Nestlé CEO: Let God Handle Global Warming

Climate change threatens one of the single most crucial ingredients at Nestlé, the world's largest food company.The post Nestlé ... Read more

Expiring on Netflix 2/5/2014: Margin Call

An analyst uncovers information that could destroy his employer in this drama about an investment bank early on in the 2008 financial crisis. When he alerts management, the firm must decide if it should alert clients or abscond with the profits.

http://movies.netflix.com/WiMovie/Margin_Call/70167125?trkid=13641790

Week In The News: Southern Freeze, State Of The Union, So Long Bernanke (Tom Ashbrook, On Point)

The State of the Union, a little sour this week. Small bore. No White House expectation of help from Congress. The President says he’ll go it alone if need be. The South, ice shock — “Ice-lanta” — as a cold wave crawls through. A farm bill in Congress. Fresh immigration reform talk. And talk from Congressman Michael Grimm of throwing a reporter off a balcony. Grim. Ben Bernanke’s wrapping up. Stock market’s stumbling. A death penalty call in the Boston Marathon bombing. And Pete Seeger’s gone. Turn, turn, turn. This hour On Point: our weekly news roundtable goes behind the headlines.

– Tom Ashbrook

 Interview:
http://onpoint.wbur.org/2014/01/31/state-of-the-union-obama-atlanta-bernanke

Friday News Roundup - Domestic

President Barack Obama takes his State of the Union message on the road. The House approves the Farm Bill. And the Fed continues its stimulus cut as Ben Bernanke’s term ends. A panel of journalists joins Diane for analysis of the week's top national news stories.

Interview:
http://thedianerehmshow.org/shows/2014-01-31/friday-news-roundup-domestic

Friday News Roundup - International (Diane Rehm Show)

In Ukraine, a bitter standoff between the government and opposition protesters showed no signs of resolution. A week ahead of the Sochi Olympics, Russia announced it detained two alleged accomplices in the December suicide bombings in Volgograd. Activists said fighting in Syria killed nearly 1,900 people this week while peace talks were held in Switzerland. In Egypt, ousted President Mohamed Morsi went on trial. And in South Sudan, both sides accused each other of violating a ceasefire. A panel of journalists joins Diane for analysis of the week's top international news stories.

Interview:
 http://thedianerehmshow.org/shows/2014-01-31/friday-news-roundup-international

Texas Board of Education changes textbook review process in bid to emphasize facts over ideology

Read more

No Black Holes? Here's What Stephen Hawking Actually Said

"... The debate comes down to a deceivingly simple question that has all kinds of implications for understanding the nature of the universe: If you drop information into a black hole, can you ever get it back..."

A four-page scientific paper about a theoretical physics question has been making the media rounds this week. That should be no surprise, though, give... Read more

Obama on net neutrality: I wouldn’t be president without an open Internet

President expects FCC to regulate Internet, uphold neutrality principles.     Read more

17 Restaurant Dishes With A Shockingly High Calorie Count (Even For America)

Even in this climate of unhinged gluttony, there are still a few restaurants that manage to shock and distress with just how little they seem to care about their patrons’ health... Read more

Former GOP Activist: I'm Done With the Party of Bigots

The cultural disconnect among Republican leaders is so severe that I just don't think that the party can be saved... Read more

Even Republicans Now View The Iraq War As A Failure

Republicans are finally done defending the Iraq war. Read More -> ... Read more

Study: Thousands Of People Will Die In States That Don't Expand Medicaid

As many as 17,000 Americans will die directly as a result of states deciding not to expand Medicaid under Obamacare, according to a new study. Resear... Read more

GOP Slams ‘Imperial’ Obama After Fewest Executive Orders In 100 Years (CHART)

Congressional Republicans threw a fit when President Barack Obama said during his State of the Union address this week that he would issue executive o... Read more

GOP Exaggerates 'Obamacare Victim' Story In State Of The Union Response

"...So a more accurate telling of the story is that Obamacare will force Grenier's monthly premiums to go up by about $400 and improve her benefits. Still a lot of money, but much less than $700, and that extra money will protect her in the event of illness from cost increases and prohibit her insurer from throwing her off her plan. And so the Democratic Party pounced..."


