NEW YORK (AP) -- The nearly complete and remarkably preserved skeleton of a small, 47 million-year-old creature found in Germany was displayed Tuesday by scientists who said it would help illuminate the evolutionary roots of monkeys, apes and humans. Experts praised the discovery for the level of detail it provided but said it was far from a breakthrough that would solve the puzzles of early evolution.
About the size of a small cat, the animal has four legs and a long tail. Nobody is claiming that it's a direct ancestor of monkeys and humans, but it provides a good indication of what a long-ago ancestor may have looked like, researchers said at a news conference.
In an evolutionary sense, the fossil is like an aunt from several generations ago, said Jens Franzen of the Senckenberg Research Institute in Frankfurt, Germany.
The fossil is the best preserved ever found for a primate, said Jorn Hurum, of the University of Oslo Natural History Museum, one of the scientists introducing the specimen. It's about 95 percent complete, even including fingertips with nails, and lacks only the lower portion of one leg, Hurum said. It also includes gut contents, showing the creature ate leaves and fruit in its rainforest environment.
POSTVILLE (AP) — Twenty former workers at the Agriprocessors Inc. plant in Postville have received visas under a law that protects crime victims.
The first wave of women and children arrested last year at the plant have been granted U-visas by U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, allowing them to legally live and work in the country for four years. They can apply for green cards in the third year.
Sonia Parras-Konrad, a Des Moines attorney who led the effort, said the visas are a big step toward vindicating the immigrants and giving them justice.
“A government entity has found, indeed, that these women and children have been subjected to extreme emotional or physical harm by Agriprocessors,” Parras-Konrad said. “These people have been exploited, have been assaulted, have been humiliated, have been verbally and emotionally abused by this employer.”
To be eligible for the visas, the former workers must meet several requirements, including assisting authorities in any pertinent investigations.
"It is God's will that by doing good you should silence the ignorant talk of foolish men."-- biblical quote from Top Secret war briefing memo prepared by Pentagon for President Bush (April 2003).
Newt Gingrich knows a lot about saying stupid things and being forced out of the job as Speaker. … But one way or the other — I mean, I wasn’t in the room, you weren’t in the room, Newt Gingrich wasn’t in the room. None of us know exactly what happened there. But whatever it is Nancy Pelosi knew about, George W. Bush, Dick Cheney, John Yoo, Jay Bybee, they knew more. And ultimately, when we have a thorough investigation of what happened, the bulk of the blame has to lie with the architects of the policy, not with a member of the opposition party.And then, via Josh Marshall at TPM, there's this quote from The Politico looking at Leon Panetta's actual words:
Central Intelligence Agency Director Leon Panetta didn't reject or deny House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's allegations that she was falsely briefed by the CIA about interrogations.I've not always been a super fan of Rep. Pelosi but the media (to the glee of the wing-nuts) has clearly decided that she is liar based on the flimsiest "he said / she said" evidence. This is the same CIA that, at the time, was providing "slam-dunk" intelligence on Iraq to the Bush Administration. I think any judgment on all of this needs to wait for some type of 'truth commission.'
Look carefully at Panetta's statement from Friday, especially the verb tense used. "Let me be clear: It is not our policy or practice to mislead Congress." First, "let me be clear" always precedes an ambiguous statement. Without fail. Panetta isn't opining on past acts. He's referring to the current policy. He's also not saying it never happens or happened that someone lied to or misled Congress. He's saying the agency as a whole doesn't intend to.
Panetta was at his Monterey, Calif. think tank when this all happened in 2002 and 2003. He doesn't know if Pelosi was lied to. He also doesn't say he talked to the briefers and is convinced they're telling the truth. He just says the paper records say she was briefed about the techniques. We knew that already from agency statements. So he's adding his voice to the mix and sending a signal that he'll stand by his agency, but to say he sided with the briefers on the specifics is just wrong.
Again, I'm not saying Pelosi was lied to or even misled. It would seem rather brazen to do that. But Panetta's statement says less than people are claiming.
The President
The White House
Washington, DC 20500
Dear Mr. President,
My name is Pedro Arturo Lopez Vega, I am the son of Consuelo Vega Nava, one of the workers that were caught in the May 12, 2008 Postville Raid at Agriprocessors, Inc. She was sentenced to five months in jail and then deported to Mexico on October 25th, 2008. She did not talk about me and my little sister because she was afraid that they would send us to jail with her. I don’t want anybody to suffer the way I did because it is very painful when they take away the one person you can always trust and count on.
