Politics & Current Events — thenest

Catholics and Contraception: Boston, 1965

3.27.04_Helper — Fri, 16 Mar 2012 06:15:17 +0000

Catholics and Contraception: Boston, 1965

Michael Dukakis does not mince words. He admits to being ?flabbergasted? by the debate between the Catholic hierarchy and the Obama administration over the mandate that requires employers to provide contraception coverage. ?I thought birth control wasn?t an issue anymore,? he told me.

I reached out to Dukakis for historical perspective on the escalating birth control controversy ? which, he laments, now involves Greek Orthodox as well as Catholic leaders. Nearly 50 years ago, as a state representative from Brookline, Mass., Dukakis was part of a compromise between opponents and proponents of contraception, a compromise that involved coordination between Planned Parenthood and the church that would be unthinkable now. Dukakis remains convinced that contraception became legal in Massachusetts only with the assistance of the local Catholic leadership.

Cardinals today do not enjoy the same secular power Boston?s Cardinal Richard Cushing did in the 1960s. But following Wednesday?s decision by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops to continue its ?vigorous opposition to this unjust and illegal mandate,? the Catholic hierarchy will wield its influence nonetheless. And while the current debate unfolds, the Catholic voice that will matter the most will be that of Cardinal Timothy Dolan of New York ? the country?s newest cardinal and the president of the U.S.C.C.B.

In the 1960s, it was Cushing who took center stage in a prominent public debate over access to contraception. He faced a different political and legal reality from that of Dolan and his fellow bishops. Yet, according to Dukakis, Cushing?s conduct at the time was a ?great act of statesmanship.?

Associated PressRichard Cushing of Boston in 1958.

The issue in the spring of 1965 was whether ? not how ? one could gain access to birth control. But Cushing?s actions still offer a precedent for cooperation and compromise. Two states had very strong anti-contraception laws on the books in 1965. The Supreme Court was considering the constitutionality of Connecticut?s all-out ban on the use of contraception. In Massachusetts, a state legislative panel was holding an open hearing on a proposal submitted by State Representative Dukakis, a politically ambitious lawyer who had been in office for three years, to remove an 86-year-old bar to the distribution of birth control devices and information.

It was not the first time in Massachusetts a repeal of the ban had been considered. In 1948, Cushing, then an archbishop, led a public charge against Referendum No. 4, a statewide ballot measure designed to relax the ban on contraception. From the pulpit and on the radio, the Catholic campaign argued that birth control was ?still against God?s law.? Cushing defined contraception at the time as ?anti-social and anti-patriotic, as well as absolutely immoral.? The campaign was a bitter one. In the end, 57 percent of voters rejected the referendum.

Cushing had won, but victory came at a cost. ?Deployment of the Church?s political muscle,? the historian Leslie Tentler argues, offended non-Catholics in and out of the commonwealth. Four years later, the toll hit home as Cushing confided to a friend, ?I hate to think of going through another battle.?

It was not until the 1960s that reformers next attempted to amend the state?s birth control restrictions. Even then, Dukakis recalls, ?the memory of the ?48 battle was fresh in our minds.? That seems to have been also true for Cushing (now a cardinal). He clearly had a change of heart on the appropriateness of laws like the state?s birth control restrictions, which sought to impose moral behavior at odds with individual conscience. More generally, he had adopted a conciliatory tone. Two days before a fellow Massachusetts Catholic won the first primary of the 1960 presidential campaign, Cushing argued that a Christian must engage in ?friendly discussion with those whose views of life and its meaning are different than his own.? The times had changed, and so had he.

In 1963, while a guest on WEEI radio, Cushing took a question from an unidentified female caller who asked if he considered the birth control ban to be ?bad law.? Yes, Cushing replied. ?I have no right to impose my thinking, which is rooted in religious thought, on those who do not think as I do.? (The anonymous caller, I discovered decades later, was Hazel Sagoff, executive director of Planned Parenthood of Massachusetts. A month earlier she had learned from a Cushing confidant that support for the state?s ban was dwindling within the local church hierarchy.) It was the first time that the cardinal publicly announced a willingness to accept revisions to the state?s contraception law.

Poor health prevented Cushing from appearing before the legislative panel considering the Dukakis bill in March 1965, but he dominated the hearing nonetheless. In a written statement he declared that ?Catholics do not need the support of civil law to be faithful to their own religious convictions and they do not seek to impose by law their moral views on others of society.? He found it unreasonable to ?forbid in civil law a practice that can be considered a matter of private morality.? What?s more, he observed, laws needed a ?reasonable correspondence? to community standards to be effective and enforceable. Cushing, however, could not endorse the proposed change to the ban, because he felt that it lacked ?proper safeguards? for the young. He requested that Gov. John Volpe appoint a commission to craft a repeal to ?satisfy the conscientious opinions of the whole community.?

?Cardinal Relaxes Anti-Birth Law Stand? read the Boston Globe?s banner headline, while an editorial noted that because of Cushing?s new position the birth control issue was ?no longer a rancorous controversy.? Volpe appointed a 21-member committee to draft a revised bill on the same day, as it happened, that the Supreme Court invalidated Connecticut?s ban on the use of birth control. The new bill met Cushing?s concerns about the young by prohibiting pharmacists from furnishing contraception to those who had not ?attained age 21? or lacked a doctor?s prescription. Importantly, however, the cardinal chose not to speak out either in favor of or against the revisions.

Cushing?s silence proved fatal to the reform. Planned Parenthood?s Sagoff had predicted as much to a local rabbi, a Planned Parenthood ally, earlier that year. ?Catholic politicians, and even non-Catholics with Catholic constituencies, will vote against the amendment,? she said, unless they hear ?that the cardinal wants them to vote for it.? She was right. House members emphatically rejected the compromise in August. One Democratic representative said the ?damnable, dirty legislation? was ?an attempt to change God?s law.? Another ? a fellow Democrat and a father of 15 ? declared that the existing law ?was put on the books by God-fearing people and was kept there by God-fearing people.? He justified the House?s vote by pointing to Cushing?s failure to publicly approve the bill.

Why did the cardinal remain silent? Certainly, he had privately endorsed the repeal effort following his WEEI statement in 1963. With his blessing, a series of meetings had quietly taken place between lay and clerical Catholics and associates of Planned Parenthood to draft a blueprint for repealing the ban through the Legislature. The blueprint appeared as an essay by a young Catholic doctor, Joseph Dorsey, in the Oct. 15, 1964, issue of the New England Journal of Medicine. It acknowledged ?the need in a pluralistic society for a consensus on a moral principle before it can be expressed as a civil law.? Cushing, among others, read and approved the article prior to publication. A close confidant of the cardinal wrote a foreword calling the article a ?balanced and thoughtful review of a topic that has a history of complexity and bitterness.?

