Month: March 2012

Where There is An Air Supply

NO!  Not the rock band (if they can be called that) from the 70’s and 80’s……but rather that substance that we need to continue our mundane existence……oxygen seems to be one of the building blocks of life…….so if there is oxygen is there life?

And that is the point of this weekend post…….Contrary to popular belief, I do really like all this sciencey stuff……

(Newser) – Good news for future space colonists: Saturn’s icy moon, Dione, contains a thin layer of oxygen that hints at life on other gas giant satellites, the BBC reports. Spotted by the Cassini spacecraft about two years ago, Dione’s oxygen layer lacks the necessary density to support life and is too thin to be called an atmosphere—scientists prefer “exosphere.” But the discovery tells us that oxygen is common in Saturn’s system and “it can come from a process that doesn’t involve life,” a scientist tells Space.com.

Other satellites orbiting Saturn and sister gas giant Jupiter may, however, support life and liquid oceans, scientists say. Dione’s sister moon Enceladus is probably hiding an ocean under its icy surface, and Jupiter moons Europa, Callisto, and Ganymede may harbor liquid water as well. “These are fascinating places to look for signs of life,” says British scientist Andrew Coates. Nearby satellite Titan, Saturn’s biggest, has an atmosphere resembling that of early Earth: “It may be an Earth waiting to happen as the outer Solar System warms up,” says Coates….

Are there any thoughts on this revelation?

Roll Tide Roll

It is once again the weekend and NO this post is NOT about the SEC or the Alabama football team……

You know that there is a black market here in the US of A, right?  Drugs, stolen cars, store equipment, babies and just about anything you can think of is sold and sold at a profit on the black market…..I thought I had heard just about everything but this just made my jaw drop……

From the msn.com website…….

It’s a crime wave made for creative reporting, or at least bad puns: Police attempt to stem rising Tide of thefts. Thieves clean up with stolen laundry detergent. Scum steal laundry soap.

In a story headlined “Grime Wave,” The Daily reports that thieves from Oregon to Maryland are stealing large quantities of Tide laundry detergent by loading it into shopping carts and pushing it out of the stores, often to waiting getaway cars.

Others say stolen Tide is sold on the black market. “They’ve done the same thing with baby formula for years,” West St. Paul, Minn., police Chief Bud Shaver told the Star Tribune. “It’s an essential. You’re going to buy it.” The Star Tribune reported recently that a Wal-Mart in West St. Paul had lost an estimated $25,000 worth of Tide over the span of 15 months.

Why Tide?

Laundry detergent is something all households need, and the price of Tide — $10 to $20 per bottle retail — translates to $5 to $10 on the black market, which makes it a stable currency, according to The Daily. Also, detergent is not perishable, and — unlike electronic items — carries no identifying information.

Police say the Procter & Gamble detergent is the most popular and most recognizable of the name-brand laundry soaps, partly because of its bright orange packaging.

“We don’t have any insight as to why the phenomenon is happening, but it is certainly unfortunate,” a Procter & Gamble spokeswoman told The Daily.

Have these people ever heard of the Dollar store?

I understand the market for drugs or a car or stereo equipment and even a baby……but laundry detergent?

It’s Embarrassing!

There are so many things about my state, Mississippi, that is embarrassing….but this one takes the cake…at least for now…..

It is March madness time of the year and B’Ball enthusiast are glued to the TV pulling for their favorite time…..and there was an ugly incident at the Univ of south miss v Kansas State game……K state has a good player in Angel Rodriquez and when he was on the court the band of USM started chanting “Where’s your green card”?

This incident goes along with my post today and my exchange with a loyal reader Terrance of Sibboleth nation (go to blogroll and visit his site whenever possible)…….it illustrates just how much the New south has NOT changed….and these are students in a major university in the state….so how does it bode for the rest of the state?

Apparently these pea brains have not learned that Puerto Rico, where the player was from, is part of this country and therefore he is a citizen…pretty much explains why Mississippi is so low on the educational scale………

This was done on the same day that our newly elected governor signed into law our version of a “show me your papers”  law……….just shows the mentality of those within the state….NOT everyone thinks as they do…but these people were representing the state as well as their school and the NCAA should take action to stop this type of incident from occurring at sporting events……

USM lost that game….kama strikes again!

