Roller Derby on CBS News Sunday Morning:
In a nostalgic look back at the rowdy days of roller derby, Lee Cowan visits with the "meanest mama on skates" and reports on the emerging popularity of the sport's reincarnation.
Tucson Roller Derby’s VICE Squad dominated Arizona Roller Derby’s Surly Gurlies in the first inter-league bout of 2005 held May 21. The final score of 102 – 43 belied the hot and heavy action happening on the floor throughout this fight-filled bout. Jammer takedowns, mangled star passes and a frequently-visited penalty box were all heavily featured throughout the night.
Final Score:
VICE Squad: 102 Surly Gurlies: 43
Final penalties:
VICE Squad: 64 Surly Gurlies: 30
Check out the highlight reel!
Clips are in two parts for easy download, compressed for quick web viewing, and play in QuickTime. Footage and editing provided by BitClone.
VICE Squad vs. AZRD Surly Gurlies Part 1
VICE Squad vs. AZRD Surly Gurlies Part 2
tags: roller derby, rollergirls, VICE Squad, Surly Gurlies
Congressional Democrats accused the US government environment body yesterday of opening the door to tests of pesticides on humans that "appear to routinely violate ethical standards".
The Democrats issued a report saying that, since lifting a moratorium on human testing imposed by the Clinton administration, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) had accepted for review more than 20 studies on the effects on human subjects of "highly hazardous" poisons and suspected carcinogens.
[snip]
The congressional report was sponsored by Barbara Boxer, a California senator, and Henry Waxman, a congressman from the same state. They said it had uncovered "significant and widespread deficiencies" in 22 human pesticide experiments it reviewed.
"In violation of ethical standards, the experiments appear to have inflicted harm on human subjects, failed to obtain informed consent, dismissed adverse outcomes and lacked scientific validity," the report found. "In many of the experiments, the subjects were instructed to swallow capsules of toxic pesticides with orange juice or water at breakfast."
The "informed consent" forms were often loaded with jargon, hard to understand or deliberately misleading about potential health risks. Some studies dismissed unfavourable results. In one test, all eight subjects became sick after exposure to a pesticide, but in the report their symptoms were discounted and attributed to "viral illness".
Let me conclude with a comment about those pesky "blogs" that so bother the New York Times. We should stand and offer a moment of quiet gratitude to the electronic swarm of gadfly commentators who make it so much harder for the US media to ignore news not officially blessed. Yes, Judith Miller's breathless reports for The Times that Saddam possessed weapons of mass destruction may have maintained "access" for the mainstream press to its diet of White House propaganda, but the blogs insure that, whatever nonsense the US press is biting on, the public need not swallow.
The General announces "OPERATION YELLOW ELEPHANT" just in time for the 56th College Republican Biennial Convention next week in DC.
The Rude Pundit also has a few encouraging words for those attending the event.
The flat track Carolina Rollergirls third bout of their inaugural season is on Sunday, June 19th.
The Debutante Brawlers skate against the Trauma Queens.
Sunday, June 19, 2005.
Skate Ranch of Raleigh
Tickets are $8 in advance, $10 at the door.
Doors open at 5:30 pm, bout at 6 pm.
Music by The Bleeding Hearts, DJ Cutlass and DJ Exe.
Visit the Carolina Rollergirls website for more info.
tags: roller derby, rollergirls, Debutante Brawlers, Trauma Queens
From DoD news
Brown & Root Services, a division of Kellogg Brown & Root, Arlington, Va., is being awarded Task Order 0014 for $7,000,000 under a previously awarded cost-reimbursement, indefinite-delivery and indefinite-quantity construction contract (N62470-00-D-0005) for construction of a detention camp, Phase II, at the Radio Range area of U.S. Naval Station, Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Units will be of modular steel construction. Each unit measures approximately 6 feet 8 inches by 8 feet and includes a bed, a toilet, and a hand basin with running water. Work will be performed in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and is to be completed by May 2002. Contract funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. The basic contract was competitively procured with 44 proposals solicited, three offers received and award made on June 29, 2000. The total contract amount is not to exceed $300,000,000, which includes the base period and four option years. The Naval Facilities Engineering Command, Atlantic Division, Norfolk, Va., is the contracting activity.
The flat track Tucson Roller Derby skates this Saturday, June 18th.
Das Iron Curtain duke it out with the Furious Truckstop Waitresses.
Saturday, June 18.
Bladeworld, Tucson, AZ.
Tickets are $8 in advance, $10 at the door.
Doors open at 6:30 pm, bout at 7 pm.
Please check the Tucson Roller Dreby website for more info.
tags: roller derby, rollergirls, Iron Curtain, FTW, Tucson
UPDATE: Action is still needed. Congressman John Conyers now has over 100,000 400,000 signatures and has set a goal of 250,000 500,000.
Dear Mr. President:Please add your name to Congressman John Conyers' letter to preznit bush.
We the undersigned write because of our concern regarding recent disclosures of a Downing Street Memo in the London Times, comprising the minutes of a meeting of Prime Minister Tony Blair and his top advisers. These minutes indicate that the United States and Great Britain agreed, by the summer of 2002, to attack Iraq, well before the invasion and before you even sought Congressional authority to engage in military action, and that U.S. officials were deliberately manipulating intelligence to justify the war.
Among other things, the British government document quotes a high-ranking British official as stating that by July, 2002, Bush had made up his mind to take military action. Yet, a month later, you stated you were still willing to "look at all options" and that there was "no timetable" for war. Secretary of Defense, Donald Rumsfeld, flatly stated that "[t]he president has made no such determination that we should go to war with Iraq."
In addition, the origins of the false contention that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction remains a serious and lingering question about the lead up to the war. There is an ongoing debate about whether this was the result of a "massive intelligence failure," in other words a mistake, or the result of intentional and deliberate manipulation of intelligence to justify the case for war. The memo appears to resolve that debate as well, quoting the head of British intelligence as indicating that in the United States "the intelligence and facts were being fixed around the policy."
As a result of these concerns, we would ask that you respond to the following questions:
1)Do you or anyone in your administration dispute the accuracy of the leaked document?
2) Were arrangements being made, including the recruitment of allies, before you sought Congressional authorization to go to war? Did you or anyone in your Administration obtain Britain's commitment to invade prior to this time?
3) Was there an effort to create an ultimatum about weapons inspectors in order to help with the justification for the war as the minutes indicate?
4) At what point in time did you and Prime Minister Blair first agree it was necessary to invade Iraq?
5) Was there a coordinated effort with the U.S. intelligence community and/or British officials to "fix" the intelligence and facts around the policy as the leaked document states?
These are the same questions 89 Members of Congress, led by Rep. John Conyers, Jr., submitted to you on May 5, 2005. As citizens and taxpayers, we believe it is imperative that our people be able to trust our government and our commander in chief when you make representations and statements regarding our nation engaging in war. As a result, we would ask that you publicly respond to these questions as promptly as possible.
Thank you for your prompt attention to this matter.
Sincerely,
cuddlefish
Austin, TX 78701
The flat track Gotham Girls Roller Derby will bout in the Bronx this Friday, June 17th.
The new team on the rink, the Queens of Pain will take on the Manhattan Mayhem.
Friday, June 17.
Skate Key, 220 E. 138th Street, Bronx, NY.
Tickets are $12 General Admission, $25 VIP.
Doors open at 7:30 pm, bout at 8:30 pm.
Please check the Gotham Girls Roller Derby website for more info.
tags: roller derby, rollergirls, Manhattan Mayhem, Queens of Pain, GGRD
