SecularCafe - Politics & World Events: August 2012

Friday, 31 August 2012

Secular Café: You still got it, Florida

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You still got it, Florida

Sep 1st 2012, 02:06

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/0...n_1846647.html

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Secular Café: Daily Kos: If Today's Politics Had Been in WW2

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Daily Kos: If Today's Politics Had Been in WW2

Aug 31st 2012, 21:14

Daily Kos: If Today's Politics Had Been in WW2 by Troubadour

Amusing satire.

Quote:

1. Economic conservatives

Roosevelt is a Communist who is taxing us to death to pay for his war with our German brothers while Uncle Stalin pulls the strings, wasting our nation's wealth defending Bolsheviks while doing their bidding at home. He forces us to compromise with labor unions like a dictator, and undermines private-sector job creation through massive public-sector mobilization, full employment, and resource rationing. Is this the America we want? One where Big Gubmint tells you how much gasoline, rubber, silk, and other things you can have, just so some lazy Socialist frog or pollack won't have to earn a living under superior German management? Where American business owners are stripped of real workers and forced to employ women just so the men can go save some grass-skirt-wearing island monkeys from the far more enterprising Japanese? ...

2. Religious conservatives

To all God-fearing Americans, the signs are clear: The Beast has arisen, and his name is Franklin Roosevelt, leading his demonic hosts in the War of Armageddon. The people of Germany, rising up in defense of their homeland against the Jews who murdered Christ and steal all that their big noses can smell, are waging a valiant defense against the forces of Satan arrayed beneath the smoldering red flags of Communism. ...

3. Xenophobe / Racist / Birther conservatives

It makes me sick how soft on the Jap infiltrators this administration is. We've got them all rounded up in camps all nice and neat, but instead of doing the obvious thing and shooting them all, what does Roosevelt do? Feeds them! At a time when Real Americans have to ration all sorts of things, we have to give a portion to keep up a bunch of slant-eyed spies sent here to kill us all. ...

4. Republican Congress

News article: "For the sixth time in as many months, the GOP-controlled House of Representatives has refused to approve the Roosevelt administration's federal budget requests except their own salaries - which they have increased by 715% - despite immediate consequences for American troops overseas and the citizenry at home. ...

5. Pundits

In the ongoing controversy between Nazism and democracy, the rhetoric on both sides has gotten quite heated, with some independents and moderates bemoaning the acrimonious tone of the war. ... Is there no room for middle ground between those who favor liberal democracy and those who favor exterminating minorities and militarily conquering neighbors? ...

6. Naderites / Dumb Lefties / Truthers

Down with Poservelt! Down with the capitalist shill who forces workers to make concessions to Big Business for the sake of his war machine! What the hell are we fighting for - clearly not enough effort was made to make peace with Hitler, and besides the US government is no different from the Third Reich. ...

7. Libertarians / Militia Nuts / Anarchists

While it can't be denied that Franklin Roosevelt is a treasonous, thieving Communist dictator who should be hanged from a tree, it must be acknowledged that the Nazis also deviate substantially from ideals of liberty and should be duly rebuked for their misbehavior. ... If we agree to sabotage our nation's wasteful and tax-heavy war effort so that Germany can secure itself in Europe, the Third Reich agrees to provide us with funding for a Second American Revolution to overthrow the current left-wing government in America. ...

Thursday, 30 August 2012

Secular Café: Schipol Airport drama

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Schipol Airport drama

Aug 30th 2012, 13:25

I'd love to know what the pilot said to ATC,

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-19407429

Quote:

A passenger plane was forced to land at Amsterdam's Schiphol airport and boarded by Dutch forces amid fears of a hijacking that proved unfounded.

Dutch F-16 fighters were scrambled to intercept the aircraft, en route from Malaga, Spain.

Once it landed at Schiphol it was boarded by armed security forces who discovered the false alarm.

A miscommunication between the pilot and the control tower reportedly triggered the confusion...

...Earlier, part of Schiphol was closed and flights delayed after a suspected World War II bomb was discovered by workers digging near Pier C, which connects the main plaza with Departure Hall One.

The device was later taken away by bomb disposal experts who safely detonated it.

Tuesday, 28 August 2012

Secular Café: Airline problems

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Airline problems

Aug 28th 2012, 12:15

The Economist has a tale of woe.

http://www.economist.com/node/21560866

This article is all about the fight between the airlines and the GDS ("global distribution systems") I found it nigh on impossible to select quotes without losing the story, so please read the whole article.

