Tag Archives: numbers

Inconvenient Truth: 10 Times More Hate Crimes Against Jews Than Muslims

Posted on September 6, 2010 by Benny Hollywood| Leave a comment

If you believed the media, you would think that hate crimes against Muslims was a growing epidemic in America. Just Monday, the New York Times had a front page story hysterically noting a “torrent of anti-Muslim sentiments and a spate of vandalism.” “The knifing of a Muslim cab driver in New York City has also alarmed many American Muslims,” wrote Laurie Goodstein in the second paragraph of her article titled “American Muslims Ask, Will We Ever Belong?” Unfortunately, as Michael Doyle reported on August 28, the most recent data concerning hate crimes in this country paint a very different picture than what Goodstein and others in the media have been dishonestly portraying of late: Hate crimes directed against Muslims remain relatively rare, notwithstanding the notoriety gained by incidents such as recent vandalism at the Madera Islamic Center. Jews, lesbians, gay men and Caucasians, among others, are all more frequently the target of hate crimes, FBI records show. Reported anti-Muslim crimes have declined over recent years, though they still exceed what occurred prior to the 9-11 terrorist attacks. In 2008, 105 hate crime incidents against Muslims were reported nationwide. There were 10 times as many incidents that were recorded as anti-Jewish during the same year, the most recent for which figures are available. The San Francisco Examiner broke those numbers down a little further: According to the latest hate crime statistics available , there were 1,606 hate crime offenses motivated by religious bias in 2008. A closer look: 65.7 percent of them were committed against Jews. Against Muslims? 7.7 percent. Another interesting data point: 4.7 percent of hate crimes in 2008 were motivated by anti-Catholic bias. Another 3.7 percent were anti-Protestant. So from a raw numbers perspective, there were more hate crimes against Christians in America in 2008 than there were against Muslims. Given our large Christian population, it’s true that each Christian is far less likely to be victimized, but the numbers still show that religious haters have not been singling out Muslims. Some data provided by USA Today last November also helps to put this in perspective: The number of attacks on blacks increased 8% to 2,876, accounting for seven of every 10 race-motivated crimes. Hate crimes based on sexual orientation increased 3% to 1,297,although the number of people victimized went up 13% to 1,706. So, in 2008, the last year such statistics were available, there were 2,876 hate crimes against blacks, 1,297 against gays, and 1,055 against Jews. Yet, with only 105 such disgusting acts committed against Muslims, America’s media want you to believe this nation is Islamophobic. Consider their premise as you watch the following video of a pro-Palestinian rally that took place in Washington, D.C., Friday (h/t Right Scoop ): Imagine the wall-to-wall, 24 hour media coverage that would ensue if rabbis at a pro-Israel rally spoke with such vitriol about Muslims. On the flipside, filmmaker Oliver Stone in July said America’s “Jewish-dominated media” prevent Adolf Hitler from being portrayed in his proper context. The prior month, the historically anti-Semitic Helen Thomas said Jews should go back to Germany or Poland and “get the hell out of Palestine.” A month before that, Comedy Central’s website offered an astonishingly anti-Semitic video game wherein one character said, “You lied to me, Jew producer.”    A month before that, a report was released showing that anti-Semitic acts around the world had more than doubled in 2009 reaching levels never seen since figures started being kept on such things, and our media almost totally ignored these disturbing findings.  Yet America’s an Islamophobic nation – don’t you ever forget it!

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Inconvenient Truth: 10 Times More Hate Crimes Against Jews Than Muslims

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From The Gulf Stream To The Bloodstream – The Video BP Doesn’t Want You to See

