Sunday Funnies..

Be ye not afraid.  Australian legislator discusses gay marriage.

Nestlé CEO Says Water Is Food That Should Be Privatized – Not A Human Right

Protesting CISPA

Fighting the fear of terrorism.

Quickly about the net

Australia... pics of one hell of an incoming cyclone.

Parenting with puppies.

White House says no Death Star.

All Arab dictators will fall.

Fox News refuses to accept warmer 2012.

Gun groups predict failure of ban.

Starting off the new year by shooting ourselves in the foot?

Warren is outraged AIG is thinking about suing the government... which means the very people who saved their sorry ass.

KBR wants us to pay for their negligence.

Australia is on fire.  And the world is overheating...

And then there's this: Gun-toting soccer mom found shot dead and another school shooting in California and YouTube gun activist Keith Ratliff  is found shot dead and NRA Vows To Stop Tucson From Destroying Guns and NRA: White House Meeting 'Had Nothing To Do With Keeping Our Children Safe' and  Tactical Response CEO Threatens To 'Start Killing People' Over Possible Obama Gun Measure  (and an update where he tries to clarify things) and Steven Colbert agrees with the NRA (*cough*) and NTodd notes the historical silliness and Alex Jones goes off about guns talking with Piers Morgan.

(updated)

Shut down the damned pump

Digby.

Squirrel pie

Somebody got my blog when they googled "can you work as a military contractor with bipolor (sic) disorder?" ... the scary thing is, probably yes.

Australia observes the emperor has no clothes.  And he lies.

Four years and the Arctic ice will be gone in the summer months...

Romney shuts up a teacher he had asked for advice.  And Daily Kos exposes the real Romney.

Squirrel in the kitchen!

I think I prefer living nowadays...

Megafauna are thought to have evolved to such large sizes to cope with inhospitable climates and food scarcity, with fossils found in Australia of prehistoric emus, tree-dwelling crocodiles and carnivorous kangaroos.

This from an article about finding the fossil of a 'Mega-Wombat'...

The fossil of a car sized mega-wombat has been unearthed in northern Australia, scientists said Wednesday -- the most complete skeleton of its kind.

Weighing in at a whopping three tonnes, the herbivorous diprotodon was the largest marsupial to ever roam the earth and lived between two million and 50,000 years ago.

I think the tree climbing crocs are the scariest. Would have taken care of this guy in a second:

Australian man spends 6 days up a tree to escape crocodiles

Monster storms

Here and there and everywhere...

Australia



US

Update: a much more impressive photo:





Don't even THINK about coming to Southern California! We ...uh... have earthquakes!

Update: More at Bryan's excellent blog.

Blog sprinkles

A curbside view of an Australian flood taking out cars.

Purposely misunderstanding Martin Luther King.

Where hate talk leads.

Last chance to see Tutankhamen's tomb. The next one will be fake.

Make note: Australia Floods: Blow-up Sex Toys are “Not Recognized Flotation Devices

Tiger mothering: Get straight As or I'll burn your stuffed animal collection!

Arizona, where the American Dream went to die

Krugman: The war on logic.

Who actually has abortions in the US:

INCIDENCE OF ABORTION

Nearly half of pregnancies among American women are unintended, and four in 10 of these are terminated by abortion. Twenty-two percent of all pregnancies (excluding miscarriages) end in abortion.

Frank Rich: No One Listened to Gabrielle Giffords

Darrell Issa:

Hillary Clinton

In a wonderfully light moment with Australian comedians.

Curry and fossils and birds, oh my!

Britain's cuckoo bird in trouble:

The iconic cuckoo is in danger of vanishing from Britain after the population dropped by a fifth in one year, experts have warned.

Numbers of the migrant bird fell by a shocking 21 per cent between 2008 and 2009, according to the Breeding Birds Survey (BBS).

Cuckoos have been designated a 'red-list' species by the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) - meaning that more than half of the population has disappeared in the past 25 years.

Damage to the bird's winter habitat in West Africa and a decline in the large insect species it eats while on British soil are being blamed for the downturn, although experts still maintain there could be other reasons.

