DN Speak

Friday, November 21, 2014

D.C. City Council Cracks Down On Cops Seizing People’s Assets For Police Use

Police would no longer get to keep the profits from the items they seize. The post D.C. City Council Cracks Down On Cops ... Read more

Republicans Plotting Extreme Measures To Sabotage Obama’s Immigration Action

Expect threats of shutdown, impeachment, and all-out obstruction. The post Republicans Plotting Extreme Measures To Sabotage ... Read more

Thursday, November 20, 2014

This is what Levi had to say about his role in the movie Jesus Camp.

"...We were seeing visions, interpreting dreams and hearing the voice of God, and seeing Him work powerfully in our lives..."

http://jesuscampmystory.com/levi-obrien/

Jesus Camp discussed on Bill Maher's show

http://youtu.be/aSEwc302gSs

Atheists Watch "Jesus Camp"

http://youtu.be/t4Q_2o2Ty5Y

Parker: Vatican is still fully pro-family

News that Pope Francis will visit the U.S. next year for the triennial World Meeting of Families brings elation to Catholics, excitement to pope watchers — and perhaps a little chagrin to some who too soon interpreted Francis’ broad compassion as a precursor to doctrinal changes related to marriage...
http://www.gainesvilletimes.com/section/250/article/106058/

7 Tips for Atheists at Thanksgiving Dinner (Herb Silverman, Secular Coalition of America)

"...Here are my tips as you look ahead to Thanksgiving dinner, with the disclaimer that you know your family better than I do, so tread carefully..."

https://secular.org/blogs/herb-silverman/7-tips-atheists-thanksgiving-dinner

7 US CEOs made more money than their companies have paid in taxes

...The Institute for Policy Studies and the Center for Effective Government, the study's co-authors, said its findings reflected "deep flaws in our corporate tax system."...

http://www.cbc.ca/news/business/7-u-s-ceos-made-more-than-their-companies-paid-in-taxes-study-finds-1.2838861

Dark matter could be detected by looking for time glitches

...in the existing network of GPS satellites. One researcher is already mining 15 years' worth of GPS timing data for its signature.Read more

Follow the human!

Stewart Rips Republicans For Claim That Obama Is Shredding The Constitution

Jon Stewart took a look at the long list of grievances the GOP has had with President Obama since he took office where they've claimed he was "shreddi... Read more

Republicans' New Plan To Rig 2016 Electoral College

As usual, if they can't win outright, they'll just cheat with tactics like voter suppression, outright disenfranchisement, and more. The "more" also m... Read more

Even Federalist Society Members Say Obama Action On Deportation Is Legal

Greg Sargent's Morning Plum points out that what Obama plans to do is legal, and even wingnut lawyers don't believe otherwise. The problem, of course,... Read more

Broadcast networks opt out of Obama immigration speech -- except for Univision

...Some television executives said privately on Wednesday that they perceived Obama's planned address to be more overtly political than Bush's address on immigration in 2006...
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Church of Pedophilia Calls Right-to-Die "Reprehensible"

http://youtu.be/ItftGXrde3E

Warren Torches GOP On Economy: We Tried It, It Was 'Nearly Catastrophic'

Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) went straight after Republicans, blasting the GOP on deregulation and trickle down economics during a Center for American... Read more

Steyer: GOPers 'Not A Scientist' Line Means They Can't Deny Climate Change

Tom Steyer, the billionaire environmentalist who took a prominent role in funding climate change opponents through his Next Gen Climate Action group, ... Read more

Google, IKEA, And SunEdison Bought A Lot Of Wind Power This Week

While so much focus was on Keystone XL and the U.S.-China deal, these big companies bought wind because it made good business ... Read more

Texas Threw Out At Least 500 Ballots Because Of Voter ID

229 voters in Houston's Harris County, 27 in San Antonio's Bexar County, and 99 in Dallas County.The post Texas Threw Out At ... Read more

The Roberts Court Has Already Said That Obama Has The Power To Issue His Immigration Order

Two Republican justices recently indicated that they are on Obama's side in the coming fight over immigration. The ... Read more

Water Contamination In Wisconsin Likely Tied To Coal Ash, Report Finds

Reusing coal ash as a construction material could be leading to the contamination of private drinking water wells.The post ... Read more

Louisiana GOP Sets Up Voter Fraud Program Despite Party Leaders Admitting Fraud Doesn’t Exist

The secretary of state has said his office hasn't received any complaints of voter fraud. The post Louisiana GOP Sets Up Voter ... Read more

What Americans Have Forgotten About The Era Before Roe v. Wade

The doctors who were alive back then want to remind us how legal abortion transformed public health in the U.S. ...

