Help Catholic Charities help your neighbor.

Please Help Now.

In the wake of Hurricane Irene, thousands of families and individuals have been displaced or are without basic necessities. Catholic Charities USA (CCUSA) and our local agencies are fully prepared to assist these individuals with shelter, food, and other immediate and long-term needs.

However, on the heels of this year’s spring and summer tornadoes and floods, dollar resources for disaster response are strained.

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Sincerely,

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It's ok for Bill Keller to hate me, because I believe in things invisible.

You see, kiddies, the only people the establishment in this country has always hated are faithful Catholics. We are also the only group the ruling class has always permitted and encouraged the little people to hate.

Why?

Because only the One and True Church can even hope to act as a check on Mammon. Our moral and intellectual superiors have been quite successful in co-opting the heretic protestant "churches" over the years. [Huh? Have you noticed how divorce, re-marriage, contraception, masturbation, premarital sex, government programs in place of charity, et cetera, are now the accepted norm in most "denominations"?] All they have to do is wait out the so-called fundamentalists and eventually they'll come around.

Why?

Because the heresy under discussion here is primarily one based on the primacy of the individual will when it comes to matters of faith and morals. Without fixed, unchanging, and permanent rules [See the Ten Commandments, for example.] people will tend to substitute their defective wills for God's will. The fact the same heretics then claim to know His will would be laughable if it weren't for all the souls going to Hell.

Anyway...back to the apostate Keller. At least he had the decency to leave the Church. The place in Hell he is carving out for himself is slightly less nasty than the one reserved for those who attempt to destroy her from within.

One more thing. Have you noticed how the brave free-thinking warriors against Catholic "superstition" never ever say a word about non-moderate mohammedans?

Why?

Unlike good Catholics, who will "merely" pray for the conversion and salvation of their immortal souls, the non-moderates might cut their heads off.

From Times Watch:

Bill Keller Questions Faith of G.O.P. Candidates, Compares Belief In God To Belirf In Aliens

By: Clay Waters

Bill Keller’s upcoming column in the New York Times’ Sunday magazine, “Asking Candidates Tougher Questions About Faith,” raised familiar liberal paranoia about the conservative religious views of Republican presidential candidates Mitt Romney, Michele Bachmann, and Rick Perry. The official headline for the upcoming print edition: “Not Just Between Them and Their God.” Keller had no time for respectful criticism: "Mitt Romney and Jon Huntsman are Mormons, a faith that many conservative Christians have been taught is a 'cult' and that many others think is just weird."

Keller, the outgoing executive editor for the Times, got off on the wrong foot by mockingly comparing the candidates’ Christian beliefs to belief in space aliens. Then he made the latest in his impressive string of column factual errors, identifying the Catholic politician Rick Santorum as an evangelical Christian.

If a candidate for president said he believed that space aliens dwell among us, would that affect your willingness to vote for him? Personally, I might not disqualify him out of hand; one out of three Americans believe we have had Visitors and, hey, who knows? But I would certainly want to ask a few questions. Like, where does he get his information? Does he talk to the aliens? Do they have an economic plan?

Yet when it comes to the religious beliefs of our would-be presidents, we are a little squeamish about probing too aggressively...

...

This year’s Republican primary season offers us an important opportunity to confront our scruples about the privacy of faith in public life -- and to get over them. We have an unusually large number of candidates, including putative front-runners, who belong to churches that are mysterious or suspect to many Americans. Mitt Romney and Jon Huntsman are Mormons, a faith that many conservative Christians have been taught is a “cult” and that many others think is just weird. (Huntsman says he is not “overly religious.”) Rick Perry, Michele Bachmann and Rick Santorum are all affiliated with fervid subsets of evangelical Christianity, which has raised concerns about their respect for the separation of church and state, not to mention the separation of fact and fiction.

Actually, Santorum is a Catholic, not an evangelical.

I honestly don’t care if Mitt Romney wears Mormon undergarments beneath his Gap skinny jeans, or if he believes that the stories of ancient American prophets were engraved on gold tablets and buried in upstate New York, or that Mormonism’s founding prophet practiced polygamy (which was disavowed by the church in 1890). Every faith has its baggage, and every faith holds beliefs that will seem bizarre to outsiders. I grew up believing that a priest could turn a bread wafer into the actual flesh of Christ.

....

From Ryan Lizza’s enlightening profile in The New Yorker, I learned that Michele Bachmann’s influences include spiritual and political mentors who preach the literal “inerrancy” of the Bible, who warn Christians to be suspicious of ideas that come from non-Christians, who believe homosexuality is an “abomination,” who portray the pre-Civil War South as a pretty nice place for slaves and who advocate “Dominionism,” the view that Christians and only Christians should preside over earthly institutions.

Liberal Washington Post religion writer Lisa Miller advised liberals to take a deep breath on the perils of “Dominionism,” a broad term that means different things to different Christians.

Keller even sent the “aforementioned candidates” (presumably Romney, Perry and Bachmann) a list of loaded questions:

To get things rolling, I sent the aforementioned candidates a little questionnaire. Here’s a sample:

– Do you agree with those religious leaders who say that America is a “Christian nation” or a “Judeo-Christian nation?” and what does that mean in practice?

– Would you have any hesitation about appointing a Muslim to the federal bench? What about an atheist?

– What is your attitude toward the theory of evolution, and do you believe it should be taught in public schools?

But does Keller’s call for more rigorous religious questioning apply to Democrats as well?