Curry will save the world!

Curry spices could hold the key to reducing the enormous greenhouse gas emissions given off by grazing animals such as sheep, cows and goats, scientists have claimed.

Research carried out at Newcastle University has found that coriander and turmeric – spices traditionally used to flavour curries – can reduce by up to 40 per cent the amount of methane that is produced by bacteria in a sheep's stomach and then emitted into the atmosphere when the animal burps.

Working rather like an anti-biotic, the spices were found to kill the methane-producing "bad" bacteria in the animal's gut while allowing the "good" bacteria to flourish. The findings are part of an ongoing study led by Dr Abdul Shakoor Chaudhry at Newcastle University.

Would it also pre-flavor the meat?

Fossils:

Fossil hunters in Australia have discovered a cave filled with the 15-million-year-old remains of prehistoric marsupials.

The rare haul of fossils includes 26 skulls from an extinct, sheep-sized marsupial with giant claws.

The finds come from the Riversleigh World Heritage fossil field in north-west Queensland.

Killing the oceans

Bedraggled dead seabirds tangled in sea wrack on this remote, wild beach are just some of more than 8,000 birds killed since just after Labor Day, scientists estimate. The death toll — which might eventually pass 10,000 — is from a mysterious algae bloom still off the coast that has scientists and researchers worried and mystified.

"I think it's scary. We have no record of anything like this in the past 30 years, and no one knows why it is happening," said Julia Parrish, associate director of Aquatic and Fisheries Sciences at the University of Washington. "We are not used to big natural disasters, but this is one of them."

Up and down Washington's coast, scientists are reporting the longest lasting and largest harmful algae bloom ever recorded here, and the largest recorded mass mortality of seabirds ever in Washington waters. "It's bigger than an oil spill," Parrish said.

And in the Mediterranean:



And in Australia.

Don't forget Alaska's blob nor the Gulf of Mexico's dead zone, the plastic-filled gyres in the Pacific, the deep sea creatures and fish.

Global warming, rapid climate change... call it what you will. Our oceans are slowly boiling to death.

One small step for man

One sensible step for a town:

The small Australian town of Bundanoon has become the first place in the country, and possibly the world, to ban the sale of bottled water.

Residents of the town southwest of Sydney voted overwhelmingly in favour of the ban on Wednesday night.

Local businesses have agreed to stop selling bottled water and free water fountains will now be installed in the town.

The voluntary boycott was triggered by concerns of the environmental impact of bottling and transporting water.

"Bottled water has a role to play in various parts of Australia and many parts of the world but we don't really need it as we have a wonderful municipal water supply," local businessman Huw Kingston, who led the campaign, told Reuters news agency.

One larger sensible step for a nation:

But the oceans, like the land, have gotten crowded, and now scientists and policy makers are looking for ways to plan ocean development -- with the aim of preventing our public-owned seas from turning into sprawling, watery versions of Houston, Texas, or Atlanta, Georgia.

"The oceans are kind of the last frontier for use and development," said Amanda Leland, ocean policy director at the Environmental Defense Fund, an advocacy group. "Even in the 1970s we thought that the oceans were limitless resources of fish. We know today now that fisheries are collapsing all around the world."

In an attempt to address this and other crowding problems, governments are for the first time devising comprehensive plans for their marine waters.

The Obama administration on June 12 announced a task force devoted to federal ocean planning. By September, the group must recommend a national policy on the subject that's designed to protect ocean ecology, address climate change and promote sustainable ocean economies.

Finally! An explanation we can really accept!

'Stoned wallabies make crop circles'

It's WTF Wednesday!

Oh boy...

A sharp increase in swine flu cases in Australia may mean the infection has become a pandemic, the World Health Organization says.

For that to happen, officials would have to verify that the disease had become established outside North America, where the crisis began.

[snip]

"We are getting close to knowing that we are in a pandemic situation," he said.

But Dr Fukuda urged calm. "It does not mean that the severity of the situation has increased or that people are getting seriously sick at higher numbers or higher rates than before," he said.

