10:42am MDST
A Critique Of The Lancet Reports On Iraqi Deaths, An Interview With UC Berkeley Prof. Mark Van Der Laan
Mark Van Der Laan is a Professor of Biostatistics and Statistics at the
University of California, Berkeley. In 2005 he won a presidential award for
his work. In 2006 he wrote a number of articles about the two surveys on
deaths in Iraq since the 2003 invasion that publicly became known as the
Lancet reports. The first Lancet paper was published in October 2004 and estimated
98,000 excess deaths in the 18 months following the overthrow of Saddam,
excluding the province of Anbar. The second one argued there were 654,965
killed from March 2003 to July 2006. Van Der Laan was one of many ... more »
Witch Hunting Jenny McCarthy for Vaccine Talking
Posted:
7/22/2013
*By Barbara Loe Fisher *
Now that it looks like ABC-TV executives are backing Barbara Walters’
hire
of celebrity Jenny McCarthy to join the popular daytime talk show The
View,1the blood spilled on the ground of the Fourth Estate during 10 hot
days in
July is beginning to dry. It was fascinating to watch the
well-orchestrated
response by online mainstream media, which took on the frenzy of an old
fashioned witch hunt to burn a heretic at the stake.
Reviewing 29 articles published in major print and broadcast media
outlets
between July 9 and July 18, 20132 with 19... more »
Untitled
*Drilling rig on fire in gulf begins to collapse ~David Hammer, WWLTV *
*BSEE, Coast Guard Provide Response Oversight to Rig Fire*
Now, Let's Put it In Harper's Language: Climate Change Catastrophe is Really Expensive
Sixty trillion dollars, how's that Steve?
That's an estimate of the costs of Arctic thawing from climate change.
That's 60,000,000,000,000.00 and that's a lotta zeroes.
*Rapid thawing of the Arctic could trigger a catastrophic "economic
timebomb" which would cost trillions of dollars and undermine the global
financial system, say a group of economists and polar scientists.*
*Governments and industry have expected the widespread warming of the
Arctic region in the past 20 years to be an economic boon, allowing the
exploitation of new gas and oilfields and enabling shipping to trave... more »
Energy Companies Pay Prisons to Cut Power During Heat Waves
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Amanda Warren
Another dumpy thing about Ohio, besides their increasing sinkhole problem,
is the way they treat their prisoners. There are witness accounts of how
privatization has dramatically changed typical jail time. Any major
discomfort is acceptable as long as it turns a profit.
This recent absurdity may or may not have to do with privatization, but
some signs say yes. As if the prison industry isn't bloated enough,
ushering in recruits all the time with new laws waiting to be broken and
using prisoners for slave labor ... more »
The Comet cometh - ISON closing in!
address-withheld@my.opera.com.invalid (Dr. John v. Kampen) at - 52 minutes ago
Link: http://youtu.be/A1yH_DuC88M - click in picture to start this film!
*Read and see more* about Comet C/2012 S1 "ISON" on the links below:
http://solarsystem.nasa.gov/scitech/display.cfm?ST_ID=2576
http://stereo-ssc.nascom.nasa.gov/comet_ison/
http://www.isoncampaign.org/
ISON might be the "comet of a life-time" or just fizzle away... Either way
it might become a surprise for us. Now ISON is rapidly closing in on Mars
you could also look at this NASA website with links to more nice info
materials! This comet is NOT on a collision course with Earth, but at the
end of November 201... more »
Pol. Ideology 47: SONA Rallies, Socialism and Thomas van Beersum
Another big rally by the leftist group Bayan Muna and other nat-dem allies
was made last Monday, July 22, to protest the annual State of the Nation
Address (SONA) speech of the President at the House of Representatives in
Batasan, Quezon City. The entire north-bound lane of the 10-lanes
Commonwealth Avenue was closed by the demonstrators and the big police
force blocking them. There was a collision between the two groups that
afternoon.
I commented in one friend’s facebook wall that they were “ungas, violent
demonstrators.” A certain Paul Galutera corrected me, posting a news story ... more »
Snowden Wins Whistleblower Award
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Stephen Lendman
In America, he's a wanted man. He's a fugitive. He's a world hero. He
connected the dots for millions. He told people what they need to know.
