Sunday, September 29, 2013
In the category of more bad news for the Conservatives, the UN's climate panel says "Yep it's hot, and it's all our fault."
A landmark report says scientists are 95% certain that humans are the "dominant cause" of global warming since the 1950s.
The report by the UN's climate panel details the physical evidence behind climate change.
On the ground, in the air, in the oceans, global warming is "unequivocal", it explained. It adds that a pause in warming over the past 15 years is too short to reflect long-term trends.
The panel warns that continued emissions of greenhouse gases will cause further warming and changes in all aspects of the climate system.
To contain these changes will require "substantial and sustained reductions of greenhouse gas emissions".
Gee, first the attempts to stop Obamacare crashed and burned, then Obama secures diplomatic breakthroughs with both Syria AND Iran, and now the whole world (Except REAL Americans of course.) recognize that man is behind all of the crazy climate change?
It is almost enough to convince a pro-business, anti-government, Bible believing, conservative that they have been wrong about..well just about everything!
Well if they believed in something called "facts" that is.
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Roman Polanski and the sin of simplification
Samantha Geimer, whose book The Girl, deals with her assault by Roman Polanski. Photograph: Tim Knox for the Guardian
Samantha Geimer, the girl in the Roman Polanski rape case, has published what might be the most important and valuable book of the century so far.
It may prove to be one of those books that a lot of people talk about without actually reading, like A Brief History of Time, or The Tipping Point, or most of the school syllabus.
But that's OK. The value of Geimer's book, The Girl, lies in the debate it stirs up; this is already happening through serialisation and widespread, articulate interviews with the author. If that triggers a bigger discussion among non-readers, then she has still done something useful and important.
How much do you know about the story? I knew a bit, but still experienced what hurried book reviewers call "an emotional rollercoaster" while reading one of her interviews.
When Samantha Geimer was 13, the famous 43-year-old film director Roman Polanski said that he was photographing young American girls for a feature in French Vogue. With forgivable naivety, Geimer's mother allowed him to take her out alone. He photographed her topless, which she did not tell her mother.
A few weeks later, Polanski took Samantha to Jack Nicholson's house, gave her several glasses of champagne and part of a sleeping pill, then had sex with her. It was statutory rape. Geimer says: "It was rape in every sense of the word. I said no."
The way in which he had sex with her is indelicate to include, but important. Geimer's book expresses it with literate sarcasm: referring to a sympathetic psychological report after Polanski's arrest, which cited his "solicitude concerning pregnancy" as a mitigating factor, Geimer says this was "an interesting new euphemism for sodomy".
I don't know how this makes you feel. It fills me with thoughts of violence. I imagine being alone with Polanski, kicking and punching him. The anger I feel, at the thought of this being done to a drugged child, seems to be an instinctively brutal one.
Then you read about the life of Roman Polanski. How shameful and how pointless to punish him with violence, even in the imagination.
Aged six, he saw his father taken to a concentration camp. His mother died at Auschwitz when she was four months pregnant. At 35, with God knows what ineradicable scars, Polanski married Sharon Tate and they started a family immediately. Tate was eight months pregnant when a gang broke into their home, stabbed her to death and smeared "pig" on the front door in her blood.
This is not an excuse; other survivors have not become rapists. But it silences my violent instinct immediately and creates a sharp and terrible sympathy in parallel with the anger. A second complicating factor is that Polanski's work is filled with beauty and humanity.
These are unfamiliar feelings; our modern world does not invite us to treat anybody as nuanced. People are heroes or villains, victims or victimisers; sometimes neither, but never both.
When Roman Polanski, who has lived in exile from America and its justice system for decades, was nominated for an Oscar for directing The Pianist, Samantha Geimer called on the Academy to "judge the movie, not the man".
She has been exchanging emails with Polanski for several years.
She says that the police investigation, hospital exams and reporting of the case were more traumatic than the attack itself. She says: "I did something wrong, I was stupid… To pose topless, and to drink and to take the [sleeping] pill."
