Climate Change, Sustainability, Environment, Pollution, Big Energy, Politics, Ecology, Poaching, Bees, Animal Gallery

Climate Change

• Americans increasingly believe in global warming, Yale report says--The temperature trends are worrying.
• An Ancient Civilization, Upended by Climate Change
• An Illustrated Guide to the Science of Global Warming Impacts: How We Know Inaction Is the Gravest Threat Humanity Faces
• Worst grape harvest in half century: experts
• C&H: Global Warming Man

Sustainability

• France Invests 50 Million Euros in Electro-mobility
• Fear of Fracking: Germany Balks on Natural Gas Bonanza--"In summary, we conclude that a great deal of the fundamental information needed to make a valid assessment of these risks is still missing."
• xkcd: Undoing

Environment

• Scientists link deep wells to deadly Spainish quake
• Yale: Palm Oil Massive Source of Carbon Dioxide
• Greenwashing the Retina MacBook Pro

Pollution

• BP Will Plead Guilty and Pay Over $4 Billion NYT
• Fukushima disaster could have been avoided, nuclear plant operator admits
• World's biggest geoengineering experiment 'violates' UN rules

Big Energy

• IoS investigation: The great British energy rip-off
• Supreme Court denies Chevron $19bn Ecuador appeal
• Information About Cancer? Suppress It!--"If scientific research emerges that a common chemical in our homes is potentially dangerous, what should we do? Why, suppress the research, the chemical industry argues!" NYT

Poiltics

• Republican Congressman Falsely Claims That 'Almost All' Clean Energy Companies Go Bankrupt
• 46 Republicans Claim Wind Credits Are Too 'Costly' After Voting To Retain Billions In Big Oil Subsidies
• Murder, Environmental Devastation and Human Rights Abuses Are Bad, Even In Nigeria

Ecology

• Four tons of African ivory caught in Hong Kong--And four weeks later, they seize an additional $1.4m of illegal ivory.
• Australia to kill sharks in bid to protect people
• Rat kill in Galapagos Islands targets 180 million 1/4t

Poaching

• Four leopards poached each week in India, say experts
• Rhino poaching hits record numbers in South Africa
• Poachers shoot and dehorn 4th rare rhinoceros in India's northeast

Bees

• Pesticides put bee colonies at risk: study
• Are Zombie Bees Infiltrating Your Neighborhood?
• French bees make green and blue honey after M&M&'s feast

Animal Gallery

• The 50 Best Animal Photos Of 2011
• More Than Human: Striking, Glamorous Portraits of Animals
• Animals and their people

#Savita, Contraception, Life and Death Situations, Big Pharma, Issues, Diseases

#Savita

• Woman 'denied a termination' dies in hospital--Even though Ireland's law allows abortion when it's to save the life of the mother, the doctors refused to act.
• Husband: 'I still can't believe she's gone. She was so full of life' --He says her last days were full of pain from the ensuing blood poisoning, and she died in agony.
• Ireland Abortion Scandal: Death of a Pregnant Woman Prompts Soul-Searching--The Youth Defence group still had the temerity to say that "Ireland's ban on abortion does not pose a threat to women’s lives."

Contraception

• UN says access to contraception a human right
• Catholic Leaders Vow to Stand Against Contraception Mandate, Same-sex Marriage--What they're really against is sex outside marriage, but it seems like they've been avoiding mentioning that.
• Philippines: RH bill can't be held hostage by one senator--Some would rather see it killed outright.

Life and Death Situations

• Right-to-die law appalling, says Health Minister Anna Soubry--"Anna Soubry told the Times it was "ridiculous and appalling" that Britons had to 'go abroad to end their life.'"
• Life-support ruling upheld in case of starved girl--"The Alberta Court of Appeal upheld a ruling Wednesday to remove a child from life-support over the objections of her parents who are accused of beating and starving her."
• Study: Assisted suicide legality does not increase patient death wish

Big Pharma

• Cipla slashes prices of 3 cancer drug by up to 63%--"India's No. 2 drugmaker Cipla has slashed the prices of three of its anti-cancer drugs by up to 63%, a move that comes six months after it announced similar price cuts on three other anti-cancer products."
• Pfizer caught "gaming the system," loses Viagra patent in Canada
• Friends in Congress Have Helped Drug Compounders Avoid Tighter Rules NYT

