Obola: Art Thou Dying Properly?

Skull Creep

Some of our cultural amygdala zones are acting up.

And I do mean acting.

Once again McTell News is majoring in the minors.

The halloweenies are all over "Obama's Ebola epidemic" in Dallas, Texas, where as many as two people have died (ok, I exaggerated by one) due to a virus infection, because Obama went golfing.

The part of our collective media brain, the scared-of-Africa the cultural amygdala, is on center stage as usual.

This even though the flu will kill ~41,400 people soon, as it did last year and the year before that:

Influenza is an important cause of mortality ... authors have extracted multiple-cause death data from public-use data files for the United States  ... attribution of deaths to influenza ... attributes an annual average of 41,400 ... deaths to influenza over the period 1979–2001.

(American Journal of Epidemiology, Volume 163, Issue 2, emphasis added). Just think of the potential there ... oh never mind ... Obama's Instant Ebola Karma, which "he brought here from Kenya,"  is out to get us.

The leading causes of death, each year, in the U.S. are:

• Heart disease: 596,577
• Cancer: 576,691
• Chronic lower respiratory diseases: 142,943
• Stroke (cerebrovascular diseases): 128,932
• Accidents (unintentional injuries): 126,438
• Alzheimer's disease: 84,974
• Diabetes: 73,831
• Influenza and Pneumonia: 53,826
• Nephritis, nephrotic syndrome, and nephrosis: 45,591
• Intentional self-harm (suicide): 39,518

(CDC). That is 1,869,321 per year (over 5,100 a day), so obviously "Obama Ebola" is underperforming since Obola only killed one person in Texas, because "they" are not worthy.

So we have to pass more voter id laws (Symbolic Racism: A Look At The Science - 6) to stop Obola.

If Obama could "do better" (more than only 1 "mass" Obola death), the dorkatroids surmise, "we" could do better in the upcoming elections.

Meanwhile, Oil-Qaeda is doing much better, having graduated from universities down south in the slicks of Oilandia:

It calculated that five million deaths occur each year from air pollution, hunger and disease as a result of climate change and carbon-intensive economies, and that toll would likely rise to six million a year by 2030 if current patterns of fossil fuel use continue.
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"A combined climate-carbon crisis is estimated to claim 100 million lives between now and the end of the next decade," the report said.

(Oil-Qaeda: The Indictment). And then there are the high flying avionics of medical exceptionalism:

If a Jumbo Jet crashed and killed 280 people everyday ... 365 days a year ... year after year ... would you be concerned about flying??

Would you question the Federal Aviation Administration? Would you demand answers??

Think about it! ...Sounds Ridiculous??!! ... people maimed and disabled every year ... year after year from modern medicine ... would you believe it??

Well these may be my words ... but read the following articles from the most respected medical journals and institutions (Journal of the American Medical Association, Harvard University, Centers for Disease Control, British medical journal The Lancet, New England Journal of Medicine and national news (New York Times, Washington Post, CNN, US World Report) and you be the judge ... the more frightening number is that doctors are the third leading cause of death in this country, killing nearly a quarter million people a year.

(Your Medical Detective, emphasis added). If you ask me why the numbers seem not to add up (in the context of iatrogenic causes), I would suspect that doctors do not put "I did it" on the death certificates.

Let's face it, the real problem is that "Obama's Ebola" makes people die improperly.

Die the American way, it's exceptional.

UPDATE: The story we made fun of here won 'Lie Of The Year' so does Dredd Blog get truth of the year?

Symbolic Racism: A Look At The Science - 6

This scares white racism sufferers

In this series we have been looking at the science which concerns racial impairment in the United States (see references @ Symbolic Racism: A Look At The Science - 3).

There are many things Americans do not know about their country.

One of those things many of us are ignorant about is the degree of racism.

A new study has been published to focus on how symbolic racism impacts our concept of democracy as well as our concept of our national character.

That study shows how symbolic racism affects one of our fundamental concepts about rights of Americans.

We talk the talk about "the right to vote" in elections, but there are growing concerns about whether or not we walk the walk:

A newly published study conducted by the University of Delaware’s Center for Political Communication reveals that seeing a photograph of African Americans using voting machines affected how white respondents answered a survey question about voter ID laws. White survey respondents who saw this image expressed stronger support for voter ID laws than those who saw no image. Seeing an image of white Americans using voting machines did not affect white respondents’ support.