It is so easy and tempting to knock this into a pigeonhole: the misguided self-blame and denial of the victim. But this woman is too smart and articulate for us comfortably to assume we know better. She puts these complicated thoughts out there, alongside her anger, not because she's too damaged to think clearly but because she can't bear the world's oversimplification.
When a therapist on the Oprah Winfrey show explained that Geimer was suffering from "victim's guilt", she said this was "patronising"; who would dare patronise her further by saying that it wasn't?
In The Pianist, Polanski transformed his ghastly knowledge of the camps into an act of artistic self-expression. In The Girl, Geimer does the same with her rape. That is a powerful response, from both of them. But what an incredibly complicated common bond.
It is the complication that we need. People have become desperate to reduce everything, including each other, to mindless categories of good and bad, as if the world can be divided into Facebook likes and dislikes.
When I wrote about the Muslim women in Birmingham who were protesting against a ban on the niqab, and the argument that they are so deeply in the patriarchal grip that they cannot choose as freely as they think, I pointed out that people have said the same to me about taking my husband's name. Many readers asked why I was defending the veil. Others pointed out the differences between veiling your face and changing your name. It was as though there is no room for analogy unless it's a direct comparison and no room for words on the niqab other than "Hurray for it" or "Ban it".
Similarly, we yearn to know if we should be cheering or booing at Operation Yewtree, political leaders or the idea of bombing Syria.
So what is to be done with Samantha Geimer's story? She does not condemn Polanski nor exonerate him. She does not blame herself nor refuse to examine herself. Her voice is strong and complicated. Youcannot simplify her, or him.
Her current battle is not with her original oppressor but the reporters of then and now, the lawyers, the psychologists of reality TV and everyone watching – all of whom objectified her further. She is fighting against reductive simplicity. She forces us to think hard, to use muscles that must not go slack.
Article Source here
Author: Victoria Coren Mitchell
The Heritage Foundation has another article written for Sarah Palin to claim as her own. Don't worry they made it folksier with hunting metaphors.
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| "Wait how far is it to the nearest bathroom?" |
A simple fact is missing from all the media hysteria and political establishment temper tantrums over Senators Ted Cruz and Mike Lee’s attempt to defund Obamacare. (Oh this ought to be good!)
Americans are getting slammed by Obamacare right now. Workforces are decimated as health care prices rise. Public opinion is on our side. If now was not the time to unite and fight it, when was? Those who are attacking Cruz and Lee’s efforts have forgotten how negotiations are won. (Okay this might be a good place to remind everybody that Obamacare does not officially kick off for three more days, so there can be NO "decimated workforce" or "rising health care prices" that can be attributed it. IF in fact any such data existed, which it does not! Actually quite the opposite data is available which refutes these statements completely.)
Use as an example the negotiations a governor of energy-rich Alaska must engage in with powerful multinational oil tycoons. In my experience, I found that the key to achieving success for the people you’re elected to serve is to take a firm position, stand solid, and negotiate from there when the other guy is ready to take you seriously. You fight as hard as you can with whatever small edge you’ve got until the other guy respects you enough to wise up, sit down, and come to a mutually acceptable agreement. You get nothing at all if you preemptively surrender before the battle even commences. (After which of course you leave office and the successor YOU chose completely guts the signature legislation that you are bragging about up above.)
Imagine how much stronger the GOP’s hand would have been if every Republican (and those Democrats who’ve finally admitted Obamacare’s devastating flaws) stood together against cloture in order to prevent Harry Reid from cutting off debate and stripping Obamacare defunding from the bill? (Yes, imagine the government grinding to a complete halt. Or simply read history to determine just how stupid this idea would be.)