The raid has affected me and my family in many ways. My nine year old sister Samantha would go into her room and “talk” to my mom while she was actually not there. My nephew who was eight months at the time, would always crawl to the front door and wait for my mom and after she would not show up, he would start to cry. As for me, instead of my mom waking me up, giving me a kiss, and sending me to school, my older sister Juanita has to do it. When I come back from school I don’t receive the warm hug that my mom used to give me and when I go to sleep I miss her goodnight kiss and her blessing for the night.
When we had mock elections in school I voted for you because I knew you were the change that this country and immigration population needs.
In school I read about a soldier in the Civil War who had to stand guard two nights in a row. On the second night he fell asleep and was sentenced to death for not doing his duty. Abraham Lincoln pardoned him and when the soldier offered to pay him with his savings Abraham Lincoln refused and told him to just do his duty.
Mr. President, I want to ask you to be like Abraham Lincoln and pardon my mother for three days so she can come to Postville on May 29, 2009 and see my graduation from 8th grade and allow me to show her that I kept my promise.
I cannot repay you with money but I assure you that I will always do my best and help people in need.
Respectfully yours,
Pedro Arturo Lopez Vega
332 North Reynolds Street
Postville, Iowa 52162
_____________________________________________________________________________________
Mrs. Michelle Obama
The White House
Washington, DC 20500
Dear Mrs. Obama,
My name is Pedro Arturo Lopez Vega, I am the son of Consuelo Vega Nava, one of the workers that were caught in the May 12, 2008 Postville Raid at Agriprocessors, Inc. She was sentenced to five months in jail and then deported to Mexico on October 25th, 2008. She did not talk about me and my little sister because she was afraid that they would send us to jail with her. I don’t want anybody to suffer the way I did because it is very painful when they take away the one person you can always trust and count on.
It has been almost a year since I last saw my mom. I know that as a mother, you can imagine how my mother must have felt spending days and nights without knowing anything about her children or her husband.
The raid has affected me and my family in many ways. My nine year old sister Samantha would go into her room and “talk” to my mom while she was actually not there. My nephew who was eight months at the time, would always crawl to the front door and wait for my mom and after she would not show up, he would start to cry. As for me, instead of my mom waking me up, giving me a kiss, and sending me to school, my older sister Juanita has to do it. When I come back from school I don’t receive the warm hug that my mom used to give me and when I go to sleep I miss her goodnight kiss and her blessing for the night.
I don’t wake up with the same desire to go to school as I used to but I get up, go to school, and do my homework because I promised my mom that I would get an education and try to be successful in life.
I would very much appreciate it if you could ask your husband to give my mother a three day visa, so she can come to Postville and see my graduation from 8th grade on May 29, 2009 and allow me to show her that I kept my promise.
Respectfully yours,
Pedro Arturo Lopez Vega
332 North Reynolds Street
Postville, Iowa 52162
To the government, Postville was a cold clinical experiment. For the first time it sought to criminalize immigrants on a mass scale. In Postville, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Iowa, using the federal identity theft statute as a hammer, forged serious crimes out of mere civil immigration violations. No longer would it be enough to simply arrest and deport undocumented immigrants. They had to send them home as felons.
"On May 12, immigration reform advocates will once again gather in Postville to remember the massive enforcement action there one year ago and to plead for comprehensive immigration reform, but U.S. Rep. Bruce Braley doesn’t see that issue as a part of the national debate anytime soon, despite his wishes to the contrary."
Iowa Independent, May 7, 2009.
Only Two Days to Help Save the Polar Bearsign the petition here
On March 11, Congress passed and President Obama signed into law a bill giving Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar the authority -- until May 9 -- to rescind with the stroke of a pen two rules passed in the final days of the Bush administration that weaken the Endangered Species Act. One exempts thousands of federal activities from review by expert scientists, and the other is a special rule for the polar bear that expressly bans federal agencies from examining the effects of greenhouse gas emissions on the polar bear -- despite the fact that the number one threat to the bear's survival is melting of its sea-ice habitat caused by global warming.
In positive news, on April 28 Secretary Salazar made good on President Obama's pledge to restore science to government decision-making by overturning the regulation that exempted thousands of damaging activities from review under the Endangered Species Act, ensuring that top scientists will be involved in reviewing federal actions that could harm imperiled plants and animals.
But Salazar’s task of restoring full protections under the Act is only halfway finished -- he has not yet revoked the special polar bear rule. The polar bear’s Arctic sea ice habitat is rapidly melting away. If Bush’s 11th-hour special rule is not struck down, the polar bear is likely to be the first large mammal to go extinct due to global warming in the United States.
