Monday Open Thread
Welcome to the Monday edition of your open thread. The weekend was way to short and the election feels like it was months ago, even though it was less than a week ago. Anyone else have that feeling?
This is an interesting science story – using mathematical modeling methods, scientists have moved back the period of human evolution from 5 million years ago to 8 million years ago.
But that estimate rests on a thin fossil record. By looking at all of today’s primate species, all of the known fossil primates and using DNA evidence, computer models suggest a longer evolutionary timetable. The new analysis described in the Systematic Biology paper takes into account gaps in the fossil record and fills in those gaps statistically.
Such modeling techniques, which are widely used in science and commerce, take into account more overall information than earlier processes used to estimate evolutionary history using just a few individual fossil dates, Martin said. It can give scientists a broader perspective for interpreting data.
One example is a skull fossil discovered in Chad (central Africa) earlier in this decade. The fossil, named Sahelanthropus tchadensis and nicknamed Toumaï (which means “hope of life” in the local Goran language), raised great interest because it has many human characteristics. But consensus on how to classify the discovery has been elusive particularly because the fossil is about 7 million years old, well beyond the accepted time frame for human evolution.
Under the new estimate, Toumaï would fall within the period after the human lineage split from chimpanzees, Martin said.
Science deniers use gaps in the fossil record to argue that evolution is not true but our knowledge keeps getting better and better. I rarely see them say anything when a new transitionary fossil is found – do you?
Honest, to God, stuff like this just makes me want to scream. Why do Democrats panic so badly whenever they lose an election? Why run to the nearest reporter to spout idiocies about Obama not feeling middle class pain or not being an extrovert like Bill Clinton? Bill Clinton! For chrissake, I like and defend the guy, but he was an extrovert who felt people’s pain and he lost 54 seats in the 1994 midterm. No one cared if he felt their pain. Likewise, no one cares if Obama feels their pain. They want jobs, not pursed lips and moist eyes.
This stuff is so inane, so ego-driven, so self-destructive that it drives me crazy. Why are Democrats such idiots?
Seriously, how do we get Democrats to stop apologizing for trying to do things and get them to start selling ideas? It drives me nuts too? Yes, Democrats took a big loss on Tuesday, no doubt about it, but the GOP already showed us 2 years is a long time in politics and things will change. Instead of crying in the corner, I wish Democrats were planning the fight.
Tags: Open Thread
“Wealthy fund manager avoids felony charges after running over cyclist because of… wealth”
Lovely. There are laws for us and no laws for them.
http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2010/11/wealthy-fund-manager-avoids-felony-charges-running-cyclist/
@UI … Have you forwarded the first part of this post to Christine O’Donnell? She might find it an interesting read though she’ll probably think it’s fiction.
As for your last comments on the post, Amen! It’s time to start stepping up and fighting for what we believe in again. No more excuses…no more time wasted on wondering what the political ramifications will be… Start stepping up and fight for the promises we made! The American people might just respond to the Dems finally fighting the good fight!
Comment by anonone on 8 November 2010 at 12:42 pm:
“Wealthy fund manager avoids felony charges after running over cyclist because of… wealth”
Lovely. There are laws for us and no laws for them.
What is the legal difference between a hedge fund manager running over a cyclist and a hedge fund manager running over a dog?
Lazy asses Bonini and Wagner. . Last signs up.
Odonnell: like there is a country called “Chad”. …as if. You liberals are so funny.
I’ve still got “CARNEY KILLS JOBS” signs in my neighborhood. Apparently the first job he killed was the guy who takes down the signs.
Bonini just emailed me and asked me to take down his signs. I told the kids we should collect R signs and then put them up again, instead.
If Bonini and his fellow R’s are so big on creating jobs, how about making a dent in the unemployment rate to get the signs picked up?
Cheaper to pay the fines than to hire someone.
There’s still an Urquhart sign at the corner of Mermaid-Stoney Batter Rd & Millcreek Rd. as of late yesterday. Nick Manolakos signs are all over the place in the Pike Creek & greater Hockessin areas as well.