Doing the right thing is its own reward. Transparency International Germany
gave him its Whistleblower Award. He's "(t)his year's winner," it said.
In 1999, it was established. It's sponsored by the Association of German
Scientists (VDW) and the German branch of the International Association of
Lawyers Against Nuclear Arms (IALANA).
He'll receive 3,300 euros (about $4,4... more »
The Price of Ecosystem Services and Well Being in The United States
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Julie Beal
After years of woolly talk about sustainability, things are about to get
very specific. Instead of just aiming for vague ‘eco-friendliness’, all the
goods, and all the bads, related to the environment, and society, are to be
quantified, and given a *price*. These prices are to be part of each
country’s overall GDP value, and each company’s accounts. Landowners around
the world, including the U.S., are now being *paid money *for such things
as the value of a fly, or shade created by trees. Various ‘ecosystem
servi... more »
Call Your Congress Critters, Stop the Spying
A
vote to de-fund the National Security Agency's sweep of everybody's
phone
records may be coming as soon as today (h/t Jay and Fred in comments
below). To call your reps and urge them to vote *for* the Amash-Conyers
amendment to H.R. 2397, here's the page with all their phone numbers.
(Make
sure they vote *against* the red herring of the Nugent
Amendmenthowever.) Give them a buzz, and thus help ensure that yours
will be among
the last records in history ever to be swept up into the NSA dragnet
before the money spout that keeps the monstrosity alive is finally
turned
off. Let's not s... more »
U.S. Arctic Ambitions and the Militarization of the High North
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Dana Gabriel
Canada recently took over the leadership of the Arctic Council and will be
succeeded by the U.S. in 2015. With back-to-back chairmanships, it gives
both countries an opportunity to increase cooperation on initiatives that
could enhance the development of a shared North American vision for the
Arctic.
The U.S. has significant geopolitical and economic interests in the high
north and have released a new national strategy which seeks to advance
their Arctic ambitions. While the region has thus far been peaceful, st... more »
6 Apocalyptic Technologies That Most People Have Not Even Heard About Yet
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Michael Snyder
Are you ready for the future? We live at a time when technology is
advancing at an exponential pace. Today, scientists are rapidly developing
bizarre new technologies that most science fiction writers never even would
have dreamed of a couple decades ago. For example, would you be willing to
get rid of your bank card and start paying for things with only your face?
Would you be willing to allow a technology company to put one large
computer chip or thousands of really, really small ones (“neural dust”)
into... more »
Bail pending appeal
R. v. Shelly Annette Taylor 2013 PECA 1 holds:
[3] For this motion, the hearing and determination are
governed by the provisions ofs.679(3) of the *Criminal Code*. The judge of
the Court of Appeal may order that the appellant be released pending
determination of her appeal if the appellant establishes that:
a. the appeal is not frivolous;
b. the appellant will surrender herself into custody in accordance
with the terms of the order; and
c. her detention is not necessary in the public interest.
[4] Section 679(5) of the *Cri... more »
Do parents impose psychodramas on kids?
*WEDNESDAY, JULY 24, 2013*
*Maureen Dowd’s overwrought mother:* Do parents sometimes attempt to impose
their own psychodramas on their children?
Can they sometimes display bad judgment in the process?
Well actually yes, that sometimes occurs! Remember Maureen Dowd’s column
from May 1998?
Dowd was in Belfast, observing the attempted resolution of the troubles. As
she started, she recalled a psychodrama her mother once dropped on her head:
DOWD (5/20/98): Here is what you need to know about the Irish soul.
We are an unforgiving people. We believe in the Evil Eye. We like to fight.
... more »
See, I Had to Look Up Something Limbaugh Said, And...
I have a new column up at the Prospect about the long-term political
effects of health care reform, and more generally the theory of a liberal
plot to craft a permanent majority for Democrats by making the majority of
voters dependent on the government -- the theory, really, behind the GOP
"47%" obsession. Basically, I call nonsense on it. I think it's a good one,
so please check it out.
