January 31, 2015

Le’Veon Bell: ESPN’s Most Valuable AFC North Player a

Pittsburgh Steelers running back Le’Veon Bell edged out teammate Ben Roethlisberger as ESPN’s AFC North Most Valuable Player today.  Receiving 12 points from a panel of judges that included Jamison Hensley, Scott Brown and three other sports writers, Bell earned well-deserved recognition for an outstanding 2014 season.

On February 18, Bell turns 23 years of age, but has already created a legacy for himself on the gridiron.  Bell was a close second place in yards from scrimmage and joined Marshall Faulk in NFL record books as the only players to gain at least 1,350 rushing yards and 850 receiving yards in a single season.

Bell may have led the league were it not for an unfortunate knee injury that kept him out of the Steelers’ final game in the AFC Wild Card round against the Baltimore Ravens.

Roethlisberger earned 8 points in the voting after tying New Orleans Saints quarterback Drew Brees for most passing yards during 2014 (4,925 total).

Other players who received votes: JoeFlacco, 4; Justin Forsett, 3; Antonio Brown, 2; Jeremy Hill, 1.

The post Le’Veon Bell: ESPN’s Most Valuable AFC North Player appeared first on Steelers Gab.

http://www.steelersgab.com/2015/01/30/leveon-bell-espns-valuable-afc-north-player/

#SteelerNationUnite

January 31, 2015

Committee Chair Censors Public Comment Against Right-to-Work Supporters

Reposting from Gen Discuss

http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=post&forum=1002&pid=6158960

January 30, 2015

Watch Saturn's aurorae

WATCH VIDEO:
Hubble Captures Saturn's Aurorae Astronomers release movies of Saturn's northern and southern lights.

DiscoveryNews

http://mail.discovery.com/T/v10000014b3c0e72baae4fdc604babb870/8439f2ef316b42e70000021ef3a0bccf

January 30, 2015

Hubble Finds Galaxy's Stars Scattered Far From Home

Mesmerizing observation by the Hubble Space Telescope shows galaxy NGC 7714 in a state of turmoil.

DiscoveryNews

http://mail.discovery.com/T/v10000014b3c0e72baae4fdc604babb870/8439f2ef316b42e70000021ef3a0bcce

January 30, 2015

Election reform before US Supreme Court

Bernnan Center

http://www.brennancenter.org/sites/all/modules/civicrm/extern/url.php?u=77529&qid=3407368

January 30, 2015

Call for New Safeguards on U.S. Intelligence Organizations

This week marks the 40th anniversary of the formation of the Church Committee, a congressionally appointed panel that first investigated FBI and CIA intelligence abuse occurring from Roosevelt to Nixon. In a new report, with a foreword written by former Vice President Walter Mondale and former Sen. Gary Hart, 17 former Church Committee staff members laid out key reforms to help Congress rein in intelligence abuses and repair weakened oversight mechanisms. “Examining whether the controls and structures created four decades ago remain an effective bulwark against error and abuse is necessary,” former staffers said in The Hill. “And the growing mistrust of U.S. intelligence activities at home and abroad make it essential.” Read more from CQ Roll Call.

More, plus links in article:

http://www.brennancenter.org/sites/all/modules/civicrm/extern/url.php?u=77525&qid=3407368

January 30, 2015

5 most popular posts on RightWingWatch.org this week

http://site.pfaw.org/site/R?i=seCNczPL1dZ9ikGIGxtN_w


The AFA Cannot Wash Its Hands of Bryan Fischer's Bigotry That Easily

http://site.pfaw.org/site/R?i=UIoFY_MJXDfwqvY8emOduQ


Meet David Lane: The Anti-Gay, Christian-Nation Extremist of the RNC

http://site.pfaw.org/site/R?i=ErMnTnDBcAOkNfvjDLJvkA



Bobby Jindal: 'We Need a Spiritual Revival to Fix What Ails Our
Country'

http://site.pfaw.org/site/R?i=XDG4ZnXsCxocXmzXDbIfWw



Sarah Palin: Defeat Hillary Clinton By Calling Liberals the Real
Racists and Sexists

http://site.pfaw.org/site/R?i=xaQ_LRpJkXhgO-TmrjMGfQ


Steve King: DREAMers Come From Another Planet

http://site.pfaw.org/site/R?i=gHj19LxCXXIyXnHy0dkU4A
Download the App:
http://site.pfaw.org/site/R?i=XLfv5AOcLTN70z8YpPgRuw

January 30, 2015

MO's Country Club Committee Meeting Goes Wrong for Republicans, Get Caught on Camera talking Choice

What hypocrits!
---

DailyKos
Article by tmservo433

A few days ago, the Missouri Legislature did something that they have just become used to - hitting the road to a country club to conduct state business.   These official state meetings were designed to talk about state business in an environment 'more conducive' for discussion, many had maintained.
No one had quite anticipated the free wheeling discussion that would go on Tuesday night, however, as Progress Missouri managed to go to the country club - after all this was an official state meeting - and sit in, as well as live stream and record the event.

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2015/01/27/1360599/-Missouri-Telecom-Committee-Meets-in-Country-Club-to-Discuss-State-Business

We followed along here as legislators talked about a variety of issues with the lobbyists who attended, seemingly forgetting the fact that there event would be livestreamed, or there would be consequences of their discussion.