A VENGEFUL AND ANGRY GOD!keep reading . . .
I am going to agree with fundamentalist Evangelical Christians - for the first and hopefully last time in my life. I have been reading many posts from Christian leaders, as well as excerpts from their books and articles they have written in magazines. I have also visited the websites and read through the literature of some of the largest megachurches (Lakewood Church in Houston - Joel Osteen & Saddleback Church in Lake Forest, CA,) in the Nation. I've read some more liberal interpretations of the bible in the Unitarian Universalist Association of Congregations website information. I've read through the articles and blogs on websites such as the 700 Club (our good friend Pat Robertson) and Promise Keepers. I've even forced myself to read the hate filled "end times" garbage on the rapture ready site (I'm banned from posting there after posting my "Christians and Torture" article. Apparently they don't want any conflicting opinions.)
What I've discovered is basically what you might expect. There are a plethora of different interpretations on every single passage of the bible. Each denomination seems to have a different way of interpreting the bible. The Unitarians seem to find a way to twist the bible verses to allow the celebration fo roe v wade - as well as the acceptance of homosexuals and the belief that they should be allowed to marry. The folks at the megachurches are generally about 2/3 on the scale when it comes to interpreting the bible. They don't take a literal interpretation - but will bend the words to make it OK to drive three SUV's, have a giant house in the suburbs where they just don't have to deal with "urban" people or problems. They have small group at the local "Dinner's Ready" franchise and make the weeks meals - and talk about how their husbands all seem to have a problem, no an addiction to pornography. One woman starts sobbing uncontrollably becasuse she caught her husband looking at Maxim at the dentists office. He had it tucked inside the cover of a Spirituality Today magazine. She said it made her feel that he wanted the women in that magazine more than he wanted her. (TIP FROM ME - HE DOES. WHEN YOU COME HOME WEARING "MOM" JEANS AND A SWEATSHIRT - OF COURSE HE'S GOING TO GET A BONE FOR ALYSSA MILANO - DUH!)
And of course the fundamentalist Christian Churches take a literal view of the bible. They view it as the inerrant word of God. There is no interpretation to fit their lives (well - no interpretation that can't be explained by the pastor anyway. It's simple - here is a brief rundown of some of their biblical truths .
The most sweeping use of the statute was in Iowa, after an immigration raid in May 2008 at a meatpacking plant in Postville. Nearly 300 unauthorized immigrant workers from the plant, most of them from Guatemala, pleaded guilty to document-fraud charges rather than risk being convicted at trial of the identity-theft charge. In most of those cases, the prosecutors demonstrated only that the Social Security numbers and immigration documents the workers had presented were false.
Many of the immigrants served five-month prison sentences and then faced summary deportation. The Postville cases raised an outcry among immigrant advocates, because they transformed into federal felonies a common practice by illegal immigrants of presenting fake Social Security numbers and other documents to employers.
The court’s ruling is unlikely to aid the immigrants in the Postville cases. Most of them have long since been deported.
Washington, DC – Since 2003, U.S. immigration authorities have spent more than $300 million to detain over 48,000 asylum seekers in U.S. prisons and prison-like facilities – in a system that lacks basic due process safeguards and is inconsistent with America's longstanding commitment to protect those who flee from persecution, according to a report released today by a leading human rights organization.Human Rights First is calling on the Departments of Homeland Security and Justice, and Congress, to place safeguards on the use of detention for asylum seekers and to improve the conditions where detention may be necessary.
"Refugees who seek protection in this country are greeted with handcuffs and prison uniforms, and they are treated like prisoners in correctional facilities," said Eleanor Acer, the director of Human Rights First's Refugee Protection Program. "New leadership at the Departments of Homeland Security and Justice should seize the opportunity to end this practice and implement some long overdue reforms, like ensuring that an asylum seeker can't be detained for months or years without having an immigration court consider the need for continued detention."
"What better way to sneak a virus into this country than to give it to Mexicans?...Get it going real good and hot south of the border, then just spread a rumor that there's construction jobs available."It occurs to me that there may be a conspiracy in the making. What better way to spread idiocy throughout our great country than to feed racist gibberish to a few radio blatherers and step back and watch the dumbing down of a whole country? Could this be an insidious terrorist attack by radio?
-- radio host Neal Boortz
"Make no mistake about it. Illegal aliens are carriers of the new strain of human swine avian flu from Mexico... Could this be a terrorist attack...?"
-- radio host Michael Savage