This article looks at threats to the airlines.

http://www.economist.com/node/21556960

Quote:

The euro zone's troubles have already pushed many European carriers into the red. IATA predicts that there is a "serious risk" of bankruptcies. Indeed, Malev and Spainair, two fair-sized European airlines, have already gone bust. Several big airline groups, notably Air France-KLM, are trying to make deep cuts. The global industry's after-tax profits are forecast to fall from $7.9 billion in 2011 to $3 billion this year; that is just 0.5% of revenue (see chart). And if the euro collapses? "It would be worse than 9/11," says Willie Walsh, the boss of IAG, which owns British Airways and Iberia...

...the industry faces three risks besides a European meltdown. First, an oil-supply shock—resulting from an Iranian crisis, say—would send fuel prices sharply up again and wipe out profits. Some airlines, including KLM, are investing in biofuels, but full commercialisation looks a decade away. Others use financial hedges, but these are pricey and can backfire if oil prices drop. Delta is even now finalising a deal to buy an oil refinery.

The second risk arises from the flood of new planes due to be delivered shortly. Production snags at both Airbus and Boeing have kept capacity tighter than planned. If everyone uses their new planes to expand capacity, rather than to replace clunkers, there could be a lot of empty seats.

The final threat pits ghost against host. The European Commission's inclusion of greenhouse gases from aviation in its emissions-trading scheme (ETS) is opposed by over 30 countries, of which China is the most defiant. If a compromise is not found, European countries must levy hefty fines on offenders and may seize aircraft—which could set off a trade war. On June 12th the China Air Transport Association, which represents Chinese carriers, said that China would retaliate with similar measures.

Monday, 27 August 2012

Secular Café: Taliban Behead 17 Afghans For Dancing And Playing Music At A Party

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Taliban Behead 17 Afghans For Dancing And Playing Music At A Party

Aug 27th 2012, 10:21

http://www.businessinsider.com/the-t...a-party-2012-8

Disgusting and almost unbelievable....

Quote:

17 Afghan civilians have been found beaten, shot and beheaded in southern Afghanistan this morning, the BBC reports.
"Two women and 15 men were beheaded. They were partying with music in an area under the control of the Taliban," Helmand provincial governor's spokesman Daud Ahmadi told the AFP. It is thought the women may have been dancing for the men.
According to Al Jazeera, it is unusual for men and women to mix socially unless they are related, and parties "involving both genders together are rare and highly secretive affairs". Under the Taliban women in Afghanistan were banned from leaving the house without a male relative.

Saturday, 25 August 2012

Secular Café: Anti-Gay Louisiana Pastor Convicted of Masturbating in Public

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Anti-Gay Louisiana Pastor Convicted of Masturbating in Public

Aug 26th 2012, 02:28

LOL

Quote:

Christian fundamentalist Rev. Grant Storms is well-known in New Orleans for his opposition of Southern Decadence, a three-day gay pride festival in the French Quarter. He was first arrested over a year ago for alleged masturbation, which occurred in a van at a public park with children playing near by.

The Reverend Grant Storms is known best for his protests of the pride festival, during which he equipped his followers with bullhorns, bibles, and picketing signs during their march down Bourbon Street. In fact, the protests he directed spurred the New Orleans City Council to create ordinances banning megaphone use above a certain decibel level.
...
Storms told ABCNEWS he wants to end Southern Decadence. "Totally … utterly and totally. We want them out of town," he said.

In a city where almost 40 percent of the population is Roman Catholic, the archdiocese of New Orleans agreed with Storms, and asked officials to ban Southern Decadence. But the head of the mayor's task force on gay and lesbian issues says the city can't afford to ban the festival.

Storms condemned the city officials. "They're prostitutes. They're legalized prostitutes," he said.

As for Storms, he says he's got even grander plans — to eliminate public nudity and sex at Mardi Gras and beyond.

For example, Sin City, U.S.A. — Las Vegas. "That's our next stop … schedule a flight to Las Vegas," Storms said. "We want to take it to every city in the United States, wherever stuff goes on."
...
In the same interview, Storms also said he is not "anti-gay per se," but that, "I'm anti-decadence, I'm anti-depravity, I'm anti-sin."