Interesting article here about Netanyahu’s visit:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/11/08/netanyahu-new-orleans-protesters_n_780700.html
It’s simply AMAZING how many anti-semites there are in the comments section. Something like 90% I’d say.
I dont think they are anti-semites. I think they are just uninformed.
Many of the “Blame Istrael Only” crowd is also highly critical (in many cases rightfully so) of America’s struggle with Islamic extremism. They conflate the 2 because it is easy to assume there is only one type of conflict. They coulndt be more wrong. I would love one of these “Israel is like Hitler” types to explain the Second Intifada or where the 2-state solution talks were in 2000. Many of theme wrongfully have this idea that there has been a wall and checkpoints since 1949, when in reality all those extreme measures were taken when Yassir Arafat, may he rot in hell, decided to throw away peace talks and sent bomb-strapped kids into weddings.
I am NOT saying the Palestinians brought this on themselves…. actually many of them want to live side by side with Jewish Israelis, Christian Arabs, etc. The Palestinian authority however brought this on it’s people. Arafat was stealing aid money back then just like Hamas uses the millions in Israeli aid today to buy rockets.
Israel is not totaly innocent in this scenario. Their treatment of Indonesian and Vietnamese immigrants is worse than we treat people from central America. The settlements need to stop. There is a small but influential right wing in Israel that wants war with the Arabs and should be stuffed in a rocket with Hamas and set “away”. However, this idea that Jews left their comfortable European homes in 1945 to go on a crusade to the holy land and kill Arabs (thanks Helen Thomas) May be born out of a WILLINGNESS to blame the Jews (everyone does every 50 years or so) but it is not anti-semitism. The best thing we can do with people, especially those on the left who knee-jerk oppose anything a right winger says, is make sure they have all the facts.
“Israel is not totaly innocent in this scenario.”
That’s as mendacious an understatement as “America was not totally innocent at My Lai.”
again Whybother…
SOME…. on the left think the Israeli/Palestinian situation is the same as America/whoever because they are too lazy to get the facts and see the differences. They just need to be against all things Right wing. even things the Right wing has co-oped for political gain.
Other facts they ignore is the traditional boundaries of “Palestine” extend well in to present day Jordan. Now, Jordan had a slightly different method of resolving this conflict. They expelled Palestinians and slaughtered those who remained. They continues to imprison and kill Palestinians who venture into Jordan…. you dont however see the outrage at them because…. again, laziness. Also, if you have a problem with anything the Muslim countries do, you are Rumsfeld.
“They continues(sic) to imprison and kill Palestinians who venture into Jordan…. you dont however see the outrage at them because… again…, laziness.”
So your “logic” is: if Jordan kills Palestinians, then it’s OK if Israel kills Palestinians because …. members of the Young Leadership Institute of Jewish Voice for Peace are lazy?
a. price, could your zionist apologetics get any more twisted?
that is not my point. My point is that Palestinians were given much better treatment by the Israelis than anywhere else in that part of the world and were probably a few years away from having their own nation. Hamas, Yassir Arafat and Hezbolla THREW IT ALL AWAY by launching the Second Intifada….something i am quite sure you have only just heard about. They did so because they (NOT PALESTINIANS, BUT HAMAS).. LIKE Neo-Cons NEED conflict to keep power.
I’ll say that again so you can understand. THE PALESTINIAN LEADERSHIP (not the “people”…. and the “” are not to imply they arent people… merely to illustrate that they are one group) Does not want peace…. they are like the GOP. they dont want solutions, they only want to destroy the other side…. the leadership, Hamas… NOT the people. Is that explained clearly enough for ya?
Millions of dollars in aid is sent right back at Israel in the form of rockets…. but yeah, let’s continue to defend Hamas.
BUt of course none of this will stick. Like a common teabagger, you have made up your mind about the conflict and will only listen to facts that affirm your notion. You don’t want it challenged or changed. You hate Israel, only anti-Israeli arguments will do. Anything that challenges your “black and white” (not racial) view of the situation is “evil and Zionist”.
pathetic small minded teabag.
