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Facebook users were updating their statuses which read a variety of colors such as black with pink polka dots and grey with pink swirls.
The color craze was supposed to be lighthearted and fun, but when it went viral, it caused controversy.
The color status craze was to create cancer awareness.
The Facebook chain email sent out read:
"Just write the color of your bra in your status. Just the color, nothing else. Then copy and send this to the girls on your friend list, absolutely no men. It will be fun to see if this will spread the wings of cancer awareness."
"I heard about it two days ago," said Facebook blogger Alyssa Morrison.
Another user, Haley Middlebrook said, "The other night I was noticing a lot people had their status as different colors."
Breast cancer survivor and spokesperson for Susan G. Komen Foundation, Deena Schmidt said it's a creative way to get the word out.
"One in eight women is going to get breast cancer" said Schmidt.
The men even began to weigh in.
"I believe in that 100%, any conversation is good," said Joe Tomasi.
Some bloggers were asking if this campaign actually raised awareness. One blogger was rubbed the wrong way.
She wrote on the Susan G. Komen Facebook wall, "If you want to raise awareness for breast cancer, try joining the race for the cure, donate your time, your money, your mind, not your bra color."
"This angers me so much because this whole thing is turning into a joke. Unacceptable!" the blogger criticized.
It's unclear who actually started the bra color campaign but Schmidt said reminders can save more lives. . Click Here to Read More.
WASHINGTON (AP) -- For the second time in two years, a rocket glitch sent a NASA global warming satellite to the bottom of the sea Friday, a $424 million debacle that couldn't have come at a worse time for the space agency and its efforts to understand climate change.
Years of belt-tightening have left NASA's Earth-watching system in sorry shape, according to many scientists. And any money for new environmental satellites will have to survive budget-cutting, global warming politics and, now, doubts on Capitol Hill about the space agency's competence.
The Taurus XL rocket carrying NASA's Glory satellite lifted from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California and plummeted to the southern Pacific several minutes later. The same thing happened to another climate-monitoring probe in 2009 with the same type of rocket, and engineers thought they had fixed the problem.
"It's more than embarrassing," said Syracuse University public policy professor Henry Lambright. "Something was missed in the first investigation and the work that went on afterward."
Lambright warned that the back-to-back fiascos could have political repercussions, giving Republicans and climate-change skeptics more ammunition to question whether "this is a good way to spend taxpayers' money for rockets to fail and for a purpose they find suspect."
NASA's environmental division is getting used to failure, cuts and criticism. In 2007, a National Academies of Science panel said that research and purchasing for NASA Earth sciences had decreased 30 percent in six years and that the climate-monitoring system was at "risk of collapse." Then, last month, the Obama administration canceled two major satellite proposals to save money.
Also, the Republican-controlled House has sliced $600 million from NASA in its continuing spending bill, and some GOP members do not believe the evidence of manmade global warming.
Thirteen NASA Earth-observing satellites remain up there, and nearly all of them are in their sunset years.
"Many of the key observations for climate studies are simply not being made," Harvard Earth sciences professor James Anderson said. "This is the nadir of climate studies since I've been working in this area for 40 years."
Scientists are trying to move climate change forecasts from ones that are heavily based on computer models to those that rely on more detailed, real-time satellite-based observations like those that Glory was supposed to make. The satellite's failure makes that harder.
Ruth DeFries, the Columbia University professor who co-chaired the 2007 National Academies of Science panel, said in an e-mail that this matters for everyone on Earth.
"The nation's weakening Earth-observing system is dimming the headlights needed to guide society in managing our planet in light of climate change and other myriad ways that humans are affecting the land, atmosphere and oceans," DeFries wrote.
NASA Earth Sciences chief Michael Freilich said it is not that bad.
"We must not lose sight of the fact that we in NASA are flying 13 research missions right now, which are providing the fuel for advancing a lot of our Earth science," Freilich told The Associated Press. He said airplane missions, current satellites and future ones can pick up much of the slack for what Glory was going to do.
However, Freilich, at a budget briefing a year ago, described the Earth-watching satellites as "all old," adding that 12 of the 13 "are well beyond their design lifetimes."
"We're losing the ability to monitor really key aspects of the climate problem from space," said Jonathan Overpeck, a climate scientist at the University of Arizona. "Just about every climate scientist in the world has got to be sad right now."
