Reporter who was sexually attacked in Libya

Logan told the Times that the attack lasted for 40 minutes and involved 200 to 300 men.

"For an extended period of time, they raped me with their hands," she said. "My clothes were torn to pieces...what really struck me was how merciless they were. They really enjoyed my pain and suffering. It incited them to more violence."

And we want to send American men and women into this ignorant, violent part of the world to die?  For what?

"Ms. Cheng was arrested on what was supposed to have been her wedding day last fall for sending a single sarcastic Twitter message that included the words “charge, angry youth.” The government, lacking a sense of humor, sentenced her to a year in labor camp."


We freely import mass quantities of cheap, disposable junk from China that fills our oceans and dumps.  We buy these products for not much more than the slave labor rates that China pays their people thus never giving companies using American employees a chance to compete.  Then we borrow money whenever we want so we can keep on buying these cheap products which keeps the vicious cycle of human rights violations, garbage pollution and American unemployment right in place.  


That's nice.

Your Tax Dollars Used to Defend Discrimination

A prominent law firm from Atlanta has resigned as lead council for defending the law on marriage that discriminates against gay people.

In a statement, a spokesman for Mr. Boehner, Brendan Buck, said: “The speaker is disappointed in the firm’s decision and its careless disregard for its responsibilities to the House in this constitutional matter. 

Democrats, including Representative Nancy Pelosi, the minority leader, have criticized Mr. Boehner for seeking public funds to defend the law. A spokesman for Ms. Pelosi said in a statement that she “vigorously opposes” using “any taxpayer resources to defend discrimination, at a time when Republicans in Congress are cutting critical initiatives like education and infrastructure.”

Drug makers spent about $6.3 billion on marketing visits to doctors in 2009, the last year that such figures were available, according to IMS Health. 


$6.3 billion on buying doctors cocktails and dinner?  This is how they decide on which drugs we take? If the drug companies have that much disposable income available (that doesn't count advertising dollars) than how does alternative medicine ever stand a chance?  All the money is going into bandaids and very little into actual solutions.  

Happy Birthday Amy! Tax Day Too!

A "gay tax"? Hard to believe, but it's true. When same-sex couples join other Americans in filing their tax returns today, they'll feel the economic sting of marriage discrimination. Because of the exclusion from marriage, same-sex couples will pay more in taxes than different-sex couples. In many cases, they'll pay tens of thousands of dollars more over their lifetimes. That's why we're taking action this Tax Day. Join Freedom to Marry in petitioning House Speaker John Boehner and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid to demand an end to the "gay tax" and a repeal of the so-called Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA).

4/16/11 Happy Birthday Juliana!

As millions of Americans prepare to file their income taxes ahead of Monday’s deadline, we look at how corporations and the wealthy use offshore banks and tax havens to avoid paying taxes and other governmental regulations. "Tax havens have grown so fast in the era of globalization, since the 1970s, that they are now right at the heart of the global economy and are absolutely huge," says our guest, British journalist Nicholas Shaxson. "There are anywhere between $10 and $20 trillion sitting offshore at the moment. Half of world trade is processed in one way or another through tax havens." Shaxson is the author of the new book, Treasure Islands: Uncovering the Damage of Offshore Banking and Tax Havens. [includes rush transcript]=

I think if we eliminated the wedding ceremony there would be a lot less divorce.  

4/14/11

Beyond the science, there’s the fact that many social conservatives are simply opposed to giving women the ability to have sex without the possibility of procreation.

“Contraception helps reduce one’s sexual partner to just a sexual object since it renders sexual intercourse to be without any real commitments,” says Janet Smith, the author of “Contraception: Why Not.”

So only men think they can be fuckers?  That's nice.  

4/12/11

"Mr. Hughes, using Mr. Howarth’s calculations, also concludes that replacing coal with natural gas for base load electricity production will most likely make greenhouse gas emissions worse. It would be better, he argues, to improve energy efficiency, rely on natural gas in niche vehicle markets and balance continued construction of wind and solar power to produce electricity."


So finally someone is talking about energy efficiency and not just finding more energy.  That should apply to birth control as well.  Why do we talk about feeding the hungry but never mention birth control?  It should be addressed in the same sentence.  

4/11/11

The reason for pay discrimination:  "Women may be held back because surprisingly few of them are in senior management at many companies. Research firm Catalyst found that women held 15.7% of the board seats in Fortune 500 companies in 2010, an inexplicable statistic given the number of available qualified female candidates. More than 10 percent had no women serving on their boards."

See full article from DailyFinance:http://srph.it/htjljZ

NYT:
"While the clients lost nearly all their money, JPMorgan collected nearly $1.9 billion from Sigma’s demise, according to the suit."


