Still lots of work to do on flood cleanup.

I have learned there is still a lot of work I need to do to prevent damage to the basement.  Yesterday my insurance company made me aware of some pro practices to get the moisture out of drywall -- essential to preventing mold formation.  Unfortunately, it means drilling lots of holes in the drywall.  I am in the process of doing this, and that also means moving a lot of books and such that were not touched by the flood waters but are in the way of the drilling that needs to happen.

So, I'll have less time to spend on this blog for the next several days than I normally do.  But I'll be back to normal here when my life is more back to normal. Stay tuned.

Diesel Used To Frack Oil And Gas Wells Without Permit, Report Finds

A new report has found that since 2010 fossil fuel companies have used more than 30,000 gallons of diesel fuel across the ... Read more

CDC Warns 40 Percent Of Americans Will Develop Diabetes: ‘We Didn’t Expect It To Increase This Much’

The recent findings come on the heels of another report that designated diabetes and obesity as two of the greatest public ... Read more

Rep. Mike Coffman Says We Should Limit Carbon Months After Voting To Keep It Spewing

During a Thursday debate, Coffman said "we need to do everything we can…to bring down carbon." His votes in Congress, however, ... Read more

At Ford Headquarters, Electric Cars To Be Charged By Solar Canopy Parking Lot

Ford is planning to build a solar canopy covering 360 parking spaces at their world headquarters near Detroit, Michigan.The ... Read more

What Robin Williams’ Parkinson’s Diagnosis Teaches Us About Depression

Depression and Parkinson's actually often go hand-in-hand.The post What Robin Williams' Parkinson's Diagnosis ... Read more

Congressman Wants To Stop The Feds From Giving Cities Like Ferguson Military Weapons For Free

Both the excess of military equipment no longer being used for combat, and the move toward a "War" on drugs over the last ... Read more

Former Interior Secretary Slams GOP Effort To Seize And Sell America’s Public Lands

The Republican Party's endorsement of public land seizures and sell-offs would "cause Teddy Roosevelt to turn over in his ... Read more

Apple bans chemical that causes nerve damage

Apple has banned two toxic chemicals - benzene and n-hexane - from the manufacturing process of its computers and other products.

http://money.cnn.com/2014/08/14/technology/apple-toxic-chemicals/index.html

Atheist activist: Separation of church and state protects Christians from state-sponsored Islam

An atheist college student who received hate mail and death threats after she spoke out against a monument declaring “In God We Trust” on public property in Alabama said she was helping to preserve religious liberty for everyone.
http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2014/08/14/atheist-activist-separation-of-church-and-state-protects-christians-from-state-sponsored-islam/

Whole Foods Sued For Having Six Times More Sugar In Yogurt Than Label Claims

I wonder how many of the other items in Whole Foods are mislabeled. After all, the owner is a wingnut! Yesterday, the lawyers who made headlines for ... Read more

Streaming now on Netflix: Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey

Astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson presents new revelations about time and space in this reboot of the original "Cosmos" documentary series.

http://www.netflix.com/WiMovie/80004448?sod=search-autocomplete

Two Years Later, North Dakota Company Still Hasn’t Paid For Illegally Dumping Drilling Waste

Hit with a record $1.5 million fine in 2012, "the now-dissolved company is under federal investigation, the penalty is unpaid ... Read more

Germany Added A Lot Of Wind And Solar Power, And Its Electric Grid Became More Reliable

Germany only lost 15.91 minutes of electricity per customer in 2012. That's better than most of its European neighbors, and ... Read more

11 Years Later, Laura Ingraham Discovers Bush's Iraq War Was A Bad Idea: 'It's Worse Off!'

Conservative radio host Laura Ingraham lamented over the weekend that Iraq was worse now because President George W. Bush had invaded the country in 2... Read more

If Chuck Todd Had Paid Attention He'd Know Exactly What The Obama Doctrine Is

On Meet the Press Sunday, Chuck Todd proved he pays no attention to anything beyond the stupid damned polls. He actually said this with a straight fac... Read more

