We could see it coming...

But nobody could be bothered to do anything about it. People are making money.

Private Prison Corporations Are Modern Day Slave Traders

Update 5/2:  Steve Bates in comments connects me to this horribly excellent article on the subject.

We need to spark the imagination of children...

Who will be our next generation of Neil deGrasse Tysons.



(Notice how he didn't talk down to the 7 year old?)

Sorry about that...

Went on vacation and found my laptop refused to work with the rental's wireless system.  Talk about withdrawal symptoms....

So I'll start with what I'd like for the squirrels in my vegetable garden...

Friday funnies

People who believe the Onion is real news

Making everything ok

Don't try this at home.  Don't.



And then there's a cat:

 

What the election will be about

Unless there's a space alien attack, a tsunami in Kansas, or somebody somewhere says something dumb....

Yum yum

Eyeless shrimp, fish with oozing sores... enjoy your ocean and your seafood courtesy of BP.

Bear in mind

Bear in driveway...

War on Women

Jon Stewart exposes the hypocrisy.

In the media:



Update: In Wisconsin:


Update: Mitt Romney's promises... with a translation:




In Mississippi.

Trolls and socks

Perhaps we could get cats to run our government....

The Republican War on Women

Continues apace: A handy list of jaw-dropping idiocies. Like this one: "H.R. 2299–would prevent women under 18 from crossing state lines to get an abortion without their parents’ consent." So... they will start arresting teen-aged girls at the borders? Really?

There's more:  A list State by state.

Jan Brewer signs 'life begins at menstruation' bill, the most draconian anti-abortion law so far

The life begins at menstruation law goes into effect in 90 days 

• It sets the gestational age as beginning on the first day of a woman’s last period, rather than at fertilization. Which, in practice, means that a virgin can get pregnant and instead of barring abortions after 20 weeks as the law states, actually cuts the time to 18 weeks. 

• Medication abortions (by pill), usually done at home or a clinic within the first nine weeks of pregnancy, must now be done by a medical provider who has hospital privileges within 30 miles of where the procedure takes place. The law also mandates outdated protocol that Nash says may cause confusion. The provision is an attempt to shut down medication abortions altogether. North Dakota and Oklahoma are in litigation over similar provisions in their laws. 

• Sex education is not mandated in Arizona, but any such education must now prioritize birth and adoption. • Health-care facilities must up signs warning against abortion "coercion." 

• She state health department must set up a website focusing on alternatives to abortion and displaying photos of fetuses. 

• "Counseling" is required for women aiming seeking abortions because of fetal abnormalities. Such counseling must include perinatal hospice information. 

• Previous requirements are reiterated for a notarized parental consent form for minors and a mandatory ultrasound screening 24 hours before having an abortion.

And then there are just idiots: Tennessee Senate Approves Bill To Warn Students That Hand-Holding Is A ‘Gateway Sexual Activity’

Republicans don't understand this rumpus about the little women.. who need little words to understand things... Where does Romney stand about the Violence Against Women Act?

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Other countries are doing the same:  Honduras wants raped women to have the rapist's baby   Honduras Supreme Court Upholds Absolute Ban on Emergency Contraception, Opens Door to Criminalize Women and Medical Professionals

All we can do and must do is fight back. Planned Parenthood sues Texas over Women’s Health Program

The harm ALEC has done

May not be undone, but at least the rock has been moved a bit and we can see the slime underneath....

As ALEC whines and twirls in a strange dance of damage control, remember that the Stand Your Ground law that triggered the corporate exodus from them is only the tip of the iceberg. They have done grave harm to many states and most people. Whether it's education, Voter ID, health care, guns, or taxes, ALEC is the author of far too much turnkey legislation with deep and barbarous cuts to those institutions we hold dear in this country, like schools, and hospitals, and public streets. They deserve no sympathy, nor quarter. They should be accountable for each and every evil they have wrought on states and people who live in them, and those who sponsor their efforts should be equally accountable, even those who claim to have noble motives, like the Gates Foundation.

Help! Radioactive kelp!

The fallout from Fukushima is showing up along the Californian Pacific coast in giant kelp.