Cushing?s silence in the summer of 1965 is best explained by his expectation that the Second Vatican Council, nearing its end, would soon release a long-anticipated statement recognizing that individuals may not be coerced to act against their conscience. Local church officials believed this statement would give the repeal effort in Massachusetts the cover of Vatican acceptability. That support came four months later, on Dec. 7, 1965, when Pope Paul VI promulgated the Declaration on Religious Freedom.

When a bill that would allow physicians to prescribe birth control to ?any married person? was introduced in the next legislative session ? a bill otherwise similar to the one House members had rejected 119?97 the year before ? Cushing endorsed it publicly by praising its ?safeguards? while reaffirming his position that Catholics did ?not seek to impose by law their moral view on other members of society.? This time the bill passed, 136?80. The Senate followed suit, and Volpe signed the amendment to the state?s General Laws on ?Crimes against Chastity, Morality, Decency, and Good Order.?

Wednesday?s announcement by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops came in the middle of New York?s ?Timothy Cardinal Dolan Week,? proclaimed to recognize, in part, that Dolan will have a ?tremendous impact on the next generation of Catholicism in New York and throughout the United States.? His organization pledged to continue its public fight against the insurance mandate?s threat of ?unprecedented magnitude? to individual conscience. The Bishops promised ?vigorous efforts? in education, public advocacy, and legislative lobbying and by seeking ?relief from the courts,? a route explicitly avoided by Massachusetts reformers in the 1960s. The announcement ? which criticized the Obama administration?s ?unspecified and dubious? plan and its ?grave consequences,? warning that others? ?cherished beliefs may be next on the block? ? echoes the foreboding tone and language from Cushing?s bitter campaign against the 1948 reform rather than that of the 1960s effort toward reconciliation.

Ultimately, Cushing faced a difficult decision. The solution was not perfect (the Supreme Court ruled in 1972 that limiting contraception to married couples was unconstitutional), but the process was relatively free of acrimony. The cardinal understood that while a debate about morality could not be free of ?disagreement and dissension? there could still be ?agreement and consensus.? On the level of agreement and consensus between 1963 and 1966, Cushing had a greater say than most. A great act of statesmanship requires a willing partner, but Cushing?s conciliatory tone made compromise between unlikely allies possible.

Seth Meehan is a Clough Center Graduate Fellow at Boston College. He is the author of ?From Patriotism to Pluralism: How Catholics Initiated the Repeal of Birth Control Restrictions in Massachusetts,? which appeared in the Catholic Historical Review in 2010.

Study: Romneycare making Mass residents healthier.

mominatrix — Thu, 15 Mar 2012 12:31:21 +0000

Study: Romneycare is making Massachusetts healthier

Posted by Ezra Klein at 12:08 PM ET, 03/12/2012

Former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney delivers his address on health-care reform May 12, 2011, at the Cardiovascular Center on the campus of the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, Mich. (J.D. Pooley - Getty Images)

In newly released research, Charles Courtemanche and Daniela Zapata ask perhaps the most important question about the Massachusetts health-care reforms: Did they improve health outcomes in Massachusetts?

The answer, which relies on self-reported health data, suggests they did. The authors document improvements in ?physical health, mental health, functional limitations, joint disorders, body mass index, and moderate physical activity.? The gains were greatest for ?women, minorities, near-elderly adults, and those with incomes low enough to qualify for the law?s subsidies.?

Some of those results are a bit odd. Although it?s possible to tell yourself a story about how the Massachusetts health reforms affected the body mass indexes of the newly insured, you have to stretch a bit.

But most of them make perfect sense. The reforms led to more people having insurance, which is to say more people having more opportunities to see a doctor and get early and/or regular treatment for ailments. That led to improvements in health. If that hadn?t led to improvements in health, it would be the worth of going to the doctor and getting timely medical care that would be called into question. And if going to the doctor and getting timely medical care isn?t worth doing, the Massachusetts reforms are pretty far down the list of practices and policies we need to rethink.

The researchers end by asking whether the Massachusetts reforms provide a good guide to what will happen under the Affordable Care Act. ?The general strategies for obtaining nearly universal coverage in both the Massachusetts and federal laws involved the same three-pronged approach of non-group insurance market reforms, subsidies, and mandates, suggesting that the health effects should be broadly similar,? they write. ?However, the federal legislation included additional costcutting measures such as Medicare cuts that could potentially mitigate the gains in health from the coverage expansions. On the other hand, baseline uninsured rates were unusually low in Massachusetts, so the coverage expansions ? and corresponding health improvements ? from the Affordable Care Act could potentially be greater.?

I?d add one point to their discussion: The national reforms, unlike the Massachusetts reforms, included major investments in comparative-effectiveness research, electronic health records, accountable care organizations and pay-for-quality pilots. If any or all of those initiatives pay off, they could dramatically improve our understanding of which treatments work and force the health-care system to integrate that new knowledge into everyday treatment decisions very quickly.

If that happens, medical care could become substantially more effective than it is now, which should also improve health outcomes. Quality improvements like that could, for the already insured, be the largest payoff from the Affordable Care Act.

(Thanks to Tyler Cowen for pointing me to the paper.)

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/ezra-klein/post/study-romneycare-is-making-massachusetts-healthier/2011/08/25/gIQA524T7R_blog.html?wprss=rss_ezra-klein

This campaign needs more women and less gynecology

epphd — Thu, 15 Mar 2012 15:41:55 +0000

I actually think this sums up where I am.

http://news.yahoo.com/this-campaign-needs-more-women-and-less-gynecology.html

Actual women?instead of phony gynecological issues?pervaded the last election. Hillary Clinton, Sarah Palin, Elizabeth Edwards, Michelle Obama, Katie Couric and even Tina Fey can each credibly be said to have changed the outcome of the 2008 presidential election, as Rebecca Traister documented in her rollicking chronicle of that race, Big Girls Don't Cry: The Election That Changed Everything for American Women.

And those were just the women at the podiums. In Traister's account, each campaign hired women aplenty on the understanding that they could help their candidates, in one way or another, to attract voters. Got that? Women didn't come around to discuss obscure lady matters, but to help campaigns win votes.

Yet this time around, genuine women have disappeared, in favor of sex talk smuggled under the rubric of "values." The conversation recalls nothing so much as the days when the nightly news shows couldn't stop running pseudo-health segments that featured male reporters fondling silicon breast implants. They'd cluck over their hazards and fondle away at the translucent synthetic protoplasms. Today's fondlers of ultrasound wands seem no less prurient.

It's time we sidelined the fine points of obstetrics from public discourse in an election year. Just as girlie magazines are marketed to male readers, public discourse that features women's body parts should be clearly labeled?as Playboy used to be?"Entertainment for Men."

