Use this for reference boys.
Found by Baron von Pelsmaekers.
Last week Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn) did one of two things: She either pulled a strategic negative publicity stunt or one of the biggest political faux pas of the century. Either way, she has just proven to the world that she isn’t in touch with reality as a whole.
Much like her Tea Party partner did during the Sarah Palin’s Alaska episode when Sarah invited Kate Gosselin to a “comfort-filled” camping trip, Michele’s latest news is resonating across the headlines like a reality-TV publicity stunt.
On January 24th, Michelle Bachmann released a proposal to cut more than $400 billion in federal spending. In her proposal she targeted veteran benefits using the following language:
“Reduce Veterans’ Disability Compensation to account for Social Security Disability Insurance payments.”
Bottom line: This is just a fancy way for her to say that our nation’s heroes are not entitled to the Social Security benefits that they paid into and rightfully deserve. She knows she can’t strip a deserving class of citizens of Social Security, so this is a strategic angle to accomplish the same outcome.
Found by David E. Lacey.
Note: runs faster than actual high-speed rail.
Classic.
 
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File this one under “S” for “shut the front door!” — no, really, shut the front door and lock it: Senator Jim Alesi of New York is very angry that he injured himself after breaking into a home, and is suing the owners, his constituents, as well as the builders of the home.
Sen. Alesi claims in his lawsuit that he was hurt after deciding to look into the house of a Perinton, NY, couple, which was under construction under the time. The fun part is they didn’t know he was “looking into” their home, and he definitely was not invited, reports Rochester area WHEC News.
The couple’s builder, isn’t happy about the lawsuit: “It was very upsetting. Something that happened three years ago. We thought we put it to bed three years ago, and all of a sudden it rears its ugly head.” He adds that the home was not open to the public.
Found by ECA.
 Apparently not someone who farts
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In a bill proposed by Malawi President Bingu wa Mutharika, citizens who repeatedly pass gas in public could be punished as criminals, according to The Daily Mail. The bill is intended to make citizens “responsible and disciplined.”
This material writes itself.
Executive Producer: Baron Steven Pelsmaekers
This Episode’s Associate Executive Producer
and 274 Club Member: John Evdemon
Associate Executive Producer: Steven van der Have
Art by: Nick the Rat
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In the past 20 years, the Amish population in the US has doubled, increasing from 123,000 in 1991 to 249,000 in 2010. The huge growth stems almost entirely from the religious culture’s high fertility rate, which is about 6 children per woman, on average. At this rate, the Amish population will reach 7 million by 2100 and 44 million by 2150. On the other hand, the growth may not continue if future generations of Amish choose to defect from the religion and if secular influences reduce the birth rate. In a new study, Robert Rowthorn, emeritus professor of economics at Cambridge University, has looked at the broader picture underlying this particular example: how will the high fertility rates of religious people throughout the world affect the future of human genetic evolution, and therefore the biological makeup of society?
Rowthorn has developed a model that shows that the genetic components that predispose a person toward religion are currently “hitchhiking” on the back of the religious cultural practice of high fertility rates. Even if some of the people who are born to religious parents defect from religion and become secular, the religious genes they carry (which encompass other personality traits, such as obedience and conservativism) will still spread throughout society, according to the model’s numerical simulations.
Or put another way, those who are easily led and less willing to think for themselves?
“Provided the fertility of religious people remains on average higher than that of secular people, the genes that predispose people towards religion will spread,” Rowthorn told PhysOrg.com. “The bigger the fertility differential between religious and secular people, the faster this genetic transformation will occur. This does not mean that everyone will become religious. Genes are not destiny. Many people who are genetically predisposed towards religion may in fact lead secular lives because of the cultural influences they have been exposed to.”
I’ve added the bullshit meter because I think this is a case where the researcher is mixing things that result in statistical junk science.
In a related story, the Muslim-country birth rate is falling as their living standards, education rise.
The Egyptian authorities are revoking the Al Jazeera Network’s licence to broadcast from the country, and will be shutting down its bureau office in Cairo, state television has said.
“The information minister [Anas al-Fikki] ordered … suspension of operations of Al Jazeera, cancelling of its licences and withdrawing accreditation to all its staff as of today,” a statement on the official Mena news agency said on Sunday.
In a statement, Al Jazeera said it strongly denounces and condemns the closure of its bureau in Cairo by the Egyptian government. The network received notification from the Egyptian authorities on Sunday morning.
“Al Jazeera has received widespread global acclaim for their coverage on the ground across the length and breadth of Egypt,” the statement said.
An Al Jazeera spokesman said that the company would continue its strong coverage regardless.
Found by Cinàedh.
A program that allows airports to replace government screeners with private screeners is being brought to a standstill, just a month after the Transportation Security Administration said it was “neutral” on the program.
TSA chief John Pistole said Friday he has decided not to expand the program beyond the current 16 airports, saying he does not see any advantage to it…
The push to “opt out” gained attention in December amid the fury over the TSA’s enhanced pat downs, which some travelers called intrusive. “If airports chose this route, we are going to work with them to do it,” a TSA spokesman said in late December.
But on Friday, the TSA denied an application by Springfield-Branson Airport in Missouri to privatize its checkpoint workforce, and in a statement, Pistole indicated other applications likewise will be denied…
He said airports that currently use contractor screening will continue to be allowed to.
Pistole said he has been reviewing TSA policies with the goal of helping the agency “evolve into a more agile, high-performance organization.”
I wonder how he intends to increase agility? Dance lessons? Dodgeball practice?
This itty bitty plastic rifle was recently declared a “firearm” by airport security officials at Gatwick Airport. Which I guess makes the toy soldier it had been attached to an enemy combatant?
Cripes!
Found by ECA.
Zoe D. Katze, Ph.D., C.Ht., DAPA, is a fully credentialed psychotherapist. Her owner, Dr. Steve K. D. Eichel — who has a real Ph.D. —
was tired of finding fakes passing themselves as psychotherapists thanks to diploma mills. So he decided to get his cat credentialed:
A reporter from a major magazine wrote to “Dr. Zoe D. Katze” for input on an article she was writing on hypnosis for childbirthing. She had stumbled across Dr. Zoe’s name on the American Association of Professional Hypnotherapists’ website. I had to tell her the truth.
Dr. Zoe D. Katze, Ph.D., C.Ht., DAPA, is a cat. In fact, she is my cat.[…]
Har!
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