The Extinction Distinction by Steven Jonas, MD, MPH

by Steven Jonas, MD, MPH
Featured Writer
Dandelion Salad
crossposted on TPJmagazine
Oct. 18, 2009

There have been five Great Extinctions in the history of Earth.  And yes, all you creationists out there, according to a great deal of scientific evidence, that is evidence that is based on observation, experimentation and reproducibility, the history of Earth does extend back just a bit more than 4-6000 years.

There have also been about 20 others, big but not so big.  The first of the Big Ones occurred at the end of what is called the Ordovician Period, about 450 million years ago.  The last Big One, the one that knocked off the dinosaurs and put the mammals on the road to dominance, occurred about 65 million years ago.  Now, it seems, we are all of a sudden facing the Sixth Big One.  What is the evidence for this?

Now, Let Us Stand for the Pledge of Allegiance By Gary Corseri

By Gary Corseri
Featured Writer
Dandelion Salad
October 18, 2009

“Maybe that’s what it’s all about. … Maybe all that happens is, you get older and you know less.” — Frank Sinatra

Children:

In Amerika today we have two parties … the Fascist Union (also known as the F.U. party) and the Phony Cooperative Baloney party (also known as the P.C.B.).

The F.U. party stands for wholesome, Amerikan values–what we used to call “rugged individualism.” We don’t use this term anymore because today we understand the dangers of “individualism”–especially among the lower classes. We know that smart and crafty people always get together to form cartels, meshing economic, political and social lives to pursue their own best interests—and to hell with everyone else! This is a law of Nature known as “survival of the fittest.” It’s also known as the “invisible hand” of the market. Even the great slave-holder, Thomas Jefferson, understood this when he wrote about “liberty” and the “pursuit of happiness.” Notice that he did not write about “justice” and the “pursuit of truth.” Today we know that “justice” and “truth” are in the eyes of the beholder. Each person has his or her own idea of what those words mean and you can’t run the New World Order with a lot of loose threads hanging out, can you?

Hopeless? by Cindy Sheehan

by Cindy Sheehan
Featured Writer
Dandelion Salad
Cindy Sheehan’s Soapbox Blog
Cindy Sheehan’s Soapbox
Oct. 18, 2009

Image by Dandelion Salad via Flickr

I attended a march and rally in San Francisco today that had about 400 people in attendance. The numbers were low and so were the spirits.

People were leaving early and many were just dejected at the low turnout on such a beautiful day. I wonder how many of the ones who did show up that we would have lost if there were bad weather?

Scott Horton interviews Cindy Sheehan

with Cindy Sheehan
Featured Writer
Dandelion Salad
Cindy Sheehan’s Soapbox Blog
Cindy Sheehan’s Soapbox

Antiwar Radio
Oct. 16, 2009

Peace activist Cindy Sheehan discusses plans for continuous civil disobedience in Washington D.C. until the Iraq and Afghanistan wars end, lessons learned from the Pittsburgh G-20 protests, how Obama’s Nobel Peace Prize was awarded soon after he refused to meet with peace groups and why much of the Left can’t wrap their heads around a pro-war Democratic Party.

Why Wright State is wrong: the controversial appointment of Dr. Larry James by Bob Fitrakis

Dandelion Salad

by Bob Fitrakis
Crossposted with permission from The Free Press
October 14, 2009

Who is Dr. Larry James? A man who in his biography claims responsibility for “Fixing Hell.” Whose hell did he fix? Or did he look the other way while the Devil’s work was done?

Between 2003 and 2007, Army Colonel Larry James served as Chief Psychologist of the Joint Intelligence Group and a senior member of the Behavioral Science Consultation Team (BSCT). James’ job was advising on interrogation and “behavior management” for the men and kids at the Guantanamo Bay detention center. In 2004, he functioned as the director of the Behavioral Science Unit at the Abu Ghraib prison.

That’s right. His past includes both the notorious Gitmo and Abu Ghriab, the infamous torture site in Iraq.

Capitalism is Incompatible with Human Nature

Dandelion Salad

PlasticJesus341
October 10, 2009

The solution is cooperation

Max Keiser: On the Edge with Michael Hudson

Dandelion Salad

MaxKeiserTV
October 18, 2009

Exclusive: God Bless Charles DeGaulle by Daniel N. White

by Daniel N. White
Featured Writer
Dandelion Salad
Oct. 18, 2009

Recent Washington Post article talks about how some unidentified Iraqis are saying that they are going to suffer if the United States leaves soon.  These Iraqis are saying that there will be a lot of killings by the various militias running around the country once the US leaves.  No doubt they are right on that.  Unstated but obvious message of the WP article is that therefore we the US must continue our war efforts there at least for the reasonably forseeable future and therefore things, if not fine, are at least the least bad of all the possible alternatives.  Which dishonest message, is of course to be expected from a newspaper that shamelessly shilled for the war in the first place.