Why are they even writing about this?  It happens every day on Wall Street.  

4/8/11

Mississippi:
A new poll gauging Mississippi Republicans' preferences going into the 2012 election ended up revealing something more startling: 46 percent of GOP voters in the state think interracial marriage should be illegal.



I guess they won't be voting for gay marriage anytime soon.

4/7/11

"China in particular stands out because of its sudden role as the world's factory, its enormous population, and the mass migration of that population to urban centers; 350 million people, equivalent to the entire U.S. population, will be moving to its cities over the next 10 years. China now emits more mercury than the United States, India, and Europe combined. "What's different about China is the scale and speed of pollution and environmental degradation," Turner says. "It's like nothing the world has ever seen."


http://www.usautism.org/USAAA_Newsletter/usaaa_newsletter_2011/usaaa_newsletter_special_edition_032911.htm


t's crazy but we were able to pollute (and are still especially with industrial farming) for how many years?  When Brazil was asked why they don't stop cutting down the Amazon they said: "oh you get to clear cut your nation for profit but we can't?"

4/3/11 Our Last Day

I hope not but it may be so.  We might be ending the season with a bluebird day but I didn't follow my advice from my very first blog entry over a year ago:  "Don't go down Bear Mountain's Outer Limits at the end of the day!".  I have such a short memory (or no memory at all depending on who you are talking to),  I just headed right on down those nasty looking, ice sided, huge ass bumps under the chair.  So not only did I go flying sideways but I did it, once again, in front of a 1000 people.  I should just copy and paste that first entry it sounds so similar.  You know the first entry about sliding down the rusty pipe?  Oh well... onwards and upwards.

We rode the chair up with a 10 year old named Madison who was competing in the mogul challenge.  We kept on lapping the run so we could watch her compete.  I had a feeling she might be going so I skied really fast to get there and low and behold there she was in the starting gate.  She takes off and I scream "GO MADISON".  She crashed.  I really think I was the cause of that crash.  I probably scared the shit out of her.  Hummm...story of my life.

We skied the entire mountain under perfect temperatures.  It was a () () () only because Ron decided not to ski and I made Madison crash.  So sorry:(.


Comment:
Kazakhstan

Kanat, a construction worker who would not give his last name, said he had voted for Mr. Nazarbayev, even though he thought the president and his family had enriched themselves fabulously during the past two decades.

“They already have everything they need,” he said. “They can afford to think about the public.”

MR. KANAT,  IT JUST DOESN'T WORK THAT WAY!!!!

4/2/11 Happy Birthday Marie!

Strange day of skiing.  One minute it would be a blizzard where there would be so much snow coming down I was covered from head to toe.  I probably looked like a big snowball on the mountain.  Then the next minute it was sunny and the snow was getting too soft.  Really, really strange.  The Bear Mountain mogul challenge was fun to watch because some of them had to compete in the blizzard.  That made it interesting.  Donna Weinbrecht was there but I don't think she goes down moguls any more after all of those knee operations.

I will have to give the run of the day to three places Growler (lots of snow in the trees), Vertigo, and the Needles Eye bumps. Julio and Outer Limits were worn out.  It's going to snow more tonight.   It was overall a () () + just because it was a bit crowded for my taste and the snow was tricky for my guest.

4/1/11 April Fools

The only April fools are the ones that aren't up here skiing!  We went to Okemo for $10 day.   You just had to bring canned goods for charity.  Great deal.  Great for the food drive.   I've been skiing in Vermont most of my adult life and I've never skied there.  It was terrific even though it was really wet and surprisingly chilly.  No pictures because it was too friggen nasty to take my IPhone out of my pocket.  It has been snowing hard all day.  I'm not sure how much new snow we have now but I would think it's at least 6 inches and it's still coming down.  I think Ron liked the skiing too.  Ron and Kim went to their high school prom together.  Interesting.   Okemo has  long runs and there was plenty of stuff to hold my interest including great tree runs.  I don't know what it would be like on a busy weekend because it's relatively small but today was really good.  I really enjoy the steeps of Killington but it's good to mix it up.  We try to ski 'off piste'  (that's what I call skiing away from Killington) at least once or twice a season.  We are hopefully going to make it up to Stowe before our season is over.  We are getting ready to start our summer project so I don't know how much longer we will be able to ski  :(


Today's comment:
Japan
"There is no doubt in my mind that it is dangerous in there, (the evacuation zone)" said Kazuko Hirohara, a 52-year-old nurse from Minami Soma. "I just wish they would have thought about safety before they ruined our lives."