Glory failed when the rocket's clamshell-shaped protective covering that was supposed to shield it during launch never opened to let the satellite fire into orbit. A similar fiasco happened in 2009 when the Orbiting Carbon Observatory fell back to Earth after the rocket nose cone also failed to separate.
A NASA investigation board and Taurus' builder, Orbital Sciences Corporation of Dulles, Va., will try to figure out what wrong. It was the third failure out of nine launches for that rocket. NASA paid Orbital $54 million for launching Glory. The last failure was traced to the system that jettisons the covering, and Orbital changed its design.
"To make any connection between our investigation of the 2009 ... mishap and Friday's failure of the Glory launch at this time would be purely speculative and wholly inappropriate," said investigative panel chairman Rick Obenschain, deputy director of NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center.
. Mike Huckabee sends the media into a frenzy by criticizing Oscar-winner Natalie Portman for having a baby out of wedlock. BY: ALLIE SPILLYARDS ANCHOR: ALEX ROZIER
You're watching multisource entertainment news analysis from Newsy
The media is slamming potential 2012 presidential candidate Mike Huckabee after he called out Oscar winner Natalie Portman for quote “glorifying and glamorizing single motherhood.”
JILL LAWRENCE: “He’s trying to get headlines, be provocative, and it’s not exactly consonant all the time with being a serious presidential prospect.”
“Oh no you don’t, Mike. This is Natalie ‘Freaking’ Portman you’re talking about. This is an actress. A super talented and beautiful one who skipped the premiere of her movie Star Wars Episode 1 The Phantom Menace to study for her high school final exams. She attended and graduated from Harvard University with a degree in psychology.”
JAMES CARVILLE: “For Republicans his biggest problem is going to be he acknowledged that if it wouldn’t be for the government these children would have nothing to eat and no health care.”
But CNN’s Candy Crowley points out- when Huckabee made the comment, he was responding to a very leading question from radio host Michael Medved.
“Medved sort of led Huckabee into a question by saying, ‘talking about Natalie Portman the star of Black Swan who won the Oscar who thanked her fiance for giving her her best role yet which is she’s pregnant.’ And Medved said, ‘I think the best gift he could give to her would be a wedding ring.’”
“Hypocrisy? Bristol Palin out of wedlock giving birth to a child celebrates Republican values because she did not have an abortion. Natalie Portman pregnant somehow is threatening to the social fabric of America and would mean more ‘government assistance and children starving to death and never having health care.’”
“I did not ‘slam’ or ‘attack’ Natalie Portman, nor did I criticize the hardworking single mothers in our country.”
So is the media blowing Huckabee’s comments out of proportion? Or should the potential presidential candidate pay more attention to what he says?
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_________________________________________________________________________ Reuters
March 6, 2011 NEW YORK — Gasoline prices in the United States posted their second-biggest increase ever in a two-week period, due to the rise in crude oil prices stemming from the turmoil in Libya, an industry analyst said Sunday. The national average for a gallon of self-serve, regular gas was $3.50 on March 4, according to the Lundberg Survey of about 2,500 gas stations, up 32.7 cents from the previous survey on Feb. 18. The gross price increase was the biggest since the 38.44 cent-rise that occurred in the Aug. 26-to-Sept. 9, 2005, period following Hurricane Katrina, according to survey editor Trilby Lundberg.
WASHINGTON -- The Obama administration is considering tapping the Strategic Petroleum Reserve in response to rapidly rising gasoline prices brought on by turmoil in the Middle East, the White House chief of staff, William M. Daley, said Sunday.
''It's something that only has been done on very rare occasions," Daley said on "Meet the Press" on NBC, adding, "It's something we're considering."
Administration officials have sent mixed signals about the possibility of opening the reserve, which would add supply to the domestic oil market and tend to push down prices.
Energy Secretary Steven Chu said on Friday that the administration was monitoring prices, but he has been reluctant to endorse more aggressive steps.
''We don't want to be totally reactive so that when the price goes up, everybody panics, and when it goes back down, everybody goes back to sleep," he said.
A few days earlier, Chu said the administration was watching the situation closely, but expected oil production that had been lost in Libya would be made up by production elsewhere.
Administration officials continue to emphasize the critical need for long-term steps to reduce oil use, like improving the fuel economy of cars and promoting battery-powered vehicles.