Meanwhile, I had to track down a good Rush Limbaugh quote for it, and found
this:
But they also want people to use Obamacare as a gateway to more government
dependence. So the more people that sig... more »
Pepsi’s Naked Juice ‘Exposed’, $9 Mil Deceptive Marketing Lawsuit Lost
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Aaron Dykes and Melissa Melton
*And yes, that title IS a terrible pun…*
PepsiCo., the biggest food company contributor (at a cool $2.5 million) to
the defeat of California’s prop 37 right to know genetically modified food
labeling law just got done losing a $9 million dollar lawsuit over the fact
that the packaging on its Naked Juice product is completely misleading in
nearly every way.
While it’s true that the juice does contain some fruits and vegetables, it
is apparently anything but 100% fruit and/or vegetable juice or... more »
Can Google Glass Be Modified to Read Your Brain?
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image source Nicholas West
It's no mystery that tech behemoths Microsoft and Google have been
developing gadgets for the augmented reality consumer space. Nevertheless,
Google Glass has met some resistance over privacy concerns, even reaching
the halls of Congress.
If turning the average person into a roving snitch isn't bad enough,
another concern was revealed recently: Google Glass can be hacked and
modified for facial recognition capability. Stephen Balaban, founder of
Lambda Labs stated his intentions to design an alte... more »
As invasive in-store tracking technology becomes more common, companies attempt to self-regulate
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image credit:
airdiogo/Flickr Madison Ruppert
A little-known industry built around tracking customers in and around
physical stores has grown considerably over recent years and now the
industry is supposedly going to regulate itself amidst privacy concerns.
Companies and the technologies they use are quite diverse, ranging from facial
recognition cameras in mannequins to systems that track signals from Wi-Fi
enabled smartphones.
The latter technology is used by a company called Euclid which bills itself
as “Google Analytics... more »
Remember When Obama Said Detroit Was Coming Back?
Barack Obama speaking in and about Detroit in 2011:
"This is a city that's been to heck and back," Obama said. "And while there
are still a lot of challenges here, I see a city that's coming back."
Wrong again Barack.
More here
http://mobile.nationaljournal.com/columns/all-powers/remember-when-obama-said-detroit-was-coming-back-20130723
Are children being scared to death because of Trayvon Martin?
*WEDNESDAY, JULY 24, 2013*
*Anderson Cooper, Part Deux, and a devoted mother:* Are children being
scared to death because of the death of Trayvon Martin?
Last night, Anderson Cooper aired Part 2 of his attempt to discuss “Race
and Justice in America.” Overall, we’d call his efforts weak. In a later
post, we’ll discuss comments made last night by Sunny Hostin and Mark
Geragos, who conducted a vaudeville act with Cooper each night during the
Zimmerman trial.
We think topics like these deserve better. They won’t likely get it from
Cooper.
Last night, Cooper spoke with a mother who is... more »
The Tip Of The Iceberg Of The Coming Retirement Crisis That Will Shake America To The Core
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Michael Snyder
The pension nightmare that is at the heart of the horrific financial crisis
in Detroit is just the tip of the iceberg of the coming retirement crisis
that will shake America to the core. Right now, more than 10,000 Baby
Boomers are hitting the age of 65 every single day, and this will continue
to happen every single day until the year 2030. As a society, we have made
trillions of dollars of financial promises to these Baby Boomers, and there
is no way that we are going to be able to keep those promises. The ... more »
Going Galt, Going Gray
At the dawn of the 21st Century we look back and marvel at the world that
we have made. And by "we" Southern Man means Western Civilization, the
source of pretty much all that is good today. That's right - dead white
males built the world, and you get to live in it. You really can't thank
them enough.
For the first time in human history, social stratification is a diamond,
not a pyramid. For most of history most poeple were dirt poor; there was no
middle class and few were wealthy. Now the middle class dominates. And we
are almost unbelievably wealthy. A family of four living on th... more »
America and Germany: Longstanding Espionage Partners
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Image Stephen Lendman
A previous article discussed Stasi. It was East Germany's secret police. It
was one of the most repressive state apparatuses in modern times.
