Fetuses cannot feel pain - British study

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Friday April 14, 2006 · 11:17 AM PDT

2006/04/14 · 11:17

According to a report published in the British Medical Journal, fetuses are unable to feel pain until they are born, flying in the face of one of the arguments used by the religious right to try and "guilt" women into choosing not to abort. As was front paged only yesterday, Arizona's governor has vetoed a bill that would force doctors to inform women that the fetuses they abort feel pain during the proceedure. As it turns out, not only would that bill have been an unwarranted political intrusion into a private medical decision, it's also untrue. Read More

Rabbi Lerner on America's Spiritual Crisis

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Monday April 03, 2006 · 8:21 PM PDT

2006/04/03 · 20:21

Yesterday, I attended a service at The First Unitarian Church of Albuquerque, where Rabbi Michael Lerner was giving a sermon.

Rabbi Lerner spoke at length on what he believes to be a great spiritual crisis within America, a crisis that the left has completely failed to address, giving the religious right free reign, and unnecessary political victories. He outlined what has occurred in America, why this must be addressed, and how the religious right has used this crisis to take power and control the conversation. He also spoke about the beginnings of a movement within the left and centre to try to take back this discourse, address the spiritual crisis within America, and defeat the religious right.

Join me below the fold for my summary of Rabbi Lerner's thoughts. Read More

An open letter to Paul Hackett

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Tuesday February 14, 2006 · 8:26 AM PST

2006/02/14 · 08:26

Mr. Hackett,

I read with great sadness and regret this morning your decision to withdraw from the race for the US Senate. Even more regretfully, I read that you may well be withdrawing from politics permanently. This letter is an appeal to you to reconsider.

I, and many others, have been spellbound by your performance, straight talking and attitude during recent races. I sincerely believe that you are the sort of person we need in Congress, someone whose genuine purpose is to represent the people amongst our elected representatives. You never ran for the Washington politicians, you never ran for the lobbyists, you never ran for the money or the power. You ran for the people, and the people want you to run again. Read More

Let's Recap.

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Saturday September 03, 2005 · 9:53 PM PDT

2005/09/03 · 21:53

Topping the list of the most asinine things Bush has ever said (and they have been many), he said "No one could have predicted the levees would be breached." Of course, FEMA predicted it in early 2001, Scientific American predicted it in October 2001, the Louisiana state government has been predicting it for years, and I (a person who makes a point of not watching the news because it makes me too angry) knew it was likely last Saturday. But no one could have known. Read More

Fantasy 2008 Poll: Nightmare Candidate

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Monday August 22, 2005 · 1:09 PM PDT

2005/08/22 · 13:09

So with the novelty of seeing Clark at the top of every dKos Presidential poll wearing off, I thought it might be interesting to see who we'd hate to see running in 2008. No Democratic infighting please, think about Republican candidates.
Who would be your ultimate nightmare? Someone you think would have a real potential to win, maybe even a chance to completely wipe the floor with us. Who would it be? Who is the nightmare candidate we could be facing? Poll below the fold. Read More

Roe: Worst Case Scenario

Expat Briton

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Tuesday July 26, 2005 · 9:33 AM PDT

2005/07/26 · 09:33

I've read a lot on dKos recently on the worry about Roberts and Roe Vs. Wade. Again and again, the issue comes up: privacy. Because the right to abortion is founded upon medical privacy, isn't it? I mean, that's what we're fighting for?
So the question is asked again and again: What is Roberts' stance on privacy?
No right to medical privacy? No right to abortion.
A right to medical privacy? A right to abortion.

But what if this assumption is wrong? What if we're following entirely the wrong line of questioning here? What if a justice could believe in a right to privacy and still rule against abortion?

I present to you the worst case scenario... Read More

Possible suicide bomber shot dead on London Underground

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Friday July 22, 2005 · 6:55 AM PDT

2005/07/22 · 06:55

This is London has witnesses that seem to think this may have been a police "execution", although I don't think that, if he had a bomb on him, that may have been completely unjustified.

