Namespace

Yet there is one extremely consequential area where Obama has done just about everything a liberal could ask for—but done it so quietly that almost no one, including most liberals, has noticed. Obama’s three Republican predecessors were all committed to weakening or even destroying the country’s regulatory apparatus: the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), and the other agencies that are supposed to protect workers and consumers by regulating business practices. Now Obama is seeking to rebuild these battered institutions. In doing so, he isn’t simply improving the effectiveness of various government offices or making scattered progress on a few issues; he is resuscitating an entire philosophy of government with roots in the Progressive era of the early twentieth century. Taken as a whole, Obama’s revival of these agencies is arguably the most significant accomplishment of his first year in office.

It has to be quiet or he might not have been able to do it!

Oceans of liquid diamond, filled with solid diamond icebergs, could be floating on Neptune and Uranus, according to a recent article in the journal Nature Physics.

This accessible, well-researched book provides a devastating critique of both the theory and practice of carbon trading, which lie at the heart of global climate policy.

This Court now concludes that independent expenditures, including those made by corporations, do not give rise to corruption or the appearance of corruption. That speakers may have influence over or access to elected officials does not mean that those officials are corrupt. – US Supreme Court, Citizens United vs FEC

Brown’s comment about his daughters shocked even the Right’s madcap oracle Glenn Beck, who is known for his own off-the-wall remarks. Still, Beck thought Brown – in inviting men to make moves on his own daughters – was demonstrating the creepy behavior of a sexual predator.

“I want a chastity belt on this man,” Beck said. “I want his every move watched in Washington. I don’t trust this guy. … This one could end with a dead intern. … I’m just saying: Congratulations, now let’s monitor him. Let’s put an ankle bracelet on him. Let’s just know where he is at all times.”

This is interesting of Beck, since he’s such a huge fan of Palin and this Brown guy seems cast in the same politician as entertainer mold as she is.  He is just somehow… less classy then Palin.  Which I didn’t even know was possible.  Goddamn.

I was expecting jetpacks in 2001, but better late then never. Thanks NASA, I don’t know why comedians bitch about you so much. Waste of money, please. They’re comedians, they don’t know shit about money. Plus you’re like what 1% of the federal budget. Maybe not even that! Just imagine of 10% of what goes to military spending was instead spent on NASA. We’d be sipping pina coladas on the Moon by now.

azspot:

GDP of Haiti: $8.5 billion.

Goldman Sachs bonus pool: $20 billion.