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Liberal_in_LA
Liberal_in_LA's Journal
Liberal_in_LA's Journal
August 24, 2014
San Jose parents worked on their son’s birthday gift for two years, and managed to keep it a secret the whole time.
On her blog, Sarah Goer explained that there was an unfinished crawlspace in their home. She and her husband hid the door behind a dresser, and soon realized what they do with it.
Sarah and her husband worked with a contractor to give their son the “Secret Room” for his fourth birthday. The room was put together while the boy was at school.
What was once old linoleum, wood paneling and exposed insulation soon turned into fresh blue and white paint, hardwood floors and shelves for the boy’s art supplies.
The boy’s parents sent him on a treasure hunt, with each clue eventually leading to the dresser. They moved it, and the 4-year-old was soon standing in his birthday gift.
?w=594
parents keep birthday gift secret for two years - secret room
http://fox40.com/2014/08/21/parents-keep-coolest-birthday-gift-secret-for-years/San Jose parents worked on their son’s birthday gift for two years, and managed to keep it a secret the whole time.
On her blog, Sarah Goer explained that there was an unfinished crawlspace in their home. She and her husband hid the door behind a dresser, and soon realized what they do with it.
Sarah and her husband worked with a contractor to give their son the “Secret Room” for his fourth birthday. The room was put together while the boy was at school.
What was once old linoleum, wood paneling and exposed insulation soon turned into fresh blue and white paint, hardwood floors and shelves for the boy’s art supplies.
The boy’s parents sent him on a treasure hunt, with each clue eventually leading to the dresser. They moved it, and the 4-year-old was soon standing in his birthday gift.
?w=594
August 24, 2014
earthquake pics - today, 330am, california
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2733098/USGS-6-0-earthquake-shakes-Northern-California.html
August 23, 2014
Marvel features spider woman's ass on cover of issue #1
Http://io9.com/check-out-spider-woman-1-starring-spider-womans-ass-1624535918
First of all, even the dumbest, horniest teenage boy on the planet knows there's no fabric on this earth that could possibly cling to Jessica Drew's individual buttocks like that. She looks like she's wearing body-paint, and that's a big no-no for an industry still trying to remember that women exist and may perhaps read comics and also don't want to feel completely gross when they do so. As for the position she's in... christ. It's like you want The Hawkeye Initiative to get so furious they have brain aneurysms and die.
Of course, sexy comic art has its place, and Manara is quite good at it. But perhaps asking an erotic artist to draw one of your most popular superheroines for a mass-market cover wasn't quite a good idea. Also a bad idea: Receiving this cover and pretending like you didn't notice Spider-Woman sticking her bare red ass three feet into the air. Here's a simple rule: If it's inappropriate for a male character, it should also be inappropriate for a female character.
August 23, 2014
://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2731137/Ex-Virginia-governor-Bob-McDonnell-living-priest-moving-home-shared-exhausting-wife.html
governor Bob McDonnell is living with a priest after moving out of the home he shared with his 'exhausting' wife
McDonnell testified about his troubled marriage to wife Maureen at length during their public corruption trial on Thursday
He moved out of their home and into a rectory at the start of the trial because he could not face returning there every day after court
He said he knew it was over in 2011 when she avoided spending a weekend with him and he wrote her an email saying he couldn't deal with her anger
The couple are accused of accepting more than $165,000 in gifts and loans from businessman Jonnie Williams to promote his company's products
family values, vaginal probe Bob Mcdonnell moves in with a priest
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2731137/Ex-Virginia-governor-Bob-McDonnell-living-priest-moving-home-shared-exhausting-wife.html://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2731137/Ex-Virginia-governor-Bob-McDonnell-living-priest-moving-home-shared-exhausting-wife.html
governor Bob McDonnell is living with a priest after moving out of the home he shared with his 'exhausting' wife
McDonnell testified about his troubled marriage to wife Maureen at length during their public corruption trial on Thursday
He moved out of their home and into a rectory at the start of the trial because he could not face returning there every day after court
He said he knew it was over in 2011 when she avoided spending a weekend with him and he wrote her an email saying he couldn't deal with her anger
The couple are accused of accepting more than $165,000 in gifts and loans from businessman Jonnie Williams to promote his company's products
August 23, 2014
Giant fissure splits the earth open in rural northwest Mexico
The crack is nearly three quarters of a mile, about 26 deep and 16 feet wide
Geologists are still investigating the origin of the opening
A huge fissure has split open the earth in a rural Mexican town, stunning locals and scientists, who are still seeking to explain its origin.
