Monday, March 1, 2010

Afghan child migrants

"It was early 2009. He wasn't sure of the date and couldn't say exactly how long he had been on the road since leaving northern Afghanistan the year before.

All he knew was that it was still hot when he crossed into the Iranian desert during the first days of the journey, and freezing cold by the time he neared its end in northern Europe.

Along the way he had ducked under searchlights, taken part in a car chase, been stowed away on boats and picked up by the police, on a journey that migration experts say is typical for a growing number of Afghan children making their way, unaccompanied, to Europe."

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Big rise in Afghan child migrants

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"A firehouse stands intact on the coast...




...close to the epicenter of an earthquake that generated waves flooding many towns to the north and south, in Pelluhue February 28, 2010."

REUTERS/Victor Ruiz Caballero



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'useful idiots'

By Nancy Morgan

"I had the certainty of youth. Where all issues are black or white, where people were good or bad. Where no gray areas intruded to cast doubt on my wisdom. Things were ever so much clearer then. Until age 39, I was too busy being the center of my own universe to give deep thought to any issue that didn't affect me directly. I lived in a magical place where no analytical thinking was required. I kept abreast of other's opinions and considered myself not only informed, but pretty darn smart.

Imagine my surprise when reality eventually intruded. When I found out that, gasp, Che was a mass-murderer, not a freedom fighter. That Kinsey was a sexual pervert and pedophile, not a scientist. That the earth wasn't melting and that Obama wasn't the answer to all the world's problems. When I found out that 'is' doesn't necessarily mean 'is.' To my chagrin, I finally realized that no matter how thin the pancake, there are always two sides. And I had only been exposed to one. I was the quintessential 'useful idiot.'"

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A ‘cure’ for character

By George Will

"Today's DSM defines "oppositional defiant disorder" as a pattern of "negativistic, defiant, disobedient and hostile behavior toward authority figures." Symptoms include "often loses temper," "often deliberately annoys people" or "is often touchy." DSM omits this symptom: "is a teenager."

This DSM defines as "personality disorders" attributes that once were considered character flaws. "Antisocial personality disorder" is "a pervasive pattern of disregard for . . . the rights of others . . . callous, cynical . . . an inflated and arrogant self-appraisal." "Histrionic personality disorder" is "excessive emotionality and attention-seeking." "Narcissistic personality disorder" involves "grandiosity, need for admiration . . . boastful and pretentious." And so on.

If every character blemish or emotional turbulence is a "disorder" akin to a physical disability, legal accommodations are mandatory. Under federal law, "disabilities" include any "mental impairment that substantially limits one or more major life activities"; "mental impairments" include "emotional or mental illness." So there might be a legal entitlement to be a jerk. (See above, "antisocial personality disorder.")"

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"A Really Big Shoe"








"Chateau-Alfonse and Old Shoe, Luna Park."


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"The Suicide Pill"

By Jeff Andrus

"Carl Djerassi fled with his mother from Nazi persecution in Austria and flourished in the United States as a chemist and a writer, an entrepreneur and a teacher. In early 1950s he was one of three scientists whose work on synthetic progestagen laid the foundation for the first oral contraceptive pill, which the Federal Drug Administration approved for use in in 1960. Forty-nine years later (2009), the 85-year-old professor emeritus from Stanford University wrote of his achievement for the Austrian newspaper, Der Standard.

The Pill is partially responsible for the population decline in Europe that Prof. Djerassi characterized as a “horror scenario” and a “catastrophe.”

“(There is now) no connection at all between sexuality and reproduction.” Focusing on the land of his birth, he continuted, “This divide in Catholic Austria, a country which has on average 1.4 children per family, is now complete.” Prof. Djerassi described families choosing against reproduction as “wanting to enjoy their schnitzels while leaving the rest of the world to get on with it,” and predicted national suicide because young Austrians refuse to have children.

To be partially responsible implies there must be other factors to blame. I’d like to be the first to point my finger at good will."

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"Brazil"


















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"Ice the Huskey dressed as Superman."




"The super-dog has become an internet hit after footage was put on the internet by his owner in Hangzhou China."

Picture: Quirky China News / Rex Features


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'Seditious' Conservatives Attacked in Marin County

By Sally Zelikovsky

""I don't agree with what you say, but I'll defend your right to say it" is no longer in vogue for some Mill Valley (Marin County, California) residents.

Ryan White recently wrote an excellent piece in the Mill Valley Herald about the upcoming "GroupaPalooza" at the Mill Valley Recreation Center -- a private gathering that will bring together conservative groups, candidates and the conservative community.

Yet, a former AP reporter, Deborah Phelan, has asked city officials to cancel the GroupaPalooza. The former AP reporter told White that "our local government has to make a stand against this movement, which I view as seditious."

By movement, she is referring to the Tea Parties. By seditious, she is just plain wrong. Tea Parties have been popping up across the land to protest an ever-expanding government that is taxing more, spending more and intruding more on individual liberties. The Tea Party movement is not about subverting the Constitution but restoring constitutional governance."

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"Chile Sends Army to Fight Looters"

"CONCEPCION, Chile — Police fired tear gas and imposed an overnight curfew to control looters who sacked virtually every market in this hard-hit city as Chile's earthquake toll surpassed 700. President Michelle Bachelet promised imminent deliveries of food, water and shelter for thousands living on the streets.

"We are confronting an emergency without parallel in Chile's history," Bachelet declared Sunday, a day after the magnitude-8.8 quake — one of the biggest in centuries — killed at least 708 people and destroyed or badly damaged 500,000 homes. Bachelet said "a growing number" of people were recorded as missing."

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Where's the democrats only lane...?





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America's future could be all Greek to us

By Mark Steyn

"While Barack Obama was making his latest pitch for a brand new, even more unsustainable entitlement at the health care "summit," thousands of Greeks took to the streets to riot. An enterprising cable network might have shown the two scenes on a continuous split-screen - because they're part of the same story. It's just that Greece is a little further along in the plot: They're at the point where the canoe is about to plunge over the falls. America is further upstream and can still pull for shore, but has decided, instead, that what it needs to do is catch up with the Greek canoe. Chapter One (the introduction of unsustainable entitlements) leads eventually to Chapter 20 (total societal collapse): The Greeks are at Chapter 17 or 18."

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Always get a good start to a new week....





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