...In the decade when Grimes was born, the 1940s, there were records of more than 1,000 women dying each year from unsafe and largely self-induced abortions. Every large municipal hospital in the U.S. had a “septic abortion ward,” and treatment for the complications from so-called “incomplete abortion” was the single leading cause for admission for OB-GYN services across the country. National Opinion Research Center surveys conducted in the 1960s found that hundreds of women were attempting to self-abort by penetrating themselves with knitting needles, coat hangers, bicycle spokes, ballpoint pens; others tried to swallow chemicals like turpentine, laundry bleach, and acid...

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Vatican Humanum Conference Erases LGBT People With Trite Gender Norms

The Vatican's conference on the "complementarity" of men and women is simply spin to dismiss the lives of LGBT people.The post ... Read more

Republicans Were Fine With Bush Acting On Immigration Reform Without Congress

Republicans were for executive action on immigration reform before they were against it. The post Republicans Were Fine With ... Read more

Wednesday, November 19, 2014

House Republicans Are Now Using ‘GruberGate’ To Promote Distrust Of The EPA

"GruberGate has gone government-wide," said Rep. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN).The post House Republicans Are Now Using ... Read more

Fact checking Keystone jobs claims

"...But only 3,900 workers will actually be required to build the pipeline to carry oil from Canada to the Gulf of Mexico, according to the U.S. State Department, and those jobs will only last for a year. There will be 35 permanent positions created.
..."
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Rep. Rush Holt, PhD, Climate Hawk, To Head The World’s Largest Scientific Society

The American Association for the Advancement of Science has named retiring 8-term Rep. Rush Holt (D-NJ), a physicist, as their ... Read more

The ultra wealthy get $2 trillion wealthier

"...There were 12,040 new people who have more than $30 million in net assets in 2014, according to the Wealth-X and UBS World Ultra Wealth Report 2014. That's a 6% increase from last year, pushing the worldwide total to a record 211,275 people..."
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The Pentagon’s pugnacious critic on religion gets his day in Congress

"...He plans to tell Congress that numerous leaders in the military practice a “twisted version of Christianity” that oppresses not only Muslims and other religious minorities, but Christians who are not devout...."

http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/checkpoint/wp/2014/11/18/the-pentagons-pugnacious-critic-on-religion-gets-his-day-in-congress/

Living on a Prayer: Why Does God Kill So Many Children in Idaho?

Faith-healing parents believe prayer is the only acceptable treatment in matters of health, even if it means letting their children die. In Idaho, they're immune from prosecution, and the body count is rising...

https://www.vocativ.com/culture/religion/faith-healing-deaths/?page=all

Richard Dawkins stands by remarks on sexism, pedophilia, Down syndrome

“I don’t take back anything that I’ve said,” Dawkins said from a shady spot in the leafy backyard of one of his Bay Area supporters. “I would not say it again, however, because I am now accustomed to being misunderstood and so I will . “
http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/religion/richard-dawkins-stands-by-remarks-on-sexism-pedophilia-down-syndrome/2014/11/18/a2915cd8-6f64-11e4-a2c2-478179fd0489_story.html

"Godless" Ads Featured On Mid-Columbia Buses Through December

"'Oh, you seem so nice! I've never met an atheist before and I'm surprised you're nice.' We're just like everybody else," explained Jennifer Goulet from the Mid-Columbia Coalition of Reason...

http://www.nbcrightnow.com/story/27422049/godless-ads-featured-on-mid-columbia-buses-through-december

Tuesday, November 18, 2014

Death with Dignity legislation sparks support, opposition in Pennsylvania

Two state bills would allow terminally ill patients to end their own lives.

http://www.post-gazette.com/news/health/2014/11/18/Two-state-bills-would-allow-terminally-ill-patients-in-Pennsylvania-to-end-their-own-lives/stories/201411100009