Posted on September 6, 2010 by Benny Hollywood| Leave a comment

From the YouTube page: Several volatile hydrocarbons found in crude oil were detected in the blood of several residents from the Orange Beach, AL area. Among the hydrocarbons tested, several were detected at abnormally high levels including ethylbenzene, xylene, hexane. These individuals were not directly involved in BP's clean-up operations, nor had they been exposed to any industrial environment where the presence of these compounds would be of concern. Therefore, it can be assumed that residents living near the Gulf of Mexico shoreline are at risk of exposure to aerosolized VOC's moving inland from the Deepwater Horizon oil spill. The blood test performed on these individuals is called the Volatile Solvents Profile (Metametrix.com). The test can be obtained and administered by any physician with the ability to perform a simple blood draw. The test will be shipped to a laboratory for analysis and returned to your doctor for interpretation and treatment. The Gulf of Mexico is facing a significant threat to human health, which needs to be documented in a stringent and concrete manner. A multitude of symptoms have been reported ranging from subtle to severe; these include skin rashes and infections, upper respiratory burning, congestion and cough, headaches, nausea, vomiting, and neurological symptoms such as short-term loss of memory and coordination. Please report symptoms to the Project Gulf Impact health line: (504) 814-0283 Project Gulf Impact is currently raising funds to provide further testing to residents who cannot afford the associated costs. To provide assistance please donate at ProjectGulfImpact.org/donate. To send information or inquire on this effort please email ProjectGulfImpact@gmail.com . ~~~ http://theintelhub.com/2010/09/05/from-the-gulf-stream-to-the-bloodstream/ When Is Enough, Enough? For nearly five months, the BP oil disaster has consumed the minds of millions of people worldwide. In addition to the horrific impacts that the crude oil and chemical dispersants have daily on the environment and the economy, a fatal threat has quietly slipped by the public’s proverbial radar. The harm dealt by this silent enemy is beginning to creep into the lives of those living and working in the Gulf. The problem has been lurking in the Gulf since the first days of the BP oil spill and now has the potential ignite a disaster unlike any this country has ever seen. The test results can been seen here: ■Blood Test Results ■Blood Test Results Who is this masked bandit? What is this mysterious force that has the potential to outpace the spill’s catastrophic events thus far? Though it may sound like a simple answer, (and it is not easy to swallow) the truth is that this tragedy is silent, and if you live in the Gulf, it is most likely affecting you right now as you read this. What is it? Your health may be in extreme jeopardy due to the toxic effects of the dispersant Corexit and volatile organic compo unds (VOCs) from crude oil inundating the air. Through recent studies conducted under the combined efforts of Michelle Nix of Gulf Coast Oil Spill Volunteers, Jo Billups and Karen Harvill of Sassafrass, Dr. Robert Naman, Project Gulf Impact, medical professionals, and the brave Gulf residents who have agreed to be tested, the toxic health effects of the poisons in the air and in the sea have been documented for the first time. The results? This stands to become one of the greatest health tragedies The United States has ever seen. If this is such a powerful threat, why has it gone so under reported for so long? Why is mainstream media ignoring these potentially large-scale health problems? The scenario’s biggest problem is the scenario itself. Perpetrated by a corporation, the influx of relief that would ordinarily stream in after most acts of God has quietly gone elsewhere. Why is this killer so silent? Why have we not heard much about the disastrous health effects of this oil and dispersant in the air? Why are everyday citizens not catching on to what gargantuan health problems are coming in the not-so-distant future, affecting everyone, even the journalists who should be reporting on it? The answer may seem strange, and it is complex, however the biggest problem facing this mounting horrific scenario is… the BP oil spill was not a hurricane. The oil spill disaster in the Gulf of Mexico will go down in history as one of the biggest catastrophes this planet has ever seen. Books are already being written on how much we didn’t know. The cover up and the lies that led this country into the health crisis we are about to face will be documented in years to come. Acts of God, like hurricanes, are fast and furious, the damage is immediate. This, on the other hand, is a slow death. With a hurricane, we know the death toll, the devastation right away. We see the bodies, the houses underwater, and the numbers of dollars lost in real-time as all of the data floods the national spotlight in the aftermath of the disaster. With disasters like Hurricane Katrina, our heartstrings are tugged as we witness cities underwater, mothers crying out for their children, and the newly homeless wandering the streets. We are used to hurricanes. We have evacuation routes. Whether they function or not, we have plans in place for disasters like these. No such plan exists for the victims of an oil spill. Instinctively, we are aware of floods, fires, earthquakes, hurricanes, tornadoes, and other “over the counter” disasters. Most of us have never suffered an oil spill, much less have any notion of what to do in the event of one. The problem we are facing now transcends most disasters this nation has suffered in the last century. The oil spill, and our ensuing response, has created a darker and deadlier aftermath that will persist for decades. The difference is between a swift and lethal blow verses lingering end-stage cancer. Like the first stage of cancer, which often goes long-undetected, this aftermath is a slow, deadly creep. We are entering stage one of the Gulf residents’ proverbial “cancer”. What BP, Thad Allen, The Federal Government, and The EPA Don’t Want You To Know The residents of the Gulf of Mexico are entering a crisis whose scope cannot be calculated. Several symptoms have been reported, from subtle to severe: skin rashes and infections, upper respiratory burning, congestion and cough, headaches, nausea, vomiting, and neurological symptoms including short-term memory loss and coordination problems. These health problems, if acknowledged at all, are mis-diagnosed, buried, and mis-attributed. Amidst a vacuum created by the unwillingness of federal, state, and private sector medical organizations to address the growing health problems, independent, privately-funded groups like Gulf Coast Oil Spill Volunteers (GCOSV), Sassafrass, and Project Gulf Impact have taken matters into their own hands. Patterns are emerging. (con't in comments) added by: samantha420