A SUSPECTED suicide bomber was shot dead on the London Underground today. Marksmen opened fire as terrified passengers were evacuated from the platform at Stockwell Tube station just after 10am.
[...]
Unconfirmed reports suggested the dead man was involved in yesterday's attacks in London.
If the suspect is confirmed to be a suicide bomber, it would mark the fifth attempted terrorist attack on Lo ndon in less than a day.
[...]
The man tripped and was also pushed to the floor and one of the officers shot him five times, said Mr Whitby, who had been sitting on the Tube train reading his paper, as it was stationary with its doors open.

From The Scotsman Read More

July 4th. A short view from outside.

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Monday July 04, 2005 · 8:45 PM PDT

2005/07/04 · 20:45

This hasn't been the kind of 4th of July essay I would have liked to have written -- or might have written in years gone by. But I'm too old and too disgusted to go through the motions of celebrating the national holiday...
-Billmon

Bethany [my wife] is sitting in the background watching 1776, and I'm pondering the 4th of July. Independence Day, the day that the first 2 signatories of that declaration put their names on the dotted line. I'm far too cynical to buy into the myth - American independence was started by rich men who wanted more and found Britain standing in their way, no more, no less. But even if you believe, as I do, that the Declaration is just a well written piece of propaganda... it's a great piece of propaganda. And it's easy to understand how people buy into the myth. If anything, that Americans do so wholeheartedly when the Declaration so fully espouses human equality and self-worth should be a source of hope. Read More

SNARK: Warning stickers on cars.

Expat Briton

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Friday June 24, 2005 · 8:32 AM PDT

2005/06/24 · 08:32

Citizens of the United States of America,

I have been driving in your great country for some time, and have a question. I understand that you have a culture which requires driving for almost every minor errand, and in having chosen that sort of culture, inevitably some highly aggressive, dangerous drivers slip through the cracks of your testing and licencing regime. These people seem to believe the rules of the road do not apply to them, that the safety of others is secondary to their reaching their destination 30 seconds faster, and also have a tendancy to own large SUVs despite almost always riding without any passengers on flat, well maintained roads. I've lost count of the number of times I have been cut off, sworn at, swerved past and almost run off the road by these angry, totally inconsiderate drivers, but I do understand that in this culture, it is probably necessary that some of these people be able to get around in an automobile, however distasteful and dangerous their behaviour is. Thankfully, these vehicles carry warning stickers. Read More

Rubbishing a WSJ editorial.

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Wednesday June 22, 2005 · 6:31 PM PDT

2005/06/22 · 18:31

RealClimate have reviewed a recent WSJ Editorial on Climate Change. Some choice quotes from the review:

This is incorrect.

This is not correct.

This is patently incorrect.

This is just bizarre.

This is not true

The sentence, first of all, perpetuates two well-known fallacies.

This statement stands in stark opposition to the actual findings of the world scientific community.

The dissection of this utterly distorted and misleading editorial is done by experts, and as such I won't try to add any of my own comments to it. Well researched and impeccably cited dissection of the original editorial is good enough, and the verdict is completely crushing. Go read the whole damn thing.

Looking for Solutions in Iraq.

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Friday June 03, 2005 · 10:15 AM PDT

2005/06/03 · 10:15

I said in SusanHu's recent diary that one of our biggest problems is a lack of positive solutions to the problem of Iraq (Link). The biggest problem we, as Democrats, face is that we don't have a solution to Iraq. As Bill Clinton said, "When people are insecure, they'd rather have someone strong and wrong, rather than weak and right." We are right, but we look weak, you might even argue that we are weak, because we have no positive plan for Iraq.

Imagine you are trapped in your house with your family, and the house is surrounded by gunmen intent on killing all of you. There is no way out. So the idea is floated for you to make a charge at the gunmen with a kitchen knife, while your family hope this distracts the gunmen and they can sneak out the back.
It is a stupid plan. It is a suicidal plan. It will, in all likelihood get both you and your family killed. But in the absence of any other option, you'll go with it.

We have the same problem with Iraq. Read More

10 Years to Armageddon.

Expat Briton

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Monday January 24, 2005 · 1:14 PM PST

2005/01/24 · 13:14

Released today, an international report states that we have 10 years - no more - to avert a disasterous and irreversible change in our climate (BBC, The Independent). What's notable about the report is it puts a date, for the first time, on when we will reach the point of no return. And it's far sooner than you might think. Read More

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