Tuesday, March 30, 2010

Large Hadron Collider A Success—And We're Still Alive! (We Think)

The scientists at CERN momentarily forgot how to speak like, well, scientists, and got a little carried away on Twitter after they successfully saw particle collisions for the first time. [CERN] <-click on this link for video
from Gizmodo

More from AP

The world's largest atom smasher has set a record for high-energy collisions by crashing two proton beams at three times more force than ever before.

The $10 billion Large Hadron Collider directed the beams into each other Tuesday as part of its ambitious bid to reveal details about theoretical particles and microforces.
The collisions start a new era of science for researchers working on the machine below the Swiss-French border at Geneva.
Scientists at a control room at the European Organization for Nuclear Research, or CERN, broke into applause when the first successful collisions were recorded. Their colleagues from around the world were tuning in by remote links.

Change means movement. Movement means friction. Only in the frictionless vacuum of a nonexistent abstract world can movement or change occur without that abrasive friction of conflict.
Saul Alinsky 

Monday, March 29, 2010

Lou Reed - Dirty Boulevard

Saturday, March 27, 2010

Sara Palin "Real Americans cling to their religion and guns"
Wolf  "I guess I'm not a Real American"

Update Going Green

I've had the Surge for a week now and it works great. It adds a little weight to the Ipod Touch but fits comfortly in your hand. There haven't been that many sunny days so it takes a while to get a full solar charge. It doesn't take long to get charged when hooked upto my PC using the supplied USB cable. No problems sincing to Itunes. Only problem is that the hole for the auto out plug is too small. Works only with my earbuds but not with my earphones or external speaker. No problem when using Bluetooth or WiFi, in fact I am posting this using the Blogger app over WiFi. My rating for the Surge is 4 stars out of 5 cause the phone plug hole is too small.

Quinnipiac poll on Tea Parties confirms yet again that they are arch-conservatives

By John Amato crooks and liars


My inbox is a full-time job all of its own, but I do get a lot of useful information passed on to me. Quinnipiac released a new poll about the Tea Party movement and the results are everything C&L has been saying about them.

Looking at voters who consider themselves part of the Tea Party movement:

  • 74 percent are Republicans or independent voters leaning Republican;
  • 16 percent are Democrats or independent voters leaning Democratic;
  • 5 percent are solidly independent;
  • 45 percent are men;
  • 55 percent are women;
  • 88 percent are white;
  • 77 percent voted for Sen. John McCain in 2008;
  • 15 percent voted for President Barack Obama.

A total of 19 percent of American voters trust government to do the right thing "almost all of the time" or "most of the time," compared to only 4 percent of Tea Party members.

While only 33 percent of all voters have a favorable opinion of Sarah Palin, 72 percent of Tea Party members have a favorable opinion of her.

The Teabaggers are essentially an extension of the conservative movement -- only, Fox News needed to tap into the body politic as far right as they could go to energize it. And in that Ailes-directed task, they were very successful. I laugh when I hear the MSM try to explain them to their audiences. They refuse to tell the truth about them in any detail or even admit the fact that they were cultivated with great care by Fox News.

And if you hear people trying to tell you that they are angry Independent voters, well, use this poll, our articles and, of course, Digby.

The Hard Core Right

In case anyone's still thinking that the teabaggers are "independent" middle of the road types who disdain both the right and the left equally,this new Quinnipiac Poll should finally put that to rest.

Ed Kilgore summarizes:

...the Tea Party folk [are] basically, very conservative Republicans determined to pressure the GOP to move to the right or suffer the consequences--in other words, a radicalized GOP base.

The alternative explanation has been that the Tea Partiers represent independent voters who are fed up with government and will join with Republicans to create a stable majority in this "center-right nation" if and only if Republicans stop talking about cultural issues and focus on lower taxes, smaller government and the economy. Nothing in the Quinnipiac poll supports that proposition. On question after question, self-identified Tea Partiers (13% of the total sample) are much closer in their views to self-identified Republicans than to self-identified independents. Most notably, the approval/disapproval rating for the Republican Party is 60/20 among Tea Partiers and 28/42 among indies. Among those voting in 2008, Tea Partiers went for McCain by a margin of 77/15; indies split down the middle (going for McCain 46/42). Tea Partiers have a favorable view of Sarah Palin by a 72/14 margin (significantly higher than among Republicans), while indies have an unfavorable view of her by a 49/34 margin. Tea Partiers self-identify as Republicans or Republican-leaners by a 74/16 margin. These are not the same people by any stretch of the imagination.