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Glenn Beck: I Wore A Bulletproof Vest To Rally At My Wife’s Request

Posted on August 30, 2010 by Benny Hollywood| Leave a comment

Glenn Beck spent his entire show tonight discussing various details from his Restoring Honor rally this weekend. Beck took (perhaps not surprisingly) great issue with some of the coverage of the rally, namely that the media was low-balling the numbers of people who attended. He also pointed out the peaceful nature of the crowd, and the fact there were no arrests. Interestingly, Beck confirmed what a number of people attending the event had speculated: he was indeed wearing a bulletproof vest. Said Beck: “I was wearing it because my wife asked me to wear it.” Beck also noted that while he offered Alveda King one she declined. added by: TimALoftis

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Lefties Upset By Murdoch Donation Take Note: 88 Percent of Network Donations Went to Dems

Posted on August 27, 2010 by Benny Hollywood| Leave a comment

With liberals up in arms over News Corp’s political contributions, here’s an interesting fact worth noting: of the roughly $1.15 million network TV employees gave to political candidates in 2008, a full 88 percent of it went to Democrats. Barack Obama received almost half a million dollars from those same execs, while John McCain received just over $25,000. The discrepancy between donations to the Democratic and Republican parties was also enormous. Though the numbers are striking, the imbalance is not altogether surprising. But they do help to put in prospect the left’s righteous indignation over the political activities of Fox News’s parent company. According to the Washington Examiner’s Mark Tapscott : The Democratic total of $1,020,816 was given by 1,160 employees of the three major broadcast television networks, with an average contribution of $880. By contrast, only 193 of the employees contributed to Republican candidates and campaign committees, for a total of $142,863. The average Republican contribution was $744… President Obama received 710 such contributions worth a total of $461,898, for an average contribution of $651 from the network employees. Republican presidential nominee Sen. John McCain received only 39 contributions totaling $26,926, for an average donation of $709, Ninety-six contributions by broadcast network employees to the Democratic National Committee and the Democratic Senate and House campaign committees totaled $217,881. Thirty-eight contributions by broadcast network employees to the Republican National Committee and the Republican Senate and House campaign committees totaled $23,805… Notable contributors found in the CBS data include “journalist” Seth Davis, who gave $2,750 to Obama, CBS Corporation vice president and editor-in-chief Jane Goldman, who contributed $250 to Obama, CBS Radio “host” Mike Omeara, who gave $1,471 to Obama, and “journalist” Beverly Williams, who donated $200 to Obama. Among NBC contributors were Saturday Night Live producer Jeffrey Ross, who contributed $500 to Sen. Chris Dodd, D-CN, former NBC Today Show weatherman Willard Scott. who gave $500 to the Republican National Committee, NBC Universal CFO Jennifer Cabalquinto, whose donations to Obama totaled $1,200, NBC Universal “editor” David Mack, with $250 to Obama and $2,300 McCain.