Republicans are taking fire for exaggerating the plight of a woman due to Obamacare in the party's official State of the Union response, delivered by ... Read more

These Five States Aren’t Lifting A Finger To Implement Obamacare

A new analysis finds that five red states are trying their best to ignore the fact that the Affordable Care Act is law.The post ... Read more

Why Has The Magnificent Monarch Butterfly Migration Slowed To A Trickle?

World Wildlife Fund Mexico announced Wednesday that a record-low 33.5 million monarch butterflies have reached their wintering ... Read more

GOP Prepares To Take Economy Hostage Unless Democrats Vote To Raise Obamacare Premiums

The GOP is demanding to repeal an Obamacare provision in exchange for increasing the debt limit -- even though they've embraced ... Read more

7 Facts That Weren’t In The New State Department Report On Keystone XL

With the release of State's final environmental report, the clock starts running on a 90 day public comment period, after which ... Read more

Why Citizenship Is Better For America Than Legal Status

 A citizenship provision is one of the biggest points of contention among some House Republicans who have already condemned any ... Read more

Bill Maher Plans to 'Meddle' With a House Race

Viewers will get to pick a race that he'll try to swing in 2014
http://www.newser.com/story/181609/bill-maher-plans-to-meddle-with-a-house-race.html

Climate change is directly killing baby penguins

A new study links large climate patterns to tiny hatchling deaths.

http://www.salon.com/2014/01/30/climate_change_is_directly_killing_baby_penguins/

Marlise Munoz wasn’t alone: The growing persecution of pregnant women

How dangerous new laws in states like Florida and Utah are stripping pregnant women of their rights

http://www.salon.com/2014/01/31/the_persecution_of_pregnant_women_marlise_munozs_case_is_not_an_isolated_incident_partner/

Right flight! Another Republican publicly abandons “extreme” GOP

"Call it Right Flight: In what is starting to look like a trend, the Republican Party has pushed yet another member to the breaking point by pulling so hard to the right. According to Talking Points Memo, Former Nevada Lt. Governor Sue Wagner announced earlier this week that she has left the Republican Party, citing irreconcilable changes to the party’s mission statement and general ethos..."

http://www.salon.com/2014/01/31/right_flight_another_republican_publicly_abandons_extreme_gop_partner/

Ham-on-Nye debate pits atheists, creationists

“A debate like this sets up a false choice” between science and religion for viewers, Haarsma said. “We don’t want them to have to choose.”
OF COURSE YOU HAVE TO CHOOSE!
This is a debate where religion will and must lose. Just google religion debates on Youtube and watch every proponent of religion just founder in disgrace. The pro-god movement is coming to an end.
You are either on the side of Voodoo and magical incantations
or Rationality and using reason to find out what is true." -- a commenter after the article

http://www.religionnews.com/2014/01/30/ham-nye-debate-pits-atheists-creationists/

this is norway

video about Norway and Norwegians

http://youtu.be/ebqdwQzmSHM

Small Cuts To Food Stamps Add Up To Big Pains For Many Recipients

Small Cuts To Food Stamps Add Up To Big Pains For Many Recipients by Richard Gonzales January 30, 2014 5:58 PM Listen to the Story All Things Cons... Read more

'Ingenious' System Helps Teacher Spot Kids in Trouble

"...As a teacher, parent, and lover of all children – I think that this is the most brilliant Love Ninja strategy I have ever encountered. It’s like taking an X-ray of a classroom to see beneath the surface of things and into the hearts of students. It is like mining for gold – the gold being those little ones who need a little help – who need adults to step in and TEACH them how to make friends, how to ask others to play, how to join a group, or how to share their gifts with others..."

http://momastery.com/blog/2014/01/30/share-schools/

If you give money to the Church, where does it really go? (repost)

"...Internal financial reports show the archdiocese used the stealth accounts repeatedly, paying nearly $11 million from 2002 to 2011 — about 3 percent of overall archdiocese revenues in those years — for costs tied to clergy misconduct under Flynn and his successor, Archbishop John Nienstedt.