Not only would there have been pressure on red state Democrats up for re-election (She's talking about you Begich.) to join the right cause, there would have been pressure on Reid and the White House to negotiate agreements. Even if the GOP couldn’t have defunded all of Obamacare, they could have negotiated some relief for average Americans who now feel they can do nothing but brace for the coming train wreck. (The law will have virtually NO effect on the vast number of already insured Americans beyond lowering their health care costs. There are currently some companies stripping their part time workers of their health insurance benefits, but that will not last once the health care exchanges are up and running. Really it is estimated that only 1% of companies will stop providing a health care plan to their employees.) We average Americans know we’ll never get the exemptions and favors Obama gave his political cronies and Congress, (This, of course, is a purposeful misrepresentation of what Congress gets, and here is an article that explains it fully.) but any relief for the middle class would have been welcomed. (You mean like relief in the form of affordable health care?)
But Republicans got nothing from squabbling with each other and denouncing (on and off the record) the brave men who tried to do something. (Well except credibility for being serious about their responsibility that is.)
Ted Cruz and Mike Lee fought to fulfill the campaign promises every Republican made (To shutdown the government?), and their actions have been revelatory for all of us.
Hunters know what flushing dogs do. (Yes they do what their masters tell them to do and assist them in achieving their goals.) Cruz and Lee were acting as the grassroots’ ("Grassroots" in this case meaning the Heritage Foundation and the Koch brothers.) flushing dogs. Their actions showed us who was willing to stand up for hard working Americans and who wasn’t. We thank Senators Vitter, Paul, Crapo, Enzi, Fischer, Roberts, Scott, Heller, Grassley, Toomey, Moran, Rubio, Shelby, Risch, Inhofe, Portman, and Sessions for standing with Cruz and Lee. (That's right, name them all. Any politician who is endorsed by Sarah Palin is guaranteed to have a troubled future.)
In 2010, a galvanized grassroots rallied against Obamacare to carry Republicans to victory. But in 2012, many in the grassroots stayed home, and we saw how that turned out for the GOP. (And get ready for a repeat in 2014.)
Unfortunately, the message of some politicians today seems to be: “Whoopsie, seems I can’t fulfill my election promises, but vote for me again and I promise to do what I promised last time.”
Sorry, that doesn’t cut it. America, you deserve better. If they can’t do anything with the power you gave them through their elected office, then you deserve someone else to give it a try. (Yes keep right on electing unsophisticated idiots who do not understand how government functions. Look how well that has worked out so far.)
2014 is just around the corner, and we’re ready for it. Support those who do us a favor by flushing out politicians wanting to hide. Retrieving liberty must be the point in all this.
"The sky is falling, the sky is falling, the sky is falling" cried Chicken Little Brain.
Personally I am over the moon that the conservatives have become so desperate that they have resurrected Sarah Palin's moldy corpse and have it shuffling around snapping and clawing at everybody who dares stand up for fixing our broken health care system.
Her reappearance has helped numerous pundits point out the ridiculousness of the conservatives argument, as well as helping to identify the many lies proffered by the Koch brother sock puppets. After all who better to draw attention to the bullshit than Ms. "Death Panels" herself?
As the President would no doubt say if he was even aware that Palin was still alive, "Proceed half-term Governor turned reality show loser, proceed."
Source
Bored with your yacht? Take the plunge on a luxury submarine
A soak in the Jacuzzi, a quick game in the squash court and skeet off the aft deck — cruising on their giant yachts is getting to be a giant bore for the super-rich. New toys are always needed. And so the hottest booths at the Monaco Yacht Show belong the guys peddling the latest accessory: submarines. “They’re fed up with drinking white wine and riding jet skis, so they’re looking for another thrill," Bert Houtman of U-Boat Worx said of his clientele. The newest models can dive as deep as 5,000 feet, include air conditioning and sound systems, and run up to $4.2 million. Oh, and that's not including the "shadow" vessel that may be needed to tow the sub if your yacht can't handle an 18,000-pound load. After all, it's the submarine you want to sink. [Source]
Article Source here
Author: now.msn.com
'Rubber Duck' debuts in America
A giant rubber duck approaches Pittsburgh
A 40-foot-high and 30-foot-wide inflatable rubber duck, created by Dutch artist Florentijn Hofman, thrills spectators in Pittsburgh.