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Lefties Upset By Murdoch Donation Take Note: 88 Percent of Network Donations Went to Dems

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Americans do be dumber.

Posted on August 25, 2010 by Benny Hollywood| Leave a comment

Chances are that by now you've heard about the Aug. 19, 2010, Pew poll that found that nearly one fifth of Americans (mistakenly) believe that President Obama is a Muslim. Perhaps you think that a terrifying outlier; or perhaps you're a believer, and then you are in good company. Either way, you're wrong: in fact, remarkably high numbers of Americans believe the most unusual things. Although the portion of poll respondents who believe Obama is a Muslim has risen recently, some of these oddball opinions contain more consistent numbers of believers. Here's a sampling of the nuttiest. EVOLUTION vs CREATIONISM To mark the 200th anniversary of Charles Darwin's birth, Gallup thought it might be a good idea to poll Americans on their beliefs of the British naturalist's theory. But the results must have had Darwin spinning in his grave, since only 39 percent of Americans believed in the theory. The good news: only a quarter said they didn't believe it; the remaining portion either didn't have an opinion or didn't answer. (Also, only 55 percent correctly linked Darwin's name with the theory.) However, it appears that views may, um, evolve: younger people believe in evolution at far higher rates than older ones. WITCHCRAFT It seems obvious that it's not a good idea to put too much stock in withcraft. But it turns out that 21 percent of Americans believe there are real sorcerors, conjurers, and warlocks out there. And that's just one of the several paranormal beliefs common among Americans, according to Gallup: 41 percent believe in ESP, 32 percent in ghosts, and a quarter in astrology. In fairness, the numbers in this poll are a little old—they date back to 2005. But then again, if people haven't changed their mind since the Enlightenment, it's not clear another half decade would make much difference. DEATH PANELS From Facebook to faith: that's how a spurious rumor became part of the national dialogue. On Facebook, Sarah Palin wrote in August 2009 that Obama would institute a “death panel” as part of health-care reform. Soon pundits and politicians were demagoguing the issue into common currency. Even in August 2010, one year after the initial burst and five months after health reform was signed into law, the belief lingers. According to the Kaiser Family Foundation, four in 10 Americans mistakenly believe the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act creates a panel that makes decisions about end-of-life care. SADDAM'S WMDs AND 9/11 INVOLVEMENT Even years after claims that Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction or had links to the September 11 attacks had been debunked, not all Americans were convinced. In a June 2007 NEWSWEEK poll, four years after the invasion of Iraq, 41 percent believed Saddam was involved in 9/11—even though President Bush had said otherwise as early as September 2003. Wild views on 9/11 are in fact still rampant. In September 2009, Public Policy Polling found that a quarter of Democrats suspected Bush had something to do with the attacks. Meanwhile, many Americans also remain convinced that Saddam had WMDs, even though inspectors haven't found any in the seven years since the invasion. Still, as of 2006, half of Americans believed that, according to Harris. Who knows where they got that idea? HELIOCENTRISM Didn't we clear this one up in the 16th century? Copernicus be damned, 20 percent of Americans were still sure in 1999 that the sun revolved around the Earth. Gallup, the pollster that conducted the study, gamely tried to dress it up by celebrating the fact that “four out of five Americans know Earth revolves around the sun,” but we're not buying. HISTORY OF RELIGION If mutual understanding is the key to tolerance, we're in trouble. According to NEWSWEEK's 2007 What You Need to Know poll, barely half of Americans were correctly able to state that Judaism was older than both Christianity and Islam. Another 41 percent weren't sure; in case you're in that group, here goes: Judaism is the oldest of the Abrahamic faiths, followed by Christianity—which reveres the Jewish prophets (including Moses, above)—and then Islam, which reveres the Jewish prophets and also hails Jesus as a prophet. Supreme Court vs. Seven Dwarfs It's hard to imagine what inspired the pollsters at Zogby to ask the question, but the answer is striking: in a 2006 poll, more than three quarters of Americans could name at least two of the seven dwarfs, while not quite a quarter could name two members of the Supreme Court. NEWSWEEK's response is a split decision, if you will: on the one hand, Disney is as much a symbol of America as the high court, and those dwarfs are adorable. On the other hand, it should be easy to name only two out of a pool of nine options. Objection sustained! WORLD GEOGRAPHY Lost? Don't ask an American. Sixty-three percent of young Americans can't find Iraq on a map, despite the ongoing U.S involvement there. Nine out of 10 can't find Afghanistan—even if you give them the advantage of a map limited to Asia. And more than a third of Americans of any age can't identify the continent that's home to the Amazon River (above), the world's largest. Three Stooges vs. Three Branches What a bunch of knuckleheads: according to Zogby, the majority of Americans—three in four—can correctly identify Larry, Curly, and Moe as the Three Stooges. Only two out of five respondents, however, can correctly identify the executive, legislative, and judicial branches as the three wings of government. FREEDOM OF RELIGION Who needs constitutional constructionism? Not one in three Americans, apparently: that's the proportion that said in a 2008 First Amendment Center poll that the constitutional right to freedom of religion was never meant to apply to groups most folks think are extreme or fringe—a 10 percent increase from 2000. In 2007, two out of five Americans told the FAC that teachers should be allowed to lead prayers in public schools. You can see several years of the reports here. PRESIDENT OBAMA'S RELIGION Opponents of President Obama have been spreading false rumors about his religion for quite some time. Recently, however, it seems that the number of Americans who believe these untruths is on the rise. Among respondents to a Pew poll, 18 percent believed Obama was a Muslim, up from 11 percent in March 2009. A Time magazine poll last week found similar results: 24 percent believed he was a Muslim, while only 47 percent correctly identified him as a Christian. There's some evidence that the best indicator of belief that Obama is a Muslim is opposing him politically, casting doubt on the accuracy of the results. Then again, it wouldn't be the craziest thing Americans believe, would it? added by: UtopianSky