“My point is that Palestinians were given much better treatment by the Israelis than anywhere else in that part of the world…”
It’s curious how a zionist on the other side of the world, presumes he can speak with authority about Palestinian realities.
Well, Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, and Syria “asked” them to leave *pssst* they used guns.
Israel did not kick them out and worked with them for decades, despite almost daily suicide bomb attacks to try and hammer out some sort of peace. It started to unravel in 1995 when an ISREALI murdered Yitzhak Rabin…. and ended in 2000 when …. we there is really no point in explaining it again. You have no use for facts…. just bumperstickers.
Until you acknowledge Hamas is not the Boys and Girls club you make it out to be, there is not point in discussing this further with you. I acknowledge injustices by Israel and problems with their government but it is not one sided…. it is not 2 sided. there are more angles and lights to this conflict than you could possibly conceive. It is just convenient for you to think there are only 2 possible opinions.
“Israel did not kick them out”
Now that’s a whopper that would make any Holocaust denier blush.
Even the Irgun thug, Menachem Begin, and later Israeli Prime Minister has said otherwise.
“In The Revolt, Menachem Begin, the former leader of the terrorist organization Irgun, says that the desertion by Arabs of Jaffa was effected by two causes, both Jewish: 1, reports of Deir Yassin–”the repute which propaganda had bestowed on [the Irgun],” says Begin, who tried to deny the massacre of early April but notes with pride that the fact that the Irgun was coming to Jaffa threw the Arabs into “abject fear.” 2, “the weight of our bombardment.”
if you’re going to take my stuff out of context, at least wait a few comments so it isnt RIGHT after what i just said. It makes you look bad.
if you’re going to take my stuff out of context, at least wait a few comments so it isnt RIGHT after what i just said. It makes you look bad.
a. price,
For anyone like me, with the most basic understanding of I-P history, you’re so easy, that it takes moments to find a link to debunk your zionist ravings.
you obviously have NO understand of the I-P history, given your lack of any response other than “ZIONIST THUG” (same as amadinnerjacket) when anyone mentions Arafat, Hamas, suicide bombers, Jordan……. The list goes on.
I, for the record do not see this issue in black and white. Israel is not the innicent victim in this…. neither is the Palestinian Authority and esspecialy not Hamas… who cares more about killing every Jew than it does about the wellbeing of ANY Arab child….your inability to differentiate between Hamas, and the Palestinian people shows a total lack of will to understand.
You comunicate with bumpersticker slogan, skewed websites that share your agenda, and attempts at insults that i dont even consider insulting…
Zionist? damn right Israel has the right to exist.
“I, for the record do not see this issue in black and white. Israel is not the innicent(sic)victim in this…. neither is the Palestinian Authority and esspecialy(sic)not Hamas… who cares more about killing every Jew than it does about the wellbeing(sic)of ANY Arab child….your inability to differentiate between Hamas, and the Palestinian people shows a total lack of will to understand.”
If you sincerely believe “Israel is not the innicent(sic)victim in this…”, then I commend you for joining true people of conscience in calling for a halt in U.S. war aid to such a habitual human rights violator.
But seriously, as I said before, saying “Israel is not the innicent(sic)victim in this…” is as mendacious an understatement as saying “America was not the innocent victim at My Lai”.
“your inability to differentiate between Hamas, and the Palestinian people shows a total lack of will to understand.”
Actually I do understand. As we called the Vietnamese, “Viet Cong”, especially ones we killed, so zionists call palestinians “Hamas”. For the same reason.
And one more thing, your spelling really goes to hell as your frenzy mounts.
And one more thing, your spelling really goes to hell as your frenzy mounts. LOL!
fi my spelling ALWAYS sucks. as does my sentnse strukture, and presentation.
fi my
spellingZIONISM ALWAYS sucks. as does my sentnse strukture, and presentation.Loads of Urkel and No-Show Bonini signs up down this way. Actually, I need to take down the 2 huge Flowers signs.