His newspaper certainly wasn’t at the forefront of dissecting Barack Obama’s Christian beliefs, during the 2008 campaign, especially the then-senator from Illinois’ relationship to his racially inflammatory and conspiracy-minded pastor, Rev. Jeremiah Wright. Keller downplayed the Wright controversy in half a sentence, making sure to balance it with a John McCain reference: “In the last presidential campaign, Candidate Obama was pressed to distance himself from his pastor, who carried racial bitterness to extremes, and Candidate McCain was forced to reject the endorsement of a preacher who offended Catholics and Jews.”

The Times didn’t do much pressing of Obama on his toleration of Wright’s radicalism. It took the paper months to accurately quote one of Wright’s most inflammatory sermons: "Not God bless America, God damn America!" The Times also glossed over Wright’s despicable ranting “sermon” five days after the 9-11 attacks. In Wright’s rant, September 11 was a sign that “America’s chickens are coming home to roost” for the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki and for supporting “state terrorism against the Palestinians and black South Africans.” After Obama was obliged to address the issue in a speech on March 18, 2008, the Times fell over itself to praise the politically necessary address as Lincolnesque.

At the end, Keller promised to keep the heat on the Republican candidates: “We’ll be posting the campaigns’ answers -- if any -- on nytimes.com. And if they don’t answer, let’s keep on asking. Because these are matters too important to take on faith.”

At least when it comes to the beliefs of Republican candidates.

Some racist chick named Irene refuses to kill enough unemployed people to get Dumbo the Presiphant* reelected.

From AP via Yahoo! News:

Hurricane Irene blamed for at least 35 deaths

*An Asian presiphant of course. An African presiphant would be racist.

Jeremiad Of The Day.

Jeremias 20: 7-13

7 You have deceived me, O Lord, and I am deceived: you have been stronger than I, and you have prevailed. I have become a laughingstock all the day, all scoff at me.

8 For I am speaking now this long time, crying out against iniquity, and I often proclaim devastation: and the word of the Lord is made a reproach to me, and a derision all the day.

9 Then I said: I will not make mention of him, nor speak any more in his name: and there came in my heart as a burning fire, shut up in my bones, and I was wearied, not being able to bear it.

10 For I heard the reproaches of many, and terror on every side: Persecute him, and let us persecute him: from all the men that were my familiars, and continued at my side: if by any means he may be deceived, and we may prevail against him, and be revenged on him.

11 But the Lord is with me as a strong warrior: therefore they that persecute me shall fall, and shall be weak: they shall be greatly confounded, because they have not understood the everlasting reproach, which never shall be effaced.

12 And you, O Lord of hosts, prover of the just, who see the reins and the heart: let me see, I beseech you, your vengeance on them: for to you I have laid open my cause.

13 Sing to the Lord, praise the Lord: because he has delivered the soul of the poor out of the hand of the wicked.

In Latin...

7 Seduxisti me, Domine, et seductus sum : fortior me fuisti, et invaluisti : factus sum in derisum tota die; omnes subsannant me.

8 Quia jam olim loquor, vociferans iniquitatem, et vastitatem clamito : et factus est mihi sermo Domini in opprobrium, et in derisum tota die.

9 Et dixi : Non recordabor ejus, neque loquar ultra in nomine illius : et factus est in corde meo quasi ignis exæstuans, claususque in ossibus meis, et defeci, ferre non sustinens.

10 Audivi enim contumelias multorum, et terrorem in circuitu : Persequimini, et persequamur eum, ab omnibus viris qui erant pacifici mei, et custodientes latus meum : si quomodo decipiatur, et prævaleamus adversus eum, et consequamur ultionem ex eo.

11 Dominus autem mecum est, quasi bellator fortis : idcirco qui persequuntur me cadent, et infirmi erunt : confundentur vehementer, quia non intellexerunt opprobrium sempiternum, quod numquam delebitur.

12 Et tu, Domine exercituum, probator justi, qui vides renes et cor, videam, quæso, ultionem tuam ex eis : tibi enim revelavi causam meam.

13 Cantate Domino, laudate Dominum, quia liberavit animam pauperis de manu malorum.


...and Greek as well...

7 ἠπάτησάς με κύριε καὶ ἠπατήθην ἐκράτησας καὶ ἠδυνάσθης ἐγενόμην εἰς γέλωτα πᾶσαν ἡμέραν διετέλεσα μυκτηριζόμενος

8 ὅτι πικρῷ λόγῳ μου γελάσομαι ἀθεσίαν καὶ ταλαιπωρίαν ἐπικαλέσομαι ὅτι ἐγενήθη λόγος κυρίου εἰς ὀνειδισμὸν ἐμοὶ καὶ εἰς χλευασμὸν πᾶσαν ἡμέραν μου

9 καὶ εἶπα οὐ μὴ ὀνομάσω τὸ ὄνομα κυρίου καὶ οὐ μὴ λαλήσω ἔτι ἐπὶ τῷ ὀνόματι αὐτοῦ καὶ ἐγένετο ὡς πῦρ καιόμενον φλέγον ἐν τοῖς ὀστέοις μου καὶ παρεῖμαι πάντοθεν καὶ οὐ δύναμαι φέρειν

10 ὅτι ἤκουσα ψόγον πολλῶν συναθροιζομένων κυκλόθεν ἐπισύστητε καὶ ἐπισυστῶμεν αὐτῷ πάντες ἄνδρες φίλοι αὐτοῦ τηρήσατε τὴν ἐπίνοιαν αὐτοῦ εἰ ἀπατηθήσεται καὶ δυνησόμεθα αὐτῷ καὶ λημψόμεθα τὴν ἐκδίκησιν ἡμῶν ἐξ αὐτοῦ