2012 Anal-Ocity #14

In my search for the most anal statements uttered by people in the news, I have accused of giving Dems a break……..well, I think that is a mistaken perception….I hate anal statements NO matter who utters them…..and today’s anal-ocity is from our Prez……..I listened to his energy speech the other day and found something wrong….not so much an anal statement but more like a historical lie….and as we know I dislike people that misrepresent history……. our Prez made it into the running for tha Assie Award at the end of the year…..

While speaking about energy he said this…..

President Rutherford B. Hayes’ apparent dismissal of the telephone. But while Obama thinks the GOP is in need of a science lesson, he may need to bone up on history himself.

In mocking the GOP, Obama cited an anecdote about Hayes in which, upon using the telephone for the first time, he said, “It’s a great invention, but who would ever want to use one?”

“That’s why he’s not on Mount Rushmore,” Obama said. “He’s explaining why we can’t do something instead of why we can do something.”

That is just wrong and i am here to set the record straight…… Nan Card, curator of manuscripts at the Rutherford B. Hayes Presidential Center in Ohio, told TPM that the nation’s 19th president was being unfairly tagged as a Luddite.

“He really was the opposite,” she said. “He had the first telephone in the White House. He also had the first typewriter in the White House. Thomas Edison came to the White House as well and displayed the phonograph. Photographing people who came to the White House and visited at dinners and receptions was also very important to him.”

All I ask is that these politicians stop trying to re-write history to fit their narrative…..is that too much to ask?

Dumbing Down America

We are in the middle of an election season and it is so far been nothing but a bust….the only people that have any ideas on the country have left the race….and we are left with a maniacal egotist and a guy with the personality of a nondescript rock…..which leads me to the meat of this post….the dumbing down of America…..

Stephanie Pappas of livescience.com has written piece that gives us three ways that this cycle is for low info voters…..

Brains and bias

Earlier studies have found links between low levels of education and higher levels of prejudice, Hodson said, so studying intelligence seemed a logical next step. The researchers turned to two studies of citizens in the United Kingdom, one that has followed babies since their births in March 1958, and another that did the same for babies born in April 1970. The children in the studies had their intelligence assessed at age 10 or 11; as adults ages 30 or 33, their levels of social conservatism and racism were measured. [Life’s Extremes: Democrat vs. Republican]

In the first study, verbal and nonverbal intelligence was measured using tests that asked people to find similarities and differences between words, shapes and symbols. The second study measured cognitive abilities in four ways, including number recall, shape-drawing tasks, defining words and identifying patterns and similarities among words. Average IQ is set at 100.

Social conservatives were defined as people who agreed with a laundry list of statements such as “Family life suffers if mum is working full-time,” and “Schools should teach children to obey authority.” Attitudes toward other races were captured by measuring agreement with statements such as “I wouldn’t mind working with people from other races.” (These questions measured overt prejudiced attitudes, but most people, no matter how egalitarian, do hold unconscious racial biases; Hodson’s work can’t speak to this “underground” racism.)

As suspected, low intelligence in childhood corresponded with racism in adulthood. But the factor that explained the relationship between these two variables was political: When researchers included social conservatism in the analysis, those ideologies accounted for much of the link between brains and bias.

A study of averages

Nonetheless, there is reason to believe that strict right-wing ideology might appeal to those who have trouble grasping the complexity of the world.

“Socially conservative ideologies tend to offer structure and order,” Hodson said, explaining why these beliefs might draw those with low intelligence. “Unfortunately, many of these features can also contribute to prejudice.”

In another study, this one in the United States, Hodson and Busseri compared 254 people with the same amount of education but different levels of ability in abstract reasoning. They found that what applies to racism may also apply to homophobia. People who were poorer at abstract reasoning were more likely to exhibit prejudice against gays. As in the U.K. citizens, a lack of contact with gays and more acceptance of right-wing authoritarianism explained the link. [5 Myths About Gay People Debunked]

Simple viewpoints

The researchers controlled for factors such as education and socioeconomic status, making their case stronger, Nosek said. But there are other possible explanations that fit the data. For example, Nosek said, a study of left-wing liberals with stereotypically naïve views like “every kid is a genius in his or her own way,” might find that people who hold these attitudes are also less bright. In other words, it might not be a particular ideology that is linked to stupidity, but extremist views in general.

