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pd Rydia
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Unread postby pd Rydia » Fri Apr 13, 2007 5:42 pm

Besyanteo wrote:http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/6553623.stm

You can't go to Australia if you have AIDS. In theory.
At least, that's what the John Howard would like and is asking for. Supposedly, by his own words, the U.S. "has had these sorts of strict entry restrictions on HIV for many, many years" (let's all be like the US [for now]!) and according to the journalist: "Five years ago, Canada tightened its restrictions. Now foreigners applying for residency are tested and likely to be refused if they are positive." England's policies are not mentioned.

I don't think there are words to describe my reaction to the article and Howard's proposal.

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Unread postby Besyanteo » Sat Apr 14, 2007 11:10 am

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/6554743.stm
US Abstinence classes don't seem to be effective! ... Shock and surprise, eh?

Edit:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/6563003.stm
Scientists believe there may be a new hope for treatment of Pancreatic cancer: Triphala.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/6583893.stm
Robots, their rights, ability to make decisions...

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pd Rydia
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Unread postby pd Rydia » Thu May 10, 2007 5:25 pm

<blockquote>http://pageoneq.com/news/2006/gravel05082007.html
Mike Gravel, 2008 Democratic presidential candidate, says he has no problem with gay love.

by David Edwards and Mike Sheehan
(Via Raw Story) - Mike Gravel, 2008 Democratic presidential candidate, says he has no problem with gay love.

New Hampshire's WMUR TV hosted a conversation with Gravel in which the former US senator, answering an audience question about gay marriage, replies, "If a couple of lesbians or gay men want to get married, and they love each other, they should have the right to do that and enjoy all the legalities in our society that go along with that. I have no problem with that at all."

"I think that people who create these problems of homophobia and the likes of that do us a disservice," Gravel continues. "We are all human beings and one of the things that should motivate us, most of all, is love."

He blasts President Bush's "faith-based leadership," saying, "You can't legislate morality."</blockquote>

One has to wonder: did one of our politicians say that?
No, really?
Where's the skeletons?

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Unread postby BrainWalker » Fri May 11, 2007 12:16 pm

That guy will never make it anywhere in politics.
Anime is kind of like fish in that it is better the less "fishy" it is.

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bringatoweltoo
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Unread postby bringatoweltoo » Fri May 11, 2007 12:41 pm

I think he actually got elected to either the House or the Senate from Alaska... but it was decades ago, so in today's political climate, you may have the right of it.

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Unread postby Spleen » Fri May 11, 2007 5:09 pm

I mean, he does have to keep getting reelected, though, so someone must like him in Alaska.

It's probably FD stuffing the ballet box with his ninja powers.
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Illegal Kittigrants?

Unread postby FF Fanatic 80 » Sat May 12, 2007 10:11 pm

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,271777,00.html
Cat Survives Trip From China to North Carolina in Cargo Crate

or

http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/05/12/cat.crate.ap/index.html
For China the stowaway cat, nine lives were enough
Associated Press

HENDERSONVILLE, N.C. — China the cat got her name after being delivered in a crate holding motorcycle gear that a North Carolina man had ordered to be shipped from Shanghai.

Eric Congdon opened the cargo freight that left port in China on April 3 and found the furry stowaway, which had chewed through one of the boxes. After at least 35 days on a ship, the cat was weak but still alive.

"I saw something in the container move," Congdon said. "I turned up the headlights on the fork lift to get a better look."

That was when he saw the cat cowering in a corner of the cargo crate.

Congdon, owner of Olympia Moto Sports in Hendersonville, said he and a co-worker called Henderson County Animal Services when the cat wouldn't let them go near her.

While Congdon has been in the wholesale business for 15 years, he's never received live animals with any of his shipments.

"I have seen some small dead critters before," he said, adding that it would have been impossible for the cat to get in after the shipment was sealed in China.

How could China survive for so long on no food and water?

"Usually we say that animals can only survive a few weeks without food and only a few days without water," said Raleigh-based veterinarian Dr. Michelle Misavage. "The theory is that cats have such good kidneys their bodies adjust to the lack of water and somehow they received small amounts of moisture from condensation."

A co-worker of Congdon's plans to adopt China, as animal service workers are calling her, if she checks out OK with a veterinarian. But that might not be so easy.

"We have to take precautions," said animal services manager Brenda Miller, explaining that the cat came from a country with different strains of rabies. State law says any animal coming into the country must be vaccinated and quarantined for six months.

Congdon hopes the cat won't have to be euthanized.

"It would be a shame for the cat to die after it survived such an ordeal," he said.


EDIT: Added link to be fair and balanced =(

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Unread postby PriamNevhausten » Wed Aug 01, 2007 11:22 am

http://healthnews.uc.edu/news/?/5256/


----------
Cincinnati—Artificially inducing menopause may reduce breast cancer recurrence in premenopausal women with early-stage breast cancers.