Poll: Majority Says Don't Deport Children, Contra Obama And GOP

Most Americans say unaccompanied minors arriving at the U.S.-Mexico border should be allowed to stay at least for a while, according to a new Reuters/... Read more

Huckabee Clarifies He 'Never' Said Obama Should Be Impeached

Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee (R) on Saturday clarified that he never called for President Obama to be impeached. Last week, he told Iowa radio ... Read more

Karl Rove: Hillary Wants To Be 'The Goldilocks Of Foreign Policy'

GOP strategist Karl Rove on Monday compared Hillary Clinton to "Goldilocks" in responding to the former secretary of state's latest interview on forei... Read more

TIL in 1975 Australia had a government shutdown.

In the end, all the members of Parliament were fired and then elections were held to restart from scratch. They haven't had another shutdown since....Read more

As Missiles Halt, Thousands Of Palestinians Find Themselves Homeless

More than 100,000 people are without homes now in the Gaza Strip.The post As Missiles Halt, Thousands Of Palestinians Find ... Read more

This Bus May Be Coming To Fight Abortion Restrictions In Your Town

Grassroots activists are hitting the road to lobby for rolling back anti-abortion laws that harm low-income women. The post ... Read more

American Banks Just Posted Their Second-Highest Quarterly Profit On Record

The $40.24 billion in combined quarterly profits that U.S. banks reported from April to May is just a rounding error short of ... Read more

Wind Farm Powering A Million Homes Nears Approval Deep In Coal Country

A missive wind farm is getting closer to being built in Carbon County, Wyoming.The post Wind Farm Powering A Million Homes ... Read more

I'm back.

Flood cleanup had me busy full time, but the big stuff is done and I'm back to a more normal life, so the posts on this blog will be coming back to normal.  Thank you for your patience during my recent absence.

Ku Klux Klan Seizing On Anti-Immigrant Sentiment To Draw New Members

The Ku Klux Klan is trying to unite Americans around demonizing undocumented immigrants. The post Ku Klux Klan Seizing On ... Read more

Religious Discrimination 101

"...Bottom line: The First Amendment protects your right as an American to the free exercise of your religion. It does not protect your right to use your religion as an excuse to discriminate against other Americans..."

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/rev-susan-russell/religious-discrimination_b_5662632.html

From peyote to sex: Religious liberty fight recast

"...Cathleen Kaveny, a Boston College professor of law and theology, said many Americans perceive reactions like these, and demands for exemptions, as an attempt by “losers in the culture war to hold onto a position” that broader society has generally rejected..."

 http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/religion/from-peyote-to-sex-religious-liberty-fight-recast/2014/08/09/8a82a216-1fdf-11e4-9b6c-12e30cbe86a3_story.html

The Amazing Ways The Google Car Will Change the World

Read more

Last Week Tonight with John Oliver: Predatory Lending (HBO)

Payday loans put a staggering amount of Americans in debt. They prey on the elderly and military service members. They’re awful, and nearly impossible to regulate. We’ve recruited Sarah Silverman to help spread the word about how to avoid falling into their clutches.

Read more

97 Year-Old Woman Denied The Right To Vote Because Of Voter ID

And voter fraud at the polls is still only slightly more common than unicorns.The post 97 Year-Old Woman Denied The Right To ... Read more

Android Users Flip Out Over New Facebook Messenger Privacy Rules

Facebook says stipulations in Messenger app's terms of service that allow it to "call phone numbers without user intervention" ... Read more

Are Christians persecuted in the United States?