Biologist Dawkins discusses ‘illusion of design’ at Stephens

Dawkins was joined on stage by ISU Bioethics Program Director Clark Wolf, who guided a 50-minute discussion, focused largely on the scientist’s life experiences in his field, before Dawkins took questions from the audience.

http://amestrib.com/news/biologist-dawkins-discusses-illusion-design-stephens

6 Ways Religion Does More Bad Than Good

What if harming society is part of religion’s survival strategy?
... Read more

If Presidential Action on Immigration Is Impeachable, Reagan and Bush Should Have Been Axed

14 times Republican presidents were "soft" on immigrants.
... Read more

Autumn in the blue ridge mountains. (Unknown photographer) [1024x768]

'One in every 30' US children are homeless

Report blames high poverty rate and estimates nearly 2.5 million American children were homeless at some point in 2013. Read more

Xi says China won't use force to achieve aims

President reassures that Bejing open to talks over South China Sea days after Obama warns against conflict in Asia. Read more

Protests as Palestinian found hanged on bus

Israeli forensics team say death of driver in Jerusalem was suicide, but colleagues of man say they suspect murder. Read more

At G20, Obama Leapfrogs Australia’s PM With Call To Action

Calling out Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott's fossil fuel advocacy, Obama said that "those of us who start getting gray ... Read more

Akio Toyoda introduces Toyota's "Mirai" Fuel Cell Sedan

Akio Toyoda has seen the future, and it’s called “Mirai”. That’s the name of Toyota’s new fuel cell vehicle, which the company’s president announced in a video released the day before the car’s official launch.

http://youtu.be/GUjYIaUGmqU

Jonathan Figdor: Objective Morality is a Myth

Imagine a young man, let's call him Paul, living in Paris in the early days of the Nazi occupation in WWII. He lives, serving as caregiver to his ailing mother with Parkinson's disease. While she is entirely dependent on him, he loves his mother very much and is happy to care for her, just as she did for him as a child. But every day, Paul wakes up and reads the newspaper, hearing each day about the German advance. Paul dreams of joining the Resistance. He isn't Jewish himself, but he still cares for his fellow Frenchmen, regardless of their race or religion. He knows that if no one stands up to Hitler, his friends who were black, or gay, or Jewish, would be rounded up and sent to camps.

What was it Edmund Burke or John Stewart Mill who once said, "All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing?" Still, the young man knows that joining the Resistance means abandoning his ailing mother.

Put yourself in his shoes? What's the right thing to do?

Maybe there isn't always the right choice, and the wrong choice, but two good choices, or two bad choices.
http://youtu.be/fqg_xbBu3ag

RWW News: Rick Scarborough Says 'Christians Have Infiltrated The Republican Party In Texas'

Rick Scarborough tells Gordon Klingenschmitt that right-wing Christians have completely taken over the Republican Party of Texas, which is why God is blessing the state.
http://youtu.be/M2z4sucxjvU

10 Questions for Theists

http://youtu.be/fPhbWc0HXgo

Republicans Have No Plan

Sen. Bernie Sanders discusses health care with Ed Schultz on MSNBC.
http://youtu.be/cf-O0JcWmnI

Lawsuit: Catholic Church Says Court Can't Make Them Show Up Because Freedom!

With so many religious whack jobs sitting on the Supreme Court, I guess you can't blame their lawyers for taking a shot at what would have seemed like... Read more

Number Of Homeless Children In The U.S. Hits Record High

According to a new report, 2.5 million children were homeless at some point in 2013, up 8 percent from 2012. The post Number Of ... Read more

California Tells Court It Can’t Release Inmates Early Because It Would Lose Cheap Prison Labor

Another potential obstacle to addressing the U.S. epidemic of mass incarceration has emerged: The utility of cheap prison ... Read more

The Holy See of Misogyny!

Cardinal Sean O'Malley
http://youtu.be/pWNayArWip8

Toyota and Honda release new fuel-cell cars

Honda and Toyota have used this week’s Los Angeles Auto Show to launch new hydrogen fuel-cell cars, renewing an intense rivalry over fuel cells stretching back decades.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/motoring/green-motoring/11237752/Toyota-and-Honda-release-new-fuel-cell-cars.html