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94%  
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Culture/Society (News/Activism)

Brevity: Headers | « Text »
  • Treating Depression: Is there a placebo effect? (PROZAC, OTHER SSRIs VIRTUALLY WORTHLESS)

    02/19/2012 6:07:06 PM PST · by MindBender26 · 11 replies
    CBS 60 Minutes ^ | Tonight | Lesley Stahl
    (CBS News) Do antidepressants work? Since the introduction of Prozac in the 1980s, prescriptions for antidepressants have soared 400 percent, with 17 million Americans currently taking some form of the drug. But how much good is the medication itself doing? "The difference between the effect of a placebo and the effect of an antidepressant is minimal for most people," says Harvard scientist Irving Kirsch. Will Kirsch's research, and the work of others, change the $11.3 billion antidepressant industry? Lesley Stahl investigates.
  • Bridgewater State student says she was punched over pro-gay marriage piece

    02/19/2012 5:56:27 PM PST · by massmike · 16 replies
    enterprisenews.com ^ | 02/19/2012 | Justin Graeber
    Police at Bridgewater State University are looking for a woman who allegedly punched a student journalist in the face for her pro-gay marriage editorial. Meanwhile, the school is rallying behind the writer, Destinie Mogg-Barkalow, and is planning a rally on campus on Tuesday. Mogg-Barkalow has been writing for the student newspaper, The Comment, since September. She penned a piece for this week’s edition titled “Prop 8 generates more hate,” in which she called out supporters of a ban on gay marriage in California as intolerant and bigoted. On Feb. 8, a federal appeals court declared the ban unconstitutional, saying it...
  • Obama vs. Santorum. Two Populist Candidates,Two Views of Freedom

    02/19/2012 5:54:28 PM PST · by tcg · 5 replies
    Catholic Online ^ | 2/19/12 | Keith A. Fournier
    ...A real Presidential campaign, a choice between two candidates with two very different worldviews. This election will also be a choice about who we are - and who we will become. It is a choice which addresses the foundation of our identity as Americans and the nature of true freedom. President Obama is in full reelection mode. His campaign theme is that our Nation is divided between the "1%" and the rest of us; between the super rich and everyone else. His rhetoric purports to be "populist", peppered with the mantras of "fair share", and "fair shot". He adds that...
  • Gun Talk Radio 2/19/12

    02/19/2012 5:14:59 PM PST · by mylife · 32 replies
    Gun Talk Radio ^ | 2/19/12 | Tom Gresham
    ~~Come on in and shoot the breeze~~   Gun Talk Radio   02/19/12~~07:00 CST Listen to the Podcast Hereor the KIDO 580 stream Here
  • FReeper Canteen ~ Hall of Heroes: Herschel F. Briles ~ February 20, 2012

    02/19/2012 5:14:22 PM PST · by Kathy in Alaska · 22 replies
    Serving The Best Troops In The World !! | StarCMC
    Our Troops Rock!  Thank you for all you do!   For the freedom you enjoyed yesterday... Thank the Veterans who served in The United States Armed Forces.   Looking forward to tomorrow's freedom? Support The United States Armed Forces Today!     ~ Hall of Heroes ~Herschel F. Briles Story from this website.             Herschel F. Briles (February 7, 1914 – July 17, 1994) was a United States Army soldier and a recipient of the United States military's highest decoration—the Medal of Honor—for his actions in World War II. Briles joined the Army from Fort Des...
  • Gun sales increase in 2012

    02/19/2012 3:53:04 PM PST · by smokingfrog · 35 replies
    Augusta Chronicle ^ | 19 Feb 2012 | Bianca Cain Johnson
    In the gun business, fear drives sales, and recently, sales have increased. About 300 people have already applied for a Georgia Weapon Carry license in 2012, according to Richmond County Probate Court records. Last year, approximately 1,600 permits were submitted. At the current rate, applications could nearly double 2011’s numbers by the end of this year. Kayna Widener was driven to purchase a gun after she saw a man attack a woman outside the Augusta Mall several months ago. She was the only witness to the attack. In this case, the man fled after the victim put up a...
  • He Would End Black History Month