(Nationwide Study: Racial Images Shape Opinion on Voter ID Laws, PDF). Symbolic racism is animated by subconscious circuits in our brains which have been cultivated there by our culture (Hypothesis: The Cultural Amygdala, 2, 3, 4).

I recently pointed out how the current epidemic of voter id laws in various states is the result of an infection of fear-based memes (We Got Your Voter Id Fascist Republicans - 2).

It would seem that cultural ignorance (Agnotology: The Surge, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12) works like a trance (Comparing a Group-Mind Trance to a Cultural Amygdala) which causes wide spread dementia (Etiology of Social Dementia, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11).

This is not the way we put an end to inequality and injustice, rather, it is the way we put an end to civilization itself (Civilization Is Now On Suicide Watch, 2, 3, 4).

The next post in this series is here, the previous post in this series is here.

We Got Your Voter Id Fascist Republicans - 2

A few days ago I pointed out how the GOP is trying to destroy the right of many, many Americans to vote.

I also mentioned that after a long trial, a Texas judge had shut down the obvious fascist GOP attempt to destroy the rights of voters in Texas.

The renegade Fifth Circuit, unusually and quickly, reversed that Texas federal district court judge in an emergency appellate proceeding that would normally, under appellate rules, have first been considered in the district court:

Defendants promptly sought a stay in the court of appeals rather than going to the district court, which had an intimate knowledge of the Texas election process and the conditions that would exist under various scenarios, i.e., whether the new law or the old law would create more confusion for this upcoming election. 1 The court of appeals, rather than directing the State to go to the district court in the first instance (as ordinarily required by the Federal Rules of Appellate Procedure, FED. R. APP. P. 8(a), and as would have been productive in this instance given the district court’s detailed familiarity with the record), entertained the request for an emergency stay.

(Supreme Court Motion, p. 3, PDF). In other words they went over the head of the district court judge in a way that is not usual.

Here is the post from last Thursday:

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The supreme court and other courts are giving the Luddite Mafia, the wrong wing of the Republican Party, some clues (one appellate judge, Posner, who recanted from a prior opinion of his, points out it is a problem promoted by conservative state legislatures PDF).

In case they do not get it, now hear this from Lewis, you pigs:

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Databases Galore - 8

The NASA graphic to the left shows the warming at the surface (click to enlarge).

Notice the Antarctic regions not previously studied down deep have warmed the most ... at the surface.

I circled the area that is still grey so it can be compared with the previous, larger grey area circled on the graphic below on the right.

Recently I pointed out that new Argo data indicate that the same thing (i.e., increased ocean water warming in the deeper layers of the ocean around Antarctica) is happening down there in the Southern Hemisphere, which was previously relatively unstudied.

I have been looking at the Argo databases which have filled in the former grey areas (shown in an earlier NASA graphic to the right ... the grey area is at the bottom around Antarctica).

Compare the graphic at the top of this post to the one on the right and you will see much less grey on the top one, the most recent one, and lots more red in the previously inadequately surveyed area in the vicinity of Antarctica.

The remaining, but much smaller grey area, is to the west of Antarctica, and south-west of the tip of South America (encircled on the top graph).

The erratic red-line on the graph to the left (which I did and posted in the previous post in this series) is what I am working on updating with new Argo data, and it will likely fall in line with those other more uniform latitude lines.

Except that it should show higher temperature increase lines, according to the paper published in nature, and quoted in a prior post:

The global ocean stores more than 90% of the heat associated with observed greenhouse-gas-attributed global warming. Using satellite altimetry observations and a large suite of climate models, we conclude that observed estimates of 0–700 dbar global ocean warming since 1970 are likely biased low. (Nature, Quantifying underestimates of long-term upper-ocean warming)

It's worse than we thought. Scientists may have hugely underestimated the extent of global warming because temperature readings from southern hemisphere seas were inaccurate. (The world is warming faster than we thought)

We know that the planet is getting warmer—but it turns out that it's happening faster than we thought. Turns out scientists have been underestimating warming increases because of inaccurate temperature recordings taken in the southern oceans. (Earth Has Been Getting Warmer Way Faster Than We Thought)

The oceans are warming faster than previously thought, according to a pair of new studies released this weekend and published in the scientific journal Natural Climate Change. This conclusion is largely due to enhanced information gathering in the southern oceans, which was limited in the past. The research teams compared previous ocean warming figures, based on the less complete data, with projections based on information they were able to obtain from more detailed studies. They found that from 1970 through 2004, increases in ocean temperatures exceeded those earlier figures.(Scientists Discover World’s Oceans Warming Faster Than Predicted)

(The Phrase is Back: "Worse Than Previously Thought"). I am mixing the home-school, at work, and classroom types of endeavors with the NASA endeavors (they share data ... hence databases galore).

