Food for shelter dogs and cats running out; SPCALA seeks emergency donations
The 4,000 dogs and cats living at SPCALA shelters are almost out of food, and the animal welfare group is asking for emergency contributions of money and food from individuals.
Help shelter pets, donate to spcaLA
"Until the bad economy, we fed our animals with donations from pet food firms, big-box stores and corporations," said Madeline Bernstein, president of the 133-year-old nonprofit organization. "Now they've all but stopped donating."
Donations have dwindled to less than 10% of what they were before the recession, she said.
Only a few dollars from enough of us could buy a lot of food. I know there's been a lot of aid needed lately, the pooties and woozles need us too.
Grayson: Court's Campaign Finance Decision "Worst Since Dred Scott"
By Nick Baumann
Alan Grayson, the first-term Democratic congressman from central Florida, really didn't like Thursday's Supreme Court decision legalizing unlimited corporate spending in election campaigns. "It's the worst Supreme Court decision since the Dred Scott case," he told me last night. In Dred Scott, Grayson explained, the Supreme Court decided that neither slaves nor the children of slaves could ever be US citizens. In Citizens United v. FEC, decided Thursday, the Supreme Court ruled "that only huge corporations have any constitutional rights," Grayson said. "They have the right to bribe, the right to buy elections, the right to reward their elected toadies, and the right to punish the elected representatives who take a stab at doing what's right. |
Prop. 8 trial Day 9: Live coverage from the courtroom
Prop. 8 trial Day 9: Live coverage from the courtroom
By Howard Mintz
9:44 a.m.: Prof says research shows gays and lesbians don't choose their sexual identities
Plaintiffs lawyers are already done questioning their final witness, UC-Davis psychology prof. Gregory Herek, who earns the distinction of being one of the quicker witnesses thus far (although cross-examination is just beginning, and that has tended to go for hours with the plaintiffs experts). Herek testified that research shows gays and lesbians do not choose their sexual identities, as same-sex marriage opponents suggest. And he also said they are subject to social stigma
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Obama, With Defiant Tone, Vows to Push Agenda
By SHERYL GAY STOLBERG
ELYRIA, Ohio — President Obama, striking a no-retreat, no-surrender posture in the wake of his party’s humiliating defeat in the Massachusetts Senate race this week, vowed Friday to press on with his expansive domestic agenda — including a health care overhaul and tough new restrictions on banks — even if it meant he had to "take my lumps" from political critics.
Mr. Obama came to this Cleveland suburb for the second stop on his "White House to Main Street tour," to spread the word that his administration is all about jobs, jobs, jobs. With his approval ratings down to about 50 percent, a bruising season of midterm elections ahead and Democrats reeling from the resounding note of disapproval in Massachusetts, the ordinarily cool and cerebral Mr. Obama sounded unusually defiant, even fiery, during a town hall-style question and answer session at Lorain County Community College here. |
What We Missed: Blog for Choice Day Roundup
As Jos blogged earlier, it's Blog for Choice Day and Roe v. Wade's anniversary, so I thought I'd gather up some other posts that covered today's significance for What We Missed.
This year's question for Blog for Choice Day is, "What does 'Trust Women' mean to you?" - in honor of the late Dr. Tiller who often wore a button with those two simple words.
Kay Steiger: The thing that we always forget about the abortion debate is that this is an issue that is fundamentally about class. Women with a certain amount of money and privilege will always have access to abortion -- even if it were to be made outright illegal in this country. But disadvantaged women have it much, much harder. Women's abortion rights have been drastically rolled back over the years. As a writer at RH Reality Check, I wrote regularly about the various ways states were trying to rollback the right to abortion: introducing waiting periods, TRAP laws, ultrasound requirements, personhood amendments, and more. Even on television and in TV shows, it has become taboo to discuss abortion. |
FBI records show broadcaster Paul Harvey had deep ties to J. Edgar Hoover
By Joe Stephens
For the better part of six decades, Paul Harvey spun tales on the radio in his staccato baritone, entertaining up to 24 million listeners a day with folksy vignettes ending in unexpected twists.
And now, the rest of the story.
Previously confidential files show that Harvey, who died last February at 90, enjoyed a 20-year friendship with FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover, often submitting advance copies of his radio script for comment and approval. Harvey wrote Hoover and his deputies regularly. Hoover, in turn, helped Harvey with research, suggested changes in scripts and showered the broadcaster with effusive praise.
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Report: Apple tablet is a shared media device
By Erica Ogg
As the date of the Apple event next week approaches, more details about the device are leaking out.