11 καὶ κύριος μετ' ἐμοῦ καθὼς μαχητὴς ἰσχύων διὰ τοῦτο ἐδίωξαν καὶ νοῆσαι οὐκ ἠδύναντο ᾐσχύνθησαν σφόδρα ὅτι οὐκ ἐνόησαν ἀτιμίας αὐτῶν αἳ δι' αἰῶνος οὐκ ἐπιλησθήσονται

12 κύριε δοκιμάζων δίκαια συνίων νεφροὺς καὶ καρδίας ἴδοιμι τὴν παρὰ σοῦ ἐκδίκησιν ἐν αὐτοῖς ὅτι πρὸς σὲ ἀπεκάλυψα τὰ ἀπολογήματά μου

13 ᾄσατε τῷ κυρίῳ αἰνέσατε αὐτῷ ὅτι ἐξείλατο ψυχὴν πένητος ἐκ χειρὸς πονηρευομένων

The Gorehound desperately tries to keep his multimillion dollar scam going.

Tin Foil Hat Monday story the last. [Not because their aren't a million more of them, but because they're so depressing.]





From The Hill:

Al Gore to Rick Perry: Climate scientists aren't motivated by money

Al Gore on Friday bashed the notion that climate scientists are manipulating data for financial gain, a charge levied by global warming skeptics, including GOP White House hopeful Rick Perry.


From Politico:

Gore: Eat less meat to fight warming

Al Gore wants society to ditch meat-heavy diets and go organic to combat global warming. — “Industrial agriculture is a part of the problem,” Gore said Friday...


From The Slatest:

Al Gore Compares Climate Change Skepticism to Racism

Just as an unusually large Hurricane Irene bore down on the East Coast, Al Gore upped the ante in the global warming debate.

In an interview with FearLess Revolution founder Alex Bogusky on Friday, Gore tackled topics like eating less meat, the challenges of industrial agriculture, and the dubious nature of mountaintop mining.

But as Politico reports, he also offered up some advice to environmentalists when engaging in debate with climate change skeptics. Gore said that those who believed the issue was a serious one needed to “win the conversation” by directly challenging nay-sayers, just as civil rights activists did in the face of racism.

Gore’s comment:

“There came a time when people said, ‘Hey man, why do you talk that way? That’s wrong, I don’t go for that so don’t talk that way around me. I just don’t believe that.’ That happened in millions of conversations, and slowly the conversation was won. And we still have racism, God knows, but it’s so different now and so much better. And we have to win the conversation on climate.”

Attention commie-pinko race hustlers! It is now SAFE to call Martin Luther King, Jr. a socialist.

Tinfoil Hat Monday story the fourth.



From The New American [Eek!] comes more news of the malevolent effects of that dumbass statue of Dr. King they found buried on the moon:

Martin Luther King: The Celebration of a Myth

NAACP chairman Julian Bond said last week that the Dr. Martin Luther King we celebrate is an “anesthetized” version of the man who really existed.

Bond knew King personally and was a student in the only class King ever taught. In a January 19 interview on The Young Turks Internet news program the day after Martin Luther King Day, he said of King: "We’ve transformed him into kind of a cut-leaf figure, someone who had a dream and spoke these magnificent words, but we don't remember the King who was the critic of capitalism who said to Charles Fager when they were in jail together in Selma in 1965 that he thought a modified form of socialism would be the best system for the United States…. So we've anesthetized him. We’ve made him into a different kind of person than he actually was in life. And it may be that that's one reason he is so celebrated today because we celebrate a different kind of man than really existed. But he was a bit more radical, not terribly, terribly radical, but a bit more radical than we make him out to be today."

This is not the first time Julian Bond referenced the forgotten Martin Luther King. In an article originally appearing in the April 4, 1993 Seattle Times, Bond said: “Today we do not honor the critic of capitalism, or the pacifist who declared all wars evil, or the man of God who argued that a nation that chose guns over butter would starve its people and kill itself. We do not honor the man who linked apartheid in South Africa and Alabama; we honor an antiseptic hero.” He added that “we have stripped his life of controversy” and “remember and celebrate half a man.” In the same article, Bond quoted King saying: “There must be a better distribution of wealth…. We can't have a system where some of the people live in superfluous, inordinate wealth while others live in abject, deadening poverty.”

Of course, Martin Luther King did not call for socialism or a redistribution of wealth in his famous “I Have a Dream” speech. The man who gave that stirring speech calling for justice and brotherhood for all Americans is the man we know and celebrate on Martin Luther King Day. But how many of us are familiar with Dr. Martin Luther King’s interview in the January 1965 issue of Playboy? In that largely forgetten interview, King provided a glimpse of the man most Americans do not know and celebrate today:

Playboy: Do you feel it's fair to request a multibillion-dollar program of preferential treatment for the Negro, or for any other minority group?

King: I do indeed. Can any fair-minded citizen deny that the Negro has been deprived? Few people reflect that for two centuries the Negro was enslaved, and robbed of any wages — potential accrued wealth which would have been the legacy of his descendants. All of America's wealth today could not adequately compensate its Negroes for his centuries of exploitation and humiliation. It is an economic fact that a program such as I propose would certainly cost far less than any computation of two centuries of unpaid wages plus accumulated interest. In any case, I do not intend that this program of economic aid should apply only to the Negro; it should benefit the disadvantaged of all races….