The poll doesn't ask enough questions to get at the details of Tea Party ideology, but it also doesn't supply any ammunition to the common perception that Tea Partiers are libertarians at heart, and/or that they are displacing the Christian Right within the conservative coalition. Actually, 21% of self-identified white "born-again" evangelicals consider themselves part of the Tea Party movement, well above the 13% figure for all voters. And the the two categories of voters share a rare positive attachment to Sarah Palin (white "born-agains" approve of her by a 55/29 margin, Tea Partiers by a 72/14 margin).

At some point, the more questionable assumptions that pundits are making about the Tea Folk--they are right-trending independents, they are hostile to the Christian Right--need to yield to empirical evidence. Now would be a good time to start.

Considering the media just figured out that some of the opposition to the bill over the past few months was from liberals who wanted a public option or single payer, I'm not holding my breath on that.

But it really doesn't take a poll to see that these tea partiers are ill-informed, Beck watching right wingers. All you have to do is read their signs and listen to what they say. They are the hardcore GOP base. And they are very, very sore losers. It's one of their defining characteristics.

The media will fight this fairly accurate assessment of them tooth and nail, but they'll see starting in the 2010 midterms if the teabaggers are a real third party. Sarah Palin and Karl Rove have been begging the Tea Partiers not to form their own party, but I really doubt they need them for that. There will be a few groups that break off and do their own thing, but if I had to put a number on it, then I'd say about 88% of them will join the GOP in the end.

My Ipod Touch

I've had my ITouch for a few years and I love it. As of this moment it has 628 songs, 4 Videos and 161 Apps with 1.1 GB left over in it's 16 GB Memory. I have AirStash a Wireless Pocketable Media Server on Pre-order and that will add up to 32 gigs. This little machine is a great portable computer as well as a cool game machine.


Here are some of the Apps and Games I like.

Every ITouch comes with these basic Apps.
Apples Safari Web Browser - I've tried other browsers but so far Safari is the best
An E-mail Program for multi accounts - Google, AOL, Hotmail on mine
Calendar
Clock
Contact List that can be used with e-mail and Apps
Stocks
YouTube
Maps
Voice Memos - You need earbuds with a mic
Notepad
Calculator
Weather - I use The Weather Channels App instead
Itunes
App Store
Settings
Photos - for got to tell yins I have 470 photos
Video

My favorite Apps
Twitter - Twittelator - I've tried most of them but this one is the best for me
WiFi Get Plus - Finds Hot Spots
Bing - The MS search app
Taptu - Another search app
MySpace - Better than the one on my Blackberry but not as good as
Facebook - Great Free App
iGift4u - Add on for FB Lets you update staus, has quotes, jokes, news, Youtube plus more
Live Cams
PA Traffic Cams
Google Earth
Google App - does everything google
Skype - Voice or txt only
Meebo - all txt chat programs in one
NASA
Kindle - Yeah I use it a lot to read my Kindle books
Wikipedia
Pandora - net radio
IMDB
Amazon
Yahoo -everything Yahoo
White House - yeah The Pres. loves the net
Quakewatch
NPR News
Call tacker
Those are just a few of the apps I like

Games and other stuff
Flick Fishing
Flick Bowling
IBeer
Zippo Lighter
Atomic Fart
Ask Ozzy
Family Guy
Avatar
Star Trek
Sims 3
C64 - Commodore C64 Emulator - waiting for Elite to come out for it
Snood
Doodle Jump
Scoops
Myst
6 diff car racing games
Bejeweled 2
4 diff pinball games, I like The Deep
FaceFighter put your own pics and fight them (bush is cool)
NCCA Live - all the games live
LED Football
4 diff snowboard games - Shaun White is best but no 1/2 pipe
Madden NFL 2010
Tiger Woods
3 diff poker games, play the same one I play on FB
3 Tarot, 1 Rune, 1 IChing and 2 horoscope apps
6 music apps Rock Band and Metalica Taptap used the most
2 Bird Watching apps
Plus many more

I am often asked When are you gonna get an IPad. My answer for now Never! Why? Because 1. you never by the 1st version of any high tech gadget. 2. Pissed at Steve Jobs for causing the price of e-books to go up. 3. Waiting for version 4 ( I have V2) of The Touch.