[snip]

Following the major outbreaks in North America the flu alert is currently at phase five of a six-level scale.

The virus has infected more than 26,500 people in 73 countries, the WHO said on Tuesday.

I don't think the island of Palau (explanation here) has enough room:

Baghdad, Iraq (AHN) - Years after President George W. Bush declared major combat operations were over in Iraq, the Multi-National Force (MNF-I) continues to hold thousands of prisoners. According to the U.S. Defense Department the 89th Military Police Brigade from Fort Hood, Texas is in charge of three prisons holding a total of 11,057 detainees in Coalition custody.

No, no, no! Anti-bacterial soap doesn't mean you GIVE people bacteria:

Washington, D.C. (AHN) - The Food and Drug Administration is warning consumers not to use hand sanitizers made by a Utah chemical company.

Clarcon Biological Chemistry Laboratory Inc. of Roy, Utah has voluntarily recalled some of its skin sanitizers and skin protectants marketed under different brand names because of high levels of disease-causing bacteria found in the product during a recent inspection by the FDA.

Um...

KIller Flashlight Requires Goggles And Protective Clothing.

It's our fault gas prices are going up. We weren't spending enough...

The Energy Information Administration (EIA) predicts gas prices to average $2.21 this summer--$1.60 less than last year. Crude oil is projected to be $53 a barrel, down from the average $100 a barrel in 2008. However, since the beginning of May, gas prices have been creeping up with the largest increase last week when prices rose 16 cents from the week prior to $2.24.

Due to the economy, petroleum demand has been weak and that has kept prices low and has forced refineries to cut their inventory. But new signs are showing that we are nearing the end of the recession and consumer confidence is growing. Low gas prices generated a rebound in demand during February and March. A Reuters/University of Michigan survey found that consumer confidence rose in May above economists’ expectations. So, we are at a time where demand is increasing while oil supply is low.

One way to deal with teen pregnacy?....

Archaeologists in Peru have discovered the remains of nearly three dozen people sacrificed some 600 years ago by the Incan civilisation.

[snip]

"Most of the remains belong to young women, around 15 years of age. One of them appears to have been pregnant because in her abdomen, the collarbone of a fetus, probably around 4 months, was found," Mr Webster said of the latest find, made over the past year and a half.

And what do his/her kids call him/her?

A US man who was born a woman before undergoing gender realignment surgery has given birth to a second child

We should be absolutely freaked out about this. Serial killers start this way: 20 cat deaths leave Fla. communities worried.

For those who mock global warming

By pointing to the US's severe winter storm, here's what's happening in Australia:

South-eastern Australia is experiencing its worst heatwave in decades, with temperatures in excess of 43C (109F).

Health officials in South Australia say the searing heat may be to blame for an apparent increase in the number of sudden deaths among the elderly.

In neighbouring Victoria state, bush fires have destroyed at least 10 homes.

Nearly 500,000 people in the state are reported to have lost their power supplies, following severe pressure on the electricity grid.

An explosion was also reported at a substation in Melbourne, Australia's second-largest city.

"It is an extreme week. The system is not made to operate where you've got temperatures in the suburbs of 46C," said the head of Victoria state, John Brumby.

Commuters are facing long delays after the blackouts added to the problems on the rail network. Hundreds of train services were cancelled after the heat buckled tracks.

The phrase global warming is unfortunate as it should really be called climate change. The weather will become more extreme at both ends of the gauge, extreme heat, extreme cold. There will be more droughts, floods, fires. Meanwhile, glaciers are losing their ice and the poles are melting, the oceans are acidifying, creatures are going extinct.





Even if we negated our carbon footprints right now, this shift in climate will still continue for decades. We can thank the Bush administration for eight more years of delay in addressing this.

George Bush surprised world leaders with a joke about his poor record on the environment as he left the G8 summit in Japan.

The American leader, who has been condemned throughout his presidency for failing to tackle climate change, ended a private meeting with the words: "Goodbye from the world's biggest polluter."

