These are the kinds of stories that make us hate the Republican agenda

I find it pitiful when the lower and middle classes align themselves with the Right on an economic level. Do you think that they are looking out for your best interest? Your precious tax dollars? No! They want to squash your American dream and keep the pockets of the rich and super rich consistently lined with gold.

Oh Reaganomics, what hast thou done to my country?

Senate Republicans on Wednesday blocked the Democrats from fulfilling a campaign promise to increase the federal minimum wage, demanding that the pay hike include tax relief for small business.

On a vote of 54-43, Democrats fell six short of the 60 needed to end debate and go to passage of a House-approved bill, to raise the minimum wage for the first time in a decade -- boosting it over two years to $7.25 per hour from $5.15…

With the gap between rich and poor widening, Democrats promised a minimum wage increase as a part of the campaign that saw them win control of the Congress from Bush's Republicans in last November's elections.

"Millions of Americans who earn the minimum wage have been waiting a decade for a much-deserved raise," said Rep. Rahm Emanuel (news, bio, voting record), an Illinois Democrat. "Incredibly, Senate Republicans would have them wait even longer."

Republicans have cited studies that say an increase would drive people out of work and hurt the economy.

But Democrats counter that a modest increase would cause no significant job loss. They have also noted a survey that found most small businesses believe it would not hurt them. Most already pay above it.

At $5.15 per hour, a person working 40 hours per week makes $10,712 per year, about $5,000 below the poverty line for a family of three…

Scary Evangelicals

[Alexandra Pelosi] the daughter of House speaker Nancy Pelosi traveled the Bible Belt to bring back footage of fundamentalist worshipers, as well as Christian miniature golf courses, wrestling federations, car clubs and theme parks. Her guide for much of the journey was Ted Haggard, president of the 30 million-member National Association of evangelicals until he resigned in November after evidence of his gay relationships and drug use came to light. The film was completed a week or so before that happened, and Pelosi chose not to revisit the interviews to make points on evangelical hypocrisy, though she might have…

Still, the parts of the film that were most troubling were not about abortion or gay marriage or even the incredibly pathetic attacks on evolution. Rather, it was the willingness of evangelicals, young and old, to accept as figurative and literal gospel anything and everything fed to them by authority figures. They appear as automatons, unable or unwilling to question the pronouncements of their leaders.

Also difficult to watch were those who, despite having elected a born-again president and established giant radio and TV networks and a political power base second to none, still feel they are a persecuted minority. If Pelosi's intent is to show that evangelical faith suffocates reason, the point is well-made.

Well said!

Doomsday Clock reads 5 minutes to midnight

The caretakers of the well-known Doomsday Clock on Wednesday moved its symbolic hands two minutes closer to midnight — citing nuclear proliferation and, for the first time, global warming.

The Doomsday Clock is a symbolic clockface maintained since 1947 by the Board of Directors of the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists at the University of Chicago. It uses the analogy of the human race being at a time that is "minutes to midnight" where midnight represents destruction by nuclear war.

It was the fourth time since the end of the Cold War that the clock has ticked forward, this time from 11:53 to 11:55, amid fears over what scientists are describing as “a second nuclear age” prompted largely by atomic standoffs with Iran and North Korea…

“As scientists, we understand the dangers of nuclear weapons and their devastating effects, and we are learning how human activities and technologies are affecting climate systems in ways that may forever change life on Earth,” said BAS member Stephen Hawking, the renowned cosmologist and mathematician.

“As citizens of the world, we have a duty to alert the public to the unnecessary risks that we live with every day, and to the perils we foresee if governments and societies do not take action now to render nuclear weapons obsolete and to prevent further climate change.”…

Since it was set to seven minutes to midnight in 1947, the hand has been moved 18 times, including Wednesday’s move.

It came closest to midnight — just two minutes away — in 1953, following the successful test of a hydrogen bomb by the United States. It has been as far away as 17 minutes, set there in 1991 following the demise of the Soviet Union.

Darfur awareness

Most of us have heard the name Darfur but we aren’t quite sure where it is and what’s really going on there. Genocide? Displaced refugees? Rape? Murder? Huh?

Well here’s one way you can help and become a little more aware at the same time. Graphic artist Milton Glaser (he’s the dude who created the iconic “I LOVE NY” design) has teamed up with the International Rescue Committee to create a very special posters whose sale benefit the organization. It’s only $35, so if you have the cash, why not? Or download a free screensaver and read up on the crisis at theIRC.com.

"With more than 2 million people driven from their homes, Darfur has been described as one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises. Despite the signing of the Darfur Peace Agreement in May 2006, fighting is increasing across the region and the people of Darfur are suffering violence, atrocities and abduction. Amid desperate conditions, the International Rescue Committee delivers lifesaving aid, protects women and girls, and speaks out for global action on behalf of the Sudanese people."

Hey There Lonely Boy

China is facing a crisis -- not enough women. The country's major gender imbalance means that in the very near future there will be a shortage of wives which means a real threat to social stability. I don’t know why this story had me a bit giddy. I guess that’s my angry feminist side sticking up my middle finger and yelling out “That’s what you get when you choose to abort all your baby girls! Now suck it!” Ok, maybe it’s not all their fault, seeing as how the government only allows families one child, and seeing as how most traditional cultures value male heirs (god knows why) over females. But still, I feel somewhat justified. Maybe that'll learn ya.

