Thanks, we'll pass.

Bush Sr. Wants Jeb To Run For President

Whistleblowers, Hobbits and Women

Schneier on Snowden

Prosecuting Snowden 

Edward Snowden broke the law by releasing classified information. This isn't under debate; it's something everyone with a security clearance knows. It's written in plain English on the documents you have to sign when you get a security clearance, and it's part of the culture. The law is there for a good reason, and secrecy has an important role in military defense. 

But before the Justice Department prosecutes Snowden, there are some other investigations that ought to happen. 

We need to determine whether these National Security Agency programs are themselves legal. The administration has successfully barred anyone from bringing a lawsuit challenging these laws, on the grounds of national secrecy. Now that we know those arguments are without merit, it's time for those court challenges. 

It's clear that some of the NSA programs exposed by Snowden violate the Constitution and others violate existing laws. Other people have an opposite view. The courts need to decide. 

Grayson Passes Corporate Accountability Amendments

“These amendments say that government contractors who lie, cheat, and steal will now get the death penalty,” Democrat Grayson wrote in an email to his supporters. “If you cheat the taxpayer, you’re toast. If you evade Federal taxes, it’s all over. If you rig bids or forge documents, goodbye to you. No more government contracts. And for government contractors, cutting off government money is a death sentence.”

Scientists say new study shows pig health hurt by GMO feed

(Reuters) - Pigs fed a diet of only genetically modified grain showed markedly higher stomach inflammation than pigs who dined on conventional feed, according to a new study by a team of Australian scientists and U.S. researchers.
The study adds to an intensifying public debate over the impact of genetically modified crops, which are widely used by U.S. and Latin American farmers and in many other countries around the world.
The study was published in the June issue of the peer-reviewed Journal of Organic Systems by researchers from Australia who worked with two veterinarians and a farmer in Iowa to study the U.S. pigs.

The original underground

Archaeologists have uncovered thousands of Stone Age underground tunnels, stretching across Europe from Scotland to Turkey, perplexing researchers as to their original purpose. 

German archaeologist Dr Heinrich Kusch, in his latest book ‘Secrets of the Underground Door to an Ancient World’ has revealed that tunnels were dug under literally hundreds of Neolithic settlements all over Europe and the fact that so many tunnels have survived 12,000 years indicates that the original network must have been huge.

Useful websites

The Hobbit, the Desolation of Smaug.

Reproductive Coercion, Domestic Violence and Anti-Choice Laws

A lot of men, it turns out, get off on having power over women’s bodies, and are willing to bully, coerce and even trick women into pregnancy to get that feeling of power over them. It’s called “reproductive coercion,” and it’s way more common that was previously thought, as Kat Stoeffel reports for The Cut.

Friday froth

6 Baffling Discoveries That Science Can’t Explain

Healthy tips for surviving our chemicalized world

Fixing the climate.

Learning a new language is good for your brain.

Monsanto's unapproved wheat found in Oregon is affecting the export of wheat to those countries who have said no to GMOs.  Too late.... so the farmers are suing Monsanto.

One girl in a village.

Everything you ever wanted to know about ticks.

19-Year-Old Develops Ocean Cleanup Array That Could Remove 7,250,000 Tons Of Plastic From Oceans

Roman Seawater Concrete Holds the Secret to Cutting Carbon Emissions

High Fructose Corn Syrup is addictive....

From fossils to ... fossils.

Oldest primate skeleton unveiled

Americans speak differently across the nation.

Heracleion Photos: Lost Egyptian City Revealed After 1,200 Years Under Sea

Perspective from a dwarf on the character Tyrion in the TV show Game of Thrones

Chinese company cleaning up US pork?

The sugar beet is entirely GMO at this point.

Rebranding the Republican name is superficial fakery and people can tell.

Saturday Night Special

The Mayflower oil spill is making people ill.

When Americans finally had enough.

How hard is it to get somewhere when so many people are slamming on the brakes?

Monsanto hires infamous mercenary firm Blackwater to track activists around the world

"Kids for Cash" judge gets 28 years.  This is what you get when you privatize prisons.

The IRS 'scandal'.  (via Bryan of Why Now?)

Krugman:  The Obamacare Shock

"...here’s what it seems is about to happen: millions of Americans will suddenly gain health coverage, and millions more will feel much more secure knowing that such coverage is available if they lose their jobs or suffer other misfortunes. Only a relative handful of people will be hurt at all. And as contrasts emerge between the experience of states like California that are making the most of the new policy and that of states like Texas whose politicians are doing their best to undermine it, the sheer meanspiritedness of the Obamacare opponents will become ever more obvious.
So yes, it does look as if there’s an Obamacare shock coming: the shock of learning that a public program designed to help a lot of people can, strange to say, end up helping a lot of people — especially when government officials actually try to make it work.

Suddenly Sunday...

Finding cave paintings in Mexico

About the earthquake swarm near the Lassen Volcanic Center.... nothing to do with volcanoes.  (Rats.)

What the soldiers in the Vietnam War really thought.

Colony Collapse Disorder.

Marching against Monsanto.  Because of things like this.  And who actually owns organic products.

And because I haven't posted for a while... kittens and cats

US entertainment industry to Congress: make it legal for us to deploy rootkits, spyware, ransomware and trojans to attack pirates!

Unexpected Health Insurance Rate Shock-California Obamacare Insurance Exchange Announces Premium Rates

Tell the FDA to Reject More Aspartame in Milk!

Right now, in the midst of a major childhood obesity epidemic, the giant dairy lobby is trying to force the federal government to redefine “milk” to include artificial sweeteners such as aspartame in children’s school lunches without proper labels. So instead of chocolate or strawberry milk with sugar, high fructose corn syrup or some natural sweetener, Big Dairy now wants to replace that with aspartame in our children’s milk and pretend it’s a healthy choice for you and America’s children and keep this all a secret by not requiring proper labels! 

Aspartame has a long clouded history, with fraudulent science submitted during the original FDA approval process, links to mood alterations including anxiety, agitation, depression, headaches, insomnia, and memory, learning problems and seizures and brain tumors. And not surprising, the company that created by aspartame was bought by Monsanto in the 1985. In 1999, Monsanto admitted to using genetic engineering of bacteria to create aspartame, which is now used widely as an artificial sweetener in diet soft drinks, chewing gum and diet foods as a sugar substitute. 

Tell the FDA not to cave to Big Dairy - Keep improperly labeled Aspartame out of our milk!

What could possibly go wrong?

Although... once the US is in the grip of a revolution, the power and resource grab by the monied corporations would be very easy....

Banksters will never stop being gangsters until they're put in prison

Because grabbing other people's money is all they're good at.

Monday minibits..

Rep. Darrell Issa's big day... oops.  And Issa's interesting background that people seem to ignore.

Eat more bugs and save the world!  Basically because we are cooking the earth and things are going to die.  C02 in the air.

Europe banned these food production practices... and the US does them.

Normality v Normalcy.  Normality, please.  Normalcy just grates on the ears...