"...Publius cites five primary examples, six secondary examples, and three examples that he characterizes as "vignettes".  I looked at every one of these and, unsurprisingly, they do not support the conclusion.  Of Publius's fourteen examples, only one is even a legitimate example of harassment of any sort.  ..."

http://blog.rongarret.info/2014/08/are-christians-persecuted-in-united.html

Jesus, God, or Nothing? (Skepticality)

This week Derek speaks with Raphael Lataster, a secular PhD researcher in religious studies who focuses on philosophy of religion, Christian origins, logic, Bayesian reasoning, and the social impacts of atheism. His Master's thesis dealt with Jesus mythicism, concluding that historical and Bayesian reasoning justifies a skeptical position in regards to any form of 'historical Jesus'. His work led him to write his new book, 'There Was No Jesus, There Is No God'. Derek decided to sit down and talk with Raphael and find out more about how the ideas contained in the book came about and how they fit when so many prominent, modern, religious scholars tend to keep making statements as to the historical certainty of a Jesus figure.

 

Interview:

http://www.skepticality.com/jesus-god-nothing/

 

 

Live From NECSS With Lawrence Krauss (Rationally Speaking RS106)

Rationally Speaking returns to NECSS for a live show with Lawrence Krauss, theoretical physicist and author of best selling books like The Physics of Star Trek and A Universe from Nothing. Julia and Massimo chat with Lawrence about whether the laws of the universe demand some kind of explanation, whether string theory should be deemed a failure, and how he ended up featured in a geocentrist documentary.

Interview:
http://rationallyspeakingpodcast.org/show/rs106-live-from-necss-with-lawrence-krauss.html

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... can be browsed in user-selected layouts at DNSpeak2.

Does Hobby Lobby Threaten Gay Rights? (Diane Rehm Show)

A Supreme Court case about the Affordable Care Act has spilled into the debate over gay rights. In Burwell v. Hobby Lobby, the justices ruled that certain companies do not have to include birth control in their health plans under the ACA if owners object for religious reasons. The opinion ignited a broad discussion about how to balance religious freedom and civil rights, including what legal protections can be extended to gay men and lesbians. Now faith groups have called for President Barack Obama to exempt them from rules about employment bias and gay rights advocates express fears of eroding protections. A conversation about the fallout of hobby lobby.
 

Inteview:

http://thedianerehmshow.org/shows/2014-07-10/does-hobby-lobby-threaten-gay-rights

 

 

Choosing To Die (Diane Rehm Show)

The aid in dying movement is growing. Montana, Oregon and Washington already have laws permitting right-to-die options. In January, a New Mexico district court authorized physicians to provide lethal prescriptions to mentally competent terminally ill adults. And last year, Vermont passed a law permitting patients to choose what advocates call "death with dignity." Public support of assisted dying has expanded in recent years as baby boomers deal with the death of their parents, many of whom are living into their 80s and 90s and suffering from diseases linked to longevity, such as dementia and many types of cancer. Diane and her guests discuss the aid in dying movement and what is driving its growth.
 

Interview:

http://thedianerehmshow.org/shows/2014-07-07/choosing-die

 

 

Why The Overuse of Antibiotics May Be Linked To Asthma And Obesity (Diane Rehm Show)

The development of antibiotics in the 1940s ushered in a golden age of medicine. Bacterial infections and illnesses that were commonly fatal became treatable. But researchers now say the overuse of antibiotics has disturbed the natural balance of beneficial bacteria in our bodies. New studies indicate that some diseases - including obesity, childhood diabetes and asthma - may be on the rise because we have upset the delicate equilibrium of microbes in our gut and on our skin. In the next hour, Diane Rehm talks with two leading medical experts about this new research.
 

Interview:

http://thedianerehmshow.org/shows/2014-07-10/why-overuse-antibiotics-may-be-linked-asthma-and-obesity

 

 

When Workplace Jerks Get Promoted (Tom Ashbrook)

It takes all kinds to turn the world.  In the world of work, some kinds are harder to take than others.  Psychologists point to what they call a “dark triad” of traits that mark a particular kind of corporate climber, workplace striver, who can rise but can also make a mess.  The triad of traits, they say, is this:  that ambitious colleague who is also narcissistic, anti-social, and manipulative/Machiavellian.  A little bit of that mix can be rocket fuel.  A lot can be a problem.  Maybe you’ve seen it.  This hour On Point:  the “dark triad” at work. / Tom Ashbrook