Its infamous reputation speaks for itself. It's reincarnated in new form.
Given today's state-of-the-art technology. It's worse now than then. The
previous article said the following:
On July 7, Der Spiegel headlined "Snowden claims: NSA Ties Put German
Intelligence in Tight Spot."
"They're in bed together," said Snowden. NSA partners with foreign
intelligence i... more »
Former Sask Premier Roy Romanow Says Health-care Reform Will Go Further With Federal Support - Urges PM Harper To Meet With Premiers
**
[image: Progressive Bloggers]* *
*Stephen Harper continues to avoid meeting with Canada's Premiers as they
struggle to deal with a variety of issues that face each province and the
nation as a whole.*
*
**"Prime Minister Stephen Harper has to meet with Canada's premiers to make
the most out of provincial and territorial efforts to stretch health-care
spending, former Saskatchewan premier Roy Romanow says. Romanow told CBC
News that the premiers are doing what they can, but they need the support
of the federal government to cut costs and improve service.*
***Responsibility for h... more »
Total Failure Of Foreign Intelligence As Spy Agencies Miss Massive Al Qaeda Prison Break
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image source Mac Slavo
They’ve spent hundreds of billions of dollars to monitor the activities of
every single American by turning their listening networks on purported
domestic terrorists operating in the United States.
They know your underwear size. They know where you drove your car today.
They know what you put up on Facebook, texted to your wife and emailed to
your friends. And they’ve done it all in the supposed interest of “national
security.”
If, however, you were an Al Qaeda terrorist coordinating a large-scale
pr... more »
Congress and the Justice Dept's Dangerous Attempts to Define “Journalist” Threaten to Exclude Bloggers
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Morgan Weiland
*EFF*
Lawmakers in Washington are again weighing in on who should and should not
qualify as a journalist—and the outcome looks pretty grim for bloggers,
freelancers, and other non-salaried journalists.
On July 12, the Justice Department released its new guidelines on
investigations involving the news media in the wake of the fallout from the
leak scandals involving the monitoring of AP and Fox News reporters. While
the guidelines certainly provide much-needed protections for establishment
journalists, as indep... more »
A new Hart sponsored AFT survey, this time with parents #teach13
The AFT released a new HART survey of parental attitudes towards prevailing
education policies. Here’s your sample: This national survey consisted of
interviews with 1,003 public school parents (parents with children who
attend a regular public school and/or a charter public school), with a
margin of error on survey results at ±3.1 percentage points. The […]
Photos of home
The above image was taken by the Cassini probe orbiting Saturn. The Earth
is the blue dot below the last of Saturn's visible rings.
The following image is even more humbling...
This image was taken by Voyager 1 in 1996 and shows the Earth as a tiny
blue dot in the right most band of colour.
NASA explains:
'This narrow-angle color image of the Earth, dubbed 'Pale Blue Dot', is a
part of the first ever 'portrait' of the solar system taken by Voyager 1.
The spacecraft acquired a total of 60 frames for a mosaic of the solar
system from a distance of more than 4 billion miles from Eart... more »
The apartheid state of Israel again...
'Guess who graduated first in this year's medical school class at the
Technion, Israel's version of M.I.T.? The answer will surprise you. It's a
27-year-old stereotype-buster: a charming, feminist, smart, open-minded and
observant Islamic woman named Mais Ali-Saleh who grew up in a small village
outside of Nazareth, in Israel's Galilee.
Ali-Selah's academic excellence not only marks her own personal achievement
but also proves that contrary to propaganda spouted by proponents of the
BDS (Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions) Movement -- whose latest convert is
Stephen Hawking -- an ac... more »
Top U.S. General Warns: “The Decision To Use Force Is No Less Than An Act of War”
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Anthony Freda Art Mac Slavo
For those politicians in Washington and their supporters who think engaging
the Syrian army with a “kinetic action” akin to Libya’s “no fly zones” is
all it will take to oust the regime of President Bashar al-Assad, consider
the latest assessment from America’s top commanding officer.
On Thursday Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Martin Dempsey told
a Senate committee that the Obama administration is considering the use of
military force in Syria …
Gen. Dempsey warned “the decision to ... more »
It's going to be hot today...