Transvaginal probes? Entertainment for Men. Interstate abortions? Entertainment for Men.

Single-sex entertainment is just fine, as far as it goes. But "transvaginal" anything and "interstate abortions"?no matter what side you're on?don't count as social issues. This stuff is arcana, and the rhetoric associated with these topics is third-order porn, and an occasion for (mostly) male commentators, politicians and satirists?and I mean you lefties too, Jon Stewart and Garry Trudeau!?to perseverate on gynecology in a weird O.C.D. way.

It's creepy.

Really, the zeal with which male politicians of all stripes make politics sexual is disconcerting. Last week Barack Obama placed a personal call to console Sandra Fluke, asking the law student and advocate of birth-control subsidies if she were "OK" in the days since Rush Limbaugh incoherently deemed her platform akin to sexual promiscuity. Limbaugh had likened Fluke to people who are paid for sex, and likened taxpayers to her pimps, or some bunk like that; Obama aimed to redeem a 30-year-old woman by comparing her to his daughters, ages 10 and 13, who evidently need his protection from bad men who use bad words.

Didn't this seem strange? It drove what should have been a non-erotic conversation?about health and money!?back into the key of sexual melodrama, with Dudley Do-Right Obama saving Maiden Fluke from Rake Rush.

The way Rick Perry, Rick Santorum and Mitt Romney wax gynecological is weirder still. And, come on, Ron Paul is an actual gynecologist. They all get right into it, gunning to destroy Planned Parenthood and casually discussing "rape and incest"?limit-case exceptions to an abortion ban that doesn't exist?as if these far-fetched scenarios served any polemical purpose except to name-check sexual trauma.

Fortunately, women treat these fake-clinical spiels as neither appalling nor exciting, like Playboy itself. Maybe that's because those of us who have annual physicals don't cherish the notion of rehearsing the particulars of the ultrasound?or the speculum, for that matter. The topic's cashed even for humor.

Nor do women seem to be engaged in the psychedelic philosophical seminar, led by master logician Limbaugh, of whether employer-provided birth control is tantamount to whoredom. Instead, according to a Bloomberg poll published Wednesday, some 77 percent of women don't believe that birth control is a fit subject for any kind of political debate. Is birth control a talking point for sluts and prostitutes? Or for good patriotic women in public life? Neither! As a political topic, it's a non-starter.

It's no surprise that Terry O'Neill, of the National Organization of Women, wants politicians to "get out and stay out of women's wombs," but she should retire her incendiary anatomical language, too. It's just not what voters care about. Exit polls in the primaries suggest that Republican women tune out when male candidates start yapping about uteruses and cervices. As Kate Phillips and Allison Kopicki put it Tuesday in the New York Times, "All of the talk about birth control and abortion laws seems to have had little effect on the ways women are voting for the two leading Republican candidates, Mitt Romney and Rick Santorum."

New idea: no more examining-table politics?not transvaginal, transtesticular, or any other kind. Four years ago, with the exception of a brief discussion of Sarah Palin's reproductive decisions, the campaigns steered clear of fake-clinical gibberish. Perhaps we're less eager to talk gynecological smack when there are real women around.

Houston Teen Killed at 'Project X' Inspired Party

pixy_stix — Thu, 15 Mar 2012 11:08:35 +0000

CLICKY

A spring break rave in a Houston mansion that was meant to emulate a movie turned deadly early Wednesday morning after several attendees fired guns, killing one person as police tried to break up the party.

The unidentified male victim suffered multiple gunshot wounds and died at Ben Taub General Hospital, Houston police told ABCNews.com.

The party, which attracted between 500 and 1,000 guests, was meant to copy the party thrown in "Project X".

The 2012 movie follows three high school students who throw the ultimate "anything goes" party that spirals out of control. While a damaged home and a bad hangover may be the only consequences partygoers faced in the movie, a string of copycat parties have caused over $100,000 in real damage, handfuls of arrests and the Houston fatality.

Daniel Menjivara, a 22-year-old college student, said "Project X" and the fact it was spring break were the reasons he and many others attended the Houston house party. Menjivara said he was "the exception" at the party and was surprised to find the crowd was mostly composed of teenagers.

"The house got pretty full. You could barely move around," he said.

Trash cans full of spiked punch were set out for partygoers. Wet foam blanketed the floor. Women who wore bathing suits were granted free entry to the party, according to the flyer.

News of the party spread quickly on Facebook and Twitter, attracting a large turnout to the home, which is surrounded by a field. It's not clear if it is occupied during the day. The nearest neighbor is down the street.

Around midnight, police responded to a noise disturbance at the home and shut down the party.

"Kids took to the streets, but the parking lot was overpacked so you couldn't get out," Menjivar said. "It was just people in the actual street. They got into arguments and started shooting each other."

Willie Armstrong, who was at the party, told ABC affiliate KTRK he witnessed the shooting.

"[The gunman] was just walking, and he pulled out a gun and started shooting, like for no reason," Armstrong said. "He shot the boy in the back of the head and fell on the ground. He started shooting at the crowds, but then he ran through the field."

Officers pursued the gunman on foot but were unable to catch him.

"At this time, it has not been determined if the male pursued by officers is the suspect in this case, as it appears several people discharged weapons at the scene," the Houston Police Department said in a statement.

The copycat party wasn't the first in Houston.

Thirteen teenagers were arrested after trashing a new 4,000-square-foot home last Thursday. Nearly every window was smashed. Sheet-rock had been torn out and was left all over the floor of the half-million dollar house.

Police caught up with the teens the next day when they were throwing another party in the new home development.

"I asked some of the kids why, and they said 'Project X.' And I said, 'O.K., what's 'Project X'?'" Mark Stephens, a private investigator working for the home builder told ABC affiliate WFAA. "When you look at the movie, and you look at what happened here, the parallels are uncanny. It was a copycat. They did everything that I saw in the movie."

In Miramar, Fla., Christopher Dade, 18, allegedly caused $19,000 worth of damage to a foreclosed home before he even had the chance to throw his "Project X" inspired party.

The teen posted a four-minute video on YouTube of the house, which he had prepped for the party, complete with "Project X" spraypainted on the walls and "break me" written on a window. Despite arresting Dade on charges of burglary and vandalism, nearly 2,000 people showed up for the all-nighter and were turned away by police.

"We've never had anything of this magnitude," Miramar detective Yesenia Diaz told Channel 10 News of the party.

Fantastic...

newlaunchsingapore — Fri, 16 Mar 2012 00:24:02 +0000

Normal 0 false false false EN-US X-NONE X-NONE /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-priority:99; mso-style-qformat:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin-top:0in; mso-para-margin-right:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:10.0pt; mso-para-margin-left:0in; line-height:115%; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:11.0pt; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast; mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;}

This blog post was absolutely fantastic! Very interesting.Lots of good post and readable articles. I appreciate your efforts. Keep posting some more interesting blog posts. Thanks for sharing. Great websites!

http://www.thomson-grand.net/">Thomson Grand

eclaires and other kid clothes horses

hindsight's_a_biotch — Thu, 15 Mar 2012 16:49:32 +0000

What are your kids wearing for Easter?

