Prometheus 6

Scientists Find Soft Tissue in T-Rex Bone
Thu Mar 24, 2005 05:22 PM ET

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A 70-million-year-old Tyrannosaurus rex fossil dug out of a hunk of sandstone has yielded soft tissue, including blood vessels and perhaps even whole cells, U.S. researchers reported on Thursday.

Paleontologists forced to break the creature's massive thighbone to get it on a helicopter found not a solid piece of fossilized bone, but instead something looking a bit less like a rock.

When they got it into a lab and chemically removed the hard minerals, they found what looked like blood vessels, bone cells and perhaps even blood cells.

For various reasons I've been spending a little more time at The American Street than I have in the past. Recently Dave Johnson sensed something wrong in the discussion about the biomass.

You're doing it again. You're not seeing what is really going on. You are missing the bigger picture. You are looking at trees and missing the forest. Do you really, after all this time and all these defeats, think the Right is stupid?

You mock the Republicans for blatantly acting politically, and ignore that they ARE ACTING POLITICALLY. In other words, they're acting in the way that will in the long term gain them more support for their candidates and issues.

You mock their politicians for flocking to this because of a Republican talking points memo telling them this will gain them a political advantage, yet you do not see that THIS WILL GAIN THEM POLITICAL ADVANTAGE.

You re nitpicking details and ignoring the larger narrative. They are  trying to save this poor woman.  They are  defending this poor woman s family.  Meanwhile, you are pointing out discrepancies in the finer details.  What about her husband?  you ask when they talk about her parents.  She can t feel pain,  you say, when they accuse Democrats of starving her to death. How many people hear that they are trying to save this poor woman? Everyone. How many people, over time, will pay attention to the nitpicking details?

CNN sounds like Fox on this issue. They're playing in the background and their coverage has crossed the line into sensationalism. I just had to say that.

I'm getting pretty fucking tired of these idiots invoking the civil rights movement to support everything from invading countries to keeping an iconic biomass alive.

The Supreme Court denied the stupid appeal without comment.

Klayman and Keyes to Ask Governor Bush to Grant "Pardon" to Terri Schiavo
Use of Executive Power Appropriate Under the Circumstances

To: National Desk

MIAMI, March 23 /Christian Wire Service/ -- Larry Klayman, former Chairman of Judicial Watch and 2004 U.S. Senate Candidate in Florida and owner of The Klayman Law Firm, and Alan Keyes, former Presidential Candidate, are asking Florida Governor Jeb Bush to use the powers he has been granted by the citizens of the state of Florida, under its Constitution, to save Terri Schiavo's life.

Larry Klayman stated, "Since Governor Jeb Bush is the supreme executive power of the state of Florida, he has the right and duty to step in and, in effect, pardon Terri Schiavo from the death sentence that has been unduly placed upon her by the court system."

The Schiavo case presents a vacuum for the judicial system -- because it failed to act to save Terri's life -- and Klayman and Keyes and all
Americans that want to see justice done would like for that vacuum to be filled before it is too late.

Larry Klayman will be meeting with the General Counsel to Governor Jeb Bush at 2:00 PM, today. During this meeting, he will lay out the legal justification for Governor Jeb Bush to act, and in so doing, will present what is in effect a legal brief prepared by Alan Keyes and approved by Klayman. In addition, Klayman will request a meeting with Governor Jeb Bush, which he and Alan Keyes would attend. Klayman will stress that time is of the essence, that Terri can die at any moment.

Larry Klayman represents RightMarch.com and Declaration Alliance, which has been very active in supporting life for Terri Schiavo.

Close the Spigot
Thursday, March 24, 2005; Page A18

EMBARRASSED BY revelations of the program's true price, Congress acted last fall to temporarily close loopholes in student loan laws that were costing taxpayers an unnecessary $1 billion every year. With a certain amount of fanfare, both House and Senate education committee chairmen declared their intention to stop "shortchanging students," in the words of Sen. Judd Gregg (R-N.H.), and to stop paying out huge, unnecessary sums to banks and other financial intermediaries that disburse student loans. At the time, we congratulated the lawmakers but nevertheless worried that the loose wording of the bill had ensured that some of the techniques banks had used to siphon money out of government coffers -- using an outdated law that once guaranteed lenders 9.5 percent interest rates -- would remain legal.

In case you didn't know, frequent commentor cnulan blogs at Vision Circle, where, in discussing the discussion about Roland Fryer's promotion in the NY Times, points out an article on the development of cooperation in humans.