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Wednesday Funnies: TIME Introduces New Magazine – This One For Adults

Posted on August 25, 2010 by Benny Hollywood| Leave a comment

The folks at The Onion took on Time magazine Tuesday and did so in a fashion that will put a smile on many conservative faces. “Readers who grew up loving the magazine’s bright, glossy photos, news by the numbers, and simple to understand stories will now be able to graduate to ‘Time Advanced,'” reported mock newscaster Damon Werner. “While kids love Time for its fun articles about litter and new kinds of dinosaurs, managing editor Kerry Larson explains that ‘Time Advanced’ will look to distinguish itself with carefully researched, long-form journalism in a smaller, adult-sized font,” he continued.  NewsBusters readers will especially like the marvelous Joe Klein bashing at the end (video follows with transcript and commentary): TIME Announces New Version Of Magazine Aimed At Adults DAMON WERNER: Publishers of Time magazine announced that they’ll soon be releasing a new version of their magazine for adults. Readers who grew up loving the magazine’s bright, glossy photos, news by the numbers, and simple to understand stories will now be able to graduate to “Time Advanced.” Instead of Time’s breezy, kid-friendly summaries, “Advanced” boasts a more mature tone aimed at an audience ready for grown-up news. While kids love Time for its fun articles about litter and new kinds of dinosaurs, managing editor Kerry Larson explains that “Time Advanced” will look to distinguish itself with carefully researched, long-form journalism in a smaller, adult-sized font. KERRY LARSON (MOCK TIME EDITOR): Time is and always will be a magazine for children. “Time Advanced,” however, is for more sophisticated readers who prefer book reviews that don’t just tell you whether to read, skim, or toss that newest book on climate change. WERNER: Educators have long praised Time for making current events accessible to kids with short attention spans and growing vocabularies. Building on that reputation while producing content fit for readers old enough to drive a car will be key to the new venture’s success. DAVID MERRELL, FORMER MOCK TIME MAGAZINE READER (MAYBE 10 YEARS OLD): I used to think Time was cool, but I guess I kind of grew out of it. I mean, none of my friends want to read a bunch of out of touch trend pieces about virginity pledges. ANNE HARDING, MOCK TIME READER (MAYBE FIVE YEARS OLD): Time is my favorite. They always talk about Lady Gaga and the changing face of depression in America. WERNER: Larson assured loyal fans that regular Time remains committed to fun journalism for kids with all the colorful info (?) and neat stories about Taylor Swift as one of the 100 people who most affect or world. But the company’s change in focus to adult views has led to some shake-ups at the venerable children’s publication. Richard Sherman, who has written columns as the beloved children’s character Joe Klein, is leaving the magazine to join the cast of the PBS show “Dragonfly TV.” Smiles all around.

