May 12, 2011 · 11:20 am

Happy National Nurses Week!

We are wrapping up National Nurses Week and I wanted to do my little bit to recognize these tireless men and women who contribute so much…

Thanks to all of you for all that you do!

Like Florence Nightingale, you are on the front line of all our health care battles and journeys…

Often described as an art and a science, nursing is a profession that embraces dedicated people with varied interests, strengths and passions because of the many opportunities the profession offers. As nurses, we work in emergency rooms, school based clinics, and homeless shelters, to name a few. We have many roles – from staff nurse to educator to nurse practitioner and nurse researcher – and serve all of them with passion for the profession and with a strong commitment to patient safety.

Background

National Nurses Week is celebrated annually from May 6, also known as National Nurses Day, through May 12, the birthday of Florence Nightingale, the founder of modern nursing. Visit the NNW History page, part of the NNW Media Kit. See below to learn more.

via National Nurses Week.

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May 12, 2011 · 10:40 am

Mom Defends Decision To Give 8-Year-Old Daughter Botox

Instead of calling “Good Morning America” someone should call Child Protective Services…

If this isn’t technically both physical and mental child abuse, it sure sounds like it to me…

I thought we left this mentality behind in the 1960’s….

We first told you about Britney Campbell of San Francisco in March — she’s the eight-year-old aspiring pageant queen already dabbling in Botox and virgin waxes, courtesy of her mom, Kerry. The pair appeared on Thursday’s “Good Morning America” to talk about the extreme beauty regimen with Lara Spencer.

Spencer asked Britney questions worthy of a horrifying “Law & Order: SVU” episode: can you show me where you do it? Can you point on your face? Of the Botox, Britney remarked, “It hurt sometimes, but I get used to it,” and of the waxing, “It was super, super hard to deal with that…I just don’t think it’s ladylike to have hair on your legs,” however adding that she won’t do it again. At least not for a while.

Kerry confessed that Britney didn’t actually request either treatment, noting, “We talked about it. She didn’t exactly ask me about it but I know that she was complaining about her face having wrinkles and things like that,” to which Spencer said, “My son will come home and tell me he wants every Xbox game that existed…that doesn’t mean you get it for them.” Snap!

But, seriously — then came a slew of photos depicting Britney with bruises, puffy cheeks and ice packs. In the end, the child says she “looks way better, like, beautiful, pretty, like, all those kinds of nice words.” And that might be the most heartbreaking part.

via Mom Defends Decision To Give 8-Year-Old Daughter, Britney Campbell, Botox (VIDEO).

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May 12, 2011 · 8:00 am

Liberals in Southern Arizona Seek to Form New State

From a political standpoint, I find Arizona a very scary place….

That’s one of the many reasons I could never live there….

I can understand where these folks in Tucson are coming from….

TUCSON, Arizona (Reuters) – A long-simmering movement by liberal stalwarts in southern Arizona to break away from the rest of the largely conservative state is at a boiling point as secession backers press to bring their longshot ambition to the forefront of Arizona politics.

A group of lawyers from the Democratic stronghold of Tucson and surrounding Pima County have launched a petition drive seeking support for a November 2012 ballot question on whether the 48th state should be divided in two.

The ultimate goal of the newly formed political action committee Start our State is to split Pima County off into what would become the nation’s 51st state, tentatively dubbed Baja Arizona.

via Liberals in southern Arizona seek to form new state | TPM News Pages.

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May 12, 2011 · 5:30 am

Koch Fueling Far Right Academic Centers At Universities Across The Country

Lot’s of interesting information at ThinkProgress.org today…

Seems the Koch Brothers Campaign to buy America has gone beyond buying the Government to trying to buy the Higher Educational system as well.

These are some seriously scary people….

Yesterday, ThinkProgress highlighted reports from the St. Petersburg Times and the Tallahassee Democrat regarding a Koch-funded economics department at Florida State University (FSU). FSU had accepted a $1.5 million grant from a foundation controlled by petrochemical billionaire Charles Koch on the condition that Koch’s operatives would have a free hand in selecting professors and approving publications. The simmering controversy sheds light on the vast influence of the Koch political machine, which spans from the top conservative think tanks, Republican politicians, a small army of contracted lobbyists, and Tea Party front groups in nearly every state.

