Moscow to Russians: get more funky? July 30, 2007
Posted by treveskyn in governments behaving badly, signs of the apocalypse.add a comment
Remember the mammoths, say the clean-cut organisers at the youth camp’s mass wedding. “They became extinct because they did not have enough sex. That must not happen to Russia”.Obediently, couples move to a special section of dormitory tents arranged in a heart-shape and called the Love Oasis, where they can start procreating for the motherland.
With its relentlessly upbeat tone, bizarre ideas and tight control, it sounds like a weird indoctrination session for a phoney religious cult.
But this organisation – known as “Nashi”, meaning “Ours” – is youth movement run by Vladimir Putin’s Kremlin that has become a central part of Russian political life.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/news.html?in_article_id=471324&in_page_id=1770
Land of the entitlements? 75% of federal budget to be social aid! July 30, 2007
Posted by treveskyn in Politics, finances, governments behaving badly, taxpayer till death.add a comment
End of story? Not exactly. There’s also a less-noticed cause for the neglect. Washington’s vaunted think tanks—citadels for public intellectuals both liberal and conservative—have tiptoed around the problem. Ideally, think tanks expand the public conversation by saying things too controversial for politicians to say on their own. Here, they’ve abdicated that role.
The aging of America is not just a population change or, as a budget problem, an accounting exercise. It involves a profound transformation of the nature of government: commitments to the older population are slowly overwhelming other public goals; the national government is becoming mainly an income-transfer mechanism from younger workers to older retirees.
Consider the outlook. From 2005 to 2030, the 65-and-over population will nearly double to 71 million; its share of the population will rise to 20 percent from 12 percent. Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid—programs that serve older people—already exceed 40 percent of the $2.7 trillion federal budget. By 2030, their share could hit 75 percent of the present budget, projects the Congressional Budget Office. The result: a political impasse.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/20010728/site/newsweek/?from=rss
Scientists cure mental illness . . . by giving it to a mouse?!? July 29, 2007
Posted by treveskyn in Tech, signs of the apocalypse.1 comment so far
SCIENTISTS have created the world’s first schizophrenic mice in an attempt to gain a better understanding of the illness.
It is believed to be the first time an animal has been genetically engineered to have a mental illness. Until now they have been bred only for research into physical conditions such as heart disease. It will allow researchers to study the disease and develop treatments using a limitless supply of laboratory animals.
Animal rights campaigners have condemned the research, saying that it is morally repugnant to create an animal doomed to mental suffering.
The mice were created by modifying their DNA to mimic a mutant gene first found in a Scottish family with a high incidence of schizophrenia, which affects about one in every 100 people. The mice’s brains were found to have features similar to those of humans with schizophrenia, such as depression and hyperactivity.
“These mutant mice may provide an important new tool for further study of the combinations of factors that underlie mental illnesses like schizophrenia and mood disorders,” said Takatoshi Hikida, of Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, a leading researcher.
The egg cells of mice were genetically modified by inserting a gene associated with schizophrenia into their DNA. The eggs were fertilised and grown into viable baby mice using surrogate mothers.
Animal Aid, a campaign group, said rodents were not a reliable way of modelling human disease.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/science/article2159295.ece
Join a gang? prepared to be sued! July 29, 2007
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By ANGELA K. BROWN, Associated Press Writer
FORT WORTH, Texas – Fed up with deadly drive-by shootings, incessant drug dealing and graffiti, cities nationwide are trying a different tactic to combat gangs: They’re suing them.
Fort Worth and San Francisco are among the latest to file lawsuits against gang members, asking courts for injunctions barring them from hanging out together on street corners, in cars or anywhere else in certain areas.
The injunctions are aimed at disrupting gang activity before it can escalate. They also give police legal reasons to stop and question gang members, who often are found with drugs or weapons, authorities said. In some cases, they don’t allow gang members to even talk to people passing in cars or to carry spray paint.
“It is another tool,” said Kevin Rousseau, a Tarrant County assistant prosecutor in Fort Worth, which recently filed its first civil injunction against a gang. “This is more of a proactive approach.”
But critics say such lawsuits go too far, limiting otherwise lawful activities and unfairly targeting minority youth.
“If you’re barring people from talking in the streets, it’s difficult to tell if they’re gang members or if they’re people discussing issues,” said Peter Bibring, an attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California. “And it’s all the more troubling because it doesn’t seem to be effective.”