Issues

• Bad to the bone: A medical horror story--"When medical device company Synthes decided to illegally test a bone cement on people, the results were disastrous. A disturbing tale of corporate crime and punishment."
• Italy: Mobile phones can cause brain tumours, court rules--"A landmark court case has ruled there is a link between using a mobile phone and brain tumours, paving the way for a flood of legal actions."
• 'Hypersensitive' Wi-Fi hater loses case against fiendish devices
• Most of what you read was wrong: how press releases rewrote scientific history
• Five photos that sparked body image debates

Diseases

• Steven Boone tried to spread HIV, Crown alleges--If this is what really happened, this is despicable.
• HIV 'made' new deadly Salmonella - study
• Outbreak of virus in SARS family has WHO on alert
• Scores isolated as new outbreak of Ebola fever kills 2 in district near the Ugandan capital
• London at risk of 'catastrophic' legionnaires' outbreak: Report
• The Rise of Drug-Resistant Gonorrhea--"Public-health experts are alarmed by the emergence of a strain of gonorrhea that is resistant to the last drug available against it, and they fear it's the harbinger of a sexually transmitted global epidemic."
• Three quarters of rats in parts of West 'resistant to poison'--Eek.

Marriage Equality, Religion, BSA, Politics and Media

Marriage Equality

• Same-sex marriage victories advance gay rights in US, say activists
• Savage: We Couldn't Have Done It Without Them
• On Fox, Shepard Smith Calls Washington State Voters Legalizing Same-Sex Marriage A "Victory For Civil Rights"
• Love on the March--"Reflections on the gay community’s political progress—and its future."
• What's next for gay marriage: Conservatism--"Marriage equality will win nationally thanks to gradualism, federalism and (even) market forces." Salon
• The same-sex marriage implications for Australia from the US election and abroad
• College Humor: Gay Men Will Marry Your Girlfriends

Religion

• Vatican digs in after gay marriage advances in US, Europe; asks sarcastically why not polygamy
• NOM pledges to make Starbucks "pay" for support of marriage equality
• New Archbishop Justin Welby pledges re-think on gay relationships
• UK: Military chaplains 'could be sacked for opposing gay marriage', says former minister
• Video: Preacher gives interesting gay rights speech

BSA

• Intel Halts Boy Scout Donations Over Anti-Gay Policy
• Boy Scouts of America No Longer Eligible for Grant Funding from The UPS Foundation
• Jews Push Back Against Boy Scouts Over Policy Banning Gays

Politics and Media

• Uganda will pass anti-gay law, calling it 'Christmas gift' to the people of Uganda
• A gay man is suing his former North Carolina church, claiming that he was imprisoned and abused for four months over his homosexuality
• Ex-wife sues man for breaking up her marriage to Miss. mayor
• Dinesh D'Souza, Who Opposes Gay Marriage, is Divorcing His Wife for a Younger Woman--But marriage is sacred!
• Gay Couple Accepts Responsibility For Every Major Disaster of the Last 50 Years

Elections 2012 Aftermath, War on Reality, The 1%, Conservative Media, Republicans, Opinions, Reactions, Voting, Debt and Taxes

Elections 2012 Aftermath

• Barack Obama And The Death Of Normal
• Obama's Second-Term Surprise: Politics Not As Usual--Well, things change.
• Obama’s victory speech: Behind the return of the president’s rhetoric
• Rachel Maddow Video Round-Up
• Jeanne Moos: Best Election Media Moments

War on Reality

• 2012 Presidential Campaign Said to Hit Unprecedented Level of Lying--"Romney was hammered for telling outrageous lies, and both campaigns kept fact-checkers busy, leading to claims that 2012's election was the most dishonest ever. But not only is serial deception not new—voters are complicit, says Michael Moynihan."
• The Power of Truth--"In the 2012 election, reality overwhelmed pretense, gamesmanship, and self-deception."
• Nate Silver-Led Statistics Men Crush Pundits in Election--Polls are part of the Culture War.
• Democrats had a better grasp of political reality in 2012
• Dick Morris Nominee Awardgasm--"The Dick Morris award 'is given for stunningly wrong political, social and cultural predictions.'"