Progress Missouri uploaded the full, high definition video recently, and amongst the discussion Republicans took on the pending abortion legislation facing the state house, and the conclusions they reached weren't what you'd expect - especially from supposedly hardened anti-choice advocates.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/01/29/missouri-abortion-bill_n_6573388.html?utm_hp_ref=tw

(VIDEO)

Hicks, who said he "can totally get [the bill] and understand it," talked about his reservations with the legislation.
"There is a piece of legislation we’re actually watching, I wanna see how it turns out," Hicks said. "That's the one about father’s rights to a woman who’s pregnant with a child. I can totally get it and understand it, I just don’t know how you would do something like that. I mean bottom line, it’s still her body. How do you do something like that? I’m curious to see who says yes, who says no. I’ve been asking certain people outside the Dome what they think and so far they don’t like it. Male and female, for that matter. None of the women like that idea at all."

"I know when my wife saw it she was like, 'What?' and I was like, 'Oh,'" Hicks explained of the bill.
He said he had promised his wife that he would track the bill's progress.

"When your wife goes, 'What is this?' and it has something to do with legislation and the bedroom, you pay attention," he said.

Republicans have forwarded new work on anti-choice legislation in Missouri this year, revising the current rules - which already require for waiting periods, overnights, and more with new standards.  Amongst the proposals include a requirement that a woman watch a 20 minute long pro-birth video recorded 24 hours before the procedure, and potentially again immediately before the procedure in case they may change their mind.  

Missouri has had an interesting back and forth on the issues, including some choice moments on the house floor this week.   That includes Rep Brattin making a reference to "lady doctors" (FYI, he could just call them doctors), and confrontational testimony in which members of the Washington University in St. Louis medical school testified and pointed out the fact that "science is not a belief system" while arguing that the planned video was not only 'not science', but most of the forced procedures didn't reflect the current understanding of medicine.

Progress Missouri, a progressive watchdog group for the state - has been exceptionally active in following and promoting these issues to bring attention, but their live stream of the Missouri legislature taking its meetings on the lam may have resulted in a real change in the statehouse.

The day following Progress Missouri's livestream fiasco, Missouri Republicans announced a change:

http://kbia.org/post/missouri-house-ends-lobbyist-funding-site-meetings

The Missouri House is putting an end to committee meetings at country clubs and restaurants.
House Speaker John Diehl said Wednesday that, effective immediately, all House committee meetings will be held at the Capitol.

That decision comes a day after the House Telecommunications Committee held a meeting at the Jefferson City Country Club, where lawmakers heard a presentation and ate a meal provided by the Missouri Telecommunications Industry Association.

A similar meeting of the House Utility Infrastructure Committee was scheduled for Wednesday evening at the country club.

But Diehl said that meeting would instead be held at the Capitol, without a lobbyist-supplied meal.

Hattip to Progress Missouri for all of their great work for the people of the ShowMe state.

Article, w/ vid:

http://m.dailykos.com/story/2015/01/29/1361011/-MO-s-Country-Club-Committee-Meeting-Goes-Wrong-for-Republicans-Get-Caught-on-Camera-talking-Choice?detail=email

January 30, 2015

Comcast changes customer's first name on bill to 'Asshole'

From DailyKos

Ah, Comcast. The worst of the worst. So bad they were awarded Consumerist's "Worst Company in America" title in 2010 and 2014. Now they've achieved a new level of assholery.

A Comcast customer received a shocking bill recently, and it wasn't the dollar amount that stood out. It was the name on the bill, which someone at the company had changed from Ricardo Brown to "Asshole Brown."

Wow. The customer must have done something pretty bad for someone to do that. What was their crime? Lisa Brown wanted to quit the cable part of their agreement with Comcast. When they transferred her to a "retention specialist," she politely turned down their offer to sign up for a new contract.

That's it.

Comcast has now come out and confirmed the bill is real and have apologized for what they call a "completely unacceptable and inappropriate name change."

"We have zero tolerance for this type of disrespectful behavior and are conducting a thorough investigation to determine what happened. We are working with our customer to make this right and will take appropriate steps to prevent this from happening again."

Comcast apparently plans to fire the person who changed the name, refund the past two years' service and add on two more.

You might think Comcast customer service can't get any worse than it already is. But don't forget that Comcast has plans to merge with Time-Warner Cable and create the world's largest and shittiest customer service department. Comcast has even ghostwritten letters that politicians are using to support the merge. It's still possible for us to beat this thing. If you haven't already, please sign our petition to stop this mega-merger in its tracks.

Link f/ bold:

http://www.theverge.com/2015/1/26/7878239/comcast-twc-fcc-merger-letters-politicians-ghostwritten

Link f/ article which includes link to petition yo stop merger:

http://m.dailykos.com/story/2015/01/29/1360900/-Comcast-changes-customer-s-first-name-on-bill-to-Asshole?detail=email

January 30, 2015

Ancient 'genomic parasites' spurred evolution of pregnancy in mammals

Large-scale genetic changes that marked the evolution of pregnancy in mammals have been identified by an international team of scientists. They found thousands of genes that evolved to be expressed in the uterus in early mammals. Surprisingly, these genes appear to have been recruited from other tissue types by transposons -- ancient mobile genetic elements sometimes thought of as genomic parasites. The study sheds light on how organisms evolve new morphological structures and functions.


http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/sciencedaily/strange_science/~3/VXOxqUZENWU/150129125501.htm?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email