Interview:
http://onpoint.wbur.org/2014/07/31/dark-triad-management-corporate-climbers

Taking The Temperature Of The U.S.-Russia Face Off (Tom Ashbrook, On Point)

For decades, Moscow was the great bogeyman of the West.  The Cold War enemy.  Then the Berlin Wall came down, and the world was jubilant to say goodbye to all that.  Is it back?  Just when it’s the last thing anybody needs?  Vladimir Putin is pushing a hard line into Ukraine and specifically against the West.  Malaysia’s airliner is in pieces and the shock waves still shake us.  New sanctions are going at the heart of Russia’s wealth – oil.  And now there’s talk of the US helping target Russian weapons.  That’s hot.  This hour On Point: is it Cold War again? / Tom Ashbrook

Interview:
https://onpoint.wbur.org/2014/07/31/us-russia-obama-putin-ukraine

A View From The Climate Changed Future (Tom Ashbrook, On Point)

Here’s a story to chill your bones.  It is the year 2393,  almost 400 years from now.  And a Chinese historian is looking back on our century, the 21^st century, and trying to explain how the world saw climate change coming and did nothing.  How we denied and delayed as an unbelievable price tag of suffering and destruction gathered around us.  How that suffering finally came – with flood and heat and mass migration and chaos.  How Western civilization collapsed . This hour On Point:   a horror story from the future about climate change and the rest of our lives. / Tom Ashbrook

Interview:
https://onpoint.wbur.org/2014/07/29/climate-change-science-fiction-future

The Cost Of Our 'Do-Nothing' Congress (Tom Ashbrook, On Point)

Come this Friday, hundreds of US Congress men and women will be flying out of Washington.  Representatives and Senators, headed out, headed home, for a five week August recess.  And here’s the thing:  they’ve done almost nothing in Washington.  The label is “do-nothing” Congress.  Democrats use that label to attack.  Some Republicans wear it almost as a point of pride.  But in a world of so much change and challenge, can we afford inaction?  This hour On Point:  the “do-nothing” Congress tag, and the cost of standing still. / Tom Ashbrook

Interview:
https://onpoint.wbur.org/2014/07/29/congress-recess-debt-house-senate

A Win For Hobby Lobby, And What It Means (Tom Ashbrook, On Point)

To the Greens of Oklahoma, it was just logical.  Yes, they were billionaires.  Yes, their Hobby Lobby chain employed thousands of people.  But why would they cover contraception that their religious belief found offensive?  To many others, the logic ran just the other way.  The Affordable Care Act offered health care to all.  Contraception included.  Why would a woman be subject to the religion of Boss Green? Yesterday, the Supreme Court ruled for the Greens, for Hobby Lobby, for the religious rights of the company.  This hour On Point:  the high court, Hobby Lobby, and religion in the workplace. / Tom Ashbrook

Interview:
http://onpoint.wbur.org/2014/07/01/scotus-hobby-lobby-birth-control-obamacare

Understanding ISIS (Tom Ashbrook, On Point)

Until they came bursting into Mosul last month with black flags and pick-up trucks, ISIS was – to most Americans – just part of a chaotic jumble of fighters in Syria.  The next thing we knew, they had taken over a huge swath of Iraq, declared themselves the Islamic State, and announced a new caliphate in the heart of the Middle East.  This weekend the self-proclaimed caliph of the caliphate – Abu Bakr al Baghdadi – purportedly stepped out of the shadows and spoke to the world.  They’re too brutal for al Qaeda.  They literally crucify.  And right now they rule.  This hour On Point:  ISIS and the Islamic State. / Tom Ashbrook

Interview:
http://onpoint.wbur.org/2014/07/07/understanding-isis-iraq-syria

Atul Gawande: The Future Of American Healthcare (Tom Ashbrook, On Point)