A national phase-3 clinical trial, led locally by University of Cincinnati (UC) scientist Kathleen Havlin, MD, will determine whether medical suppression of ovulation combined with hormone therapy is better than hormone therapy alone for preventing breast cancer recurrence in premenopausal women.

Menopause is the natural cessation of menstruation and ovulation in women, which normally occurs between the ages of 45 and 50, and the related decline in levels of the natural female hormone estrogen.

Previous research has shown that estrogen promotes the growth of most types of breast cancer, and that reducing estrogen levels slows estrogen-dependent tumor growth in postmenopausal women.

Researchers will study 3,000 premenopausal women with “hormone receptor positive” breast cancer who have undergone surgery and completed any necessary chemotherapy.

“Even if there’s no evidence of a residual tumor cells after treatment, we know a certain percentage of these women will experience recurrence later in life, so we need better strategies to reduce that risk,” explains Havlin, associate professor of internal medicine at UC and a medical oncologist at the UC Barrett Cancer Center at University Hospital.

The current standard of care for premenopausal women is five years of tamoxifen (ta-MOX’-ee-fen), an oral medication that blocks the effects of estrogen in the cells and minimizes estrogen in the body as a preventive measure.

Each patient in the trial’s experimental group will choose her own ovulation suppression method: monthly injections with the drug triptorelin (trip-toe-REL’-in), ovary removal (oophorectomy, pronounced oo-for-EK’-toe-mee) or six months of ovary irradiation.

Triptorelin resembles the body’s natural luteinizing hormone-releasing hormone, which affects the pituitary gland and reduces the amount of sex hormones (estrogen and testosterone) the body produces.

For this trial, participants will be randomized into one of three treatment groups to receive only tamoxifen, ovarian suppression plus tamoxifen, or ovarian suppression plus exemestane (ex-em-ESS’-tain) for five years.

Exemestane belongs to a class of drugs known as aromatase inhibitors, which block the enzymes that produce estrogen.

“We know this drug can substantially reduce breast cancer recurrence in postmenopausal women with fewer side effects than tamoxifen,” adds Havlin. “But the only way we can give the drug to premenopausal women is by making them enter early menopause through ovarian suppression.

“We hope that by eliminating the potentially tumor-feeding estrogen supply in the body and then administering hormone therapy,” adds Havlin, “we can reduce breast cancer recurrence and improve the quality of life for this group of women.”

Women will be followed for five years and receive regular physical exams and blood tests every three to six months. Study patients should not be using hormonal birth control or have had any other hormone treatments six months prior to trial randomization.

For more information on participant qualifications for this trial, sponsored by the International Breast Cancer Study Group, call Ruth Steele at (513) 584-2951.

-----------

It's a good thing most people won't get wind of this. It would really put a damper on all that advertising about breast cancer awareness advocacy--the most insidious marketing tactic ever--if it came to be seen that a great way to prevent it is to basically incite menopause. All that pink ribbon shit doesn't look quite so good now, does it?
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Unread postby pd Rydia » Wed Aug 01, 2007 11:43 am

'Course, it's reoccurrence, which doesn't do much about the first occurence to begin with. And inducing menopause probably doesn't do much to help men.

Though, if I'mma start menopause early, why the hell take drugs and why not just yank out my ovaries and such? Granted, I don't know how that works entirely, but the reason doctors/insurance co's frequently give for refusing to sterilize women (of good breeding stock) is that "oh, well, you'll start to have menopause (besides, what if your child dies, won't you want a replacement?)."

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Unread postby pd Rydia » Thu Aug 02, 2007 1:02 pm

<blockquote>[url=http://www.recordpub.com/news/article/2327981:]Several Ohio state representatives who normally take an anti-abortion stance are now pushing pro-choice legislation - sort of. [...] It's a measure that, supporters say, would finally give fathers a choice.

"This is important because there are always two parents and fathers should have a say in the birth or the destruction of that child," said Adams, a Republican from Sidney. "I didn't bring it up to draw attention to myself or to be controversial. In most cases, when a child is born the father has financial responsibility for that child, so he should have a say."

As written, the bill would ban women from seeking an abortion without written consent from the father of the fetus. In cases where the identity of the father is unknown, women would be required to submit a list of possible fathers. The physician would be forced to conduct a paternity test from the provided list and then seek paternal permission to abort.

Claiming to not know the father's identity is not a viable excuse, according to the proposed legislation. Simply put: no father means no abortion. [...] In addition, women would be required to present a police report in order to prove a pregnancy is the result of rape or incest.[/url:]</blockquote>...yeah. Go, Ohio.