It is uplifting to be able to know that we everyday people can use the free databases to minimize faith and trust by actually knowing things ourselves (The Pillars of Knowledge: Faith and Trust?).

The next post in this series is here, the previous post in this series is here.

Mega Infrastructure Bill To Make Jobs? - 2

Treasury Hunters

Some of the "infrastructure money" has been found, as have some of the trails leading to more.

What money?

Money that should have been used to upgrade American infrastructure.

Systems such as renewable energy systems, bridges, water lines, gas lines, and highways for example, are in dire need of better maintenance.

In 2009 regular readers were reminded of the "largest infrastructure bill" in U.S. history:

We are talking about "the most expensive public works legislation in US history" having creative billions reserved as special earmarking to the tune of "$24 billion for a staggering 6,376 pet projects, spread among virtually every congressional district in the land".

"The enormous bill -- 1,752 pages long" costing "$286.4 BILLION" known as "the highway bill" was the republican congress and republican president's bill passed in late 2005.

Minnesota Bridge Collapse

But it did not stop the Minnesota bridge from collapsing and killing American citizens, nor did it stop the great recession that is still ongoing.

So how is the next most expensive public works legislation in US history going to be any different?

The answer is that nothing is going to work until we stop destroying wealth with the stupid wars, the stupid military spending gone pork barrel wild, and the stupid military propaganda deciding our fate.

Read this following quote slowly, remembering that it was done while the exorbitant costs of war were not being included in the budget a few years back, while everyone was smitten with bubbleosis, that economic disease which says this economic universe is expanding forever baby, and while we were in the love of war daze:

AT $286.4 BILLION, the highway bill just passed by Congress is the most expensive public works legislation in US history. In addition to funding the interstate highway system and other federal transportation programs, it sets a new record for pork-barrel spending, earmarking $24 billion for a staggering 6,376 pet projects, spread among virtually every congressional district in the land. The enormous bill -- 1,752 pages long -- wasn't made public until just before it was brought to a vote, and so, as The New York Times noted, ''it is safe to bet that none of the lawmakers, not even the main authors, had read the entire package."

That didn't stop them from voting for it. It passed 412 to 8 in the House, 91 to 4 in the Senate.

(Boston Globe, August 2005, emphasis added, see also PBS Transcript). Once again, why didn't the greatest infrastructure spending in fiscal history not help the economy?
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Final question, where did that money really go?

This mystery continues.

(Mega Infrastructure Bill To Make Jobs?, 12/3/09). We kept asking the question over the years (Inferior Structure) as did others (Why We Still Can’t Afford to Fix America’s Broken Infrastructure).

Now, there may be a total or at least a partial answer:

More than $1bn earmarked for the reconstruction of Iraq was stolen and spirited to a bunker in Lebanon as the American and Iraqi governments ignored appeals to recover the money, it has been claimed.

Stuart Bowen, a former special inspector general who investigated corruption and waste in Iraq, said the stash accounted for a significant chunk of the huge sums which vanished during the chaotic months following the 2003 US-led invasion.

Bowen’s team discovered that $1.2bn to $1.6bn was moved to a bunker in rural Lebanon for safe keeping – and then pleaded in vain for Baghdad and Washington to act, according to James Risen, a journalist who interviewed Bowen for a book, Pay Any Price: Greed, Power and Endless War, to be published this week.

“Billions of dollars have been taken out of Iraq over the last 10 years illegally. In this investigation, we thought we were on the track for some of that lost money. It’s disappointing to me personally that we were unable to close this case, for reasons beyond our control,” Bowen said in an excerpt from the book published by the New York Times on Sunday.

The disclosure of the bunker shines a light on one of the occupation’s murkier puzzles: the fate of pallets of shrink-wrapped $100 bills which the Bush administration loaded on to Air Force C-17 transport planes in order to prop up the occupation of post-Saddam Hussein Iraq. About $12bn to $14bn was sent in the airlift and another $5bn via electronic transfer.

(Guardian, emphasis added; cf. Pay Any Price, by James Risen). We are still spending billions on that phony political, oil war and its degenerative aftermath.

And our infrastructure, including our social contract, is only getting worse.

The previous post in this series is here.

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Some Underground Homesick Blues:

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