*and tomorrow. Yikes! *
Post Falls ID7 Day Forecast
*Today*
[image: Hot]
Hot
*High: 97 °F *
*Tonight*
[image: Mostly Clear]
Mostly
Clear
Low: 58 °F
*Thursday*
[image: Hot]
Hot
*High: 97 °F *
*Thursday Night*
[image: Clear]
Clear
Low: 60 °F
*Friday*
[image: Sunny]
Sunny
High: 92 °F
*Friday Night*
[image: Clear]
Clear
Low: 59 °F
*Saturday*
[image: Sunny]
Sunny
High: 84 °F
*Saturday Night*
[image: Mostly Clear]
Mostly
Clear
Low: 57 °F
*Sunday*
[image: Sunny]
Sunny
High: 83 °F
Role Reversal: How the US Became the USSR
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Anthony Freda Art Paul Craig Roberts
I spent the summer of 1961 behind the Iron Curtain. I was part of the
US-USSR student exchange program. It was the second year of the program
that operated under auspices of the US Department of State. Our return to
the West via train through East Germany was interrupted by the construction
of the Berlin Wall. We were sent back to Poland. The East German rail
tracks were occupied with Soviet troop and tank trains as the Red Army
concentrated in East Germany to face down any Western interfe... more »
The Biggest Oil Discovery In 50 Years?
Michael Snyder
In a virtually uninhabitable section of South Australia, a discovery has
been made which could rock the world. Some are calling it the biggest
discovery of oil in 50 years. Earlier this year, a company called Linc
Energy announced that tests had revealed that there was a minimum of 3.5
billion barrels of oil equivalent sitting under more than 65,000 square
kilometres of land that it owns in the Arckaringa Basin.
But that is the minimum number. It has been projected that there could
ultimately be up to 233 billion barrels of recoverable oil in the area. If
that tu... more »
New Hampshire Becomes 19th State to Legalize Medical Marijuana
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Phillip Smith
All of New England is now medical marijuana territory, as New Hampshire
Gov. Maggie Hassan (D) Tuesday afternoon signed into law a bill allowing it
in the Granite State.
"Allowing doctors to provide relief to patients through the use of
appropriately regulated and dispensed medical marijuana is the
compassionate and right policy for the state of New Hampshire, and this
legislation ensures that we approach this policy in the right way with
measures to prevent abuse," Hassan said in a signing statement.
"By pro... more »
SERVANTS TO CRUMP: New York Times readers were grossly misled!
*WEDNESDAY, JULY 24, 2013*
*Part 3—The Times didn’t care:* Can Natalie Jackson say that?
In the New York Times, she could! On March 17, 2012, the Times published
its first report about the killing of Trayvon Martin.
Quickly, Lizette Alvarez made a very serious factual error. As she did, she
painted an astonishingly lurid picture of what had occurred that night:
ALVAREZ (3/17/12): Nearly three weeks after an unarmed teenager was killed
in a small city north of Orlando, stirring an outcry, a few indisputable
facts remain: the teenager, who was black, was carrying nothing but a bag
o... more »
‘Rider’ in House Bill Seeks to Let Dow Keep Spraying Fluoride Pesticide on Our Food
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Melissa Melton
Does the government even pass a bill anymore unless it benefits mega
corporations and places profits over people?
First the Supreme Court ruled that pharmaceutical companies are exempt from
lawsuits. Then a Monsanto rider magically found its way into a non-related
2013 Senate spending bill.
Now, a rider protecting Dow Chemical’s sulfuryl fluoride pesticide (known
by the market name Vikane) has found its way into the 2014 House
Appropriations Bill to stop the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) from
phasing ... more »
Untitled
*How Many More Times? ~Saints Win *
*Can Bobby Hebert Even Pronounce Akwasi Owusu-Ansah? ~Saints Tailgate*
*Fire has erupted on blown-out Gulf gas well*
*Owner of burning Gulf rig considers relief well BWAHAHAHAHA*
*Historic suit seeks damages from 100 energy companies for Louisiana's
coastal erosion ~Jeff Adelson, New Orleans Advocate*
*Science to be key factor in lawsuit against oil and gas companies for
coastal loss ~Bob Marshall, The Lens*
*Historic lawsuit coming against Big Oil ~Clancy Dubos*
*La. flood control authority to sue major oil, gas companies, seeking
wetland resto... more »
No PARCCing
Have your heard about the PARCC Asseesments? The Partnership for
Assessment for Readiness for College and Careers is a collection of 22
states that will be producing a series of Common Core aligned exams. The
PARCC Assessments are scheduled to begin in the 2014-15 school year.