I'm trying to decide what to put on pete and I'm drawing a blank.

WTF

3.27.04_Helper — Thu, 15 Mar 2012 13:33:09 +0000

"Scully" confesses bisexual preferences

DruidPrincess — Thu, 15 Mar 2012 12:22:59 +0000

I big-puffy-heart love Gillian Anderson, and Scully is one of my favorite female screen characters.

http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/showbiz/4194035/Gillian-Anderson-reveals-lesbian-affairs.html

100 tweets from homophobes who would murder their gay child

msmerymac — Thu, 15 Mar 2012 14:43:41 +0000

Lovely.

http://storify.com/homophobes/100-homophobes-who-would-kill-their-gay-child

On March 12, 2012, the hashtag #ToMyUnbornChild became a trending topic. People used this hashtag to "tweet to" their future child. Here are 100 real tweets from real people ? all within 24 hours ? saying they would murder their child if he or she was gay.

Homophobes, a Twitter account that exposes homophobia.
Share
?

#ToMyUnbornChild if you so much as think about being a homosexual I'll put a bullet in your damn skull

codie sowders

3 days ago

Reply Retweet
Share
?

#ToMyUnbornChild u bet not be gay. Because I will hang u at da first sign of gayness!!!

?iBarber???

3 days ago

Reply Retweet
Share
?

#ToMyUnbornChild i'll kill you if you were gay!"

Bibi gabriels

2 days ago

Reply Retweet
Share
?

#ToMyUnbornChild if you turn out gay, I will burn you alive.

Daborey Burrell

3 days ago

Reply Retweet
Share
?

#ToMyUnbornChild u betta not be gay mi ahh fi kill u

Fredrick Stactic

3 days ago

Reply Retweet
Share
?

#ToMyUnbornChild If you're gay, I'll kill you.

Samurai Dave

3 days ago

Reply Retweet

PIP nostalgia... closed local businesses you loved

mominatrix — Thu, 15 Mar 2012 12:03:55 +0000

I'm having this crazy nostalgia for the bookstore that I loved as a child.

So... I'm thinking there's a thread there...

Sad about the decline of mom and pop businesses, the chain-ization of America.

Share PIP's of local businesses you loved, that are no more! You'd be surprised what you can find in a google search.

Eclaire and Nitaw.

3.27.04_Helper — Thu, 15 Mar 2012 18:09:16 +0000

http://www.tennessean.com/comments/article/20120315/NEWS0201/303150104/TN-lawmakers-call-Manning-sign-Titans

They are finally addressing the jobs issue.

Karzai urges American pullback after massacre

casmgn — Thu, 15 Mar 2012 09:51:54 +0000

This is what I don't get - Afghanistan is a sovereign country. If they want us out, how can we not be forced to get out? Obviously they lack the military force to evict us, but I just don't understand how we can still occupy a country that doesn't want us there and that we aren't really at war with.

Also, I'd also love us to leave just to see Karzai fend for himself.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Kabul, Afghanistan (CNN) -- American troops should pull out of outposts in Afghan villages to their main bases, Afghan President Hamid Karzai told U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta on Thursday, Karzai's office said, days after an American soldier was accused of leaving his outpost and killing 16 Afghan men, women and children in their villages.

Karzai called the shootings in Kandahar province a cruel act against the people of Afghanistan, and told Panetta that Afghans have lost trust in international forces, the presidential palace said in a statement.

Afghans took to the streets of one city Thursday to demand that the U.S. suspect be prosecuted in Afghanistan, while an Afghan lawmaker accused the United States of showing "a fake video ... to convince the Afghan people that it was the act of only one soldier."

Muhammad Naim Lalai said he was one of several Afghan officials shown a surveillance video on the soldier's base in Kandahar province.

"We were shown a video in which a soldier climbs the wall of a military base and then goes indoors and pulls his bullet-proof jacket off and then puts his arms up to surrender himself," Lalai told CNN, expressing doubt that the video was genuine.

var currExpandable="expand16"; if(typeof CNN.expandableMap==='object'){CNN.expandableMap.push(currExpandable);} var mObj={}; mObj.type='video'; mObj.contentId=''; mObj.source='us/2012/03/15/nt-starr-karzai-us-forces.cnn'; mObj.lgImage="http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/dam/assets/120315015753-nt-starr-karzai-us-forces-00011020-story-body.jpg"; mObj.lgImageX=300; mObj.lgImageY=169; mObj.origImageX="214"; mObj.origImageY="120"; mObj.contentType='video'; CNN.expElements.expand16Store=mObj;

The United States has not confirmed it showed footage from the base to Afghans, but a U.S. official has confirmed there is a video showing the suspect laying on the ground outside the base and then attempting to "low crawl" back into the outpost.

Also Thursday, the Afghan Taliban announced they were suspending an office they opened this year in the Gulf state of Qatar, designed to enable talks with the United States.

The Taliban's e-mailed blamed what the group called the Americans' "ever-changing position." The move came after the Taliban threatened to behead Americans in retaliation for Sunday's killings.

The U.S. suspect was flown out of the country Wednesday before Panetta met Karzai in Kabul on Thursday morning.

Karzai pressed Panetta for international forces to hand over security control of the country to the Afghan military by 2013 instead of 2014, his office said.

President Barack Obama said Wednesday that a summit of NATO leaders in May in Chicago will "determine the next phase of transition," including "shifting to a support role next year ... in advance of Afghans' taking full responsibility for security in 2014."

Panetta was wrapping up a two-day trip, the first by a high-ranking American official since Sunday's killings in the Panjwai district of Afghanistan's Kandahar province. Panetta's trip was scheduled before the attacks.

In Qalat, a city near the two villages at the center of the rampage, protesters chanted anti-American slogans, called for justice and demanded the soldier be publicly prosecuted in Afghanistan.

The demonstration was organized by religious leaders, according to Muhammad Jan Rasuli, the deputy governor of the Zabul province.

The unidentified Army staff sergeant was transferred out of the country on the recommendation of advisers to Gen. John Allen, the commander of the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force.

"We do not have the proper facility in Afghanistan to detain him for longer than he is being held," said Capt. John Kirby, a Pentagon spokesman.

A Defense Department official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the man was flown to Kuwait, which has the U.S. military legal infrastructure and personnel to deal with the suspect. The official was not authorized to release details to the media.

The soldier is accused of leaving the remote outpost of Camp Belambay on foot early Sunday and heading to neighboring villages outside the base.

