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House prevents Bush from sticking it to the poor (again)

Wednesday, April 23, 2008 9:20 PM
By a lopsided vote of 349-62, the House of Representatives voted today to impose a moratorium on seven regulations promulgated by the Bush White House which would have eliminated $13 billion in Medicaid funding for health care for the poor. Every House
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The Pope sticks his nose where it doesn't belong

Wednesday, April 16, 2008 10:20 PM
Pope Benedict gave an address in Washington today in which he derided our country's founding principle of separation between church and state. Our nation's firewall between clerical and legal authority really seemed to bother him. Arguing for an even
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Serbian punk nationalists on the rampage

Thursday, February 21, 2008 11:35 PM
In response to Kosovo's recent declaration of independence, a mob of Serbian punk nationalists started a riot in Belgrade today. Egged on by Serbia's hard-right nationalist prime minister, Vojislav Kostunica, a crowd of tens of thousands rampaged through
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Huckabee shows his theocratic urge

Tuesday, January 15, 2008 10:20 PM
Here's reason #1 Mike Huckabee is absolutely unfit to serve as President of the United States ( Raw Story via HuffPo ): "I have opponents in this race who do not want to change the Constitution," Huckabee told a Michigan audience on Monday. "But I believe
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My answers to a seriously unscientific survey

Sunday, January 13, 2008 5:22 PM
The mighty Joe Powell is soliciting answers to a set of questions for his readers. Here are the questions (in bold) with my answers underneath each one: 1) Do you have a preference for any one candidate in the current race for President of the U.S.? Please
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The French Anne Frank

Saturday, January 05, 2008 8:27 PM
Next week, bookstores in France will begin selling the diary of Helene Berr, a young French Jewish woman whom many are describing as the " French Anne Frank :" It starts like any other young woman's diary - with a description of hobbies, a first boyfriend,
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Integrity, principle, and decency

Monday, December 31, 2007 5:35 PM
Those three words are among the traits sadly lacking in the Bush White House; today's New York Times editorial holds nothing back in speaking the truth so many Americans refuse to hear: There are too many moments these days when we cannot recognize our
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Urbi et Orbi

Tuesday, December 25, 2007 10:53 AM
The Pope said this in his 2007 Urbi et Orbi speech: Benedict said he was turning his thoughts this Christmas to victims of other injustices, citing women, children and the elderly, as well as refugees and victims of environmental disasters and religious
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Quote of the day (on Christmas)

Friday, December 14, 2007 11:37 AM
A Twitter update by the inimitable Newscoma : Must go shopping or my family will be getting Tampax and batteries for Christmas. I should probably create a Newscoma tag. Share this post: Email | del.icio.us | Digg | Reddit
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Officiousness at work

Monday, December 10, 2007 9:18 PM
In this post , Mark Harmon (the Knox County Commissioner and UT Professor, not this guy ) lays out a prime example of blind, officious obedience to arbitrary procedures trumping equitable treatment: UT's McNair Scholars program is a superb resource. It
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Candidates should speak to the American worker

Wednesday, December 05, 2007 9:33 PM
Democratic candidates for the Presidency would do well to pay attention to the fundamental, structural issues facing the American workforce, issues which have so far been given short shrift by most of the candidates. First, the quality of the workplace
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Junk science in Texas

Friday, November 30, 2007 9:55 PM
Until recently, a woman named Chris Comer had served for nine years as the state science curriculum director for the Texas Education Agency. She was fired for forwarding an email and merely adding the phrase "FYI." Unfortunately for Ms. Comer and the
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Frosty keyboards

Tuesday, November 27, 2007 7:36 PM
In light of recent trends toward less privacy and more intrusive government surveillance power, it was something of a surprise to read this article : Federal prosecutors withdrew a subpoena of Amazon.com's records of customers who purchased used books
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Applying the brakes, one way or another

Monday, November 19, 2007 10:28 PM
Within the coming years, one (or both) of the following phenomena will force us to apply the brakes to our reckless production of carbon dioxide and our insane habit of burning hydrocarbons for fuel: 1) Peak oil will limit the amount of hydrocarbons we
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The world progresses while the US clings to the Dark Ages

Saturday, November 17, 2007 4:35 PM
This week, the UN's Social, Humanitarian, and Cultural Committee (the "Third Committee") approved a resolution calling for a global moratorium on the death penalty ; the resolution will go to the full General Assembly for consideration, possibly as soon
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Changing definitions

Monday, November 12, 2007 9:48 PM
In 1999, Scott McNealy, the notoriously arrogant and self-absorbed chairman of Sun Microsystems, said , "You have no privacy. Get over it." His profits come first. Your privacy is a remotely distant second. His greed trumps your rights; after all, he
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The eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month

Sunday, November 11, 2007 11:00 AM
Almost all of modern history has transpired as the result of a single gunshot fired in Sarajevo in 1914. When the Serb nationalist Gavrilo Princip assassinated the Hapsburg Archduke Ferdinand, Bismarck's famous prediction came true: that a catastrophic
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Thompson's plan to gut Social Security

Saturday, November 10, 2007 5:40 PM
Not surprisingly, Republican Fred Thompson wants to do away with Social Security and replace it with a privatized system which would benefit those in the upper income brackets and penalize the poor and middle class : Thompson's plan draws on ideas favored
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The death trade

Wednesday, October 31, 2007 4:50 PM
This article provides an in-depth survey of the current state of international arms trading. A couple of choice quotes: Vast government subsidies are sought after in the pursuit of arms trading. US and European corporations receive enormous tax breaks
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The Last Supper, in 16 billion pixels

Sunday, October 28, 2007 9:14 PM
Whoa : A 16 billion pixel image of Leonardo da Vinci's Last Supper has been posted on the internet, giving art lovers a detailed view of the 15th Century work. [...] "You can see how Leonardo made the cups transparent, something you can't ordinarily see,"
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