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Unread postby pd Rydia » Wed Aug 08, 2007 12:48 pm


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Unread postby Besyanteo » Wed Aug 08, 2007 12:51 pm

Macavity makes me smile.

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Unread postby pd Rydia » Fri Aug 17, 2007 10:02 am

This is pretty horrible:
Minister calls for death prayers over IRS complaint

I didn't know Christianity had curses. I sure am glad I don't live in SBC heartland anymore!

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Unread postby Besyanteo » Fri Aug 17, 2007 11:07 am

*facepalm*

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Unread postby BrainWalker » Fri Aug 17, 2007 12:00 pm

Nothing says "Christian" like asking God to kill everyone who disagrees with you.
Anime is kind of like fish in that it is better the less "fishy" it is.

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Unread postby pd Rydia » Mon Aug 27, 2007 2:31 pm


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Kai
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Unread postby Kai » Mon Aug 27, 2007 7:07 pm

So when martial law is declared, are they going to have to group hug, reconcile their differences, and work together to convince us to obey the government? That'd actually be kind of touching in that way that makes me curl up in horror.

GO CLERGY RESPONSE TEAMS

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Unread postby Besyanteo » Wed Sep 05, 2007 3:10 pm

http://www.lifesite.net/ldn/2007/aug/07083111.html
"Iowa Judge Temporarily Imposes "Gay Marriage" on State"

I'm not sure how to feel about this. On the one hand, for obvious reasons I support secular gay marriage licensing. On the other, it's a clear violation of the separation of powers (as the article does at least mention, if not focus on. :( ). This undermines our system of government, in this case stepping the Judicial Branch stepping on the toes of the Legislative branch in that state. That is to say, The people of the state of Iowa wanted things this way, for better or worse.

Judge Hansen says "Whether or not constitutional claims are valid is a matter of judicial determination, not legislative.", and "The separation of powers between legislative and judicial authority is not endangered by this case. Nor will any determination by this court limit the legislature's authority to make laws." I'm not versed enough in our government to comment on the first quote, but the thinking behind the latter really bothers me. If members of the Judicial branch can start changing laws on a whim because they personally feel that it doesn't endanger anything, then why would it matter if the Legislative branch (for those not already versed in this, that would be you and me) made laws or not?

Would someone with a better grasp of things like to speak up? If I'm out of my depth or have misunderstood something, I'd like to be told.

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Unread postby Idran1701 » Wed Sep 05, 2007 3:17 pm

It's basically true, yeah. It's the judicial branch's job, among other things, to determine the constitutionality of laws passed by the legislative branch, and if a law is determined to be unconstitutional, they can declare it invalid. It isn't being changed because they feel it won't endanger anything, but because they determined that the law violates the state constituion of Iowa. The second comment isn't a reason for it, but a statement on its effects.

But yeah, this is the entire idea behind judicial review. If there wasn't a branch to make sure the legislature (whether the US Congress or a state's lawmaking body) wasn't passing unconstitutional laws, what would prevent them from doing so? It's just part of checks and balances; if the legislature wishes to pass a law that the judicial branch has determined goes against the constitution, then they need to amend the constitution first. But laws aren't presented to the judicial branch, a case against the law has to be raised to the court first. The court has no ability to make a case, only to see those cases presented to it by third parties. Thus, a law can't be challenged on constitutional grounds until it's passed. The belief is that any such law will eventually be brought before the court in a manner just like this. To quote the Wikipedia article there:

The ultimate court for deciding the constitutionality of state law under state constitutions is normally the highest state appellate court, whose judgements are final in the absence of a federal question. This court is usually called a state supreme court, but sometimes is known as a court of appeals. Even before [Marbury v. Madison (1803)], the doctrine of judicial review was specifically enshrined in some state constitutions, and by 1803 it had been employed in both state courts and federal courts in actions dealing with state statutes.

In the federal system, courts may only decide actual cases or controversies; it is not possible to request the federal courts to review a law without at least one party having legal standing to engage in a lawsuit. This principle means that courts sometimes do not exercise their power of review, even when a law is seemingly unconstitutional, for want of jurisdiction.


Since the court can't step in until someone has brought a lawsuit against a statute, and since determining the constitutionality of a statute is the last resort for the federal court system ("The Court will not anticipate a question of constitutional law in advance of the necessity of deciding it. It is not the habit of the court to decide questions of a constitutional nature unless absolutely necessary to a decision of the case.", Justice Brandeis, Ashwander v. Tennessee Valley Authority (1936)), there's little to no worry about the courts abusing this power to change laws willy-nilly. No more than there is to worry about any government procedure, that is.

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Unread postby Besyanteo » Wed Sep 05, 2007 3:39 pm

Talked about this further with Idran via IM. I can see now where I misunderstood things. Thanks much!

