March 30, 2012

Another endorsement for Romney.....

March 30, 2012

Finally another Anchorman......

March 30, 2012

Latest buzz on bee decline: Maybe it's pesticides

WASHINGTON (AP) -- A common class of pesticide is causing problems for honeybees and bumblebees, important species already in trouble, two studies suggest.

But the findings don't explain all the reasons behind a long-running bee decline, and other experts found one of the studies less than convincing.

The new research suggests the chemicals used in the pesticide - designed to attack the central nervous system of insects - reduces the weight and number of queens in bumblebee hives. These pesticides also cause honeybees to become disoriented and fail to return to their hives, the researchers concluded.

The two studies were published online Thursday in the journal Science.

Just last week activists filed a petition with more than a million signatures asking the government to ban the class of pesticides called neonicotinoids. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency said it is re-evaluating the chemicals and is seeking scientific help.

For more than a decade, pollinators of all types have been in decline, mostly because of habitat loss and perhaps some pesticide use. In the past five years, a new mysterious honeybee problem, colony collapse disorder, has further attacked hives. But over the last couple of years, that problem has been observed a bit less, said Jeff Pettis, lead bee researcher at the U.S. Department of Agriculture's lab in Beltsville, Md.

Other studies have also found problems with the pesticide class singled out in the new research. These "strengthen the case for more thorough re-assessing," said University of Illinois entomology professor May Berenbaum, who wasn't involved in the new studies. "But this is not a slam-dunk indictment that could compel a ban. It's complicated."

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_SCI_BEE_PESTICIDE?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT

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Another reason not to use pesticides.......it kills bees toooo.....

March 30, 2012

A Message From A Republican Meteorologist On Climate Change

Acknowledging Climate Change Doesn’t Make You A Liberal

I’m going to tell you something that my Republican friends are loath to admit out loud: climate change is real.

I am a moderate Republican, fiscally conservative; a fan of small government, accountability, self-empowerment, and sound science. I am not a climate scientist. I’m a meteorologist, and the weather maps I’m staring at are making me uncomfortable. No, you’re not imagining it: we’ve clicked into a new and almost foreign weather pattern. To complicate matters, I’m in a small, frustrated and endangered minority: a Republican deeply concerned about the environmental sacrifices some are asking us to make to keep our economy powered-up, long-term. It’s ironic.

The root of the word conservative is “conserve.” A staunch Republican, Teddy Roosevelt, set aside vast swaths of America for our National Parks System, the envy of the world. Another Republican, Richard Nixon, launched the EPA. Now some in my party believe the EPA and all those silly “global warming alarmists” are going to get in the way of drilling and mining our way to prosperity. Well, we have good reason to be alarmed.

http://thinkprogress.org/romm/2012/03/29/454476/a-message-from-a-republican-meteorologist-on-climate-change/

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some of these charts are a little scary.....

March 30, 2012

Is There More to Sen. Snowe's Resignation Than Congress's "Crumbling Center"?

Nationally, most of the media coverage of Maine Sen. Olympia Snowe's decision to drop her re-election bid has been depicted as an honest and moderate politician sick and frustrated with polarized politics on Capitol Hill.

Listen to the liberal, corporate media, like National Public Radio (NPR), and you will hear that the senator from Maine announced she will not seek re-election because there is a lack of civility in politics. NPR is just one media outlet among many that paint Snowe as a Republican senator under siege from radical elements in her own party.

The Daily Beast called Snowe a "moderate." In his article, "The center crumbles"Politico writer Jonathan Allen stakes out the corporate media's spin on the Snowe announcement bemoaning the fact, "Congress can't find the middle ground because no one's willing and able to stand there anymore" as if this somehow has anything to do with Snowe's unexpected announcement.

http://truth-out.org/news/item/8160-why-olympia-snowe-really-resigned

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and for the rest of the story.......

March 29, 2012

Apple supplier audit finds major wage and overtime violations

NEW YORK (CNNMoney) -- A heavily anticipated report on working conditions at Apple supplier Foxconn documents dozens of major labor-rights violations, including excessive overtime, unpaid wages and salaries that aren't enough to cover basic living expenses.

More than 60% of the workers at three of Apple supplier Foxconn's factories in China say their wages fall short of their basic needs, according to a report released Thursday by auditors from the Fair Labor Association. The FLA is a watchdog group hired by Apple to audit its overseas suppliers.

The average monthly salaries at the plants range from 2,257 RMB in Chengdu -- around $358 in U.S. dollars -- to 2,872 RMB (USD $455) in Guanlan.

A team from the FLA, an independent labor-rights organization, arrived last month at the vast Foxconn plant in Shenzhen, China, known as Foxconn City, to conduct a voluntary audit commissioned by Apple (AAPL, Fortune 500). Thursday's report, which the FLA said is the first of many, covered three factories in Guanlan, Longhua and Chengdu.

http://money.cnn.com/2012/03/29/technology/apple-foxconn-report/index.htm

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No whitewash: The FLA finds dozens of Foxconn violations

http://tech.fortune.cnn.com/2012/03/29/no-whitewash-the-fla-finds-dozens-of-foxconn-violations/?iid=T_Blogs

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March 29, 2012

How Obamacare Will Be Settled: A Primer on the Commerce Clause

Amid rampant speculation over the fate of Obamacare in the Supreme Court, a critical question has been missed: How will the justices decide whether to uphold or strike the individual mandate?