When asked if he believes homosexuality is a sin, he replied, "Yes. Oh undoubtedly. The Bible's very clear." He is anti-sin. Homosexuality, to him, is a sin. That would make him anti-gay.

After his proselytizing on the sexuality of others the Rev. Grant Storms was arrested for masturbating in public, in the presence of children, no less. In fact, eyewitnesses stated that he was "looking at the playground area that contained children playing, with his zipper down…," as seen in the police report

Fucking sick motherfucker.

Secular Café: Greek Government asks for more time; Germans sceptical

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Greek Government asks for more time; Germans sceptical

Aug 25th 2012, 19:32

http://www.spiegel.de/international/...-a-850963.html

Quote:

Athens has not been having an easy time coming up with the €11.5 billion in cost cutting measures over the next two years it has promised Europe. Indeed, Greek Prime Minister Antonis Samaras is reportedly set to request an additional two years to make those cuts during meetings later this week with German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Friday and French President François Hollande on Saturday.

But according to information obtained by SPIEGEL, the financing gap his country faces could be even greater. During its recent fact-finding trip to Athens, the so-called troika -- made up of representatives from the European Central Bank, the European Commission and the International Monetary Fund -- found that Greece will have to come up with as much as €14 billion to meet the terms for international aid...

...The news of the potentially greater financing needs comes at a sensitive time for the country. Many in Europe, particularly in Germany, are losing their patience and there has been increased talk of the country leaving the common currency zone...

...Volker Kauder, who leads Merkel's conservatives in parliament, told SPIEGEL that Greece has little choice but to live up to its promises. "The Greeks must abide by what they've agreed to," he said in the interview (which will be posted on SPIEGEL International later on Monday). "There isn't any more wiggle room on this issue, neither in terms of the time frame nor the issue itself." He added: "I see little chance of a third aid package (finding support) in the coalition."

Indeed, it is not just Merkel's conservatives who are becoming less willing to finance Greece indefinitely. Her junior coalition partner, the Free Democrats (FDP), have likewise become almost categoric in their refusal to consider additional aid measures. German Economy Minister Philipp Rösler, who heads the FDP and is also Merkel's vice chancellor, told SPIEGEL ONLINE over the weekend that "those who don't stick to the rules and the promises made cannot expect financial help." Recently, Rösler triggered a European-wide debate by saying: "For me, a Greek exit has long since lost its horrors."

Now Samaras and Merkel have met, but it doesn't look better for Greece.

http://www.spiegel.de/international/...-a-851914.html

Quote:

Greek Prime Minister Antonis Samaras had been expected to make his case for more time to meet austerity targets in his meeting with German Chancellor Angela Merkel in Berlin on Friday. Samaras has said he wants an additional two years, until 2016, to trim €11.5 billion ($14.3 billion) from the Greek budget.

But if Samaras had been hoping for quick concessions from Berlin, he didn't get them. Although Merkel reassured Samaras that she wanted Greece "to stay in the euro zone," she gave no sign of wanting to grant Athens more time to meet the terms of the bailout.

Merkel did, however, say that Germany would not "make premature judgments" about Greece's reform efforts, but would await "reliable evidence," a reference to the report by the so-called troika -- made up of officials from the the European Commission, the European Central Bank and the International Monetary Fund -- which is expected in September or October. "We know that great sacrifices are being demanded from Greece's citizens," Merkel said, adding that Berlin supported the efforts of the new Greek government under Samaras...

...Merkel, who is facing national elections in Germany next year, is unlikely to budge on loosening the terms of the bailout deal. There is considerable opposition within her coalition government to giving Athens any more money, and the voices in Germany calling for Greece to leave the euro zone are getting louder.

Ahead of the meeting, Volker Kauder, the head of the conservatives' parliamentary group, had taken a tough tone against Greece in comments to the German television station ZDF. "We can't make more money available," he said. He argued that the euro zone could withstand a Greek exit, saying he assumed "it would be no problem for the euro."...

..."Dutch Finance Minister Jan Kees de Jager finds Samaras' desire to have more time for reforms 'not a good idea.' One can only agree with that, especially before the troika's next report has been presented."...

..."Even if they wanted to, European leaders couldn't just wave through a third aid package for Greece because the International Monetary Fund does not want to keep throwing more money into the bottomless Greek pit…. Never before has the IMF given so much credit to a country with such little success."

