[I could not think of a comment. -RS] Scientists claim they can fight global warming by firing trillions of mirrors into space to deflect the sun’s rays forming a 100,000 square mile “sun shade”. According to astronomer Dr Roger Angel, at the University of Arizona, the trillions of mirrors would have to be fired one [...]
Archive For February, 2009
Pentagon to Allow Photos of Soldiers’ Coffins
[From NY Times] By ELISABETH BUMILLER WASHINGTON — In a reversal of an 18-year-old military policy that critics said was hiding the ultimate cost of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the news media will now be allowed to photograph the coffins of America’s war dead as their bodies are returned to the United States, [...]
Firms defraud government but get new US contracts
[From AP via Yahoo] By LARRY MARGASAK, Associated Press Writer WASHINGTON – Companies that defrauded the United States and jeopardized American lives received new government work despite rulings designed to stop them from receiving federal contracts, government investigators report. Payments went to a company whose president tried to sell nuclear bomb parts to North Korea, [...]
Senate votes to give DC citizens vote in Congress
[From AP] By JIM ABRAMS, Associated Press Writer AP – Senate approves DC voting bill WASHINGTON(AP — The right to a vote in Congress denied the District of Columbia when it became the nation’s capital two centuries ago would be granted under legislation the Senate passed Thursday. Congress is “moving to right a centuries-old wrong,” said [...]
Pimps Go Online to Lure Kids Into Prostitution
Pimps Go Online to Lure Kids Into Prostitution, from Wired.com By Kevin Poulsen She was a 16-year-old California girl looking for trouble on MySpace; he was a 22-year-old self-described pimp who liked the revealing photos she posted to her profile. Three weeks after they met on the social networking site, they were arrested together in [...]
Health care bills suffer conspiracy of silence
Image by Getty Images via Daylife Saul Friedman, Gray Matters Too often journalism ignores or belittles reports or proposals as outside the mainstream and bound to fail, thus assuring they will remain outside the mainstream and fail. That, I believe, is what has been happening to proposals by three Democratic members of the House of [...]
‘Milk’ screenwriter Dustin Lance Black wins Oscar
By Amanda Terkel, from Think Progress At tonight’s Academy Awards, screenwriter Dustin Lance Black won the Oscar for Best Screenplay for “Milk,” the story of California’s first openly gay elected official, Harvey Milk. Black — who was wearing a White Knot for marriage equality — spoke about how Milk inspired him: BLACK: When I was [...]
Obama victory bash owes city $1.74 mil.
PARTY IN THE PARK | Waiting for Dems to pay up February 20, 2009 BY FRAN SPIELMAN City Hall Reporter/fspielman@suntimes.com Chicago has yet to recoup the $1.74 million cost of President Obama’s victory celebration in Grant Park — despite a burgeoning $50.5 million budget shortfall that threatens more layoffs and union concessions. “The Democratic National [...]
GOP Rep. Cao Faces Recall Petition For Voting Against Stimulus
From: Huffington Post Bayou Buzz reports that Rep. Joseph Cao, the Republican who replaced scandalized Democrat William Jefferson, now faces a recall petition over his stimulus opposition by a group of ministers. Cao had indicated that he would be voting in favor of the controversial legislation but instead voted against it. Papers have been filed [...]
How Perverse Incentives Drive Bad Security Decisions
How Perverse Incentives Drive Bad Security Decisions, from WIRED Commentary by Bruce Schneier An employee of Whole Foods in Ann Arbor, Michigan, was fired in 2007 for apprehending a shoplifter. More specifically, he was fired for touching a customer, even though that customer had a backpack filled with stolen groceries and was running away [...]