China will have 30 million more men of marriageable age than women in less than 15 years as a gender imbalance resulting from the country’s tough one-child policy becomes more pronounced, state media reported Friday.

The tens of millions of men who will not be able to find a wife could also lead to social instability problems, the China Daily said in a front-page report.

China imposed strict population controls in the 1970s to limit growth of its huge population, but one side effect has been a jump in gender selection of babies. Traditional preferences for a son mean some women abort their baby if an early term sonogram shows it is a girl.

Discrimination against the female sex remains the primary cause of China’s growing gender imbalance,” Liu Bohong, vice director of the women studies institute under the All-China Women’s Federation, was quoted as saying in a report from the State Population and Family Planning Commission.

Sex selective abortion is prohibited but the government says the practice remains widespread, especially in rural areas…

UPDATE 1/22/06

China sounded the alarm over the country's growing gender imbalance on Monday, vowing to improve protection of infant girls and ratchet up punishment for those who perform abortions based on the sex of the baby...

Abortions to select a child's gender are not currently outlawed. However, a family planning regulation prohibits the practice except for medical reasons. People who perform illegal scans or abortions face a minimum fine of 10,000 yuan ($1,255) or more based on their earnings from the procedure.

Pay It Forward Jerk-Ass

Well the holiday season is over and the good cheer might be gone with it but here's an article from the NY Times Magazine about positive psychology. It's quite a bit more than the concept of positive reinforcement you might have heard about in Psychology 101 as it's really best described as asking the question of "what [makes] life worth living."

The focus of Kashdan’s class that day was the distinction between feeling good, which according to positive psychologists only creates a hunger for more pleasure — they call this syndrome the hedonic treadmill — and doing good, which can lead to lasting happiness. The students had been asked first to do something that gave them pleasure and then to perform an act of selfless kindness. They approached the first part of the assignment eagerly. One student recounted having sex with her boyfriend 30 feet underwater while scuba diving. Another said he “went to Coastal Flats and got hammered.” A third attended a Nascar race in North Carolina, smoked, drank and had sex. Some also watched favorite TV shows; others chatted with friends.

When it came time to talk about the second part of the assignment, the students were excited, too. The Nascar attendee, who was afraid of needles, gave blood. Another collected clothes from family members and donated them to a shelter for battered women. The boy who had gotten hammered bought a homeless person a 12-pack of “Natty Ice” at a 7-Eleven, wondering if it was the right thing to do. A fourth gave her waiter at Denny’s a $50 tip.

It’s January in NY and I’m wearing a tube top

I’m scared, I’m really scared. I woke up this morning to the news that tomorrow’s temperatures will reach the high 60s. It’s January in New York and I’m sweating. Scientists from around the world are confirming everyone’s suspicions, that this is not normal.

Britain's Meteorological Office said there was a 60 percent probability that 2007 would break the record set by 1998, which was 1.20 degrees over the long-term average.

"This new information represents another warning that climate change is happening around the world," the office said.

The reason for the forecast is mostly due to El Nino, a cyclical warming trend now under way in the Pacific Ocean. The event occurs irregularly — the last one happened in 2002 — and typically leads to increased temperatures worldwide.

While this year's El Nino is not as strong as it was in 1997 and 1998, its combination with the steady increase of temperatures due to global warming from human activity may be enough to break the Earth's temperature record, said Phil Jones, the director of the Climatic Research unit at the University of East Anglia.

"Because of the warming due to greenhouse gases, even a moderate warming event is enough to push the global temperatures over the top," he said.

"El Nino is an independent variable," he said. "But the underlying trends in the warming of the Earth is almost certainly due to the release of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere."…

In related news, A giant ice shelf the size of 11,000 football fields has snapped free from Canada's Arctic, scientists said.

The mass of ice broke clear 16 months ago from the coast of Ellesmere Island, about 800 kilometers (497 miles) south of the North Pole, but no one was present to see it in Canada's remote north.

Scientists using satellite images later noticed that it became a newly formed ice island in just an hour and left a trail of icy boulders floating in its wake. (Watch the satellite images that clued in ice watchers)…

"This is a dramatic and disturbing event. It shows that we are losing remarkable features of the Canadian North that have been in place for many thousands of years. We are crossing climate thresholds, and these may signal the onset of accelerated change ahead," Vincent said Thursday.

In 10 years of working in the region he has never seen such a dramatic loss of sea ice, he said…

Scientists say it is the largest event of its kind in Canada in 30 years and point their fingers at climate change as a major contributing factor.

"It is consistent with climate change," Vincent said, adding that the remaining ice shelves are 90 percent smaller than when they were first discovered in 1906…

Al Gore, as always, you were right...

Happy New Year America, here is your bill so far

Cost of the Iraq War to date:

- 4 Years

- 3,000 + American Soldiers dead

- 46,880 + American Soldiers wounded

- UNKNOWN Iraqis dead (Iraqi government believes it to be 16,273 civilians)

- $355,094,374,000 taxpayer’s cost and rising