    02/19/2012 3:37:18 PM PST · by rightwingintelligentsia · 15 replies
    The Root ^ | February 17, 2012 | Anthonia Akathunde
    It's an inevitable question as Jan. 31 rolls into Feb. 1: Do Americans still need to celebrate Black History Month? For a black person, questioning the tradition's existence may sometimes be considered akin to turning in your black card, jokes filmmaker Shukree Hassan Tilghman in his new documentary, More Than a Month. The film follows Tilghman, now 32, as he takes a yearlong cross-country trip in February 2010 on a one-man mission to end Black History Month, a concept that he finds puts black history in a 28- (or 29-) day box. Through personal reflection, research and interviews (from his...
  • Paul Babeu Embroiled in Scandal

    02/19/2012 2:24:14 PM PST · by Mikey_1962 · 46 replies
    abc ^ | 2/19/12 | staff
    Former Ariz. Sheriff allegedly threatened to deport secret male lover.
  • Olympic hopeful looks to make a symbolic mark

    02/19/2012 2:24:27 PM PST · by ConservativeStatement · 6 replies
    CBS ^ | February 18, 2012 | Michelle Miller .
    (CBS News) The U.S. teams for the London Olympics are taking shape. And if one young contender has her way, her sport may get a new look. CBS News Michelle Miller has her story. In a sport dominated by white athletes, 26-year-old fencer Ibtihaj Muhammad stands out. "I know that I am different," she said. "But once my mask goes on, and the official or referee tells us to fence, then it's game time. My purpose when I compete is to win."
  • Darwin, 1942: Remembering Australia's 'Pearl Harbor'

    02/19/2012 1:55:11 PM PST · by the scotsman · 9 replies
    BBC News ^ | 19th February 2012 | Duncan Kennedy
    'It's 70 years since Japanese bombers swooped on Darwin, in northern Australia, sinking Allied ships in the harbour and killing hundreds of people. For years the attack was rarely mentioned, but now the story is finally being told. If 7 December 1941 is "a date that will live in infamy" for the United States, then 19 February 1942 is surely one that will join it in the annals of shame for Australia. That was the day, just 10 weeks after the attack on Pearl Harbor, when the same carrier-based Japanese force turned its attention to the small northern town of...
  • California counties get federally-funded teen mail-order condom program

    02/19/2012 1:24:30 PM PST · by ColdOne · 23 replies
    foxnews.com ^ | 2/19/12 | AP
    BAKERSFIELD, Calif. – Teenagers in several counties can get condoms in the mail for free under a program launched this week and supported by state public health officials. The Condom Access Project allows youth between the ages of 12 and 19 to order a package of 10 condoms, lube and health brochures online at TeenSource.org, a website run by the nonprofit California Family Health Council. The package will be mailed to them in a nondescript yellow envelope. Supporters say the program -- aimed at reducing pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases among teens -- will benefit young people who cannot afford...
  • Devine intervention: Feds to question middle-schoolers on volleyball team discrimination complaints

    02/19/2012 1:23:40 PM PST · by dennisw · 26 replies
    kens5.com ^ | February 18, 2012 at 1:01 PM | by Joe Conger
    DEVINE, Texas -- Most middle school take-home permission slips are about field trips. But the one in Devine is asking if students can talk with federal investigators. Although the population in Devine is 60 percent Hispanic, the middle school girls volleyball team is not. Some of the girls' parents complained to the Department of Education about discrimination, alleging there is a large amount of white girls that make up the A team compared to the heavily Hispanic B team. And it has this small town of 4,400 talking about racial disparity. Next week the Department of Education is sending investigators...
  • Liberal Montgomery County Drops Israel, Goes for FGM

    02/19/2012 7:03:10 AM PST · by SJackson · 13 replies
    Algemeiner ^ | February 16, 2012
    American Jewish liberals can congratulate themselves – finally, the boycott of Israel has gone mainstream with Montgomery County, MD, deciding to drop its “Sister City” agreement with the Israeli town of Beth Shemesh. The reason for this unprecedented decision to stick it to a poor Jewish township within the “green line” has to do not with the Palestinians, but with the internal affairs of the Jewish state – namely, the recent spate of ugly attacks against women by some members of a local ultra-Orthodox sect. Celebrating this “brave” decision by his hometown, Marc Tracy pointed out in “Tablet” that Montgomery...
  • British doctors endorse radical solutions to organ shortage