Promotion for the PARCC consortium has begun just as […]
Socialism, Class Struggle and The American Presidency
From Farewell, America (1968) :
"Theodore and Franklin Roosevelt were accidents along the way, deviates
from the American mythology.
An American who enters politics for unselfish reasons is regarded with
suspicion.
His attitude can only conceal a lust for power or a senseless and dangerous
devotion to the "public welfare." Politics and the public welfare have
little in common, and the activities of a politician are not considered
normal or comprehensible unless they are pursued for selfish and material
gain.
President Jackson was condemned in 1831 by Vincenne's Gazette
i... more »
TGIHD (Thank God It's Hump Day)
The
U.K. can be forgiven for going overboard on the Plutocratic
Parturition, a.k.a. the birth of the Royal Heir (the proper
pronunciation
of which, I learned from watching the CNN coverage, is *Aaah*: an
elongated short "a" spoken directly through the nose.) After all, the
birthis expected to pump tons of money -- an estimated £250m -- into the
sputtering British economy. That is even more than the Olympics brought
in.
But why the fascination on this side of the pond?
Like the Brits, we are absolutely desperate for some good news, some
good
vicarious escapism as an antidote to the mi... more »
PNAC: The Foreign Policy Initiative
*The Foreign Policy Initiative* (FPI) is a neoconservative think tank begun
in 2009 by William Kristol, the founder of the Project for the New American
Century. FPI is, according to its website, "... promotes continued U.S.
engagement -- diplomatic, economic, and military -- in the world and
rejection of policies that would lead us down the path to isolationism;
robust support for America's democratic allies and opposition to rogue
regimes that threaten American interests; the human rights of those
oppressed by their governments, and U.S. leadership in working to spread
political ... more »
PNAC: 1998 Project for a New American Century Presidential Ultimatum
**
**
*
*
*
*
*January 26, 1998*
The Honorable William J. Clinton
President of the United States
Washington, DC
Dear Mr. President:
We are writing you because we are convinced that current American policy
toward Iraq is not succeeding, and that we may soon face a threat in the
Middle East more serious than any we have known since the end of the Cold
War. In your upcoming State of the Union Address, you have an opportunity
to chart a clear and determined course for meeting this threat. We urge
you to seize that opportunity, and to enunciate a new strategy that would
secure the... more »
THE PIVOT TO DARWIN
*Holding banner at the front gate of Robertson Army Barracks in Darwin
where Obama intends to deploy 2,500 US Marines. Who does the US need to
protect Australia from or is this purely Pentagon power projection?*
*Dennis Doherty runs interference as private security guard at Shoal Bay
Satellite Receiving Station base tried to block our banner*
I arrived in Darwin, on the north coast of Australia, yesterday afternoon.
This is where Obama has announced that over 2,500 US Marines would be sent
as part of the "pivot" to the Asia-Pacific.
Joining me here was Denis Doherty (who I was with... more »
Read Stuff, You Should
Happy Birthday to the great Barry Lamar Bonds, 49. Probably still would be
a league-average hitter, if they hadn't blackballed him. Certainly as great
a player as any of us has seen. And was just good at so many things on the
field, beyond his too-good-for-the-game hitting during the late career
surge.
Some good stuff:
1. Huh. Chris Cillizza is now willing to write that House Republicans are
primarily responsible for the lack of compromise in Congress. Interesting
(via...sorry, someone caught this and put it on twitter, but I didn't save
it).
