Pervasivelight 5.0

A bill by state Rep. Leo Berman exempting Texas-made firearms, gun accessories and ammunition sold within the state from federal regulation and law — including registration — was heard in a House committee on Monday.

The bill also provides for the Texas Attorney General’s office to defend Texans who run afoul of the federal government because of this law.

“Under the 9th and 10th Amendments of the U.S. Constitution, states have responsibility for regulating intrastate commerce,” Berman said. “The federal government has no role.”

I’m a specialist doctor in respiratory diseases and intensive care at the Mexican National Institute of Health. There is a severe emergency over the swine flu here. More and more patients are being admitted to the intensive care unit. Despite the heroic efforts of all staff (doctors, nurses, specialists, etc) patients continue to inevitably die. The truth is that anti-viral treatments and vaccines are not expected to have any effect, even at high doses. It is a great fear among the staff. The infection risk is very high among the doctors and health staff.

There is a sense of chaos in the other hospitals and we do not know what to do. Staff are starting to leave and many are opting to retire or apply for holidays. The truth is that mortality is even higher than what is being reported by the authorities, at least in the hospital where I work it. It is killing three to four patients daily, and it has been going on for more than three weeks. It is a shame and there is great fear here. Increasingly younger patients aged 20 to 30 years are dying before our helpless eyes and there is great sadness among health professionals here.
Antonio Chavez, Mexico City

also, a google map of known infections here

The Sun is the dimmest it has been for nearly a century.

There are no sunspots, very few solar flares – and our nearest star is the quietest it has been for a very long time.

The observations are baffling astronomers, who are due to study new pictures of the Sun, taken from space, at the UK National Astronomy Meeting.

The Sun normally undergoes an 11-year cycle of activity. At its peak, it has a tumultuous boiling atmosphere that spits out flares and planet-sized chunks of super-hot gas. This is followed by a calmer period.

I wonder how this will affect the infamous hockey stick?

Ian Tomlinson was attacked from behind by a police officer during the G20 demonstrations in London

More information here

and here

“You could smell him,” Taylor said. “He told us, ‘Yeah, I crapped my pants.’ ”

Just got back from the Austin, TX Tax Day Tea Party (My very first protest. WOOT!)

Crowd was around 5,000.

gallery of photos below

poster win!

It’s that time again… everyone’s thinking about taxes (and tea parties).

someone sent me the link to Jess’ beautifully designed ‘Death and Taxes‘ poster but I thought I noticed something missing…

Entitlement Programs!

Jess does admit that they’re left off on purpose;

Entitlement spending is also not included in detail for practical reasons. Social Security and Medicare cannot be broken down into small programs as other governmental departments can. The bulk of the funds are small payments to millions of people which cannot be graphed in the same manner as the rest of the poster. If entitlement spending were included to scale with the discretionary budget the overall detail of the poster would have to be decreased dramatically if the 24″x36″ size were to me maintained.

So, I’ve tweaked it just a little bit (sorry jess) to show the two largest entitlement programs (size is approximate but should be damn close).

click to view full size.

Be sure to check out the original over at Wall Stats

Another one of those DHS ‘Right Wing Radicals‘.

More info directly from the Governor

What they just SAID on the radio
“President Obama is considering attacks on Somalian pirate bases”

What I just HEARD on the radio
“President Obama is considering a tax on Somalian pirate…”

Too funny…

South Park’s creators Trey Parker(L) and Matt Stone(R) were given a signed photo of Saddam Hussein<
During his captivity, US marines forced Saddam, who was executed in 2006, to repeatedly watch the move South Park: Bigger, Longer And Uncut, which shows him as gay, as well as the boyfriend of Satan. He was also regularly depicted in a similar manner during the TV series.