Putting the Pieces Together — an Open Thread

I’ve been thinking about some of the arguments floating around. Some people think that Martha Coakley MUST NOT be elected to the Senate. Others aren’t so sure. . . . Some people think we should make deals with people who are radically against some of the issues we hold dear.  Others think that’s a huge [...]

Toxicity and GM Food

Genetically modified food was declared too safe to label years ago. Greenpeace has been fighting to have Monsanto’s original data released. Their RoundUp resistant crops (“RoundUp Ready” in adspeak) and Bt corn are a large majority of GM crops worldwide. Monsanto lost some legal cases, the data finally became available, and have now been reanalyzed. [...]

The gritty truth in Mark Halperin’s pulp fiction

I haven’t read the book but I did read a lengthy 10 page excerpt on the collapse of the Edwards’ marriage and campaign.  I don’t know if Elizabeth was a saint or Edwards a monster as they were written but it became clear over the course of the past several years that Elizabeth was living [...]

Wednesday Wake-up

Quake devastates Haiti, many casualties feared A powerful earthquake struck Haiti’s capital on Tuesday with withering force, toppling everything from simple shacks to the ornate National Palace and the headquarters of U.N. peacekeepers. The dead and injured lay in the streets even as strong aftershocks rippled through the impoverished Caribbean country. Associated Press journalists based [...]

A Couple of Brave Souls Dare to Praise Hillary Clinton

For the past few days, the Villagers and their media buddies have been poring over the trashy new book by John Heileman and Mark Halperin, Game Change. The person who seems to be having the most fun with the book is Ben Smith at Politico, who seemingly has been in the throes of an extended [...]

More Reasons Why I’ll Never Fly Again

Last May I wrote a post called Just One of Thousands of Reasons Why I’ll Never Fly Again. Now, I have three more reasons: 1) whole body scanning machines, 2) diffraction-enhanced X-ray imaging or DEXI scanners, and–are you ready for this? 3) mind-reading scanners. WHOLE BODY SCANNING MACHINES in the wake of the panic over [...]

Who ARE these people?

OK, let me get this straight. The guy who is Majority Leader of the Senate talks in private about another Senator like this: Reid said Obama could fare well nationally as an African-American candidate because he was “light-skinned” and didn’t speak with a “Negro dialect unless he wanted to have one.” We know that at [...]

Proposal: The Confluence Run for the Working Class

Update: Please note that this is my proposal and does not necessarily reflect the ideas of other writers at The Confluence.  No other writer at The Confluence was consulted in the preparation of this post.  I am speaking for me only. Endorphins can do funny things to your thought processes.  I began running last year [...]

Sunday Morning Escape: SoD’s News Boycott edition

I’m boycotting the news. It’s too darn depressing and unfortunately T Pyxidis is still several million years away from ending my misery. Therefore, this morning’s links are a potpourri of “stuff.” Yep, just “stuff.” Interesting stuff, funny stuff, odd stuff, sciency stuff, but no newsy stuff. You guys are all the bomb, so I hope [...]

The Confluence Demographics Survey Results

This is an update to the survey post I did on Tuesday.  We were having trouble with the graphics but have fixed the pics now.  Enjoy! **************************************************************************************************************** Thanks to everyone who took our survey.  That would be 561 of you!  The survey was not intended to be scientific in any way.  It was more or [...]