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Wednesday Funnies: TIME Introduces New Magazine – This One For Adults

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NYT: ‘More Americans – Not Just the Rich – Will Have to Pay More Taxes’

Posted on August 24, 2010 by Benny Hollywood| Leave a comment

The New York Times on Tuesday declared what most conservatives knew would happen if Democrats took control of both Congress and the White House: “more Americans – and not just the rich – are going to have to pay more taxes.” In its editorial comically titled ” A Real Debate on Taxes ,” the Times predictably argued for a total elimination of the Bush tax cuts, although it favored some partial delay to this given the precarious state of the economy. That in itself was humorous as the Times clearly seems to get that raising taxes is indeed economically damaging. Yet maybe more telling was how this “real debate” didn’t once involve the spending side of the budget: President Obama is right when he says the country cannot afford to extend all of the tax cuts. He wants to let the tax cuts expire on the top 2 to 3 percent of American households (couples making more than $250,000 a year, individuals making more than $200,000) and permanently extend them for everyone else. The problem is that a permanent extension of the so-called middle-class tax cuts is also unaffordable. It makes sense to extend them temporarily, because the weak economy needs the boost. But more revenue will be needed in years to come to keep rebuilding the economy and meet health care and other obligations to retiring baby boomers. That means more Americans – and not just the rich – are going to have to pay more taxes. For all the politicians’ talk about deficits, no one is saying that. Hmmm. So, tax cuts for low, middle, and upper-middle income wage earners boosts the economy? But more “revenue” is needed to “keep rebuilding the economy and meet health care and other obligations to retiring baby boomers?” Why not just continue to allow Americans to keep more of their own money to give the economy a “boost” while working on ways for the federal government to exist on less revenue? How about exploring avenues to reduce the “obligations to retiring baby boomers” for example? As is typical from left-leaning publications, such logic was never broached. In fact, the words “spending,” “expenditures,” and “outlays” were nowhere to be found in this “real debate”: An honest debate needs to start with the numbers. The tax cut packages of 2001 and 2003 – heavily skewed to high earners – cut taxes by $1.65 trillion. In 2001, supporters argued that with the budget in surplus, the cuts were affordable. In 2003, they argued that the cuts would spur investment and growth and pay for themselves.   How does one have an “honest debate” by completely misrepresenting who benefited from the Bush tax cuts? As NewsBusters reported on August 11, the liberal think tank the Brookings Institution has concluded that 82 percent of the Bush tax cuts would go to low, middle, and upper-middle income wage earners in the next ten years if they were extended. Only 18 percent goes to couples making over $250,000 a year and singles over $200,000. With this in mind, it is certainly not “honest” of the Times to depict the Bush tax cuts as “heavily skewed to higher earners.” In fact, it’s an out and out lie! But there’s more: Since 2002, the federal budget has been chronically short of revenue. According to calculations by the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, if the tax cuts of the Bush years had never been enacted, publicly held debt at the end of 2009 would have been about $5.2 trillion, or 37 percent of gross domestic product. Instead, it was $7.5 trillion, or 53 percent of G.D.P. (it now stands at 60 percent).   Don’t you love that phrase “short of revenue?” Let’s examine just how “short of revenue” our government has been since 2002. Total unified tax collections that year were $1.853 trillion with outlays of $2.011 trillion.  By 2007 just prior to the beginning of the recession, revenues grew to $2.568 trillion, a 39 percent jump in only five years. Does that sound “short of revenue” to you? After all, if spending during this period had only grown at the rate of inflation, we would have had a $250 billion surplus! Heck, spending could have increased by five percent per year during this period and we still would have had a balanced budget! Yet, according to the Times, the problem was that we were “short of revenue.” BUT, there was even more fun to come: Tax cuts for low-, middle- and upper-middle-income taxpayers should be temporarily extended because those taxpayers tend to spend most of their income and the economy needs consumer spending. That would cost roughly $140 billion next year, but the spur to the economy is more important than the budgetary impact. Tax cuts for the rich can safely be allowed to expire because wealthy taxpayers tend to save rather than spend their tax savings. The revenue from letting these expire – nearly $40 billion next year – would be better spent on job-creating measures. Remember how the Times earlier said the Bush tax cuts were “heavily skewed to high earners?” If this were true, then how coming extending these cuts to low, middle, and upper-income taxpayers would cost roughly $140 billion next year while extending those for “the rich” would cost nearly $40 billion? Using the Times’ own numbers, these combined cuts would cost about $180 billion next year with only $40 billion – or 22 percent – going to “the rich!” Doesn’t that mean that 78 percent goes to low, middle, and upper-middle income taxpayers? So exactly how were the Bush tax cuts “heavily skewed to high earners?” Unfortunately, that’s a question the shills at the Times will likely never answer!