“My speculation is that it’s not as simple as their model presents it,” Nosek said. “I think that lower cognitive capacity can lead to multiple simple ways to represent the world, and one of those can be embodied in a right-wing ideology where ‘People I don’t know are threats’ and ‘The world is a dangerous place‘. … Another simple way would be to just assume everybody is wonderful.”

Prejudice is of particular interest because understanding the roots of racism and bias could help eliminate them, Hodson said. For example, he said, many anti-prejudice programs encourage participants to see things from another group’s point of view. That mental exercise may be too taxing for people of low IQ.

“There may be cognitive limits in the ability to take the perspective of others, particularly foreigners,” Hodson said. “Much of the present research literature suggests that our prejudices are primarily emotional in origin rather than cognitive. These two pieces of information suggest that it might be particularly fruitful for researchers to consider strategies to change feelings toward outgroups,” rather than thoughts.

Although this is NOT by any means conclusive….it still points to the possibility…..and after a long look to a state with a very bad educational record….it is more accurate than not…..

KONY 2012

About a week ago I listened to the interview with the guy behind KONY 2012 and the video that has gone viral……and it peeked my interest and i started digging into the whole issue of Invisible Children and this KONY 2012 thing….

Here is what I have found……

So why does Invisible Children only go after Kony while leaving Museveni alone when in fact they are two sides of the same coin?

Invisible Children’s goals initially may have been to publicize the plight of children caught in Uganda’s decades-long conflicts; lately, IC has been acting as apologists for General Yoweri K. Museveni’s dictatorship and the U.S. goal to impose AFRICOM (the U.S. Africa Military Command) on Africa.

IC has produced a brilliant film that’s making the global rounds onFacebook

It’s a classic as propaganda pieces come. The short but overwhelmingly powerful film uses all the best tear-jerk techniques. In the end, the film denounces Joseph Kony, the leader of the brutal Lord’s Resistance Army, while giving the impression that Museveni’s dictatorship and his brutal military, which was found liable for war crimes in Democratic Republic of Congo by the International Court of Justice, has nothing to do with the atrocities committed against children in Uganda. It also doesn’t inform viewers that Museveni abducted thousands of child soldiers to win his insurgency in Uganda in 1986, launching the pattern of child soldier recruitment all over Africa.

The young folks behind Invisible Children don’t understand the conflict in Uganda; yet they have made themselves the spokespersons. They have campaigned and convinced some celebrities, including Rihana and P. Diddy, to tweet their half-truth propaganda film. This is a way to have one-sided or impartial information become the “dominant truth” globally, and drown out critical analyses.

It’s like a group of impressionable White youngsters coming to Harlem and saying: we see you have major crises, let us tell you what’s the solution. Who would accept such misguided and destructive arrogance? If it’s unacceptable in Harlem, it must also be rejected in Uganda’s Acholi region.

There is another documentary that tries to explain the Ugandantragedy, in a more sober manner, unlike Invisible Children’s slick propaganda piece.

Hopefully this commentary will motivate people to do their research and demand that the international community deal with both Kony and Museveni.

Hopefully more people will also do their own research and not be vulnerable to slick propaganda such as Invisible Children’s.

For example, readers can Google terms such as “Yoweri Museveni and Congo genocide,” “Museveni and Kony,” “Museveni and and Rwanda genocide,” “Museveni and Acholi genocide,” and “U.S. support for dictator Museveni.”

Since I started my research i have noticed that the comment section of the Video has been turned off…………..it seems that the negative comments were taking over the section and the people decide to avoid any negativity as long as they were asking for cash……

And there is more from Tony Cartalucci of black listed news…….

As the US State Department, USAID centric Invisible Children psy-op KONY 2012 collapses, Invisible Children has disabled comments on their viral YouTube video.

When last checked, negative comments were voted to the top and a cascading effect of skepticism as well as damning facts began drowning out the initial confusion, sympathy, and emotional knee-jerk support the propaganda video purposefully created and preyed upon.