The 1%

• Dana Milbank: At Romney headquarters, the defeat of the 1 percent
• Little to Show for Cash Flood by Big Donors NYT
• After Obama reelection, Murray Energy CEO reads prayer, announces layoffs--Job creators, right.
• Applebee's, Papa John's & Darden Restaurants threaten staff cuts under Obamacare
• Quote of the Day: America's Billionaires are Pissed Off at Karl Rove

Conservative Media

• David Frum: GOP Has "Been Fleeced, Exploited, And Lied To By A Conservative Entertainment Complex"
• How Conservative Media Lost to the MSM and Failed the Rank and File
• Are Conservative Media Only Hurting Conservatives?
• Republicans: Don' Trust Fox News!
• The Republican Party Needs to Ditch Fox News If It Wants to Win
• Jon Stewart Delights In Fox News' Epic Election Night Meltdown
• Where Fox News goes from here

Republicans

• The Tea Party Is Dead. Long Live the Tea Party.
• The Mystery of Why Republicans Were So Sure They'd Win
• Republican right weeps over Obama's victory – then begins internal civil war--"The clash between diehard conservatives and modernisers will dictate the fate of a party which increasingly seems to appeal only to angry, older white Americans."
• How Ridiculous Gerrymanders Saved the House Republican Majority
• Inside Team Romney's whale of an IT meltdown

Opinions

• US election: Republicans must change or die
• Boortz: Republican Party ... Let Me Help You Out
• Henry Rollins: The American People Kicked Your Ass, Republicans
• Cohen: Good riddance to Mitt Romney
• Moore: Morning in America

Reactions

• Obama threat gets Turlock woman fired, reported to Secret Service
• Mapping Racist Tweets in Response to President Obama's Re-election
• White People Mourning Romney

Voting

• Voter Suppression Backfires
• Republicans 'Test' For Voting Fraud, Wind Up In Police Custody
• Arizona Races Still Hang in the Balance Over Uncounted Votes NYT

Debt and Taxes

• The Fiscal Cliff Explainer: What It Is, Where It's From, Who Will Pay, and Why It Matters
• The Morning Plum: Dems should call GOP’s bluff on tax hikes
• Krugman: Let's not make a deal--"President Obama should hang tough and hold his ground even at the cost of letting his opponents inflict damage on a still-shaky economy." NYT
• Obama to Call for Deal on Tax Cuts
• Political Hit Job: What Senate Republicans Don't Want You To See or Know--"In an astounding, little-reported act of hubris, Senate Republicans apparently killed a study by the non-partisan Congressional Research Service when its findings contradicted their favorite economic myth: that giving tax cuts to the rich helps anyone but themselves."

(Advanced) Happy Halloween, M-M-M-M-Mask; Debatable, Elections, Vote Machinations, Voter Suppression, Phoney Romney, Republicans, Banking, Inequality

(Advanced) Happy Halloween

• When Harry Met Sally 2
• Charlie Brown: Blockhead's Revenge
• Preparedness 101: Zombie Apocalypse

M-M-M-Mask

• Senior Citizen Mask
• 3DPF: Japanese Company Creates Super-Realistic 3D Face Replicas
• Masks so realistic they're arresting the wrong guy
• MythBusters: Faking Out the Fans
• "Winner" Charlie Sheen Mask
• Dynamic face substitution
• New York Robbers Unmasked by Grateful Note for Their Disguise

Debatable

• GOP blows secrets and risks lives in document dump ahead of debate--"Libyans who have been secretly helping the U.S. have had their identities exposed by documents released Friday by House Oversight Chairman Rep. Darrell Issa, a senior administration official confirmed to NBC News' Andrea Mitchell."
• Democrats vs. Republicans
• Epic Rap Battles Of History Season 2: Barack Obama vs Mitt Romney

