{{ NUMOL BITES }}

{ If you’re outraged about Egypt shutting down the internet, please consider this… }

genderbitch:

thenoobyorker:

“A bill giving the president an Internet “kill switch” during times of emergency that failed to pass Congress last year will return this year, but with a revision that has many civil liberties advocates concerned: It will give the president the ability to shut down parts of the Internet without any court oversight.” -Raw Story

How large of a role does the internet play in your life?

Oh hello, USA, land of the “free”

(via tranzient-deactivated20110219-d)

{ An Open Letter to President Barack Obama }

thenoobyorker:

Dear President Obama:

As political scientists, historians, and researchers in related fields who have studied the Middle East and U.S. foreign policy, we the undersigned believe you have a chance to move beyond rhetoric to support the democratic movement sweeping over Egypt. As citizens, we expect our president to uphold those values.

For thirty years, our government has spent billions of dollars to help build and sustain the system the Egyptian people are now trying to dismantle. Tens if not hundreds of thousands of demonstrators in Egypt and around the world have spoken. We believe their message is bold and clear: Mubarak should resign from office and allow Egyptians to establish a new government free of his and his family’s influence. It is also clear to us that if you seek, as you said Friday “political, social, and economic reforms that meet the aspirations of the Egyptian people,” your administration should publicly acknowledge those reforms will not be advanced by Mubarak or any of his adjutants.

There is another lesson from this crisis, a lesson not for the Egyptian government but for our own. In order for the United States to stand with the Egyptian people it must approach Egypt through a framework of shared values and hopes, not the prism of geostrategy. On Friday you rightly said that “suppressing ideas never succeeds in making them go away.” For that reason we urge your administration to seize this chance, turn away from the policies that brought us here, and embark on a new course toward peace, democracy and prosperity for the people of the Middle East. And we call on you to undertake a comprehensive review of US foreign policy on the major grievances voiced by the democratic opposition in Egypt and all other societies of the region.

Sincerely,
Jason Brownlee, University of Texas at Austin
Joshua Stacher, Kent State University
Tamir Moustafa, Simon Fraser University
Arang Keshavarzian, New York University
Clement Henry, University of Texas at Austin
Robert Springborg, Naval Postgraduate School
Jillian Schwedler, University of Massachusetts at Amherst
Noam Chomsky, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Chris Toensing, Middle East Research and Information Project
Ellen Lust, Yale University
Helga Tawil-Souri, New York University
Anne Mariel Peters, Wesleyan College
Gregory White, Smith College
Asef Bayat, University of Illinois
Diane Singerman, American University
Cathy Lisa Schneider, American University
Robert Vitalis, University of Pennsylvania
Ahmet T. Kuru San Diego State University
Toby Jones, Rutgers University
Lara Deeb, Scripps College
Michaelle Browers, Wake Forest University
Mark Gasiorowski, Louisiana State University
Samer Shehata, Georgetown University
Farideh Farhi, University of Hawai’i at Mānoa
Emad Shahin, University of Notre Dame
John P. Entelis, Fordham University
Tamara Sonn, College of William & Mary
Ali Mirsepassi, New York University
Kumru Toktamis, Pratt Institute
Rebecca C. Johnson, Northwestern University
Nader Hashemi, University of Denver
Carlene J. Edie, University of Massachusetts at Amherst
Laryssa Chomiak, University of Maryland
Mohamed Nimer, American University
Steven Heydemann, Georgetown University
Miriam Lowi, The College of New Jersey
Wendy Pearlman, Northwestern University
Hesham Sallam, Georgetown University
Melani Cammett, Brown University
Michael Robbins, University of Michigan
Katherine E. Hoffman, Northwestern University
Asli Bali, UCLA School of Law
Hamid Dabashi, Columbia University
Guilain Denoeux, Colby College
Tom Farer, University of Denver
Norma Claire Moruzzi, University of Illinois at Chicago
Saad Eddin Ibrahim, American University of Cairo & Drew University
Asma Barlas, Ithaca College
Ethel Brooks, Rutgers University
Maren Milligan, Oberlin College
Alan Gilbert, Josef Korbel School of International Studies, University of Denver
Glenn Robinson, Naval Postgraduate School
Ahmed Ragab, Harvard University
Kenneth M. Cuno, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Agnieszka Paczynska, George Mason University
Zillah Eisenstein, Ithaca College
Quinn Mecham, Middlebury College
Riahi Hamida, Faculty of Arts and Human Sciences Sousse Tunisia
Jeannie Sowers, University of New Hampshire
Hussein Banai, Brown University
Joel Gordon, University of Arkansas-Fayetteville
Ed Webb, Dickinson College
David Siddhartha Patel, Cornell University
Thomas Pierret, Princeton University
Nadine Naber, University of Michigan
As`ad AbuKhalil, California State University at Stanislaus
Dina Al-Kassim, University of California at Irvine
Ziad Fahmy, Cornell University
William B. Quandt, University of Virginia
Lori A. Allen, University of Cambridge
Eugene Sensenig-Dabbous, Notre Dame University Lebanon
Alfred G. Gerteiny, University of Connecticut (ret.)
Lucia Volk, San Francisco State University
Anne Marie Baylouny, Naval Postgraduate School
Ulrika Mårtensson, The Norwegian University of Science and Technology
Emma Deputy, University of Texas at Austin
Sherry Lowrance, University of Georgia
Kaveh Ehsani, DePaul University
Ebrahim Moosa, Duke University
Benjamin N. Schiff, Oberlin College
Jeff Goodwin, New York University
Margaret Scott, New York University (adjunct)
Mehrzad Boroujerdi, Syracuse University
Kevin M. DeJesus, York University, Toronto
Courtney C. Radsch, American University
Gamze Cavdar, Colorado State University
John F. Robertson, Central Michigan University