One important fact you seem to forget in your attempt to differentiate Hamas from the average Palestinians is that Hamas was duly elected by the Palestinian populace.
You know what else always irks me about Israel? How you always hear government muck a mucks call them a democracy when you can’t even immigrate there unless your genetics are acceptably jewish.
I wouldn’t recommend going there to protest though, bad things tend to happen:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/mar/23/tristan-anderson-israel-protest
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rachel_Corrie
Great comments Delacrat, the methods by which Israel was created (i.e. terrorism) is something that most Americans are completely ignorant about, though they are essential to understanding the I/P conflict.
Interesting that all of the anti-Israel and anti-Semitic postings of delacrap decide to rear their ugly head on the 72nd anniversary of Kristallnacht. You looking to start another pogrom?
anyone looking to collect loser O’Donnell signs for memorabilia – come to Sussex –
they are like mushrooms – seems her 1 million dollars left over from the campign cannot create a job of two for someone to take the campign signs down……..
MJ, anti-Israeli government does not equate to anti-semitic any more than being anti-Zimbabwe government means being ant-black. As we have discussed before, there are many Israeli and American Jews who abhor the current Israeli actions and policies toward the Palestinians and there are many Palestinians who do not support Hamas terrorism.
It does not reflect well on you to accuse anyone who expresses strong opinions against the inhumane and brutal tactics of the Israeli government as being anti-semetic or pro-holocoust. In fact, such statements are deeply prejudiced and I would respectfully ask you to refrain from making them.
It was prejudice, nationalism, and unquestioned allegiance to a brutal and lawless government that led to Kristallnacht. May we never forget it, and may it never happen again.
NIce MJ… Also worth noting… when Israel was “terrorized” away from it’s “native people” (who should still have every right to live there provided they dont strap bombs to their children) about 80% of it was either a desert, a swamp, or mostly Jewish-Israeli. They are the ones who introduced fancy schmancy irrigation and land development. BUt again, dont let facts get in your way.
I oppose and will continue to oppose the conservative war hawks and settlers who are basically Jewish Taliban. But the fact you would condemn the entire people… is, well really not surprising. Like i said, Jews get blamed for it all every 50 or so years. Right now it is trendy for lefteabags to knee-jerk oppose anything embraced by the right wing. If it makes you feel better, del…. the righties in THIS country want to support Israel NOT because they care about the political and human aspects to the Palestinian conflict…. it is because they need Israel to be in Jewish control, and for the temple to be rebuilt and all the old city gates re-opened for the Rapture to happen.
I just want it to remain because it is a beautiful country with a beautiful culture…. (yes, of killing and violence…LOVE ME some violence… esspecially against unarmed children. makes my nose tickle) and i’d hate to see it destroyed by a combination of suicide bombers, over zealous war hawks, and what has become a habit of Europe letting all the yids take the blame for everything.
1. “As we have discussed before, there are many Israeli and American Jews who abhor the current Israeli actions and policies toward the Palestinians and there are many Palestinians who do not support Hamas terrorism.”
Thank you a1… that is a stamen i never thought id see you make. Still something Delcrat cant bring itself to admit… that Hamas is a terrorist organization and that they dont represent the feelings of all or even most Palestinians.
Whybother…. Hamas may have “won” the election but if you think it was fair or open, you are kidding yourself. Hamas wont the election with guns in their hands. Or, they DID win the election fairly meaning their terrorism and “kill every Israeli and American at all costs no matter what” ideal are shared by all the Palestinians. Why would you give support to the Likud party by lumping them all together?
finally
“You know what else always irks me about Israel? How you always hear government muck a mucks call them a democracy when you can’t even immigrate there unless your genetics are acceptably jewish.”
False. If you are Jewish, you can step off the airplane, claim “right of return” and be an Israeli citizen. For non-Jews, the process is similar to America. Hope that clears things up.
Also the definition of a democracy is not the mehod by which immigrants become citizens… that is something you should look up on your time.