Elections

• Soup Kitchen Loses Donors Because Of Paul Ryan – What You Can Do About It
• Ohio Secretary of State Says Restoring Early Voting Is 'Un-American'--Freedom is slavery.
• CEO to employees: "Help yourself" by donating to Romney--"The CEO of a Florida-based software firm has repeatedly solicited his more than 1,300 employees not only to support Mitt Romney, but to donate up to the maximum $2,500 to Romney's presidential campaign, suggesting that their jobs may be at stake if Romney doesn't win, according to emails obtained exclusively by Up w/ Chris Hayes."
• Muscular men have self-interested politics, says study Salon
• xkcd: Electoral Precedent

Vote Machinations

• Virginia Attorney general won't investigate worker arrested for dumping voter registrations--Why is it that Republicans who cry bloody murder over voter fraud are the ones perpetrating it, and then disavowing it when caught?
• GOP Registered Dead Woman to Vote in Florida
• Romney-linked voting machine company to count votes in Ohio

Voter Suppression

• More Hispanic Voters In Arizona Given Wrong Date For Election Day By Maricopa County Officials
• Frightened Republicans Try To Shut Down Election Competitors
• Pennsylvania Newspaper Owned By Top Right-Wing Funder Falsely Claims ID Is Required To Vote

Phoney Romney

• Obama diagnoses GOP nominee with 'Romnesia'
• Finally Liberated From Facts, Mitt Romney the Pure Bull Artist Takes Flight
• RomneyTaxPlan.com--Everything you've needed to know in one easy-to-access resource.

Republicans

• Right-wing lies about Obama are greeted by willing believers
• Blue States are from Scandinavia, Red States are from Guatem ala--Why can't we just get along?
• Drunk woman attempts to avoid arrest by claiming she is a Republican

Banking

• Mitt Romney's Bailout Bonanza
• The Randian and the Bailout--"Bob Benmosche was perfectly happy to while away his retirement on his Croatian vineyard. But the image of AIG employees being beaten up for their bonuses was just too much to bear."
• Citigroup CEO Walks Off With $260 Million After His Bank Loses 88 Percent Of Its Value
• Unsophisticated investors were the 'golden prize' at Goldman, says Greg Smith in memoir
• Why It is Essential That Criminal Bankers are Prosecuted

Inequality

• Ben Stein: "With All Due Respect To Fox," We're Going To Have To Raise Taxes On The Rich
• Billionaires take lead in conservatives' self-pity parade--"Obama could have 'changed the direction of the American economy', just as FDR did during the Great Depression."
• Bill Moyers: The Plutocracy Will Go to Extremes to Keep the 1% in Control --Read an excerpt of his new book.
• Conservative Southern Values Revived: How a Brutal Strain of American Aristocrats Have Come to Rule America
• Monkey gets upset about receiving unequal pay

Fat Tuesday, School Meals, MickeyD's, Big Food, Monsanto, GMO, Health Care Reform, Bad Medicine

Fat Tuesday

• Child obesity: Why do parents let their kids get fat?
• As Waistlines Grow, So Do Refrigerator Sizes
• The Origin of Fat Albert: How Bill Cosby Did Obesity Right
• Anchorwoman fires back after weight critique
• "I'm Lovin' It": Fast-Food Logos 'Imprinted' in Children's Brains, Study Says
• Fast food: the reason behind our national incompetence
• Brighton all-you-can eat restaurant bans two 'greedy' diners

School Meals

• Putting Profits Before Nutrition: The Dark Side of the School Meals Business
• Stewart slams Fox News over hypocritical school lunch coverage
• Lunch lady slammed for food that is 'too good'--Apparently, this was all a 'misunderstanding.'

MickeyD's

• A Big Mac has 550 calories. McDonald's customers say: So what?
• McDonald's profits fall as strong dollar hits earnings
• The Burger Lab: Revisiting the Myth of The 12-Year Old McDonald's Burger That Just Won't Rot (Testing Results!)
• McDonald's sues Milan after getting evicted from Galleria
• The Most Beautiful McDonald's In America

Big Food

• Jamie's food revolution runs into $1.2bn suit
• Land acquired over past decade could have produced food for a billion people--"Oxfam calls on World Bank to stop backing foreign investors who acquire land for biofuels that could produce food."
• There Will Be No Bacon Shortage--"How a British trade association press release sent the Internet into a senseless panic."

