Owner: Markism Explored URL:http://issuesandcurrentevents.blogspot.com Join Date: Tue, 19 Feb 2008 16:09:53 -0600 Rating:0 Site Description: A running collection of my thoughts and opinions about the current events of the world, focusing on politics, technology, and news, with a liberal slant. Site statistics:Click here
Reading this could save lives 2008-04-01 01:55:36 Revised CPR method helps save Arizonans - CNN.com In a bold departure from standard practice, paramedics in most Arizona cities do not follow the guidance of the American Heart Association. Instead, they follow a protocol that was developed at the University of Arizona's Sarver Heart Center, largely by Dr. Gordon Ewy.I've been through CPR training more than once, but every time I have been given the grim statistics on the odds of actually saving someone who has had a cardiac arrest. It's not that you shouldn't try, but you shouldn't feel to bad about failure. Now here's a new method beginning to save lives. Read it, learn it.
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Prodding the sleeping bear 2008-04-01 01:45:25 BBC NEWS | Europe | Bush to back Ukraine's Nato hopes The trip is being seen by some commentators as a last bid by Mr Bush to score some successes in foreign policy, when his legacy abroad has been tarnished by the ongoing fallout of the US-led invasion of Iraq in 2003.So the lesser Bush wants to get something right on his record before leaving office. Good for you Mr. Bush. Let's think of some things you might be able to do that could change the perception of you as a failed president. Perhaps changing tactics in Iraq? Maybe helping people in the current financial crisis instead of throwing your office behind helping corporations? Maybe pushing to become a world leader on environmental issues instead of a reluctant follower? Maybe rethinking our position on Cuba and South America?
Now they've done it 2008-03-31 06:25:22 Al-Sadr calls off fighting, orders compliance with Iraqi security - CNN.com Death tolls are difficult to obtain, but reports from Iraqi and coalition authorities suggest more than 400 people have died since fighting began Tuesday. The fighting has been heaviest in Basra, Iraq's second-largest city and major oil port, and a U.S. military analysis of the battle indicated the government push was not going as well as American officials had hoped, several U.S. officials said Friday.Reading between the lines, what do we see. The US backed government started a fight with someone who had already signed a cease fire. Bush, of course, supported the fight, claiming it was proof that Iraq was returning to normal. After six days of intense fighting with hundreds killed the government has made almos
Something completely different 2008-03-31 06:08:28 April Fools' Day Facts: Behind the Laughs "A lot of people think [April Fools' Day] is just obnoxious, and just wish it would stop," said Alex Boese, curator of the Museum of Hoaxes in San Diego, California. "But people who love pranks really love the day and refuse to give up the tradition. They're the ones who keep it alive."This used to be my favorite holiday, though I have largely dropped it from my calendar nowadays. Since I love History, I thought my readers might enjoy this bit of history.