But recently, five Senate Democrats have called for opening the reserve, which is stored in four salt domes in Texas and Louisiana. And on Feb. 24, three House Democrats from New England, where oil is used to heat homes, wrote to Obama saying that while exporters could increase production, "they also profit from oil price spikes and therefore have little incentive to quickly respond with the increased supply needed to calm markets."
In recent days, prices for the American benchmark crude, West Texas Intermediate, have exceeded $100 a barrel. Oil for April delivery closed at $104.42 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange on Friday.
The average price for a gallon of unleaded gasoline was $3.50 on Sunday, AAA reported, up from $3.12 a month earlier. Gasoline prices routinely rise as the weather gets warmer and people drive more, leading some experts to predict gasoline at $4 a gallon this summer.
The Strategic Petroleum Reserve was established in response to the Arab oil embargo of 1973-4. It was tapped most recently in September 2008 in response to Hurricanes Gustav and Ike. At that time, the Energy Department arranged "exchanges" with oil companies whose normal supplies had been interrupted; the oil companies later made restitution in oil. The last time the government sold oil from the reserve to address supply interruptions was in 2005, after Hurricane Katrina.
Sales were also made in January 1991 to calm global markets as the United States invaded Kuwait, which had been occupied the previous year by Iraq.
The government suspended oil purchases when prices were approaching a peak in 2008, before the recession began. In that case, members of Congress argued that acquisitions for the reserve were contributing to higher prices, harming consumers.
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CHICAGO -- There was a time when LOL - "laughing out loud" - was so simple.
If I thought something in a casual online conversation was funny, I typed it. If I wanted to let someone know I was kidding in an e-mail or an instant message, same.
I might even have felt a little cool, using inside lingo that, at one time, was exclusive to the online world. (You know I am not the only one who thought so.)
Today, though, I am sensing a shift, even in my own thoughts, about LOL. Certainly, it is as ubiquitous as ever. Just search for it on Twitter or Facebook to see how often people use it. Not exactly deep and meaningful stuff, mind you, but there sure is a lot of it.
Perhaps that is why, at least in some circles, LOL has lost its cachet. And at its worst, it is making people a little cranky.
It is overused and meaningless, they say. It "epitomizes lazy, and makes people a liar" says Seth Ginsburg, a 29-year-old New Yorker. "Are they really laughing out loud?"
Comedian Demetri Martin has joked that he uses "LTMQ - laughing to myself quietly."
"It's more honest," he says.
I laugh every time I hear that joke - out loud, no less - because I too have this internal debate: I tell myself that I will type LOL only if I'm really "LOL-ing."
But I fail, regularly. It is just too easy to type (two keys, one finger or a thumb, if it is a cell phone), too convenient a response.
Sure, there are LOL haters out there, seemingly more all the time. But for better or worse, this modern-day acronym has become ingrained in our lexicon and, for some, has evolved in meaning.
"It's brevity at its finest, and it gets a point across," says 25-year-old Arzi Rachman, another New Yorker.
Try as some might, LOL will not be easily shaken.
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The origins of this three-letter acronym, in its current form, are not easy to pin down. Most likely, it was a gamer or hacker who first used LOL (or "lol") on an electronic message board, probably sometime in the 1980s.
Its use became more common on early Internet services such as CompuServe and Netcom. By the mid-1990s, when even more people joined America Online, the term LOL hit the mainstream in chat rooms and in instant messaging.
It morphed, as well. If you thought something was really, really funny, for instance, you might type ROFL - "rolling on the floor laughing" - or LMAO - "laughing my (you know what) off."
By 2004, fatigue was setting in. LOL was added to the "List of Words to Be Banished from the Queen's English for Mis-use, Over-use and General Uselessness," updated each year at Lake Superior State University in Michigan.
Regardless, LOL went forth and multiplied and has since seeped into spoken language.
"At times, I do say LOL," says Rachman, a college student, "usually to accentuate sarcasm, or something along those lines."
Of course, when speaking of text conversations, one cannot forget the sideways smiley - :-) - which you might call LOL's older cousin.
Scott Fahlman, a research professor in the computer science department at Carnegie Mellon University, often gets credit for first suggesting that emoticon nearly 30 years ago. His fellow academics quickly embraced it and ushered in its everyday online use.
The sideways smiley has gotten bashed too -- it's been called the equivalent of "i's" dotted with hearts.
