Wednesday, May 07, 2014

World pollution prowess, Matt Damon's "Bourne" future and NFL concussion settlments fighting


- How proud is the entire state of Tennessee right now? State Sen. Stacey Campfield has joined the club – you know the club, the one occupied by loose-tongued ass hats who don’t realize that they should never, ever, ever use the following in an analogy: rape, Nazis, the Holocaust, Pearl Harbor or slavery. Campfield stamped his membership card when he made the oh, so regrettable decision to liken Affordable Care Act signees to Jewish people being sent to Nazi death camps. "Democrats bragging about the number of mandatory signups for Obamacare is like Germans bragging about the number of mandatory signups for 'train rides' for Jews in the 40s," wrote in a blog post. On the surface, no one should give a flying damn about the blog post of an outspoken Tennessee state senator. How bad was his analogy? Bad enough that Tennessee Republican Party Chairman Chris Devaney felt the need to issue a hastily crafted statement distancing himself from Campfield. Bad enough that Campfield tried what all IQ-depriver hatemongers try when they make such a terrible analogy and suffer the brunt of the resulting outrage: issue a non-apology apology that tries to make it all better but actually makes it worse. "My attention was never to diminish what happened to them. I think that is terrible,” Campfield said. “I was talking about American people losing freedoms, and if you talk to Jewish people about losing freedoms and then having government decide who lives and dies through health care - or that government's going to start paying for abortions, I think they should be the first to stand up against it.” Wait… that was supposed to make it all better? How? Spokespeople for various Jewish activist groups ripped the senator for his words and odds are that while Campfield’s stupidity and ignorance will have zero effect on the issue about which he feels so powerfully, humanity is still worse for his being a part of it………


- Not everyone is a big fan of the NFL’s proposed $765 million settlement of concussion claims by former players. Specifically, a large group of those affected by the settlement rightly believe it isn't a just deal and they’re making their voice heard. The case has been hotly contested all along the way, but this time is by a group of retirees who said they would get ''nothing at all'' for nagging health problems that limit their function. Seven of the raging retirees filed a motion to intervene in the court case pending in Philadelphia, which is targeted toward thousands of claims through a grid-like formula that reaches $5 million for younger retirees with Alzheimer's disease. What makes the new claims different is that the plaintiffs are men who may be able to work, but who claim to suffer from headaches, personality changes, trouble multi-tasking and other side effects they link to concussions suffered while playing in the league. ''The settlement provided no monetary recovery - nothing at all - for class members suffering from many of the residual effects most commonly linked to recurrent and repetitive mild traumatic brain injury, while releasing every claim these class members may have against the NFL,'' lawyer Steven Molo wrote in the court filing. That someone would challenge the deal was predictable, given that a league making 11 figures annually got off paying a fraction of that for a one-time settlement that seven senior U.S. District Judge Anita B. Brody fears is too low to cover 20,000 retirees for 65 years, as planned. Lawyers for both the NFL and the lead players' group continue to support the deal and yet, several groups of players have asked to intervene in the settlement talks to raise various concerns. This new group includes 2008 Pro Bowl player Sean Morey, now a sprint football coach at Princeton University. The bulk of the proposed $765 million fund would compensate former players with one of four neurological conditions: Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease, Lou Gehrig's disease or advanced dementia……….


- Look the hell out, world. America has made itself orca-FAT with the help of friend spheres of dough and now it is turning its mostly lethal weapon in this effort on you. That’s right, American restaurant chain Dunkin' Donuts is ramping up its efforts to burst the seams of Europe’s skinny jeans. How? By doing battle with the Belgian waffle, the savory Dutch pancake, the strudel and even the Danish. After scaling back its overseas operations in the 1990s, the chain has been steadily bulking up its European holdings and has built its doughy empire to 120 outlets in Germany, Russia, Spain, Bulgaria and most recently, Britain. Dunkin' Donuts' head of international development Jeremy Vitaro recently revealed plans to o open stores in Denmark, Austria, Belgium and the Netherlands. "They're sophisticated, and they're culturally very open (to trying new foods)," Vitaro said. While Dunkin' Donuts hangs its visor and apron on doughnuts and coffee, it also offers muffins, bagels and items specific to the location of its various stores in order to boost profits. In London, its stores serve up a savory snack called "Bacon Buttie," as well as porridge, at its three locations in England’s capital city. "Hot cereal, yes," Vitaro says. "We also do a Croistrami sandwich, that's a pastrami croissant. So we do localize. We have a curry doughnut in India." Name recognition won't be in Dunkin' Donuts’ toolbox in most of its new homes and with many Europeans not even knowing what a doughnut is, the fight will be a bitter one. Dislodging the Belgian waffle in all of its powdered sugary goodness might be too much for even an established corporate titan……….


- Stop teasing us, Matt Damon. Either sh*t or get off the “Bourne” pot because at this point, we need one of the best action heroes of his generation back in the saddle. Damon has suggested on more than once occasion that he is open to starring in future films in the Bourne franchise, but so far there has been no actual progress toward this dream coming to fruition. His sole demand to return to the role of Jason Bourne has been director Paul Greengrass getting back in the director’s chair, rather than former franchise screenwriter-turned-director Troy Gilroy, who helmed the disastrously bad fourth installment of the action series. When Greengrass exited stage left, Damon went with him and Jeremy Renner stepped in as agent Aaron Cross, an operative in the mold of Bourne, but without the charisma, watchability or badassness. Renner anchored “The Bourne Legacy,” which bumbled its way across multiplex screens everywhere in 2012 with thinly veiled and forced references to Jason Bourne in order to convince viewers that there was any link to Damon’s iconic hero. The last time Damon appeared as Bourne was 2007's “The Bourne Ultimatum.” Damon recently said that with the right story, he and Greengrass could reunite on set. "I've always been open to it if Paul Greengrass is the director," Damon said. "We've just never been able to come up with a story. So if any of your viewers have a story, please call Universal and submit it." Given that a fifth film in the franchise has been confirmed, so figuring out Damon’s future with the series is paramount. Renner is set to be back in that fifth chapter, which will sadly hit theaters on Aug. 14, 2015…………


- We did it! We did it! World, we made it happen and we did it together. As certified by a new report from the Scripps Institution of Oceanography, there is a record-breaking amount of CO2 in our atmosphere. According to this uplifting report, this is the highest total in the history of humanity and because carbon dioxide is the greenhouse gas considered most responsible for global warming, that means humanity has partnered together to wreck our ecosystem in amazing ways. Last month the amount of CO2 in the atmosphere was measured at 400 parts per million. That is an impressive increase over its 300 parts per million levels of six decades ago. Scientists have been recording CO2 levels since the late 1950s along a graph called the Keeling Curve and never before have their measurements reached the 401.33 parts per million average they hit in April. According to researchers at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), humans have caused carbon dioxide concentrations to rise 120 parts per million since pre-industrial times, with over 90 percent of that in the past century alone. James Butler, director of NOAA's Global Monitoring Division noted that the rate of increase has spiked substantially in recent years. "The rate of increase has accelerated from about 0.7 parts per million per year in the late 1950s to 2.1 parts per million per year during the last decade,” Butler said. Simply put, there is a colossal concentration of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere and the problem is growing exponentially worse with each successive year. If the planet can continue to work together and not give a damn about the effects of its polluting ways, then perhaps a reading of 500 parts per million is indeed possible……..

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