The system allowed archdiocese leaders to remove priests who had committed child abuse or other infractions without attracting attention. Lax accounting controls let church leaders cut checks to make problems go away..."

http://minnesota.publicradio.org/collections/catholic-church/2014/01/23/secret-accounts-kept-clergy-misconduct-quiet-but-left-archdiocese-finances-exposed/

Mitch McConnell Thinks You’re Stupid

"...That's right: once again, the Senate minority leader insisted congressional Republicans have to use the debt ceiling to extract concession. McConnell's brilliance is just how much dishonesty he can pack into so few words.
At the heart of McConnell's audacious bull is his reference to "the request of the President to raise the debt ceiling," in order to give the impression that a debt ceiling increase is a favor to President Obama. It's not and he knows it.
This is actually pretty simple. Congress sets revenue levels. Congress sets spending levels. That's how the system works, as laid out in the Constitution.
The Obama administration has to spend at the levels Congress sets. Obama can't just decide to spend more or less or tax more or less..."

 ... Read more

http://youtu.be/Q9CSvqYRQtU

TIL Hitler praised the "Efficiency" of the American Genocide of Native Americans

"...Hitler's concept of concentration camps as well as the practicality of genocide owed much, so he claimed, to his studies of English and United States history. He admired the camps for Boer prisoners in South Africa and for the Indians in the wild west; and often praised to his inner circle the efficiency of America's extermination—by starvation and uneven combat—of the red savages who could not be tamed by captivity..."

Read more

Boeing reveals “the biggest breakthrough in biofuels ever”- Plants that can be grown in the desert with salt water, easily broken into carbohydrates.

Alarmed by the poor quality of fuel made from shale oil and tar sands and frustrated by the blunt refusal of oil companies to provide fuel of better quality, Boeing and its partners have over the past four years sponsored research into alternative fuels that has led to spectacular results. They found that there is a class of plants that can grow in deserts on salt water and has superb biomass potential. “Nobody knew this”, says Morgan. “It is a huge discovery. A game-changer for the biofuels market.” Karel Beckman has the story.

Read more

5 Facts About Immigration Reform Sen. Jeff Sessions Got Wrong

Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL) has been busy this week opposing Republican efforts to overhaul the nation's immigration system, from ... Read more

Austerity, Shutdown Knocked Almost 25 Percent Off Economic Growth

Official economic growth data is in for the last quarter of 2013, and it shows the high cost of Congressional malpractice.The ... Read more

Brain-Dead Texas Woman’s Family May Have To Pay For The Cost Of Keeping Her On Life Support

Erick Muñoz has been receiving hospital bills at his home, and isn't sure who will be responsible for paying them.The post ... Read more

Doctors Say The Number Of Children Dying In Detroit Constitutes A ‘Public Health Emergency’

Child mortality occurs at a higher rate in Detroit than in several Third World countries, according to a study conducted by Detroit News. After collaborating with national health departments, researchers discovered that the number one factor impacting Detroit’s high child death rates is prematurity, followed by a culture of violence. ... http://thinkprogress.org/health/2014/01/30/3228461/child-mortality-detroit/

VIDEO: Jon Stewart Dismantles Republican Whining After SOTU

Republican desire for bipartisanship is 'premium, grade-A, grass-fed bull-sh*t.'

