Threat Assessment
The Ozone layer shields life on on earth from cancer-causing radiation, so it can't be good that unusually cold winter in the Arctic has just torn a massive hole in it.
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AGAINST US NOISE POLLUTION IS KILLING YOU
Not only is noise — from construction, loud neighbors, local drunks, and above all road traffic — annoying, it's a big factor in a bunch of health problems, including heart disease, high blood pressure, sleep disturbance, and cognitive impairment, a new study finds.
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AGAINST US PAUL RYAN WANTS TO PRIVATIZE MEDICARE, MEDICAID
With major fanfare, Republican congressman Paul Ryan put out a budget plan he claimed would wipe out the country's long-term deficit and put us on the path to prosperity. The catch: it shifts health care costs onto those least able to bear them — the elderly and the poor.
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WITH US TRAFFIC DEATHS WAY DOWN
Fewer Americans died on the road in 2010 than in any year since 1950, according to new government data. What gives? It's a bit of a mystery, but safer cars, better highways, higher seat belt use are probably good guesses.
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WITH US FOX DUMPS GLENN BECK
Fox finally announced it would part ways with its increasingly radioactive conspiracy theorist in chief, whose 5 p.m. show, down in the ratings, has been haemorrhaging advertising dollars. Beck, insane to the last, responded by comparing himself Paul Revere, who "got off the horse at some point and fought in the revolution and then he went back to silversmithing."
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WITH US SENATE SAVES EPA
The Senate on Wednesday canned a Republican measure that would have stripped the Environmental Protection Agency's power to regulate greenhouse gases, handing a major defeat to Republicans, who want nothing more than to neuter the EPA so that businesses and drivers can go back to causing climate change unhindered.
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AGAINST US YOUR CONGRESS AT WORK, ‘TAUNTING’
Harvard professor Gary King, an expert in finding patterns in large amounts of data, analyzed thousands of congressional press releases and found that 27 percent of the time members were just taunting each other. Of his findings King said: "I think most people would say that this is not a good thing."
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AGAINST US TRUMP’S NUT JOB ACT PAYS OFF
Probably-fake presidential hopeful Donald Trump has lately been getting his mug in the news even more than usual by pretending to be a birther and saying things like, "I'm only interested in Libya if we get the oil." The liberal elite media may scoff, but Republicans are lapping it up: a new poll has Trump second among GOP primary voters and top among Tea Partiers.
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AGAINST US COUNTY CLERK HITS SAVE, SWINGS ELECTION
Waukesha County clerk Kathy Nickolaus failed to save on her computer and report 14,315 votes in a Wisconsin Supreme Court race. When the votes were factored in, the result flipped, putting Republican David Prosser comfortably ahead of Democratic opponent JoAnne Kloppenburg, who'd been about ready to declare victory.
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WITH US BANKING LOBBY (FINALLY) GETS SOME PUSHBACK
The big banks are used to getting their way on Capitol Hill, but they've run into trouble over a measure, contained in last year's financial reform law, that lowers debit card fees. The banks want it junked, but an alliance of large and small retailers are pushing back with a no-holds-barred media campaign defending the provision — the "Durbin Amendment" — and going after banker greed.