January 10, 2013

Pat Robertson: "Hard-Nosed," "Awful Looking" Women Are Ruining Marriages!

AlterNet / By Laura Gottesdiener

Pat Robertson Outrage: "Hard-Nosed," "Awful Looking" Women Are Ruining Marriages!
Radical Christian televangelist Pat Robertson with one of his most offensive statements of all time.

January 10, 2013 |


It always seems to be the woman’s fault. No really—check this one out.

So, a 17-year-old boy writes in to Maxim magazine, complaining that his father never pays any attention to his mother.

“I’m 17 years old and I’ve noticed that there has been a change in my father’s behavior,” he wrote. “He spends too much time at the computer playing a war game. I’ve noticed how alone my mom feels. I just want my father to spend more time with my mom. What should I do? How can I talk to my father? I feel shame for him. Please help.”

Luckily for this perceptive 17 year old, the radical Christian conservative Pat Robertson is on the case—and his answer is, well, exactly what you’d expect from this radical Christian televangelist. .........(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.alternet.org/tea-party-and-right/pat-robertson-outrage-hard-nosed-awful-looking-women-are-ruining-marriages

January 10, 2013

Greeks Stand Up to Protect Their Water From Privatization

from OnTheCommons.org:


Greeks Stand Up to Protect Their Water From Privatization
As foreign investors eye their public utilities, water workers scramble to create cooperatives

By Daniel Moss


Greece knows a thing or two about democracy. And as an increasingly arid nation, good water management is fundamental to its future, both political and physical. The recent financial crisis hasn’t only tested Greek democracy, but its water as well.

“You can tell if a society is democratic if its water is available to everyone, if it’s clean, and in public hands.” That’s how Kostas Marioglou sees it. When he’s not distributing water meters and pipes from a warehouse as with his job at EYATH ( Thessaloniki’s State Water Utility) he is a union leader and organizer for Initiative 136, a citizen’s initiative to buy the water utility from the Greek government.

Greece is under enormous pressure to privatize its water system. As the country drowns in debt, the European Commission, the International Monetary Fund and the European Central Bank (often referred to as the “troika”) work with eager Greek political parties to balance the books by selling off public water. Greece wouldn’t be the first place to privatize public water utilities during a fiscal crisis. Conditioning loans based on full or partial water privatization is an increasingly common practice of international lenders – and much criticized.

“Although the people’s message after two elections (6th of May and 17th of June) was clearly that of renegotiating the debt and the measures imposed by the Troika”, said Theodoros Karyotis, a member of Initiative 136, “the new government continues to apply the Troika program.” .............(more)

The complete piece is at: http://onthecommons.org/magazine/greeks-stand-protect-their-water-privatization

January 10, 2013

Snake on a Plane

When a passenger aboard a Qantas flight en route to Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea, pointed out that a snake was slithering on the wing, she got the same reaction William Shatner did after he spotted a gremlin on his plane in the Twilight Zone: Mostly scoffing and disbelief.

But there was no ambiguity here: A 10-foot scrub python was indeed coiling for dear life on the plane's exterior.

"There was no panic," said passenger Robert Weber, who snapped several shots of the flying reptile. "At no time did anyone stop to consider that there might be others on board."

Passengers in the vicinity were "totally focused on the snake," which was caught in "a life and death struggle." .........(more)

The complete piece is at: http://gawker.com/5974780/snake-on-a-plane-qantas-passenger-spots-python-on-wing-during-flight

January 10, 2013

Hold the cola, double-down on the espresso

Sweetened Drinks May Boost Depression, Coffee Reduce It

Megan Brooks
Jan 09, 2013


New observational research hints that regular consumption of sweetened beverages, particularly diet soda, may raise the risk for depression in adults, while drinking coffee may protect against depression.

"Our research suggests that cutting out or down on sweetened diet drinks or replacing them with unsweetened coffee may naturally help lower your depression risk," Honglei Chen, MD, PhD, from the National Institutes of Health, Research Triangle Park, North Carolina, said in a statement.

In an email to Medscape Medical News, Dr. Chen emphasized, however, that the biological mechanisms behind the associations "are not well-understood" and "more research is needed to confirm these findings."

Dr. Chen will present the research at the upcoming American Academy of Neurology 65th Annual Meeting in March. .................(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/777356

January 10, 2013

FAA warns flight attendants about exploding coffee filters

Washington (CNN) -- When a flight attendant serves up a cup of coffee, fliers are unlikely aware of just how much risk the crew took to deliver them that cup of joe.

According to a safety alert published on the Federal Aviation Administration's website, the prepackaged coffee filters many airlines use are susceptible to pressure buildup and can explode when an unsuspecting attendant lifts the coffee pot to pour a cup.

Coffee makers on airplanes, similar to home drip-style coffee makers, have the filter and coffee grounds above the coffee pot. Many airlines use prepackaged coffee sealed within the coffee filter for convenience and ease of cleanup.

When the filters are incorrectly placed in the coffee maker the water can become blocked from dripping into the coffee pot below and pressure builds up within the container holding the filter and coffee grounds. When an unsuspecting flight attendant removes the coffee pot, the clogged compartment above suddenly has much more room to expand and the filter can burst, with its hot contents and hot water possibly injuring passengers and crew. ................(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.cnn.com/2013/01/09/travel/volatile-airline-coffee-filters/

January 10, 2013

I swear that a quarter of my Facebook friends say they're sick with the flu today......