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Locking up the good guys 2008-04-05 00:13:25 Matthew Diaz, habeas corpus rights, Guantanamo | Salon The lawless government of George W. Bush and Dick Cheney prompted Diaz to do something that Joe Margulies, the lawyer of record in Rasul v. Bush, called "illegal but an act of tremendous courage." The powerful men who bred contempt for the law may or may not ever be prosecuted, but if there is justice in the next administration, Matthew Diaz should be pardoned.This is a fascinating article. The Bush administration is ordered by the court to grant Habeas Corpus to prisoners at Guantanamo Bay. The Bush administration simply ignores the order. The naval officer portrayed here simply sends the names of the prisoners to a civil rights lawyer. In return for this act of bravery, the soldier is dishonorably discharged and sent to prison. Read more:Locking
Censorship alive and well under Bush 2008-04-04 02:48:23 U.S. Funded Health Search Engine Blocks 'Abortion' | Threat Level from Wired.com A U.S. government-funded medical information site that bills itself as the world's largest database on reproductive health has quietly begun to block searches on the word "abortion," concealing nearly 25,000 search results.One of my favorite hypocrisies of the Bush administration is the global war for freedom and democracy while fighting a domestic war against freedom and democracy. One thing we want to absolutely make sure of, and that is not to educate people. Telling people the truth will only get them into trouble, and certainly anything we think might be morally objectionable should be hidden.What's most amazing to me is that this sort of thing actually has support in the US. One wonders how George ca Read more:Censorship
New Goals for the Surge? 2008-04-04 02:13:22 Petraeus to update Congress on Iraq | Reuters That call for a pause will likely rile Democrats and other opponents of the Bush administration's Iraq policy, who have latched onto the Basra fighting as a sign the increase or "surge" of U.S. troops last year failed to move Iraqis any closer to security or political stability. "I think it's time we take a sober look," said Sen. Joseph Biden, a Delaware Democrat and chairman of the Senate's Foreign Relations Committee. "My question really is ... not whether the surge has tactically worked or not. Has the purpose of the surge been accomplished?"My question exactly. I find generally that it is the habit of this administration to change their goals to meet their achievements. The goal when we invaded Iraq, as we all know, was to rid them of Read more:Goals
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Autism 2008-04-04 01:43:37 Commentary: A view from the CDC - CNN.com One issue that continues to receive attention is whether vaccines somehow play a role in autism. When concerns emerged about the measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine and about thimerosal in vaccines, top scientists -- with the open-mindedness that characterizes good science -- planned and conducted the highest-quality, large-scale studies. No links to autism have been found.I have very little to add to this article. It's important to recognize science for what it is, and respect it. I know there is bad science out there, but it usually has an agenda, often paid for by a company with an agenda. However, it's wrong to color all science as driven by monetary or selfish means. I think it's important not to get hysterical. have your children v Read more:Autism
Asking questions 2008-04-07 00:18:13 The Next Campaign Stop: Iraq Hearings - washingtonpost.com "Essentially, what we've seen both from the administration and from John McCain is a trumpeting of improvements from a horrific situation to simply a unsustainable and intolerable situation," Obama said. "It's looking at the entire picture that I think is the obligation of the president."I've tried to make this point on more than one occasion. Having made cease fire agreements with powerful Sunnis, a cease fire agreement with al-Sadr, and having pushed the surge strategy through to Iraq, our great success was pushing back the clock on violence to 2005. Since we managed that, and so far have not demonstrated we can sustain it, there has been little if any political progress made. In fact, Maliki has just finished waging a short, Read more:questions
Wait, you lost me 2008-04-08 02:25:19 The case for Hillary Clinton's electability | Salon These arguments might be compelling if Obama's leads were not so reliant on certain eccentricities in the current Democratic nominating process, as well as on some blatantly anti-democratic maneuvers by the Obama campaign. Obama's advantage hinges on a system that, whatever the actual intentions behind it, seems custom-made to hobble Democratic chances in the fall.Let me see if I follow this argument, cause I have to admit, I got a little lost. Barack Obama has used and taken advantage of the primary rules to take the lead in the primaries. That's bad because if the rules were different, Hillary Clinton would be winning. What's worse is that the rules WILL be different in the fall, and so Barack Obama will lose. WHAT?!?!Barack Obama'
Getting into it with the courts 2008-04-08 02:01:22 Challenges Arise to Border Fence Project - New York Times The secretary of homeland security was granted the power in 2005 to void any federal law that might interfere with fence building on the border. For good measure, Congress forbade the courts
to second-guess the secretary’s determinations. So long as Mr. Chertoff is willing to say it is necessary to void a given law, his word is final.I remember reading about this law when it was first passed. I remember thinking that the courts would certainly step up and strike down any law that restricted their own powers as granted by the constitution. The snag in the process of course is that they have to wait for someone to bring a case. So now a case has been brought. Will the courts hear it? I think so. It's hard to say, but even a c
Free trade or death? 2008-04-08 01:33:47 Bush challenges Congress on free trade pact - CNN.com "Many Democrats continue to have serious concerns about an agreement that creates the highest level of economic integration with a country where workers and their families are routinely murdered and subjected to violence and intimidation for seeking to exercise their most basic economic rights. And the perpetrators of the violence have near total impunity,"Here's the deal. I believe in free trade. I know that's not exactly the liberal mindset, but I believe the US has to learn to compete in a global market, or it will simply be replaced in the global market. We can not continue to believe that we are the only superpower in the world, and that everyone needs our goods and services. Especially when you consider the ridiculous trade d Read more:death
Here we go again 2008-04-09 02:46:41 Iraq's Sadr threatens to scrap ceasefire | Reuters The Mehdi Army militia ceasefire had been credited with helping to sharply reduce violence across Iraq. Scrapping the truce could trigger widespread fighting with security forces and plunge Iraq back into a deadly spiral of sectarian violence. Sadr's warning came a day after Shi'ite Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki threatened to bar the cleric's movement from political life unless he disbanded the militia, which has fought fresh battles with Iraqi and U.S. forces in the past two weeksI hate to say I told you so, but...