Radioactive iodine was found in samples collected from beds of kelp in locations along the coast from Laguna Beach to as far north as Santa Cruz about a month after the explosion, according to the study by two marine biologists at Cal State Long Beach. The levels, while most likely not harmful to humans, were significantly higher than measurements prior to the explosion and comparable to those found in British Columbia, Canada, and northern Washington state following the Chernobyl disaster in 1986, according to the study published in March in the journal Environmental Science & Technology. Giant kelp, or Macrocystis pyrifera, is a particularly good measure of radioactive material in the environment because it accumulates iodine, researchers said. They wrote that radioactive particles released into the atmosphere, in particular radioactive isotope iodine 131, made its way across the Pacific, then was likely deposited into the ocean during a period of significant rain shortly after the meltdown in Japan. The highest levels were found in Corona del Mar. Researchers wrote that the levels were probably highest there because the kelp is also exposed to urban runoff, which may have increased the amount of rainfall it received. The study’s authors said that while the effect of radioactive material in kelp is not well known, it would have been consumed by organisms that feed on the kelp such as sea urchins or crustaceans. Certain species of fish, including opaleye, halfmoon or senorita may be particularly affected because their endocrine systems contain iodine, according to researchers.

Come to California, where we glow even without the sun!

One reason we need astronomers and scientists...

They will save our asses from instant death.

 

The boycott of Rush Limbaugh is actually doing well

Despite what his crisis management team is saying. Attacking Sandra Fluke pissed off some died in the wool Republicans who have never before been involved in a cause.

Radiation from Fukushima spreads across the Pacific

Radioactive material from the Fukushima nuclear disaster has been found in tiny sea creatures and ocean water some 186 miles (300 kilometers) off the coast of Japan, revealing the extent of the release and the direction pollutants might take in a future environmental disaster. In some places, the researchers from Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) discovered cesium radiation hundreds to thousands of times higher than would be expected naturally, with ocean eddies and larger currents both guiding the "radioactive debris" and concentrating it. With these results, detailed today (April 2) in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the team estimates it will take at least a year or two for the radioactive material released at Fukushima to get across the Pacific Ocean. And that information is useful when looking at all the other pollutants and debris released as a result of the tsunami that destroyed towns up and down the eastern coast of Japan.

Friday cat

 (Stolen from Reddit, a Siamese derpy cat)

Go Poland!

Poland will impose a complete ban on growing the MON810 genetically modified strain of maize made by US company Monsanto on its territory, Agriculture Minister Marek Sawicki said Wednesday. 

"The decree is in the works. It introduces a complete ban on the MON810 strain of maize in Poland," Sawicki told reporters, adding that pollen of this strain could have a harmful effect on bees. 

On March 9, seven European countries -- Belgium, Britain, Bulgaria, France, Germany, Ireland and Slovakia -- blocked a proposal by the Danish EU presidency to allow the cultivation of genetically-modified plants on the continent. 

Seven days after that, France imposed a temporary ban on the MON810 strain.
Talks on allowing the growing of genetically-modified plants on EU soil are now deadlocked as no majority has emerged among the 27 member states.

Update:

Scientists with the Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH) have re-created the mysterious Colony Collapse Disorder in several honeybee hives simply by giving them small doses of a popular pesticide, imidacloprid. Bee populations have been dying mysteriously throughout North America and Europe since 2006, but the cause behind the decline, known as Colony Collapse Disorder, has eluded scientists. However, coming on the heels of two studies published last week in Science that linked bee declines to neonicotinoid pesticides, of which imidacloprid is one, the new study adds more evidence that the major player behind Colony Collapse Disorder is not disease, or mites, but pesticides that began to be widely used in the 1990s.

One man preventing us from spiraling into a second Dark Age

Neil deGrasse Tyson.

Who takes on the dangers of 'intelligent design':

History is one damn thing after another....

And if you're not paying attention you ca... arrrghhhh



Antarctic ice shelf has shrunk by 85 % since 1995.  So stop exhaling!  It's all that carbon dioxide!

One kid saved by Obamacare.

So what is your opinion of protecting pedophiles then?

Yum yum... arsenic in chicken!

Vikings being maligned in movies.  Vikings having fun.

Dinosaurs were fluffy.  We've been looking at them nude all these years....

Life, wind and fuck ups.

Why it's worth it to live.

A US wind map.

The Koch brothers very bad no good week.

Georgia.  Yet another state I will not visit nor support if I am able.

The Supreme Court fucks up again.

Women need to recognize verbal sabotage and manipulation.

Curveball.  The excuse created by the neocons to attack Iraq.

You're kidding, right? Right?

No.  You guys said it was ok.  Pandora's box has been opened.  Enjoy!

I think it's just safer all around....

If I stayed off the net on April Fool's Day....