Street Preachers of NC

A video of Reidsville street preachers. The preachers and the merchants are not happy with each other.

Unemployment comparison

Google has a nice interactive feature where you can compare various areas on unemployment, down to the county level.

Evangelists make a case for nuclear disarmament

Evangelical leaders announced a national initiative for Christians to make a moral case against nuclear weapons.

"It's not about conservatives becoming in favor of liberal issues. It's about evangelicals raising an authentically Christian voice about a nonpartisan issue." -Tyler Wigg Stevenson, a 31-year old Baptist preacher

Religion & Torture

Now we know for sure that America tortures. Here's the breakdown of religious affiliation and views on torture.





See here for breakdown by party.

Switching Religion

Protestant and Catholic Americans are very likely to change religions in their lifetimes. Almost half of adult Americans now belong to a religion different from that of their childhood religion (or are now unaffiliated, and vice verse). Their reasons are numerous and diverse, including drifting away, unhappy with religion's positions (e.g., on women, abortion, afterlife, etc.), unmet spiritual needs, and interfaith marriage, among other things.

Cringe worthy!

Potential Georgia candidate for governor, Neal Horsley, admits to screwing a mule. Literally. He's running on a secessionist platform, so he's not exactly a front runner. Either way, gross.

Plan-B "risky" for 17-year-olds, according to some guy on Headline News

This plastic looking guy wants you to know that it's unsafe for 17-year-olds to be able to get the morning after pill (Plan B) without a prescription or parent involvement. His points are as follows:

1. Plan B is more powerful than regular birth control pills, which need a prescription.

> Well, yes, it is more powerful than regular birth control pills, but a prescription probably isn't really necessary for regular birth control, because they are quite safe. Some have argued for requiring prescriptions for birth control, just to encourage sexually active women to have regular pap smears. Even though these are often "bundled," there's no actual requirement to do a pap smear prior to giving a prescription for birth control. Moreover, other countries, including England, allow women to purchase birth control over the counter, with no problems.

2. Plan B must be taken within 72 hours for full effectiveness, but he doesn't buy the argument that getting a prescription would cause unnecessary delays. "Does it really take that long to get a prescription?"

> YES! Here are some examples. A Northern California general practitioners group has an average wait of 55 days to see a doctor. For those of you counting, that's 1320 hours, which is more than 72 hours. Even truly sick people have long waits--the worst, in fact, compared to peer nations. 30% of sicker adults (those with histories of serious illness) have to wait longer than a day to see a physician. Sure, some girls would be able to get a prescription within the window, but a lot of girls wouldn't.

3. We're enabling teenagers to act carelessly.

> He admits that teenagers DO act carelessly: "Teenagers are known for thinking they're untouchable." Yes, teenagers act carelessly. If we're lucky, they have an "Oh shit!" moment, go get the morning after pill, and hopefully do not create a new life to ruin. It would be lovely if those dummies would just think before they acted, but again, "teenagers are known for thinking they're untouchable."

4. 17-year-old boys will pressure their 17-year-old girlfriends into having unprotected sex, promising to get the morning-after pill the next day.

>Well, this is really just the same argument as #3. I don't think boys pressuring girls to have sex is a new invention. I think a lot of girls (and boys probably...girls can pressure for sex too!) have heard, "Don't worry about it baby, I'll pull out." Now when he says that, they have sex, and then she wakes up regretting it, at least she can go get a pill.

5. 17-year-old high school students can and will get the pill for their 15-year-old friends.

>I don't get this argument. 18-year-olds can ALREADY get Plan B without a prescription. You don't magically graduate when you turn 18, nor do you usually forget everyone in high school when you go to college. (OK, sometimes the latter is true.) Yes, a 17-year-old senior can give her sophomore friend the pill, but so can an 18-year-old senior.

"He shouldn't have run"

Elizabeth Edwards asked her husband to withdraw from the race after he told her about the affair with Rielle Hunter, which at the time he claimed was a one-time affair. He ignored her request and went forward. Way to show your remorse, John.

NC area has one of highest unemployment rates

The area of Hickory-Lenoir-Morganton has an unemployment rate of 15.4, an increase of 9.1 percentage points. This is the 3rd highest in the 372 metro areas tracked by the Labor Department.

Night Owls > Early Birds?

A new study suggests that late risers (people who, left to their own schedules, get up around noon) outperform early birds (people who naturally get up around 5-6 am) 10 hours after waking (so, around 3-4 pm for early risers, 10 pm for late risers). Unfortunately for them, society is designed better for early risers. So there you go. We early birds are still better.

(Also, it seems like it would be hard to separate time of day from hours since rising. For example, most people's circadian rhythm takes a little dive during the afternoon, but people who have just recently gotten up may be better equipped to handle that.)