Republicans Block Bills Ensuring Continuation Of Military Health Care

From ThinkProgress

As ThinkProgress reported earlier today, some military families have been concerned about how the new Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act will affect their health care. Fears about the legislation have been fueled, in part, by lawmakers like Rep. Brian Bilbray (R-CA), who has claimed that “now their programs are going to beadministered like welfare programs, rather than earned military benefits.”

There is another piece of misinformation floating around that’s important to clear up. The new law has an individual responsibility requirement, meaning that every person must have health coverage (or receive an affordability waiver), otherwise he/she will be subjected to a fee. The Affordable Care Act doesn’t explicitly state that TRICARE — the military’s health program — will meet the individual responsibility requirement. So on Saturday, lawmakers — out of an abundance of caution — passed separate legislation affirming that TRICARE will not be affected. As House Armed Services Committee Chairman Ike Skelton (D-MO) stated when the legislation was unanimously approved:

While beneficiaries of these programs will already meet the minimum requirements for individual health insurance and will not be required to purchase additional coverage, the TRICARE Affirmation Act would provide clarification by changing the tax code to state it in law.

In the Senate, Jim Webb (D-VA) has introduced a companion bill to Skelton’s, and Daniel Akaka (D-HI) has put forth similar legislation on a related matter. Last night, Webb asked for unanimous consent to approve both measures. While Akaka’s would have to head back to the House for a vote, Webb’s — which has attracted six Republican co-sponsors — could go straight to the President for his signature, since the House already passed the Skelton bill. Sen. Tom Coburn (R-OK) objected, however, saying that Republicans wanted them attached to the reconciliation bill as an amendment sponsored by Sen. Richard Burr (R-NC), which would then have to go back to the House:

WEBB: Mr. President, I would suggest to my colleague from North Carolina and to my colleagues on the other side of the aisle that if you really want to fix this problem, we can fix it right now and we should fix it right now.We should not allow this issue to be tied up in the separate melodrama of the moment here. [...]

COBURN: We’ve got this — we got this a minute and a half ago to see the language. You have an amendment on the floor that actually accomplishes everything you want to do, and why are we doing this? Because you don’t want to mess up a package that’s clean. It has every application, the Burr amendment, to this. With that and the fact that this is exactly the kind of shenanigans the American people don’t want, I object.

WEBB: Let the American people understand the Republicans objected to a matter that could have been fixed by law tomorrow.

Webb brought his legislation up on the floor again today, around 4:30 p.m., saying that he would be working with Republicans to “attempt to clear these today.”

Republicans had been trying to attach all sorts of “poison pill” amendments to delay the reconciliation legislation, including one to ban all federal funding for the group ACORN, which has already announced that it is shutting down. Since their attempt failed, and the reconciliation bill is already back in the House, the TRICARE legislation needs to pass the Senate as a stand-alone bill, as Webb had tried to do yesterday.

Even though Bilbray and all other House Republicans voted for this measure, they’re now trying to argue that it doesn’t go far enough. Rep. Steve Buyer (R-IN) has another piece of legislation on the issue, which has attracted 32 co-sponsors — all Republicans. Bilbray spokesman Fritz Chaleff wrote to ThinkProgress that Skelton’s legislation says only that “TRICARE meets the minimal standards of coverage,” while the GOP bill “carves out TRICARE from the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.” However, Democratic aides on Capitol Hill told ThinkProgress that the the Skelton legislation is more than sufficient and the other bill is political grandstanding.

Everyone from military and veterans organizations to the chairs of relevant House committees to Veterans Affairs officials have confirmed that TRICARE will not be affected by the new health care law.

Sunday, March 21, 2010

GOP lawmaker shrieks ‘baby killer’ at pro-life Democrat Rep. Bart Stupak.


Stop the hate!


