News & Current Events

[BayCityJohn]

Number 10 on the list was West Virginia at 2.94 subscriptions per 1000, while number 41, Michigan, averaged 2.32.

Michigan was probably in the top ten before I moved to California.

[BayCityJohn]

Ladyboy lizards use transvestite trickery: researchers



MELBOURNE (AFP) – Young male lizards in South Africa imitate females to fool aggressive older males into leaving them alone, in an example of transvestism in the natural world, researchers have found.

The lizards not only avoid fights but gain access to females under the nose of their more macho rivals, the South African and Australian researchers discovered.

They found that young male Augrabies flat lizards delayed displaying the extravagant coloration of sexually-mature males until they were able to defend themselves adequately.

"Experienced males will chase and bite their young rivals," said associate professor Martin Whiting of Johannesburg's University of the Witwatersrand.


http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/scienceaustraliasafricaanimaloffbeat

[michaelflanagansf]

Hmmm...would Jack be dodging bullets in Juarez?

Mexico troops move in to retake warring border city
By Robin Emmott Robin Emmott   – Tue Mar 3, 2:53 pm ET

CIUDAD JUAREZ, Mexico (Reuters) – Hundreds of heavily armed soldiers fanned out across Mexico's bloodiest drug war city on Tuesday, trying to prevent a collapse in law and order just south of the U.S. border.

Sirens blared as the army staged one of its biggest troop build-ups in years in Ciudad Juarez, a desert city across the border from El Paso, Texas, where near-daily clashes between drug gangs and police have terrified residents.

Infamous in the 1990s for the unsolved murders of hundreds of women, Ciudad Juarez is now engulfed in the worst drug violence in Mexico as cartels in league with corrupt cops fight over one of the country's most profitable smuggling routes.

More than 2,000 people have been murdered in the area over the past year and drug gang hitmen showed their power last month by forcing the city's police chief to resign with a threat to keep killing police officers until he quit.

"We've got to show we can achieve security in Juarez, for Mexico's sake, for its economy, for people's lives, for our international reputation," said Victor Valencia, the Chihuahua state governor's representative in Ciudad Juarez.

Ciudad Juarez is prized for its location smack in the middle of the 2,000 mile border with road and rail links deep into the United States. The Pacific-coast Sinaloa gang, led by top fugitive Joaquin "Shorty" Guzman, is one of several fighting for control of the city.

Mexico's police forces are tainted up to the highest levels by corruption and direct links to the drug cartels, and President Felipe Calderon has staked his reputation on a nationwide army-led crackdown on cartels.

Ciudad Juarez is now the most crucial battleground of a war that killed more than 6,000 people across Mexico last year and is scaring off investors in cities near the border.

"The solution is with the military. The federal, state and municipal police are infiltrated by organized crime," Valencia told Reuters.

The army expects to have 7,500 soldiers and federal police stationed in Ciudad Juarez by the end of the week, with a further 2,000 troops in the rest of Chihuahua state. Six local bishops pleaded in newspaper ads this week for an end to the killings that are "staining the state with blood".

continues:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/us_mexico_drugs;_ylt=Am.hmuyEmc4t83v9nvScWpMDW7oF

[jack]

Porn in the USA: Conservatives are biggest consumers

not much of a surprise there, eh?

dear lord how i wish the utah list had names attached. 

[michaelflanagansf]

not much of a surprise there, eh?

Yeah, well at least now we know where that hand motion comes from when they bonk us on the head trying to take away our rights....

[brokebacktom]

Now this is upsetting.



http://www.reuters.com/article/newsOne/idUSTRE52311U20090304

[brokebacktom]

Now a Russian Ex-KGB agent just stared that the USA may colapse by 2010. If this occurs, guess who will get blamed.


http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/03/04/igor-panarin-us-will-coll_n_171725.html

[brokebacktom]

Now for something softer. This cat is very ugly in a cute sense. It looks like a bat.


http://wbztv.com/watercooler/pets/ugly.cat.scary.2.949524.html

[BayCityJohn]

Now this is upsetting.

http://www.reuters.com/article/newsOne/idUSTRE52311U20090304

We used to get small monthly bonuses where I work, based on improved results compared to the prior year. The bonuses stopped in September.

I could have easily posted artificial revenue that could be written off later so that we could get our bonuses too. But the company I work for likes to deal with reality.

[BayCityJohn]

Viewer's guide to Supreme Court hearing
A guide to the California Supreme Court hearing Thursday on Proposition 8 and same-sex marriage:


How to watch: The hearing is scheduled from 9 a.m. to noon at the court's chambers at 350 McAllister St. in San Francisco. It can be viewed live on the California Channel, which is carried on Comcast cable systems in the Bay Area. The channel number varies from city to city, so check local listings.

-- A group favoring same-sex marriage will sponsor a public viewing of the oral arguments on a JumboTron in San Francisco's Civic Center Plaza.

-- A live Webcast will also be available at www.calchannel.com.


http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/03/04/MN6I16807P.DTL

[Lyle (Mooska)]

Now a Russian Ex-KGB agent just stared that the USA may colapse by 2010. If this occurs, guess who will get blamed.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/03/04/igor-panarin-us-will-coll_n_171725.html

From the article:

Panarin argued that Americans are in moral decline, saying their great
psychological stress is evident from school shootings, the size of the prison
population and the number of gay men.

Someone called Panarin the Rush Limbaugh of Russia...

[huntinbuddy]

From the article:

Panarin argued that Americans are in moral decline, saying their great
psychological stress is evident from school shootings, the size of the prison
population and the number of gay men.

Someone called Panarin the Rush Limbaugh of Russia...

Is he big, fat & ignorant?  If so, he'd qualify!

[brokebacktom]

Now a Russian Ex-KGB agent just stared that the USA may colapse by 2010. If this occurs, guess who will get blamed.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/03/04/igor-panarin-us-will-coll_n_171725.html

From the article:

Panarin argued that Americans are in moral decline, saying their great
psychological stress is evident from school shootings, the size of the prison
population and the number of gay men.

Someone called Panarin the Rush Limbaugh of Russia...

Lyle, you noticed that too. He must have a member of the GOP.

[Rosewood]

considering that obama, cosigned by a relevant smattering oc congress have pretty much made it clear to the biggest corporate offenders, big pharma, health insurance, banking and other corporate entities that the gravy train is over, it is not surprising that the dow and s&p are reflecting the panic in the penthouse offices. 

if swiss banking capitulates and gives up the names of secret account holders, expect to see a lot more panic.

Has it occurred to any of us that the market 'leaders' may be willfully sinking the market in order to bring Obama
to heel? I know it sounds outrageous, but think. It IS possible.
(I know, I know, next I'll be saying that flying saucers exist.)
Of course Jack is correct.
There is panic, the sort that could and would turn Wall Street insiders against ANY change, cancel ANY hope.
Why is it that the market dislikes Democratic rule so much? Because generally it means a tightening of the reins
of power. At least for a few years, anyway.
And of course they don't seem to be above cutting off their noses to spite their angry faces.
So why am I NOT surprised that the market is tanking?

My question is: how long will they keep it up. Or should I say, down?

[jack]

alternate site for streaming coverage of cal supreme court oral arguments
right now.

http://www.sacbee.com/live