Archive

An Old Face Resurfaces

Published
by
Cynicow
on December 3, 2007
in Bullshit
. 0 Comments

Don’t ever say the Bush administration doesn’t take care of its own. Nearly three years after Paul Wolfowitz resigned as deputy Defense secretary and six months after his stormy departure as president of the World Bank—amid allegations that he improperly awarded a raise to his girlfriend—he’s in line to return to public service. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has offered Wolfowitz, a prime architect of the Iraq War, a position as chairman of the International Security Advisory Board, a prestigious State Department panel

Wolfowitz Back in Govt.? Newsweek.com

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New anthrax vaccine doomed by lobbying

Published
by
Cynicow
on December 3, 2007
in Bullshit
. 0 Comments

Anthrax vaccine

Emergent’s rival, VaxGen Inc. of South San Francisco, had spent four years developing a new anthrax vaccine and had won an $877.5-million federal contract to deliver enough doses for 25 million people. The contract threatened Emergent’s very existence. The old vaccine, its only moneymaker, would likely be obsolete if VaxGen succeeded.

Emergent responded by mobilizing more than 50 lobbyists, including former aides to Vice President Dick Cheney, to make the case that relying on the new vaccine was a gamble and that the nation’s safety depended on buying more of Emergent’s product.

New anthrax vaccine doomed by lobbying - Los Angeles Times

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Effort to Limit Junk Food in Schools Faces Hurdles

Published
by
Cynicow
on December 2, 2007
in Uncategorized
. 0 Comments

I’m of two minds on this particular issue. Anything the American Beverage Association supports immediately has my suspicion. But I do tend to side with the Center for Science in the Public Interest. I suspect the beverage folk will see smaller portions as a way to sell more portions (ka-ching!).

The oddest thing, in my view, is that school lunches fall under the purview of the Dept. of Agriculture. That’s letting the foxes determine henhouse security. Let the Surgeon General dictate school lunch policy, or at least the Dept. of Education.

What do you think? 

Effort to Limit Junk Food in Schools Faces Hurdles via NYT

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AMERICA’S UNREQUITED LOVE

Published
by
Cynicow
on December 2, 2007
in Uncategorized
. 0 Comments

If you moved to Canada, would you expect to have a better quality of life? (% who agree)
United States 91%
Rest of world 85

Is Canada a partner in the military or peacekeeping operations currently taking place in: (% who agree)
Afghanistan:
United States 93%
Rest of world 23

IRAQ:
United States 51% (they’re wrong)
Rest of world 25

Everybody loves us | Macleans.ca

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Grumpy Old Men

Published
by
Cynicow
on December 1, 2007
in Bully!
. 0 Comments

Brilliant UK series about the generation that hoped to die before it got old, but found itself old yet still alive.

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Poll finds more Americans believe in devil than Darwin

Published
by
Cynicow
on November 30, 2007
in Bullshit
. 0 Comments

Photo

More Americans believe in a literal hell and the devil than Darwin’s theory of evolution, according to a new Harris poll released on Thursday.

Poll finds more Americans believe in devil than Darwin via Reuters

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To Restore Democracy: First Abolish Corporate Personhood

Published
by
Cynicow
on November 30, 2007
in Cowboys
. 0 Comments

With the passage of the Fourteenth Amendment, the owners of the what were then America’s largest and most powerful corporations - the railroads - figured they’d finally found a way to reverse Paine’s logic and no longer have to answer to “we, the people.” They would claim that the corporation is a person. They would claim that for legal purposes, the certificate of incorporation declares the legal birth of a new person, who should therefore have the full protections the voters have under the Bill of Rights.

ThomHartmann.com - To Restore Democracy: First Abolish Corporate Personhood

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Missing: Truth in milk labeling

Published
by
Cynicow
on November 29, 2007
in Bullshit
. 0 Comments
In late October, without warning or any public discussion, the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture (PDA) notified 19 dairies that “their labels are false or misleading and need to be changed.” So, what kinds of labels were so terrible that the PDA felt they had to be removed from milk cartons immediately? Labels that told the consumer that the cows that produced the milk had not been given any artificial hormones. Examples of some of the supposedly “misleading” labels include, “Our farmers’ pledge: no artificial growth hormones;” “From cows not treated with the growth hormone rBST;” and “Free of artificial growth hormones.” As of February 1, 2008, these labels will be illegal.

Missing: Truth in milk labeling: Consumer Reports on Safety via Consumer Reports

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Help choose the winners of this year’s Falsies Awards

Published
by
Cynicow
on November 28, 2007
in Cowboys
. 0 Comments

Groucho mask

Welcome to the fourth annual “Falsies Awards” contest, sponsored by the Center for Media and Democracy to recognize the people and players responsible for polluting our information environment. This year, we are asking you to help identify the worst spinners and propagandists of 2007. Please read through the list of nominees below and rank them. You can also nominate additional candidates in our readers’ award section.

Check out our Falsies! via prwatch.org

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Deindividuation

Published
by
Cynicow
on November 27, 2007
in Uncategorized
. 0 Comments

When you are in a group, you may feel a shared responsibility and so less individual responsibility for your actions. In this way a morally questionable act may seem less personally wrong. You may also feel a strong need to conform to social norms.
A paradox of deindividuation is that when you let go of your self, returning to you self can be an exhilarating experience. This is one of the rewards of engrossing hobbies and meditation.
Significant external stimulation helps deindividuation as it distracts you from internal chatter and rumination. This is one reason that pop and rock music (and orchestral music, for that matter) is often played loudly along with dramatic visual lighting effects.

Deindividuation via changingminds.org

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