Mussolini’s anti-Semitism

This video is called Italians Goosestep For Hitler Version A (1938).

From Haaretz daily in Israel:

16/11/2009

‘Mussolini: I’ll build an island and put all the Jews there’

By Haaretz Service

Italian dictator Benito Mussolini was a rabid anti-Semite who called Adolf Hitler “a big romantic” and despised the pope, a new book of his mistress Claretta Petacci’s diaries revealed, AFP reported on Monday.

The Corriere della Sera daily reportedly published extracts of the book “Secret Mussolini,” taken from diaries written between 1932 and 1938, on Monday two days before it hits Italian book shops.

While on a boating trip on August 4, 1938, Mussolini talked about the German dictator’s new anti-Semitic laws with his mistress, saying “I’ve been racist since 1921,” according to AFP.

“I don’t know how they can think that I’m imitating Hitler, he wasn’t born yet…” he was quoted as saying. “We must give Italians a feeling of race so that they don’t create half-castes, so that they don’t spoil what is beautiful about us.”

Two months later, on October 11, Mussolini is again at sea with Petacci, when he was quoted as saying: “Those bloody Jews, they should be destroyed … I’ll build an island and put them all there… They don’t even have any gratitude, recognition, not even a letter of thanks… They say we need them, their money, their help.”

Mussolini’s regime was generally considered less ideologically extreme than that of Hitler, who created concentration camps during the Holocaust to exterminate what he considered “inferior” people and races, including Jews.

On October 1, 1938, after the Munich Conference that gave Hitler a slice of Czechoslovakia, Mussolini tells his mistress that “the Fuhrer is very nice. Hitler is a big romantic at heart. When he saw me he had tears in his eyes. He really likes me a lot,” AFP reported.

Extinct reptile-like goat in Balearic islands

From mongabay.com:

Extinct goat was “similar to crocodiles”

Jeremy Hance

November 16, 2009

It sounds like something out of Greek mythology: a half-goat, half-reptilian creature. But researchers have discovered that an extinct species of goat, the Balearic Island cave goat or Myotragus balearicus, survived in nutrient-poor Mediterranean islands by evolving reptilian-specific characteristics. The goat, much like crocodiles, was able to grow at flexible rates, stopping growth entirely when food was scant.

This adaptation—never before seen in a mammal—allowed the species to survive for five million years before being driven to extinction only 3,000 years ago, likely by human hunters.

Islands, especially nutrient-poor islands, are usually home to reptiles. Mammals are endotherms, meaning that they have steady and high growth rates, and therefore require rich environments to sustain them. However reptiles, ectotherms, grow slowly and are able to change their growth rates when resources fluctuate, making them perfectly adaptable to resource-poor islands, like the Balearic islands of Spain. So, given the environmental conditions of these islands, how did a species of goat thrive there for millions of years?

This question led researchers Meike Kohler and Salvador Moya-Sola from the Catalan Institute of Paleontology at the Autonomous University of Barcelona to analyze the fossil bones of the Balearic Island cave goat. What they found was nothing short of shocking.

“The bone microstructure indicates that Myotragus grew unlike any other mammal but similar to crocodiles at slow and flexible rates, ceased growth periodically, and attained [physical] maturity extremely late by 12 years,” Kohler and Moya-Sola write in a paper published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Science.

While the Balearic Island cave goat is the world’s first mammal known to have adapted reptilian growth strategies, Kohler and Moya-Sola believe there were probably others. The Balearic Island cave goat was a dwarf species: standing only 50 centimeters (19.5 inches) at the shoulder, smaller than a medium-size dog. Only a few thousands years ago, Mediterranean islands were also home to a variety of dwarf mammals, including elephants, hippos, and deer. Kohler and Moya-Sola hypothesize that these other dwarf mammals must have evolved traits similar to the Balearic Island cave goat—and reptiles—in order to survive in low nutrient environments.

Yet, as Kohler and Moya-Sola write it was likely these same traits that led to the species’ downfall.

“The reptile-like physiological and life history traits found in Myotragus were certainly crucial to their survival on a small island for the amazing period of 5.2 million years, more than twice the average persistence of continental species. […] However, precisely because of these traits (very tiny and immature neonates, low growth rate, decreased aerobic capacities, and reduced behavioral traits), Myotragus did not survive the arrival of a major predator, Homo sapiens, some 3,000 years ago,” they write.

Boycott Honduran mock election, Zelaya says

This video is called Honduras: Where does Washington stand?

From British daily The Morning Star:

Zelaya calls for Honduran election boycott

Monday 16 November 2009

Honduran President Manuel Zelaya as called on his country‘s citizens not to participate in next week’s presidential election.

President Zelaya, who was deposed and exiled in a coup d’etat on June 28, also announced that he had written to US President Barack Obama calling on him not to recognise the results of the election, declaring that it had “no legitimacy if it is held under the gun.”

Speaking from the Brazilian embassy in the Honduran capital Tegucigalpa, where he has taken refuge after secretly entering the country, Mr Zelaya also rejected any further efforts to make a deal with coup leader Roberto Micheletti.