Secular Café: Mississippi River is drying up -- this is how bad the drought is

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Mississippi River is drying up -- this is how bad the drought is

Aug 25th 2012, 18:13

Quote:

On the thirsty Mississippi River, battle against sandbars strains mariners, machines

By Associated Press, Updated: Saturday, August 25, 11:38 AM

GREENVILLE, Miss. — Another day, another sandbar to clear on the clogged Mississippi River.

It's a routine that's settled in as the drought in the nation's central states leaves the river without the rainfall that is its lifeblood. The river is fed by the third-largest watershed in the world — a large chunk of the U.S. and part of Canada — and drought in that area means lower water along the river. That can put a major hurting on industries that use the river to ship hundreds of millions of tons of products, from grain to gasoline, every year.

One estimate put barge industry losses at $1 billion the last time the river was this low, in 1988. That's why dredges, which knock down shallow spots and clear the shipping channel, are so vital in times like these.

Aboard the Dredge Jadwin, a massive-four story hulk that's working around the clock to clear channels at Greenville, crews are pumping enough material from the river bottom every day to cover a football field 40 feet deep with sand and Mississippi mud.
....

Much more here:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/nation...d67_story.html

Secular Café: Male politicians annoy women

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Male politicians annoy women

Aug 25th 2012, 16:37

Some of them anyway.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisf...oway-akin-rape

Quote:

What trouble beckons for men when they talk to women. Not all men, of course. But for a certain breed of male politician, it seems the territory marked "women's issues" is a minefield.

That did not stop three of them wading in with clumsy boots this week, one cretinously, another creepily and the third recklessly. The cretin was Todd Akin, would-be Republican senator for Missouri, author of the novel idea that a woman's body automatically prevents itself from becoming pregnant through rape – but only if the rape is "legitimate". It was an absurd word to use, as he tried to distinguish between sex involving a violent stranger and other forms of coercive, non-consensual sex - all of them rape – but he was not the first to do it. His party's vice-presidential nominee, Paul Ryan, co-sponsored legislation last year to deny federal funding for all abortions, with an exception for pregnancies resulting from incest and "forcible rape" – implying this was the only form of rape that matters. Our very own Ken Clarke made a similar distinction when he spoke last year of "serious rape", as if there were any other kind.

With Ryan for company, Akin might have got away with it. But his middle ages notion that "the female body has ways to try to shut that whole thing down" was too much for his party leadership. Apparently too much for the voters too. Last week Akin led by nine points, now he trails by 10.

The creepy intervention came with George Galloway's video defence of Julian Assange. In language that made the flesh crawl, Galloway offered this dissertation on sexual consent: "I mean, not everybody needs to be asked prior to each insertion," adding that Assange's accusers could fault him at most for "bad sexual etiquette". The name of the Bradford MP's weekly online broadcast – Good Night with George Galloway – suddenly acquired a whole new meaning.

At least the Respect MP refrained from naming Assange's alleged victims. No such restraint for Craig Murray, a former British diplomat, who denounced one of them by name on Newsnight, violating the British legal scruple that holds that a woman who may have suffered the trauma of rape should at least be granted basic privacy.

What these three episodes have in common is how much they seem to reveal about the speaker. It's easy enough for politicians to maintain the mask when speaking about, say, tax or industrial policy. But get them on to these fundamental matters of how men and women relate to each other and their character starts showing.

The comments are interesting. I don't know anyone in Britain who has any time at all for Galloway. I note that he is referred to by various words describing parts of male or female genitalia. Not usually terms of respect.

Friday, 24 August 2012

Secular Café: Several People Shot Outside Empire State Building

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Several People Shot Outside Empire State Building

Aug 24th 2012, 13:56

http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/p...3#.UDeHsMKPV8Z

I'll keep on saying it: guns have no place in a civilised society...

Quote:

New York City officials say several people have been shot outside the Empire State Building and that the gunman is dead.

City police say three or four civilians have been wounded in the Friday morning shooting and that the shooter is dead.

A fire department spokesman says it received a call about the shooting just after at 9 a.m. Friday and that emergency units were on the scene within minutes.

The spokesman had no information about how many people were wounded or their conditions.

Secular Café: Anders Brievik: Sane? And only 10 years?????

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Anders Brievik: Sane? And only 10 years?????