Civil injunctions were first filed against gang members in the 1980s in the Los Angeles area, a breeding ground for gangs including some of the country’s most notorious, such as the Crips and 18th Street.
The Los Angeles city attorney’s suit in 1987 against the Playboy Gangster Crips covered the entire city but was scaled back after a judge deemed it too broad.
Chicago tried to target gangs by enacting an anti-loitering ordinance in 1992 but the U.S. Supreme Court struck it down in 1999, saying it gave police the authority to arrest without cause.
Since then, cities have used injunctions to target specific gangs or gang members, and so far that strategy has withstood court challenges.
Los Angeles now has 33 permanent injunctions involving 50 gangs, and studies have shown they do reduce crime, said Jonathan Diamond, a spokesman for the Los Angeles City Attorney’s Office.
The injunctions prohibit gang members from associating with each other, carrying weapons, possessing drugs, committing crimes and displaying gang symbols in a safety zone — neighborhoods where suspected gang members live and are most active. Some injunctions set curfews for members and ban them from possessing alcohol in public areas — even if they’re of legal drinking age.
Those who disobey the order face a misdemeanor charge and up to a year in jail. Prosecutors say the possibility of a jail stay — however short — is a strong deterrent, even for gang members who’ve already served hard time for other crimes.
“Seven months in jail is a big penalty for sitting on the front porch or riding in the car with your gang buddies,” said Kinley Hegglund, senior assistant city attorney for Wichita Falls.
Last summer, Wichita Falls sued 15 members of the Varrio Carnales gang after escalating violence with a rival gang, including about 50 drive-by shootings in less than a year in that North Texas city of 100,000.
Since then, crime has dropped about 13 percent in the safety zone and real estate values are climbing, Hegglund said.
Other cities hope for similar results.
San Francisco City Attorney Dennis Herrera sued four gangs in June after an “explosion” in gang violence, seven months after filing the city’s first gang-related civil injunction.
Fort Worth sued 10 members of the Northcide Four Trey Gangsta Crips in May after two gang members were killed in escalating violence, said Assistant City Attorney Chris Mosley.
“Our hope is that these defendants will be scared into compliance just by having these injunctions against them,” Mosley said.
However, some former gang members say such legal maneuvers wouldn’t have stopped them.
Usamah Anderson, 30, of Fort Worth, said he began stealing cars and got involved with gangs as a homeless 11-year-old. He was arrested numerous times for theft and spent time in juvenile facilities.
Anderson says if a civil injunction had been in place then, he and his friends would have simply moved outside the safety zone.
“That’s the life you live, so you’re going to find a way to maneuver around it,” said Anderson, a truck driver who abandoned the gang life about seven years ago and has started a church to help young gang members.
The ACLU and other critics of gang injunctions favor community programs. The Rev. Jack Crane, pastor of Truevine Missionary Baptist Church in Fort Worth, is helping Anderson’s group provide gang members with counseling, shoes and other resources needed to help them escape that life.
“We don’t want to lose another generation,” Crane said.
Some residents in the Fort Worth safety zone say they feel better with the injunction in place.
Phoebe Picazo, who recently moved to the city to care for her elderly parents, said she hears gunfire almost every night.
“This has always been a quiet community with a lot of seniors, but now we’re having to keep our doors locked,” Picazo said. “With the injunction, I feel better for my folks.”
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070729/ap_on_re_us/gang_lawsuits_2
Richard Branson keeps feeding his attention addiction July 29, 2007
Posted by treveskyn in TMI to the extreme.add a comment
Richard Branson, the Virgin Atlantic airline chief, lifted the lid on how he joined the mile-high club in a plane toilet, in interview extracts released Sunday.The British entrepreneur said it was “every man’s dream,” adding that he had to wipe handprints off the toilet mirror following the high-flying high jinks.
The 57-year-old knight also admits to having tried cocaine, ecstasy and Viagra, in the forthcoming edition of GQ monthly men’s magazine.
“I was sitting in economy on a Freddie Laker flight, next to this very attractive lady, as we headed to Los Angeles,” said the boss of Virgin Atlantic.
“We got chatting and it went a bit further. And it was every man’s dream, to be honest. I was about 19,” the tycoon boasted.
