n2doc
n2doc's JournalKoch-roaches at it again
By Sam Baker
October 29, 2013
Americans for Prosperity, the advocacy group funded by the wealthy Koch brothers, is launching a new round of anti-Obamacare ads against vulnerable Democrats.
AFP announced new television ads Tuesday attacking Sens. Kay Hagan, D-N.C., and Mary Landrieu, D-La., for voting to pass the Affordable Care Act.
Landrieu and Hagan voted to pass the health care law in 2010 and have since resisted GOP-led efforts to weaken the law. Both face competitive reelection fights in 2014.
"Lawmakers who have actively worked to bring about the disastrous Obamacare law need to be held accountable," AFP President Tim Phillips said in a statement. "Senators Hagan and Landrieu have steadfastly supported this costly, Big Government nightmare that has reduced choice, raised premiums, and led to the cancellation of health care plans for millions of Americans."
more
http://www.nationaljournal.com/health-care/koch-group-targets-vulnerable-dems-in-new-anti-obamacare-ads-20131029
more lies and FUD from America's homegrown Fascists.
Wendy Davis Held Up While Voting Due To New Voter Suppression Law
by: Ben Sherman
Tue Oct 29, 2013 at 11:00 AM CDT
While early voting on Monday for the November 5th statewide ballot measure election, Sen. Wendy Davis had to sign an affidavit in accordance with Texas' burdensome new voting restrictions. In 2011, Republicans passed this law, which a federal court later ruled (but before the partial repeal of the Voting Rights Act) was intentionally discriminatory against Latino Texans.
It has another target, too: women. The law burdens women who had changed their maiden names by requiring that they go through extra hoops to prove the name change.
If Republicans had 100 percent of their way, all women whose maiden names created a slight discrepancy between their ID and the voter roll would have had to cast a provisional ballot, conditional on their returning later with proof of the name change.
Luckily, there was a state senator from Fort Worth named Wendy Davis in the Legislature. Sen. Davis wrote a successful amendment that allowed those whose names on the roll and on the form of identification are substantially similar to sign an affidavit swearing that they are the same person, and then vote. That's what Sen. Davis did, since her name appears as Wendy Davis on the state's voter rolls and Wendy Russell Davis on her driver license.
Here's the amendment Davis passed that stems part of the discriminatory effect of this law:
Of course, Davis voted against the larger bill because it is entirely unnecessary and designed only to suppress those who are likely to vote Democratic.
more
http://www.burntorangereport.com/diary/14297/wendy-davis-held-up-while-voting-due-to-new-voter-suppression-law
Interstellar Castle
A Massive Star in NGC 6357
Image Credit: NASA, ESA and J. Maiz Apellániz (IAA, Spain)
Explanation: For reasons unknown, NGC 6357 is forming some of the most massive stars ever discovered. One such massive star, near the center of NGC 6357, is framed above carving out its own interstellar castle with its energetic light from surrounding gas and dust. In the greater nebula, the intricate patterns are caused by complex interactions between interstellar winds, radiation pressures, magnetic fields, and gravity. The overall glow of the nebula results from the emission of light from ionized hydrogen gas. Near the more obvious Cat's Paw nebula, NGC 6357 houses the open star cluster Pismis 24, home to many of these tremendously bright and blue stars. The central part of NGC 6357 shown spans about 10 light years and lies about 8,000 light years away toward the constellation of the Scorpion.
http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap131022.html
4 comets converging on inner solar system!
Astrophotographers were out in full force this weekend to try and capture the bonanza of comets now visible in the early morning skies! You’ll need a good-sized telescope to see these comets for yourself, however, but with the Moon now waning means darker skies and better observing conditions. Above is an absolutely gorgeous image of Comet ISON taken by Damian Peach. See below for more images of not only Comet ISON, but also Comet Encke, Comet Lovejoy and Comet LINEAR — now in outburst.
In fact, one of our “regular” contributors, John Chumack, captured all four comets in one morning, on Saturday October 26!
Read more: http://www.universetoday.com/105834/weekend-comet-bonanza/#ixzz2j7yHyaGe
Nobody wants a job cleaning up Japan’s devastated Fukushima nuclear reactor for some reason
Tokyo Electric Power Co., has acknowledged that an undersized and unstable pool of workers has led to a series of mishaps at the devastated Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant site. More than two years after an earthquake and tsunami led to the partial meltdown of the plant’s reactor, dangerous leaks continue to plague the site, compounded by worker errors such as removing the wrong pipe and spilling 7 tons (6.4 tonnes) of radioactive water.