When House Republicans tried to use a motion to recommit to send the reconciliation package of health reforms back to committee to essentially kill the bill, Rep. Bart Stupak (D-MI) gave a passionate speech urging his colleagues not to fall for the ploy. Stupak said that Democrats have moved a pro-life bill in every way, by restricting taxpayer funds to abortion and by providing millions of Americans will quality health insurance. However, CNN is reporting that as Stupak gave his speech, a Republican lawmaker yelled “baby killer” at him. Murmurs were heard from the Democratic side of the aisle, and a Democratic lawmaker shouted “who said that?” No Republican answered.

CNN’s David Gergen observed that Republicans had joined rowdy, and at times vulgar, tea party protesters all weekend in rallying against the bill. He warned that the heavy influence of the tea parties, Rush Limbaugh, and other extreme right-wing voices is dangerous for the Republicans politically.

Saturday, March 20, 2010

Tea Baggers Call Congressmen "N****rs" and "F****ts" At HCR Protest. Hate Rules The Day

Thanks to Crooks and Liars

By John Amato

The tea party crowd have a hard time controlling their hate and racism and it was on display big time today.

The Hill:

Rep. Andre Carson (D-Ind.) claimed Saturday that health care protesters at the Capitol directed racial epithets at Rep. John Lewis (D-Ga.) as he walked outside.

Carson, a member of the Congressional Black Caucus along with Lewis, told The Hill that protesters called Lewis the N-word.

Tea Party protesters held a rally outside the Capitol on Saturday, which included speeches by Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.) and actor Jon Voight, and then proceeded into the halls to lobby members at the 11th hour.

Lewis was one of the leaders of the civil rights movement alongside Martin Luther King. Jr. Asked if racial epithets were yelled at him, Lewis responded, "Yes but it's OK. I've heard this before in the 60s. A lot of this is just downright hate."

Many of these people were hiding in the shadows until FOX News promoted the tea party movement. They aren't just a sliver of the make-up of the crowds. They ARE the crowds. And it's not limited to name-calling either. A staffer for Rep. James Clyburn said that protestors spat on Rep. Emanuel Cleaver. HuffPo got a statement from Clyburn:

Clyburn was downright incredulous, saying he had not witnessed such treatment since he was leading civil rights protests in South Carolina in the 1960s.

"It was absolutely shocking to me," Clyburn told the Huffington Post. "Last Monday, this past Monday, I stayed home to meet on the campus of Claflin University where fifty years ago as of last Monday... I led the first demonstrations in South Carolina, the sit ins... And quite frankly I heard some things today I have not heard since that day. I heard people saying things that I have not heard since March 15, 1960 when I was marching to try and get off the back of the bus."

"It doesn't make me nervous as all," the congressman said, when asked how the mob-like atmosphere made him feel. "In fact, as I said to one heckler, I am the hardest person in the world to intimidate, so they better go somewhere else."

Asked if he wanted an apology from the group of Republican lawmakers who had addressed the crowd and, in many ways, played on their worst fears of health care legislation, the Democratic Party, and the president, Clyburn replied:

"A lot of us have been saying for a long time that much of this, much of this is not about health care a all. And I think a lot of those people today demonstrated that this is not about health care... it is about trying to extend a basic fundamental right to people who are less powerful."

And if that's not disgusting enough, Barney Frank was called a "f****t," today too.
Gay.AmericaBlog:

Everything you needed to know about this hateful movement is expressed in this one story. It wasn't just one bigot. The entire crowd of teabaggers erupted in laughter. Hell of a movement Dick Armey has created - after all, he called Barney Frank the same thing, "fag," back in the 90s.

Rep. Barney Frank got an uglier version of the treatment. Just after Frank rounded a corner to leave the building, an older protestor yelled "Barney, you f****t." The surrounding crowd of protestors then erupted in laughter.

At one point, Capitol police officer threatened to throw a group of protestors out of the building but that only seemed to inflame them more; and apparently none were ejected.

Meanwhile the gun freak teabaggers are threatening to shoot people if health care is passed.