My best guess is it is like this because for 2000+ years before Israel being Jewish meant you LOST citizenship in most of the world
Looks like you might be right about that immigration issue Price, but nevertheless the state defines itself based on an ethnic/religious character, and as such cannot be called a modern democracy. I believe that they do have laws that insure that the country remain primarily Jewish, and that’s discrimination, plain and simple.
Please, stop the cries of anti-semitism. It’s unseemly, and an ad-hominem attack. It does nothing to further the conversation and is every bit as harmful and unfair as calling someone a wetback.
Mj and A., the both of you turn a blind eye to Israel’s actions. You support Jewish right of return based on a 2,000 year old religion, yet you refuse to recognize the right of return for all the Palestinians that were expelled by force just some 50 years ago. It’s called a double standard.
Furthermore, I don’t think either of you is being intellectually honest in the slightest. I think you have an agenda and you’re willing to play dirty to try to achieve it. Incidentally, your computer has a freaking spellcheck feature. Use it for Christ’s sake.
Palestinians were not kicked out of Israel 50 years ago…. they WERE however expelled from Syria, Lebanon, Jordan and Egypt. only in the last 10 years have segregation and checkpoints been enforced. And for the record, many Palestinians live peacefully in many parts of Israel. Gaza and the West Bank are the way they are because their own “duly elected” governments spend every shekel NOT on infrastructure or aid, but on weapons and propaganda.
If you want to get in to countries the US supports who have laws favoring or discriminating against religions, i encourage you to look in to a place called Saudi Arabia. Israel is necessary because Jews are shot pretty much on sight in every other country in that area. I would also point out that you are using the American Constitution to make your argument about why Israel is wrong. Different country, different rules.
If Hamas, NOT THE PALESTINIAN PEOPLE … (as i am obliged to say every time lest ye call me a Nazi) takes control of Israel.. as they want to, we will see another 6 million dead Jews, and dead Christians, and dead Muslims who don’t meet the purity test. It is their stated objective. Not some paranoid theory dreamt up by war-hawk Zionists, but their mission statement.
As for the cries of anti-Semitism….. just like racism, it takes many forms. Glenn Beck is a racist. He claims not to be, even touts black friends. But his view of “how the world should be” keeps white people in control and powerful and keeps black people “in their place”. The millions of kind hearted Germans who just knew the facts that “Jews shouldn’t live with Aryans” weren’t willfully anti-Semitic, but they sympathized with a movement that was because they were uninformed, or just the simple fact they lived in Europe. Look into European history from the Inquisition, the Passion Play…. pretty much every even led up to the Holocaust and otherwise decent people were taken in by the “reality” that people who all just happened to be Jewish were the root of all their ills. Europe today is very anti Israel. They don’t even realize they are doing it, but against they are sympathizing with a movement (Hamas) that wants to finish the job.
“Use it for Christ’s sake.”
and not sure if that was an intentional pun, but bravo.
A, I really don’t think you’re arguing in good faith here but I’m going to respond to you anyway for the benefit of some other people that might read this that actually have an interest in the truth.
First off, Palestinians were expelled by the Israeli’s 50 years ago. They even have a name for the event, the Nakba. From Wikipedia:
“Nakba Day (Arabic: يوم النكبة Yawm an-Nakbah), meaning “day of the catastrophe”,[1] is an annual day of commemoration for the Palestinian people of the anniversary of the creation of Israel.[2] It is held every May 15, the day after the anniversary of Israel’s Independence according to the Gregorian calendar and the day marks the expulsions and flight of Palestinians from their towns and villages in the face of Jewish and later Israeli troop advances and their displacement from Palestine, and the loss of their property.”
