There is Hope for Conservatives (Rats Display Altruism...)

University of Chicago neuroscientist Peggy Mason and psychologists Inbal Ben-Ami Bartal and Jean Decety placed pairs of rats in pens. One rat was caged in the middle of the pen, whereas the other was free to run around. In this experi­ment, 23 of 30 rats liberated their peers by head butting the cage door or leaning against the door until it tipped over.


To actually test the rodents’ selflessness, Mason placed rats in pens with two cages: in one was another rat; in the other was a pile of chocolate chips. The unhindered rats could easily have eaten the chocolate themselves. Instead most of the rodents opened both cages and shared the sweets. “In rat land, that is big,” Mason says. This is the first study to show altruistic behavior in rodents.

http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=will-you-rat-me-out

Homeland Battlefield Act Portion Found Unconstitutional By New York Judge

Source: Huffington Post

The government had argued that the law did not change the practices of the United States since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

The judge noted in her ruling that the government's inability to assure the plaintiffs that they could not face detention under the law for their work gave them legal standing to challenge the law.

Read more: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/05/16/homeland-battlefield-act-unconstitutional_n_1522587.html

People are using "juries" for censorship of opinions.

I used the term "toady" as in a person who supports a candidate, politician or whatever blindly. The first time I heard it was when I worked on Capitol Hill in 1996 and there were a group of 20 congressman from the 1994 class whom someone termed "Newt's Toadies." Why people become offended to the point of censoring people's opinions or "hiding" them is beyond me. As a gay, Catholic, lawyer, I am the butt of plenty of jokes. If someone says something against me, my choice is to confront them or walk away. I would never try and censor or silence anyone. Why is this site so keen on doing that? It seems to me it's this "thin-skinism" which seems to characterize Democrats (and particularly Obama lovers) these days.


REASON FOR ALERT:

This post is disruptive, hurtful, rude, insensitive, over-the-top, or otherwise inappropriate. (See <a href="http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=aboutus#communitystandards" target="_blank">Community Standards</a>.)

ALERTER'S COMMENTS:

"toadies" is over the line.

JURY RESULTS

A randomly-selected Jury of DU members completed their review of this alert at Thu Jan 5, 2012, 07:22 PM, and voted 5-1 to HIDE IT.

Juror #1 voted to HIDE IT and said: I agree “Toadies” is over the line, in this case, and does not add to the discussion.
Juror #2 voted to HIDE IT and said: Completely inappropriate and unacceptable language and behavior.
Juror #3 voted to HIDE IT and said: Over the line
Juror #4 voted to HIDE IT and said: I agree with the person who sent the alert. The word "toadies" is inappropriate.
Juror #5 voted to LEAVE IT ALONE and said: No explanation given
Juror #6 voted to HIDE IT and said: No explanation given

Canada Pulls Out of Kyoto