    02/19/2012 12:27:32 PM PST · by wagglebee · 51 replies
    BioEdge ^ | 2/18/12 | Michael Cook
    Some of the most controversial methods of obtaining organs have been endorsed by the British Medical Association in a report released this week. “Building on Progress: what next for organ donation policy in the UK?” laments “the fact that… people are still dying unnecessarily because of a lack of organs”. Among the measures it proposes are: Elective ventilation: keeping patients alive solely so they can become organ donors, Retrieving hearts from newborn disabled babies, Using body parts from high-risk donors including the elderly, people with cancer, drug users and people with high-risk sexual behaviour. making donation after cardiac death a...
  • SNL mixes POTUS and Bill Cosby to create 'The Obama Show' (Video)

    02/19/2012 12:10:41 PM PST · by Rufus2007 · 17 replies
    TheDC ^ | February 19, 2012 | Jeff Poor
    Michelle Obama’s pet project as first lady has been to campaign for healthier diets to fight obesity, and the cast on Saturday’s “SNL” on NBC had a little fun at her expense. During a skit mocking her campaign, former SNL regular Maya Rudolph as Michelle Obama and Fred Armisen as Barack Obama pretended to be characters of the 1980s and 1990s hit sitcom, “The Cosby Show.” Armisen’s Barack Obama (as Cosby’s Cliff Huxtable) is caught by Rudolph’s Michelle Obama (as Clair Huxtable) eating unhealthy food, with appearances from Jason Sudeikis’ Joe Biden (as Theo Huxtable) and Amy Poehler’s Hillary Clinton....
  • Surprise! Planned Parenthood CEO Top Advisor on Contraception Mandate

    02/19/2012 11:57:33 AM PST · by Kaslin · 22 replies
    Townhall.com ^ | February 19, 2012 | Katie Pavlich
    Guess who was a key player in pushing through the birth control mandate in ObamaCare? Planned Parenthood CEO Cecile Richards. According to reports, not only did Obama listen to Richards, but took her word over the suggestions his top advisers, including Vice President Joe Biden, then Chief of Staff Bill Daley and Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius. According th ABC's Jake Tapper, there was an internal debate about the contraception mandate at the White House.  The debate within the White House on this issue was, sources say, heated, and President Obama was legitimately torn. Panetta wasn’t alone in...
  • Starlet-Turned-Nun Gets Another Taste of The Red Carpet Treatment [To Walk Carpet In Nun's Habit]

    02/19/2012 11:38:19 AM PST · by Steelfish · 14 replies
    Telegraph(UK) ^ | February 18, 2012 | Jacqui Goddard
    Starlet-Turned-Nun Gets Another Taste of The Red Carpet Treatment Dolores Hart gave up the promise of film world fame to become a nun, but fifty years later she is back on the screen. [Pics in URL] Left - Dolores Hart in ' Where the Boys Are' and Delores Hart standing on the grounds of the Abbey of Regina Laudis By Jacqui Goddard 18 Feb 2012 As a young starlet in 1960s Hollywood, Dolores Hart had it all. Billed as "the next Grace Kelly" for her beauty and acting talent, she had a seven-figure studio contract, roles opposite some of the...
  • The Heart of the Beast: Fabian Socialism

    02/19/2012 11:10:40 AM PST · by Yollopoliuhqui · 25 replies
    Silver Bear ^ | Nov. 17, 2007 | G. Edward Griffin
    The result of this two-party charade is that Americans – and those in most other countries in the Western World – are the victims of a great deception. Voters have been fooled into thinking they are participating in their own political destiny when, in reality, they are being herded into a high-tech feudalism entirely without their consent and, to a large degree, even without their knowledge. This is accomplished by the mirage of a meaningful choice at election time when, in fact, the major parties and their candidates are merely two branches of the same tree of collectivism. Voters today...
  • Leni Riefenstahl: Congratulations on the HHS Regulations

    02/19/2012 11:08:15 AM PST · by jazusamo · 19 replies
    American Thinker ^ | February 19, 2012 | Clarice Feldman
    Memo: From Leni Riefenstahl To: President Barack Obama Schatzi, it's been over a year since I last wrote you. Please forgive me. It's been so hot here I can barely stand to touch the keyboard. Not that I don't appreciate the green energy projects you funded to cool off this place, but dear, you know even with the trillions you spent, those projects just keep going under. Yes, I know it helped put billions in the pockets of your donors, but hell is not freezing over you know and we could use energy for the air conditioners. Anyway, I forced...
  • DNA nanorobots seek and destroy disease