The crack appeared last week and crosses Highway 26 between Hermosillo, in the northwest of Mexico, and the Gulf of California.
The fissure is the length of three quarters of a mile, about 26 feet deep and 16 feet wide.
Geologists are still investigating what could have caused the phenomenon.
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2732117/Giant-fissure-splits-earth-open-rural-northwest-Mexico.html#ixzz3BAr5PdlU
Giant fissure splits the earth open in rural northwest Mexico
Giant fissure splits the earth open in rural northwest Mexico
The crack is nearly three quarters of a mile, about 26 deep and 16 feet wide
Geologists are still investigating the origin of the opening
A huge fissure has split open the earth in a rural Mexican town, stunning locals and scientists, who are still seeking to explain its origin.
The crack appeared last week and crosses Highway 26 between Hermosillo, in the northwest of Mexico, and the Gulf of California.
The fissure is the length of three quarters of a mile, about 26 feet deep and 16 feet wide.
Geologists are still investigating what could have caused the phenomenon.
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2732117/Giant-fissure-splits-earth-open-rural-northwest-Mexico.html#ixzz3BAr5PdlU
August 22, 2014
, YouTube contributors "Model Pranksters" saw one of their videos go viral in a big way.
The duo posted a video they shot of two homeless men arm wrestling for money, aptly called "Making Homeless Guys Armwrestle for Money". The pranksters offered $100 to the winner and said the loser would go "home" empty handed. But one of the pranksters, Robert Persin, decided beforehand, out of view of the two combatants, that both would get paid.
Ultimately the two men agree to the challenge and ultimately there was a winner and a loser. However, after being handed $100 the winner decided he'd split his winnings with the loser saying "I know how it is, man... no harm, no foul." The other man, takes the money."
At that time Persin says he's moved by the gesture and offers each man another $100 each.
After the video went viral a writer for Time Magazine took the "Model Pranksters" to task, saying they were exploiting the homeless.
"...And there'rs value in deflating the notion that the more desperate a person is, the greedier he must be. But that lesson has unfortunately subsumed the more important one: That no matter how amusing, it's wrong to exploit the vulnerable for a cheap thrill."
Persin attempts to defend himself in an interview saying, "People in the comments section make it seem like we're bad people, saying 'You should have just given him the money.' But then there'd be no video."
"making homeless guys armwrestle for money"
http://www.bakersfieldnow.com/mornings/YouTube-Pranksters-draw-ire-for-using-homeless-272043121.html?mobile=y, YouTube contributors "Model Pranksters" saw one of their videos go viral in a big way.
The duo posted a video they shot of two homeless men arm wrestling for money, aptly called "Making Homeless Guys Armwrestle for Money". The pranksters offered $100 to the winner and said the loser would go "home" empty handed. But one of the pranksters, Robert Persin, decided beforehand, out of view of the two combatants, that both would get paid.
Ultimately the two men agree to the challenge and ultimately there was a winner and a loser. However, after being handed $100 the winner decided he'd split his winnings with the loser saying "I know how it is, man... no harm, no foul." The other man, takes the money."
At that time Persin says he's moved by the gesture and offers each man another $100 each.
After the video went viral a writer for Time Magazine took the "Model Pranksters" to task, saying they were exploiting the homeless.
"...And there'rs value in deflating the notion that the more desperate a person is, the greedier he must be. But that lesson has unfortunately subsumed the more important one: That no matter how amusing, it's wrong to exploit the vulnerable for a cheap thrill."
Persin attempts to defend himself in an interview saying, "People in the comments section make it seem like we're bad people, saying 'You should have just given him the money.' But then there'd be no video."
August 22, 2014
I have always been drawn to opportunities that challenge the status quo and give a voice to causes that didn't have one before. My passion has always been education reform – to ensure every child has a great teacher and great school – and my commitment to the cause is as strong today as it ever has been.
That’s what I worked tirelessly for during my time running DC’s public school system. That experience and the political resistance to doing what’s best for kids is what drove me to start StudentsFirst four years ago.
While I remain 100 percent committed to the success of StudentsFirst, it’s time for a shift in the day-to-day management of the team and our advocacy work. We’ll be sharing more of the nuts-and-bolts details about that in the coming weeks.
It’s also time for my next step in life, which will be focused on my family and supporting my husband in the tremendous work he is doing as his he continues to move forward with his career. His focus and passion for underserved communities and ensuring access to equal opportunity will be central to whatever comes next for us.