Playboy: If a nationwide program of preferential employment for Negroes were to be adopted, how would you propose to assuage the resentment of whites who already feel that their jobs are being jeopardized by the influx of Negroes resulting from desegregation?

King: We must develop a federal program of public works, retraining and jobs for all — so that none, white or black, will have cause to feel threatened. At the present time, thousands of jobs a week are disappearing in the wake of automation and other production efficiency techniques. Black and white, we will all be harmed unless something grand and imaginative is done. The unemployed, poverty-stricken white man must be made to realize that he is in the very same boat with the Negro. Together, they could exert massive pressure on the Government to get jobs for all. Together, they could form a grand alliance. Together, they could merge all people for the good of all.

Jullian Bond does not express disapproval of Martin Luther King’s radical socialistic message. But many Americans would if they knew about it. As Bond said, "It may be that that's one reason he is so celebrated today because we celebrate a different kind of man than really existed."

Who would win in a fight, Dr. King or Thor?

Tinfoil Hat Monday story the third.



From the Detroit Free Press:

MLK Sent Hurricane Because of Violence, Racism, and Porn

That ugly-ass statue is making people crazy.

The American civil rights movement was to come full circle today as its soldiers were to gather on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., to celebrate a fallen captain.

But there was no celebration.

Not yet. It was too soon.

First, there was an earthquake. Then there was a hurricane. What in the world could be going on?

Nothing in the world. That was just Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., above the world, shutting down the celebration, getting our attention and telling us to take a good look at ourselves.

I cannot imagine what King must have felt watching us the past few years. I cannot imagine his reaction to what has happened to the movement to which he gave his life, to the America whose people he implored to love one another. He had to have been roiled with righteous anger and sadness.

In just the past year, he saw:

• Black teens running around, beating people in Philadelphia and Milwaukee flash mob violence.

• The trial of the men who beat Vincent Kee, a gentle, mentally disabled man in Albuquerque, N.M., and then branded him with a swastika.

• Black teens dropping out of schools in Detroit, Los Angeles, St. Louis and Gary, Ind., in numbers too obscene to say aloud.

• Three white men, on a mission to hurt a black person, driving to Jackson, Miss., and beating an innocent 49-year-old James Anderson, then driving their Ford F-250 pickup over him to kill him.

When he looked, King saw soft porn featured as videos on MTV, VH1 and BET's "106th & Park."

He saw widespread unemployment at a rate higher than in 1963 when he stood on the National Mall and proclaimed a dream.

As if that weren't enough, he saw 15 shootings within 24 hours in Detroit.

He saw three black boys break into a 90-year-old woman's house and rape her.

He saw a magazine editor call America's first president of color the slang word for penis on national TV.

The raindrops forecast to fall on the National Mall today will slide down the granite face of a giant. They will represent the tears of a man who fought for better, who tried to teach us to judge character, not color, who worked hard to help create a single America rather than one torn asunder by hate.

The raindrops on the King monument today will represent the tears of the lions who went before and left this world hoping that better would come after.

Decades, no, centuries of fighting for better, should remind us to embrace unity and the ideal that people -- white, black, male, female, Christian, Jew -- fought for years ago.

Those tears that fall today, more than anything, should remind us that we have so much work to do.

And perhaps when we gather again in the name of the movement and King, we will have a better report to show.

No, King didn't think we were ready to celebrate today. Not near ready. And, as a nation, we should be ashamed at how far we still have to go.

WHAT DO WE WANT? BEAUTY! WHEN DO WE WANT IT? NOW!

Tinfoil Hat Monday story the second.



The left-fascist morons at the Old Gray Whore demand affirmative action for their wives and girlfriends. Can government checks to make up for their inadequate genitalia be far behind?

Ugly? You May Have a Case – New York Times

Daniel S. Hamermesh, a professor of economics at the University of Texas, Austin, is the author of "Beauty Pays," published this month.

BEING good-looking is useful in so many ways.

In addition to whatever personal pleasure it gives you, being attractive also helps you earn more money, find a higher-earning spouse (and one who looks better, too!) and get better deals on mortgages. Each of these facts has been demonstrated over the past 20 years by many economists and other researchers. The effects are not small: one study showed that an American worker who was among the bottom one-seventh in looks, as assessed by randomly chosen observers, earned 10 to 15 percent less per year than a similar worker whose looks were assessed in the top one-third — a lifetime difference, in a typical case, of about $230,000.

Beauty is as much an issue for men as for women. While extensive research shows that women’s looks have bigger impacts in the market for mates, another large group of studies demonstrates that men’s looks have bigger impacts on the job.

Why this disparate treatment of looks in so many areas of life? It’s a matter of simple prejudice. Most of us, regardless of our professed attitudes, prefer as customers to buy from better-looking salespeople, as jurors to listen to better-looking attorneys, as voters to be led by better-looking politicians, as students to learn from better-looking professors. This is not a matter of evil employers’ refusing to hire the ugly: in our roles as workers, customers and potential lovers we are all responsible for these effects.

How could we remedy this injustice? With all the gains to being good-looking, you would think that more people would get plastic surgery or makeovers to improve their looks. Many of us do all those things, but as studies have shown, such refinements make only small differences in our beauty. All that spending may make us feel better, but it doesn’t help us much in getting a better job or a more desirable mate.