Institutional affiliations are listed for identification purposes only. Views reflected in this letter are those of the individual signatories.

Note that this letter is about Egypt but not exclusively. The problems in the Middle East won’t end with the toppling of Mubarak, it is just the first step/ beginning of a long path to “peace, democracy and prosperity for the people of the Middle East.”[source]

(via notforallthewealthofcaesar-deac)

{ Is Providing Abortions Creating a “Nuisance”? (from motherjones.com) }

justsomeapples:

“A judge in Wichita blocks a doctor from filling a vacancy created by the murder of Dr. George Tiller.

— By Kate Sheppard

Fri Feb. 4, 2011 3:00 AM PST

The first doctor to try to offer abortion services in Wichita, Kansas, since Dr. George Tiller wasgunned down in a church in May 2009 has been blocked from doing so—by her landlord, who has claimed this would create a “nuisance.” And groups opposed to abortion rights are hailing this development as a major win on a prominent frontline in the national war over abortion.

Dr. Mila Means is a family practitioner in Wichita, and since last year she has been preparing to provide abortion services there. (She has been undergoing training with Kansas City abortion provider, Aid for Women.) But on Monday, a state judge issued a temporary restraining orderbarring Means from performing abortions at her medical office or making any changes to the facility that would allow her to do so. Judge Jeffrey Goering granted this order at the behest of Foliage Development, Inc., the owner of the building that houses Means’ office.

According to a lawsuit Foliage filed on January 28, Means requested permission from her landlord last fall to begin offering abortion services in her office later this year. The landlord turned her down, maintaining that it would violate her lease by “creating a clear nuisance to and disturbing the peaceful possession of all other tenants.” The landlord says that Means indicated that she would proceed with the plan anyway, which he claims would violate the terms of the lease.

The nuisance, however, would stem from protests the landlord anticipates—not from anything that Means would do. Anti-abortion activists from Operation Rescue, which is headquartered in Wichita, have already begun protesting outside her office. An event they held last December at the building attracted about 100 people, including counter-protesters. The landlord’s suit contends that once Means begins to offer abortion services, more protestors, demonstrators, and police will be drawn to the building. The suit notes that the Kansas Coalition for Life has threatened to hold daily protests outside Means’ office and that Operation Rescue has posted Means’ office address and contact information on its website.

According to the landlord’s complaint, the Kansas Coalition for Life has informed the landlord that “it will be a circus out there.” Already, the landlord says, three other businesses in the building have threatened to move because of the possibility of protests.

Wichita has long been an abortion-rights battleground. Operation Rescue relocated its headquarters there in 2002, taking over a building that had once housed Wichita Family Planning, to concentrate on its campaign against Tiller, a prominent provider of abortion services. On May 31, 2009, anti-abortion activist Scott Roeder assassinated Tiller while the doctor was serving as an usher at the Reformation Lutheran Church.

Means would be the first doctor to perform abortions in Wichita since the murder. But before she even could start, Operation Rescue made her a target, posting her photo and address online. “She’s taking the biggest burden,” says Jeff Peterson, the manager at Kansas City’s Aid for Women. His office is getting heat, too. “Local protesters are referring to us a jihadist training camp, saying that we need to be dealt with like jihadists in Iraq and Afghanistan, which is a little bit scary,” says Peterson.

