[In case it needs to be said: I don't agree with every word of everything I link to. --L.]
- Slow and Steady: Astronomy Advisory Report Charts a Long Road for Exoplanet Science
- [Scientific American]
The study of planets outside the solar system was one of the hottest corners of the science world in the 2000s, a decade that saw the known tally of exoplanets increase by more than a factor of 10. By the end of 2009, more than 400 worlds had been discovered in the young field of study, and the scientists working on NASA's Kepler planet-hunting mission were preparing to announce the first discoveries of their recently launched spacecraft…
- It was the headless body of a spacecraft, or maybe an enormous bug
- [io9 - Annalee Newitz]
- In Illinois, Doctors Refusing to Treat Women Who've Had Abortions
- [ACLU blog - reposted from RH Reality Check]
Every place we visited in Illinois [...] told us that Illinoisans face numerous obstacles in accessing reproductive health services and information. Teens aren't learning how to make healthy decisions and protect themselves, women can't reliably get access to birth control, emergency contraception or abortion, and those who decide to parent or place their infant for adoption cannot find the support they need to facilitate those decisions.
…in city after city: doctors refusing to care for women who have had abortions. Mind you, these are not doctors refusing to perform abortions. What we heard, in three separate communities, was that there are doctors who refuse to perform routine post-abortion check-ups or even to provide care for completely unrelated ailments to women who previously had abortions. What's worse, in two instances, we heard that these doctors were some of the few who were accepting Medicaid patients at all — meaning that poor women would have to face greater obstacles to receive needed medical care. In one instance, we heard of a doctor throwing a patient's medical records on the ground and storming out after he learned she had had an abortion.
- The Gitmo Sentence Guessing Game
- [ACLU Blog]
…the sentencing hearing of 50-year-old detainee Ibrahim al-Qosi continued apace. Al-Qosi is the first detainee to be convicted in the military commissions under the Obama administration, in a plea deal in which he admitted to being an al Qaeda cook and occasional driver.
During the two days of sentencing hearings, everyone in the room other than the jurors knew that there had been a secret plea agreement capping the actual amount of time al-Qosi will serve…
…Welcome to the Obama military commissions, where sentences are made secret to silence critics, and guilty pleas are secured with the threat that detainees won't get credit for eight-plus years of pretrial detention if they go to trial.
- Coudal Partners' Layer Tennis Presented by Adobe CS5 8/20/2010 | Match 1 Introduction
- [Layer Tennis is a faux sport in which artists compete to create cool stuff in 15 minutes. -L]
FROM LAYER TENNIS HQ
LIVE TODAY! Season Three gets underway with a
big doubleheader. Two matches simultaneously! It's
all sponsored by Adobe Creative Suite 5.LYT veteran Armin Vit takes on newcomer Matt Stevens
with Matthew Baldwin providing the layer-by-layer
analysis. Here's the preview. "Let's Get Kraken."http://layertennis.com/100820a/
In the second match, motiongrapher/designer Nick
Campbell faces illustrator/designer Aaron Scamihorn
with Rosecrans Baldwin in the booth. The preview
for that is "Blood Will Have Blood."http://layertennis.com/100820b/
It all starts LIVE at 1pm Chicago time. Check the
time in your area here:
- New Voice for Religious Freedom
- [Talking Points Memo - Josh Marshall]
If you can't count on the ADL to step up, maybe call the Fire Department. A Florida church's plans to celebrate 9/11 with a mass Koran-burning have been negged by the local fire department.
- Rebecca Zapen
- [Echidne of the Snakes]
Rebecca Zapen performed at my church last week, reminding me how great it is to hear local artists in a small venue. A classically trained violinist who also loves the ukelele, a jazz singer with a penchant for bossa nova… [video]
- US Chamber of Commerce Apologizes For Misogynistic Blog Post, But Don’t Be Fooled
- [Firedoglake - Michael Whitney]
After getting roundly whacked by basically the entire internet, the US Chamber has officially apologized for its blog post yesterday that suggested women seeking equal pay have a “fetish for money” and suggested women should “choose the right partner at home.” But don’t let it fool you: the US Chamber has for decades advocated in private the very sentiments posted to its public blog yesterday….
Note: in this original “apology,” Peck says that the Chamber believes in “equal employment opportunity,” just not in “equal pay.” But neither blogger Peck’s nor COO Chavern’s “apologies” can explain away the Chamber’s not-so-secret past of opposing equality for women….
From my original post on the Chamber’s hideous views of women:
[Bullet points which cause me to breathe fire are redacted at this time. -L]
- Church in Florida to Host “International Burn the Quran Day” to Commemorate the September 11 Attacks
- [Alas, a blog - Richard Jeffrey Newman]
…It’s also worth noting that Jones and his group also declared August 2 “No Homo Mayor” day, a day to protest Gainesville’s openly gay mayor. Both groups–Muslims and homosexuals–are godless according to Jones, a logic similar to the one that created the association between being Jewish and homosexuality, to mention being communist, Jewish and homosexual, that was an important point of antisemitic rhetoric in this country during 50s, 60s and even 70s.
- Quote of the Day
- [Shakesville]
"The rains are continuing and [with] each hour that passes the flooding is multiplying misery across the entire country. This is a mega disaster and it needs a mega response."—Neva Khan, Oxfam country director in Pakistan. "To date, only five countries—Britain, the US, Australia, Italy and Kuwait—have committed or pledged more than $5m in new funding."
Donations are urgently needed. You can find out how to help here. [link]
- Well, thank goodness
- [Firedoglake - Attaturk]
As already mentioned, Glenn Beck, last seen going into “true archeological” findings related to Native Americans (ask anyone with a seeing stone and a magic hat), is having a rally on August 28th. Specifically held on the same day and in the same place as Martin Luther King’s “I have a dream” speech.
And why?
To “reclaim the civil rights movement.”
…now the world’s proudest defender of a First Amendment cafeteria plan, Sarah Palin, will be helping Beck (and the NRA, in honor of MLK, of course) reclaim the civil rights movement as it used to be…a place for white conservatives to speak of the joys of saying “N-word”, the insensitivity of “Muslims”, and the need for funny shows like “Amos-n-Andy” to come back.
[OH EM GEE. Srsly? -L]
The Link(s): Fri, Aug 20th, 9am by Lee Salazar, unless otherwise expressly stated, is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States License. Terms and conditions beyond the scope of this license may be available at leesalazar.com.