Insisting that he had no reason to negotiate over the matter, Mr Zelaya insisted that, “in my position as president elected by the Honduran people, I reaffirm my decision that, from this date forward, no matter what, I will not accept any agreement to return to the presidency.

“My term of office ends on January 27 2010,” he declared, adding that neither the Honduran Congress nor the country’s Supreme Court had the authority to depose the president.

An agreement brokered by Costa Rican President Oscar Arias last month had called for Mr Zelaya to be returned to office at the head of a “unity” government that would have included supporters of Mr Micheletti’s coup regime in the president’s cabinet.

However, Mr Micheletti broke the agreement by allowing Congress, which is dominated by coup supporters, to debate whether Mr Zelaya should return to the presidential palace, while naming all the members of the cabinet himself.

“I have given up talking to Micheletti and I am forced to accept that this dialogue is false, that Micheletti is a liar and the only thing that discussion with him has served is to strengthen the de facto regime,” Mr Zelaya said.

Alarmed by suggestions by US diplomats that Mr Obama was willing to recognise the results of the November 29 election even if it was held under the auspices of the coup regime, Mr Zelaya also demanded that the US “lead by example” and refuse to do so.

The continued repression of trade unionists by the regime set up in Honduras after a June 28 coup makes it impossible to hold free and fair elections, says AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka in a Nov. 13 letter to Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton: here.

The plight of Honduran maquila workers in the aftermath of the coup: here.

On November 18, 1909 the US administration of William Howard Taft sends war ships to the Caribbean coast of Nicaragua as it prepares to depose the regime of President José Santos Zelaya: here.

US Group That Supported Overthrows of Democratically Elected Governments in Haiti and Venezuela Will Observe Elections in Honduras: here.

US workers die at work

From 16 Deaths Per Day in the USA:

Sixteen workers are killed a day in the United States because of reckless negligence on the part of their employers. Under existing laws, these employers get a slap on the wrist, or walk away scot-free. Meanwhile, workers who blow the whistle face threats and retaliation at the workplace.

You can sign a petition against this here.

The number of workplace accidents and illnesses in the US is vastly underreported, according to a survey by the Government Accountability Office: here.

US gay media company closed down

This video from the USA is called Washington Blade‘s 40th Anniversary Video.

From Pink News in Britain:

America’s biggest gay media company forced to close

By PinkNews.co.uk Staff Writer • November 16, 2009 – 17:15

Window Media LCC, the largest publisher of LGBT newspapers and websites in America, has closed down.

The company owns the Washington Blade, Southern Voice, Dallas Voice, David magazine and the South Florida Blade.

It is thought that a major shareholder had been forced into liquidation and faced federal receivership.

The Washington Blade recently celebrated its 40th anniversary, while Southern Voice was founded 21 years ago.

Southern Voice editor Laura Douglas-Brown arrived at her Atlanta office today to find the locks changed and a note on the door saying the parent company had ceased business.

Douglas-Brown told Creative Loafing: “It’s not just a loss for the employees, but the gay community as well.”

She added: “[This] didn’t happen because of a lack of need for our publications. It didn’t happen because of a lack of hard dedicated work by local staff. And that’s the shame of it. . .It’s a sad tale, how it all came crashing down.”

BuzzFeed looks at the past, present and precarious future of LGBT media.

A 10-year-old Arkansas boy name Will Phillips has decided that he cannot in good conscience pledge allegiance to the flag as long as the country for which it stands refuses legal equality to its GLBT citizens: here.

Gay people in Nazi Germany: how hate triumphs: here.

A Philippines gay rights group is waging a legal battle to be allowed to run in next year’s polls: here.

Raccoons waiting for San Francisco bus

From Paw Nation in the USA:

Raccoons Line Up for San Francisco Muni Bus

by Helena Sung

A photograph of a group of raccoons clustered around a San Francisco bus has gone viral. “I’m shocked, actually,” the photographer, Stephen W. Thomson, tells Paw Nation. The delightful photograph was posted to Thomson’s Flickr page, and has been reported by the Daily Mail in London, the Wall Street Journal, and local Web sites. …

Admired from afar, the raccoons outside the bus — some of whom were standing on their hind legs — were well-mannered as they ate bits of food off the ground. “They were quiet and not beating each other to get to the food,” Thomson says. While it’s been reported that the bus driver regularly feeds the raccoons who gather, Thomson says he does not know for a fact whether that is true. “I didn’t actually see the bus driver feeding the raccoons and don’t know if he does that regularly,” Thomson says, adding that he does not want to get the bus driver in any trouble.

“What I find interesting,” says Thomson, “is the joy that viewers get from seeing the photograph.” We sure do!

Related articles

• Baby raccoon blind orphans in California
• More Paws at Xandari
• Bigfoot found? Nope, ‘sasquatch hairs’ come from cows, raccoons, and humans

Sarah Palin gets more and more creationist

This video from the USA says about itself:

Headzup: Sarah Palin And Dinosaurs

Sarah Palin is asked about her belief that the earth is only 6000 years old and that man and dinosaurs co-existed.

Read more about it here.

