I’ve been reading about the 13 Billion that JP Morgan Chase Bank has been fined. In my opinion what should have happened is that JP Morgan should be required to mark every loan they hold “paid in full” and be made to reimburse those people who were foreclosed on because of their bad business practices that created the situation in the first place.
The Victorian Latte Shawl gained some more length last night. Not much though - Nuit-pa-toot got caught in the knitted fabric and pulled a strand. ARGH. What followed was painstakingly pulling that strand back into place.
Dearest informs me that his site Noirish has been visited by people from 44 countries. :) Go take a look at it.
http://noirencyclopedia.wordpress.com/ By the looks of it we are going to get rain today. We started out with bright sunshine early this morning and have now digressed to cloud cover. It is on the cool side too. Maybe I will start a fire in the downstairs fireplace today just to take the chill off.
Alright, I’d best get moving. I want to do errands early today so I am not having to do things in the rain. Have a good one.
Recommended Reading
Watch a digital dead frog rot before your eyes - well, I don’t think I want it hanging in my house. :)
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-24579564 Crummock Water photographer takes landscape award
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-24611551 Dung beetle has new galloping gait
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-24543808 Folger Shakespeare Library's collection to go online
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-24589338 The cult of the French pastry chef
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-24609525 Silent suppers for diners in NYC - LOL! This wouldn’t work with my friends.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-24619669 Lou Scheimer, TV Cartoon Producer, Dies at 84
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/10/22/business/media/lou-scheimer-tv-cartoon-producer-dies-at-84.html?nl=todaysheadlines&emc=edit_th_20131022&_r=0 Police Throw Man in Jail After Mistaking Jolly Ranchers for Crystal Meth
http://www.alternet.org/police-throw-man-jail-after-mistaking-jolly-ranchers-crystal-meth?akid=11063.204376.QCJy5M&rd=1&src=newsletter912859&t=7 Texas Has Found A Way To Deny Women The Vote. Voter Suppression?
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2013/10/18/1248705/-Texas-Has-Found-A-Way-To-Deny-Women-The-Vote-Voter-Suppression?detail=email Whales Don’t Spray Water Out of Their Blowholes
http://gizmodo.com/whales-don-t-spray-water-out-of-their-blowholes-1445483468 We Will Lose If a Major Corporate Trade Deal Goes Through
http://admin.alternet.org/civil-liberties/top-five-ways-lobbyists-will-win-and-we-will-lose-if-major-corporate-trade-deal-goes?akid=11064.204376.R5B32t&rd=1&src=newsletter913088&t=17 Dangerous Amounts of Radiation Detected in Stream Containing Fracking Wastewater
http://admin.alternet.org/fracking/frackings-radioactive-impact-water?akid=11064.204376.R5B32t&rd=1&src=newsletter913088&t=21 She's Worked At McDonald's For 10 Years. She Asked Its President A Simple Question. Then Cops Came.
https://www.upworthy.com/shes-worked-at-mcdonalds-for-10-years-she-asked-its-president-a-simple-question-then-cops-came?c=upw8 Exoplanet tally soars above 1,000
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-24549384 Alligator locked out of US supermarket
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-24620760 Noel Harrison: Windmills Of Your Mind singer dies at 79
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-24621444 Singapore brand looks to turn tea-drinking into a luxury pastime
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-24619518 Cat Dexter helps dog friend Gizmo escape kitchen
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-south-yorkshire-24622710 Chocolate prices could increase as cocoa costs soar
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-24607261 A Very Good Idea!
Click to view
Go sign the petition:
http://climatenamechange.org/ The Commerce Dept's Internet Policy Task Force proposed making it a felony to stream copyrighted content (aka SOPA Section 201).
Interpreted broadly, this proposal would apply to anyone who uploads a YouTube video of themselves covering a song without permission, a video with copyrighted music playing in the background, even your friend's embarassing karoke performance or your family singing "Happy Birthday To You."
The federal government wants to make streaming -- including material which falls under the "public performance" category -- punishable by years in prison.
As was pointed out last time they tried this, many artists depend on uploading YouTube covers to jumpstart their careers (including the young Justin Beiber...), and many others enjoy streaming creative interpretations of existing songs on their own websites or blogs. This proposal would make both subject to felony prosecution.