Jon Stewart went on quite an extended riff last night on the Republican response to the State of the Union Address. Rand Paul, Paul Ryan, Mitch McConnell and others all looked into cameras and talked about how hurt they are that Obama dared say, 'I'm eager to work with you, but the American people don't stand still and nor will I."...

http://www.alternet.org/video/video-jon-stewart-dismantles-republican-whining-after-sotu

NASA Graphic Shows Six Terrifying Decades Of Global Warming (VIDEO)

"This visualization shows how global temperatures have risen from 1950 through the end of 2013.

NASA scientists say 2013 tied for the seventh warmest of any year since 1880, continuing a long-term trend of rising global temperatures. With the exception of 1998, the 10 warmest years in the 133-year record all have occurred since 2000, with 2010 and 2005 ranking as the hottest years on record.

NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS) in New York, which analyzes global surface temperatures on an ongoing basis, released an updated report Tuesday, Jan. 21, on temperatures around the globe in 2013. The comparison shows how Earth continues to experience warmer temperatures than several decades ago.

The visualization shows a running five-year average global temperature, as compared to a baseline average global temperature from 1951-1980...."

http://youtu.be/gaJJtS_WDmI

Grey is the New Black Hole: Is Stephen Hawking Right? (Op-Ed)

"...In reality, the headlines should not be “black holes don’t exist” but “black holes are more complicated than we thought, but we are not going to really know how complicated until gravity and quantum mechanics try to get along”.

But one last vexing question – is Hawking right? I started this article by noting that science is often compared to religion, with practitioners awaiting pronouncements from on high, all falling into line with the latest dogma.

But that’s not the way science works, and it is important to remember that, while Hawking is clearly very smart – to quote the immortal Tammy Wynette in Stand By Your Man, “after all, he’s just a man” – and just because he says something does not make it so.

Hawking’s proposed solution is clever, but the debate on the true nature of black holes will continue to rage..."

 http://www.space.com/24478-grey-is-the-new-black-hole-is-stephen-hawking-right.html

Virginia teachers oppose bill on science instruction

"If opinions and beliefs are to be used in classrooms, it undermines what science is."

http://www.oregonlive.com/newsflash/index.ssf/story/virginia-teachers-oppose-bill-on-science-instruction/428718976e19a0aedfbe592119792d9c

Fund maneuvers common in clergy-abuse stories

"The Catholic Church, Catholic organizations, and all other faith-based organizations are not worthy of my charitable contributions. I prefer to donate money, time, and items to secular community agencies whose main objective is to provide basic needs assistance to struggling families without the proselytizing caveat. It's especially good to know that I am not supporting one single shred of an institution that systematically covers up pedophilia!" -- Comment from a listener to this story.

http://www.mprnews.org/story/2014/01/28/daily-circuit-catholic-fundraising

FACEPALM! (The things religious people say)

It's a crazy world out there. And sometimes, there's only one appropriate response.

http://youtu.be/zbYf5_S7oJo

Real Exorcisms? Via Skype?! wut . . .

Evangelical Christian Bob Larson has "exorcised" over 20,000 demons. He can even Exorcise them via skype, I guess . . . I have no hope for this species.

http://youtu.be/Dq7ZZtKioqM

Fox News Says God's Hand Caught Skydiver?

When 16-year-old skydiver Mackenzie Wethington survived a 3,500 foot fall after her parachute failed to fully open, Fox News went a little too far in reporting on the divine intervention involved as I show in this video.

http://youtu.be/jtiYEQbn4Oo

Secular Grieving :: Sarah Maddox, Secular Student Association

Sarah Maddox is the co-founder (2009) of the Secular Student Alliance at St. Cloud State, served as its president for three years, and collaborated with Ben Blanchard on two speaking appearances at the annual SSA conference in Columbus, Ohio. Sarah studied Wildlife Management at St. Cloud State and is working toward a career as a zookeeper. She enjoys outdoor adventures, dinosaur-shaped foods, quoting Carl Sagan, caring for her pet rabbit, and being active in secular and skeptic communities.

http://youtu.be/2xwgj6TCTt8

No, You Won't Get Pregnant and Die :: Miri Mogilevsky, Secular Student Association

Surviving abstinence only sex education...