Operation Rescue and its president, Troy Newman, have pledged to use all “peaceful and legal means” to keep Wichita “abortion free.” In a press release hailing the court’s temporary restraining order against Means, Operation Rescue touted the fact that Wichita “has been free from abortions since the closure” of Tiller’s office. Another anti-abortion outfit, Kansans for Life, has been sending out emails warning that a “grave evil threatens our community” and assailing Means for attempting to set up “a killing center” in Wichita.

Peterson says his organization agreed to train Means because of the need for abortion services in Wichita. “We’re doing this for George [Tiller],” Peterson notes. “I’m doing it for the patients. Troy Newman says nobody in Wichita wants this. Then why are people from Wichita coming up here [to Kansas City]? We’ve got a lot of Wichita patients coming here, having to drive three hours because there isn’t a doctor close to them.”

Means’ office declined to comment on the case, citing the ongoing legal process. Foliage Development, Inc. also declined to comment. But Foliage has asked the state court to permanently bar Means from performing abortions at the site. The court has ordered Means to appear at a February 15 hearing.

Kari Ann Rinker, state coordinator for the National Organization of Women and a Wichita resident, says the city had four abortion providers in the 1990s—until anti-abortion activists began waging fierce campaigns against each of them. Eventually, Tiller was the only remaining provider in town. Now the one doctor who wants to fill the vacancy his murder created is being thwarted—not because she’s creating a nuisance but because anti-abortion crusaders are.”

(via custerdiedforyoursins)

{ New Orleans parks rooted in areas containing dangerous levels of lead }

defendneworleans:

At least 37 New Orleans city parks are located in census tracts where tests conducted in 2000 found levels of lead in soil of more than 400 parts per million, the level state and federal regulators define as dangerous.

But parks generally have lower lead levels than most soils in the areas where they’re located, according to Tulane Center for Bioenvironmental Research toxicologist Howard Mielke, who did the 2000 testing. That’s because the two major sources of lead in soils are dust and chips from lead paint used in old homes and other buildings, as well as dust containing lead from leaded gasoline.

As a result, children are more often exposed to lead in their own homes and yards, or at day-care centers in older buildings, than they are in parks, he said.

Nonetheless, recent tests at Bywater’s Mickey Markey Park, where 13 of 40 samples came in above the 400 parts-per-million threshold, have prompted widespread concern among residents and has led city officials to take action. The park has been padlocked while a remediation plan is carried out. This week, a city contractor will recommend a plan for identifying other parks with unacceptably high lead levels.

The plan will be developed by Materials Management Group, the same company that confirmed high levels of lead at Markey Park and is now working to reduce them, said City Health Commissioner Dr. Karen DeSalvo.

“What we believe is that where kids may be exposed in an area that the city has responsibility for, like a playground, we want to make sure we’re doing everything we can to understand what that risk might be and to remediate it,” she said.

Children playing in soils with high levels of lead can ingest the metal by putting their hands or dirt in their mouth. High levels of lead in the blood can affect the central nervous system, kidneys and blood cells. Effects can include reduced IQ, hyperactivity, reduced stature, hearing problems and headaches.

Continue at the TP

(via so-treu)

{ Louisiana presses BP for oyster money }

defendneworleans:

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — Louisiana’s congressional delegation is asking BP to help Louisiana’s oyster industry immediately.

In November, Louisiana asked BP PLC to give it $15 million so the state could start repairing oyster beds damaged by the Gulf oil spill.

But Louisiana’s congressional delegation says BP still hasn’t given the state the money, or even responded to the request.

U.S. Sen. Mary Landrieu, D-La., said Wednesday that oyster beds need to be restored before this spring’s spawning season. Oyster production has dropped off badly since the oil spill happened following a well blowout April 20.

From Bloomberg

{ my life goal: save $600 every month }

deafmuslimpunk:

My goal is to save $600 every month. I’d like to save up enough money to buy my own land (at least 3-4 acres) and a small house. I’m doing research on affordable U.S states that have plenty of forestry and woods, yet accessible to big cities by trains. Tennessee, by far, seems like a good choice. Memphis and Nashville are cool cities, yet there’s plenty of rural country out in the state. I like that. Any other state suggestions? I’m doing this for me and my horses. Nothing else matters.

(and NO, I don’t want to build a horse ranch, that shit is too complicated and only a good idea for people who have excellent, first-hand knowledge of ranch management and loaded with money, I don’t have that knowledge or that much money. I just want enough land for me and my 3 horses)

signal boosting if that’s ok with you.

(Source: deafmuslimpunx)