The article in its entirety focuses on the structural and functional basis of cooperation. It's economics alrighty, or game theory at least, but anytime you add the fMRI data and watch what the old noodle is up to whilst the sapiens are sapienting, BLAM!!! it kicks it up just that extra little notch required to give me a mental buzz and make me feel like we're no longer in the land of just-so storytelling, but have meandered into the domain of an objective science..., oh, and I very much respect the Punisher role itself..., I think we'll see more and more of this as we enter the twilight of the western era..., and that's a good thing!!!

Damn good article. How good? Check the category assigned to this post.

Jesus, the rule of law just definitively lost out to oligarchic kakistocracy in California.

Gov. Wins Initiative Fundraising Case
A preliminary ruling lets Schwarzenegger raise unlimited money to push ballot measures.
By Robert Salladay
Times Staff Writer
March 24, 2005

SACRAMENTO   California politicians can raise unlimited amounts of money to promote ballot initiatives, a judge said Wednesday, handing Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger a significant victory as he promotes his political agenda this year.

In a preliminary ruling, Sacramento Superior Court Judge Shelleyanne Chang said forcing Schwarzenegger to abide by fundraising limits for initiatives would unfairly trample on his right to free speech and would not subdue "the demons" of political corruption.

So I can mention a little anecdotal evidence.

I know for a fact that in San Francisco Black and Latino students that have almost any difficulty at all ate actively encouraged to "test out"...which means leave the school and take the GED test. I suspect those students represent the gap between the drop out rate reported by California (those that pass have "graduated") and Harvard's study.

Harvard again...

Nearly Half of Blacks, Latinos Drop Out, School Study Shows
By Duke Helfand
Times Staff Writer
March 24, 2005

Nearly half of the Latino and African American students who should have graduated from California high schools in 2002 failed to complete their education, according to a Harvard University report released Wednesday.

The Business of America Is to Stay in Business
General Motors provides a warning to Washington on fiscal irresponsibility.
By James P. Pinkerton

James P. Pinkerton is a fellow at the New America Foundation.
March 24, 2005

General Motors, once the symbol of corporate giantism, both admired and reviled, is now a shriveled husk of its former corporate self. And thereby hangs a tale of post-industrial America and a warning for America itself.

At one time, GM seemed synonymous with a nation whose business was big business. In 1955, Time named GM President Harlow Curtice as its "man of the year"; the magazine credited Curtice with steering the United States into a "new age of wide-open affluence." Because the company sold more than half the nation's cars, it could afford to pay high wages, offer generous pensions   and be grossly inefficient.

The Becker-Posner Blog has a nice digestible recap of a paper Prof. Becker participated in producing on the failure of the drug war. The full paper is available at his website at the University of Chicago.

After totaling all spending, a study by Kevin Murphy, Steve Cicala, and myself estimates that the war on drugs is costing the US one way or another well over $100 billion per year. These estimates do not include important intangible costs, such as the destructive effects on many inner city neighborhoods, the use of the American military to fight drug lords and farmers in Colombia and other nations, or the corrupting influence of drugs on many governments.

Assuming an interest in reducing drug consumption- I will pay little attention here to whether that is a good goal- is there a better way to do that than by these unsuccessful wars? Our study suggests that legalization of drugs combined with an excise tax on consumption would be a far cheaper and more effective way to reduce drug use. Instead of a war, one could have, for example, a 200% tax on the legal use of drugs by all adults-consumption by say persons under age 18 would still be illegal. That would reduce consumption in the same way as the present war, and would also increase total spending on drugs, as in the current system.

But the similarities end at that point. The tax revenue from drugs would accrue to state and federal authorities, rather than being dissipated into the real cost involving police, imprisonment, dangerous qualities, and the like. Instead of drug cartels, there would be legal companies involved in production and distribution of drugs of reliable quality, as happened after the prohibition of alcohol ended. There would be no destruction of poor neighborhoods- so no material for  the Wire  HBO series, or the movie  Traffic - no corruption of Afghani or Columbian governments, and no large scale imprisonment of African-American and other drug suppliers. The tax revenue to various governments hopefully would substitute for other taxes, or would be used for educating young people about any dangersous effects of drugs.

Study: Media Self-Censored Some Iraq Coverage
By Joe Strupp
Published: March 19, 2005 12:05 PM ET

NEW YORK Many media outlets self-censored their reporting on the Iraq invasion because of concerns about public reaction to graphic images and content, according to a survey of more than 200 journalists by American University's School of Communications.