In the villages, the soldier opened fire as he went house to house, killing nine children, three women and four men, witnesses and Afghan authorities said. The U.S. military has not confirmed the number of casualties.

Three military officials told CNN there is still no understanding of what made the suspect murder Afghan civilians, a potential capital crime that Panetta says the soldier has acknowledged.

"We don't know what made him snap. Did he see a buddy get killed? Did something happen out there in the days before this incident? We just don't know," said one military official familiar with initial investigation reports.

The soldier, who is based at Joint Base Lewis-McChord near Tacoma, Washington, belongs to the 3rd Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Infantry Division, according to a congressional source who was not authorized to speak publicly.

He was on his first tour to Afghanistan but had deployed to Iraq three times. In 2010, he suffered a traumatic brain injury in a vehicle accident. But few details have surfaced about motive or why an infantryman would turn his gun on civilians.

Military authorities have presented a determination of probable cause to allow them to keep the sergeant in detention, an International Security Assistance Force official told CNN.

Meanwhile, an Afghan man who stole a vehicle that exploded Wednesday after he crashed it near the runway at Camp Bastion about the same time as Panetta's arrival has died from his injuries, Lt. Gen. Curtis Scaparrotti told reporters.

The Afghan was wearing a "desert utility uniform," similar to the ones coalition troops give to translators and other unarmed locals working with them, a defense official said. Coalition troops searched the man after putting out the flames and apprehending him, but they did not find an explosive device on him, according to the official. No motive or the Afghan's intent was known

Despite some protests and local violence, the country has not erupted the way it did last month when American troops burned copies of the Quran and other Islamic religious materials. Military officials said the materials had been seized from Afghan prisoners because they contained extremist messages.

A "dad's board" on TB - lay it out for me, what do you think? Guys - weigh in pls

pixy_stix — Wed, 14 Mar 2012 10:24:40 +0000

They're thinking of implementing a Dad's board on TB. I know there are a few guys floating around TB posting on the boards, but there aren't many (mostly because they're branded as weirdos and driven away).

What do you think of making a special Dad's board over there? Do you have any objections?

What do the guys think of it?

Have we not mocked this Santorum Song yet?

Y4M — Thu, 15 Mar 2012 10:01:43 +0000

Because yeah.

http://www.politico.com/blogs/click/2012/03/song-about-rick-santorum-goes-viral-116979.html

DC Area priest defends decision to deny lesbian Communion

charminglife — Thu, 15 Mar 2012 13:46:11 +0000

I saw the other day that he had been put on leave - he's now released a statement defending his actions.

WP Story: http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/gaithersburg-priest-defends-decision-to-deny-lesbian-communion/2012/03/14/gIQAJ5NwCS_story.html

Statement: http://cnsnews.com/news/article/father-marcel-guarnizo-i-did-only-thing-faithful-catholic-priest-could-do

Gaithersburg priest defends decision to deny lesbian Communion

By Michelle Boorstein,

A Gaithersburg priest who was put on administrative leave from his parish after a controversial funeral Mass at which he denied Communion to a lesbian said in a statement Wednesday that he ?did the only thing a faithful Catholic priest could do? and suggested that archdiocesan leaders and the woman were lying.

The Rev. Marcel Guarnizo had declined to comment publicly since the Feb. 25 Mass at St. John Neumann Catholic Church, where Barbara Johnson was mourning her mother. Having learned just before the Mass that Johnson, a 51-year-old D.C. artist, was a lesbian living with her partner, Guarnizo refused to let her receive Communion. The story exploded on the Internet, triggering an emotional debate among Catholics and others about the church?s views on homosexuality and the priest?s role in determining who is fit to partake of the sacrament.

Guarnizo?s statement, distributed on the conservative news site CNSnews.com, contradicts the account given by Johnson and her family about how the tensions that day unfolded.

He also said his parish priest and the Archdiocese of Washington were being dishonest when they told parishioners this past weekend that Guarnizo was being removed for intimidating behavior unrelated to the Communion standoff.

Guarnizo said he was removed as a result of two conversations he had with people from whom he was trying to obtain written comment about what happened at the funeral Mass: the funeral director and a parish staff member present at the funeral.

In announcing his removal, the archdiocese said it had ?received credible allegations that Father Guarnizo had engaged in intimidating behavior toward parish staff and others that is incompatible with proper priestly ministry.?

In his statement Guarnizo takes his superiors to task, saying he was essentially being removed because he denied Johnson Communion.

?And indeed contrary to the statement read on Sunday, March 11th during all Masses at St. John Neumann, both instances have everything to do with the Eucharistic incident. There is no hidden other sin or ?intimidation? allegations that they are working on, outside of these two meetings,? he said.

?The meetings in question, occurred in our effort to document from people at the funeral Mass in written form a few facts about the nature of the incident. We have collected more than a few testimonies and affidavits, testifying to what really took place during the funeral liturgy.

?My personal conversation with both parties in question were in my view civil, professional and in no way hostile. I respect both individuals in question and really do not know the nature of their grievance.?

Officials at DeVol Funeral Home have declined to comment, as have parishioners, who were told to refer questions to the archdiocese.

The Catholic blogosphere has been ablaze with debate about the incident, in part because of the silence of Guarnizo and the St. John Neumann community.

Previously, the only other details about the incident came from anonymous sources on conservative Catholic blogs who said Johnson had outed herself to the priest for no reason, forcing his hand.

Guarnizo said in his statement that public pressure to give Communion to the wrong people will force ?the cruelest crisis of conscience that can be imposed.?

?It seems to me, the lack of clarity on this most basic issue puts at risk other priests who wish to serve the Catholic Church in Washington D.C.,? he said.

Officials of Washington Archdiocese, which includes the District and the Maryland suburbs, did not immediately respond to a request for comment. But Johnson?s brother, Larry, said the family is livid.

?I actually thought there had been some closure. He has ripped it apart and escalated it,? said Larry Johnson, a Loudoun County accountant. ?It?s remarkable. I thought he was a reprehensible person, and he?s certainly confirmed it. The arrogance, the tone, the characterizations, the blatant falsehoods.?

In describing the incident, Guarnizo said Barbara Johnson and her partner came in ?completely unsolicited? and identified themselves as ?lovers.?

The Johnsons said the women?s relationship came up inadvertently when Guarnizo, during a discussion of pre-Mass logistics, asked who the other woman was, and the other woman replied, ?I?m her partner.?

Larry Johnson?s voice shook as he described Guarnizo?s version of events.

?His premise of the whole thing is the most remarkable. .?.?. I witnessed the coldness of this man, the arrogance of this man,? he said.

Guarnizo?s status at the parish isn?t clear as the Northern Virginia native is attached to the diocese of Moscow. It wasn?t known whether he was still a parish resident or what his suspension means for his ministry.