A more radical solution may be needed: why not offer legal protections to the ugly, as we do with racial, ethnic and religious minorities, women and handicapped individuals?

We actually already do offer such protections in a few places, including in some jurisdictions in California, and in the District of Columbia, where discriminatory treatment based on looks in hiring, promotions, housing and other areas is prohibited. Ugliness could be protected generally in the United States by small extensions of the Americans With Disabilities Act. Ugly people could be allowed to seek help from the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and other agencies in overcoming the effects of discrimination. We could even have affirmative-action programs for the ugly.

The mechanics of legislating this kind of protection are not as difficult as you might think. You might argue that people can’t be classified by their looks — that beauty is in the eye of the beholder. That aphorism is correct in one sense: if asked who is the most beautiful person in a group of beautiful people, you and I might well have different answers. But when it comes to differentiating classes of attractiveness, we all view beauty similarly: someone whom you consider good-looking will be viewed similarly by most others; someone you consider ugly will be viewed as ugly by most others. In one study, more than half of a group of people were assessed identically by each of two observers using a five-point scale; and very few assessments differed by more than one point.

For purposes of administering a law, we surely could agree on who is truly ugly, perhaps the worst-looking 1 or 2 percent of the population. The difficulties in classification are little greater than those faced in deciding who qualifies for protection on grounds of disabilities that limit the activities of daily life, as shown by conflicting decisions in numerous legal cases involving obesity.

There are other possible objections. “Ugliness” is not a personal trait that many people choose to embrace; those whom we classify as protected might not be willing to admit that they are ugly. But with the chance of obtaining extra pay and promotions amounting to $230,000 in lost lifetime earnings, there’s a large enough incentive to do so. Bringing anti-discrimination lawsuits is also costly, and few potential plaintiffs could afford to do so. But many attorneys would be willing to organize classes of plaintiffs to overcome these costs, just as they now do in racial-discrimination and other lawsuits.

Economic arguments for protecting the ugly are as strong as those for protecting some groups currently covered by legislation. So why not go ahead and expand protection to the looks-challenged? There’s one legitimate concern. With increasingly tight limits on government resources, expanding rights to yet another protected group would reduce protection for groups that have commanded our legislative and other attention for over 50 years.

We face a trade-off: ignore a deserving group of citizens, or help them but limit help available for other groups. Even though I myself have demonstrated the disadvantages of ugliness in 20 years of research, I nonetheless would hate to see anything that might reduce assistance to groups now aided by protective legislation.

You might reasonably disagree and argue for protecting all deserving groups. Either way, you shouldn’t be surprised to see the United States heading toward this new legal frontier.

A version of this op-ed appeared in print on August 28, 2011, on page SR12 of the New York edition with the headline: Ugly? You May Have a Case.

E.T. hates your SUV.

Tinfoil Hat Monday story the first.



From the UK Guardian:

Aliens may destroy humanity to protect other civilisations

When they see what a mess we've made of our planet, extraterrestrials may be forced to take drastic action. Photograph: PR

It may not rank as the most compelling reason to curb greenhouse gases, but reducing our emissions might just save humanity from a pre-emptive alien attack, scientists claim.

Watching from afar, extraterrestrial beings might view changes in Earth's atmosphere as symptomatic of a civilisation growing out of control – and take drastic action to keep us from becoming a more serious threat, the researchers explain.

This highly speculative scenario is one of several described by a Nasa-affiliated scientist and colleagues at Pennsylvania State University that, while considered unlikely, they say could play out were humans and alien life to make contact at some point in the future.

Shawn Domagal-Goldman of Nasa's Planetary Science Division and his colleagues compiled a list of plausible outcomes that could unfold in the aftermath of a close encounter, to help humanity "prepare for actual contact".

In their report, Would Contact with Extraterrestrials Benefit or Harm Humanity? A Scenario Analysis, the researchers divide alien contacts into three broad categories: beneficial, neutral or harmful.

Beneficial encounters ranged from the mere detection of extraterrestrial intelligence (ETI), for example through the interception of alien broadcasts, to contact with cooperative organisms that help us advance our knowledge and solve global problems such as hunger, poverty and disease.

Another beneficial outcome the authors entertain sees humanity triumph over a more powerful alien aggressor, or even being saved by a second group of ETs. "In these scenarios, humanity benefits not only from the major moral victory of having defeated a daunting rival, but also from the opportunity to reverse-engineer ETI technology," the authors write.

Other kinds of close encounter may be less rewarding and leave much of human society feeling indifferent towards alien life. The extraterrestrials may be too different from us to communicate with usefully. They might invite humanity to join the "Galactic Club" only for the entry requirements to be too bureaucratic and tedious for humans to bother with. They could even become a nuisance, like the stranded, prawn-like creatures that are kept in a refugee camp in the 2009 South African movie, District 9, the report explains.

The most unappealing outcomes would arise if extraterrestrials caused harm to humanity, even if by accident. While aliens may arrive to eat, enslave or attack us, the report adds that people might also suffer from being physically crushed or by contracting diseases carried by the visitors. In especially unfortunate incidents, humanity could be wiped out when a more advanced civilisation accidentally unleashes an unfriendly artificial intelligence, or performs a catastrophic physics experiment that renders a portion of the galaxy uninhabitable.

To bolster humanity's chances of survival, the researchers call for caution in sending signals into space, and in particular warn against broadcasting information about our biological make-up, which could be used to manufacture weapons that target humans. Instead, any contact with ETs should be limited to mathematical discourse "until we have a better idea of the type of ETI we are dealing with."

