October 5, 2014

NBC Poll: good news for senate democrats - Kansas independent leads by 10 pts

Democrats got some good news Sunday in the battle for the Senate.

An NBC/Marist poll of likely voters unveiled on “Meet the Press” showed Kansas GOP Sen. Pat Roberts down double digits, North Carolina Democratic Sen. Kay Hagan with a 4-point lead and a neck-and-neck race in Iowa.


The Kansas numbers are the most significant. Independent Greg Orman leads Roberts by 10 points, 48 to 38, in what until recently was seen as a safe Republican hold. The lead for Orman, who won’t say which party he’ll caucus with, comes despite an onslaught of ads from the right that aim to tie him to President Barack Obama.

A GOP loss in Kansas would require seven pickups elsewhere for the party to seize the Senate.

The Iowa results had Republican Joni Ernst with 46 percent to Democrat Bruce Braley’s 44 percent, within the 3.5-percentage-point margin of error. Last weekend, the Des Moines Register poll showed Ernst up 6 points, so this latest survey will aid Democratic efforts to argue that the race to succeed retiring Sen. Tom Harkin remains a true tossup and has not begun to drift away.

In North Carolina, Hagan leads 44 percent to 40 percent — just outside the 3.8 percent margin of error. The freshman Democrat has now led in the past 10 public polls.

But both candidates are underwater: Only 42 percent of voters have a favorable view of Hagan, compared to 48 percent who have an unfavorable view. Republican challenger Thom Tillis, the speaker of the state House, is viewed unfavorably by 47 percent and favorably by 36 percent.

In a danger sign for Democrats, Obama’s approval rating is in the 30s in all three states among likely voters: 35 percent in Kansas and 39 percent in both Iowa and North Carolina.

Http://www.politico.com/story/2014/10/nbc-poll-senate-democrats-2014-elections-111611.html

October 5, 2014

Reince Priebus: Texas GOP shutting abortion clinics out of compassion for women

http://www.mediaite.com/tv/reince-priebus-texas-abortion-law-about-gops-compassion/

Chair Reince Priebus suggested to Meet the Press’ Chuck Todd Sunday morning that a bill in Texas that had shuttered a majority of the state’s abortion clinics was all about “compassion.”

“We believe that any woman that’s faced with an unplanned pregnancy deserves compassion, respect, counseling, whatever it is that we can offer,” Priebus said.

“But 80% of those clinics are gone!” Todd countered. “They have to drive 200, 300 miles for that compassion?”

“The issue for us is only one thing, and that’s whether you ought to use taxpayer money to fund abortion,” Priebus said. “That’s the one issue that I think separates this conversation that we’re having.”

Taxpayer money is already forbidden to fund abortions. The Texas law mandated that abortion centers meeting ambulatory surgical center standards; that was the point of Governor Rick Perry’s strange Joan Rivers riff. Todd did not follow up.

October 5, 2014

michael phelps putting swimming aside, heading to rehab after 2nd DUI

October 5, 2014

Blue_adept recreats the spider woman cover

In the long dead DU thread below I started a discussion about a cover featuring spider woman's ass. Still think it's sexist comic porn but I can appreciate the skill it took to create it with a live woman.




http://www.democraticunderground.com/10025431864

October 4, 2014

coast guard rescues man running across ocean in bubble

http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/coast-guard-rescues-man-running-across-ocean-bubble-n218496



Running Across Ocean in Bubble rescued

A marathon runner who tried to run his way around the Bermuda Triangle in an inflatable bubble was rescued by the U.S. Coast Guard on Saturday about 70 miles off the coast of Florida after he became exhausted during the trip, authorities said.

Reza Baluchi, a runner who advertised his human-powered trip across ocean to Bermuda, down to Puerto Rico and back to southern Florida on his website, gave up his voyage and activated a locating beacon Saturday morning after refusing requests to abandon the trip, the Coast Guard said.

Rescuers aboard a MH-60 Jayhawk hoisted Baluchi to safety and he was flown to an air station in Clearwater, Florida, for a medical evaluation.