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Unread postby pd Rydia » Wed Sep 05, 2007 5:14 pm

Judicial review: it's what's for dinner! ::thumbs up!::

"Renegade judge", "activist judges", and "legislating from the bench" are huge red flag phrases for me. I often find that they're coming from people getting their Sunday bests in a bunch at the idea that they aren't getting to control something, and gosh darnit it's so unfair. Granted that I'm a huge fangirl of judicial review, and I think the Supreme Court exists to be filled with "activist judges." As far as I'm concerned, human rights shouldn't be established by majority opinion but yet that's how our law works.

I thought it might be interesting, so I whois'ed lifesite.net; it's registered under the Campaign Life Coalition. All sources of news are biased, but lifesite.net may be a bit more biased than usual; pro-life is usually not pro-homosexual rights.

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Unread postby FF Fanatic 80 » Sat Sep 08, 2007 2:53 pm

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,296054,00.html

G.I. Joe to Become Global Task Force in Movie

"The popular all-American comic-book military man and action figure dating back to the 1940s is undergoing a significant transformation for the Paramount Pictures-distributed "G.I. Joe" film, which begins production in February and is scheduled for release in summer 2009.

No longer will G.I. Joe be a U.S. Special Forces soldier, the "Real American Hero" who, in his glory days, single-handedly won World War II.

In the politically correct new millennium, G.I. Joe bears no resemblance to the original.

Paramount has confirmed that in the movie, the name G.I. Joe will become an acronym for "Global Integrated Joint Operating Entity" — an international, coed task force charged with defeating bad guys. It will no longer stand for government issued, as in issued by the American government.

The studio won't elaborate, saying filming hasn't begun and details are still in the works, but the behind-the-scenes rumblings are that the producers have decided to change the nature of G.I. Joe in order to appeal to a wider, more international audience.

The word is that in the current political climate, they're afraid that a heroic U.S. soldier won't fly.

(More opinions in the article linked above)"


Obviously, being an American, I'm heavily biased here.

But what the fuck? Seriously, what the flying fuck are they doing? Why the hell make a movie about an AMERICAN SOLDIER if your only goal is to sell it to an international audience? This is just using the Acronym for something else.

>_< Rawr.

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Unread postby Capntastic » Sun Sep 09, 2007 11:22 pm

Don't worry- I doubt that the political climate isn't so far gone that the protagonist could be anyone but a fair haired Aryan princeling who is tough as nails and/or brooding.

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Unread postby pd Rydia » Tue Sep 11, 2007 12:11 pm

Prisons Purging Books on Faith From Libraries

summary:
Large amounts of books (tapes, CDs, videos) dealing with religion/faith are being removed from federal prisons and replaced with those from a small approved list; since no additional money is being provided for this effort, "in some prisons, after the shelves were cleared of books not on the lists, few remained." This is being done in response to a 2004 report which was itself in respose to the 9-11-2001 attacks, in concern of prisons becoming "recruiting grounds for militant Islamic and other religious groups." This process is officially called the "Standardized Chapel Library Project."

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Unread postby BrainWalker » Tue Sep 11, 2007 5:27 pm

[ sung to the Westminster chime theme ] Dumb, dumb, dumb, dumb... dumb, dumb, dumb dumb... dumb, dumb, dumb, dumb... dumb, dumb, dumb, dumb...

retarde~d
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Kai
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Unread postby Kai » Tue Sep 11, 2007 8:32 pm

Space suits: Bless the sci-fi geeks of MIT! I knew they wouldn't let us down!

DNA: Whoa. I guess I have a hard time imagining simulators like that, though. Simulators that actually somehow reveal new information like that... didn't know we had those.

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Unread postby Idran1701 » Tue Sep 11, 2007 9:10 pm

Kai wrote:DNA: Whoa. I guess I have a hard time imagining simulators like that, though. Simulators that actually somehow reveal new information like that... didn't know we had those.


That's actually one of the points of simulations, to try things we can't try in real life for whatever reason. Set up the initial conditions (in this case, the various material properties), let it run, and see what comes of it.

Of course, until we can test this in real life, there's still the chance of some sort of flaw in the simulation. But still, it's cool that it's even a possibility, that there are potential DNA-like structures that exhibit life-like properties that not only aren't organic, they're not even molecular.

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Unread postby Kai » Wed Sep 12, 2007 1:57 pm

I know that's the point of simulations, but it just didn't occur to me that we had simulations with that kind of... predictive power. I'm explaining this poorly, I know.

That was pretty damned keen, though. Good link.

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Unread postby Idran1701 » Wed Sep 12, 2007 4:09 pm

Oh, I see what you mean now. Yeah, it is pretty awesome, isn't it? They've been doing a lot of cool simulation stuff in chemistry and biochemistry for a while, but this is one of the neatest things I've seen come out of it.

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