    02/19/2012 10:17:56 AM PST · by neverdem · 10 replies
    Chemistry World ^ | 17 February 2012 | Jon Cartwright
    Researchers in the US have created a DNA-based nanorobot that can work its way through cell cultures, delivering cargo only at specific targets. The development could pave the way for programmable therapeutics, in which nanorobots would provide medical treatment only to certain types of cell or tissue.  The DNA barrel only opens to release its cargo at specific cells © AAAS The field of nanomachines has taken off in recent years, mostly thanks to so-called DNA origami. In this technique, DNA strands can be folded controllably into a structure, onto which different molecules can be attached. Researchers have already shown...
  • Sierra snowpack study instantly attacked because it undermines AGW claims

    02/19/2012 9:58:25 AM PST · by QT3.14 · 18 replies
    PJ Tatler ^ | February 15, 2012
    If you want a prototypical example of how climate science has ceased being true science and instead become little more than an ideological battleground, look no further than a study released yesterday showing that, contrary to earlier claims, global warming has had zero effect on the depth of the snowpack in the Sierra Nevada mountain range...
  • One dead after crash involving couch

    02/19/2012 9:41:03 AM PST · by Squawk 8888 · 25 replies
    Toronto Sun ^ | February 19, 2012 | QMI Agency
    Late-night stunt also involved truck and sled MONTREAL - A 22-year-old man is dead after a strange car crash on Saturday night involving a couch, a sled and an oncoming vehicle. A group of friends decided to attach a sled as well as a couch to the back of a car in the town of Saint-Benjamin, about 300 km northeast of Montreal. The young man on the couch was killed after the piece of furniture crossed the median and was hit by an oncoming vehicle. The two people in the sled were not injured. The 21-year-old driver of the car...
  • Climate scientists not cowed by relentless climate change deniers

    02/19/2012 8:59:22 AM PST · by reaganaut1 · 38 replies
    Physics Today ^ | February 2012 | Toni Feder
    Receiving an email with a statement like “You should resign, and if you don’t, I’ll work to see that you are fired” or “I know where your kids go to school” would be unsettling enough. But they “pale compared to what other climate scientists are getting,” says Raymond Orbach, director of the Energy Institute at the University of Texas at Austin, at whom the first threat above was aimed. Now climate scientists—in atmospheric physics and chemistry, geophysics, meteorology, hydrology, and oceanography, among other disciplines—have begun to fight back. “I think the community is finding a voice,” says Ben Santer of...
  • Superior police shoot, kill male who raised gun(WI)

    02/19/2012 8:16:59 AM PST · by marktwain · 16 replies
    abclocal.go.com ^ | 18 February, 2012 | AP
    February 18, 2012 (SUPERIOR, Wisc.) -- Superior police have shot and killed a male who they say raised his gun as officers tried to investigate him for an attempted car theft.
  • It's Washington's Birthday, Not Presidents' Day

    02/19/2012 7:50:11 AM PST · by Daffynition · 36 replies
    Heritage.org ^ | February 16, 2009 | Matthew Spalding, Ph.D.
    February 22 is the birthday of George Washington -- the man who, more than any other, made possible our republican form of government. The third Monday in February has come to be known, wrongly, as President's Day. America's political leaders should take this occasion to remember Washington's deeds, recollect his advice, and again call the holiday celebrating him by its legal name: Washington's Birthday. Washington biographer James Flexner called him the "indispensable man" of the American Founding. Without Washington, America would never have won our War of Independence. He played the central role in the Constitutional Convention and set the...
  • (Playing The Race Card) Commentary: You’re Going to Celebrate BHM With Fried Chicken, Really?

    02/19/2012 7:45:45 AM PST · by DogByte6RER · 94 replies
    BET ^ | Feb 16, 2012 | Danielle Wright
    Commentary: You’re Going to Celebrate BHM With Fried Chicken, Really? Is Black History Month turning into a stereotypical holiday? I love Black History Month because it serves as a time to acknowledge the contributions of little-known Black inventors, learn the struggles of Black ancestors and celebrate the victories of how far Black people have come as a whole. Companies, schools, churches and organizations across the country organize events to pay tribute, but is there an appropriate way to honor Black History Month? After recent reports in the news, I’m thinking the answer to that question may be "yes." In a...
  • Citizens help foil robbery attempt in Virginia Beach