When you're right you're right 2008-04-09 01:54:48 Commentary: Democrats finally getting religion on religion - CNN.com I have always maintained that people of faith who are conservative need to move beyond the issues of abortion and homosexuality and broaden what are deemed faith issues. But the Democratic Party is going to have to do the opposite -- that is have some serious discussions as to how it's going to confront social issues and not ignore abortion and homosexuality.I've never understood why the democratic party handed the religious conservatives over to the right. Democrats have ignored and marginalized people of faith in the US and basically gave over the Republican base to the Republicans. What's worse is that Republicans ran with it, and have basically been throttling the Democratic party ever since.But here's the problem.
More on McCain 2008-04-11 02:34:43 John McCain
's positions on women's rights | Salon Late last month, the Democratic National Committee released a memo based on focus group interviews with undecided voters in Minnesota and West Virginia concerning McCain. The female voters in the groups were surprised, dismayed and angered to learn that the Arizona Republican not only favors overturning the Roe v. Wade decision and curtailing abortion rights but is also opposed to requiring contraceptive coverage by health plans and favors abstinence-only sex education. Even women who described themselves as "pro-life" said that the latter positions cast McCain as a man who is "unrealistic," "out of touch" and "stuck in the past," according to the memo. And those same women were especially disappointed because they had expected him to hol
What to do with the money 2008-04-11 02:05:52 Rising fuel prices leading to cuts in school budgets - Apr. 10, 2008 From teachers and books to bus routes and field trips, the soaring price of fuel is causing school districts across the country to cut back - especially in more rural areas where the tax base small and the distance to bus students is large.I have talked on this blog more than once about how I believe that rising fuel costs are going to be good for the US in the long run by forcing investment in alternative fuels. There is, of course, a downside. Obviously when fuel costs start to eat into the money spent on education, there's definitely no long term benefit to be had, or at least any benefit must be weighed in the problems caused by poor education.So how can we have both? How about ending the war in Iraq, and sending t
Where are my flying cars 2008-04-10 02:22:11 The Robot Revolution May Finally Be Here - US News and World Report In short, the personal robot has arrived in American homes with a stature that exceeds its floor-hugging posture. It looks nothing like Rosie, the home-cleaning android of The Jetsons age, and that's on purpose. Roomba and its cousins come from iRobot, a small Boston-area company that has looked beyond a future of humanlike androids for simpler products that will sell today. In doing so, iRobot has helped give rise to a new, worldwide push to develop and sell automated assistants.Any technophile of my generation knows that we were promised flying cars. While I'm perfectly aware of the vast technological progress we have made in my lifetime (think mobile phones and the internet), I have always felt that technology was pro
Why am I not surprised 2008-04-10 01:54:01 Lingerie, iPods on government credit cards - CNN.com "The basic rules for authorizing purchases and accounting for goods and services are not that difficult: Use the card for legitimate purchases, not to cover the costs of buying yourself an iPod," he added.Back in my management days, my company shifted to purchase cards as a way to streamline the ability for managers to make purchases quickly and easily. Every month we were sent an itemized bill that then had to be reconciled. One reconciled we had to sign it, and then have our district or regional managers sign it as well, just to be sure everything was on the up and up.My district manager was well known to have favorites. I think it's safe to say I was not one of them. Every month she went over my purchase card with a magnifying gl