But asked if he has ever used LOL, Fahlman will tell you, "Nope." He draws the line.
"It sort of strikes me as kind of - this is going to sound sexist - a teenage girl thing," he says, "a high school thing."
But is that really true? Does the use of LOL really fall along generational lines? Was the implication that some of us are too old to use LOL?
"One of the things that's pretty clear - whether LOL is in or passe - it depends on your social circle," says Naomi Baron, a linguist at American University who wrote the book "Always On: Language in an Online and Mobile World."
As more people of all ages forge online lives, those social circles may be less divided by generation, though not completely.
In surveying college students about their use of online or texted terms, for example, Baron has noticed a difference in the way they use LOL. For them, it is often used as a simple acknowledgment that may have nothing to do with laughter. Instead, LOL might mean "oh," ''got it," ''heard you" or "really?"
That use might bother some people; Baron also has colleagues who scold her when she does not correct students who greet her with a "hey!"
But she says that kind of evolution in language happens all the time. Sometimes, it's for practical reasons or convenience. Other times, it simply is a style or trend.
In the 18th and early 19th centuries in England, Baron notes, it was commonplace to sign a letter using "Yr Hum Serv," an abbreviation for "Your Humble Servant."
"Everybody knew what that meant," she says. "It was just convention."
Today, it is happening on Twitter with "hash tags" - the number symbol. Originally meant to mark terms or events that users may search for, people have started using hash tags to highlight the equivalent of a funny or snarky side comment. That use has since transferred to Facebook, where hash tags do not even apply.
"It's all part of marking your territory," Baron says. "People mark it linguistically. They mark it by dress. They mark it by how many earrings they have in their ears - you name it."
All of that makes sense to Ben Huh, who heads the Seattle-based company that oversees popular humor websites such as "I Can Has Cheezburger?" and "FAIL Blog." His sites allow users to share funny videos and photos, which he and his staff call "LOLs" or "lolz."
"I don't actually remember the first time I started using this lingo because it seemed to me that it was just part of life," says Huh, who is 33. "I didn't adopt the use of Internet cultural languages. I just grew up with it."
So for him, using LOL feels as natural as saying "OK," or "cool." He also could not care less whether a person who uses LOL really is laughing out loud.
"It's like the suburban dad who wants to put his hat on backward," he says, "versus the kid who puts a hat on backward because that's just what they do."
It is not necessarily a matter of age, he says, but whether it is really just who you are.
I have decided that LOL is me, sometimes.
Just like I do not send text messages to my mother, because they never would see the light of day, I probably would not use LOL with my boss or an acquaintance or any number of people who kvetched about LOL when I told them I was writing a story about it.
They are more likely to see the buttoned-up purist in me who avoids cliches "like the plague," as one of my college professors once encouraged me to do.
But then there is the me who has the urge to wear my pajamas to the coffee shop on a lazy Sunday morning.
She uses LOL, and wishes the world would lighten up, just a little.
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Online:
I Can Has Cheezburger? http://icanhascheezburger.com/
Fahlman's original smiley proposal: http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~sef/Orig-Smiley.htm
___
Martha Irvine is an AP national writer. She can be reached at mirvine@ap.org
In Stanley Kubrick’s classic 1964 dark comedyDr. Strangelove, a crazy U.S. Air Force general by the name of Jack D. Ripper (played by Sterling Hayden) starts WW III because he thinks the Soviet communists are poisoning the water supply with fluoride [see below]. The Cold War ended without any nuclear attacks, of course, but over the years, however, fluoride has become no laughing matter. Many holistic health experts claim that fluoride is a deadly toxin that has no business being in drinking water. Mike Adams, the self-named “health ranger” who heads the Consumer Wellness Center, has just come out with a video called The Fluoride Deception that explains that fluoride is actually industrial waste:
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Forced fluoridation is not just an issue in the U.S. Here is the trailer of a new Australian documentary called Fire Water that similarly opposes mandatory water fluoridation..
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Here is the scene from Dr. Strangelove in which General Ripper explains the fluoride conspiracy to Capt. Lionel Mandrake (Peter Sellers):
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AP EXCLUSIVE: Government plans lower fluoride limits; study shows kids have splotchy teeth
The Associated Press
By MIKE STOBBE AP Medical Writer
ATLANTA January 7, 2011 (AP)
Fluoride in drinking water — credited with dramatically cutting cavities and tooth decay — may now be too much of a good thing. Getting too much of it causes spots on some kids' teeth.