Miri Mogilevsky studied psychology at Northwestern University and now studies social work at Columbia University. She is also a member of the SSA Student Speakers Bureau.

http://youtu.be/67ccmVcSFpE

Thanks To Obama The Anti-Christ Is On His Way Says Bill O'Reilly Guest

""Pastor Robert Jeffress sat down with Bill O'Reilly Monday night to argue that President Obama is laying the groundwork for the rise of the Anti-Christ because he is "conditioning" people to rely on government support. He said there will be a "future world dictator before Christ returns who's going to usurp people's personal rights, and "change God's laws... without any opposition" so "people will have been conditioned long before the Antichrist comes to accept government overreach, and that's what you're seeing with President Obama."

He said, "I'm not saying President Obama is the Anti-Christ. In fact, I'm sure he's not, because the Anti-Christ is going to have higher poll numbers."

He argued that in addition to Obamacare creating a culture of dependency, Obama is sowing the seeds for the Anti-Christ with the contraception mandate and "abortion-inducing drugs," as well as the "redefinition of marriage.""* Ana Kasparian, Dave Rubin (Rubin Report) and Desi Doyen (Green News Report) break it down."

http://youtu.be/ptAMhav4MGc

If You Thought Republicans Were Sexist Hypocrites Before, Wait Till You See This

""Fox News Channel pundits Greta Van Susteren and Erick Erickson have gone to war over Texas state Sen. Wendy Davis (D) and Erickson's characterization of Davis as "Abortion Barbie." According to Talking Points Memo, a blog post by Van Susteren calling Erickson a "jerk" goaded Erickson into publishing a gruesome anti-choice rant that described scenes more suited to an abattoir or an installment of the "Saw" movie franchise than a women's clinic.

"Wendy Davis has staked her career on the right to chop a child to bits, no matter how viable the child is," Erickson wrote on Monday night at his blog Red State.

Rather than the bullying "jerk" portrayed by Van Susteren, Erickson perceives himself as a courageous truth-teller, saying, "I have helped define Wendy Davis by a moniker that sticks, describes, and makes her the butt of jokes, while drawing out the shrill hysterics of her supporters.""* The Young Turks hosts Cenk Uygur and Ana Kasparian break it down."

http://youtu.be/vG0IIeQz7Qs

Maximum Rage Over The Minimum Wage

"House Speaker John Boehner warned President Barack Obama that he will "run into a brick wall" by using his executive power and bypassing Congress, as the White House has signaled the President intends to do. "We're just not going to sit here and let the President trample all over us," said Boehner...".* These comments were made the day President Obama is set to discuss raising the minimum wage via executive order during the 2014 State Of The Union address. Back to the brick wall, just how obstructionist have Republicans been? The Young Turks host Cenk Uygur breaks it down.

http://youtu.be/M6j4GPjh1lA

Beck: This Was The SOTU "Where Our President Declared He Would Become America's First Dictator'

Glenn Beck says that the State of the Union Address will go down in history as the moment Obama declared himself a dictator.

http://youtu.be/PEInCVdTQIk

The GOP’s Glaring SOTU Hypocrisies

"...Take just one example—when McMorris Rodgers insisted, “Republicans believe health care choices should be yours, not the government’s.” Planned Parenthood quickly pointed out that just five hours before McMorris Rodgers spoke those words, House Republicans passed a set of sweeping bills that would significantly reduce the number of private health insurance plans that cover abortion. That, in other words, is Republicans using government to interfere in the private marketplace and control the decisions that women about their own bodies..."

The 19th-Century British politician Benjamin Disraeli once said, "A conservative government is an organized hypocrisy." This was obviously a prescien... Read more

The GOP’s Executive Order Freakout

"... The American Presidency Project at the University of California, Santa Barbara keeps a tally of every executive order from every president. And where does Obama rank compared to other post-World War II presidents?