On Wednesday night, the Wall Street Journal reported that Apple's newest gadget could be a hub for all kinds of media: magazines, newspapers, books, text books, music, games, and video. All of that has been speculated about before, but the target demographic and the primary use for the device--which falls somewhere between a smartphone and a laptop--has been more of a mystery. Now it seems we're starting to have a clearer picture: the device has been purposely designed to be shared between members of a household as easily as possible, according to one of the Journal's unnamed sources.
Apple has "put significant resources into designing and programming the device so that it is intuitive to share," including the idea of "virtual sticky notes" that can be left for others, and a built-in camera that can tell who is using it, says the Journal's source. |
Supreme Court's corporate campaign spending ruling draws praise, criticism
By Lisa Demer
The Anchorage Daily News
The U.S. Supreme Court decision Thursday allowing unlimited political campaign spending by corporations and labor unions is expected to affect state and local races and could mean immense amounts of money pouring into this year's race for governor, said key Alaska Republicans and Democrats, who had very different takes on whether the decision is good or bad.
The state Department of Law and the Alaska Public Offices Commission were still reviewing what it meant legally for Alaska. |
Is Geithner on the Outs in Obama's White House?
Reuters
The Washington Post today speculates on whether Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner is on the outs in the Obama Administration. The story hits all the dramatic notes from yesterday’s announcement that President Obama was proposing Paul Volcker’s version of a new Glass-Steagall Act over Geithner's and economics advisor Larry Summers’ more modest plans for reform. Volcker, standing right behind the president, beamed. Geithner, further away, struck an emotionless pose. An anonymous figure says, "His influence may have slipped." Geithner has actually agreed with Volcker’s thinking all along, just, you know, not enough to actually support his actual proposal until now. |
US warns of risks of identical airport security measures
TOLEDO, Spain — Airports around the world must adopt different security measures or else it will become easier for terrorists to exploit weaknesses to carry out attacks, US Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano said Friday.
"What we do not want is a cookie cutter approach -- where the same measures are in place everywhere -- because then terrorists can plan and work around them," she told a news conference in Toledo in central Spain.
Napolitano recommended using a wide range of security measures, including information sharing on suspected terrorists and detection technology like full body scanners, to protect passengers. |
Wyclef Jean On 'Hope For Haiti Now': 'The World Is Compassionate
By Shaheem Reid, with additional reporting by Gil Kaufman
'We are loving people, and this [event] is a great example of that,' Wyclef says of telethon, airing tonight at 8 p.m
It's well known that Wyclef Jean, who helped organize Friday night's "Hope for Haiti Now: A Global Benefit for Earthquake Relief" telethon, has a deeply personal connection to the earthquake that devastated the country: He grew up in Haiti. Through the years, he's proudly represented his country and has spent many hours raising money to help its poverty-stricken residents via his . He said he's elated to see so many people banding together to help the country in the wake of the earthquake.
"People [are] stepping up — the world is compassionate," Jean told MTV News during a break from rehearsals for the telethon on Thursday night. "Despite what many may think, the hearts of men and women are warm. Sometimes I think that we are distracted by so much war that we forget that we are loving people, and this [event] is a great example of that." |
Latest storm brings tornado-like winds, floods roads and causes small mudslides in foothill communities [Updated]
The latest winter storm moved through Southern California with a wallop this afternoon, flooding roads, causing tornado-like winds in Ventura and Santa Barbara and causing small mudslides in foothill communities.
The storm brought winds of up to 80 mph and waves recorded at up to 20 feet. The brunt of the storm has moved to the east, but more showers and isolated thunderstorms are forecast through Friday.
[Updated 4:16 p.m.: Acting Governor Edmund G. Brown Jr. today proclaimed a state of emergency in Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, San Francisco and Siskiyou counties due to the series of storms. In a prepared statement, Brown cited the loss of human life, injuries, flooding, heavy snows, loss of power and mudslides as reason for the state of emergency. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger is currently in Washington D.C.]
Ventura County fire officials said that they had received reports that a tornado touched down in the eastern end of the city of Ventura near North Bank Drive and Montgomery Avenue, downing power lines and causing damage to cars, outbuildings and agriculture, as well as toppling a tree into a home. |
Meet the Chamber's Money Maven
By Kate Sheppard
The Supreme Court's decision striking down limits on corporate election advertising is, as I noted yesterday, a big win for the US Chamber of Commerce, which already has a war chest to influence the 2010 election. Today, National Journal's Peter Stone gives us an inside look at the woman responsible for building their substantial monetary arsenal: Agnes Warfield.