A giant inflatable rubber duck, created by Dutch artist Florentijn Hofman, is towed up the Allegheny River in Pittsburgh on Friday, Sept. 27.
Pittsburgh's duck is the first "Made-in-the-USA" version of the Dutch artist's creation.
The duck's arrival kicks off the month-long Pittsburgh International Festival of Firsts, which features theater, dance, music and visual arts from around the world. After the opening night the duck will be moored downtown until Oct. 20.
Taking duck photos
Spectators photograph a 40-foot-high and 30-foot-wide inflatable rubber duck, created by Dutch artist Florentijn Hofman, as it is towed up the Allegheny River in Pittsburgh on Friday, Sept. 27.
The event marks the North American debut of Hofman's Rubber Duck Project, which has taken place in cities in Asia, Europe, Australia and South America.
Spectators set their sights on the giant duck
People lining both sides of the Allegheny River take photos as a version of Dutch artist Florentijn Hofman's giant "Rubber Duck" is towed past Heinz Field for its debut in Pittsburgh on Friday, Sept. 27.
Giant duck makes its way to Pittsburgh
A giant inflatable rubber duck, created by Dutch artist Florentijn Hofman, is towed up the Allegheny River in Pittsburgh on Friday, Sept. 27.
Crowds gather for a glimpse of the duck
Thousands of people line both sides of the Allegheny River as a version of Dutch artist Florentijn Hofman's giant "Rubber Duck" is towed past Heinz Field for its debut in Pittsburgh on Friday, Sept. 27.
Heading up the Ohio River
A version of Dutch artist Florentijn Hofman giant "Rubber Duck" is towed up the Ohio River under the West End Bridge for its debut in Pittsburgh on Friday, Sept. 27.
Paddleboarders take a gander
A pair of men paddling paddleboards move towards a version of Dutch artist Florentijn Hofman giant "Rubber Duck" as it is towed up the Ohio River for its debut in Pittsburgh on Friday, Sept. 27.
Article Source here
Author: now.msn.com
Arcade Fire Debuts New Music, Recruits Celebrity Friends for 'SNL,' Concert Special
Arcade Fire owned NBC's Saturday night.
The rock band took to the season premiere of "Saturday Night Live" for the live debut (outside secret shows) of its newest single, "Reflektor," as well as the full debut of "Afterlife" -- both songs from the group's upcoming fourth album.
Win, Regine and co. stepped onstage shortly after midnight, launching into the new album's formidable first single. The husband-wife combo traded lead vocals, alternating languages in the process. Butler and Chassagne took center stage, the former sans the guitar he usually plays live, taking on an instrument-less frontman status for the majority of both songs. Of course there's the weirdness that comes with an Arcade Fire performance, continuing the trend from the band's "Reflektor" music video. In this edition, Chassagne found herself off the stage during a break in the action, emerging in a cage-like structure made of glass.
Later, the band debuted "Afterlife," another cut from "Reflektor" (in stores Oct. 29). The song is ebullient, with a saccharine chorus and a New Order feel, thanks no doubt to James Murphy's part as producer on the album. In a lead-in to the band's half-hour concert special later in the evening, frontman Butler was decked out in black raccoon-esque makeup over his eyes, perhaps a subtle nod to Michael Stipe.
Prior to the band's two-song set on "SNL," the Canadians appeared in a sketch that also served to help acquaint viewers with the new castmembers of the show. In "New Cast Member or Arcade Fire," host Tina Fey had to choose which of the two people before her was a member of the band and which was a new member of the show. Butler was paired with Mike O'Brien, both of whom were required to do their best Robert DeNiro impressions. Meanwhile, Chassagne popped up alongside Noel Wells, forced to hold "old-timey instruments" to assist Fey in her choice.