The authors warn that extraterrestrials may be wary of civilisations that expand very rapidly, as these may be prone to destroy other life as they grow, just as humans have pushed species to extinction on Earth. In the most extreme scenario, aliens might choose to destroy humanity to protect other civilisations.

"A preemptive strike would be particularly likely in the early phases of our expansion because a civilisation may become increasingly difficult to destroy as it continues to expand. Humanity may just now be entering the period in which its rapid civilisational expansion could be detected by an ETI because our expansion is changing the composition of the Earth's atmosphere, via greenhouse gas emissions," the report states.

"Green" aliens might object to the environmental damage humans have caused on Earth and wipe us out to save the planet. "These scenarios give us reason to limit our growth and reduce our impact on global ecosystems. It would be particularly important for us to limit our emissions of greenhouse gases, since atmospheric composition can be observed from other planets," the authors write.

Even if we never make contact with extraterrestrials, the report argues that considering the potential scenarios may help to plot the future path of human civilisation, avoid collapse and achieve long-term survival.

HOLY CRAP! IT'S A TINFOIL HAT MONDAY!

The looney fascist left is cracking up all over the place.

Now that's scary.

The Masturbator of Horror is a pinko. Big surprise.

From Nerve.com:

Stephen King launching left-wing radio talk show

Author Stephen King, who has redefined prolific, is also a radio-station owner in Maine, and speaking at a press conference at his homebase in Bangor the other day, the Zone Radio Corp owner announced the launch, September 12, of a new drivetime talk show, The Pulse Morning Show, that will air six to ten a.m. on weekdays, as well as online at zoneradio.com. King said, "We're a little to the left, but we're right."

What sounds like Maine's own version of Air America will be hosted by former journalist and Green Party vice-presidential candidate Pat LaMarche, and former reporter Don Cookson. Judging by the press conference, LaMarche will do most of the talking, with Cookson occasionally chiming in. The show will have a humorous bent, and look to counterbalance the conservative leanings of other Maine stations. LaMarche said the show will have an eye towards politicians and public officials in Washington D.C. and Augusta who push around Mainers, especially regarding welfare recipients.

Sounding like the folksy "Uncle Stevie" you know, King said "We'd like to burn some feet once in a while — make some people a little bit angry. There are some people who deserve to be taken to the woodshed from time to time." Summing up the mission, King told reporters, "We're going to try to be informative. We're going to be provocative. We're going to be amusing and we're going to try to be a positive community force."

Jerry Leiber, Requiescat In Pace.

From the Mercury News:

Songwriter Jerry Leiber ('Hound Dog,' 'Stand By Me') dies at 78

Jerry Leiber, who with longtime partner Mike Stoller wrote "Hound Dog," "Jailhouse Rock," "Yakity Yak" and other hit songs that came to define early rock 'n' roll, has died. He was 78.

His death was confirmed Monday by his longtime publicist, Bobbi Marcus.

With Leiber as lyricist and Stoller as composer, the team channeled their blues and jazz backgrounds into pop songs performed by such artists as Elvis Presley, Dion and the Belmonts, the Coasters, the Drifters and Ben E. King in a way that would help create a joyous new musical style.

From their breakout hit, blues great Big Mama Thornton's 1953 rendition of "Hound Dog," until their songwriting took a more serious turn in 1969 with Peggy Lee's recording of "Is That All There Is?" the pair remained one of the most successful teams in pop music history.

Their writing prowess and influence over the recording industry as pioneering independent producers earned them induction into the non-performer category of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1987.

"The music world lost today one of its greatest poet laureates," said Terry Stewart, president of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum.

Over their career, they had 15 No. 1 hits in a variety of genres by 10 different artists. They were instrumental in helping launch Presley's career with such songs as "Hound Dog" and "Jailhouse Rock."

Nick Ashford, Requiescat In Pace.

From the UK Telegraph:

Nick Ashford, Motown legend, dies aged 69 from throat cancer

Nick Ashford, one-half of the legendary Motown songwriting duo Ashford & Simpson that penned elegant, soulful classics for Diana Ross and Marvin Gaye, has died at the age of 69 from throat cancer.

Over nearly five decades, Ashford and his wife Valerie Simpson wrote songs including Motown classics Ain't No Mountain High Enough and Reach Out And Touch Somebody's Hand (recorded by Ross) and You're All I Need To Get By (made famous by Gaye and Tammi Terrell) and they also wrote pop hits such as I'm Every Woman, which was a hit for Chaka Khan and, later, Whitney Houston. They also wrote the wonderful catchy soul song Destination Anywhere.

The pair also had success writing for themselves, with perhaps the biggest known hit sung by being the 1980s hit Solid As A Rock.

Ashford's father, Calvin, was a construction worker and Nick got his musical start at Willow Run Baptist Church, singing and writing songs for the gospel choir. He briefly attended Eastern Michigan University, in Ypsilanti, before heading to New York, where he tried but failed to find success as a dancer. In 1964, while homeless, Ashford went to White Rock Baptist Church in Harlem, where he met Simpson, a 17-year-old recent high school graduate from South Carolina, who was studying music. They began writing songs together, selling the first bunch for $64.

Their first major success occurred when they came up with Let's Go Get Stoned for Ray Charles. That song became a huge hit, and soon, they came to the attention of Motown Records and began penning hits for their artists. They started out writing for Gaye and Terrell; in fact, Ain't No Mountain High Enough was originally their hit, until Ross later re-recorded it and made it her signature song.