Warfield has been the Chamber's senior vice president of finance and development for nearly a decade, and in the past few years has brought in an average of $200 million to support the group's lobbying, electoral, and legal work. She's by all accounts a force to be reckoned with, bringing in potential funders to meet with president Tom Donohue, who seals the deal with new donors. She helps Donohue plan lavish dinners where Chamber board members and major donors can cavort with political bigwigs; guests during the Bush years included Karl Rove, Chief of Staff Andy Card, and Commerce Secretary Donald Evans. |
Level means attack ‘highly likely’; no intel on ‘imminent’ strike, official says
LONDON - Britain raised its terror threat level from "substantial" to "severe" on Friday, meaning a terrorist attack is considered highly likely.
The threat level had stood at "substantial" — indicating a strong possibility of an attack — since July.
In making the announcement, Home Secretary Alan Johnson said the raised security level means that Britain is heightening its vigilance, but he stressed that there was no intelligence suggesting an attack is imminent. |
China says missing lawyer 'is where he should be'
By CARA ANNA
A Chinese human rights lawyer missing for almost a year has been judged by legal authorities and "is where he should be," a Foreign Ministry official said in China's first public comment on the case.
Gao Zhisheng, one of China's most daring lawyers, has drawn international attention for the unusual length of his disappearance and for his earlier reports of the torture he said he faced from security forces. In a memoir, he described severe beatings, electric shocks to his genitals and cigarettes held to his eyes.
His brother said earlier this month that the Beijing police officer who took Gao away in February 2009 told him he "went missing" in September, leading to fears for the lawyer's safety.
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Firms scramble to repair Haiti wireless service
By Suzanne Choney
Brad Horwitz has been with wireless companies that have responded to a lot of crises, man-made and natural, around the world in recent decades: "We've gone in and built networks after civil wars in Eastern Europe, military coups in Africa; we've gone through hurricanes. But nothing has ever come close to this."
"This" is Haiti. And, said Horwitz in an interview from Port-au-Prince "there is no playbook for it. This is completely off the charts."
Horwitz is chief executive of Trilogy International Partners, based in Bellevue, Wash., and the company that is Haiti's second-largest wireless operator, with 1 million customers using its Voila cell service. |
The First Rule of Fighting Climate Change: Don't Talk About Climate Change
By Kate Sheppard
Republican pollster Frank Luntz—the brains behind Newt Gingrich's "Contract With America" and the man who coined politically potent phrases like the "death tax"—wants to help environmentalists in their push for legislation to combat climate change. His advice? Stop talking about climate change.
The environmental community is "fighting the wrong battle," Luntz announced on Thursday at an event to mark the release of a new report by his polling firm, The Word Doctors, outlining strategies to help marshal public support for a climate bill. "The least important component of climate change is climate change." |
EPA believes Chevron was aware of pollution violation
Search warrants served on two Cook Inlet oil facilities last week were based on federal environmental regulators' suspicions that Chevron Corp. had knowingly violated its air pollution permits and made false statements, court filings show.
An Anchorage federal court magistrate on Jan. 7 authorized the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Criminal Investigation Division to seize computers, files, photos and other records at Chevron's Trading Bay Production Facility and Granite Point Tank Farm.
In an affidavit, EPA Special Agent Matthew Goers told the judge that his agency had obtained sufficient information to suspect that Chevron and possibly its subsidiaries, managers and employees had committed felonies, including Clean Air Act violations and false statements to the federal government. |
'Al Qaeda members' held in Turkish terror raids
(CNN) -- Authorities in Turkey have detained 120 people after raids targeting al Qaeda, the country's semi-official Anatolian News Agency reported Friday.
The operations unfolded Friday in 16 of the country's provinces and led to the capture of some "higher-level members of the organization," the news agency reported, without citing a source.
"Many important documents and weapons have been captured during the operations," the agency said. |
Prosecutors: Roeder took target practice before Tiller shooting
By JUDY L. THOMAS
WICHITA | The man accused of killing Wichita abortion doctor George Tiller bought a gun the week before the slaying and practiced shooting it near Topeka the day before Tiller’s death, prosecutors said today.
Sedgwick County District Attorney Nola Foulston laid out the prosecution’s case during opening statements of Scott Roeder’s murder trial, describing to jurors the events the morning Tiller was killed.