Incidentally, the current Israeli government has tried to make commemorating this day ILLEGAL in Israel, so that should give you some idea of the kind of concessions an Arab has to make to live in Israel peacefully. As for the ills of Jordan, Syria, etc., we are not discussing those nations, or aid to them, and the injustices committed by THEM do not make what Israel has done justifiable. Similarly, the fact that jews are not welcome in other Arabic countries is not justification for the brutality that Israel routinely commits against the Palestinians (not to mention international aid groups that try to help them). You might want to actually consider the possibility that some of the resentment towards the Jews in Arabic countries stems from the way that Israel conducts itself. Furthermore, it’s not every Arabic country that Jews are treated this way, for example in Iran there are some 30,000 that live there peacefully:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/5367892.stm
You really have some nerve to say that the reason Gaza and the West Bank are the way they are solely because of Hamas spending all the money on weapons and propaganda. The reason Hamas came to power in the first place is because Israel refuses to declare borders and the moderate government that preceded Hamas could do nothing about it. You know that whole thing about how occupying powers radicalize the citizenry? Well what happened in Iraq and Afghanistan is happening for the same reasons in the W. Bank and Gaza. Do you really think the blockade Israel has imposed on these areas has nothing to do with screwing up the economy? What about the fact that Israel has bombed the living shit out of them before, and will probably do so again? Do you want to set up a business in a war zone? Of course not, and neither does anyone else. But yeah, it’s all Hamas’s fault, not the armed to the teeth larger nation that refuses to declare borders and treats the Palestinians like inhuman filth.
Of course, no argument from an Israel defender would be complete without the spectre of the Holocaust used to justify everything Israel does. This isn’t 1939, and Hamas isn’t Hitler. You spit on the grave of every person that died in the Holocaust by using it justify Israel’s brutality, and you should be ashamed of yourself.
Israel needs to declare it’s borders and stop the settlements. Period. It’d be nice if a person could get elected in THIS country that was willing to vote to defund Israel until that happens.
the day marks the expulsions and flight of Palestinians from their towns and villages in the face of Jewish and later Israeli troop advances
These “advances” were counterattacks in response to invasion by their five Arab neighbors, plus multiple Arab-sponsored guerilla forces.
The practical impact of the Holocaust, apart from the moral horror. was that after the end of WWII, large numbers of Jews emigrated from Europe to Palestine, and their numbers simply changed the political situation on the ground.
i have no desire to communicate with Hamas apologists.
but one last thing…. You think American news is the only one with bias? Just because they have British accents doesn’t mean they are totally objective. Europe as a whole really doesn’t care what happens to Israel. So any “poor Hamas” stories you hear from them are just about as credible as “poor saint sarah” stories you hear from Fox.
I just have one question for you A. Do you support Israel declaring borders or not?
WhyBother: watch out you dont know who your are messing with here. You stand up for truth about the Palestinans and you WILL be labeled an anti semitic.
Israel’s borders were declared in 1948….they just havent abided by the border since then for “the greater Israel”. Now that the baggers have taken office, Eric Cantor and his pro Israelie thugs will be pushing for an attack on Iran. Cantor met with Bibi privately, and everyone of the baggers are PRO Israel, no balance.
Notice A. doesn’t answer the question. He knows that people are getting kicked out of their homes and brutalized for being Arabs, he just doesn’t care. And then to top it off he hides behind cries of anti-semitism and emotional manipulation about the holocaust. Shameful.
notice how A. spends most of his weekend either at work or having a life that doesn’t revolve around talking to under informed anonymous internet trolls.
But to answer your Inquisition,
yes Israel and Palestine should have defined borders. I know it is tough to understand this, but it is possible to have an opinon that is not either Helen Thomas OR Eric Cantor.
There is such as thing a supporting a Palestinian state, criticizing Israeli settlements and their GOPlike Likud party, WHILE supporting their right to defend themselves from Hamas, and every other group in the area who has vowed to destroy them. I dont expect you to understand since you have already made up your mind and cant differentiate between the overwhelming majority of Palestinians who only want peace and the terrorists who are calling the shots for them. You also cant tell the difference between the very real threat Israel faces and the made up non-threat America faces.
Go outside. it is beautiful
“and the terrorists who are calling the shots for them.”
you mean the “terrorists” called the IDF…
beat you to it, del.