The duo, who were married for 38 years, helped sell millions of records for several artists. They also had success as their own entity, but despite Solid As a Rock their hits dwarfed those that they penned for others.

In recent years, the pair continued to perform. They also were owners of the New York City restaurant Sugar Bar, where many top names and emerging talents would put on showcases.

Verdine White of Earth, Wind and Fire said: “They had magic, and that’s what creates those wonderful hits, that magic. Without those songs, those artists wouldn’t have been able to go to the next level.”

Among the other artists who had hits with their songs were Gladys Knight and the Pips (Didn’t You Know You’d Have to Cry Sometime) and Smokey Robinson and the Miracles (Who’s Gonna Take the Blame).

Recently, they received a songwriting credit on Amy Winehouse’s song Tears Dry on Their Own, which contains a sample from Ain’t No Mountain High Enough.

Ashford is survived by his wife and two daughters Nicole and Asia.

Some commie cow you've never heard of pumps hot lead into the head of public discourse.

From The Blaze.com

Rep. Frederica Wilson: ‘The Real Enemy is the Tea Party

Last night at a town hall meeting in Miami sponsored by the Congressional Black Caucus, the subject was supposed to be jobs, but Congresswoman Frederica Wilson (D- FL) turned it to partisan politics and told assembled job seekers:

“Let us all remember who the real enemy is… the real enemy is the Tea Party… the Tea Party holds the Congress hostage.”

Congresswoman Maxine Waters, herself known for vitriolic anti-Tea Party rhetoric, and the Reverend Jesse Jackson were also present at the town hall. The stated intent of the gathering was to hold a preview discussion of a mega jobs fair in Miami held today.

At least one citizen, an older woman, walked out of the meeting last night in disgust and told CBS 4 News:

“We expected more than this. We did not come here for politics, we came here for solutions.”

Remember that every time you vote, madam.

Watch Congresswoman Wilson explain her theory about halfway through the clip, courtesy of CBS

Somebody must have taken Marxine Waters off the Thorazine.

Rep. Maxine Waters says "Tea Party can go straight to hell"

Rep. Maxine Waters, the liberal lawmaker from southern California, continued to press for Democrats and President Obama to adopt a more combative style ...

- cbsnews.com

Another victory in the war against the baby choppers.

From Fox News:

Planned Parenthood to End Abortion Services in Three Arizona Cities

FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. – Planned Parenthood is ending abortion services in three Arizona cities to comply with recent state laws that placed restrictions on abortions, the organization announced Thursday.

Starting Friday, women will no longer be able to terminate their pregnancies at the Planned Parenthood clinics in Prescott Valley, Flagstaff and Yuma that offered abortion through medication. Women can still receive surgical and medication abortions in the Tucson and Phoenix areas, but will those services will cease at some suburban locations.

"I think we've really done women a disservice in all parts of the state by imposing rules that have no medical significance and just creating barriers," said Bryan Howard, president of Planned Parenthood of Arizona.

The move came a week after an Arizona a state appeals court allowed key parts of a 2009 state law restricting abortions to take effect. That includes a requirement that women see a doctor in person the day before getting an abortion to hear about risks and alternatives, and allowing health care workers to refuse to participate in abortions for moral or religious reasons.

The Arizona Court of Appeals ruled the provisions constitutional and said they do not put an undue burden on women seeking to end their pregnancies.

Howard said the group likely will appeal the ruling to the Arizona Supreme Court but believed it was broad enough to impact a separate challenge over 2011 laws regarding abortion. Planned Parenthood withdrew a request for a preliminary injunction in that case ahead of a Sept. 12 hearing, Howard said.

But Howard said he was unclear whether provisions of the 2011 law that prohibit nurse practitioners from performing medication abortions would go into effect immediately but decided to scale back abortion services anyway. Flagstaff, for example, has only a nurse practitioner who performs abortions.

Dave Cole, solicitor general for the state attorney general's office, said it would defer to the judge in the case on when the laws are enacted.

The Arizona laws are part of a wave of restrictions that legislatures across the country have passed, reducing access to abortions. Other measures include bans on late-term abortions and preventing coverage in new insurance exchanges. More than half of U.S. states require waiting periods for abortions -- typically 24 hours, while a larger number require some type of counseling beforehand, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.

In Kansas, two abortion providers are challenging new regulations for hospitals, clinics and doctor's offices performing five or more elective abortions a month. A North Dakota law, also being challenged, would prevent the state's only abortion clinic from performing medication abortions. Funding for Planned Parenthood is also under attack in some states.

Preventative care will be more important than ever in Arizona now that women, particularly in the northern part of the state, will have to drive farther to reach abortion clinics if that's what they choose, Howard said.

Penguins Update.

From the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review:

The Kid gets another opinion

Sidney Crosby has visited specialists in Michigan and Georgia to learn what continues to cause a recurrence of headaches.

Kovacevic: Silence deafening

The waiting goes on for firm news about Sidney Crosby's status, and it's not just the fans' waiting. It's the Penguins, too. (2011-08-24)

Pens await news on star Crosby

Penguins co-owner Mario Lemieux and coach Dan Bylsma said this week they communicated recently with team captain Sidney Crosby. (2011-08-24)

Lemieux, Bylsma cautiously optimistic about Crosby

Penguins co-owner Mario Lemieux and coach Dan Bylsma said this morning they communicated recently with team captain Sidney Crosby and expressed cautious optimism that he will be ready for the start of training camp next month. (2011-08-23)

Stop me if you've heard this one UPDATE.