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20 Signs That America Is No Longer The Land Of The Free

Posted on August 23, 2010 by Benny Hollywood| Leave a comment

The United States was able to defeat Nazi Germany and helped bring down the USSR, but is the U.S. government now quickly becoming just like them? Once upon a time, America was the land of the free and the home of the brave, but today the government has become an oppressive monster that is intrusively embedding itself in our lives in thousands of different ways. Today we are all viewed as potential threats to the “system” that the government has imposed, and therefore everything that we do must be watched, tracked, traced, recorded and controlled. Lip service is still given to ideals such as freedom of speech, freedom of the press, freedom of assembly, freedom of religion and freedom of movement, but all of those freedoms are rapidly dying a brutal death. To our forefathers, living the American Dream meant living as free men and women, but today it means living under deep socialist tyranny where the government takes care of us from the cradle to the grave and uses an increasingly oppressive Big Brother police state control system to guarantee our safety. added by: Revelation1217

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The Sun is changing the rate of radioactive decay, and breaking the rules of chemistry

Posted on August 23, 2010 by Benny Hollywood| Leave a comment

The Sun is changing the supposedly constant rates of decay of radioactive elements, and we have absolutely no idea why. But an entirely unknown particle could be behind it. Plus, this discovery could help us predict deadly solar flares. It's one of the most basic concepts in all of chemistry: Radioactive elements decay at a constant rate. If that weren't the case, carbon-14 dating wouldn't tell us anything reliable about the age of archaeological materials, and every chemotherapy treatment would be a gamble. It's such a fundamental assumption that scientists don't even bother testing it anymore. That's why researchers had to stumble upon this discovery in the most unlikely of ways. A team at Purdue University needed to generate a string of random numbers, a surprisingly tricky task that is complicated by the fact that whatever method you use to generate the numbers will have some influence on them. Physics professor Ephraim Fischbach decided to use the decay of radioactive isotopes as a source of randomness. Although the overall decay is a known constant, the individual atoms would decay in unpredictable ways, providing a random pattern. That's when they discovered something strange. The data produced gave random numbers for the individual atoms, yes, but the overall decay wasn't constant, flying in the face of the accepted rules of chemistry. Intrigued, they checked out long range observations of silicon-32 and radium-226 decay, both of which showed a slight but definite variation over time. Intriguingly, the decay seemed to vary with the seasons, with the rate a little faster in the winter and a little slower in the summer. At first, the researchers tried to rationalize the seasonal fluctuations as the result of instrument error, perhaps caused by changing heat and humidity. But that idea fell apart when nuclear engineer Jere Jenkins noticed the decay rate of the short-lived isotope manganese-54 dropped slightly during a solar flare. In fact, the decrease began a good 36 hours before the flare occurred. That suggests two things: one that's theoretically puzzling, and another that's hugely exciting from a practical perspective. If decay rates really are affected by solar flares before the flares even occur, that could provide the first truly reliable early warning system for flares. Considering severe solar flares can wreak havoc on electrical grids and even kill astronauts who aren't properly protected, that would be a huge benefit for humanity. More at the link . . . http://io9.com/5619954/the-sun-is-changing-the-rate-of-radioactive-decay-and-bre… added by: pjacobs51