Tea Party activists have gathered on Capitol Hill today for a “Code Red” rallyagainst health care reform. Speakers at the event included Republican Reps. Steve King (IA), Michele Bachmann (MN), and Mike Pence (IN). The gathering was organized by Tea Party Profiteer organizations like FreedomWorks and Americans for Prosperity. ThinkProgress attended today’s rally and spotted a sign threatening violence if health care passes. The sign reads: “Warning: If Brown can’t stop it, a Browning can,” referring to Sen. Scott Brown (R-MA) and a Browning firearm

Just wait. We will see violence like our generation hasn't seen in many a decade. Anyone thinking of joining up with them go right ahead at your own risk. They will never sign on to anything that is remotely liberal. Ever.

And yet A READER has the BALLS to call ME a HATER! - WOLF

Going Green

With NOVOTHINK’s hybrid solar charger case, you can now powerup your iPod literally anywhere under the sun. Our solar panel technology enables you to be part of the solar energy solution.


A few years ago a friend of mine gave me an Ipod Touch. It's a great machine. It not only plays music and videos but lets me get on the web with some great apps for Facebook, MySpace and Twitter. When at home I use a small program on my laptop called Connectify (Windows 7 only) to make my Dell Mini 10 into a hotspot. When I'm out and about I use an App to find the nearest WIFI hotspot and there are a lot of them.

I just got this solar charger for it and it seems to be working great. I'll update yins after I've had more time with it. Probably post to the blog with an App.

Yes I Hate Bigotry, Racism and Brainwashing!

Wow you have a deep seated hate for fox news.This hatred may be a detrament to you. Fox is the most watch news programw on cable. Why let these fools upset you so .How dose what they say and do stop you from loving the creator and being of sevice to youe fellow man - anonymous

As the old saying goes; If 6000 people jumped off a bridge would you follow? Don't follow leaders, watch the parking meters, you don't have to be a weatherman to know which way the wind blows - Bob Dylan said that. Anger is a Gift - 1st heard that from RATM. The only thing that upsets me readers are that people can't think for themselves anymore. I'm done with service to my fellow man, time for me now - Thats advice from a friend when I retired. My advice to you - Get a damm spell checker. As for your creator, I love both mine and thats between me, Her and Him.
As John Lennon once said All I Want is the TRUTH!


StopBeck.com is a nonpartisan effort focused on holding Glenn Beck accountable for preying on racial anxieties, employing vitriolic rhetoric and disseminating distortions. Our purpose is to urge sponsors to stop supporting Glenn Beck’s brand of hate with advertising dollars.

StopBeck began on July 2, 2009. It was and remains primarily a Twitter effort. From - @stopBeck

So far Beck has lost 120 Advertisers

Nonsensical tirades that prey on racial anxieties, like the one Glenn Beck delivered on March 9 about the census underscore part of the reason why 119 advertisers fled his show and why the broadcast of his show in the UK has been without any advertisers for over a month now.

Glenn Beck urged people not to fill out the race question on the Census because it’s an attempt to increase modern day slavery (emphasis added):

He also trashed Woody Guthrie as well as his song This is Your Land.


From News Hounds

Beck Smears 11Year Old For Speaking Out For Health Care Reform

Reported by Ellen - Wed 2:35 PM

As Media Matters noted, Glenn Beck was just one of several right-wingers who attacked 11 year-old Marcelas Owens and his family after he spoke at a press conference with Senate Democrats in support of health care reform. But unlike Rush Limbaugh, Michelle Malkin or NewsBusters, Beck works for a news operation that could have investigated the inflammatory “questions” Beck raised about Owens’ mother’s death after losing her health insurance. But even if Owens had been a complete fraud (and Beck never offered any real evidence that anything Owens said had been untrue), it says a lot more about Beck and Co. that they would seize upon attacking a child and the family of a dead woman rather then focusing on advocating against health care reform on the merits. So who’s really exploiting whom?

Fox Nation Discussion Advocates Armed Revolution. Is That Not Treason?

Fox Nation, the website that boasts about its goal of "strengthening our diverse society by striving for unity," has nevertheless allowed in its moderated comments a prolonged, open discussion about armed revolution. It's impossible to believe that the Fox Nation editor, Jesse Watters (the ambush guy) didn't know something like this would come up when he posted the inflammatory article, Rep. King Calls For Revolution In The Streets. Its first sentence is, "Rep. Steve King (R-IA) is calling for a new procedural solution to stop the health care bill: Have an angry mob of citizens storm Washington and prevent Congress from acting, in imitation of the Velvet Revolution that overthrew communist rule in Czechoslovakia!" Yet while one commenter complained about hus comments being blocked (shown in the last screen grab), we found at least 7 in favor of armed revolution. Each were posted more than 24 hours ago - more than enough time for any moderator to consider and remove any material deemed inappropriate. Is this not treason?