He said he would defend himself.

?What happened I believe contains a warning to the church. Such circumstances can and will be repeated multiple times over if the local church does not make clear to all Catholics that openly confessing sin is something one does to a priest in the confessional, not minutes before the Mass,? he said. ?I am confident that my own view, that I did the only thing a faithful Catholic priest could do in such an awkward situation, quietly, with no intention to hurt or embarrass, will be upheld.?

S/O of Bump c/p: we were charged with years of impound fees with no notice

4Speedy — Thu, 15 Mar 2012 14:07:48 +0000

There were a lot of people calling BS about the bumpie in the c&p claiming she had never received notice that they were accruing impound fees on a car for 18 months. She was an idiot for many other reason but she could totally be telling the truth on that part.

Here is our story: several years ago, DH had is beloved 1969 camaro stolen out of his drive. It was his first car from when he was 16 yo and he completely restored the entire thing. He took it from a $4k piece of crap to worth over $40k. In 2003, DH left it parked in the drive and fell asleep without putting it into the garage for the night. It was stolen right out of the drive. In 2008, 5 years later, we received a form letter from the police department asking us the "disposition" of our stolen property. They wanted to know if it had ever been recovered, had we ever received insurance reimbursement, etc. We filled out the form and returned it. A few weeks later, we received another letter stating the case had not been solved and the status was being changed to "inactive." A YEAR later, we receive a notice claiming we owed 2 years worth of impound fees for our camaro. It was definitely ours, the VIN matched. The impound fees were $50 per day for two years--yep, $37K. Oh, and if you're following the timeline, the car had been sitting in their impound lot for a year already by the time they sent us a letter asking if we had ever recovered it.

The letter we received listed the address of the impound lot so DH left work immediately (I called him at work to tell him about the letter) to go try to find his car. When he got there, he was told the letter with the assessment for the fees was generated because they were clearing up the paperwork when the car was sold at auction a month earlier. So the city sat on our collector car for two years, auctioned it for a fraction of what it was worth and then billed us $37k for it. We had to drive to another precinct to get a paper copy of the original police report to prove it had been out of our possession for over 7 years.

Bump C&P: filing bankruptcy over speeding tickets

tartaruga — Wed, 14 Mar 2012 21:24:06 +0000

I'm not one to judge someone for filing bankruptcy but I can't get over how she seems to think her H's behavior is no big deal.

http://community.thenest.com/cs/ks/forums/thread/64291279.aspx

If my H forced our family into bankruptcy because he liked to show off his "sweet truck"...I can't even begin.

Swiss bus driver allegedly "was changing DVD" before crash

DruidPrincess — Thu, 15 Mar 2012 15:39:47 +0000

http://www.nypost.com/p/news/international/switzerland_bus_crash_driver_was_tAJEy1600n6glIGmqmYLcM

VALAIS, Switzerland -- The driver of a Belgian bus that crashed in Switzerland killing 22 children and six adults was changing a DVD seconds before the fatal incident, Swiss daily Aargauer Zeitung reported Thursday, citing survivors.

Several young survivors recovering in Swiss hospitals told their parents that they saw the driver about to change the DVD just before the accident on Tuesday evening, the German-language newspaper reported in a joint investigation with Belgian daily Het Laatste Nieuws.

According to the report, even a temporary lapse in concentration while performing this task could have been enough to lose control of the bus, which crashed violently in a Swiss tunnel.

Twenty-two children and six adults, including the two drivers, died in the accident. Another 24 were injured, including three critically.

The children -- aged around 12 -- were returning home to Belgium from a skiing trip. The bus, which was carrying 52 people, was one of three hired by a Christian group.

A Swiss police spokesman said the claims were "pure speculation."

Thoughts on Political Prosthletyzing?

LittleMoxie — Thu, 15 Mar 2012 14:32:32 +0000

I was at the pharmacy/post office today and there was a woman working at the post office who was talking to a customer about how pregnancy was very difficult for her and in order to stay pregnant now she would need bed rest and tons of meds, etc. and she didn't want that. However, the doctor wouldn't tie her tubes because she only had one child and wasn't old enough.

The other postal worker chimed in, saying she thought that was ridiculous - and that she wanted to tie her tubes as well, but there is no way her doctor would have even discussed it with someone still in their twenties.

The customer (and older lady) was saying she didn't think it was right. She said, "it's none of their business, it's your choice, just like an abortion..."

I almost jumped into this conversation and wanted to ask these woman to think about who they were voting for, to check out Emily's list, etc. I mean, I'm in Houston so I was happily surprised to hear this in the South and from an AA woman in her 30s, and two white women in their 50s+. I know Houston is relatively liberal, but with all the stuff happening in Texas, it was just heartening to hear these woman all agree on this topic.

Would you have said something? How would you have gone about it? I mean, obviously this issue may not be an important one to them, but I still wonder if they are aware of things around the country making it harder for them to have control over their reproductive rights.

SOS - What to wear?

jenniloveselvis — Thu, 15 Mar 2012 14:46:41 +0000

Long story short. I have a job interview tomorrow. I'm not actively looking, this opportunity sort of fell into my lap.

It's an engineering firm, the attire tends to be business casual M - TH, and casual on Fr (jeans). I am interviewing with someone I have a close relationship with, we work together a lot on committees for our professional organization we belong. I just had lunch with her last Friday and was in jeans and flip flops.

It's for a Communications / Technical Writer.

What do I wear?

Black pants is an absolute; what do I wear with them?

PS It's jeans day at my office so there's that too.

Very important election: Today

GroomzMcFinehiney — Wed, 14 Mar 2012 15:21:57 +0000

Hi, some of you may know me, but if you don't, my name is Groomz McFinehiney. About a year ago, my husband and I adopted a baby girl named Paige. She is an amazing child, beautiful and smart, of course what parent doesn't think this of his child? Recently our family has been stricken with a terrible challenge, when Paige was pitted against an evil terrorist baby in the Relationships Board March Madness 2012 Baby Face-Off. We are trying our best to overcome this obstacle, but we could use your help.

If you could simply donate 30 seconds of your time, less time than it takes to make a cup of coffee with a keurig, you could help save baby Paige from a lifetime of shame and distress caused by the devastating loss of the title of March Madness Grand Champion.

Please go back and read this again and imagine that Sally Struthers is saying these words to you.

Then please go here:

http://community.thenest.com/cs/ks/forums/thread/64273474.aspx

and VOTE FOR PAIGE!!!

Thank you for your time.

South Park takes on TSA (season premiere)

DruidPrincess — Thu, 15 Mar 2012 14:08:47 +0000

SP is one of my guilty pleasures, and I was almost clapping with glee when the "TSA" showed up at Cartman's door.

http://www.infowars.com/south-park-takes-on-tsa-toilet-security-administration/

Anyone else see it? The scene where the guy is "monitoring" the cameras and suddenly sees Cartman on camera had me dying and "ewwwwwwing" at the same time.

