both veterinary and human medicine.

That is: Roughly one in four packages of meat and poultry from across the United States contained multidrug resistant staph. Read more at www.wired.com

 

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Mimi - Unplugged 'bout birthers - oh my!

Funny as always; good for Friday on a week that has fried more than one of us!

Amplify’d from mimiwrites.blogspot.com

Mimi In A Minute #28 ~ Snooki Birthers and other Mysteries

I have a few things to say. This is Mimi unplugged. Hide your children.

To Elizabeth Taylor:

Thank you for your glamorous and giving ways.

To all the Birthers out there:

I want to see the Ten Commandments written on the original stone tablets too. In triplicate signed by God. Fat chance on both counts.

If Donald Trump had Sarah Palin's hair, I would vote for him. That is my deep political opinion on the matter. Read more at mimiwrites.blogspot.com

 

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BP, DC - Can You Hear Me Now?

Shouldn't have to walk 1,200 miles to get someone to not take their eye off the Gulf and what BP has done to it but in a world of short attention spans and lying oil companies - that is exactly what this woman had to do!

Amplify’d from switchboard.nrdc.org

A Year after the Gulf Oil Disaster, a Mom Walks to DC to Fight for Health

On a picture perfect spring day, Cherri Foytlin and an entourage of friends and associates from the Gulf marched across the Memorial Bridge into Washington, completing a 1200 mile journey to raise awareness about the health impacts of the BP oil disaster.

See more at switchboard.nrdc.org

 

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How was your DC fieldtrip?

Nice gift to these students. President Obama drops in and stays to talk!

Amplify’d from www.whitehouse.gov

Surprise! It's the President

When eighth graders from Longmont, Colorado's Altona Middle School left for the East Coast, they knew they'd be coming to see the White House and some of D.C.'s famous monuments. Little did they know they'd also get the chance to not just see, but meet, President Barack Obama himself.

one of the students had written President Obama as he was negotiating a budget with Congressional leadership, telling him how much her son and his classmates were looking forward to visiting Washington. The President mentioned that letter in his remarks after reaching an agreement late Friday night, and decided to say hello while they were in town.

The mother of one of the students had written President Obama as he was negotiating a budget with Congressional leadership, telling him how much her son and his classmates were looking forward to visiting Washington. The President mentioned that letter in his remarks after reaching an agreement late Friday night, and decided to say hello while they were in town. Read more at www.whitehouse.gov

 

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Unemployed, forgotten - still standing

Too common an experience due to HR folks and others who just do not have a clue what the marketplace is really like. I can attest to the truth of the reactions she got, since I got the same ones. Eighteen years as a professional business editor and writer and three books published were worthless, once you had not been hired doing exactly the same thing within 6 months.

Amplify’d from thestory.org

Unemployed? Don't Apply.

Kelly Wiedemer lost her job in the financial sector at the start of the recession almost three years ago. She says the problem now is that she has been out of work for so long, many employers won’t even give her resume a second look. Kelly says the one thing that has changed is that she’s become a lot more politically involved - she’s started writing and she’s determined to speak up on behalf of people who are being ignored because they’ve been out of work. Music: Flint, Sufjan Stevens Read more at thestory.org

 

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Evolution of Reading in one picture

Nothing more to be said: Youngest is reading her Smart Phone, 30-something is reading a magazine, and senior is reading Financial Times?

Amplify’d from london-underground.blogspot.com

Regular readers will know I'm always keen to see what people are reading on the London Underground, as it's usually a good indicator of trends in popular fiction, non fiction and now reading devices. Last week the trio opposite me looked very much like an advertisement for how people read Read more at london-underground.blogspot.com

 

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Ultimate hubris: Cloning nature

Leaves me almost speechless. Redwoods and their forest are almost magical - quite inspiring. How did they become so strong and lost lasting? Did they clone each other in a lab and plant millions of just-like-me trees? Silly question? Why did the "scientist" in this story ask it of himself? Because, like many science mechanics, he thinks/believes/self-deludes that he and his cohorts are above nature and can manufacture nature.



Natural selection is as much about natural diversity and errors, as it is about survival and adaptation. Until we understand that, we will not leave forests to themselves and just cordon them off from our interference.

Amplify’d from www.nytimes.com

From Ancient Giants, Finding New Life to Help the Planet

It is just those sprouts that lie at the heart of a plan hatched by a group of tree enthusiasts to clone — and then mass-produce — a collection of colossal redwoods, some of which date to before the birth of Jesus and can soar nearly 40 stories, the tallest living things on earth.

“We want to get the biggest, best genetic representations of the species,” said David Milarch, the co-founder of the Archangel Ancient Tree Archive. “And make millions and millions and millions of them.” Read more at www.nytimes.com

 

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Pesticides? What is on my food?

http://www.whatsonmyfood.org/

Database and widget for figuring out what pesticides are on your food. Don't wanna know? Then don't look - but now you know where it is if you change your mind - grin

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To Rep. Paul Ryan Lying's Second Nature

Do these guys who lie for a living think no one will ever check on what they have said. Do they think that even their supporters will just accept the lies as a way of doing business? Makes you wonder what else he is lying about.

Amplify’d from www.healthbeatblog.com

Alice Rivlin Does Not Support Ryan’s Plan to Bury Medicare

Yesterday, on “CNBC’s Morning Joe,” Paul Ryan claimed Alice Rivlin, Clinton’s OMB director, as an ally: “Alice Rivlin and I designed these Medicare and Medicaid reforms”

Rivlin revealed

“We talked fairly recently and I said, ‘You know, I can’t support the version that you have in the budget,” Read more at www.healthbeatblog.com

 

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Fear + Hate = A Death Too Ugly

What can one say, when an activist for peace is killed? We will go on till peace covers the land with flowers instead of blood.

Amplify’d from www.guardian.co.uk

Israeli peace activist Juliano Mer Khamis shot dead in Jenin

Witnesses say actor – who ran a drama project in a Palestinian refugee camp – was shot five times by masked men

Kadura Musa, governor of Jenin, said: "He was a Palestinian citizen of Israeli origin. An actor and an artist but most of all a true human being. We don't know why this happened, but all the people of the camp condemn the death of this son of ours whose mother also did so much for the people of Jenin." Alaa Eddin Saadi lives next to the theatre, and said that Mer Khamis was shot while in a car also carrying his one-year old son and his nanny, who was wounded in the hand. "I don't think he was killed because he was Jewish. Some people were angry with the liberal values he was promoting at the theatre, but to me he was a very nice guy who worked hard for the people here." Read more at www.guardian.co.uk

 

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