The case the Supreme Court will hear is an appeal of an Eleventh Circuit decision holding the individual mandate unconstitutional under both the Commerce Clause and the Taxing and Spending Clause of the Constitution. The only potential positive for Obamacare in the ruling was the finding that the mandate is "severable." Severability would allow the rest of Obamacare to stand even if the mandate falls.

To date, four of 13 circuit courts have ruled on the individual mandate. The Sixth Circuit and D.C. Circuit upheld the individual mandate under the Commerce Clause. The Fourth Circuit dismissed a case on the rationale that the mandate's penalty for not buying insurance is a tax. Under the Anti-Injunction Act, taxpayers cannot challenge a tax before it goes into effect. Only the Eleventh Circuit found the mandate unconstitutional under the Commerce Clause.

The Court's roughly 75-percent rate of reversing lower courts seems promising for the U.S. in the abstract. Circuit-by-circuit data suggest the potential to determine how in-step a circuit's judges are with the Court on average -- and thus the likelihood the Court will reverse a circuit's case.

http://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2012/03/how-obamacare-will-be-settled-a-primer-on-the-commerce-clause/254872/

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March 29, 2012

George Zimmerman’s dad: Trayvon Martin threatened to kill my son

Source: Miami Herald

Sanford, FL -- Trayvon Martin threatened to kill George Zimmerman the moments before the neighborhood watch captain took out a handgun and shot him, Zimmerman’s father told a local television station.

Speaking out for the first time, Robert Zimmerman gave an interview to the Orlando Fox affiliate, telling the station that his son had no choice but to kill Trayvon or risk being beaten to death.

“Things were not going to go well. One of them was not going to walk away,” he said. “I hope at one point everyone will go beyond the hate. At some point when all this settles, they’ll say, ‘George Zimmerman is a pretty nice guy.”

George Zimmerman killed Trayvon Feb. 26 in a case that has triggered protests nationwide. The college criminal justice student was not charged, leading attorneys to believe that police and prosecutors conspired to protect him.


Read more: http://www.miamiherald.com/2012/03/29/2720704/george-zimmermans-dad-trayvon.html

March 29, 2012

Limbaugh sees heat over comments turn down to a simmer

Limbaugh sees heat over comments turn down to a simmer

The dark clouds hanging over Rush Limbaugh appear to be lifting.

Exactly one month after the conservative radio host sparked outrage by calling Georgetown law-school student Sandra Fluke “a slut” and “a prostitute” in a three-day diatribe, stations are standing by him, advertisers are trickling back to his program and the news media have moved on.

March 4, 2012: Conservative talk show host Rush Limbaugh has apologized to a Georgetown University law student he had branded a "slut" and "prostitute" after fellow Republicans as well as Democrats criticized him and several advertisers left his program.

Liberal groups that organized petitions and boycotts against Limbaugh say that they intend to keep up the pressure and that they’ve had a lasting impact on the most popular radio host in America.

“The objective has been to show that there are real consequences when someone like Mr. Limbaugh or his company shows no accountability for his actions,” says Angelo Carusone, who has been leading the anti-Limbaugh efforts for Media Matters for America, a Washington organization. “That is continuing.”

At the same time, however, Carusone acknowledged that outrage is hard to sustain. “I think certainly the pressure has been reduced,” he said. “To a certain extent, that’s okay and acceptable. .?.?. Obviously, the intensity is gone, but the engagement remains high.”

http://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/style/limbaugh-sees-heat-over-comments-turn-down-to-a-simmer/2012/03/28/gIQAspEKhS_story.html?hpid=z5

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March 29, 2012

House Passes Ryan's Medicare Overhaul Bill

Source: Medpage

WASHINGTON -- The House of Representatives has voted 228-191 to pass Rep. Paul Ryan's (R-Wis.) fiscal 2013 budget bill, which would drastically change Medicare.

Ryan's budget proposal contains provisions to repeal the Affordable Care Act (ACA), overhaul Medicare and Medicaid, drastically cut nondefense spending over the next decade, and reshape the U.S. tax code.

It would turn Medicare into a "premium support" system starting in 2025 when Medicare beneficiaries would be given a choice between traditional fee-for-service Medicare and several private insurance plans.

Once a beneficiary chooses a plan, the government would send that plan a "premium support" payment equal to either the cost of traditional Medicare or the second least-expensive private plan, whichever is less. Beneficiaries who chose a plan costing more than the amount of the premium support payment would have to make up the difference.

The proposal also would change the Medicaid program -- currently a joint federal/state program that guarantees a specific set of benefits -- into a block-grant program, in which states would receive a set amount of money to spend for Medicaid.

The bill is not expected to pass the Democratic-controlled Senate.

Read more: http://www.medpagetoday.com/PublicHealthPolicy/Medicare/31926?