Reactive Attachment Disorder?

schneider — Thu, 15 Mar 2012 12:18:00 +0000

My niece was recently diagnosed with this. I was pointed towards your board for help. Can you recommend books, support groups, activities, etc.? Really anything to help my sister would be much appreciated.

Thanks!

100 tweets from homophobes who would murder their gay child

msmerymac — Thu, 15 Mar 2012 14:43:37 +0000

Lovely.

http://storify.com/homophobes/100-homophobes-who-would-kill-their-gay-child

Homophobes, a Twitter account that exposes homophobia.
Share
?

#ToMyUnbornChild if you so much as think about being a homosexual I'll put a bullet in your damn skull

codie sowders

3 days ago

Reply Retweet
Share
?

#ToMyUnbornChild u bet not be gay. Because I will hang u at da first sign of gayness!!!

?iBarber???

3 days ago

Reply Retweet
Share
?

#ToMyUnbornChild i'll kill you if you were gay!"

Bibi gabriels

2 days ago

Reply Retweet
Share
?

#ToMyUnbornChild if you turn out gay, I will burn you alive.

Daborey Burrell

3 days ago

Reply Retweet
Share
?

#ToMyUnbornChild u betta not be gay mi ahh fi kill u

Fredrick Stactic

3 days ago

Reply Retweet
Share
?

#ToMyUnbornChild If you're gay, I'll kill you.

Samurai Dave

3 days ago

Reply Retweet

CNN: Saudi women: pampered or oppressed?

cee-jay — Thu, 15 Mar 2012 09:26:47 +0000

That was CNN's title, not mine.

But to answer their question, a woman jailed for not staying in the home of her abusive father? Definitely some oppression there.

link

Jeddah, Saudi Arabia (CNN) -- Samar Badawi, a 30-year-old mother of one, has served seven months in jail. Her crime? Disobeying her father.

Badawi, 30, fell foul of Saudi Arabia's guardianship laws, which require women to gain permission from their father, husband or even adult son for many daily activities.

In a case that was highlighted by Human Rights Watch, Badawi was physically abused by her father from the age of 14 after her mother died of cancer.

At the age of 25, she decided to "stand up for herself" and ran away to a women's shelter.

She was jailed for seven months after her father brought a "disobedience" case against her and she refused to return to his home.

Badawi was released last year after an online campaign, and eventually got a ruling to transfer her guardianship to her uncle.

She also successfully filed a suit against her father's refusal to allow her to marry.

"I went in a broken woman," she said. "I was very hurt when I went to prison. But I came out victorious and was very proud of myself that I was able to handle those seven months. It wasn't easy."

Badawi added: "When I was alone, I would remember the injustice, from my father, from the judge who was horrible to me.

"I would remember my son. I would remember how even society didn't spare me -- I was insulted a lot and despite the insults, I stayed quiet, I didn't respond. In these moments I would cry."

Despite her own trauma, Badawi does not call for a change in the law, but rather for better awareness.

"Our laws are fair, very fair," she said. "If not for the law, I would not have been able to escape the difficult situation I was in.

"The problem is that there is no legal culture here. Women here, from various backgrounds, aren't aware of their rights, there is no awareness.

"That's why I wish that law would be taught in schools from an early age."

Badawi was presented with an International Women of Courage award by U.S. First Lady Michelle Obama and U.S. Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton on March 8. Presented annually, the award recognizes women who have show exceptional courage and leadership in advocating for women's rights.

Women's rights is a hot issue in Saudi Arabia, and there is a surprising range of views, from both women and men.

Aside from the guardianship laws, women are not allowed to drive, an issue that grabbed headlines around the world last year when many women challenged the law by getting behind the wheel.

One of those was Najla Hariri, who drove her son to school one day after her driver failed to show up for work.

She continued to do so several times after that, but can no longer drive after she and her husband were both forced to sign legal pledges that she would not drive again.

"What is more upsetting to me than having to sign the pledge is that my 'guardian' was summoned," she said. "I reject the whole idea of his being my 'guardian' because I'm a 47-year-old woman, I should be my own guardian."

For Hariri, there is far more to campaign for than driving.

"Saudi women are facing many problems -- divorced women, women in judicial limbo, women who have been abused, issues with inheritance distribution -- we have many problems.

"So we started calling for the establishment of a 'personal status law' to protect these rights," she added.

Hariri said the rights she wants are those already given to women in the Quran and the Sunna, the teachings of Prophet Mohammed.

But not everyone agrees. Rawda Al Youssef runs a campaign called "My Guardian Knows What's Best For Me" in favor of the controversial system.

She argues that Saudi women are lucky to be looked after and that guardianship reinforces the family as a foundation of society.

"The relationship between men and women inside the family is a complementary relationship and not an equal relationship," said Al Youssef. "The man serves the woman and supervises her affairs inside the home and outside the home."

For Al Youssef, women who campaign for more rights are a pampered minority with no real problems.

"Saudi women -- specifically those who are talking about women's rights -- these come from a social class that is well-off and pampered.

"Bring me a poor woman who talks about these things and I'll say ok, maybe she needs this, but those who talk about women's rights ... these are women who have everything they need and all they're missing is to be able to take their passport and travel as they want, or to drive a car.

"They didn't think about the needs of the poorer class."

While Al Youssef believes there is no appetite from either King Abdullah or society at large for greater women's rights, Samar Fatany is convinced of the opposite.

Fatany, a radio journalist and writer on women's issues who was one of the first women employed in government 30 years ago, believes change will be inevitable, though gradual.

"I think Saudi women really have a great opportunity and a window for change and progress that we really need to take advantage of," she said.

"I think King Abdullah has been a great supporter of women, he has been the champion of women and as a result the whole nation has changed and given great support to women."

Fatany added: "It takes an educated person to know a different way of life, that it doesn't have to be that way.

"If you are a person who is isolated and this is a lifestyle that you know, it doesn't occur to you that there's another way, that you don't have to accept that. This doesn't have to do with religion.

"It is not un-Islamic to drive, it's is not un-Islamic to work, it is not un-Islamic to demand for your rights."

Cleric Sheikh Adnan Bahareth, who insisted on being interviewed over the phone because he did not want to appear on camera with a woman, argued that Saudi women were lucky not to have to drive.

"Men are slaves for women today," he said.

Sheikh Bahareth said if women could drive: "It will add more tasks on a woman's shoulder. She will have to go to the souk on her own, she will have to get the food, she will have to drive the kids to and from school.

"We want to lessen these burdens on the women."

Sibil-possibly a dumb question

3.27.04_Helper — Thu, 15 Mar 2012 13:57:48 +0000

do people in Hawaii really wear hawaiian shirts to business meetings?