Second from the bottom. At 168 executive orders in five years, he has two more than George H.W. Bush. Above him, with 169, is Gerald Ford. Then, the numbers take a leap. JFK had 214 executive orders; George W. Bush had 291; Jimmy Carter had 320, and Lyndon Johnson had 325. Bill Clinton signed off on 364 during his eight years, and Ronald Reagan came in with 381. The winners in this game are are Dwight Eisenhower with 484, Harry S. Truman with 907, and the awful tyrant Franklin Roosevelt with a whopping 3,522.

In other words, Republicans can say what they will about the president, but it’s ridiculous to denounce Obama for the use of executive orders if you’re comparing him to other presidents..."

There's little Republicans were happy with in Tuesday's State of the Union, but they were especially upset with President Obama's promise to utilize e... Read more

Six Habits of Highly Empathic People | Alternet

Are you a HEP (highly empathic person)? Well, even if you're not, it's possible to cultivate these highly pro-social traits.

http://www.alternet.org/culture/six-habits-highly-empathic-people

Why Libertarians Play the Clowns in the Circus Show Called the Republican Party

"...The South and the Christian Right is fixated on everything related to controlling race, sex, religious practice, abortion laws, and the repeal of every progressive law that has come out of the federal government. Unwittingly, Ron Paul libertarians have been swept up in this theocratic, Southern white power, nullification movement. This alliance threatens to rip the Republican Party apart, as well as the Union itself..."

Having the ... Read more

Misleading Minorities: Voucher Advocates Hope To Win African American and Latino Support With ‘School Choice’

Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) today proposed sweeping legislation that would direct $24 billion ... Read more

Military Maneuvers: New Armed Forces Rules On Religious Expression Spark Religious Right Complaints About Christian ‘Persecution’

It's hard to imagine a group that comprises 78.5 percent of the military (as of 2008) being ... Read more

Poll: Huckabee Is Now The GOP's Top Choice For 2016 After Libido Remark

Uncle Sugar has apparently provided Mike Huckabee with a polling bounce. Read More -> ... Read more

Stephen Fry vs deputy Milonov re: anti-gay laws in Russia

http://youtu.be/5eI0oYTZL2Q

Top U.S. Intel Official Says New Iran Sanctions Now Would Be ‘Counterproductive’

Director of National Intelligence James Clapper says Congress should hold off on new sanctions but Republicans continue to ... Read more

Gun Rights Activist: Withholding Guns From Domestic Abusers Is ‘Silly’

Philip VanCleave, the president of the Virginia Citizens Defense League, argued before a state Senate committee Monday that ... Read more

Family Research Council Attacks Marriage Equality With Study That Didn’t Research Same-Sex Couples

"The Family Research Council, an anti-gay hate group, is back to one of its old tricks of conflating single parents with committed same-sex couples raising children. In a radio interview, Peter Sprigg and Tony Perkins discussed a new Harvard University study that found that children growing up in communities with many single parents are less likely to have economic mobility as adults. This, they claim, shows that same-sex marriage will contribute to the same consequences for other children in their communities..."


Tony Perkins and Peter Sprigg that a new study that has nothing to say about same-sex parenting is more evidence to support ... Read more

One Surprising Policy Solution That Could Encourage Americans To Eat Healthier

A new study suggests that expanding the Earned Income Tax Credit could actually spur healthier eating habits among low-income ... Read more

Nebraska’s Atheist State Senator Introduces Bill That Would Force Churches to Pay Property Taxes

"...And now he has introduced a bill, LB675, that would eliminate a state property-tax exemption for religious organizations — essentially taxing churches...."

http://www.patheos.com/blogs/friendlyatheist/2014/01/23/nebraskas-atheist-state-senator-introduces-bill-that-would-force-churches-to-pay-property-taxes/

Stem cell 'major discovery' claimed

"...Now a study shows that shocking blood cells with acid could also trigger the transformation into stem cells - this time termed STAP (stimulus-triggered acquisition of pluripotency) cells..."