A reported increase in the spotting problem is one reason the federal government will announce Friday it plans to lower the recommended levels for fluoride in water supplies — the first such change in nearly 50 years.
About 2 out of 5 adolescents have tooth streaking or spottiness because of too much fluoride, a surprising government study found recently. In some extreme cases, teeth can even be pitted by the mineral — though many cases are so mild only dentists notice it. The problem is generally considered cosmetic.
Health officials note that most communities have fluoride in their water supplies, and toothpaste has it too. Some kids are even given fluoride supplements.
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services is announcing a proposal to change the recommended fluoride level to 0.7 milligrams per liter of water. And the Environmental Protection Agency will review whether the maximum cutoff of 4 milligrams per liter is too high.
The standard since 1962 has been a range of 0.7 to 1.2 milligrams per liter.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports that the splotchy tooth condition, fluorosis, is unexpectedly common in kids ages 12 through 15. And it appears to have grown much more common since the 1980s.
"One of the things that we're most concerned about is exactly that," said an administration official who was not authorized to speak publicly before the release of the report. The official described the government's plans in an interview with The Associated Press.
But there are other concerns, too. A scientific report five years ago said that people who consume a lifetime of too much fluoride — an amount over EPA's limit of 4 milligrams — can lead to crippling bone abnormalities and brittleness. . Click Here for more info.
St. Louis (KSDK) -- Unilever United States, Inc. is recalling Skippy Reduced Fat Creamy Peanut Butter Spread and Skippy Reduced Fat Super Chunk Peanut Butter Spread due to possible Salmonella contamination. Other Skippy products are not affected. The UPCs that have been impacted are: 048001006812 and 048001006782. They have Best-If-Used-By dates of MAY1612LR1, MAY1712LR1, MAY1812LR1, MAY1912LR1, MAY2012LR1 and MAY2112LR1. If you have a jar with one of these UPCs, throw it away and call the company at 1-800-453-3432 for a replacement coupon. The recall is in cooperation with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration after routine sampling showed these products may contain the bacteria. So far no illnesses have been reported. The product was distributed to stores in Arkansas, Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Iowa, Maine, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, North Dakota, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and Wisconsin.
BY CALVIN WILSON St. Louis Post-Dispatch March 3, 2011
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David Norris (Matt Damon) has what it takes to make it big in politics. His speeches elicit rapt attention not only for what he has to say, but for the way he says it. But unlike some politicians, Norris is no cynical manipulator; he really wants to make a difference in people's lives. Problem is, aside from his career, his life is meaningless. But that changes when he meets Elise Sellas (Emily Blunt). A dancer for a hip New York company, she's as committed to being a success as he is. Yet, when they're together, nothing else seems to matter. Do David and Elise share the same destiny? Not necessarily. They've attracted the attention of ominous men in hats who may or may not be angels but who go about their business with bureaucratic precision. Their latest action item: tearing the couple apart. "The Adjustment Bureau" is an exhilarating balancing act, at once a science-fiction romp, a paranoid thriller and a philosophical treatise. It's the directorial debut of George Nolfi, who adapted the script from a story by Philip K. Dick, the mind behind "Blade Runner" and "Minority Report."
As the flabbergasted David, Damon — who starred in the Nolfi-scripted films "Ocean's Twelve" and "The Bourne Ultimatum" — turns in one of his best and most charismatic performances. And Blunt, best known for playing a snotty fashion fanatic in "The Devil Wears Prada," is thoroughly appealing as the smitten Elise. Suspenseful, romantic and wryly funny, "The Adjustment Bureau" is the kind of film that reaffirms one's faith in Hollywood.
LOS ANGELES (AP) -- "Rango" has lassoed the top spot at the box office.
The animated Paramount film featuring Johnny Depp as the voice of a Wild West chameleon sheriff rode into town with a $38 million debut, according to studio estimates released Sunday.
"Rango," which was directed by "Pirates of the Caribbean" film franchise maestro Gore Verbinski, is the first animated feature from Industrial Light and Magic, the special effects studio founded by George Lucas in 1975.