Aug 24th 2012, 10:43

This is unbelievable.

Breivik has been adjudges sane, which, given what he did is odd.

BUT......to get only 10 years for what he did in cold blood, and apparently in cold-blooded sanity....is an insane verdict.

There has to be an appeal against the sentence and/or the verdict.

Wednesday, 22 August 2012

Secular Café: Hurricane May Hit RNC

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Hurricane May Hit RNC

Aug 22nd 2012, 17:38

link

Quote:

Forecasters cast a wary eye Tuesday on Tropical Storm Isaac, which was moving west in the Atlantic Ocean and poses a potential threat to Florida during next week's Republican National Convention in Tampa.

It's much too early to say with any certainty whether it will gain hurricane strength or make a beeline for Tampa, on Florida's west coast. But it's the type of weather that convention organizers knew was a possibility during the peak of hurricane season — and they have backup plans in place in a worst-case scenario.

It's been 90 years since a major hurricane made a direct hit on Tampa. The last to strike Florida's west coast was Hurricane Charley, a Category 4 packing 150 mph winds. The Aug. 13, 2004, storm was small yet powerful — and was initially forecast to strike the Tampa Bay area before it turned and slammed Port Charlotte, about 100 miles south.

National Hurricane Center computer models predicted Isaac would become a hurricane over the next few days, meaning maximum winds must be at least 74 mph (120 kph). Some models had the storm striking Florida, including the Tampa Bay area, after moving across Cuba or the Bahamas as early as Sunday morning.

So much for God liking their positions...
:rolling:

Secular Café: Anti-Obama Billboard

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Anti-Obama Billboard

Aug 22nd 2012, 17:03

link

Quote:

A billboard near Dallas says, "The Seals removed one threat to America. Remove the other in November." The controversy is that Osama Bin Laden, referring to the threat the Seals removed, is now dead, and some people feel that comparing state-sanctioned elimination of a terrorist with removing a president from office was going too far.

It should also be noted that Admiral William McRaven, the commander of Seal Team Six, has indicated that Obama is responsible for the death of bin Laden, saying, "Well, let me make one thing clear, I didn't order the raid. And this is not a small point. The fact of the matter is, it was the President of the United States that ordered the raid."

Bolding mine.

Secular Café: Locked-in syndrome sufferer Tony Nicklinson dies

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Locked-in syndrome sufferer Tony Nicklinson dies

Aug 22nd 2012, 14:02

After his case to gain his right to die last week failed, he stopped accepting food, and passed away earlier today.

Its a sad state of affairs when a man chooses to starve himself to death instead of being able to choose to die peacefully. :(

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2012/au...?newsfeed=true

Quote:

Tony Nicklinson, who failed in his high court bid to be allowed to end his life with the help of a doctor, has died just six days later, his lawyers said. He had been refusing food since the verdict, but contracted pneumonia and "went downhill quickly", they said.

Wiltshire police said they were not involved and it is believed the death was from natural causes.

Tuesday, 21 August 2012

Secular Café: Top US general's plane hit by rocket in Afghanistan

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Top US general's plane hit by rocket in Afghanistan

Aug 21st 2012, 13:18

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-19325354

Quote:

An insurgent rocket attack on a US air base in Afghanistan has damaged the plane of America's top military officer while he was on a visit there.

Gen Martin Dempsey, chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, was not near the plane at the time but two US maintenance crew were slightly injured...

...Gen Dempsey had arrived on Monday in a C-17 transport aircraft which was parked at Bagram.

A statement from Nato's Isaf force said shrapnel from "an indirect fire round" had damaged the plane as well as a Nato helicopter.

The general was in his room at the time of the attack, according to officials.

"He was nowhere near the aircraft. We think it was a lucky shot," Nato spokesman Col Thomas Collins is quoted as saying by Reuters news agency.

Gen Dempsey had left Afghanistan by Tuesday morning using another plane.

Monday, 20 August 2012

Secular Café: Question on other ACA perspectives

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Question on other ACA perspectives

Aug 21st 2012, 05:31

I'm inclined to disagree with the ACA for many reasons.

This article is from the WSJ.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000...googlenews_wsj

I'm sure there are counter arguments, to this objection to so-called ObamaCare. What say you all?

Secular Café: Maybe Schools Should Stop Sucking, Ever Think of That?

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Maybe Schools Should Stop Sucking, Ever Think of That?