“I remember getting off the plane and she turned to me and said, ‘Look, it’s slightly embarrassing but I am meeting my husband at arrivals, would you mind holding back a bit.’ But it was a memorable flight.
“The problem with plane loos generally is that they are very small, and the acrobatics can’t take too long because there’s no room and people start banging on the door,” Branson explained.
“What I remember vividly is seeing four handprints on the mirror as we finished, and thinking I’d better wipe them off.”
Branson’s Virgin airline has made no bones about using sex to sell seats. It has used slogans including “Hello gorgeous,” “Love at first flight,” “You never forget your first time,” “More experience than the name suggests,” and “Extra inches where it counts.”
Speaking about his experiences with the virility drug Viagra, Branson said: “I had to tie something around my trousers for the rest of the next day to make sure nothing showed.”
He admitted: “I took ecstasy once… but it didn’t have a massive effect on me.”
Of cocaine, he added: “I suspect I’ve tried it, yes.”
And he said Keith Richards, the hell-raising Rolling Stones guitarist, was the “first person to teach me how to roll a joint.
“I haven’t tried skunk (a strong variety of cannabis), I have smoked cannabis though. I went with my son on his gap year, for God’s sake. We learnt to surf and had some nights where we laughed our heads off for eight hours.”
The Virgin Group chairman joked he would be good at Tantric sex, “but I keep dropping the book.”
Branson has combined canny business sense with a gift for self-promotion, and his goings-on have long fascinated British media.
Newspapers have recently linked the flamboyant businessman’s daughter Holly with Prince William, who is second in line to the British throne.
But Branson insisted the pair were “just good friends” and his daughter marrying the prince would be “a dreadful idea.”
He said: “Nothing against William, but the life the royals lead, and the responsibilities that go with it are very difficult.”
Where is Moshe Dayan when you need him? July 29, 2007
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From the Jerusalem Post:“A Golani soldier was nearly left behind in the Gaza Strip overnight Thursday after he fell asleep near the security barrier following a day-long IDF operation, Israel Radio reported on Sunday.
During the night on Thursday, the 51st Golani battalion concluded an operation in southern Gaza that left five gunmen dead and uncovered a significant amount of arms. Only after the soldiers crossed back into Israel did they realize that one of their comrades was missing. They began searching for him at their base, but soon discovered he had been left on the other side of the barrier.
At first, the platoon feared that he had fallen asleep as they were returning to Israel and no one had noticed. Sources in the Southern Command also feared that IDF observation posts would identify the soldier and draw fire. After searching for some time on both sides of the barrier, the soldier was located some 700 meters inside Palestinian territory. The soldiers who found him said he was exhausted and scared.
An initial IDF investigation found that the soldier had fallen asleep as the platoon was conducting its headcount. The investigation also found that another soldier had answered in his friend’s name, leading the platoon to think that all the troops were accounted for. Only after they had entered Israel and conducted another headcount did they realize their mistake.
Since the kidnapping of IDF Cpl. Gilad Schalit in Gaza over a year ago, the Southern Command has made great efforts to avoid a repeat occurrence. Their concern has been compounded by continued threats from Palestinian terror groups’ intent on conducting more kidnappings.
Even Hamas, which is now in charge of the Gaza Strip, has voiced such threats. In April, Khalil Abu Lailah, a senior Hamas official in the Gaza Strip, said Hamas would resume its efforts to try and kidnap IDF soldiers as a bargaining chip for Palestinians held in Israeli jails.
“Hamas’s decision to kidnap Israeli soldiers is not just a threat,” he said. “For us, this is a strategic issue aimed at securing the release of all our prisoners from Israeli jails. Hamas has made it very clear that it will continue to kidnap Israeli soldiers until our prisoners are freed. By keeping our people in Israeli jails, Israel will lose more soldiers.”
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1185379030653&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull
The Puns in this one are just too many to count. . . July 29, 2007
Posted by treveskyn in Uncategorized.add a comment
Jerry Garcia brushed here . . . July 28, 2007
Posted by treveskyn in Sell it all!.add a comment
LOS ANGELES (AP) — The man who bought Jerry Garcia’s house 10 years ago is selling everything, including the kitchen sink.
http://www.usatoday.com/life/people/2007-07-28-garcia-home_N.htm
David Koltys — who sold the deceased Grateful Dead guitarist’s toilet and other fixtures last year — said Friday he plans to clear out the last of his Grateful Dead inventory.
