Wednesday, June 18, 2014

Stuff below the fold

Teens launch balloon to the edge of space.

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Catholic newspaper in Cuba shuts down one of the few open speech forums.

and they say the church shut them down:


The former editors of Espacio Laical magazine, Roberto Veiga and Lenier Gonzalez, used the Internet to promote debate on political issues such as the need for a multiparty system, internet expansion, reintegration with the diaspora and the strengths and weaknesses of reforms under President Raul Castro.
They quit last week after 10 years on the job, saying in their resignation letter it was because of pressure from inside the Church hierarchy, not the government, from people who did not want the Church to get involved in politics.
Calling Cardinal Sin...calling Cardinal Sin...

Does this mean the gov't is pressuring the bishops and they caved, or does it mean that the new "vatican" is trying to make nice with the communists, a la John XXIII, rather than oppose tyranny a la JPII?

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On the ground report on Baghdad: The media is getting it wrong.

the Sunni terror groups will have to take on the Shiites if they try to take Baghdad, and the tribal elements who are giving them cover will reap the whirlwind.

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 The Mullahs passed a law banning women politicians, so Dr E is no longer is on the city Council but she is still is active in ecological NGO's...and now she reports that the Iranian team at the world cup has followed her suggestion to use the Persian Cheetah as their mascot.


I formally delivered the ball to the Captain last week , before  their departure to Sao Paulo, Brazil. Our team was named "Persian Cheetah" after these events and the issue recieved much publicity.
Iran is taking part in the World Cup with a message of Peace and Protection of our global environment. We hope that all teams will join us in this campaign and spread the message.
yeah, but just protect yourself against all that radiation when the Mullahs explode their bomb.

on the other hand, the present president is trying to limit the tyranny of the Mullahs.
He also appeared to agree that social rules - in a country where morality police patrol the streets to detain women they deem to be showing too much hair - should be eased, saying: "We can't take people to heaven by force and with a whip."
But reformist Iranians say those words have not been followed by policy changes. "All the nice words have expired," Alinejad said.
With Rouhani pushing for a nuclear deal with the West to lift crushing economic sanctions, and civil wars raging in Iran's regional allies Syria and Iraq, personal freedoms and women's rights are unlikely to be high on his agenda.
But Alinejad doubts Rouhani would ease the hijab rules even if he were able to in a system where the ultimate say lies with the supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

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Camouflage only works when you use the right colours, so caterpillars who eat too many different leaves are at risk, reports the LATIMES.

I mainly link for this cute photo.


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related item:


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the tax hunt against Americans is making more people renounce their citizenship.Yeah, they are now taxing our income here, and asking our banks to report interest income

.Helping boost the exodus, experts say, is a five-year-old U.S. campaign to hunt for undeclared accounts held by Americans abroad. Since 2009, the government campaign has collected more than $6 billion in taxes, interest and penalties from more than 43,000 U.S. taxpayers. Federal prosecutors have filed more than 100 criminal indictments, including the high-profile case of Beanie Babies inventor Ty Warner, who last year pleaded guilty to tax evasion involving secret Swiss bank accounts.The tax dragnet has also swept up many middle-income Americans living abroad, prompting some to give up their U.S. citizenship. While people who renounce aren't freed of taxes due for past years, they don't want to risk sizable taxes and penalties for them and their children in the years ahead, 


 Note however that the numbers are miniscule.

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DESPITE THE “MISSING” EMAILS, NEWS IS STILL COMING OUT: “In fact, the documents showed Lerner wanted to make an example out of someone with charges in order to chill all of the groups in the tea party movement.”I think it’s fair at this point to assume that the “missing” emails are missing because someone in the White House was behind this.

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: Sarah Hoyt on the coming economic demise, 

she's a sci fi writer, but irascible enough to say what no one dares to say.

Oh well: Lolo promised me if I move to the Philippines we would always have rice to eat. So most of our money is invested in growing and selling organic brown rice. The bad news is that a typhoon at the wrong time can wipe us out financially as it did last year...

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