Obama under fire 2008-04-12 02:10:45 Obama under fire after fundraiser remarks | Reuters "You go into some of these small towns in Pennsylvania, and like a lot of small towns in the Midwest, the jobs have been gone now for 25 years and nothing's replaced them," Obama, an Illinois senator, said. "And it's not surprising then they get bitter, they cling to guns or religion or antipathy to people who aren't like them or anti-immigrant sentiment or anti-trade sentiment as a way to explain their frustrations," he said.OK I've read these comments several times now. I've tried to dissect them in some way to make them sound awful or out of touch. However, except for the fact that bitter people hate being called bitter, I can't find anything wrong with them. I don't think calling it like it is makes Obama out of touch with the wo Read more:Obama
The "new" Solar 2008-04-14 02:26:28 Concentrated solar power | Salon News Clearly, the world needs a massive amount of carbon-free electricity by 2050 to stabilize greenhouse gas emissions. The industrialized countries need to cut their carbon dioxide emissions from electricity generation by more than 80 percent in four decades. Developing countries need to find a way to raise living standards without increasing electricity emissions in the short term, and then reduce those emissions sharply. And, over the next few decades, the world needs to switch to a ground transportation system whose primary fuel is clean electricity.I've been reading a great deal about this lately. I'll admit that I wasn't familiar with it, despite it's long history. It seems to me that here we have an alternative energy source that has real world p Read more:Solar
Shame on Hillary 2008-04-14 01:58:21 I've been trying to follow this whole line of attack from Hillary
and McCain. I've seen the news, and I've read the news articles, and it looks to me like this is again backfiring on the attackers. While this sort of garbage might strengthen McCain among hardcore conservatives, I think it will weaken Clinton among moderates, independents, and even liberals. What's great is that Obama got a little worked up about it this time. This video is a great example of Obama telling the world the truth. Enjoy.
Rowling back in the plagiarism spotlight 2008-04-15 02:23:16 Rowling tells court she's stopped working | Reuters An emotional J.K. Rowling said on Monday she had stopped working on a new novel because her creativity was stifled by a fan's bid to print an unofficial encyclopedic companion to her Harry Potter series. The 42-year-old British author and Warner Bros. are suing independent U.S. publisher RDR Books, which plans to publish "The Harry Potter Lexicon," a 400-page reference book written by Steve Vander Ark and based on his popular fan Web site (www.hp-lexicon.org).Rowling has decided that possible plagiarism is too much for her. She can't possibly go on while other people use her work, or just capitalize on her success. Normally this would only bother me a little bit. I do believe in protecting copywrited works. However, there is somethi Read more:Rowling
Iraq: The ten commandments 2008-04-15 01:50:46 I enjoyed this article so much that I basically just stole the whole thing outright. Read through it, and enjoy. Iraq
: The ten commandmentsIn honor of Charlton Heston, here are 10 lessons we should engrave on our foreign policy tablets as we prepare to leave Iraq.By Gary KamiyaApr. 15, 2008 | The Iraq war is over. The failure of Bush's surgeto produce political reconciliation in Iraq, combined with theunsustainable stress on our military and Congress' unwillingness tokeep writing checks for $12 billion a month, all point in onedirection: withdrawal. Even if John McCainis somehow elected president -- and for that to happen, there wouldhave to be a near-miraculous breakthrough on the ground -- he too willhave to face the reality that this is not the kind of war you win. Youjust have to deci
Brilliant 2008-04-16 01:53:30 Students want chance to defend themselves - CNN.com "I don't think the answer to bullets flying is to send more bullets flying," said Gene Ferrara, the police chief at the University of Cincinnati. "My belief is we ought to be focusing on what we do to prevent the shooting from starting."What a great idea. Since the Texas Tower shooting at the University of Texas in 1966 there have been about a dozen shootings at colleges or universities. In response to that this group of students feel the best way to solve the problem is to allow more students to carry guns. I think this speaks as much about the failure of our education system as it does about the absurd attitude prevalent in Americans when it comes to guns.Exactly how is carrying a concealed handgun a deterrent to hand gun crimes? I Read more:Brilliant