From the Raw Story in the USA:

Palin says she doesn’t believe in evolution

By John Byrne

Monday, November 16th, 2009 — 8:50 am

First, a conspiracy about dollar coins. Now a conspiracy about monkeys and fish.

Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, Sen. John McCain’s (R-AZ) vice presidential running mate, signals in her new book Going Rogue that she doesn’t believe in evolution, panning it as theory that human beings “originated from fish that sprouted legs and crawled out of the sea.”

According to a review published Sunday in The New York Times, Palin knocks evolution in her new book.

“Elsewhere in this volume, she talks about creationism, saying she “didn’t believe in the theory that human beings — thinking, loving beings — originated from fish that sprouted legs and crawled out of the sea” or from “monkeys who eventually swung down from the trees.” In everything that happens to her, from meeting Todd to her selection by Mr. McCain for the Republican ticket, she sees the hand of God: “My life is in His hands. I encourage readers to do what I did many years ago, invite Him in to take over.””

Palin‘s stance may itself an be “evolution” from a previous position. In 2006, ThinkProgress notes, Palin advocated that both creationism (the belief that humankind originated from a supreme being) and evolution should be taught side-by-side in public schools.

See also here.

Steve Schmidt now joins a host of former McCain staffers who have challenged the veracity of Sarah Palin’s book, Going Rogue, even before it hits the streets on Tuesday: here.

Jokes About Sarah Palin’s Book: here.

Sarah Palin’s Top 10 Biggest Lies: here.

Sarah Palin Rules the GOP — And She Will Destroy It: here.

Zoo with creationist agenda approved for schools: here.

Why giant deer became extinct

This video is called Giant Deer and Mammoth, Naturalis Leiden Holland.

From the BBC:

Monday, 16 November 2009

Starvation ‘wiped out’ giant deer

By Matt Walker
Editor, Earth News

The giant deer, also known as the giant Irish deer or Irish elk, is one of the largest deer species that ever lived.

Yet why this giant animal, which had massive antlers spanning 3.6m, suddenly went extinct some 10,600 years ago has remained a mystery.

Now a study of its teeth is producing tantalising answers, suggesting the deer couldn’t cope with climate change.

As conditions became colder and drier in Ireland at the time, fewer plants grew, gradually starving the deer.

The discovery is published in the journal Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology.

The giant deer (Megaloceros giganteus) has become famous over the past few centuries.

In the early 1800s, discoveries of its remains opened up the debate about whether animal species had previously become extinct, and whether new life-forms could be discovered in the fossil record.

Around this time, conflicting ideas as to why the animal went extinct began to emerge.

Initial ideas ranged from the Biblical flood described by Genesis, to the idea that humans had wiped them out.

However, the archaeological record suggests that people did not arrive in Ireland until after the last Ice Age, after most giant deer had disappeared.

There is also little evidence that the deer had any predators in Ireland. …

Stressed out

The ratios of isotopes revealed that the ecosystem in which the deer lived became stressed by drought.

As a result it changed from being covered in forest to being more open and tundra-like.

“There’s an overall trend of general vegetation decline,” says Ms Chritz.

The deer also appeared to be born in spring or early summer. But at the time of their extinction, temperatures dropped.

“Giant deer would probably have had a hard time coping with cooler mean annual temperature and a shortened growing season,” says Ms Chritz.

That would be particularly bad news for young deer. Most young animals are born in spring precisely because temperatures are warmer and there is more food available.

“It would be very difficult for young deer to cope with all these changes brought on by the Ice Age, as well as support the energetic demands of their growing bodies,” concludes Ms Chritz, who is now studying for her PhD in palaeoecology at the University of Utah in Salt Lake City, US.

Data from the cementum, which grows each year much like tree rings, indicates that the deer lived from 6.5 to 14 years old, and they possessed mature antlers by autumn, similar to other living deer species.

Last refuge

Though often called the Irish elk, Megaloceros giganteus is actually a deer species.

Though most abundant in Ireland, it was not confined to the island, with populations living across Europe and Western Asia from 400,000 to 10,600 years ago.

The last Ice Age stretched from 100,000 years ago to 10,000 years ago, containing periods of greater and lesser glaciation.

The deer rapidly disappeared across most of the range at the end of the last glacial transition, though giant deer remains have been uncovered in Siberia that date to around 7,000 years before present.

“That means that mainland giant deer had some sort of refugia from the Ice Age before they met their ultimate extinction; they were able to move to a better environment and survive later,” says Ms Chritz.

But those giant deer in Ireland “had the misfortune to be trapped on an island with nowhere to go.”

Scientists use DNA analysis on Megaloceros (or Irish Elk) bones to determine that the Giant Deer survived well past the peak of the Ice Age in Southern Germany: here.

Related articles

• An elk that wasn’t an elk
• The Irish Elk or Giant Deer
• mucholderthen: MEGALOCEROS GIGANTEUSKnown as the Irish…
• The Giant Irish Elk
• Humans, not climate, to blame for Ice Age-era disappearance of large mammals, study concludes
• Climate Change Didn’t Cause the Mass Extinction After the Last Ice Age–Humans Did
• Cave bear and Megaloceros
• It’s time to build a real Jurassic Park