DH says he needs some for his meetings next week.

If Newt were to leave the race who would he endorse

3.27.04_Helper — Thu, 15 Mar 2012 05:40:19 +0000

santorum, romney or do you think he'd take his ball home?

@ Sturdy sandals vs. sneakers

ringstrue — Thu, 15 Mar 2012 13:16:22 +0000

God forbid I find normal, affordable sneakers in DDs size right now. Maybe they are all just low on stock? I got 3 pairs of sandals but the thicker kind with a sneaker-like sole that she could wear socks in if needed, and one more formal pair.

Does she need a pair of actual sneakers too or am I over thinking this? I guess she'd only *really* need them in more damp situations but then there is always rain boots?

I'm sorry and....

simplyinpenguin — Wed, 14 Mar 2012 20:44:05 +0000

So to my posters of my ill-conceived post..I am very sorry for that post. I did not mean to be racist and the words were just ill-coonceived and bigoted.

Now, I have a new problem with my douche boss.I need some help to see if there's something I can do.

My boss is giving off vibes that he wants me to quit. He will not fire me unless I really really screw up because he wants to get out of paying unemployment. I have documented many issues that I feel is slighting me. But none really compares to today's issues that happened.

My boss humiliated me in front of my customers to me by calling me "The Ultimate Bubblehead". This was unprovoked as I was serving the customers. I felt humiliated because the customers were looking at me like "well there must be a reason he called you that."

I was supposed to start the new pay period with a higher wage due to the raise my boss said I was going to receive (finally). However, when my boss handed me my paycheck, he informed me that due to my actions with the health inspector on Friday, he was withholding my raise for 30 days.

My actions? In the 3 years I've been working there, I've never met the health inspector, never was told was to say to the health inspector, nada. Apparently I was supposed to perjure myself to the health inspector by saying that the lone woman who holds the Food Management Certification still worked there. The problem? She hasn't worked there in 3 years. I was not told to tell them that she does work there and I was up front with the health inspector that she did not work there. I was then informed that someone else had to retake the Certification (at $200 out of pocket).

So the boss was called and updated that the inspector was there. I told him all about it, including the recertification requirement. He literally lost his mind. And he told me that I "better fix it or else." So I had to backtrack and perjure myself to the health inspector and recant my statement with the excuse that she comes in on my days off.

I plan on going to the labor board next Thursday and whistleblow the crap out of him. I'm going to bring him down somehow. I can't quit my job though. I have student loans, bills, expenses, not to mention I have no savings whatsoever so I literally live paycheck to paycheck.

What else should I do? Is there somewhere else that I can go to? What if I called the corporation? The store is pretty much hands off. The corporation doesn't care what goes on as long as they get their royalty check every month.

I'm so pissed and stressed. I really really want to quit. Too bad I can't afford to.

Honeybee Colony Collapse Linked to Corn Insecticide

curlydoglover — Thu, 15 Mar 2012 12:08:39 +0000

Or Monsanto is Evil and Must Be Destroyed.

http://www.earthtimes.org/nature/honeybee-colony-collapse-linked-corn-insecticide/1867/

Honeybee Colony Collapse Linked to Corn Insecticide as Planting Season Approaches

By Melanie J. Martin - 15 Mar 2012 15:43:42 GMT

Honeybees via Shutterstock

Seeds coated with neonicotinoid insecticides could plan a significant role in honeybee colony collapse disorder, says an article in the journal Environmental Science & Technology. Although a range of other factors seem to collectively cause colony collapse disorder, understanding this factor's role brings scientists one step closer to understanding how to prevent colony collapse.

European farmers have used seeds coated with neonicotinoid insecticides since the 1990s, when the introduction of these seeds coincided with significant drops in the population of bee colonies. In the U.S., where one-third of honeybee hives disappear every year, most corn seeds and half of all soybean seeds are coated with neonicotinoid insecticides, says Christian Krupke, associate professor of entomology at Purdue University, who has co-authored another study examining methods of honeybee exposure to these insecticides.

The seed preparation and planting process itself brings bees into contact with the insecticide. First, seeds that have been coated with insecticide are coated in talc, which eliminates their stickiness so they can move within the planting mechanism's vacuum system. Then, farmers use pneumatic drilling machines to plant the seeds. The machines cause the seeds to be sucked into the soil, which expels a current of air. The released air carries insecticide particles with it, born by the extremely light talc dust. The particles then come into direct contact with bees. Scientists had previously believed bees may come into contact with the insecticide by gathering pollen from flowers on which it has landed, but this study strongly suggests that insecticide particles land directly on the bees themselves as they fly across fields.

"Significant concentrations of insecticide" have been found 10 meters from drilling machines, say the authors of the study published in Environmental Science & Technology. "These particles are characterized by high atmospheric mobility and can be efficiently intercepted by the flying bees," they continue. Neonicotinoid insecticides with heavier particles that are less likely to be carried by the wind may have a less severe impact on honeybees, they add.

In Italy, no colony collapse was reported after the country banned neonicotinoid insecticides, according to the authors.

Colony collapse disorder impacts agricultural systems as well as natural ecosystems worldwide, with the potential to affect global food security as well as the pollination of wild plants.

Politics & Current Events — thenest

Catholics and Contraception: Boston, 1965

Catholics and Contraception: Boston, 1965

Study: Romneycare making Mass residents healthier.

This campaign needs more women and less gynecology

Houston Teen Killed at 'Project X' Inspired Party

Fantastic...

eclaires and other kid clothes horses

WTF

"Scully" confesses bisexual preferences

100 tweets from homophobes who would murder their gay child

Homophobes, a Twitter account that exposes homophobia.

PIP nostalgia... closed local businesses you loved

Eclaire and Nitaw.

Karzai urges American pullback after massacre

A "dad's board" on TB - lay it out for me, what do you think? Guys - weigh in pls

Have we not mocked this Santorum Song yet?

DC Area priest defends decision to deny lesbian Communion

S/O of Bump c/p: we were charged with years of impound fees with no notice

Bump C&P: filing bankruptcy over speeding tickets

Swiss bus driver allegedly "was changing DVD" before crash

Thoughts on Political Prosthletyzing?

SOS - What to wear?

Very important election: Today

South Park takes on TSA (season premiere)

Reactive Attachment Disorder?

100 tweets from homophobes who would murder their gay child

Homophobes, a Twitter account that exposes homophobia.

CNN: Saudi women: pampered or oppressed?

Sibil-possibly a dumb question

If Newt were to leave the race who would he endorse

@ Sturdy sandals vs. sneakers

I'm sorry and....

Honeybee Colony Collapse Linked to Corn Insecticide

Honeybee Colony Collapse Linked to Corn Insecticide as Planting Season Approaches