The Establishment-Funded “Anti-Establishment” Charity

It has been revealed that indeed Invisible Children has been working with USAID, a US government agency that helps lay the groundwork for what could best be described as a modern-day imperial administrative network. It is now also revealed that Invisible Children attended the 2010 US State Department and Fortune 500 sponsored Alliance for Youth Movements (AYM) summit in London.

Unlike the “Arab Spring” however, the KONY 2012 scam has collapsed almost as fast as it first swept the globe. And as it falls, it is taking with it the credibility of all who participated in it and promoted it, including the deceitful International Criminal Court (ICC) and its chief prosecutorLuis Moreno-Ocampo, as well as Hollywood and the corporate-media who did all in their power to lie, manipulate and make fools out of millions once more in the pursuit of perpetuating the imperial ambitions of Wall Street and London.

This is just another scam that tears at the hearts of Americans to gain access to what little cash they have on hand…….just another indication of how controlled the American people are by their media and their movie industry……my advice is do what i did….if it sounds too good to be true….then research it before you throw your money at it……

In closing I would like to ask….where is the concern for the children of Gaza that are being killed everyday?  I have already answered that question….they are NOT that important to the policies of the US, the media or the movie industry……..there is the sad truth!

What Happened To The History?

Recently in one of my “Random Thoughts” posts I asked the question……. Whose idea was it to have a History Channel without any history”?

I do not understand why we have a history channel with very little history on it, instead it is filled with gator chasers, catfish idiots and modern dumpster divers…..about the closet thing to history on the channel is “Ax Men”….why?  They are cutting down history by destroying old growth forest…..

Over the years I have said many things about GOP lawmakers….some not so good……and for maybe the first time in history(there is that word again) I find myself agreeing with Sen. Chuck Grassley. a Repub from Iowa….I know I am not too thrilled to find him and I agreeing on anything…but alas we do….

“I love history,” Grassley wrote in an email to The Washington Examiner. “A better understanding is going to strengthen our country. It’s going to strengthen patriotism.”

Plus non-history programming represents an unfulfilled promise by the network. “When I signed up for the History Channel on my satellite service, I expected to get history,” he said. “Instead, all I see are people chopping wood or driving trucks on an icy road.”

Back in February Grassley began tweeting about his discontent with the History Channel’s programming. “No history,” he tweeted “I used to get history. Why do we have such a channel when it doesn’t do history?”

As the Examiner reports, about a week later Grassley turned on the History Channel again and was still not pleased with what he saw. Again he took to Twitter to express outrage. “When will they put history back on the channel,” he tweeted.

The only thing we can learn by watching the History Channel is how NOT to fish for catfish or why you should avoid driving in the Arctic…….in other words NOTHING!

I am going to join him on his crusade on Twitter to get the History Channel to actually show history and leave the reality BS to the moronic channels like Tru TV……….

VP Sweepstakes

Flash:  Rick Santorum sweeps the deep South….Mississippi & Alabama

“We hold these truths to be self-evident……” Mitt Romney will be the nominee after an exhausting primary battles…….and then the pontification will begin on who will be the person that gets the nod as Mitt’s running mate….the VP candidate…..most of the important polls, and there are so many of them, shows that the GOP has serious problems with moderates/independents/women and Latinos…..they need help….lots of help!

I know I am a bit premature in my predictions….but I will be able to go back and tell everyone …”I Told You So!” and if I am mistaken we will never speak of it again……

First, let us look at the media’s man crush….Chris Christie of New Jersey ….Romney does not need help in the Northeast where there are many moderates so Christie will be low on the list…plus he said he was not interested, but that is just crap….if asked he will jump on it!

Next is Pawlenty the former governor of Minnesota….he is too much like Romney….white, boring and untrustworthy by the base…..

The name that many have thrown around is Daniels of Indiana….he has said that he is not interested……that also is crap….he and his work with trying to make Indiana a right to work state would not fly well with Lunch pail Repubs………

Then there was the one most everyone in the media was betting on….McDonnell of Virginia….but he crapped all over his chances with the ultra sound debacle….and now he has signed a less intrusive form of the procedure but still will NOT fly well with women voters…he kissed his own ass good-bye.

Paul Ryan of Wisconsin has been thrown into the mix…mostly by conserv media types….he would not play well in the South and moderates may like him somewhat but is he strong enough to carry Mitt where he needs help?  Nope, too much a numbers person that cannot relate to us mere mortals…..makes him like Mitt…..boring and outta touch….