As reporter Kris Hundley notes, Koch virtually owns much of George Mason University, another public university, through grants and direct control over think tanks within the school. For instance, Koch controls the Mercatus Center of George Mason University, an institute that set much of the Bush administration’s environmental deregulation policy. And similar conditional agreements have been made with schools like Clemson and West Virginia University. ThinkProgress has analyzed data from the Charles Koch Foundation, and found that this trend is actually much larger than previous known. Many of the Koch university grants finance far right, pro-polluter professors, and dictate that students read Charles Koch’s book as part of their academic study:

MORE:   ThinkProgress » REPORT: Koch Fueling Far Right Academic Centers At Universities Across The Country.

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May 11, 2011 · 10:49 pm

Florida’s Bestiality Law May Have Accidentally Outlawed Sex Entirely

Posted without comment…..

Via The Huffington Post:

There may be some terrible news to report out of Florida today, depending on how the state’s residents have collectively decided to apply the basic science of biological classification to their lives. Last week, we noted some good news: The Florida legislature had finally passed a law that would outlaw bestiality and preserve the innocence of Florida’s native fauna.

At the time, I posited that only shiny-pated grifter-Governor Rick Scott could possibly foul up the effort. But over at Southern Fried Science, blogger “Andrew” points out that the law’s wording has basically outlawed sex entirely:

An act relating to sexual activities involving animals; creating s. 828.126, F.S.; providing definitions; prohibiting knowing sexual conduct or sexual contact with an animal; prohibiting specified related activities; providing penalties; providing that the act does not apply to certain husbandry, conformation judging, and veterinary practices; providing an effective date.

Click here for a handy visual provided by Southern Fried Science that elucidates the fact that human beings are smack dab in the middle of the animal kingdom — by which he means the “group of multicellular, eukaryotic organisms of the kingdom Animalia” and not the horse that won the 2011 Kentucky Derby (being “smack dab in the middle” of a thoroughbred horse is a situation the law originally intended to prevent).

Andrew ends with a quip:

So if you’re living in Florida on October 1, 2011 and would like to have sexual intercourse with a consenting adult, please check with your veterinarian or local livestock breeder first to make sure you abide by “accepted animal husbandry practices, conformation judging practices, or accepted veterinary medical practices.”

via Florida’s Bestiality Law May Have Accidentally Outlawed Sex Entirely.

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May 11, 2011 · 10:30 pm

An Average American Pays A Higher Income Tax Rate Than ExxonMobil

An interesting fact that I’ve pointed out before…

Bears repeating…

All around the country, Americans are feeling the pinch of high gas prices. Yet one group that is not only not feeling the pain of these prices but is profiting off of them are the big oil companies.

In fact, ExxonMobil, “the largest American oil company,” raked in $30.5 billion in profit in 2010, “making it the most profitable Fortune 500 company for the eighth year in a row.”

The Center for American Progress’s Valeri Vasquez has put out a new report titled “Exxon Mobil Dodges the Tax Man,” which finds that the effective income tax rate for the average American is higher than the effective rate for the oil giant over the past few years. The effective tax rate for the average American in 2007, the last year for which data is available, was 20.4 percent. The annual Exxon federal effective rate between 2008 and 2010, meanwhile, was 17.6 percent:

via ThinkProgress » GRAPH: An Average American Pays A Higher Income Tax Rate Than ExxonMobil.

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May 11, 2011 · 9:51 pm

Gay Donors Fuel Obama’s 2012 Bid

The Gay ATM is back in business…

Funny, when we all stopped giving last year because of the seeming lack of commitment to our issues, the Obama administration suddenly became very active in supporting equality….

Again, in Politics, money talks and that’s all they really listen to….

President Barack Obama’s reelection campaign is banking on gay donors to make up the cash it’s losing from other groups of wealthy supporters who have been alienated and disappointed by elements of Obama’s first term.

Pleased by an all-out White House push to repeal “don’t ask, don’t tell,” gay donors have surprised campaign officials with the extent of their support. And the campaign’s new fundraising apparatus appears designed to capitalize on their enthusiasm: Obama’s finance committee included one gay man in 2008; there are 15 this year, a source said.

The Obama campaign finance director, Rufus Gifford, was a top California gay fundraiser; the DNC treasurer, Andrew Tobias, is gay; and the White House social secretary — traditionally a key, if unofficial, fundraising job — is also a gay man, Gifford’s former partner Jeremy Bernard.