Odds of your child dying in a car accident are 1 in 23,000.
1 in 6 Americans lives in poverty.
1 in 6 American kids is starving.
1 in 9 elderly Americans is abused.
36,000 Americans die annually from the flu.
12,000 Americans die annually from the flu.
1 in 160 American kids is born with autism.
1 in 150 American kids is born with autism.
1 in 110 American kids is born with autism.
60 million American adults are obese.
1 in 4 girls is sexually abused by age 18.
1 in 6 boys is sexually abused by age 18.

Plaiggunner Joe worries there won't be enough Chinese slaves available to prop up the second Okhrana term.

The second most powerful racist stooge in America wants more coolies to be bred...RIGHT NOW.





America's Vice Viceident is merely displaying the bloodthirsty reasoning that is typical of the elitist establishment everywhere and always: People are the property of their moral and intellectual superiors.

From The Weekly Standard:

Joe Biden: 'I Fully Understand' China's One Child Policy

Good news, reproductive rights advocates and neo-Malthusian environmentalists! Vice President Joe Biden has no problem with the government forcibly sterilizing people and compelling abortions. From his remarks at Sichuan University in Chengdu, China yesterday discussing the U.S. debt:

What we ended up doing is setting up a system whereby we did cut by $1.2 trillion upfront, the deficit over the next 10 years. And we set up a group of senators that have to come up with another $1.2 to $1.7 trillion in savings or automatically there will be cuts that go into effect in January to get those savings. So the savings will be accomplished. But as I was talking to some of your leaders, you share a similar concern here in China. You have no safety net. Your policy has been one which I fully understand -- I’m not second-guessing -- of one child per family. The result being that you’re in a position where one wage earner will be taking care of four retired people. Not sustainable.

So hopefully we can act in a way on a problem that's much less severe than yours, and maybe we can learn together from how we can do that.

It's perfectly understandable that you let the government tell you how many children you could have if that helps get the debt under control, right? Republicans better get together and compromise on the president's grand bargain sometime soon, or else.

EXTENDED VIDEO: Biden Won't 'Second Guess' Chinese One Child Policy

Romney Jumps on Biden Remark About China’s One-Child Policy -blogs.wsj.com

Joe Biden slammed after declaring he 'understands’ China ... -telegraph.co.uk

SEX IS DEATH. (Gee, officer, I just wanted to get laid.)

I came to Carthage, where I found myself in the midst of a hissing cauldron of lusts. I had not yet fallen in love, but I was in love with the idea of it, and this feeling that something was missing made me despise myself for not being more anxious to satisfy the need. I began to look around for some object for my love, since I badly wanted to love something. —St. Augustine, Confessions

What's all the fuss about, kiddies? These are just botched abortions that cut out the middle man.

From the NIH:

Homicide: A Leading Cause of Injury Deaths Among Pregnant and Postpartum Women in the United States, 1991–1999

Jeani Chang, MPH, Cynthia J. Berg, MD, MPH, Linda E. Saltzman, PhD, and Joy Herndon, MS

Jeani Chang, Cynthia J. Berg, and Joy Herndon are with the Division of Reproductive Health, National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, Ga. Linda E. Saltzman is with the Division of Violence Prevention, National Center for Injury Prevention and Control, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

This article has been cited by other articles in PMC.

• Other Sections▼

Abstract

Objectives. We identified risk factors for pregnancy-associated homicide (women who died as a result of homicide during or within 1 year of pregnancy) in the United States from 1991 to 1999.

Methods. Pregnancy-associated homicides were analyzed with data from the Pregnancy Mortality Surveillance System at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Results. Six hundred seventeen (8.4%) homicide deaths were reported to the Pregnancy Mortality Surveillance System. The pregnancy-associated homicide ratio was 1.7 per 100000 live births. Risk factors included age younger than 20 years, Black race, and late or no prenatal care. Firearms were the leading mechanism for homicide (56.6%).

Conclusions. Homicide is a leading cause of pregnancy-associated injury deaths.

• Other Sections▼

Although the pregnancy-related mortality ratio, defined as the number of deaths caused by pregnancy complications per 100 000 live births, has remained relatively unchanged in the United States over the past 20 years, the number of injury-related deaths during pregnancy and the postpartum period is being increasingly recognized and studied, particularly deaths caused by homicide. In 1999, homicide was the third leading cause of injury-related death for all women (pregnant or not pregnant) of reproductive age, 15 to 44 years of age, after deaths caused by motor vehicle accidents and suicide, and it was the second leading cause of injury-related death among women aged 15 to 24 years and among Black women of reproductive age.1 Moracco and Runyan reported the highest homicide rate occurring among women under the age of 35 and found that the homicide rate for Black women (15.8 per 100 000) was more than 3 times higher than that for White women (4.3 per 100 000).2

Several state- and city-based studies have recently reported that homicide is a leading cause of death during pregnancy and in the postpartum period.3–9 One inner-city hospital study indicated that homicide has become the leading cause of death during or within 90 days of the end of pregnancy.10 However, studies have not been conducted at the national or regional level that focus on the identification of risk factors for and groups at high risk of homicide during pregnancy or in the postpartum period. Our report describes homicide deaths occurring during or within 1 year of pregnancy in the United States from 1991 through 1999. We used a national, population-based data set to identify characteristics and risk factors associated with these deaths.