Bill Postmus.net

In its official party platform, the Colorado Democratic Party endorses the legalization of marijuana.

By Ben Geman
05/16/12

North Dakota has passed Alaska to become the No. 2 oil-producing state in the country, The Wall Street Journal reports.

Reuters reports that U.S. crude oil futures prices have fallen to a six-month low.

Clean Technica looks at new research into measuring greenhouse gases. From their piece:

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Annemarie Dooling | May 16, 2012 11:44 AM EDT

By Alexander Abad-Santos   |   May 16, 2012

How exactly do you cope with the very real (but unreal) fact that 49 decapitated bodies were found on the side of a road or that your country has a murder training camp? Shrug it off, apparently, as some Mexicans have according to The New York Times.

In a report from Mexico today, The Times‘ Randal Archibold and Damien Cave examine the emotional climate in Cadereyta Jimenez, Mexico in the wake of the latest Mexican drug war atrocity: 49 headless, hand-less, foot-less bodies found on a road there this week. What Archibold and Cave found isn’t unlike the message in many post- 9/11 New York narratives, in that there’s a sense of citizens wanting to return to normal. But since drug war violence happens so often in Mexico (seriously, they dangle bodies from highway overpasses) , people develop a “learned helplessness” and simply stop discussing the gory instances and learn to do things like order Avengers tickets, make out when two headless bodies are found, eat burgers or have their children frolic down the road from where those 49 bodies were found. “It’s a phenomenon we’ve observed when rats are exposed to uncontrollable electric shocks,” María Antonia Padilla Vargas, a coordinator of a nonprofit psychological research group told The Times. And “learned helplessness” apparently, sounds a lot like being jaded:

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Researchers in New Zealand have identified what they believe to be the 49 worst foods for weight loss. Here’s the list.

By Annie Hauser, Senior Editor

FRIDAY, Feb. 24, 2012 —Buyer beware: Just because a food’s labeled “healthy,” “smart,” or “all-natural” does not mean it’s the best choice for someone who’s trying to lose weight. For example, honey, vegetable chips, and granola are just a few of the supermarket staples that have tricked dieters into believing they’re healthy choices, when in fact, they are as equally loaded with calories, fat, sodium, and glucose as their more vilified counterparts of table sugar, potato chips, and sweet cereals.

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Updated: 12:45PM

The Justice Department finally filed suit against Sheriff Joe Arpaio and his Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office on Thursday, accusing the Arizona official of engaging “in a pattern or practice of unlawful discriminatory police conduct directed at Latinos in Maricopa County.”

Federal authorities allege that Arpaio and his office have unconstitutionally and unlawfully targeted Latinos during traffic stops and during crime suppression operations. DOJ alleges that MCSO unlawfully detained Latino drivers and passengers and conducted unconstitutional searches and seizures in addition to illegally targeting Latino workers during worksite raids.

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By Michael Moran
Updated Thursday, May 10, 2012, at 6:07 AM ET

Thoughts? Read on …. and please comment. This is one debate where very few people really have any inside information, though plenty will pretend to.

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Facebook’s relatively new subscribe feature allows members of the public to view updates from Facebook users, without having to friend them. While the feature is more popular among members of the tech and media communities, there are still plenty of members of the political community who use it.

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