But after the cast said their goodbyes for the night, the indie rock royalty was just getting warmed up. A Win-led conga line helped segue into "Here Comes the Night Time." Part-performance and part-cameo-fest, the set featured three new songs from "Reflektor," along with visits from several high profile folks, presumably fans of the band.
Performing from the glitzy Salsatheque in Montreal, Arcade Fire went all-out '70s during the set, matching the disco aesthetic Murphy crafted in LCD Soundsystem. "Here Comes the Night Time" is another longer tune out of "Reflektor," a slower dirth of a song at first that breaks into rapidfire drums and guitar before slowing yet again, pulsating synths abounding.
The other two songs performed, "We Exist" and "Normal Person," fit snugly into the "Reflektor" feel set forth thus far. The former has a synthline almost remniscent of "Billie Jean," while the latter asks the question, "I think I'm cool enough, but am I cruel enough?" before breaking into a jarring cacophony of instrumentation.
Throughout, a number of celebrity guests make appearances ranging from brief to always there, the latter the case of Rainn Wilson, who's all over "Normal Person." Michael Cera plays the bartender at Salsatheque, referring to Arcade Fire as "tiny bananas" compared to, say, Michael Buble. Here's Bill Hader and Zach Galifianakis, playing astronauts listening to the concert from space. There's Ben Stiller and Bono, kicked off the stage before the performance after sneaking on wearing the giant heads of the "Reflektor" video. James Franco? Aziz Ansari? Yep.
On the whole, the set was theatric as much as it was revelatory. The band, flanked by a number of supporting musicians that brought its ranks to 11, underwent a number of wardrobe changes, from clothing remniscent of the band's "SNL" performance to much more casual fare, with Butler rocking a Nirvana tee on "Normal Person."
By performance's end, the countdown officially began for "Reflektor," which drops in exactly one month.
Article Source here
Author: By Kevin Rutherford
Sarah Palin loves her some graphics! Especially graphics that spread lies and attack the President.
A friend sent me this graphic today. It says it all. "If there's a government shut down, who will spy on me, waste my money and have contempt for me?"
We could add so much more to this list, friends. For example, if the government shuts down, who will:
*block responsible resource development
*borrow more money from foreign countries to give to foreign countries
*mortgage my kids' future to bail out their friends on Wall Street & finance their big government crony capitalism
*"misplace" IRS receipts and ledgers to the tune of tens of millions
*stockpile ammo at DHS
*commandeer pro athletes to testify in front of Congress while watching bureaucrats plead the Fifth
Please feel free to add to the list with your own comments below. I so appreciate your great comments and "likes" and "shares" on these Facebook posts!
- Sarah Palin
A "friend" sent her this graphic? Does she mean a friend on her payroll who undoubtedly found or created the graphic and then wrote the post for her, which she only found out about after reading her email or logging on to Facebook? Does she mean that "friend?"
And by the way WHAT a disingenuous post!
As US News has pointed out the negative impact of a government shutdown is far more devastating than Palin apparently realizes, or wants to admit.
They include Social Security checks not going out on time.
National parks and museums potentially closing.
Tax refunds could be delayed.
And the pay for U.S. troops would be delayed, while some civilian Defense Department employees would also be furloughed.
None of this may be important to a person living off of SarahPAC donations and dirty Fox News money, but it IS important to millions of Americans, including our soldiers who are in harm's way, and our elderly who are living on a fixed income and really need their Social Security checks to arrive on time.
Finally I would like to point out that Palin's desperation to continue appearing to be popular is truly evident in her plea for more "likes" and "shares" on Facebook.
Of course it should also be pointed out, and I will do so more thoroughly in an upcoming post, that Palin's Facebook followers and Twitter followers are largely phony, as are the number of likes and shares she receives.
It's all mooseshit my friends, one big steaming pile of mooseshit.
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