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Rich Lowry Smacks Down Fox Lib: Media Stopped Covering Iraq When We Started Winning

Posted on August 21, 2010 by Benny Hollywood| Leave a comment

Rich Lowry on Saturday had a fabulous exchange with one of Fox News’s many liberal contributors over why the media stopped covering Iraq. As the discussion on “Fox News Watch” turned to this week’s troop withdrawal, the National Review editor claimed wartime press reports are “extremely defeatist all through the prism of Vietnam and then if we succeed it kind of ends in a whimper.” Newsday’s Ellis Henican countered, “People get bored in a hurry and we got bored with this [war] two or three years ago.”  Lowry marvelously sniped back, “When we started to win” (video follows with transcript and commentary):  RICH LOWRY, NATIONAL REVIEW: Well it’s a notable milestone. I mean, it’s obviously not the end by any means. We still have 50,000 guys there and there’s still a lot that’s up in the air. The problem I have, you know, NBC declared the Iraq War a civil war, rightly in my mind, but I’m not sure they ever walked that back and said, “No, actually the civil war has ended because the surge has suppressed the violence.” And this is the typical trajectory of war coverage. It’s going to happen in Afghanistan if we succeed there. We’re extremely defeatist all through the prism of Vietnam and then if we succeed it kind of ends in a whimper. ELLIS HENICAN, NEWSDAY: Let me say this quickly. The other typical trajectory of war coverage is people get bored in a hurry and we got bored with this one two or three years ago… LOWRY: When we started to win, when we started to win! HENICAN: No, whatever. But frankly it’s nice to see some coverage again. Maybe you and I should go over there, how about that? LOWRY: Would that all wars would be so boring. Indeed. After all, it seemed that once the 2007 surge showed success, America’s media totally lost interest. I guess it was much more fascinating for them when things weren’t going well. A marvelous example of this occurred on October 7 of that year. After the announcement that September 2007 saw a sharp decline in American casualties in Iraq, CNN’s Howard Kurtz asked  “Reliable Sources” guests Barbara Starr and Robin Wright why our media didn’t report the news. They amazingly responded: ROBIN WRIGHT, THE WASHINGTON POST: Not necessarily. The fact is we’re at the beginning of a trend — and it’s not even sure that it is a trend yet. There is also an enormous dispute over how to count the numbers. There are different kinds of deaths in Iraq. There are combat deaths. There are sectarian deaths. And there are the deaths of criminal — from criminal acts. There are also a lot of numbers that the U.S. frankly is not counting. For example, in southern Iraq, there is Shiite upon Shiite violence, which is not sectarian in the Shiite versus Sunni. And the U.S. also doesn’t have much of a capability in the south. So the numbers themselves are tricky. Long-term, General Odierno, who was in town this week, said he is looking for irreversible momentum, and that, after two months, has not yet been reached. KURTZ: Barbara Starr, CNN did mostly quick reads by anchors of these numbers. There was a taped report on “LOU DOBBS TONIGHT.” Do you think this story deserved more attention? We don’t know whether it is a trend or not but those are intriguing numbers. BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: But that’s the problem, we don’t know whether it is a trend about specifically the decline in the number of U.S. troops being killed in Iraq. This is not enduring progress. This is a very positive step on that potential road to progress. KURTZ: But let’s say that the figures had shown that casualties were going up for U.S. soldiers and going up for Iraqi civilians. I think that would have made some front pages. STARR: Oh, I think inevitably it would have. I mean, that’s certainly — that, by any definition, is news. Yep – losing is news. Winning isn’t. Good thing the media don’t cover sporting events that way. 

The rest is here:
Rich Lowry Smacks Down Fox Lib: Media Stopped Covering Iraq When We Started Winning

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