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BIO

Who's Really Nuts, 20/20 or the 'Crazy Cat Ladies'?

Bella DePaulo | Posted November 15, 2009 | Living

Read More: 20/20, Abc, Alienation, Altruism, Animal Rescue, Cats, Crazy Cat Ladies, Documentary, Elizabeth Vargas, Expectations, Film, Loneliness, Loss, Marriage, Media, Media Bias, Mental Health, Pets, Single, Singlism, Stereotypes, Strays, Tv

The ABC show 20/20 recently treated its viewers to an all-out condescending pity-party for the women it calls 'crazy cat ladies.' The segment hosted by Elizabeth Vargas, with an accompanying article online, was so over-the-top that it was almost a parody of itself.

The article begins this way:

...

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Book Review: The Humans Who Went Extinct

Dan Agin | Posted November 15, 2009 | Living

Read More: Anthropology, Conservatives, Extinction, Human Evolution, Neanderthals

One hundred and fifty-three years ago, in a quarry in the Neander Valley in Germany, quarry-workers stumbled on a strange skeleton. Local experts called it the skeleton of some diseased person, or maybe the bones of some foreign soldier (a Cossack?) who died on the spot in the Napoleonic War...

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Republican Filibuster may be the Best way to Pass Healthcare in the Senate

Byron Williams | Posted November 15, 2009 |

On August 29, 1957, South Carolina Senator Strom Thurmond set the record for the longest filibuster on the Senate floor.

Thurmond made congressional history when he finally yielded the floor after speaking continuously for 24 hours and 18 minutes in order to block civil rights legislation.

In retrospect,...

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Curation. Crowd Sourcing. And Sexy Aliens.

Steve Rosenbaum | Posted November 15, 2009 | Technology

Read More: Aliens, Craig Newmark, Craigslist, Crowdsourcing, Curation, David Pogue, Sexy

You may have noticed that lots of the folks that make media for a living are pretty unhappy these days.

If you listen to Craig Newmark, the king of digital classifieds and the namesake of the now ubiquitous Craigslist – the newspaper folks he’s talked to don’t blame him...

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The "Energy Revolution" Is Also A Failure In Cuba

Yoani Sanchez | Posted November 15, 2009 | World

Read More: Cuba

Several years ago, the beginning of the "Energy Revolution" was proclaimed. The official media announced the immediate distribution of pressure cookers that, despite requiring electricity, would reduce the national consumption of petroleum. State industry began to produce the necessary rubber gaskets for...

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Building a Bigger House

Nicholas Stephanopoulos | Posted November 15, 2009 | Politics

Read More: Electoral College, House Of Representatives, Reapportionment, Redistricting

Will a recent lawsuit result in Congress's most dramatic upheaval in almost a hundred years? Probably not, but that's the quixotic hope of the parties who brought the case. They think that the U.S. House of Representatives is unconstitutional in its current form, and that the only solution is...

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Winning Online: 10 Tips for 2010 Campaigns (Part II)

Matt Dunn | Posted November 15, 2009 | Technology

Read More: 2010 Elections, Campaign Strategy, Democrats, Email, Interactive, New Technology, Obama Technology, Online, Online Advertising, Online Organizing

It's hard to believe that it's been a year since Barack Obama and Democrats from coast to coast delivered their historic and epic electoral beat down. I suspect that the memories and the experience was so intense that many if not most Americans feel as if it was yesterday, like a...

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Choosing between health care and abortion is a "false choice."

Morra Aarons-Mele | Posted November 15, 2009 | Politics

Read More: Abortion, Bart Stupak, Health Care Reform, Martha Coakley, Stupak Amendment, US Senate

It is no wonder our elected officials find it hard to embrace standing up against the Stupak-Pitts Amendment in the health care reform bill when the argument is presented as an either or scenario, with dire consequences on either side. As in, "either" you vote to effectively ban abortion,...

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Carbon Management: A Call to Action for the U.S. and China

Scott Daniels | Posted November 15, 2009 | Green

Read More: Carbon Capture And Storage, Carbon Dioxide, Ccs, China, Climate Change, Coal, Copenhagen 2009, Global Warming, Obama China

As President Obama prepares to set foot on Chinese soil for the first time today, the United States and China, the globe's leading greenhouse gas producers, are engaged in a classic standoff over climate change. The United States wants to see China agree to cap its accelerating level of carbon...

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Israeli Leader: Palestinian Should Unilaterally Declare A State

MJ Rosenberg | Posted November 15, 2009 |

Read More: Israeli-Palestinian Conflict

Yossi Sarid, a longtime leader in Israeli politics and an aide to several prime ministers, says it's time for Palestinians to realize that negotiations with Israel will get them nowhere.