The Coast Guard said it first received a report about the strange craft in the ocean on Wednesday, and that crew members from Coast Guard Cutter Weber tried to convince him to abandon the planned 3,500-mile trip after noticing that his inflatable, human-powered bubble was only stocked with water and protein bars, but he refused

October 4, 2014

Cannot be responsible for crappy Ikea furniture which always breaks when moved - mover's ad

Cannot be responsible for crappy Ikea furniture which always breaks when moved

Mover has this quote in his ad. Lol

October 4, 2014

Inside Utah's struggle with drug abuse

Out of all 50 states, Utah ranks eighth in the number of prescription drugs overdose deaths, according to Susannah Burt with the state's Division of Substance Abuse and Mental Health. And, despite a dip in 2008, the number of pill-related deaths in Utah over the past decade has increased by 400%, according to Burt.

I have always thought Utah had low levels of addiction because of the influence of its large Mormon population -- more than 60% of those living there are members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. I've even known Mormons there who don't drink coffee in deference to their religion's "Word of Wisdom," a health law that strongly discourages people from consuming things that are harmful to their bodies.

You'd have to be hiding under a rock to not know how highly addictive prescription pills can be. And people in Utah, who have statistically speaking been successful at maintaining healthier lives, are no less vulnerable. In fact, because medications are prescribed by a physician, the assumption often is that they're OK.

Many people who've been able to maintain diligence in upholding the LDS Word of Wisdom have fallen victim to pill addiction because of the gray area that doctor-prescribed pills inhabit.

While the Mormon church hierarchy certainly isn't proud of the exploding numbers, it didn't hide from the issue, giving us access to talk to those dealing with the struggles of addiction.

http://www.cnn.com/2014/10/02/living/lisa-ling-mormon-drug-abuse-essay/index.html?hpt=hp_c3

October 4, 2014

Check out the Republican party’s new, anti-abortion wedding dress ad (Rick Scott)

Check out the Republican party’s new, anti-abortion wedding dress ad

it's got way more thumbs down than thumbs up

Get it? See how clever? Young women “try on” these dull, anti-women candidates (“the Scott Walker,” “the Rick Scott,” “the Rick Snyder”) like dreamy outfits, because, well, thinking is hard and issues are stupid and chicks love wedding crap and, well, that’s all you broads really understand, right? Dress-up? Thought so. Now pipe down and go make the GOP a sandwich.

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Why, just yesterday, a federal appeals court sided with Texas Republicans over the state’s brutal, sweeping anti-abortion law, thus forcing 13 women’s health clinics to immediately close and making Texas one of the most misogynistic states in the land, next to maybe Alabama. No more abortions for you, you hysterical, sex-enjoying, wedding dress-loving sluts!

http://blog.sfgate.com/morford/2014/10/03/republican-wedding-dresses/

October 3, 2014

plastic tarps and duct tape - hazmat team fights Ebola in Texas - pics

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2779036/Hazmat-team-arrives-Ebola-victim-s-apartment-FIVE-DAYS-later.html

Hazmat team finally arrive at Ebola victim's apartment FIVE DAYS after he was taken away by ambulance as his family remain quarantined under armed guard inside after one went to school on Wednesday

October 3, 2014

bullfrogs take over Yellowstone River in Montana, eating everything

A first-of-its-kind study demonstrated the spread of the bullfrog takeover in Montana.

The researchers found the invasive species is now thriving and spreading in the Yellowstone River, the U.S. Geological Survey reported.

The bullfrogs are believed to be the responsible for the decline of a number of amphibian and insect populations. The creatures reproduce rapidly and have hug appetites, they have also been known to carry a number of amphibian diseases.

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"The impacts of bullfrogs on native amphibians in the Yellowstone River are not yet known, but native Northern leopard frogs are likely to be most vulnerable to bullfrog invasion and spread because their habitats overlap," said Adam Sepulveda, USGS scientist and lead author of the study.

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"Bullfrogs were likely introduced to the Yellowstone River region for food, recreational hunting, bait and pest control, and as released pets," said Adam Sepulveda, USGS scientist and lead author of the study.

http://www.hngn.com/articles/44632/20141003/bullfrogs-rapidly-taking-over-yellowstone-river.htm