You may have seen this letter to the editor in The Boston Globe.

The Dallas Morning News has the story Video: 10-ton meteor streaks through the sky in Russia, hits injuring 500.

A meteor that scientists estimate weighed 10 tons streaked at supersonic speed over Russia’s Ural Mountains on Friday, setting off blasts that injured some 500 people and frightened countless more.

The Russian Academy of Sciences said in a statement that the meteor over the Chelyabinsk region entered the Earth’s atmosphere at a speed of at least 33,000 mph and shattered about 18-32 miles above ground.

The fall caused explosions that broke glass over a wide area. The Emergency Ministry says more than 500 people sought treatment after the blasts and that 34 of them were hospitalized.

Two more videos and a slide show are available in The Wall Street Journal article Meteorite Hits Russia, Causing Panic.

So, were the Mayans and their calendar just off by one year?  Actually maybe off by only a couple of months?

The New York Times has the story East Asian Physical Traits Linked to 35,000-Year-Old Mutation.

Gaining a deep insight into human evolution, researchers have identified a mutation in a critical human gene as the source of several distinctive traits that make East Asians different from other races.

The traits — thicker hair shafts, more sweat glands, characteristically identified teeth and smaller breasts — are the result of a gene mutation that occurred about 35,000 years ago, the researchers have concluded.

I was wondering how evolution deniers could handle this story.  The comments on The Los Angeles Times version of this story headlined Tiny mutation may have shaped modern humans, scientists say gives the answer.

 Scott Traficante at 4:10 AM February 15, 2013

Junk science –and paid for on the backs of working Anericans.  It always amusues me that people make wole careers and raise families doing nothing but “researching: junk science.  In other words, find a conclusion, then make a hypothisis fit it.

Not the scientific method we were taight in school.

rphael at 7:41 PM February 14, 2013

So we are to believe that Chinese men prefare small breasts and to accomplish this, they got more sweat glands….  Monkey science?

I believe this is Elizabeth Warren’s first appearance as a member of the Senate Banking Committe.  This video from Huffington Post shows you why many of us in Massachusetts voted to put Elizabeth Warren in her new position.

The video below is presented to you using the code that Huffington Post gave to me to embed this in my blog. If it does not work for you, I have no explanation as to why. You can always use the above link to go directly to Huffington Post to see the video.

I found the link to this story on Jacquelyn Wells’ Facebook page. Jake, thanks for posting this.

In case you missed the speech or need to refresh your memory, here is the video.

The White House has a web page where you can comment about the speech.

Our involvement cannot end at just listening to the speech. We have to work with the President to defeat the inevitable opposition to these sensible initiatives.

Progressive Massachusetts has produced a comparison document on the records of Ed Markey vs. Stephen Lynch in the race for the U. S. Senate seat.  Click on the previous link if you want a PDF version of the image below.

Of course this is just an indication. Do your own due diligence before deciding.

April 30, 2013

I notice a lot of people are reading this blog post in the last two days. What has become increasingly apparent is that Ed Markey is the only truly progressive candidate in this race in either party. For instance, all the other candidates seem to be in favor of repealing Obamacare after we fought so hard to get a barely acceptable plan in place. I hear that Stephen Lynch has even abandoned the pretense that he voted against it because it was not good enough. I remember how the election of Scott Brown to the Senate was the final nail in the coffin of getting a good bill passed. If Lynch thinks we can repeal what is in place and get something better, I have to wonder what he is smoking.

After we worked so hard to get Elizabeth Warren elected and Scott Brown ousted, the last thing we need to do is repeat the original mistake by putting anybody else in the Senate but Ed Markey.

Politicus USA has the article Obama’s Reelection is Literally Destroying Fox News .

President Obama’s reelection has had a devastating impact on Fox News. Ratings are down, viewer trust is at an all time low, and now the network is caught in the middle of a Republican civil war.

I suppose it might be good if this were true.  And perhaps it is true.  But “frankly, my dear, I don’t give a damn.”

Of course, I only publish this for my dear readers who might care 🙂

Just so you know that I wasn’t shirking my duty here, the album of pictures from the aftermath of the Blizzard of 2013 should show you where I spent my time.

Here is a teaser.

Underestimate of the amount of snow we got

I mentioned the CBS Evening News Story Postal Service to drop Saturday mail delivery in my previous blog post The post office isn’t broke — it’s being robbed.  I was wrong about CBS Evening News not mentioning the pension problem.  See for yourself in the video below.

In the snippet from Senator Susan Collins (Republican of Maine), they do not have her mentioning the part that the Republicans played in this problem back in 2006. You notice that House Speaker John Boehner makes a cryptic reference to a problem that the Congress caused without mentioning that it is the Republicans that caused it or what exactly that they did.

The snippet of the remarks from the Postmaster General does not go over the major cause of the problem, which is the ridiculous pension obligation that the Republicans in Congress foisted on the Postal Service, and only the Postal Service.

So do you think that CBS Evening News has adequately covered the reasons for the Postal Service’s problems? Or is CBS Evening News cooperating in a cover-up?

You can see if CBS Evening News responds to my comment on their web site.

Credo Action is asking us to sign a petition.  See their request at The post office isn’t broke — it’s being robbed.

The United States Postal Service has just announced that due to budget shortfalls, mail will no longer be delivered on Saturdays starting in August.

It’s true the post office faces financial challenges. But the financial problems are in large part a direct result of an onerous and ill-considered 2006 law called the “Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act” (PAEA) that mandates pre-funding the postal service retiree health care and pension benefits for 75 years — something that no other government agency or private company is forced to do.

The vast majority — 85% — of the budget red ink comes from this pre-funding mandate despite the fact that, according to the post office Inspector General, the pension is over-funded and reserves for retiree health care are far higher than the federal government as a whole, the military and almost all Fortune 1000 companies.

I saw the news report by Scott Pelley on the CBS Evening News on Friday.  He went through a litany of reasons for the US Postal Service’s deficit, but did not mention the reason that is behind 85% of the deficit.  I wanted to scream or throw something at the TV.  Who has got so much power over CBS Evening News that they could get CBS Evening News to suppress this information?

It’s not like I haven’t been blogging about this subject for over a year.

Postal rescue faces uncertain future after Senate OK’s bill

Republican Saboteurs Go After The Post Office

Who Woulda Thought – A Manufactured ‘Crisis’ At The Post Office

I  thank JaneS for forwarding the email about the Credo Action petition.