Daily Topics - Wednesday June 1st, 2011
By shawnt56
Get the new IPhone App for Thom Hartmann
Hour One: Thom & conservative Ron Miller debate America's adult baby syndrome on "Medicare"
Hour Two: Could your cell phone make you sick? Dr. Olga Naidenko, Environmental Working Group
Hour Three: "The Last Mountain" one community fights back against "Big Coal" - Robert Kennedy, Jr.
Comments
#2
I had the idea a while ago to require states to merge and split after every census (so long as the ratio in population of the biggest and smallest states is at least 3).
The current ratio of CA:WY = 68.6. Just after the first iteration (in which WY becomes part of MT, and CA splits), the ratio drops to 34.25, and after 11 iterations (when I stopped bothering) the ratio was 5.63.
I also checked the smallest percentage of the population that elects half the Senate. Right now, it's 16.33%. After 11 iterations, it's 33.86%, which is about as high as can be expected. You're never going to get it to 50% unless the states all have exactly the same population.
#3
Hey why not just annex Central America down to the Panama Canal, the Carribean Islands and Canada. We could carve up states out of that territory, have another war, and virtually eliminate our immigration problems. WIN WIN WIN.
This will all happen during the reign of Queen Dick.
States are not going to merge or dissect themselves, and the Conservatives would never let it happen if such a movement started anyway.
N
#4
I live in Southern California and our differences with No. California are not as great some callers were stating. So. and No. Calif almost always vote the same in elections. So. Cal. is also very progressive/environmentally oriented. Priuses and other hybrids are very common in So. Cal urban and most suburban areas. So. Cal does have more conservative areas than No. Cal. but No. Cal. also has the Sacramento area which is pretty conservative from what I hear.
#5
I had to make my previous comment quickly before going to lunch.
Anyway, the idea was to make the smallest state join up with a neighboring state while the biggest one splits, so that the number of states remains the same. The maps are fun to look at, the spreadsheets less so.
A nice thing about the process is that after 5 iterations, every state has at least 2 representatives, and after 10 iteratons, every state has at least 3 reps. (Doesn't it seem weird that a state can have 2 senators and only one representative?)
Obviously, I didn't reach the ratio of 3 that would stop the process according to the rules, but I stopped after 11 iterations because I couldn't decide which state to make WV join up with.
#6
Something just occured to me in regards to Thom's theory that Ted Kennedy's brain tumor was probably caused by use of early style cell phones. If that's true, can we expect an epidemic of the wealthy getting brain tumors? Makes one think of what the result of a massive die off the wealthy in the next 10-20 years will do. Perhaps this is why it is said the meek will inherit the earth, because the wealthy will die off using the newest and apparently dangerous technology that's available out there.
Isn't it ironic?
N
#7
CORDLESS phones do cause cancer. Its the cordless phone BASE that is dangerous as it puts out a large amount of radiation like its a mini cell tower. So they warn to keep the base far away as possible from where you sit or sleep.
#8
Light bulbs release a lot of radiation too. It's called visible light. Not all radiation is the same.
Microwaves are less energetic than visible light, and are non-ionizing radiation. If cell phones cause brain cancer, then they should also cause ear cancer and hand cancer. I don't care if it makes your flesh warm; that's just heat, and you've experienced it many times in your life without getting cancer from it.
#9
REPLY TO MATHBOY: Yes cell phones cause a rare form of brain cancer called Glioma cancer. As Thom pointed out, Ed Kennedy used cell phones a lot over the past 20 years and he died of glioma cancer at the same side as he held his cell phone. The stats also show a definite correlation of glioma and those who have used cell phones a lot FOR OVER 10 YEARS.
Cell phones use a frequency of 2-2.5 GHz which is on the low end of microwave oven radiation frequency range.
#10
Okay, I'm going by the CNN report. The WHO has been "reviewing studies", which means they did a study of studies, or meta-study, not original research. Meta-studies suck, because the methods and conditions of the included studies vary, and therefore a meta-study's results cannot be taken as gospel. And they came out of it saying the it's possibly a carcinogen. Not definitely a carcinogen. This means that they don't really know jack--the hypothesis was neither proven nor disproven. But then the CNN woman (not the medical correspondent, who was careful with her words) finishes up by calling it "conclusive", which is not what "possibly" means. "Possibly" literally means it's not conclusive.
#11
REPLY TO MATHBOY: Guess who some of CNN's biggest corporate sponsors are? The TELECOMMUNICATIONS giants who are all in cell phone biz. That's why they suppress and poopoo the results.
#12
I recommend reading this article on the WHO's cell phone announcement: http://scienceblog.cancerresearchuk.org/2011/05/31/who-verdict-on-mobile-phones-and-cancer/.
#13
Erik300, CNN didn't pooh-pooh the results. Their host actually blew the results out of proportion on the side of "DANGER! DANGER!"
#14
REPLY TO MATBOY:
I saw one report on TV saying that the official conclusion (before the WHO report) didnt show any conclusion BUT she said buried in the back pages of the cell phone study report was the stats from people who had used cell phones OVER 10 YEARS showed a DEFINITE correlation with cancer. Nuff said for me. Got WAY too much to get done today.
Thom's Blog Is On the Move
By webmaster
Hello All
Thom's blog in this space and moving to a new home.
Please follow us across to hartmannreport.com - this will be the only place going forward to read Thom's blog posts and articles.
Images of Thom
Mueller's favorite place to pray (written about in "Prophet's Way"), and the roof of the room where the Last Supper is reputed to have happened.
From Screwed:
"If we are going to live in a Democracy, we need to have a healthy middle class. Thom Hartmann shows us how the ‘cons’ have wronged this country, and tells us what needs to be done to reclaim what it is to be American."
From Cracking the Code:
"Thom Hartmann ought to be bronzed. His new book sets off from the same high plane as the last and offers explicit tools and how-to advice that will allow you to see, hear, and feel propaganda when it's directed at you and use the same techniques to refute it. His book would make a deaf-mute a better communicator. I want him on my reading table every day, and if you try one of his books, so will you."
From The Thom Hartmann Reader:
"Through compelling personal stories, Hartmann presents a dramatic and deeply disturbing picture of humans as a profoundly troubled species. Hope lies in his inspiring vision of our enormous unrealized potential and his description of the path to its realization."
It's refreshing to hear a conservative want to have an intelligent dialogue about important issues.
Thank you, Mr. Miller!