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-25917270

"American Treasure" by Old Fart Rants

We lost a national hero and a true American treasure yesterday. A wonderful artist and a tireless voice for peace and social justice, Pete Seeger died at the age of 94. A great man, self-effacing and more interested in living his principles than gaining wealth from them. His life was a statement that said right wing fascism can never prevail over the human spirit. He gave our lives both melody and the harmony; everyone knows his songs, whether they know he wrote them or not. If I Had A Hammer. Where Have All The Flowers Gone? We Shall Overcome. Turn Turn Turn - just to name a few...

http://youtu.be/tT4yDZpSz6A

RWW News: Paprocki Calls Anti-Gay Exorcism An Act Of Love

Bishop Thomas Paprocki claims that his anti-gay exorcism was an act of love.

http://youtu.be/cVQSZqN2mYE

Former Federal Communications Commissioner says it's time to go nuclear on ISPs: Reclassify them as common carriers.

"...Reclassifying companies such as AT&T, Verizon and Comcast as common carriers would make them more like public utilities and would make them subject to FCC regulations over issues such as rate setting and universal service obligations. It goes without saying that ISPs really, really, really don’t want to be reclassified as common carriers and would scream absolute bloody murder if the FCC were to even hint that it was thinking about enacting such a plan..."

Read more

Man bitten by snake is charged by Hospital $89,000 for Anti-venom found online for $750.

"...For comparison, Ferguson and his wife found the same vials online for retail prices as low as $750..."  Read more

Retired Army General To Tea Party Group: I Would Lead A Coup Against The U.S. Government

A former Fox News contributor doesn't want to be blamed for a revolution but would lead one if given the troops.The post ... Read more

Senator Expresses Outrage That The Government Has Taken Over Government Contracting

 Sen. Roy Blunt thinks the government has no right to hold government-paid contractors accountable. The post Senator Expresses ... Read more

The Super Rich are mad as hell

The rich are under attack, says Perkins in a Bloomberg interview, by "higher taxes, higher regulation and so forth." He added: "We are beginning to engage in class warfare."
Read more

One Way Lawmakers Are Trying To Prevent Government IT Disasters : All Tech Considered : NPR

"One of the issues that you have here, and other countries have, is the absence of a delivery capacity — the absence of being able to put your hand on teams of highly skilled, multidisciplinary technical and digital and policy people and deploy them at points of real urgency," says Bracken, of America's current government tech-deployment system. The Eshoo-Connolly bill calls for putting that team at the heart of government, with the new digital office out of the White House. Bracken calls this draft bill "a great start" in solving the delivery problem..."

http://www.npr.org/blogs/alltechconsidered/2014/01/27/267205156/one-way-lawmakers-are-trying-to-prevent-government-it-disasters

Who Are The Long-Term Unemployed? (In Three Graphs)

Who Are The Long-Term Unemployed? (In Three Graphs) by Quoctrung Bui January 28, 2014 4:15 PM When you are out of work and looking for 27 weeks or ... Read more

A Heart Surgeon's Viral Confession: Natural Food Is the Answer

Behind the beloved idea that processed food is "slowly poisoning everyone" 

 

"...Around 237,000 people now have Dr. Dwight Lundell's confession on their Facebook walls. His essay, headlined "Heart Surgeon Declares ..." Read more
 

My Fox News Nightmare: How I Tortured Myself with The Propaganda of Ignorance

"I'm a card-carrying member of the ACLU, so here's what happened when I watched 3 hours of Fox every day for a month..."

"...It was at that moment that I realized that Fox was simply not telling me things—things that, arguably, might be good for me to know. Such as, just to pick an example, that eating a certain brand of chicken might cause me illness or death, and that the problem was sufficiently dire that government employees were being recalled to work without pay to deal with it. It was a very disturbing moment, and I immediately began to wonder what other matters Fox had chosen to keep me in the dark about..."


... Read more