Hannity’s Bigoted Pal Says He’s Changing The Name Of The White House To “Big Mama’s House”

Reported by Ellen - Sat 1:24 AM

Sean Hannity welcomed back his bigoted pal, Rev. Jesse Lee Peterson, last night (3/19/10). You probably recall that Peterson is the African American who can’t seem to face a Fox News camera without accusing other African Americans of racism. In some of his noteworthy prior appearances, he characterized “most blacks” in Tennessee as racists and, in a later appearance announced, “I think we all agree that Barack Obama was elected mostly by black racists and white guilty people.” Despite such inflammatory, anti-African American rhetoric, Peterson keeps getting invited back. Last night, Peterson topped off a slew of racially-tinged, anti-Obama rhetoric by declaring, "I have changed the White House from being the White House to Big Mama’s House." Kudos to Professor Caroline Heldman for calling him on his racist remark.

Bill O’Reilly Advances Christian Right Attack On Girl Scouts & Planned Parenthood

Reported by Priscilla - Fri 1:07 PM

It’s no secret that the Christian right does not like Planned Parenthood and because they don’t like Planned Parenthood, they aren’t too happy about the Girl Scouts. In 2004, a Girl Scout troop ,in Texas, was attacked by members of the American Taliban (whoops, conservative Christians) because the local groups had given a “woman of distinction award” to a Planned Parenthood executive. Pro-Life Waco was also pissed because the Girl Scout organization had, for years, endorsed a Planned Parenthood sex ed program in which boys and girls were taught about (gasp) homosexuality. A call for a boycott of Girl Scout Cookies was declared. It’s 2010 and the Girls Scouts are, again, in the crossfire of far right Christians who are making a scurrilous and unsubstantiated accusation against the Girl Scouts. So are we surprised that this would be a subject for Bill O’Reilly who, like his religious fellow travelers, isn’t a fan of Planned Parenthood? But in advancing the unsubstantiated smear of Planned Parenthood, he’s also advancing a smear of the Girl Scouts and that’s not very nice!

Fox News Uses Sex To Race Bait

Reported by Ellen - March 11, 2010

If Fox Nation's recent headline, "Study: White People Have Less Sex" wasn't a deliberate attempt to race bait, then why did it allow the blatantly racist comments on its moderated threads? Screen grabs of some of the bigotry that "civil," "tolerant" Fox Nation deems appropraite after the jump. (H/T phourdythrea.blogspot.com)

Not only Me!

so you say but you have been wrong alot.Yeah A Sadam and his sons were better right - anonymous


Iraq War = Horrible Mistake.

So says Republican Member of Congress Dana Rohrabacher (via the Cato Institute):
In a Thursday panel at Cato on conservatism and war, U.S. Reps. Dana Rohrabacher (R-Calif.) Tom McClintock (R-Calif.) and John Duncan (R-Tenn.) revealed that the vast majority of GOP members of Congress now think it was wrong for the U.S. to invade Iraq in 2003.
Rohrabacher (who voted for Authorization to use Military Force in 2002) is even quoted as saying:
I will say that the decision to go in, in retrospect, almost all of us think that was a horrible mistake.
Their party is still filled with birther/tenther crazies, but at least some of them now recognize that the war in Iraq was a. horrible. mistake.

Will they be apologizing anytime soon to the 4300+ families of the servicemen and women who died for their horrible mistake?

Will dubya?

Of course not.



Iraq: Thousands Dead, $747.3 Billion Spent And Not Any Safer

Wednesday, March 17, 2010

Monday, March 15, 2010

Write Your Rep NOW for Health Care Reform

Final March for Health Reform: Write a Letter to Congres Click on this link, only takes a few minutes
my.barackobama.com

With everything on the line and so little time left, we have to bring our voice to Congress through every possible channel. So today, OFA supporters are taking the next step in the Final March for Reform: Writing to Congress.

If I could have afforded health care while I was working I wouldn't be as Sick as I am now.