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7 of 10 voters prefer that Obama work with Congress, not go around it

David Sherfinski
The Washington Times
Wed, 29 Jan 2014 11:24 UTC
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© AP/Manual Balce Ceneta
President Barack Obama makes a face as he speaks to Costco employees during a visit to a local Costco in Lanham, Md., Wednesday, Jan. 29, 2014. The president is promoting his newly unveiled plans to boost wages for some workers and help Americans save for retirement no action from Congress necessary.
In a new poll released Wednesday, nearly seven in 10 likely U.S. voters say it's better for President Obama to work with Congress rather than act alone, compared to 27 percent who say it's better for him to go around Congress if necessary "to accomplish what he feels is important."

Mr. Obama said in his State of the Union Address Tuesday night that he'd like to work with Congress but that he's prepared to take action on his own when necessary to act on big-ticket items like the economy.

Fifty-three percent of those polled think it's more important for the Republican party to work with the president, while 40 percent say it's more important for the GOP to stand for what it believes in.

Thirty-eight percent say the president more closely resembles the will of the American people, compared to 40 percent who say Congress and 21 percent who aren't sure.
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Pistol

California man points gun at Girl Scout at his door to sell cookies

David Edwards
The Raw Story
Mon, 03 Feb 2014 12:45 UTC
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© KCAL
A California man was taken into custody over the weekend after he allegedly pulled a gun on a young Girl Scout who was selling cookies.

A press release from the Riverside County Sheriff-Coroner's office that the father of the girl, who is a minor, contacted authorities after he saw 59-year-old John Dodrill point the gun at his daughter while she was selling cookies door-to-door on Sunday.

"When the victim knocked on the suspect's door, he opened the door and pointed a gun at her," the release said.

Dodrill was taken into custody for suspected assault with a deadly weapon. His firearm was confiscated as evidence, the sheriff's office said.

The Riverside County Sheriff-Coroner's office has asked anyone with information about the case to call Officer Garcia #4162 at the Southwest Sheriff's Station at 951-696-3000.
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Post-It Note

The complete guide to everything that's happened since the massive chemical spill In West Virginia

Kiley Kroh
Think Progress
Sun, 09 Feb 2014 12:15 UTC
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It's been one month since a leak was discovered at a chemical storage facility operated by Freedom Industries on January 9, spilling an estimated 10,000 gallons of crude MCHM - a chemical mixture used in the coal production process - into the Elk River and the water supply for 300,000 West Virginians.

Despite assurances from federal and state officials that the water is safe, residents and experts remain concerned as the black licorice smell characteristic of crude MCHM is still being detected in homes and schools.

"The scariest part is that we really just don't know what's going to happen," 21-year-old Charleston resident Kellie Raines told ThinkProgress. "All of us are using the water now and we're okay now but in 30 years - I'm young, I don't want to in 30 years realize that I have cancer because of this water."
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Stock Down

100,000 protest against austerity cuts in North Carolina

Esther Yu-Hsi Lee
Think Progress
Sun, 09 Feb 2014 12:57 UTC
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© Planned Parenthood
Somewhere between 80 to 100,000 people from 32 states turned out to protest four years of drastic state Republican initiatives in Raleigh, North Carolina, on Saturday.

The "Moral March on Raleigh," organized by Historic Thousands on Jones Street (HKonJ), marched from Shaw University to the state capitol to push back against the "immoral and unconstitutional policies" of Republican Gov. Pat McCrory during the 2013 NC General Assembly session. Since North Carolina Republicans took over both legislative chambers in 2010, legislators have eliminated a host of programs and raised taxes on the bottom 95 percent, repealed a tax credit for 900,000 working families, enforced voter suppression efforts, blocked Medicaid coverage, cut pre-Kindergarten funding, cut federal unemployment benefits, and gave itself the authority to intervene in abortion lawsuits.
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Smoking

The totalitarian crusade against second-hand smoke

Brendan O'Neill
Reason.com
Sun, 09 Feb 2014 00:00 UTC
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© Assef Elweter
If there really were such a thing as a bullshit detector, a machine that bleeped upon encountering nonsense, it would probably go into meltdown whenever someone talked about second-hand smoke.

In the modern public sphere, there are few issues that are as riddled with myth, misinformation, contradictory claims and outright claptrap as the scare about what smokers' foggy puffing is doing to us innocent non-smokers.

In recent years we've been told that second-hand smoke, or passive smoking, as some people call it, is as bad as smoking itself and can give you lung cancer. And apparently if you are surrounded by it in a car that has its windows closed that is like being in the most smoky, nicotine-stained bar you could ever imagine (if such bars still existed, which of course they don't).

Comment: See: 'World Cancer Day 2014' - The Cancer Pandemic: Forget Sugar! Blame The Smokers!
Smokers' lungs used in half of transplants: Improves Survival Rate!
Smoking Does Not Cause Lung Cancer
Smoking Does Not Cause Lung Cancer (According to WHO/CDC Data)
Air pollution causes lung cancer in non-smokers (erm, can't it cause it in smokers too then?)
Government Suppresses Major Public Health Report
Air pollution leading cause of cancer, World Health Organisation warns
5 Health Benefits of Smoking
'World No Tobacco Day'? Let's All Light Up!

