Tea Partyers in Wonderland by: Barbara Koeppel  |  The Nation | Op-Ed (Image: Jared Rodriguez / t r u t h o u t; Adapted: cgorski, cc Gisela Francisco, Cookieater2009) The mythmongers in Tea Party land and millions more Americans seem to prefer fiction to fact. Based on a mid-April New York Times/CBS News poll of about 1,600 adults, we learned that 52 percent of Tea Party supporters believe “too much has been made of the problems facing black people.” Could it be because 89 percent of the Partyers polled are white? They also have above-average incomes: 31 percent of Tea Partyers … Continue reading Redneckistan! Republic of The Tea Party

VIEW: Let us keep our fingers crossed —Daud Khattak Calling the military campaigns a success in the face of the rampant attacks and the enormous loss of lives is being oblivious of reality Perhaps the horrendous murder of young Mian Rashid Hussain was not sufficient to quench the thirst of the merchants of death for bloodletting. The next day they dispatched another bomber to target those gathered in a mosque in Pabbi town of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) to mourn the death of the previous day. The father of Mian Rashid, Mian Iftikhar Hussain, is a man who has valiantly fought … Continue reading Let us keep our fingers crossed

VIEW: Bipolar Anonymous —Ishrat Saleem Due to lack of awareness, superstitious culture and inadequate mental health infrastructure, people prefer to go to traditional charmers and quacks rather than seeking proper psychiatric and psychological help to treat symptoms of mental illnesses A number of bipolar disorder patients and their families meet regularly in Lahore in separate groups called Bipolar Anonymous (BA) and Bi-Anon respectively, named after Narcotics Anonymous (NA) and Nar-Anon meant for narcotics addicts and their friends and families respectively. The programmes of these two sets of meetings are almost similar because it has been observed that the challenges of … Continue reading Bipolar Anon

VIEW: An erosion of national character —Dr Mahjabeen Islam I grieve for all that died in the Margalla Hills as much as I mourn the erosion of my nation’s moral character, festering at the top and trickling down, leaving our youth with the premise that any and all means justify money and power Buffeted by air crashes, natural disasters, economic collapse and terrorism at the Islamabad Marriott and Lahore’s Data Ganj Baksh shrine among numerous others, one wonders at Pakistan’s resilience. And the shot nerves of its populace. If fury rains from the heavens above, one can do the fatalistic … Continue reading An erosion of national character

Asbos helped make Britain look broken Asbos focused public attention on low-level yobbery and youthful misdemeanour, and criminalised a generation of young people Julia Margo guardian.co.uk, Thursday 29 July 2010 12.30 BST Article history Theresa May, the home secretary, says asbos are on the way out. Photograph: Anthony Devlin/PAThe much maligned asbo agenda may be coming to an end: Theresa May has joined the troop of pointy-heads and generally sensible types who have argued for years that with a breach-rate of around 50% and evidence that the agenda has increased the numbers of young people being sentenced, they simply do … Continue reading Asbos

Dog-eating alligator wanted dead or alive An urban alligator who has been eating dogs and other pets and terrorising a neighbourhood is now wanted, dead or alive. telegraph.co.uk The US state agency has taken the unusual step of authorising an alligator hunter to shoot and kill the 10ft long reptile. Photo: ALAMY Gary Morse of the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission said the US state agency has taken the unusual step of authorising an alligator hunter to shoot and kill the 10ft long reptile. “Alligators regularly use the drainage system to travel. When you are trying to target a … Continue reading Dog-eating alligator

Giant asteroid ‘heading for Earth in 2182’ A giant asteroid called 1999 RQ36 may crash into Earth on September 24 2182, scientists believe. By Alastair Jamieson Asteroids are blamed for the extinction of the dinosaurs. Photo: GETTY A team of experts, including some working for NASA, believes the 612-yards-wide object has a one-in-a-thousand chance of an impact 172 years from now. The odds of a crash are considerably shorter than those given for the asteroid Apophis, which has a 1 in 250,000 chance of striking Earth in 2036. Related Articles Russia plans to stop asteroid from crashing to Earth Comet … Continue reading 1999 RQ36

A fifth of European Union will be Muslim by 2050 Britain, Spain and Holland will have an even higher proportion of Muslims in a shorter amount of time, an investigation by The Telegraph shows. By Adrian Michaels telegraph.co.uk On a hope and a prayer: lack of debate over influx of Muslims, some experts claim Photo: REUTERS Last year, five per cent of the total population of the 27 EU countries was Muslim. But rising levels of immigration from Muslim countries and low birth rates among Europe’s indigenous population mean that, by 2050, the figure will be 20 per cent, according … Continue reading The European Union will be Muslim majority by 2150?