    02/19/2012 7:33:33 AM PST · by csvset · 12 replies
    The Virginian-Pilot ^ | 18 Feb 2012
    When two alleged teenage thieves tried to flee a Best Buy, their escape attempts - dodging cars and wielding a small samurai sword - played out like something from the game systems they were trying to steal. Doug Kennedy and his son were heading toward the store on Independence Boulevard on Wednesday night when he saw two or three youths getting away with merchandise. A store employee was screaming after them. "I just thought, no, you can't do this," Kennedy said Thursday. The Virginia Beach resident tackled one. As he tried to pin him down, one of the teen's hands...
  • Is Newsweek Redeeming Itself Or Is It Just An Aberration?

    02/19/2012 6:44:31 AM PST · by Kaslin · 18 replies
    Townhall.com ^ | February 19, 2012 | Michael Youseff
    Newsweek has been at the vanguard of the liberal mainstream media. Often these media outlets compete to see who is more anti-Christian. Through the years, many of them have led with sensational [yet historically questionable] headlines regarding Christ and Christianity. These headlines range from the denial of the resurrection of Jesus to the denial of the virgin birth, all the way to the denial of Jesus’ existence. That is why some faithful, Bible-believing, intellectual Christians have been pleasantly surprised by Newsweek’s headline in the February 13, 2012 issue, “The War on Christians.” Wow! Someone woke up and is finally beginning...
  • Obama, "Fairness", and Your Right to Not Work

    02/19/2012 6:25:00 AM PST · by Kaslin · 15 replies
    Townhall.com ^ | February 19, 2012 | Austin Hill
    I’m askin’ that the script be flipped…”The young woman at the audience microphone seemed to have some familiarity with Democrat President John F Kennedy’s admonition to “ask what you can do for your country.” But she had a different idea in mind. “..I’m askin’ what the country can do for me, and the people in this room,” she shouted, as the crowd erupted in uproarious cheers and chants. It was August of 2011. Democrat Congresswoman Maxine Waters of California was hosting a town hall meeting and “job fair” in the L.A. suburb of Inglewood – a town where the unemployment...
  • The Message on Contraception, Without Apology

    02/19/2012 5:41:46 AM PST · by NYer · 33 replies
    NYT ^ | February 18, 2012 | MARK OPPENHEIMER
    NEW BEDFORD, Mass. — It was last Sunday morning, and the Rev. Roger J. Landry, whose accent is from working-class Lowell, Mass., but whose college degree is from nearby Harvard, had just finished officiating at the 8:30 Mass at St. Anthony of Padua, his church in this old whaling town. After his fiery sermon attacking the Obama administration, several people in the pews applauded — a sound striking for its echoes in the cavernous, awesome church, and for its rarity. One does not applaud in Mass. But Father Landry did not mind the enthusiasm. He is a traditionalist, and he...
  • Elizabeth Smart marries in Hawaii

    02/19/2012 5:15:56 AM PST · by nuconvert · 12 replies
    KSL - Utah ^ | February 18, 2012
    LAIE, Hawaii — Elizabeth Smart and Matthew Gilmour were married Saturday on the North Shore of the island of Oahu. The couple exchanged vows at the Laie Hawaii Temple of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in front of a small group of immediate family members, according to a statement released by Smart family spokesman Chris Thomas. The wedding party was celebrated at a private reception and luau. Following Saturday's festivities, the couple planned to leave on an extended honeymoon to an undisclosed location. "Elizabeth's desire was for what most women want — to celebrate her nuptials in...
  • One Question Only: Why Did Mitt Romney and Barack Obama Socialize Medicine?

    02/19/2012 4:54:27 AM PST · by Kaslin · 7 replies
    Townhall.com ^ | February 19, 2012 | John Ransom
    Mac287 wrote: Mr. Ransom...have you ever read "The Lorax" by Dr.Seuss? Off topic? (eye roll) no, it is not...the ugly destruction of our beloved country has been in the hands of a two party (party?! bad choice of labels nothing "party-ish" about this group of self involved jerks)honey bees are vanishing, etc. and that's a joke to many folks(eye roll)...people are losing their homes...but hey! As long as the right party wins(which one IS the right party???)Where is the group of folks that care?- in response to As to Healing Planet Mr. President: Heel Thyself Dear Comrade287,I have a great...
  • Whitney Houston Was Correct: Crack Was Wack

