The RNC, McCain, and the superstitious denialists crowing about mystic markets, promoting corporate welfare and lazy government, used the 2008 election season to urge privatization of social security and medicare. Operated by listed firms, they said their ‘free market’ is the answer.

The S&P 500 is down 39.22% from Dec. 31, 1999 through Monday’s close, the worst decade ever.

“The details of his death remain unclear. He had been alone. Neighbors and relatives think that he got trapped in the crossfire. He wasn’t politically active and hadn’t taken part in the turmoil that has rocked Iran for over a week, they said.

“Upon learning of his son’s death, the elder Mr. Alipour was told the family had to pay an equivalent of $3,000 as a ‘bullet fee’ — a fee for the bullet used by security forces — before taking the body back [from the government].”

Astronauts on the Space Station took this photo of the initial blast of a volcanic eruption northeast of Japan.

The huge plume of ash and steam billowing skyward created a shock wave in the atmosphere.

The smooth white cloud on top may be water condensation that resulted from rapid rising and cooling of the air mass above the ash column.

At Edge, Lera Boroditsky asks whether the language we speak shapes what we think.

Even what might be deemed frivolous aspects of language can have far-reaching subconscious effects on how we see the world.

A comprehensive summary of world and U.S. economies:

…the world is currently undergoing an economic shock every bit as big as the Great Depression shock of 1929-30.

Looking just at the US leads one to overlook how alarming the current situation is even in comparison with 1929-30.

The good news, of course, is that the policy response is very different. The question now is whether that policy response will work.

John Mauldin

Not a single top executive of a Wall Street securities firm responsible for causing the financial crisis has had the courage or the decency to step forward in front of the cameras and explain to the American people in his own words exactly how and why he allowed his firm to cause the crisis.

Rigging:

An analysis of official statistics from Iran’s Interior Ministry by Britain’s Chatham House think-tank suggested that in the conservative Mazandaran and Yazd provinces, turnout was more than 100 percent.

It said that in a third of all provinces, official results would have required Ahmadinejad to take all former conservative, centrist and all new voters, and up to 44 percent of reformist voters, “despite a decade of conflict between these two groups.”

Jesus and Mohammad discuss erroneous conclusions.

Florida’s St. Petersburg Times is stepping out with a detailed report on Scientology. After posting the first chapter, buzz is abounding.

Scientology: The Truth Rundown
High-ranking defectors provide an unprecedented inside look at Scientology…

Scientology: ‘We’ll take care of her’
New details about the case of Lisa McPherson, who died in the care of Scientologists, from the executive who directed the Church of Scientology’s handling of the case.

Scientology: No Escape From Reality
Four high-ranking defectors describe bizarre behavior and physical beatings inflicted by Scientology leader David Miscavige.

The reporters interviewed the four defectors multiple times, and met with church spokesmen and lawyers for 25 hours.

Government officials in Britain admitted last night that illness rates from the swine flu virus could reach 50 per cent.

Based on this figure, the workforce could be reduced by 15-20 per cent at the pandemic’s peak. In the unlikely event that every school closed, this could rise to 35 per cent.”

As part of ongoing planning, the NHS is being asked to ensure that antiviral collection points could, if needed, be put into action in a week.”

Deflation is a “significant risk” as a result of the pandemic’s impact on the economy – putting back economic recovery by two years, says the report.

A $2.5 trillion cut in global GDP is a possibility – with a flu outbreak in the autumn hitting the world economy just as it starts to recover from the credit crunch.

Don’t blame the messenger.

The National Renewable Energy Laboratory says car air conditioners account for seven billion gallons of gasoline, about six percent of the nation’s total yearly fuel consumption. Refrigerant leaks are responsible for 50 million metric tons of CO2 emissions a year.

House GOP submits energy plan centered on 100 new nuclear reactors in the next decade.

More at Knight Science Tracker

Was it that long ago? In April 2007, the FDA received 12,000 pet food complaint calls, more in one month than any entire year for any product. The company that imported the bulk melamine labeled wheat gluten issued a press release:

ChemNutra states that the firm “imports quality ingredients from China to the U.S. for the feed, food and pharma industries.

“We are a professionally managed, American owned company experienced in negotiating, securing and delivering ultra-competitive pricing on high-quality chemicals and ingredients from quality-assured manufacturers in China.

“We bridge the business and cultural gaps…including all regulatory, compliance, import and transportation requirements.”

But as the wheels of justice turn, ChemNutra officers have pleaded guilty to distributing a tainted ingredient used to make pet food that reportedly killed thousands of animals.

Deny it at your peril.

This is the hilarious paradox of America, of modern life in general.

We do not actually want complete freedom. We don’t even understand what the hell such an unfettered beast would entail, really. As Thomas Hobbes so famously said, were mankind to live in a true state of nature, free of structure and laws and our million beloved social contracts, life would be “solitary, poor, nasty, brutish and short.” And who the hell wants that?

Most of us don’t really want government to stop protecting us from the world and ourselves, the FDA to stop making sure our foods aren’t poisonous, the EPA to stop checking on the water supply, the myriad agencies to stop making sure we don’t die every single day from 1,000 slings and arrows and outrageous growth hormones and insane militant right-wing murderous gun nuts.

How furious we get when something goes wrong because the government failed to regulate! How angry we get that the agency didn’t do its job, the law wasn’t enforced, the police didn’t respond, the rules were not followed, the warning label not clearly displayed, the restaurant not inspected, the meat not real, the doctor not certified, the corporation not ethical, the pothole not filled!

And yet we seem reluctant to claim it.

The idea that we are trying to create a culture whose primary satisfaction is its beauty is not really such an extravagant thought. When we say that we desire a world in which nature is intact and animal life thrives; when we say that we desire human communities in harmony with nature; and when we say that within those communities human beings should be able to live in dignity, so that they can be something more than worker-consumers, we are arguing for a reality that is first aesthetic. Environmentalists argue for such a reality all the time. It is what they propose in the place of a barbaric culture of profit and violence. Even so, we are often seduced by the economic and scientific appeals to efficiency, sustainability, and prosperity, in spite of the fact that we suspect that these appeals are actually part of the problem. But in our heart of hearts we are not fooled. What we want is the beautiful.

“No problem can be solved from the same level of consciousness that created it.” – Albert Einstein

Handwashing is the primary means to stop the spread of the H1N1.

The White House sent a letter to every public school superintendent that outlines how to encourage handwashing to slow swine flu.

via barfblog