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nomoretexasgovernorsforpresident reblogged demnewswire:
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Maybe "The Walking Dead" is coming true.
- Just ask Florida’s face-eating cannibal
- and New Jersey’s self-eviscerating man who threw intestines at cops
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other-stuff reblogged silas216:
Whistleblowing Wednesday: Unclassified Memo Shows That The Army Knew Burn Pits Causes Illnesses
Since returning home from Iraq and Afghanistan, an untold number of soldiers have come down with puzzling health problems. Chronic bronchitis. Neurological defects. Even cancer. Many of them are pointing the finger at a single culprit: The open-air “burn pits” that incinerated trash — from human waste to computer parts — on military bases overseas.
Pentagon officials have consistently reassured personnel that there was no “specific evidence” connecting the two. But now, only days after Danger Room uncovered a memo suggesting that Army officials knew how dangerous the pits were, an animal study is offering up new scientific evidence that links burn pits to depleted immune systems.
“The dust doesn’t only appear to cause lung inflammation,” says Dr. Anthony Szema, an assistant professor at Stony Brook School of Medicine who specializes in pulmonology and allergies, and the researcher who led this latest study. “It also destroys the body’s own T-cells.” Those cells are at the core of the body’s immune system, “like a bulletproof vest against illnesses,” Szema tells Danger Room. When they’re depleted, an individual is much more prone to myriad conditions.
The unclassified memo (.jpg), dated April 15, 2011, stated that high concentrations of dust and burned waste present at Bagram Airfield for most of the war are likely to impact veterans’ health for the rest of their lives.
“The long term health risk” from breathing in Bagram’s particulate-rich air include “reduced lung function or exacerbated chronic bronchitis, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), asthma, atherosclerosis, or other cardiopulmonary diseases.” Service members may not necessarily “acquire adverse long term pulmonary or heart conditions,” but “the risk for such is increased.”
Accordingly, the health risks were not limited to troops serving at Bagram in 2011, the memo states. The health hazards are an assessment of “air samples taken over approximately the last eight years” at the base.
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The worst one billion-dollar investment since someone bought one billion dollars worth of Facebook stock.
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arenaoftheunwell reblogged hambonetoblerone:
Many Washington pundits have declared the battle to recall Scott Walker all but over, and at least one public poll has shown Walker with a five point lead. This has created a problem for labor and Dems, who worry that impressions that the race can’t be won could depress enthusiasm among Dems in a battle that will likely be decided by who turns out to vote.
But make no mistake: Dems and labor still think the race is a dead heat. They are supplying their own polling data to make the case, and to energize the base in the home stretch.
A new poll taken by pollster Celinda Lake — who is a Democrat but is well respected by polling professionals — has found that the battle between Scott Walker and challenger Tom Barrett is now deadlocked, at 49 percent each.
The poll — which will be released later today and was comissioned by the pro-labor Greater Wisconsin Committee’s political fund — also finds that independents are breaking towards Barrett, 49-44.
The poll is an automated one (which means it doesn’t include cell phones) that surveyed 600 likely Wisconsin voters from May 24-28, which means it was in the field until Monday of this week. Its sample: 43 percent Democrats and Dem-leaners; 43 percent Republican and GOP-leaners; and 13 percent non-leaning independents.
Today’s poll is reinforced by another internal survey released last weekby the labor-backed group We Are Wisconsin, which also found a dead heat.
A public poll taken from May 17-22 by Saint Norbert College found Walker ahead 50-45, though that remained in the poll’s margin of error. Union officials questioned its sampling, and a pollster for Barrett argued to Chris Cillizza that some of the public polling had been taken before Barrett mounted his TV ad offensive against Walker.
Also: Keep an eye out for the release this afternoon of another public poll from Marquette Law School, which will be closely scrutinized by both sides.
Today’s poll — like polling released by the other side — should be evaluated as part of the ongoing spin war over the course of the recall campaign, which is designed to help influence the outcome, or at least to prevent public polling from creating premature impressions that the race is over.
Indeed, even neutral Wisconsin political observers believe that public polling of this race may not be predictive, since turnout in a mid-year gubernatorial recall election is impossible to anticipate. What’s more, in this case turnout is expected to be far higher than in the 2010 election that installed Walker in power in the first place.
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jonbutter replied to your post: Bob’s Burgers is actually the best show
Bob’s Burgers is Jon approved; everyone should watch it
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thisisanangstblog reblogged parchemin:
queen of the princesses
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stfuconservatives reblogged truth-has-a-liberal-bias:
Ask your Republican buddies how low the tax rate has to go before the jobs start to miraculously appear. ~ Mark Fodor