...... and I keep seeing these stories about flu emergencies. I guess I've lucked out so far. ..... Any DUers afflicted?

January 10, 2013

Amy Goodman: John Brennan, Sami Al-Hajj and the Blight of Guantanamo

from truthdig:


John Brennan, Sami Al-Hajj and the Blight of Guantanamo

Posted on Jan 10, 2013
By Amy Goodman


It takes courage to enter a war zone willingly, armed with a microphone and a camera as a journalist. That is what Al-Jazeera cameraman Sami al-Hajj was doing in Dec. 2001, as he was entering Afghanistan from Pakistan to cover the U.S. military operations there. While his colleague was allowed in, al-Hajj was arrested, in what was to be a harrowing, nightmarish odyssey that lasted close to seven years, most of it spent as prisoner 345, the only journalist imprisoned at Guantanamo Bay—without charge. Al-Hajj is out now, back at work at Al-Jazeera and reunited with his family. His recollections of the horror of detention by the United States should be front and center in the forthcoming confirmation hearings for President Barack Obama’s choice the lead the CIA, John Brennan. It has been 11 years since the Guantanamo prison was opened, and four years since President Obama promised to close it within a year.

“He speaks very eloquently (about) what many hundreds of other detainees suffered, who cannot tell their story,” Baher Azmy, legal director of the Center for Constitutional Rights, told me. “The brutality he suffered in Afghanistan, the fact that he was turned over for political reasons or for a bounty, the arbitrariness of his detention in Guantanamo and the brutality of his treatment there.”

I sat down with Sami al-Hajj last month at Al-Jazeera’s headquarters in Doha, Qatar. He now heads up the network’s human rights and public liberties desk. Tall, dignified, in his flowing white robe that is standard attire for the men in Qatar, al-Hajj told me in his best English what he endured.

“They put me in Kandahar airport with the people there. We submit five months in Kandahar. And in Kandahar also they starting interrogated me, from beginning, from when I was born until they arrested me.” Shackled and hooded, he was pushed off the transport plane, when he fell and broke his kneecap. He was forced to march anyway, into a building where people were screaming. He was put in the middle of a circle of U.S. soldiers who held guns to his head. .......................(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/john_brennan_sami_al-hajj_and_the_blight_of_guantanamo_20130110/

January 10, 2013

Holy Hush Puppies !!!

Most Americans probably think that companies like Vibram and Dow Chemical are responsible for the technology behind long-lasting shoes, but self-proclaimed prophet Cindy Jacobs is asserting that durable kicks are really a “supernatural” miracle from God.

During the Tuesday episode of God Know, Jacobs advised viewers to gather provisions for “the tumultuous season ahead,” but not to worry because God would provide through miracles.

“We believe we’re moving into a supernatural season, where if needed, God will multiply food,” she explained. “I have seen God multiply food more than one time when I was cooking… And I remember spooning out spaghetti or whatever, just praying in the spirit over that, and God just made more and more and more. You know, I’ve seen oil multiply as I was praying for the sick. I’ve seen bottles of oil just fill up about a cup a time of oil. But the point is we were promised supernatural provisions.”

“Remember when we drove our car… one one set of tires, how many miles was it?” Jacobs asked her husband and fellow prophet, Mike, after the commercial break. “Way, way beyond what could ever happen with one set of tires.” ........(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2013/01/09/christian-tv-prophet-long-lasting-shoes-are-proof-of-supernatural-miracles-from-god/#.UO4hEwoFPL0.facebook

January 10, 2013

Teen Pulls Train Emergency Brake To Retrieve Dropped iPhone

A 13-year-old traveling on a New Zealand tourist train proved that some teens will do anything to avoid parting with their precious smartphones.

The Otago Daily Times reports that Spencer Sutherland Todd, a native of Dunedin, New Zealand, dropped his iPhone as he was snapping photos out the window of the Taieri Gorge Limited train. Rather than accept his loss, however the teen pulled the emergency brake, bringing the entire train to a stop.

'It is very important to me," Todd said of his phone, per the Otago Daily Times. ''I just panicked and pulled." ...........(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/01/09/train-emergency-brake-iphone_n_2439999.html

January 10, 2013

Another DSM-4 Corporate Psychopath

WASHINGTON -- Sodium dichromate is an orange-yellowish substance containing hexavalent chromium, an anti-corrosion chemical. To Lt. Col. James Gentry of the Indiana National Guard, who was stationed at the Qarmat Ali water treatment center in Iraq just after the 2003 U.S. invasion, it was “just different-colored sand.” In their first few months at the base, soldiers were told by KBR contractors running the facility the substance was no worse than a mild irritant.

Gentry was one of approximately 830 service members, including active-duty soldiers and members of the National Guard and reserve units from Indiana, South Carolina, West Virginia and Oregon, assigned to secure the water treatment plant, according to the Department of Veterans Affairs. Sodium dichromate is not a mild irritant. It is an extreme carcinogen. In November 2009, at age 52, Gentry died of cancer. The VA affirmed two months later that his death was service-related.

In November, a jury found KBR, the military's largest contractor, guilty of negligence in the poisoning of a dozen soldiers, and ordered the company to pay $85 million in damages. Jurors found KBR knew both of the presence and toxicity of the chemical. Other lawsuits against KBR are pending.

KBR, however, says taxpayers should be on the hook for the verdict, as well as more than $15 million the company has spent in its failed legal defense, according to court documents and attorneys involved with the case. ................(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/01/09/kbr-guilty-iraq-negligence_n_2436115.html