He then punched the air while grinning widely, as the rest of those present including Gordon Brown and Nicolas Sarkozy looked on in shock.

Mr Bush, whose second and final term as President ends at the end of the year, then left the meeting at the Windsor Hotel in Hokkaido where the leaders of the world's richest nations had been discussing new targets to cut carbon emissions.

One official who witnessed the extraordinary scene said afterwards: "Everyone was very surprised that he was making a joke about America's record on pollution."

But maybe we can hope:

DAVOS, Switzerland (AP) — Nobel Peace Prize winner Al Gore urged President Barack Obama and other world leaders to seal a quick deal to fight global warming despite the pervasive financial crisis.

Gore called Obama "the greenest person in the room" for making environmental funding a big chunk of the $819 billion economic stimulus bill passed by U.S. lawmakers this week.

"I think it's important for the world leaders gathered here to fully appreciate the magnitude of the change in U.S. leadership," Gore said.

The former U.S. vice president and environmental advocate, speaking at the World Economic Forum in Davos, referred to frustration in many countries at the Bush administration's refusal to sign international pacts on reducing emissions of carbon, blamed for global warming.

We are still finding new species

Just in time to watch them go extinct. We don't even know if they taste delicious enough to hunt them into extermination!

The reef community at 2250 m depth in the Tasman Fracture Zone Marine Reserve. The large organism in the foreground is a gorgonian coral, while the smaller organisms attached to the rock around it are gorgonshead corals and deep-sea stalked barnacles. In the background can be seen a glass sponge (the object growing out on a stalk).

"SYDNEY (AFP) – Scientists said Sunday they had uncovered new marine animals in their search of previously unexplored Australian waters, along with a bizarre carnivorous sea squirt and ocean-dwelling spiders.

A joint US-Australian team spent a month in deep waters off the coast of the southern island of Tasmania to "search for life deeper than any previous voyage in Australian waters," lead researcher Ron Thresher said.

What they found were not only species new to science -- including previously undescribed soft corals -- but fresh indications of global warming's threat to the country's unique marine life.

[snip]

"Modern-day deep-water coral reefs were also found, however, there is strong evidence that this reef system is dying, with most reef-forming coral deeper than 1,300 metres newly dead," he said.

Though close analysis of samples was still required, Thresher said modelling suggested ocean acidification could be responsible.

"If our analysis identifies this phenomenon as the cause of the reef system's demise, then the impact we are seeing now below 1,300 metres might extend to the shallower portions of the deep-reefs over the next 50 years, threatening this entire community," he said.

Rising sea temperatures are blamed on global warming caused by the build-up in the atmosphere of greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide -- which is also blamed for higher acidity in sea water.

A UN report warned in 2007 that Australia's Great Barrier Reef, described as the world's largest living organism, could be killed by climate change within decades.

The World Heritage site and major tourist attraction, stretching over more than 345,000 square kilometres (133,000 square miles) off Australia's east coast, could become "functionally extinct", the report said.

If we'd just stop treating the ocean like it's a dump and respect the sea creatures who inhabit it, the human race just might not go extinct like everything else....

Japan calls off hunt for whales

Apparently blubber isn't considered delicious anymore...

Japan has suspended its first humpback whale hunt in seas off Antarctica since the 1960s, its government said yesterday, backing down in an escalating international battle over the expansion of its hunt.

Japan dropped the planned taking of 50 humpbacks at the behest of the United States, which chairs the International Whaling Commission (IWC), said Chief Cabinet Secretary Nobutaka Machimura. He said the suspension would last a year or two but that there would be "no changes" to Japan's stance on research whaling itself.

Japan dispatched its whaling fleet last month to the southern Pacific in the first major hunt of humpback whales since the 1960s, generating widespread criticism. Officials said yesterday they had not harpooned any humpbacks.

The move defuses for now a high-profile row with Australia, though Japanese officials deny they were influenced by Canberra's anti-whaling position. Australia announced on Wednesday that it would dispatch surveillance planes and a ship to gather evidence for a possible legal challenge to the hunt.