2. A new paper by Anthony Johnstone on... more »
Papiss Cisse and his religious sensibilities
When the news broke that Newcastle striker, and occasional member of my
fantasy football team two seasons ago, Papass Cisse was refusing to wear
his Newcastle FC top if it carried the logo of their main sponsor Wonga.com
(the payday loans company), I was not inclined to cover the story. If
Papass Cisse has religious principles that he is not prepared to break then
that is his concern and if that means that there is an issue over the
sponsor's logo on his shirt well then he can refund Wonga 1/11 of their
sponsorship, or similar; or alternatively move club. I did get a little fed
up o... more »
Is Boehner Retiring?
Boehner's job-- trying to herd the fractious, racist, unpatriotic
teabaggers in his own party-- is so thankless and stressful that there are
rumors he's contemplating retirement. Since the rumor originates with
Politico, they may not be entirely credible, although they insist that "the
rumors are real, and they’re bouncing from Capitol Hill to K Street. When
Boehner might retire has become a favorite parlor game on Capitol Hill."
Boehner is certainly floundering, even twisting in the wind. This past
weekend he tried redefining how to judge the success of his Congress,
embracing ob... more »
Why the Prisonners' Dilemma Has Not Been Tested In Any Way Whatsoever
Right,
so the last few days or so, a minor socio-behavioral experiment
conducted by two economics researchers in a German prison (where they
compare how inmates and students reason) has been kicked around the web
and
social media via a brief article in the web magazine *Business
Insider*(bounced further or cross-posted by numerous sites and blogs,
including
*Improbable Research* and *Freakonomics*) as news of the famous game
theoretical result called the prisoners' dilemma having now been
*tested*and, as it where, faulted – or, at least, put into question. The
report in
*Business Insi... more »
Mr. Harper's Balloon
Michael Harris writes that the Harper government has a new emblem -- a "two
and a half storey hot air balloon floating high in the parliamentary sky
over the Ottawa River: Senator Mike Duffy, clutching a briefcase stuffed
with cash."
Mr. Harper has always claimed that he is a wise steward of the public
purse. There is no better emblem to torpedo that myth than the inflated
Senator form Kanata. Duffy may eventually take Stephen Harper down with
him. The list of people Duffy has already taken out is growing:
The body count alone – senators Tkachuk, LeBreton and the prime minister’s... more »
Stop the NSA Spying on Americans in American - Call Congress Today as the vote might be this evening in the House !
Stop the NSA – Call the Congress Now!
by Justin Raimondo, July 23, 2013
Print This | Share This
Edward Snowden’s sacrifice was not in vain – because many thousands in the
United States are rising to take up the battle he started. And they mean to
win.
At the head of the libertarian army that’s storming the gates of the
Leviathan: Rep. Justin Amash (R-Michigan), a Ron Paul Republican – and he
has the statist Establishment of both parties scrambling to block his
amendment to the 2014 defense appropriations bill, the LIBERT-E Act, (H.R.
2399, the Limiting Internet and Blanket Electronic... more »
Royal Baby: Some Numbers.
Did you notice yesterday was the 2nd anniversary of English Defence
Leaguer, Knight Templar and Freemason Anders Brevik's Norwegian NATO
bloodletting massacre? 22/7.
2 + 7 = 9
2 + 2 + 7 = 11
Andy Murray won the New York Grand Slam on 9/11.
He won Wimbledon on 7/7, 77 years after the last British male champion,
with the last female champion in 1977, the Royal Jubilee.
They are up to something MASSIVE....
Lamas (aka Lugjnasadh) is coming up - most important Magickal / occult /
satanic holiday of the year after Beltane.
The start of the Harvest....
And more.
'... more »
She's got Style and Jelly Beans Sandals.
This shop is part of a social shopper marketing insight campaign with
Pollinate Media Group™ and Jelly Beans but all my opinions are my own.
#pmedia #JellysAreBack http://cmp.ly/3/8vNxcO
My little girl has a unique fashion sense. The little girl you see sitting
in the grocery cart with a feather boa and sunglasses, that is my kid. She
loves bright, bold colors and and fun accessories. She loves to dress over
the top and I even though I don't want to, I often find myself reeling her
back in, especially when it comes to dressing for church on Sunday. If I
love something, she usual... more »
Traces of Soulik: Wrecked Bridge
My man Steve F and I rode out east of Jhuolan over to Shuangchi village.