Click here to tell Obama NO to making streaming a felony, and NO new SOPA-style censorship:
http://act.demandprogress.org/sign/streaming/?referring_akid=2268.655732.bYRpA8&source=taf It is best that you watch this:
'We're building a domestic army' -Marine Corps colonel speaks out
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2013/08/15/1231397/--We-re-building-a-domestic-army-Marine-Corps-Colonel-speaks-out?detail=email ***How Government Cover-Up on Fish Farming Affects Your Health - Canada has a problem. It’s lengthy but worth the watch.
Petitions that need your signature
Subject: Here we go again…
The Monsanto protection act is back and may be included in the new 3-month spending bill!
Though wrapped in a “farmer-friendly” package, the Monsanto-driven rider remains simply a biotech industry ploy to continue to plant GE crops even when a court of law has found they were approved illegally.
Will you join me in telling Congress to exclude this dangerous rider in the upcoming spending bill?
http://salsa3.salsalabs.com/o/1881/p/dia/action3/common/public/?action_KEY=11974&sp_ref=10142675.65.579.e.2444.2 The USDA is about to slash regulations for poultry plants, saving big corporations millions at the expense of public health and workers’ safety.
If new rules are allowed to go into effect, poultry plants will be able to follow less stringent health and safety rules, speed up their production lines, and police themselves for any violations. That means that chicken will come doused with feces and bleach and that workers will be at greater risk of serious injury.
Now the only person who can reverse these regulations is President Obama. Will you join me in saying that these that these disgusting rules are unacceptable?
http://action.sumofus.org/a/usda-chicken/2/?sub=taf Rep. Darrell Issa is trying to pass a bill that would not only end Saturday delivery by the postal service, but also door-to-door mail service for millions. We must stop this outrageous attempt to kill the USPS and hand its business to FedEx and UPS. Go sign the petition:
http://act.credoaction.com/sign/issa_usps?akid=8606.952925.D3Dc4S&rd=1&t=2 They are at it again
The Texas Taliban - also known as the rightwing majority on the Texas State Board of Education - want to revise the state's standards for science textbooks to require the addition of religious pseudoscience when teaching subjects like biology. And this isn't just bad news for Texas school children because the Texas standards will impact the textbooks used by millions of students nationwide.
Texas may want to dumb-down their children by teaching them pseudoscience but I don’t want the children of my state to be taught this way. Tell textbook publishers to stand up to the Texas Taliban and only publish books that are based on sound, peer-reviewed science scholarship. Click the link below to sign the petition automatically:
http://act.credoaction.com/sign/texas_taliban/?sp_ref=7570952.4.422.e.0.2&referring_akid=8622.952925.lJjLf7&source=mailto_sp The Mind Your Own Business Act
http://mindyourownbusinessact.com/?source=Jun13Email America's top grocers are selling fake honey containing carcinogens, heavy metals, and banned antibiotics.
Get grocers to make sure they're selling us the real thing.
http://action.sumofus.org/a/honey-fake-walgreens/4/2/?akid=1806.65932.QE7P4I&rd=1&sub=fwd&t=3 The Wounded Knee site has been held sacred by the Lakota Sioux since the horrific massacre that happened there in 1890. Now, it's in danger of being sold to the highest bidder, including someone who would build a horse slaughterhouse on the plot.
The current owner has offered to sell the site to its rightful owners, the nearby Oglala tribe, for the cool price of $3.9 million. But The Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, just a few miles from where Wounded Knee is located, is one of the poorest places in the country. To build a horse slaughterhouse on their sacred site after everything the tribe has already suffered would be unthinkable.
http://www.care2.com/go/z/e/AhnMh/zNI6/3R2f And now a word about Monsanto and others like them. These profit-hungry biotech companies have found a way to exclusively ‘own’ something that freely belongs to us all -- our food! They’re trying to patent away our everyday vegetables and fruits like cucumber, broccoli and melons, forcing growers to pay them and risk being sued if they don’t.
Companies like Monsanto have found loopholes in European law to get away with this, so we just need to close them shut before they set a dangerous global precedent. And to do that, we need key countries like Germany, France and the Netherlands -- where opposition is already growing -- to call for a vote to stop Monsanto’s plans. Go sign the petition.
http://www.avaaz.org/en/monsanto_vs_mother_earth_loc/?bjeIjab&v=23911 Tell Nestlé: Stop trying to patent a natural cure
In a paper published last year, Nestlé scientists claimed to “discover” what much of the world has known for millennia: that nigella sativa extract could be used for “nutritional interventions in humans with food allergy”.