The spur for the gay community becoming an anchor for Obama’s reelection fundraising is a series of policy shifts in 2010. After a year of rocky relations and suspicion from Obama’s gay supporters that he wasn’t really committed to their issues, the last year saw a surge in activity. Along with the high-profile repeal of the military ban, Obama’s Justice Department recently refused to defend the Defense of Marriage Act. And the administration has taken smaller steps, like gay partner hospital visits and hate crimes legislation, concrete and important gestures that simply weren’t made during the Bush administration.

“It’s ironic — a year ago there was no constituency more unhappy. There was a sea change,” said David Mixner, a veteran New York gay activist, who said that White House actions during the past year had swayed restive gay donors. “You not only will see a united community that will contribute to Obama, but they will work their asses off.”

via Gay donors fuel Obama’s 2012 bid – Yahoo! News.

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May 11, 2011 · 9:14 pm

Rupert Everett: Beyonce is Dull and Sharon Stone Unhinged

I’ve loved Rupert Everett ever since I saw him in one of my favorite movies,  “Another Country.”

He’s definitely off the wall- and very outspoken…

He kind of reminds me of someone I “dated” back in the 1980’s who was also great fun, but totally crazy…

Believe me, no matter how enthralling they are, it’s best to observe guys like this from a distance….

From London’s The Daily Mail:

‘When I got to Hollywood I had this fantasy that all these huge stars would be these amazing, fabulous creatures. I grew up devouring books on Montgomery Clift, and so much of his appeal to me lay in the gutter side.

‘But you get to Hollywood and everybody’s so boring. Being an actor in Hollywood is like joining the Army or something.When you see them in a restaurant raising an arm, it’s more likely to be to make a call to their banker than swig back a glass of champagne.

Rupert described Madonna as smelling ‘vaguely of sweat’ and being an ‘old, whiny barmaid’

‘So many of these stars today are just boring, boring, boring. Listening to Beyoncé  Knowles talking about her life, her career, is like listening to an Army general talking about a military operation. Beyond dull.’

via Rupert Everett: Beyonce is dull and Sharon Stone unhinged | Mail Online.

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May 11, 2011 · 8:38 pm

Presbyterians Approve Ordination of Gay People

More progress….

It’s nice to see some of the mainstream denominations coming around….

Even if it did take them 33 years….

The times, they are a changing…

After 33 years of debate, the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) has voted to change its constitution and allow openly gay people in same-sex relationships to be ordained as ministers, elders and deacons.

The outcome is a reversal from only two years ago, when a majority of the church’s regions, known as presbyteries, voted against ordaining openly gay candidates.

This time, 19 of the church’s 173 presbyteries switched their votes from no to yes in recent months. The Twin Cities presbytery, which covers Minneapolis and St. Paul, cast the deciding vote at its meeting on Tuesday. The vote was 205 to 56, with 3 abstentions.

Cynthia Bolbach, moderator of the church’s General Assembly, its highest legislative body, said in a phone interview from Minneapolis after the vote: “Everyone was civil. There was no applause, no cheering. It was just reflective of the fact that we are moving forward one other step.”

via Presbyterians Approve Ordination of Gay People – NYTimes.com.

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May 11, 2011 · 8:30 pm

Poll: Obama’s Approval Rating Hits Two-Year High

Now, if he can just keep it up until next year’s elections….

Fully six in ten Americans now approve of President Obama’s job performance, according to an AP poll released Wednesday morning, the highest level recorded in their surveys in exactly two years.

In addition, the poll showed the president’s reelection prospects getting a boost too, as it found that more Americans now think Obama deserves to be reelected than the percentage who said the same two months ago.

In the poll, 60% of respondents said they approved of Obama’s job performance, compared to 39% who disapproved. That’s the best rating Obama has received since May 2009 when, riding high after his inauguration, 64% of Americans approved of his job performance.

The poll is the latest in a flurry of surveys conducted since the death of Osama bin Laden that have shown the president getting a boost to his approval rating. Prior to the news of bin Laden’s death, the TPM Poll Average showed Obama’s approval rating slightly underwater. But now, the average finds him nearly cracking the 50% threshold, as it shows that 49.4% of Americans approve of his job performance, compared to 45.0% who disapprove.

via Poll: Obama’s Approval Rating Hits Two-Year High | TPMDC.

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