"The draw for audiences was certainly Johnny Depp and Gore Verbinski, but when you look at the reviews, it was 88 percent positive on Rotten Tomatoes, which is a level that Pixar operates at," said Don Harris, Paramount's executive vice president for distribution. "This is a film that has a shot at being nominated for Academy Awards this time next year."
Universal's mind-bending thriller "The Adjustment Bureau," starring Matt Damon and Emily Blunt, debuted in the No. 2 spot with $20.9 million. CBS Films' fantasy tale "Beastly" with Alex Pettyfer and Vanessa Hudgens opened at No. 3 with $10.1 million, rounding out the weekend's top three films. It was another down weekend for Hollywood, with grosses coming in less than the corresponding weekend last year.
"Comparisons to a year ago are tough considering that's when 'Alice in Wonderland' opened with $116.1 million," said Hollywood.com analyst Paul Dergarabedian, referring to the Tim Burton film. "We're not even in that realm this year, so this is our second down weekend in a row. We've only had one up weekend at the box office versus a year ago. There's this malaise overtaking the marketplace."
The raunchy Warner Bros. comedy "Hall Pass" stayed committed in its second weekend in the No. 4 position with $9 million. The 3-D animated Walt Disney romance "Gnomeo and Juliet" also kept that loving feeling going in its fourth weekend with $6.9 million in the No. 5 spot, despite an animated showdown against "Rango," which was not released in 3-D.
"The King's Speech," the royal chronicle from the Weinstein Co. that ruled last week's Academy Awards with 12 wins, maintained the No. 7 place this weekend with $6.5 million. Dergarabedian noted that audiences who wanted to see the Oscar front-runner starring Colin Firth and Geoffrey Rush likely rushed to see the film before the Academy Awards telecast.
The weekend's other wide release, Relativity Media's throwback comedy "Take Me Home Tonight" starring Topher Grace and Anna Faris, only took home $3.5 million in the No. 11 spot. The box-office war will heat up with another barrage of movies opening next weekend, which includes the sci-fi saga "Battle: Los Angeles" and the PG-13 fairytale "Red Riding Hood."
Estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at U.S. and Canadian theaters, according to
Hollywood.com. Final figures will be released Monday.
1. "Rango," $38 million.
2. "The Adjustment Bureau," $20.9 million.
3. "Beastly," $10.1 million
4. "Hall Pass," $9 million.
5. "Gnomeo and Juliet," $6.9 million.
6. "Unknown," $6.6 million.
7. "The King's Speech," $6.5 million.
8. "Just Go With It," $6.5 million.
9. "I Am Number Four," $5.7 million.
10. "Justin Bieber: Never Say Never," $4.3 million.
(Reuters) - Thousands of union supporters protested Gov. Scott Walker's budget proposals on Saturday at the state capital, a day after the state's chief executive followed through on his threat to issue layoff warning notices to unions representing state workers. Joining the crowd was liberal filmmaker Michael Moore, who praised the protesters gathered in the battle over union bargaining rights as joining the history of the American labor movement.
Walker, a Republican, has proposed increased payments for health care and pension benefits for public workers and stripping their unions of most of their collective bargaining rights, a move he says is necessary to address a budget gap of $3.6 billion for the coming two years.
The warning notices, sent on Friday to at least 13 unions, do not represent actual layoffs for the state's 300,000 public employees but take the war of words between the newly elected governor and state Democrats to a new level.
Moore told the crowd, which was smaller than it has been the last two weekends of the ongoing protests, that the nation was awash in wealth, concentrated in the hands of a few, but the public has been cowed into not standing up for itself.
"Madison is only the beginning," Moore said. "The rich have overplayed their hand.
"There was no revolt, until now here in Wisconsin," he added.
The crowd estimate was put at about 12,000 people, smaller than previous crowds that numbered in the tens of thousands.
Democratic U.S. Rep. Tammy Baldwin reminded the rally of the 1965 voting rights march from Selma to Montgomery.
"What they did was change the course of history," she said. "That is what you are doing today."
Supporting Walker's proposals, meanwhile, the Americans for Prosperity organization was in the midst of a bus tour due to conclude on Sunday in Madison. The tour started on Thursday in Kenosha, with the aim of hitting 10 cities.
Walker's bill remains stalled in the Wisconsin Senate where all 14 Democrats fled to neighboring Illinois two weeks ago to deny the measure the quorum it needs to pass in the chamber.