It was unlikely, however, to quell the increasingly bold high-seas protests against Japan's scientific whaling research programme, in which it kills 1,000 whales, mostly minkes, a year in the Pacific. Japan has wrestled with the IWC for years to overturn its 1986 moratorium on commercial whaling.

The decision followed talks between Japan and the US, said Hideki Moronuki, chief of the Fisheries Agency's whaling division. The US State Department had warned Japan that some anti-whaling nations could boycott IWC meetings, he said.

Commercial hunts of humpbacks – which were nearly harpooned to extinction in the 20th century – were banned in the Southern Pacific in 1963, and that ban was extended worldwide in 1966.

The decision to call off the hunt was welcomed by anti-whaling nations. "While this is a welcome move, the Australian government strongly believes that there is no credible justification for the hunting of any whales," the Australian Foreign Minister Stephen Smith said, adding that it would continue with its surveillance plans.

Karli Thomas, who is leading a Greenpeace expedition heading to the Southern Pacific, also welcomed the development. "This is good news indeed, but it must be the first step towards ending all whaling in the Southern Ocean, not just one species for one season," she said.

Merry Christmas, you guys.

Bush's Legacy: peace on earth

Pakistan:

Rawalpindi, Pakistan (AHN) - At least 30 people were killed and dozens injured in twin suicide car bombings in the city of Rawalpindi, Pakistan, on Saturday. The simultaneous attacks were reportedly carried out by militants on an Army checkpoint and a bus carrying members of the country's powerful Inter-Services Intelligence spy agency (ISI). According to the local authorities, the militants used cars to carry out the deadly attacks.

Afghanistan:

Kabul, Afghanistan (AHN) - A suicide attack in Afghanistan killed one Italian soldier and six Afghans, including three children. The attack happened while a crowd gathered to watch soldiers building a bridge.

At least nine people were injured in the attack. It took place in the Paghman area. The soldier died while being transferred to a military hospital in Kabul.

Some of the victims were reportedly shot. Witnesses said some of the soldiers fired at people during the attack, but a regional police commander said many of the victims were hit with ball bearings packed into the bomb. A doctor who treated some of the victims, however, told The Associated Press that at least four had been hit by bullets.

More than 130 suicide attacks have occurred in Afghanistan this year. More than 6,000 people have died from the violence.

Bush's bestest friend Howard goes down in flames:

Sydney, Australia (AHN) - With 70 percent of the votes counted, sitting Australian Prime Minister John Howard has already conceded to opponent, Kevin Rudd in parliamentary elections held Saturday. "We've bequeathed to [Rudd] a nation that is stronger and prouder and more prosperous than it was 11 and a half years ago," Howard was quoted as saying by BBC News. Howard confirmed that he already called Rudd to congratulate him on his emerging victory. The 50-year-old Rudd, standard-bearer of the labor Party, had shown strength of winning over Howard throughout the campaign period. Opinion polls earlier suggested that most Aussies were already tired of Howard's leadership, and wanted to give a fresh mandate to a new leader.

Update: Glenn Greenwald has the final say on Howard's magnificent defeat.

Lebanon:

BEIRUT, Lebanon (AP) -- Lebanon awoke a republic without a president Saturday amid mounting worries over a power vacuum that has intensified the nation's yearlong political turmoil.

The capital was calm and shops opened for business as usual the morning after a tumultuous day that saw President Emile Lahoud depart without a successor after announcing he was handing over security powers to the army.

Lahoud's final announcement saying the country is in a "state of emergency" was rejected by the rival, pro-Western Cabinet of Prime Minister Fuad Saniora.

The government rejection created fresh confusion in an already unsettled situation, which many Lebanese fear could explode into violence between supporters of Saniora's government and the pro-Syria opposition led by the Shiite militant group Hezbollah.

"Lahoud's term ends in a republic without a president," read the headline of Lebanon's leading An-Nahar newspaper. Another daily, Al-Balad, printed an empty photo frame on its front page, symbolizing the political vacuum.