Aug 21st 2012, 05:05

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/24/ed...ment.html?_r=2

Quote:

Originally Posted by NYT

Enrollment in nearly half of the nation's largest school districts has dropped steadily over the last five years, triggering school closings that have destabilized neighborhoods, caused layoffs of essential staff and concerns in many cities that the students who remain are some of the neediest and most difficult to educate.

While the losses have been especially steep in long-battered cities like Cleveland and Detroit, enrollment has also fallen significantly in places suffering through the recent economic downturn, like Broward County, Fla., San Bernardino, Calif., and Tucson, according to the latest available data from the Department of Education, analyzed for The New York Times. Urban districts like Philadelphia and Columbus, Ohio, are facing an exodus even as the school-age population has increased.

Enrollment in the New York City schools, the largest district in the country, was flat from 2005 to 2010, but both Chicago and Los Angeles lost students, with declining birthrates and competition from charter schools cited as among the reasons.

Poor public schools :(. It must be rought having students go to charter to schools. Maybe public schools should stop sucking so bad.

Look at all the terrible things that will happen because of this:

Quote:

Originally Posted by Same Article

Because school financing is often allocated on a per-pupil basis, plummeting enrollment can mean fewer teachers will be needed. But it can also affect the depth of a district's curriculum, jeopardizing programs in foreign languages, music or art.

Oh no! No more Shakespeare studies for Johnny.

Quote:

"The fewer students we have, the fewer dollars we're getting" from the state and federal government, said Matthew E. Stanski, chief financial officer of Prince George's County Public Schools in Maryland, where enrollment has fallen by almost 5 percent in five years, despite sharp gains in nearby counties.

The fewer students they have, the less money they should need. At least following teh logic of "We have more pupils so we need more money" which these guys usually don't shy away from.

Quote:

Originally Posted by PAGE 2

In Los Angeles, the district has dismissed more than 8,500 teachers and other education workers in the last four years as enrollment fell by about 56,000 students. The Mesa Unified District, which lost 7,155 students between 2005 and 2010, has closed four middle schools in the last three years, delayed new textbook purchases, and laid off librarians.

That kind of sucks, since the mission of the school system is to employ people. :dunno:

Looks the introduction of a modicum of competition into education reveals what a failure the system is.
On the whole, what do you guys think of this?

Secular Café: CDC Recommends All Baby Boomers Test for Hepatitis C

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CDC Recommends All Baby Boomers Test for Hepatitis C

Aug 20th 2012, 14:51

http://www.care2.com/causes/cdc-reco...patitis-c.html

Rather scary.......I'm a baby-boomer....

Quote:

The Center for Disease Control announced that all baby boomers get a one-time blood test for the hepatitis C virus. In a public announcement, the CDC stated:

All U.S. baby boomers should get a one-time test for the hepatitis C virus, according to final recommendations published today by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. One in 30 baby boomers – the generation born from 1945 through 1965 – has been infected with hepatitis C, and most don't know it. Hepatitis C causes serious liver diseases, including liver cancer (the fastest-rising cause of cancer-related deaths) and is the leading cause of liver transplants in the United States.

The Associated Press reports that around 15,000 Americans die every year from hepatitis C-related illnesses. It sometimes takes decades for symptoms of the virus to appear in people carrying it. It can be spread through sharing of needles but health professionals note that blood transfusions before 1992 carried the possible threat of hepatitis C because screening for the virus only began after that year.

The virus especially affects the liver and its functions. The infection can eventually cause liver cancer and deep scarring of the liver tissues. Although people that have shared syringes because of drug use are typically at high risk, professionals note that the virus may have been contracted through something as simple as sharing a toothbrush.

So, why are baby boomers the primary concern of the CDC suggestion? According to the study results, this group of adults are five times more likely to be infected. Only about 3 percent of this population tests positive for the virus but doctors lament how many people come to them after the infection has already caused serious damage. Many of those people already face risks of cancer or the need for a liver transplant.

The announcement also reflects an increasing number of people dying from infections between 1999 and 2007, with numbers almost doubling in those years.

Secular Café: Florida Woman Strip Searched and Her Tampon ‘Forcibly Removed’

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Florida Woman Strip Searched and Her Tampon 'Forcibly Removed'

Aug 20th 2012, 13:43

http://http://www.care2.com/causes/f...y-removed.html

It's at the "No, I didn't" - "Yes, you did" stage. If true, it's incredibly bad, even if she has a history of arrests. it does sound a bit contrived, but who knows....