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Alarm Clock

California drought impact seen spreading from fires to food cost

Jennifer Oldham & Michael B. Marois
Bloomberg.com
Thu, 06 Feb 2014 14:16 UTC
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© Chieko Hara/The Porterville Recorder/AP Photo
The Tule Riverbed stands dry on Feb. 4, 2014.
The drought that's gripping California may soon have the rest of the country seeking relief.

The emergency, which follows the state's driest year on record, is likely to boost the prices of everything from broccoli to cauliflower nationwide. Farmers and truckers stand to lose billions in revenue, weakening an already fragile recovery in the nation's most-populous state. And California and other Western states are seeing a surge in wildfires.

As lawmakers rush to enact measures to help farmers and ranchers contend with the immediate threat to the nation's most productive agricultural region, the prolonged dry spell is sparking calls for a radical rethinking of how the state, and much of the West, distributes water to residents.

"We are at that point the risks for the future are really significant," said Peter Gleick, president of the Oakland-based Pacific Institute, a nonpartisan research organization. "We have to fundamentally change the way we manage water."

The drought is a stark reminder that California built the world's 10th-largest economy, the nation's top farming industry, and Silicon Valley, the epicenter of information technology, in a semi-arid environment that's struggling to sustain the water needs of 38 million people.
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Snakes in Suits

Suspicious death of JPMorgan Vice President under investigation in London

Pam Martens
Wall Street on Parade
Sun, 09 Feb 2014 00:00 UTC
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London Police have confirmed that an official investigation is underway into the death of a 39-year old JPMorgan Vice President whose body was found on the 9th floor rooftop of a JPMorgan building in Canary Wharf two weeks ago.

The news reports at the time of the incident of Gabriel (Gabe) Magee's "non suspicious" death by "suicide" resulting from his reported leap from the 33rd level rooftop of JPMorgan's European headquarters building in London have turned out to be every bit as reliable as CEO Jamie Dimon's initial response to press reports on the London Whale trading scandal in 2012 as a "tempest in a teapot."

An intense investigation is now underway into the details of exactly how Magee died and why his death was so quickly labeled "non suspicious." An upcoming Coroner's inquest will reveal the details of that investigation.

Comment: See: Two top American bankers commit suicide in London as one jumps 500ft to his death from JP Morgan skyscraper and another hangs himself

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Bizarro Earth

Retarded! Death of Texas man with slit throat and missing ear ruled 'accidental overdose'

Travis Gettys
Raw Story
Wed, 05 Feb 2014 10:25 UTC
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Prosecutors have turned over an investigation of a Texas man's disappearance and death to the state attorney general's office after the Justice Department launched its own investigation.

Alfred Wright disappeared Nov. 7 while going to visit a physical therapy client when his truck broke down.

He called his wife to pick him up, but she called her in-laws instead because she was watching their two son.

Lauren Wright said her husband was breathing heavily as if in distress when she called back, and his parents found his truck - but not their son - when they arrived at the Hemphill liquor store where his vehicle broke down.

The clerk told Wright's father she had seen him outside using his cell phone, but he had suddenly tucked the phone into his sock and took off running "as if his truck was going to blow up."

The 28-year-old Wright's watch and identification were found the following day at a nearby ranch and police organized a massive manhunt, but the search was called off after three days.
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Cow Skull

First 'global warming', then 'climate change', now White House announcement refers to 'climate shift' and 'extreme weather'

Coral Davenport
NY Times
Wed, 05 Feb 2014 00:00 UTC
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© Martinez Monsivais/Associated Press
Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack, right, with Jay Carney, the White House press secretary, discussed a move on Wednesday.
On the heels of the Senate's passage of a long-awaited farm bill, the Obama administration announced the creation of seven regional "climate hubs" on Wednesday to help farmers and rural communities respond to the risks of climate change, including drought, invasive pests, fires and floods.

White House officials described the move as one of several executive actions that President Obama will take on climate change without action from Congress.

In substance, the creation of the climate hubs is a limited step, but it is part of a broader campaign by the administration to advance climate policy wherever possible with executive authority. The action is also part of a push to build political support for the administration's more divisive moves on climate change - in particular, the Environmental Protection Agency's regulations on coal-fired power plants.
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Radar

San Francisco couple arrested after sexually abused toddler found dead in bed


Sky News
Mon, 03 Feb 2014 02:52 UTC
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Sara Krueger, 23, was seen leaving her home with luggage
Police have arrested a woman and her boyfriend in connection with the death of her three-year-old daughter.

Sara Krueger, 23, and Scott Warner, 26, were held after a search in the San Francisco Bay Area over the weekend.

Boyfriend Scott Warner, 26

They were found at a station in El Cerrito, about 30 miles south of Napa, after someone recognised the couple at a restaurant and tipped off authorities.

On Saturday, officers conducting a welfare check at Krueger's Napa apartment found the child's body in her bed.
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