Defender of the working class 2008-04-18 02:42:48 Hillary Clinton On Southern Working Class Whites In 1995: "Screw 'Em" - Politics on The Huffington Post In January 1995, as the Clintons were licking their wounds from the 1994 congressional elections, a debate emerged at a retreat at Camp David. Should the administration make overtures to workingclass
white southerners who had all but forsaken the Democratic Party? The then-first lady took a less than inclusive approach. "Screw 'em," she told her husband. "You don't owe them a thing, Bill. They're doing nothing for you; you don't have to do anything for them."Well, well, well. The mighty defender of the working class, indeed. It's hard for me to imagine that Hillary Clinton might base her current views on the working and middle class because she knows she can't win without them. I m Read more:Defender
Recession 2008-04-18 02:05:27 Workers Get Fewer Hours, Deepening the Downturn - New York Times While official unemployment has risen only modestly, to 5.1 percent, the reduction of wages and working hours for those still employed has become a primary cause of distress, pushing many more Americans into a downward spiral, economists say. Moreover, this slippage is a critical indicator that the nation may well be on the verge of a recession, if not already in one.As I plan my return to US soil, I have been watching with a concerned eye as the economy slips further into a spiraling disaster. What amazes me most is the carefully controlled way the media and politicians continue to talk about the possibility of a coming recession. Now, I'm no economist, but I'm pretty sure that the US is in the midst of a recession. I k Read more:Recession
The Democratic Debate 2008-04-17 01:58:47 For anyone who wants it, I have compiled last nights democratic debate between Hillary and Barrack.
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The Iraq Debacle 2008-04-17 01:57:48 The candidates' plans to end the Iraq
war | Salon News "I think the bottom-up approach has the potential to produce stability in Iraq. It is not a guarantee, but it is far and away the most plausible possibility at the moment," he said. "The stability it would provide is not going to be Eden on the Euphrates. This is not going to produce a Jeffersonian democracy and act as a beacon of freedom for the Middle East and all the rest any time soon," he added. "But a stabilized Iraq that looks a lot more like Bosnia or Kosovo rather than Germany or Japan [after World War II] would nevertheless meet the critical American objectives of this war at this point."None of them have it right. The truth is that thanks to years of idiocy by the bush administration there is no way out of Iraq that ends w
A fine point 2008-04-21 02:02:09 Timothy Egan - Op-Extra Columnist - Opinion - New York Times Blog Is it too much to ask one of these candidates for an honest but painful statement suggesting that perhaps a lot of these towns may never come back? Or that the way to economic revival is to lose the pipe dream that Google is going to relocate to an old steel town because they have a tax-free enterprise zone and some cool mountain-bike trails?Egan make a fine point
here. Small town America isn't all that angry with Obama for saying their bitter, because largely they're a little bitter. Their jobs have disappeared and their towns are disappearing as well. The question then asked is, "is it too much to ask to have a candidate tell them they can't be helped?"I think it is. I also think that Barack Obama is the closest thing
On the wrong side? 2008-04-21 01:20:14 ACLU weighs in on Texas polygamist custody case - CNN.com "While we acknowledge that Judge Walther's task may be unprecedented in Texas judicial history, we question whether the current proceedings adequately protect the fundamental rights of the mothers and children," Terri Burke, executive director of the ACLU of Texas, said in a written statement. "As this situation continues to unfold, we are concerned that the constitutional rights that all Americans rely upon and cherish -- that we are secure in our homes, that we may worship as we please and hold our places of worship sacred, and that we may be with our children absent evidence of imminent danger -- have been threatened," Burke said.Right, so generally I'm in favor of the ACLU. I'm almost always behind them when they brandish the
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