But instead of creating an artificial substitute, or fighting to make sure the remedy was widely available, Nestlé is attempting to create a nigella sativa monopoly and gain the ability to sue anyone using it without Nestlé’s permission. Nestlé has filed patent applications -- which are currently pending -- around the world.
Sing the petition:
http://action.sumofus.org/a/nestle-nigella-sativa/11/2/?akid=1601.65932.w0DNPx&rd=1&sub=fwd3&t=4 Maddow features PCCC activism
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F7LANHts78c Tell Congress Social Security is non-negotiable.
http://act.couragecampaign.org/sign/standwithbernie Amazon is at it again! Please go sign this petition. It is not fair for those of us who make our living by writing. Authors are not libraries and while most of us enjoy the social side of writing we do this to pay our bills. If some one returns an ebook after reading it our royalties get reduced.
I just signed the pe
etition "Amazon Kindle e-Book Return Policy: Stop allowing refunds on e-Books after e-Books have been read." on
http://Change.org/ It's important. Here's the link:
http://www.change.org/petitions/amazon-kindle-e-book-return-policy-stop-allowing-refunds-on-e-books-after-e-books-have-been-read North Dakota just passed the most extreme abortion ban in the country. It's just one of some 300 bills across the country designed to take away women's rights and access to health care -- and ultimately to overturn Roe vs. Wade. Don't let lawmakers get away with it, take action today:
http://ppaction.org/WakeUpCall Click here to tell Obama to veto CISPA:
http://act.demandprogress.org/letter/veto_cispa/?referring_akid=a8234599.655732.Af5Ve3&source=auto-taf AT&T, Cablevision, Comcast, Time Warner Cable, and Verizon have all agreed to start spying on their users.
The US's largest Internet Service Providers are implementing a new "online infringement" plan to identify and punish, with virtually no due process, users suspected of downloading copyrighted content.
https://act.demandprogress.org/letter/six_strikes_2013/?rd=1&t=1&referring_akid=undefined Remember CISPA? Well, it’s back - sign the petition
http://www.cispaisback.com/ Oppose Seismic Surveys in the Atlantic - sign it please
http://action.surfrider.org/p/dia/action/public/?action_KEY=6937 Tell Congress to Dump Monsanto's Riders!
http://salsa3.salsalabs.com/o/50865/p/dia/action3/common/public/?action_KEY=8644 Bury Power Lines in Cities and Towns, Prevent Long-Lasting Outages, Improve National Security
http://signon.org/sign/bury-power-lines-in-cities?mailing_id=7341&source=s.icn.em.cr&r_by=913515 Protect Global Internet Freedom - go sign the petition
http://protectinternetfreedom.net/ The Sierra Club has a variety of actions to be taken. Just follow the link.
Send the congress a letter here:
http://action.sierraclub.org/site/Advocacy?pagename=homepage&id=9962
Do you really own the smartphone or computer you’re using to read this email?
If you sold your computer, would you be breaking the law? A federal court in New York says you would be.
It's unbelievable, but trademark and copyright holders really are trying to take away your right to sell things that you own. Please click here to fight back:
http://www.youvebeenowned.org/ The First-Sale Doctrine gives us the right to sell most property we own. But if the Supreme Court supports the lower court’s decision, we won't really “own” anything if it's from a different country. We expect them to issue a ruling later this year.
The President can urge the Court to side with consumers; then Congress will probably weigh in on the issue, no matter how the Court rules.
If we lose this fight, anybody who wants to resell foreign products, from Macbooks and iPhones to our clothing and textbooks, will have to ask copyright holders for permission first. And they'll have the right to deny it!
Just click here to email your lawmakers right away:
http://www.youvebeenowned.org/ There are two very bad internet bills that you need to be aware of. The first concerns making streaming content a felony. Read about it here:
http://act.demandprogress.org/letter/ten_strikes?akid=700.450896.5hVZPC&rd=1&t=1 and the second is the Protect-IP Act that gives the government power to censor search engines and browsers. Read more about it here:
http://act.demandprogress.org/sign/protectip_docs Both of the above pages have a petition to sign so please do so.
The non-existent tags
weather, knitting, gardening, global warming, environment, politics, Repugs, scumbags, quilting, petitions, CISPA, health, Exxon, oil spills, Monsanto, evil, people, tar sands, harassment, privacy, GMOs, fish, fracking, food, animals, WTF?, silliness, people, media, stupids, photography, art, passings, chocolate, reptiles, insects, animation, police, voter suppression, whales, TPP, exoplanets, tea
Change the world one loan at a time - visit
http://www.Kiva.org