"It was Scott Roeder who with premeditation and with intent killed Dr. George Tiller on May 31," she said |
Brown to face Iraq war inquiry
Emma Alberici
Downing Street has confirmed that the Prime Minister will give evidence to Britain's Iraq inquiry before the general election.
The news of Gordon Brown's appearance came on the day the United Nations' former weapons chief said he had cautioned Tony Blair before the invasion of the possibility that no weapons of mass destruction would be found.
Hans Blix was speaking to the BBC. |
Cold feet? Couple marry outside on frigid night
LEWISTON, Maine (AP) - Somebody probably got cold feet at this wedding, but the ceremony went on as planned. Stacy Ramsey and Matt McCorkle kept their vow to be married on the second anniversary of when they got together, and were married Thursday night in Lewiston.
It turned out to be the coldest night of the winter so far, with temperatures just a few degrees above zero and headed down.
The bride and groom both wore fur-lined hats and a couple of bonfires blazed as they exchanged vows in a backyard. Jets of frost steamed from their mouths as the couple said "I do." |
One Ultrarunning Problem, Solved for Good
By CATHERINE SAINT LOUIS
GETTING serious about a sport can mean doing the previously unthinkable. Swimmers shave their bodies sleek. Cyclists take blood-boosters. And ultramarathoners have their battered toenails surgically removed — for good. |
Many times I've said I'd rather pull my toenails out than do "X"...I was kidding.
The Secret Is Out: We Can See Your Feet
By CATHERINE SAINT LOUIS
A MIDSUMMER’S confession: when it comes to skin, I discriminate. I wish I treated my feet with the same tender loving care as I do my face. But I don’t. Not even close.
My face gets exfoliation, a layer of sunscreen, twice-a-day moisturizing — not to mention troubleshooting to head off blemishes. The best my feet get is a bare-bones D.I.Y. pedicure and a quarterly once-over with lotion.
At the beach, or in barely-there sandals, my neglect rears its ugly head: rings of parched skin on my heels and calluses so bulky that I fear I look as déclassé as a hostess with a sink of crusty dishes.
.......................................Dr. Nicholas Romansky, a podiatrist with two offices near Philadelphia, Pa., said he had patients so ashamed of their feet that they didn’t allow their spouse or fiancé to see them. "They have sex with socks on," he said. "Some people think their feet are ugly. You see nice hands, but feet take a beating." |
Review of Current Therapeutic Options for Management of Plantar Fasciitis
Foot pain is a very common complaint among people in the United States. Plantar fasciitis, a very painful condition of the heel, is the most common cause of heel pain. Around two million Americans experience plantar fasciitis every year. The cause is the inflammation - and pain - of a thick band of tissue that runs across the bottom of your foot, the plantar fascia. The plantar fascia, which isn't very flexible, is what connects your heel bone to your toes. Because it isn't flexible, it's pulled on (tension) if every time you flex your toes, or the toes are pointed upwards. This happens when you walk, particularly with high heels, for example.
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Keys To Diagnosis of Foot and Ankle Injuries
Missed or delayed diagnoses of peritalar injuries can leave a patient limping for the rest of his or her life. To help orthopedic surgeons quickly and accurately diagnose these injuries, orthopedic specialists have written this article reviewing these rare and often subtle foot and ankle injuries.
Peritalar refers to the talus and the soft tissues and bones around that bone. The talus is one of the large bones in the back part of the foot that helps form the ankle joint. It sits just above the calcaneus, or heelbone. The two bones make up the back part of the foot (sometimes referred to as the hindfoot). The talus is connected to the calcaneus at the subtalar joint. The ankle joint allows the foot to bend up and down. The subtalar joint allows the foot to rock from side to side |
How To Get a Spa Pedicure at Home
Alexis Webster
Want a spa-quality pedicure without the high price tag? Wrap yourself in a terry robe and settle in for an easy, at-home pedicure. Really want the spa treatment? Pour yourself a glass of Chardonnay and gossip with your best pal on the phone (in which case we can't possibly vouch for the results). |
Effects of Different Shoes on Balance and Stability
Shoe wear can be an extremely important item of clothing in the older adult. Studies show that almost half of all falls are linked with the type of shoes worn at the time of the fall. Slippers and heels double the risk of falling in older people. Even younger adults are at risk of fractures from shoes with a high or narrow heel. And walking barefoot isn't any better. The risk of falling also increases with bare feet (and especially wearing just socks). |
Celebrity Feet
A wide variety of celebrity feet. If you are still looking at these an hour from now I strongly suggest............you can fill in the blank. |