Koltys said he will offer up the home’s kitchen sink, Jacuzzi, stereo speakers and several other items.
The toilet fetched $2,500 at a similar auction last year.
Like that auction, this one will benefit the Sophia Foundation, a San Francisco Bay area non-profit that aids children and families during marital separations and divorces, Koltys said.
The largest ketchup bottle wasn’t enough so . . . July 28, 2007
Posted by treveskyn in people in need of real hobbies.add a comment
COLLINSVILLE, Ill. (AP) — First came the world’s largest ketchup bottle.
Now citizens of this southern Illinois community are after the record for the world’s largest ketchup packet.
Collinsville has partnered with the H.J. Heinz Co. to fill an 8-foot tall, 4-foot wide plastic pouch with 1,500 pounds of the tomato goop for a school fundraiser.
“That’s a lot of ketchup,” said Tracey Parsons, a Heinz spokeswoman.
The company donated 4,000 glass bottles of the condiment that people can buy for $1 and pour into the packet.
Hundreds in the city, which is the home of a 170-foot-tall water tower shaped like a giant ketchup bottle, showed up Saturday to participate in the ketchup filling and other fundraising activities.
Organizers expected the packet to be filled to capacity with 130 gallons by Saturday evening.
The feat is being submitted to the Guinness Book of World Records. If accepted, it will be the world’s largest ketchup packet, Parsons said.
The proceeds will go to the Collinsville Christian Academy, which is celebrating its 25th anniversary. Part of the school was destroyed by a fire earlier this week.
After it’s filled with ketchup, the giant packet will be sealed and kept in Collinsville for a few days before being transported to the Pittsburgh-based company’s headquarters.
Parsons said the ketchup won’t ever be eaten.
http://www.usatoday.com/news/offbeat/2007-07-28-ketchup-record_N.htm
And this is how the FCC spends our hard earned money! July 27, 2007
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K-WHAT? Unbuilt Maui TV station lands questionable call letters
THE call letters KUNT have landed at a yet-unbuilt low-power digital television station in Wailuku, Maui.Alarmingly similar to a word the dictionary says is obscene, the call letters were among a 15-page list of new call letters issued by the Federal Communications Commission and released this week.
The same station owner also received KWTF for a station in Arizona.
From Skokie, Ill., comes a sincere apology “to anyone that was offended,” said Kevin Bae, vice president of KM Communications Inc., who requested and received KUNT and KWTF. It is “extremely embarrassing for me and my company and we will file to change those call letters immediately.”
| On the Net: » svartifoss2.fcc.gov/reports7/callsign.cfm |
He thanked your columnist for bringing the matter to his attention and pledged to, “make sure I don’t fall asleep on the job when selecting call signs again.”
One might understand how Bae’s eyes could glaze over during selection, as KM has some 80 sets of call letters and alpha-numeric callsigns for TV and radio stations in several states.
No KM station is yet on the air in Hawaii but its mainland TV stations carry programming from America One Network, My Network TV and the CW.
The call letter snafu was a source of great mirth for Bae’s attorney.
“I can’t tell you how long he laughed at me when he learned of my gaffe,” Bae said.
Broadcasters for generations have joked among themselves about call letters resembling off-color words or acronyms knowing the FCC would never approve their assignment — but that was before computerization.
KCUF-FM near Aspen, Colo. got its F-word-in-reverse call letters in August of 2005 and has been on the air since December, “Keeping Colorado Uniquely Free,” its Web site says. Uh, yeah.
Station officials could not be reached, but the automated pop-music slinger has been written about twice in the Aspen Daily News. The paper said radio regulators “blessed the call letters.”
However, assignment of call letters actually is an automated process, according to Mary Diamond of the FCC’s Office of Media Relations. Broadcasters use the FCC Web site to request and receive call letters with no oversight from Beavis, his partner, or any FCC regulator.
Dude, seriously. Even after years of concerns over broadcast indecency and the debate about fines for fleeting profanities that hit the air.
The Code of Federal Regulations allows applicants to request call letters of their choice as long as the combination is available. Further, “objections to the assignment of requested call signs will not be entertained at the FCC,” it states.
Erika Engle is a reporter with the Star-Bulletin.