    02/19/2012 4:28:40 AM PST · by Kaslin · 35 replies
    Townhall.com ^ | February 19, 2012 | Doug Giles
    During a 2002 ABC interview Whitney Houston told an inquiring Diane Sawyer that “crack is wack.” She was correct: Crack is wack, and in the final analysis, abusing it (and many, many other drugs and alcohol) whacked Whitney. This past Saturday Whitney Houston joined the ignoble ranks of Jim Morrison, Janis Joplin, Jimi Hendrix, Amy Winehouse, Frankie Lymon, Bon Scott, Elvis Presley, Keith Moon, John Bonham and literally hundreds of other musicians who died base and appalling drug- and alcohol-related deaths. What a shame. For the life of me, I don’t get why New Jersey Governor Chris Christie wants to...
  • Why “Progressives” and not “Liberals”?

    02/19/2012 4:21:06 AM PST · by Kaslin · 26 replies
    Townhall.com ^ | February 19, 2012 | Derek Hunter
    I’ve been contacted by many readers asking why I use the word “progressive” instead of “liberal.” I figured I’d write a little bit about why this week… The Change Remember when Democrats used to call themselves liberals? Then conservatives showed the world what liberals really were, and no one wanted to call themselves that anymore. Now, they call themselves progressives again – as they did in the early 20th century until their racist/fascist agenda was rejected and they went into hiding under the word liberal. (To you progressives outraged by this truth, read Jonah Goldberg’s masterful book Liberal Fascism and...
  • The Left's Hatred of Religion

    02/19/2012 1:54:30 AM PST · by Cincinatus' Wife · 86 replies
    The American Thinker ^ | February 19, 2012 | T.R. Clancy
    ...JoanWalsh at Salon writes that she was raised Catholic, but has since turned into "a secularfeministliberaldemocrat." Last Friday evening, when Obama's supporters were still clinging to their belief that his announcement of a compromise would steal all the wind out of the bishops' sails, she asked this: Why did we spend 10 days listening to prominent Catholics, including even some liberals and Democrats, insist that the White House had overreached and trampled on "religious freedom" - in this case, the "freedom" of the Catholic hierarchy to impose rules that even most Catholics don't live by? ("Catholic tribalism and the contraceptive...
  • DHS Stonewalls Congress on Social Media Spying

    02/19/2012 1:21:52 AM PST · by Neil E. Wright · 16 replies
    teaparty.org ^ | February 16, 2010 | Ralph E. Walls Sr.
    Homeland Security reps refuse to name superiors who ordered federal agency to analyze online dissent (PaulWatson) – Representatives from the Department of Homeland Security speaking today at a Congressional hearing regarding the federal agency’s monitoring of social media networks and news websites, including the Drudge Report, were evasive about who ordered them to look for reports or comments that “reflect adversely on the U.S. government and the DHS.” The hearing was prompted as a result of the Electronic Privacy Information Center obtaining 300 documents through a Freedom of Information Act request which detailed how DHS had hired an outside contractor,...
  • Frozen Fruit Flies Come Back to Life - Feeding flies a "cryoprotectant" can save them from the cold

    02/19/2012 12:10:56 AM PST · by neverdem · 13 replies
    Popular Science ^ | 02.13.2012 | Rebecca Boyle
    A larval fruit fly is hatched in the year 2011 and frozen while still pupating, half its body water solidified in frigid temperatures. After spending many generations in a state of suspended animation, the wee Drosophila melanogaster awakens and is allowed to grow up. One day, it wonders if it will ever be able to mate — but should it bring new larvae into this dystopian future? As it turns out, the fly can successfully mate after all, and its offspring are perfectly healthy new larvae. Too bad for the fly, it dies in the lab so scientists can find...
  • Devine intervention: Feds to question middle-schoolers on discrimination complaints .