Dave Hansen, one of the 14, issued a statement on Friday saying: "it has become increasingly apparent that Governor Walker is not interested in compromise, but instead appears intent on prolonging the impasse."
Behind-the-scenes negotiations have failed to produce a compromise. Just one Democrat is needed for a quorum.
The absent Democrats have been threatened with $100-a-day fines and the prospect of being arrested and taken to the Senate if they return to Wisconsin.
With no action expected on the bill, Walker said he will be forced to send out layoff notices to 1,500 state employees, saving some $30 million.
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Wisconsin State Representative Kelda Helen Roys talks about the large rally held today in support of workers' rights in Wisconsin. Governor Scott Walker is trying to take away collective bargaining rights for public employees. She says Gov Walker has abused his power trying to extort Dems in Wisconsin. She says voters are upset with Walker's "bait and switch" tactic he used to get elected. He promised that he would create jobs. But the first thing he did was to kill a federal high speed rail project that would have brought 5,000 jobs to Wisconsin. The federal money for that project was still spent, but on other states.
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Michael Moore at Madison, Wisconsin workers' rights rally March 5, 2011. He says the few that have the most money don't want to pay their fair share of the taxes. "They would rather invest in the gambling casino known as wall street. Betting for or against the stock market or against your home mortgage and the entire population suffers because that wealth has been removed from circulation. What's so cynical about this is the very people who don't pay their taxes crashed our economic system. They created the unemployment which has caused less tax revenue. And states like Wisconsin have ended up with a so-called budget crisis . But Wisconsin is not broke. It's one of the three biggest lies of the last decade. What are the three biggest lies? Let's repeat them. Number one, Wisconsin is broke. Number two, there's weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. And number three, the Packers need Farve in order to win the Super Bowl. The nation is not broke my friends. There's lots of money to go around. Lots! Lots! It's just that those in charge have diverted that wealth into a deep well that sits on their well-guarded estates. They know. They know that they have committed crimes to make this happen. And they know, And they know that someday you may want to see some of that money that used to be yours. So they have bought and paid for hundreds of politicians across the country to do their bidding for them."
"Contrary to what those in power would like you to believe so that you'll give up your pension, cut your wages, and settle for the life your great-grandparents had, America is not broke. Not by a long shot. The country is awash in wealth and cash. It's just that it's not in your hands. It has been transferred, in the greatest heist in history, from the workers and consumers to the banks and the portfolios of the upper-rich." -- Michael Moore
How they did it, and how Wisconsin taught us to fight back, at:
National Geographic Reveals 'Most Typical' Human Face
March 6, 2011
BY KRISTEN BRODY Anchor: Salem Solomon
You're watching multisource world video news analysis from Newsy.
The most common face on the planet... there’s a high school superlative you didn’t think about winning. After a yearlong study of global demographics, National Geographic has revealed the world’s most typical human being.
“Researchers conclude that a 28-year-old Han Chinese man is the most typical person on the planet. There are nine million of them. The picture is a composite of 200,000 faces. This part of the series on the human race called Population Seven Billion.”
(Video Source: WMAR)
Fox News calls the magazine’s latest project, Population Seven Billion, a quote- “ambitious effort,” and offers a little more detail on the results.
“They determined that the most typical person is Chinese, as 19% of humanity is, and speaks Mandarin -- as 13% of people do.”
However, the anchors over at Philadelphia’s WTXF aren’t impressed.
“Changing face? What did they composite all of the faces in the world to come up with one face? I don’t know. It’s weird. National Geographic is doing that? Ya, guess they gotta sell more magazines. They gotta come up with something better than that.”
The Wall Street Journal says National Geographic’s findings make sense when looking at the bigger picture.
“The need to keep so many young men occupied and satisfied helps explain China’s stunning economic development over the past few decades.”
But NatGeo went further than identifying the most typical person’s gender, race, and nationality -- the study also suggests this person is right-handed, has a cell phone, but does not have a bank account.
(Video Source: Youtube)
But as Phoenix ABC affiliate KNXV reports, Mr. Han Chinese will be overthrown within our lifetimes.
“They’re saying that in 20 years the most typical person is going to reside in India. So, it’s gonna change. Very interesting. So he has a very popular face? Yes.”
If you’re curious about how typical YOU are in the world today, check out this link. Click Here to Read More.