The departure of Lahoud, a staunch ally of the Syrian regime during his nine years in office, was a long-sought goal of the government installed by parliament's anti-Syria majority, which has been trying to put one of its own in the presidency.

Hezbollah and other opposition groups have blocked legislators from electing a new president by boycotting ballot sessions, leaving parliament without the required quorum.

The fight has put Lebanon into dangerous, unknown territory: Both sides are locked in bitter recriminations, accusing the other of breaking the constitution, and they are nowhere near a compromise on a candidate to become head of state.

The army command refused to comment on the developments. The military, under its widely respected chief, Gen. Michel Suleiman, has sought to remain neutral in the political chaos, and Lahoud's statement did not give it political powers.

Iraq:

BAGHDAD (AP) -- The U.S. military on Saturday blamed the deadly bombing of a pet market in Baghdad on Iranian-backed Shiite militants, raising concerns that escalating activity by Shiite extremists could jeopardize a relative calm that has offered new hopes for Iraqis after years of turmoil.

The bomb, which was hidden in a box of small birds, exploded Friday morning as Iraqis were strolling past animal stalls and bird cages at Baghdad's al-Ghazl market. The market had recently re-emerged as a popular venue as security has increased, raising hopes for calm in the capital after years of turmoil.

Police and hospital officials said at least 15 people were killed and 56 wounded, including four policemen, making it the deadliest in Baghdad in more than two months.

U.S. military spokesman Rear Adm. Gregory Smith said the bomb was packed with ball bearings to maximize casualties, and bore the hallmarks of a so-called special group, the military term for Shiite militia fighters who have been trained by Iran and have broken with radical cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, who called on his supporters to stand down in August.

He said the military believes the Shiite extremists were hoping al-Qaida in Iraq would be held responsible for the attack so Iraqis would turn to them for protection.

Nice legacy there, George. So, now that you are looking at the last year of your second term, and all the term papers have been handed in, all the finals graded, what are you going to do?:

The US has confirmed it will host a conference on Middle East peace next week aimed at relaunching negotiations to create a Palestinian state. Invitations have been issued to Israel, the Palestinians, the UN and key Arab states such as Saudi Arabia and Syria. But Washington is still trying to persuade Arab states to send delegates.

I think this will be filed under too fucking little, too fucking late, Georgie.

Update: A little bit of legacy goes to the Iraqi women, too. (via Attaturk of Rising Hegemon):

Thank you Australia!

Succinct and universal. (Via Sinfonian at Blast Off!):

07.09.2007 - Around 50 people have bared their bottoms in protest against APEC and the visiting US President George W Bush. A group calling themselves 'Bums for Bush' exposed themselves in Sydney's Hyde Park during a protest rally this afternoon (07.09.2007). Organiser Will Saunders says its a fun and Australian way to get the anti-Iraq war message across.

In a protest against the Iraq war and global warming, dozens of people bared their buttocks on Friday in a Sydney park not far from where world leaders were gathered for a regional summit.

What happens to the oceans after everyone who drinks at Starbucks

Flushes....

It was as if someone had poured tons of coffee and milk into the ocean, then switched on a giant blender.

Suddenly the shoreline north of Sydney were transformed into the Cappuccino Coast.

Foam swallowed an entire beach and half the nearby buildings, including the local lifeguards' centre, in a freak display of nature at Yamba in New South Wales.

One minute a group of teenage surfers were waiting to catch a wave, the next they were swallowed up in a giant bubble bath. The foam was so light that they could puff it out of their hands and watch it float away.

It stretched for 30 miles out into the Pacific in a phenomenon not seen at the beach for more than three decades.

Scientists explain that the foam is created by impurities in the ocean, such as salts, chemicals, dead plants, decomposed fish and excretions from seaweed.

All are churned up together by powerful currents which cause the water to form bubbles.

These bubbles stick to each other as they are carried below the surface by the current towards the shore.

As a wave starts to form on the surface, the motion of the water causes the bubbles to swirl upwards and, massed together, they become foam.

The foam "surfs" towards shore until the wave "crashes", tossing the foam into the air.