Monsanto

• Kucinich: The Influence And Corruption Of The Political Process By Monsanto
• Monsanto donates $4.2 million to defeat food label measure in Calif.
• California Soccer Moms Face Off against Monsanto
• U.S. Supreme Court to review Monsanto seed patents
• Monsanto petition tells Obama: 'Cease FDA ties to Monsanto'

GMO

• France Says No to Genetically Modified Crops, No to Fracking--"Reuters reports that the ban specifically targets Monsanto's MON810 maize, as it is the only GMO currently allowed in Europe."
• Monsanto Roundup weedkiller and GM maize implicated in 'shocking' new cancer study
• Russia Suspends Use of Genetically Modified Corn WSJ
• Anti-GMO researchers used science publication to manipulate the press
• Opinion: We have the right to know what's in our food! NYT

Health Care Reform

• New Republic: Obamacare Means Higher Employment
• Krugman: Death by Ideology--"Despite what Mitt Romney says, the lack of health insurance does kill people." NYT
• 'Waiting Room': Hundreds a Day Seek Hospital of 'Last Resort'

Bad Medicine

• The drugs don't work: a modern medical scandal--"The doctors prescribing the drugs don't know they don't do what they're meant to. Nor do their patients. The manufacturers know full well, but they're not telling."
• Fake pharmaceuticals: The world's drug supply is global. Governments have failed to keep up
• MS drug 'rebranded' – at up to 20 times the price--"A pharmaceutical company stands accused of putting profit before patients after withdrawing a drug used in the treatment of a chronic debilitating disease – ahead of relaunching it at a price predicted to be up to 20 times higher."

Baby Steps, Thinking for the Children, Censorship, Kidnapped, Sandusky, Law and Disorder, Bullying, Educamation, Behavior Modfication

Baby Steps

• Exposing Kids To 10 Hours Of Science A Year Makes Them Smarter
• Omaha schoolgirl dresses as a different historical figure each day
• Argentina's Senate passes bill to lower voting age from 18 down to 16

Thinking for the Children

• Outlaw possession of written accounts of child abuse says MP
• Australian Medical Association president calls for legal drinking age to be lifted to 25
• Cops think pen is a rifle round, lock down Hopatcong High School
• Ban under-threes from watching television, says study
• Russia Wants To Ban Children From Using WiFi

Censorship

• Noted smut rag The New Yorker banned from Facebook for obscene cartoon
• The Man Who Banned Tintin From A Stockholm Library… For One Day
• CBLDF: Seattle Area Resident Shocked at Yaoi Manga, Asks Library to Revise Circulation Policy

Kidnapped

• Australia: Sorry for 30-year adoption policy--"The Federal Government will formally apologise to families torn apart by forced adoptions."
• China's stolen children--""Chinese authorities have hailed the success of an operation last week in which they arrested 800 human traffickers and rescued nearly two hundred children."
• Spanish Baby-Snatching Victims Seek Answers and Justice--These Niños Robados have been living a lie.
• India slowly confronts epidemic of missing children
• A new use for 404 pages: appeals for missing children

Sandusky

• Jerry Sandusky gets 30 to 60 years for child sex abuse
• Jerry Sandusky's court ramble reflects 'banal self-delusion'
• Sandusky begins grim transition to prison
• Jerry Sandusky and the Mind of a Pedophile --"Children constantly surrounded Sandusky, so much so that they became part of his persona," Joe Posnanski writes in his new biography of Jerry Sandusky's boss, the former Penn State head coach Joe Paterno.
• Prison sentence doesn't end Sandusky saga at Penn State

Law and Disorder

• History of boarding school 'torture' uncovered in Switzerland--"Thousands of children fell victim to violence and abuse in Catholic boarding schools in Switzerland up until the 1970s, according to a recent study decrying "sadistic" practices resembling 'torture.'"
• Doing What's Best for the Tribe--"Two-year-old 'Baby Veronica' was ripped from the only home she's known. The court made the right decision." The Indian Child Welfare Act was ignored despite Veronica's Native American heritage being known throughout the entire adoption process.
• Don't ask your grandson how his jaw got broken, say social workers--"An alarming story about a boy in foster care raises concern over 'child protection.'"