StudentsFirst emerged because kids deserve an organization that will champion their causes – and that’s exactly what we’ve been building. In just four years, we’ve recruited over 2 million members, raised millions of dollars and helped pass over 130 policies across the country on behalf of kids.
Not only that, but we’ve helped elevate and shift a bipartisan national conversation around education. In states across the country, people are debating education policies including teacher tenure, standards, and accountability through a student-focused lens like never before.
My goal was always to build an organization that would advocate on behalf of kids regardless of who was at its helm, and we’ve done that successfully at the national level.
I’m so proud of what we’ve accomplished at StudentsFirst and look forward to being actively involved as we become an even more effective advocate for kids. We've been successful in challenging the status quo, and that’s something I will never stop doing.
Michelle Rhee steps down from her "students first" org to focus on her family
http://www.studentsfirst.org/blog/entry/our-next-chapterI have always been drawn to opportunities that challenge the status quo and give a voice to causes that didn't have one before. My passion has always been education reform – to ensure every child has a great teacher and great school – and my commitment to the cause is as strong today as it ever has been.
That’s what I worked tirelessly for during my time running DC’s public school system. That experience and the political resistance to doing what’s best for kids is what drove me to start StudentsFirst four years ago.
While I remain 100 percent committed to the success of StudentsFirst, it’s time for a shift in the day-to-day management of the team and our advocacy work. We’ll be sharing more of the nuts-and-bolts details about that in the coming weeks.
It’s also time for my next step in life, which will be focused on my family and supporting my husband in the tremendous work he is doing as his he continues to move forward with his career. His focus and passion for underserved communities and ensuring access to equal opportunity will be central to whatever comes next for us.
StudentsFirst emerged because kids deserve an organization that will champion their causes – and that’s exactly what we’ve been building. In just four years, we’ve recruited over 2 million members, raised millions of dollars and helped pass over 130 policies across the country on behalf of kids.
Not only that, but we’ve helped elevate and shift a bipartisan national conversation around education. In states across the country, people are debating education policies including teacher tenure, standards, and accountability through a student-focused lens like never before.
My goal was always to build an organization that would advocate on behalf of kids regardless of who was at its helm, and we’ve done that successfully at the national level.
I’m so proud of what we’ve accomplished at StudentsFirst and look forward to being actively involved as we become an even more effective advocate for kids. We've been successful in challenging the status quo, and that’s something I will never stop doing.
August 22, 2014
But changes are now underway in the Philippines that could help slow the population boom. This past spring, after a 15-year battle that went all the way to the Filipino Supreme Court, a new reproductive health care law took effect. It requires the Philippine government to fund family planning health clinics, provide affordable contraception, and launch comprehensive sex education in schools.
Former Health Secretary Cabral, one of the most prominent supporters of the new law, says it’s about time.
ESPARANZA CABRAL: It’s a victory for all Filipinos, especially women and children. The law can make a very big dent in our problem with poverty and population.
MARK LITKE: So is this a defeat for the Catholic Church?
ESPARANZA CABRAL: I think so.
----------
MARK LITKE: Dr. Silvia de la Paz, the chief obstetrician here, says they manage the crush as best they can. Often putting two beds together as a tandem bed for four mothers and four newborns.
And from these overcrowded hospital wards, out into the teeming slums of the city, it’s easy to see this country is in the midst of a population explosion, what some are calling a crisis. The Philippines today has one of the highest birth rates in Asia with a population that has more than doubled over the last three decades from 45 million to 100 million.
Once the mothers and their newborns leave the maternity hospital, many are going to return to places like, Tondo — this gritty neighborhood right on the edge of Manila. It’s a place where families struggle to get by on $1 or $2 a day at best. Here, very young children scavenge through garbage in search of something to sell for a few dollars to help support their families.
Families in Asia’s most Catholic country that have had little or no access to contraception or family planning advice. Families that often get larger by the year.
Vilma Lopez has ten children, ages 1 to 20. She had her first child at 19.
VILMA LOPEZ: We didn’t plan it, it just happened every year. It’s just easy for me to get pregnant.
MARK LITKE: Manila is now one of the most densely populated urban area on earth, so congested some are forced to seek refuge in local cemeteries, where they eat and sleep on tombs and mausoleums.
ESPERANZA CABRAL: In the Philippines, there is family planning, but it is available only to the rich, to those who are able to afford to go see doctors, to buy pills.