Bobby Jindal of Louisiana…….would help in the South and that is about the extent of his credentials….he is too Mitt-esque to appeal to the whole country….besides he is a Hindu…not true but I thought i would see if it would go viral…..

I am not ruling out some fancy foot work like what the McCain campaign did with Palin…..but without some totally unsuspected thing like in 2008 which was disastrous…..who would I see as the VP candidate?

In my opinion it will be…….(insert drum roll and trumpets blaring here)……Marco Rubio!  Mitt has a real problem with Latinos, Rubio would help………Mitt has a real problem with social conservs, Rubio would help……and because of his stand with Blunt on the contraception thingy he may play well in the South….an area that Mitt just cannot catch a break in……

I am sorry….but Mitt and whoever he picks will have a hard time defeating Obama in November……women will be the most sought out demographic and they may well be the decider in the election….but since Romney has a low rating among Latinos I feel he will go to Rubio to try and seal the deal…….

The perfect candidate would be a female Latina…..but I do not think the GOP would go for that…especially after the beating they took in 2008…….

Any thoughts?

Mitt Panders His Ass Off!

Today is the primary in my part of the world—-and poor Mitt has his work cut out for him……Southerners hate him….they do not trust him and he is a Mormon….we can pretend that the religion thing is unimportant, but it is and it will be going forward…..

Poor Mitt he just cannot catch a break….remember in Michigan he liked the tress?  Recall in Tennessee he uttered the words to Davey Crockett….thank God he did not sing……..and here in Mississippi he used y’all and said that he likes grits….cheesy grits….sorry but this man would not now a grit if it bit him in the ass…..even low info voters know this man is pandering, tasteless pandering…….

He keeps trying to connect with us mere mortals and each time he looks more pathetic than the time before…..but all this pandering is just a disingenuous attempt….makes him appear that he has NOTHING to offer the voters….especially in the Deep South….

Romney was met by about 200 supporters there, where he talked job creation, cutting taxes, reducing the deficit and eliminating government waste. He said Obama hasn’t addressed those issues in his first four years in office, but he believes Mississippi has.

“If the federal government were run more like the government here in Mississippi, the whole country would be a lot better off,” Romney said.

Now there is something that the whole country can look forward to if he is elected……to be like Mississippi…..a horrible education system, lousy health care, higher poverty rates, massive obesity and outrageous diabetes rates and really shitty wages…..now there is something to be proud of saying….you want the country to be run like Mississippi…..

I am sorry but the future nominee of the GOP is a putz!  If that is what we have to look forward to with a president Romney then I say give me Lenin any day!

One last point….it is “cheese grits”….NOT “cheesy grits”!…..but there was something “cheesy”…..Mitt’s lame attempt to connect with Mississippians!

Are They Serious?

It is about time for the budget game to begin again…..the GOP has been pushing the over 400 days with NO budget…the Dems are pushing that there is NO partner for serious negotiations……those are just the opening shots.

Most all the GOP wants a smaller national government and most programs returned to the states for implementation……but the part of the equation that both sides leave out is that all the programs are tied together……if the GOP wins the argue through the next election then the states will be screwed!  Why?  Good question.  Almost ALL governmental people in the states have run on the ever popular no new taxes or tax cuts….all that will have to go…..if the people of any given state want police or firemen or teachers or health care or…..well you get the point.

If all this happens there is NO state that can provide the services that we all have come to depend on….the only way is to raise taxes….oh they may call them service charges but a tax is a tax……so if you bitch about your local government…just wait until these fiscal conservs win the battle……if your officials stick to their promises of NO New Taxes then you and your community are in for a very dismal future….

Crime will rise……education will suffer the most and in an era that education is one of the most important programs for this country…….all services will most likely become privatized and if your area has dealt with this issue then you know you will be paying hard and through the nose……..

Again if this happens then there will be NO need for the government in Washington….we can go back to every state fending for itself…..back to the days of the Confederation……back to the days of ever person for themselves and screw the less fortunate….and that is not what the Founders intended.

So I ask again, “Are they serious?”  Are you serious in your pursuit of a smaller government?