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“We are not sure about our long-term staffing situation during the upcoming process of debris removal, which requires different skills,” Tokyo Electric Power (Tepco) vice president Zengo Aizawa told reporters. Aizawa had been called on the carpet earlier in the day to answer for what Nuclear Regulation Authority chairman Shunichi Tanaka called “silly mistakes,” caused by declining worker morale.
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Tepco president Naomi Hirose admitted to the difficulties in recruitment, but assured Tanaka that more staff would be sent from other sites to assist in the Fukushima plant’s decommissioning. Shifting staff is a short-term measure, which leaves the future of the long-term site remediation up in the air as long as the company continues to have trouble recruiting capable workers.
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It’s not for lack of trying.
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In the months following the accident, Tepco claimed to have secured 24,000 workers, but some 16,000 quit within months due to harsh working conditions and the fear of dangerous radiation levels. Japan’s elderly tried to step up in hopes of saving younger workers with decades of life ahead of them, but finding skilled labor continues to be a challenge. A web of labor brokers and subcontractors have given rise to pay skimming, corruption, and ties to organized crime, according to a Reuters investigation.
more
http://qz.com/140674/nobody-wants-a-job-cleaning-up-japans-devastated-fukushima-nuclear-reactor-for-some-reason/
Tiny bits of plastic are getting from your face cream to your stomach—via the Great Lakes
Remnants of your beauty products could be making their way into your gut via a rather circuitous route.
Over the past several years scientists have documented the existence of giant gyres of plastic trash swirling around the world’s oceans; the Pacific garbage patch is twice the size of Texas. Now scientists have measured the extent of plastic pollution in the Great Lakes of the US. And unlike the bottles, toothbrushes and other detritus in the oceans, much of the garbage researchers gathered in Lake Erie, Lake Huron and Lake Superior takes the form of micro-particles measuring less than 1 millimeter (0.04 inches).
That includes tiny bits of plastic called microbeads, barely visible to the eye, that are found in face scrubs, shower gels and other beauty products. Scientists who spent three weeks last year trawling the three lakes have now published the results of their research (paywall), and found that microbeads are more concentrated in the lakes than in most of the oceans.
The study by the 5 Gyres Institute, a nonprofit that researches ocean plastic pollution, and the State University of New York at Fredonia, suggests that when beauty products are washed down the drain, microbeads aren’t getting caught by sewage treatment, and instead are washing into the lakes and into rivers that drain into the Atlantic Ocean. The microbeads “were of similar size, shape, texture and composition to plastic micro-beads found in many consumer products used as exfoliants,” said Marcus Eriksen, head of 5 Gyres and the lead author of the study.
Concentrations of micro-plastics ranged from 450 to 450,000 pieces per square kilometer (0.39 sq miles) with an average of 43,157 per square kilometer. Like other plastics, microbeads get eaten by fish and other marine life, accumulating as they in turn are eaten by larger fish, some of which may end up on people’s dinner plates.
more
http://qz.com/140758/tiny-bits-of-plastic-are-getting-from-your-face-cream-to-your-stomach-via-the-great-lakes/
The beads are unlikely to pass through the gut wall. However plastics have been shown to be excellent absorbers/concentrators of chemicals for the water, so there is your health issue...
City: Odor from Sriracha chili plant a nuisance
LOS ANGELES (AP) — The maker of Sriracha hot sauce is under fire for allegedly fouling the air around its Southern California factory.
The city of Irwindale filed a lawsuit in Los Angeles Superior Court Monday asking a judge to stop production at the Huy Fong Foods factory, claiming the chili odor emanating from the plant is a public nuisance.
City officials say residents have been complaining of burning eyes, irritated throats and headaches and that some people have had to leave their house to escape the smell.
One family was forced to move a birthday party indoors after the strong smell overwhelmed the festivity, Irwindale City Attorney Fred Galante told the Los Angeles Times.
more
http://www.sfgate.com/news/us/article/City-Odor-from-Sriracha-chili-plant-a-nuisance-4934313.php
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