Bullying

• 8 girls charged in London, Ont. bullying case
• Japan: Kids and Laughing Teachers Bullied Suicide Teen
• Did Anonymous Unmask the Wrong Guy in Its Hunt for the Man Who Allegedly Drove a Teen to Suicide?--Did the wrong guy get doxxed?
• Cyberbullying-linked suicides rising, study says
• Mark Millar, others team up to take down online bully

Educamation

• In Victory for Common Sense, Minnesota Will Allow Free Online Courses After All
• My daughter can't be average Salon
• SMBC: College Degrees

Behavior Modification

• Sir, You Would Like To Be A Better Citizen
• U.K. school cracks down on bad manners
• When did the middle finger become offensive?

War on Women, Religion, Stateside, Progressive, Men & Women, Science of Sex, Tech, Masculine

War on Women

• Afghan woman beheads daughter-in-law for refusing prostitution, police say
• Indian baby suffers horrendous burns in shocking dowry dispute
• Teenage girl gang-raped, set on fire in Bengal
• As India Responds to Latest Rapes, the Unanswered Question is ‘Why?’
• Yemeni woman sentenced to death for killing male relative who tried to rape her
• Mali: Girl in Timbuktu whipped for speaking to men
• Sonia Dridi, Cairo Reporter, 'Savagely Attacked': France 24 TV

Religion

• After attack on Malala, Taliban threaten journalists who cover it
• Egyptian teacher 'cut hair of schoolgirls who refused to cover heads'--After she was fired, the teacher said that "it started as a joke."
• Pope condemns Pussy Riot

Stateside

• Romney in a bind over 'binders of women' comment--Mormon feminists aren't surprised.
• Tea Party Rep. Joe Walsh (R-IL): "With Modern Technology And Science, You Can't Find One Instance" In Which Abortion Is Necessary To Save the Life Or Health Of the Mother
• Kevin Bacon Draws the Line
• Letting women vote a bad idea - Central Mississippi Tea Party
• College Rape Survivor Told Not to Report Her Rapist, Drops Out While Alleged Rapist Graduates With Honors

Progressive

• Cairo: Video Experiment Gauges Public Response to Sexual Harassment--Awareness isn't enough anymore. Action has to be taken.
• Egypt: Are you man enough? Men on both sides of fight against harassment
• Telling Israel like it is — in Arabic--"A secular, liberal woman from the Galilee, Boshra Khalaila leaves passionate critics of Israel open-mouthed simply by describing the rights and freedoms she routinely enjoys."
• Uruguay legalises abortion
• 99 Ways to Be Naughty in Kazakhstan: How Cosmo Conquered the World NYT

Men & Women

• Woman who falsely claimed she was raped by three men because she regretted having sex with them jailed for two years--She almost ruined the lives of three people.
• Police: Man fires shots into crowd to impress girl
• Zimbabwe: Prostitute costs $850 000 for Govt--Examination papers that were allegedly lost were actually "taken by a prostitute after the teacher failed to pay for services rendered."
• China's 'Leftover' Women--"The Web site of China's state feminist agency, the All-China Women's Federation, presents a grim image of single professional women." NYT
• Breaking Up with Overly Attached Girlfriend

Science of Sex

• Why Sex Doesn't Gross You Out When You're Aroused
• Pucker Up! What Science Is Discovering About Why We Kiss
• It's a scientific fact: we're all crazy in love
• Boys Now Enter Puberty Younger, Study Suggests, but It’s Unclear Why NYT
• Chimpanzees 'have sex for gifts'--"Buying a woman presents could help men get them into bed, a new study which shows that chimpanzees have sex for gifts suggests."

Tech

• Fighting snark with snark: Bodyform viral video destroys commenter
• Why the First Laptop Had Such a Hard Time Catching On (Hint: Sexism)
• Is the iPad making men effeminate?

Masculine

• Fark title: Study finds that bald men shine brighter in job interviews--If you look like Picard, then yeah, baldness is a strength (Salon).
• Models on Abercrombie Jet Had Rules on Proper Underwear
• Music Video: Don't be slappin' my penis (a fearless journey of masculinity)