They should simply unilaterally declare a state in the West Bank, Gaza and East Jerusalem now.

He writes:

...

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How Did Balloon Boy's Mom Steer Clear of Detention and Deportation?

Arlene M. Roberts | Posted November 15, 2009 |

Mayumi and Richard Heene, parents of Falcon (aka 'Balloon Boy'), entered guilty pleas on Friday in connection with the incident several weeks ago when they lied to the authorities about their son's whereabouts. The mother pleaded guilty to a class three misdemeanor; the father pleaded guilty to a felony. Had...

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Why the Preemptive Break Up of Financial Institutions Would Be Bad for New York -- and America

Kathryn Wylde | Posted November 15, 2009 | New York

(Kathryn Wylde sent this letter to the New York Congressional Delegation on November 11, 2009).

Dear Members of the New York State Congressional Delegation,

The Partnership for New York City is an organization of business leaders who are committed to the continued success of the city and state economy. We...

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Covert Officers Spy On Passengers In US Airports

Allison Kilkenny | Posted November 15, 2009 | Politics

Read More: Airport, Airports, Civil Rights, Police State, Transportation Security Administration, Tsa

The Transportation Security Administration has admitted to stationing "behavior-detection officers" at 161 US airports, including in Miami, Fort Lauderdale, and Los Angeles.

The officers can be anywhere, from the parking garage to the gate, looking for passengers who seem highly nervous or stressed.

If that description seems...

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Freeing God and Religion from the Confines of Faith and Reason

Alan Lurie | Posted November 15, 2009 |

Over the last six months that I've been blogging for the Huffington Post, I have written about a variety of subjects - primarily about how to find spirituality in our every day activities. Most of these blogs receive a small amount of comments, but occasionally, when I include the topic...

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"Culturecide," is a word coined in Indian country

Tim Giago | Posted November 15, 2009 |

Read More: Destruction Of a Culture

Notes from Indian Country
By Tim Giago (Nanwica Kciji)
© 2009 Native Sun News

November 13, 2009

On this sunny November morning I find myself thinking about that tough, old Lakota chief from Standing Rock because his life exemplifies the clash of cultures.

On a...

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Jon Gosselin Can Go Back to Work... at Foot Locker

Steve Marmel | Posted November 15, 2009 | Entertainment

Read More: Entertainment News, Jon And Kate Plus 8, Jon Gosselin, Jon Gosselin Lawsuit, Kate Gosselin, Television, Tlc

In the latest skirmish in his war with TLC, Jon Gosselin has filed a $5 million claim against the network, saying its representatives damaged his reputation and career by preventing him from working with other media outlets.

In the suit, the reality...

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Obama's Chinese Youth Vote - Filled with Hope As Well As Suggestions

Elizabeth Lynch | Posted November 15, 2009 | World

Read More: Barack Obama, Chinese Youth, Chris Lu, Climate Change, Economic Crisis, Gary Locke, Hu Jintao, International Trade, Obama November China Visit, Steven Chu

Beijing, China - A certain excitement has lighted the streets of Beijing in anticipation of President Barack Obama's maiden visit here this week. Not only has the capital experienced two days of clear blue skies, a rarity in a city that is usually encased in a yellow, gritty smog during...

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Megan Fox & Octomom Shill For The New York Times

Richard Laermer | Posted November 15, 2009 | Media

Read More: Faming, Hype, Jennifer's Body, Laermer.Com, Megan Fox, Nadya Suleman, The New Fame, Transformers 2

When print newspapers finally die off, today will be among those remembered as reason why. Hundreds of thousands of NY Times readers opened the magazine to find stories about Megan Fox and the Octomom perfectly suited to Us magazine and even Star, and while they were painted as...

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US-Slovakia: Forget the scoreline, US impressed

Max Bergmann | Posted November 15, 2009 |

Read More: Soccer, Sports, Us Soccer

In the blogoshpere, the US team has often been compared to Slovakia when trying to assess America's international soccer. Optimists argued the US was far superior to Slovakia, while critics of the UMNT often argued that the U.S. wasn't even close to the Slovaks. Slovakia is exactly the type of...

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President Obama's Faith Council - Missing in Action When We Need them Most

Paul Raushenbush | Posted November 15, 2009 | Politics

Obama's Council on Faith Based Partnerships has fallen off the map - and we need them back. Nothing exemplifies the sad lack of contribution of this much hailed diverse group of religious leaders than the current impasse...