MARK LITKE: Esperanza Cabral, a former Health Secretary of the Philippines, has been sounding the alarm on the population crisis here, a population growing fastest among the poorest Filipinos — those whose need for birth control is the greatest.
------------
MARK LITKE: For years the UN has urged the Philippine government to take action, to provide free contraception and family planning for the poor. Recent surveys indicate eight in 10 Filipinos now agree.
But the Philippines most powerful institution, the Roman Catholic Church, has fought family planning policies every time they are raised. In a country where more than 80 percent are practicing Catholics, the church has dominated nearly every aspect of life in the Philippines for more than 400 years — it’s moral authority and political power rarely challenged, especially when it comes to reproduction.
--------
big defeat for Catholic church on contraception in Phillipines where birth rates r staggeringly high
http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/reproductive-healthphilippines/But changes are now underway in the Philippines that could help slow the population boom. This past spring, after a 15-year battle that went all the way to the Filipino Supreme Court, a new reproductive health care law took effect. It requires the Philippine government to fund family planning health clinics, provide affordable contraception, and launch comprehensive sex education in schools.
Former Health Secretary Cabral, one of the most prominent supporters of the new law, says it’s about time.
ESPARANZA CABRAL: It’s a victory for all Filipinos, especially women and children. The law can make a very big dent in our problem with poverty and population.
MARK LITKE: So is this a defeat for the Catholic Church?
ESPARANZA CABRAL: I think so.
----------
MARK LITKE: Dr. Silvia de la Paz, the chief obstetrician here, says they manage the crush as best they can. Often putting two beds together as a tandem bed for four mothers and four newborns.
And from these overcrowded hospital wards, out into the teeming slums of the city, it’s easy to see this country is in the midst of a population explosion, what some are calling a crisis. The Philippines today has one of the highest birth rates in Asia with a population that has more than doubled over the last three decades from 45 million to 100 million.
Once the mothers and their newborns leave the maternity hospital, many are going to return to places like, Tondo — this gritty neighborhood right on the edge of Manila. It’s a place where families struggle to get by on $1 or $2 a day at best. Here, very young children scavenge through garbage in search of something to sell for a few dollars to help support their families.
Families in Asia’s most Catholic country that have had little or no access to contraception or family planning advice. Families that often get larger by the year.
Vilma Lopez has ten children, ages 1 to 20. She had her first child at 19.
VILMA LOPEZ: We didn’t plan it, it just happened every year. It’s just easy for me to get pregnant.
MARK LITKE: Manila is now one of the most densely populated urban area on earth, so congested some are forced to seek refuge in local cemeteries, where they eat and sleep on tombs and mausoleums.
ESPERANZA CABRAL: In the Philippines, there is family planning, but it is available only to the rich, to those who are able to afford to go see doctors, to buy pills.
MARK LITKE: Esperanza Cabral, a former Health Secretary of the Philippines, has been sounding the alarm on the population crisis here, a population growing fastest among the poorest Filipinos — those whose need for birth control is the greatest.
------------
MARK LITKE: For years the UN has urged the Philippine government to take action, to provide free contraception and family planning for the poor. Recent surveys indicate eight in 10 Filipinos now agree.
But the Philippines most powerful institution, the Roman Catholic Church, has fought family planning policies every time they are raised. In a country where more than 80 percent are practicing Catholics, the church has dominated nearly every aspect of life in the Philippines for more than 400 years — it’s moral authority and political power rarely challenged, especially when it comes to reproduction.
--------
August 22, 2014
http://www.bagnewsnotes.com
http://voices.suntimes.com
http://banter.wpengine.netdna-cdn.com
3 random Ferguson images
http://www.bagnewsnotes.com
http://voices.suntimes.com
http://banter.wpengine.netdna-cdn.com
August 20, 2014
Kinda funny exchange from Dailymail comments regarding Perry
Person 1: The woman is an absolute disgrace, Perry is the finest politician in the country. This indictment is a complete mockery of the legal system.
Person 2: The guy can barely talk. He would stop in the middle of sentences and stare blankly at the camera. His Republican opponents in the primary debates would suppress laughs at him all the time, and you say he's the best politician in the country. You red state Republicans set your bar EXTREMELY low. Let's just call him the best politician in Texas and leave it at that.
Person 3: Perry was suffering from some medical issues at the time. He had just undergone back surgery, was on medication and was extremely sleep deprived. He should not have tried to run in the 2012 primary cycle. He will be different this time.
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