The study, released Friday, also determined that "vigorous discussions" about what and where to publish information and images were conducted at media outlets and, in many cases, journalists posted material online that did not make it to print.

One of the most significant findings was "the amount of editing that went into content after it was gathered but before it was published," the study stated. Of those who reported from Iraq, 15% said that on one or more occasions their organizations edited material for publication and they did not believe the final version accurately represented the story.

Vatican says feeding tube removal like execution
By Alessandra Rizzo, Associated Press  |  March 23, 2005

VATICAN CITY -- The Vatican pressed its campaign to keep Terri Schiavo alive yesterday, saying that removing the brain-damaged American woman's feeding tube amounted to capital punishment for someone who has committed no crime.

In a front-page editorial, the Vatican newspaper L'Osservatore Romano criticized US District Judge James Whittemore's refusal to order the reinsertion of Schiavo's feeding tube and disparaged a ''society incapable of appreciating and defending the gift of life."

It said Whittemore had condemned Schiavo to an ''atrocious death: death from hunger and thirst."

Bush Opens Door to Changes in His Plan
By ANNE E. KORNBLUT

...In Tucson on Monday, Mr. Bush told the audience: "You can't liquidate your personal account when you retire. It's the interest off your personal account that will complement your Social Security check, no matter how big or little it is, that you're getting from the federal government. That's important to remember."

In Denver later that day, he cautioned that "when you retire, you can't pull all your money out." And in Albuquerque on Tuesday morning, Mr. Bush told the audience members that they "can't liquidate the plan upon retirement because it's a part of the retirement system."

"But your estate - you can leave it to whomever you want," he said. "You want to leave it to your daughter? Fine."

Doesn't that mean your private account isn't part of your estate?

Quote of note:

"My party is demonstrating that they are for states' rights unless they don't like what states are doing," said Representative Christopher Shays of Connecticut, one of five House Republicans who voted against the bill. "This couldn't be a more classic case of a state responsibility."

"This Republican Party of Lincoln has become a party of theocracy," Mr. Shays said. "There are going to be repercussions from this vote. There are a number of people who feel that the government is getting involved in their personal lives in a way that scares them."

G.O.P. Right Is Splintered on Schiavo Intervention
By ADAM NAGOURNEY

The Struggle to Flee LAUSD
By Mona Gable
Mona Gable is working on a Southern California memoir.
March 23, 2005

About a year ago, along with a million other parents in Los Angeles, I was anxiously waiting to hear whether my 13-year-old son got into private school. We had applied to two Catholic high schools, and the process had been sufficiently grueling as to make me want to skip college applications altogether. There were open houses to attend, letters of recommendation, transcripts and test scores to collect. We could also write a letter pleading our son's "special circumstances." In other words, if he didn't have a 4.0 and the musical gifts of Yo-Yo Ma or the footwork of David Beckham, what did he have to offer that might win him one of those sacred slots? We wrote the letter.

And then there was the religion issue. My son had to go through interviews, but equally nerve-racking, so did his father and I. Would we pass? Would they care that my husband is Jewish and that I'm Episcopalian?

It was no small point, we thought. Applications to private schools in and around Los Angeles have soared, making the schools even more selective. Everyone we knew, it seemed, was applying where we were applying: boys on my son's soccer team who not only were bona fide Catholics but had Parents Who Knew People; most of his public school friends, including one whose siblings had already graduated from one of the schools, thus scoring legacy points.

"We should always err on the side of Life."

That sets the bar really, really high for death penalty cases, don't it?

Poor baby!

Bush Urges an End to Attacks on Plan
On a Southwest tour, the president and allies suggest that opponents of the Social Security overhaul are stalling.
By Peter Wallsten
Times Staff Writer
March 23, 2005

ALBUQUERQUE   At the start of a potentially crucial congressional recess, in which lawmakers will hear from constituents about President Bush's plans to overhaul Social Security, Bush and his allies asked Democrats and AARP on Tuesday to stop attacking their ideas.

"Stop HITTING me!! Wah!"

What a fucking wimp.

"I believe there will be a bad political consequence for people who are unwilling to sit down and talk about the issue," Bush told supporters during one of his "conversations" on Social Security, appearing with McCain and New Mexico's Republican senator, Pete V. Domenici. "I think the American people expect people from both parties to stand up and take the lead and solve this issue."

You should show more flexibility then because YOU are the one bringing forth a non-plan. YOU are the one suggesting things the public categorically rejects.