Obama not THAT popular

Hey, guess what, Obama isn't actually that popular. Turns out, his "sky-high" approval ratings among blacks makes him appear more popular than he actually is. Remember, black opinions only count for 3/5 of a real opinion.

Criminal Justice Reform

Jim Webb is trying to tackle our decidedly broken criminal justice system, by establishing a National Criminal Justice Commission to study the problem. Glenn Greenwald points out the political risks associated with such a position.

Here are some disturbing facts offered by Webb:

-- The US has 5% of the world's population and 25% of its prisoners. "There are only two possibilities here: either we have the most evil people on earth living in the United States; or we are doing something dramatically wrong in terms of how we approach the issue of criminal justice."

--Number of incarcerated drug offenders in 1980: 41,000
--Number of incarcerated drug offenders in 2007: 500,000
--Percentage increase: 1200%

--Blacks = ~12% of population
--Blacks use drugs (frequent use) at comparable rates compared to other groups: 14%
--Blacks = 37% of those arrested on drug charges
--Blacks = 59% of those convicted on drug charges
--Blacks = 74% of those sentenced to prison on drug charges

(Thanks Left in Alabama)

What makes a man?

The shriveled mess at the bottom: The y-chromosome. How sad.

"The Y chromosome, however, which is inherited by males in concert with one X chromosome, is a withered version of the X, having lost many genes since it stopped recombining with the X chromosome."

Another Work Break

Am I a boy or a girl?



An androgynous high school student with good humor about people mistaking him for a girl.

Pregnant Women are Smug

Hee.



Pregnant Women are Smug from Erika Lindhome on Vimeo.

Armenian Genocide

During his time as senator and during the campaign, Obama repeatedly used the word "genocide" to describe the deaths and deportation of 1.5 million Armenians by the Ottoman Empire starting in 1915. He still says he wants "a full, frank and just acknowledgement of the facts," but as president, he hasn't used the word "genocide." (Here is the Turkish version of events.)

If we don't feel the need to placate the Germans about their genocide, then why should we placate Turkey? Let's call it what it is, recognize that Turkey isn't the same country they were 100 years ago, and encourage reconciliation between today's Turks & Armenians. I'm sure reconciliation is easier said than done, but don't say you'll recognize the deaths as genocide and then decline to use the word.

Obama = Yay! Republicans = Booo

Obama approval rating: 68%
Congressional dems approval rating: 53%

Rebuplican DISapproval rating: 67%
Congressional Republican approval rating: 15%

Yikes.

(According to Wonkette, those 15% are the same ones who fall for Nigerian email scams and think Reagan is still president. Hee.)

Tyring to kill the past

Catherine, a transgender former Mormon living in Idaho, fights to have her old self abolished, stricken from the record. A sad story.

Yay trains!

NC has a decent shot of getting some high-speed trains, as proposed by Obama. As a person who hates to fly, I would ride trains all the time if they weren't prohibitively expensive and ridiculously inconvenient.

NC not totally broke

Bev Perdue announced that tax revenue was better than expected. Maybe they can unfreeze those state funds now?

Craigslist killer found?

Some dude, fiance of a BU medical student, has been charged with the Craigslist murder of an "internet masseuse". His fiance swears up and down that he's too good inside and out to have done such a thing. For her sake, I hope she's right. That would be a hard reality to face up to otherwise.

Holocaust Remembrance

Today is Holocaust Remembrance day. Remember.

Texans say No to Governor, Yes to Stimulus

The Texas Senate voted to accept stimulus money over the objections of Governor Rick Perry (R), although the governor could still veto them. 10 Republicans crossed party lines to pass it 22-9. If Texas doesn't accept the stimulus money, businesses will have to pay more in taxes to make up the deficit in the unemployment plan. I thought Republicans didn't like taxes? Curious...

Work break!

Wolf likes Pork.

"Let's keep this Arma-gay-don at bay."

The Colbert Report	Mon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c
The Colbert Coalition's Anti-Gay Marriage Ad
colbertnation.com
Colbert Report Full Episodes Political Humor NASA Name Contest

"They're gonig to eat the Baby Jesus."

Making fun of wingnuts.

Miss North Carolina is Miss USA

Miss North Carolina snags the Miss USA title. Yay?

The Columbine Myth

Everything you know about Columbine is wrong. Klebold and Harris were not members of the Trenchcoat Mafia. They weren't picked on or bullied. They didn't target jocks or any other specific group of people. Harris was a psychopath. The boys wanted to be more famous than Timothy McVeigh. Guess what? They aren't. Columbine is the name associated with that tragedy, not Klebold and Harris.