All posts by nedhamson
House GOP Leaders Consider Splitting Farm Bill
Can’t for life of me figure out why GOP super-conservatives want to make people go hungry so badly. Are they so overcome by what they want to believe, that they can’t see who in their own districts would be hurt?
Billy Shore, the founder and CEO of the anti-hunger group Share Our Strength, says the split would make SNAP vulnerable when many families and children are dependent on it. Around one in seven people used food stamps last year.
“The concern is that (splitting the bill) would make it easier for the Republican leadership to find support for those cuts,” Shore said. “For a program that has worked so well for decades it feels a little short-sighted.”
Farm groups agreed.
Jon Doggett, a lobbyist for the National Corn Growers Association, said that farm groups will continue to need allies as rural areas decrease in population and fewer members of Congress are elected on farm issues. In addition to nutrition advocates, the bill also brings together agriculture and environmental groups who favor conservation measures in the bill that protect environmentally-sensitive farmland.
Chilean president praises raped girl, 11, for going through with pregnancy | World news | guardian.co.uk
Chile’s president has praised an 11-year-old girl after she said in a TV interview that she wants to give birth to the baby who was conceived when she was raped by her mother’s partner.
President Sebastián Pinera’s remark that her decision showed “depth and maturity” caused anger on social media in a case that has ignited a heated national debate over abortion in one of Latin America’s most socially conservative nations. Abortion, even for medical reasons and in the case of rape, has been illegal since General Augusto Pinochet’s dictatorship.
There seems to be no limit as to how self-delusional many men can be when it comes to women’s right to control their own destiny or to protect children.
Aide to Sen. Rand Paul Exposed for Neo-Confederate Views | Hatewatch | Southern Poverty Law Center
Hunter co-wrote Paul’s 2011 book, The Tea Party Goes to Washington, and joined the Kentucky Republican’s Senate staff in 2012 as social media director.
But from 1999 to 2012, the 39-year-old writer was a South Carolina radio shock jock who “weighed in on issues such as racial pride and Hispanic immigration, and stated his support for the assassination of President Abraham Lincoln,” according to the Free Beacon, a conservative online publication of the Center for American Freedom.
via Aide to Sen. Rand Paul Exposed for Neo-Confederate Views | Hatewatch | Southern Poverty Law Center.
Seattle Tilth’s Chicken Coop and Urban Farm Tour set for Saturday » My Ballard
This Saturday locals will have the chance to visit Seattle’s “Top 25″ urban farms during the 13th Annual Seattle Tilth Chicken Coop and Urban Farming Tour. The tour is self guided and will take place from 10 a.m. – 4 p.m.For the very first time in the tour’s history the event will be juried. Seattle Tilth has put together a panel of local experts to select the best 25 sites, representing all parts of the city. This year’s judges include Seattle Tilth educators, Jessi Bloom from NW Bloom, Rachel Duthler from Danny Woo Community Garden, Jake Harris from Stone Soup Gardens, Charmaine Slaven from Seattle Farm Co-op, and Kevin Scott-Vanderberg from Portage Bay Grange.
via Seattle Tilth’s Chicken Coop and Urban Farm Tour set for Saturday » My Ballard.
Was it MI6 – not the Blair government – that drove Dr David Kelly to suicide?
Cannot “like” this but sounds as though he hits the mark on the sad end of a guy just doing his job and those higher up dumping him when convenient for them
(not satire – it’s British ‘intelligence’)
I’ve just been reading the excellent new biography of Dr David Kelly by Robert Lewis – Dark Actors: The Life and Death of Dr David Kelly
Be warned though – the book won’t satisfy conspiracy theorists because Lewis concludes that Kelly probably did commit suicide.
And it won’t satisfy anyone with even the slightest trace of anti-Blair sentiment either – which let’s face it includes just about everyone on the planet barring Dan Hodges.
So I can’t see the book being popular, which is a pity because I think Lewis hits the nail on the head when it comes to why Kelly died.
By examining Kelly’s life and career from the beginning, Lewis comes to the conclusion that far from being a disloyal whistle-blower – Kelly was in fact as loyal as they come.
He also suggests Kelly regularly briefed journalists on behalf of…
View original post 368 more words
The Gun Report: July 9, 2013 – NYTimes.com
Ray-twon Briggs, 4, died after being shot in his home on the north side of Youngstown, Ohio, Sunday night. Briggs’s grandmother told police the boy was playing with one of three handguns in the house when he fatally shot himself in the head. Two other children, ages 1 and 5, were also in the room. The boy’s parents were not home at the time of the shooting.
Japan conservatives: ‘Hate speech goes too far’ | Asia | DW.DE | 09.07.2013
Arita agrees with that assessment, and warns that Japan is facing a turning point in its political history as it has taken “two or three steps to the right” since the election of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in December of last year. “Since Mr. Abe came to power, Zaitokukai and other groups have drastically strengthened and escalated their activities,” he said.
Making the situation worse, he said, is that television footage of the protest marches are being broadcast around the world and promoting the image of Japan as a hotbed of intolerant and racist thugs.
via Japan conservatives: 'Hate speech goes too far' | Asia | DW.DE | 09.07.2013.
Precious memories
Ancient Egyptian River Could be Revived for Farming | Green Prophet
“The desert of the Sinai Peninsula receives the most rainfall of any part of Egypt — around 304 millimetres annually — but most of it is of no benefit to agriculture, instead flowing out into the Mediterranean Sea in flash floods,” according to SciDev.net, which interviewed the authors.
Using satellite radar images, the research team mapped out where an ancient river used to drain the Wadi El-Arish valley – back in towards the desert, and then proposed a method to revive it.
They recommend constructing a two kilometer long, six meter deep channel that can be used to irrigate thirsty farms.
“Accessing that depression would allow its stored water to be used for agriculture,” Farouk El-Baz, an author of the paper and director of the Center for Remote Sensing, told the paper.
The runoff during flash floods is expected to create a 1,400 square kilometer tract of fertile land west of Gebel Halal, which is said to offer other ideal conditions for potential farmers.
via Ancient Egyptian River Could be Revived for Farming | Green Prophet.





You must be logged in to post a comment.