Archive for the 'Bullshit' Category
Addressing a caller’s suggestion that the “lost revenue from the people who have been aborted in the last 30 years” would be enough to preserve Social Security’s solvency, radio host and former Reagan administration Secretary of Education Bill Bennett dismissed such “far-reaching, extensive extrapolations” by declaring that if “you wanted to reduce crime … if that were your sole purpose, you could abort every black baby in this country, and your crime rate would go down.” Bennett conceded that aborting all African-American babies “would be an impossible, ridiculous, and morally reprehensible thing to do,” then added again, “but the crime rate would go down.”
Bennett’s remark was apparently inspired by the claim that legalized abortion has reduced crime rates, which was posited in the book Freakonomics (William Morrow, May 2005) by Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner. But Levitt and Dubner argued that aborted fetuses would have been more likely to grow up poor and in single-parent or teenage-parent households and therefore more likely to commit crimes; they did not put forth Bennett’s race-based argument.
A sprawling body of visual evidence, made possible by inexpensive, lightweight cameras in the hands of private citizens, volunteer observers and the police themselves, has shifted the debate over precisely what happened on the streets during the week of the convention.
For [Dennis] Kyne and 400 others arrested that week, video recordings provided evidence that they had not committed a crime or that the charges against them could not be proved, according to defense lawyers and prosecutors….
Of the 1,670 cases that have run their full course, 91 percent ended with the charges dismissed or with a verdict of not guilty after trial.
Topeka ? Now that Kansas voters have changed the state constitution to prohibit same-sex marriage, what’s next?
The Rev. Terry Fox of Wichita, one of the primary supporters of the same-sex marriage ban, said Christians have been energized by the debate over same-sex marriage and they are eager to flex their political muscles.
“This has awakened the body of Christ,” Fox said.
April 6, 2005— A major Congressional leader now says he wants to make broadcast indecency ? the smutty talk that gets Howard Stern and Opie and Anthony into trouble ? a criminal offense.
Rep. F. James Sensenbrenner III (R-Wis.) says criminal prosecution would be a more efficient way to enforce the indecency regulations.
On Nov. 25, 2003, a federal judge sentenced Leonard Pickard and Clyde Apperson to life and 30 years, respectively, for one count each of conspiracy to manufacture and distribute more than 10 grams of LSD and one count each of possession with the intent to distribute more than 10 grams of LSD. That afternoon, the Department of Justice and Drug Enforcement Administration celebrated the sentencing with a press release describing the bust in the case as the “Largest LSD Lab Seizure in DEA History.”
But how real is the 91-pound number? Based on my inquiries and official testimony, I’ve concluded that the drug operation the DEA broke up had less than a half-pound of LSD on hand, enough to make only 10 million hits of 20-microgram acid.
The New York Times says the CIA has sent more than 100 suspected terrorists to other countries for interrogation under a secret program authorized by the Bush administration.
Sunday’s edition of the newspaper quotes former and current government officials as saying the CIA has acted under a still-classified directive that President Bush signed within days of the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.
The officials said the process, known as rendition, has been central in U.S. efforts to disrupt terrorism. Suspects have been sent to countries including Egypt, Syria, Jordan, Saudi Arabia and Pakistan.
The transfers have been criticized because some former prisoners alleged they were mistreated. An administration official told the paper the CIA takes care to ensure the prisoners are detained under humane conditions and not tortured.
The US military is funding development of a weapon that delivers a bout of excruciating pain from up to 2 kilometres away. Intended for use against rioters, it is meant to leave victims unharmed. But pain researchers are furious that work aimed at controlling pain has been used to develop a weapon. And they fear that the technology will be used for torture.
One document is entitled “Sensory consequences of electromagnetic pulses emitted by laser induced plasmas”.
It concerns so-called Pulsed Energy Projectiles (PEPs), which fire a laser pulse that generates a burst of expanding plasma when it hits something solid, like a person (New Scientist print edition, 12 October 2002). The weapon, destined for use in 2007, could literally knock rioters off their feet.
TOPEKA, Kan., Feb. 24 – Attorney General Phill Kline, a Republican who has made fighting abortion a staple of his two years in the post, is demanding the complete medical files of scores of women and girls who had late-term abortions, saying on Thursday that he needs the information to prosecute criminal cases.
(CNN)—Documents obtained by CNN reveal the United States knew about, and even condoned, embargo-breaking oil sales by Saddam Hussein’s regime, and did so to shore up alliances with Iraq’s neighbors.
From Unknown News
U.S. veterans from the war in Iraq are beginning to show up at homeless shelters around the country, and advocates fear they are the leading edge of a new generation of homeless vets not seen since the Vietnam era.
From BNN
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