    02/18/2012 11:35:18 PM PST · by moonshinner_09 · 17 replies
    KENS 5 ^ | February 18, 2012 | Joe Conger
    DEVINE, Texas -- Most middle school take-home permission slips are about field trips. But the one in Devine is asking if students can talk with federal investigators. Although the population in Devine is 60 percent Hispanic, the middle school girls volleyball team is not. Some of the girls' parents complained to the Department of Education about discrimination, alleging there is a large amount of white girls that make up the A team compared to the heavily Hispanic B team. And it has this small town of 4,400 talking about racial disparity. Next week the Department of Education is sending investigators...
  • Public Domain Works Can Be Copyrighted Anew, Supreme Court Rules

    02/18/2012 10:42:16 PM PST · by JerseyanExile · 11 replies
    New York Times ^ | January 18, 2012 | Adam Liptak
    WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court on Wednesday upheld a federal law that restored copyright protection to works that had entered the public domain. By a 6-to-2 vote, the justices rejected arguments based on the First Amendment and the Constitution’s copyright clause, saying that the public domain was not “a category of constitutional significance” and that copyright protections might be expanded even if they did not create incentives for new works to be created. The case, Golan v. Holder, No. 10-545, considered a 1994 law enacted to carry out an international convention. The law applied mainly to works first published abroad...
  • Nomophobia -- fear of being without your phone -- is on the rise

    02/18/2012 9:56:20 PM PST · by Dallas59 · 40 replies
    LA Times ^ | 2/17/2012 | LA Times
    Do you feel anxious if your cellphone isn't nearby? Does just the thought of losing your phone make your heart pound? Do you keep an extra phone on hand, just in case your primary phone breaks? Do you sometimes take it to bed with you? If the answer to any of these questions is yes, then you may be a nomophobe, and you are not alone. Nomophobia -- the fear of being without your cellphone -- is on the rise, according to a new report sponsored by SecurEnvoy, a company that specializes in digital passwords. Using the online polling service...
  • Jury awards $16.5 million in State College (PA) suit

    02/18/2012 9:45:58 PM PST · by StopGlobalWhining · 21 replies
    Centre Daily Times ^ | February 17, 2012 | Matt Carroll
    A jury awarded $16.5 million Thursday to a woman who said she was drugged with carbon dioxide and manipulated to believe she was raped by family members at the hands of a former State College psychologist. ... Cantorna said his client was made to believe she was raped at the hands of her family and abused in cultlike rituals by prominent members of the community. Metter was accused in the civil lawsuit of creating those images and suggesting them as reality while the woman was drugged and in her most vulnerable state. “He took a woman who never had any...
  • Latvians reject Russian as official language

    02/18/2012 9:06:45 PM PST · by DeaconBenjamin · 27 replies
    guardian.co.uk ^ | Saturday 18 February 2012 20.53 EST
    Latvian voters resoundingly rejected a proposal to give official status to Russian, the mother tongue of their former Soviet occupiers. For ethnic Latvians the referendum attempted to encroach on Latvia's independence, restored two decades ago after half a century of occupation by the Soviet Union. Many Latvians mistrust Russia and worry that Moscow attempts to wield influence in Latvia through the ethnic Russian minority. With more than 93% of ballots counted, 75% of voters said they were against Russian as a national language, according to the national election commission. "Society is divided into two classes – one half has full...
  • "Women Against Islamization" Campaign Launched in Belgium

    02/18/2012 8:09:46 PM PST · by StopGlobalWhining · 13 replies
    Islam-Watch.org (Also Fox News Channel video) ^ | February 17, 2012 | An-Sofie Dewinter
    A political party in Belgium has started a campaign, called "Women against Islamisation", with a logo in which a young woman appears in a burqa and a bikini. An-Sofie holding the logo on the right The campaign was launched by the rightwing Vlaams Belang party. Featured in the campaign logo is An-Sofie Dewinter, the gorgeous teenage daughter of Philip Dewinter, leader the of Vlaams Belang party. The burqa covers An-Sofie’s head and face while the rest of it falls behind her back. The bikini covers her breast and crotch. The burka and bikini logo is meant for the "Freedom or...
  • Arizona Sheriff Paul Babeu denies threatening to deport lover (comes out of closet)

    02/18/2012 7:22:30 PM PST · by GoMU · 26 replies
    Los Angeles Times ^ | 2-18-2012 | Ricardo Lopez
    An Arizona sheriff running for Congress as a Republican denied accusations Saturday that he had threatened to deport an alleged ex-lover, a Mexican national. In the process, he also resigned from a volunteer position with Mitt Romney's Arizona campaign and came out as gay. After a report published Thursday by the weekly Phoenix New Times, Pinal County Sheriff Paul Babeu acknowledged that he had a "personal relationship" with a man identified only as Jose.
  • Maryland House OKs gay marriage bill; governor likely to sign (Another Domino Falls)