We are well into Obamacare now, and still fighting over it.  Well into panic over healthcare costs, and still struggling to really bring them down.  Well-schooled in how we ought to eat, exercise, live – and still overweight and pushing up the diabetes numbers.  Celebrated surgeon, writer, thinker Dr. Atul Gawande is watching it all.  Thinking it through.  When he’s not in the OR, he’s at the keyboard, helping shape the American conversation on health and healthcare.  This hour, in a special edition of On Point:  On Point Live! – with Dr. Atul Gawande. / Tom Ashbrook

Interview:
http://onpoint.wbur.org/2014/06/13/atul-gawande-healthcare-obamacare-on-point-live

http://youtu.be/1w8P5adkmdM

Can American Democracy Be Saved? (Tom Ashbrook, On Point)

The latest Gallup poll finds Americans approval rating for Congress at an all-time low.  Four percent with a great deal of faith there.  The lowest for any American institution Gallup has polled on in 40 years.  In gridlock and polarization and standoff, legislation has ground nearly to a halt.  For the sake of democracy, of the country, this cannot go on say my guests today, former Senators Olympia Snowe, Republican and Tom Daschle, Democrat.  They think they’ve got a way out.  An answer to the standoff. This hour On Point:  Senators Snowe and Daschle on saving American democracy. / Tom Ashbrook

Interview:
http://onpoint.wbur.org/2014/07/10/bipartisanship-washington-dc-politics-congress

The Battle Over U.S. Corporate Tax Inversion (Tom Ashbrook, On Point)

It’s a neat trick for big American companies to avoid a heap of American taxes:  stop being American.  American corporations are bailing out of American “citizenship.”  One day they are proudly based in the USA.  The next, they’re not.  They’re suddenly Irish or Dutch or Australian or Israeli.  And paying lower taxes on the same operations.  It’s technically called “inversion.”  Last week President Obama called it desertion.  It’s a big deal. This hour On Point:  American companies, bailing out on American taxes – and what to do about it.

Interview:
https://onpoint.wbur.org/2014/07/28/tax-avoidance-tax-inversion-corporate-taxes

Dying With Dignity

Dying With Dignity. After celebrating the 50th Anniversary of the 1964 Civil Rights Act and hearing about many FFRF legal victories, we celebrate the birthday of atheist Broadway composer Richard Rodgers. Then we talk with Wanda Morris, CEO of Dying With Dignity Canada about the current progress and the religious opposition to end-of-life choices in Canada and the world.
 

Interview:

http://ffrf.org/news/radio/show-items/item/20863-freethought-radio-june-28-2014-broadcast

 

 

Christian Right-Winger Aligns With ISIS, Says Obama Helping Devil-Worshipers

My thesaurus is wearing thin on adjectives to describe hate-filled pseudo- Christians like Bryan Fischer, but my aggravation is going full-tilt over t... Read more

http://youtu.be/bkwEFjHxCFs

Unedited sunrise in the Cameron Highlands of Malaysia [OC] [3872 x 2592]

Read more

As Crazy As It Sounds, U.S. and NATO Appear Hungry For War in Ukraine

"...The North Atlantic Treaty Organization is desperate; it is itching for a war in battlefield Ukraine at any cost..." ... Read more

NYT Sunday Magazine Falls Hook, Line and Sinker For Libertarians' Big Propaganda Lie

"...On Sunday, the New York Times Magazine will be running a 7,100-word puff piece that portrays the Libertarian Party as today’s hot, new, sexy political trend that is enthralling rebellious Americans of all ages and is finally having its day in the sun...." ... Read more

Could This Grain Dethrone Quinoa as America's Favorite Superfood?

Meet West Africa's fonio.

 ... Read more

Another Win For Elizabeth Warren -- And For Us!

From Business Insider: Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) got her way on Tuesday when the Federal Reserve rejected the living will plans for most Wal... Read more

Paul Ryan: US competitiveness hindered by Obama environmental regulations

The Obama administration's regulations aimed at combating climate change are an excuse to expand government and raise taxes, ... Read more