Quote:

A Florida woman, Leila Tarantino, is suing over a forced strip search in which one officer forcibly removed her tampon. The incident occurred last July when Tarantino was driving through Beverly Hills, Florida. The original officer alleges she rolled through a stop sign. A new report notes that the officer, who was sitting in the opposite direction of traffic, pulled a u-turn and quickly pulled Tarantino over.

What follows plays like everyone's worst nightmare, especially with children in the back seat of the car. Tarantino reports that the officer pulled out his gun and did not explain why he pulled her over. The Palm Beach New Times reports that she was placed in the back of a squad car for two hours to wait after the officer pulled her over.

While she sat there, and her children remained in the back of her car, backup arrived on the scene. This backup included three more male officers and one female officer. They proceeded to strip search Tarantino and the female officer allegedly "forcibly removed" a tampon from Tarantino during the search which took place in plain sight of passing traffic, and her children.

Secular Café: The core economic problem

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The core economic problem

Aug 20th 2012, 11:46

Quote:

Corporate Profits Just Hit An All-Time High, Wages Just Hit An All-Time Low
Henry Blodget | Jun. 22, 2012, 8:55 AM | 68,094 | 105

In case you need more confirmation that the US economy is out of balance, here are three charts for you.

1) Corporate profit margins just hit an all-time high. Companies are making more per dollar of sales than they ever have before. (And some people are still saying that companies are suffering from "too much regulation" and "too many taxes." Maybe little companies are, but big ones certainly aren't).

.....

http://www.businessinsider.com/corpo...ime-low-2012-6

Sunday, 19 August 2012

Secular Café: Another Teatard Idiot

Secular Café

For serious discussion of politics, political news, policy, political theory and economics and events happening round the world

Another Teatard Idiot

Aug 20th 2012, 01:53

This moron is WINNING!

Who are the fucktards who vote for someone like this - for the lurkers what he is saying is utter bullshit.

Saturday, 18 August 2012

Secular Café: Muslim Brotherhood ‘Crucifies’ Opponents, Attacks Secular Media

Secular Café

For serious discussion of politics, political news, policy, political theory and economics and events happening round the world

Muslim Brotherhood 'Crucifies' Opponents, Attacks Secular Media

Aug 18th 2012, 17:55

http://www.algemeiner.com/2012/08/16...secular-media/

Quote:

Last week in Egypt, when Muslim Brotherhood supporters terrorized the secular media, several Arabic websites—including Arab News, Al Khabar News, Dostor Watany, and Egypt Now—reported that people were being "crucified." The relevant excerpt follows in translation:

Quote:

A Sky News Arabic correspondent in Cairo confirmed that protestors belonging to the Muslim Brotherhood crucified those opposing Egyptian President Muhammad Morsi naked on trees in front of the presidential palace while abusing others. Likewise, Muslim Brotherhood supporters locked the doors of the media production facilities of 6-October [a major media region in Cairo], where they proceeded to attack several popular journalists.

That there were attacks and violence—both in front of Egypt's presidential palace and at major media facilities, is well-documented. An August 9 report by El Balad, a widely read Egyptian website, gives the details:

Last Wednesday, August 8, "thousands of the Muslim Brotherhood's supporters" attacked 6-October's media facilities, beat Khaled Salah—chief editor of the privately-owned and secular Youm 7 newspaper—prevented Yusif al-Hassani, an On TV broadcaster, from entering the building, and generally "terrorized the employees."

El Balad adds that the supporters of Tawfik Okasha, another vocal critic of President Morsi—the one who widely disseminated the graphic video of a Muslim apostate being slaughtered to cries of "Allahu Akbar"—gathered around the presidential palace, only to be surrounded by Brotherhood supporters, who "attacked them with sticks, knives, and Molotov cocktails, crucifying some of them on trees, leading to the deaths of two and the wounding of dozens."

Far from condemning these terrorists, Al Azhar, Egypt's most authoritative Islamic institution, has just issued a fatwa calling for more violence and oppression, saying that "fighting participants in anti-Muslim Brotherhood demonstrations planned for 24 August is a religious obligation."

Here we go.....another country lost to lunatic religion.