    02/18/2012 6:58:23 PM PST · by SeekAndFind · 33 replies
    Los Angeles Times ^ | 02/18/2012 | Ian Duncan
    The Maryland House of Delegates narrowly approved legalization of gay marriage late Friday, clearing the way for final passage next week and the expected signature of Democratic Gov. Martin O’Malley. That would make Maryland the eighth state with a law on the books legalizing gay marriage, though it would have to survive an expected attempt to block it by referendum. In debate before the vote, Delegate Anne Kaiser, one of seven openly gay members of the House, said that she wanted, "Marriage. Nothing more. Nothing less." The final vote tally was 71-67, with the minimum number of votes needed for...
  • Chris Christie Vetoes Same-Sex Marriage Bill as Promised

    02/18/2012 6:54:21 PM PST · by SeekAndFind · 28 replies
    Christian Post ^ | 02/18/2012 | Anugrah Kumar
    New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie kept his vow to veto a bill allowing same-sex marriage Friday as he sent it back to the legislature, reiterating that the voters should decide if they want a societal change as significant as allowing gay marriage. The Republican governor vetoed the bill, titled Marriage Equality and Religious Exemption Act, which the N.J. Assembly passed Thursday, three days after its passage in the state Senate. "I am adhering to what I've said since this bill was first introduced – an issue of this magnitude and importance, which requires a constitutional amendment, should be left to...
  • Undocumented Migrant Named to Illinois DREAM Commission

    02/18/2012 6:49:32 PM PST · by moonshinner_09 · 6 replies
    Fox News Latino ^ | February 18, 2012 | Fox News Latino
    Link only..due to, This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. ©2012 FOX News Network, LLC. All rights reserved. Read more: http://latino.foxnews.com/latino/politics/2012/02/18/undocumented-migrant-named-to-illinois-dream-commission/#ixzz1mn5uFa6z
  • Alarming: In One Week H1N1 Deaths in Mexico Increase by 67 Percent

    02/18/2012 6:17:28 PM PST · by nickcarraway · 41 replies
    Hispanically Speaking News ^ | February 18, 2012
    The AH1N1 flu virus has left a total of 135 people dead in Mexico so far this year, with the number of fatalities up 67 percent in just one week, according to figures released by the authorities. The total number of deaths from AH1N1 flu reported by Mexico’s Health Secretariat up to Feb. 9 was 81, with another 54 the following week. The secretariat said Friday that deaths from the AH1N1 strain of flu from Jan. 1 to Feb. 16 represents 91 percent of the 149 fatalities from the different types of flu now active in the country. At the...
  • Media Matters Received $50,000 Grant to 'Monitor' Religious Media?

    02/18/2012 5:46:31 PM PST · by daniel1212
    Christian Post ^ | February 17, 2012 | Eryn Sun
    A liberal media watchdog group was purportedly given a grant to expand their monitoring and fact checking of religious broadcasts. According to a weeklong "inside" series by The Daily Caller, Media Matters for America once received a $50,000 grant to "monitor and attack" religious news outlets like the Christian Broadcasting Network and Focus on the Family, though the exact details remained unclear. Tax returns allegedly revealed that the ARCA Foundation, a grant making organization focused on advancing social equity, justice and democracy in the U.S. and abroad, allotted the money in 2006 when Congresswoman Donna Edwards of Maryland's 4th District,...
  • FReeper Canteen ~ Sunday Chapel ~ WHAT KIND OF MODEL ARE YOU? ~ 19 February 2012

    02/18/2012 5:13:19 PM PST · by Kathy in Alaska · 76 replies
    Serving The Best Troops and Veterans In The World !! | The Canteen Crew
            WHAT KIND OF MODEL ARE YOU? In the early 1700s, two men developed distinct reputations for themselves....one was Jonathon Edwards, a man of integrity, refinement, and character; the other was Max Duke, a well-known criminal. During the last 200 years, their descendants have been traced. In Jonathon Edward's line of descendants, there are 18 college presidents, 200 preachers, 60 prominent leaders, 90 physicians, 32 authors, 65 professors and 300 farmers. On the other hand, Max Duke's descendants include 90 prostitutes, 100 criminals, 145 confirmed drunkards, 300 delinquents and 285 who contracted various social diseases. The...