The view east from the Baibufan Bridge was even lovelier than usual,
because typhoon Soulik had knocked down the wires that usually chop the
scene in half. And not just the wires....
....Soulik's fury had sent streams of water cascading down the hill behind
Steve's left shoulder. It had undermined the bridge and sent that retaining
wall floating out into the river.
Another view of the damage.
In this photo, if you look carefully at the expansion joint, you can see
that the end of the bridge shifted to the eas... more »
A couple of Lin Jia-lung Posters
The DPP's Lin Jia-lung asks voters to support him in the DPP's phone poll
primary for the Taichung mayoral election. The top poster proclaims "The
Hope of Taichung". We sure could use some hope down here.
_______________________
[Taiwan] Don't miss the comments below! And check out my blog and its
sidebars for events, links to previous posts and picture posts, and scores
of links to other Taiwan blogs and forums!
Win a Date With thwap!
Sigh. I'm desperate. Any Toronto-area readers who are interested in
actually doing something about harper in the 3-d world, ... send me an
email to smartzeethwap[at]yahoo.ca. We'll meet up and talk shit out.
I don't want this initiative to come from "thwap" so that's why I'm not
posting about it here.
The Chickenshit Society
*Caught this cool bee with lime-green stripes in a field near my house.*
*Indeed, it was doubtless in Germany that chickenshit reached its wartime
apogee. Consider the activities devised for the inmates of camps like
Bergen-Belsen and Auschwitz -- digging holes to fill in again, endless
"roll calls" in freezing weather with the dead falling in place: these are
merely chickenshit raised to the highest power.* - Paul M. Fussell, *Wartime
*.
A few posts below this one I blogged on Death by Chickenshit, quoting
Fussell. Yet, chickenshit shapes how authority everywhere in Taiwan culture... more »
Sat 27th Lecture from Hsiao Bi-khim (DPP legislator at large)
*Who lives on those mountaintops in the background!?*
Jerome K sends this around:
*+++++++++++++++++++*
We do have to make up badges for each entering, so for the last minute
people let me know as soon as possible.
Reference the talk as below
Topic: "Everything you wanted to know about Taiwan's Legislative Yuan, but
were afraid to ask."
Speaker: Bi-khim Hsiao, Legislator at Large for the DPP. She has also
served twice before in the Legislative Yuan (LY). Her credentials are many;
google her for full details.
Venue: Legislative Yuan Chun Hsien Bldg. First Floor (details on how t... more »
22 Things Happy People Do Differently by Chiara Fucarino
Source of picture: http://notesalongthepath.com/
There are two types of people in the world: those who choose to be happy,
and those who choose to be unhappy. Contrary to popular belief, happiness
doesn’t come from fame, fortune, other people, or material possessions.
Rather, it comes from within. The richest person in the world could be
miserable while a homeless person could be right outside, smiling and
content with their life. Happy people are happy because they *make* themselves
happy. They maintain a positive outlook on life and remain at peace with
themselves.
The question ... more »
Burden of proof not on moving party in mobility cases
Sferruzzi v. Allan, 2013 ONCA 496:
[42] *Gordon v. Goertz*, [1996] 2 S.C.R. 27 is the seminal case on
mobility in family law cases. In it, the Supreme Court set out the
principles that govern such matters. Paragraphs 49-50 of *Gordon* contain
the following summary of those principles:
1. The parent applying for a change in the custody or access order must
meet the threshold requirement of demonstrating a material change in the
circumstances affecting the child.
2. If the threshold is met, the judge on the application must embark on
a fresh inquiry into what is in th... more »
Relativity bans faster-than-light warp drive
In recent 24 hours, lots of media outlets including
NY Times, The Daily Mail, Russia Today, The PK Nation, Times of India, Bend
Bulletin
discuss the NASA research into faster-than-light spaceships based on "warp
drive". The idea is being attributed to Mexican fantasist (rather than
physicist) Miguel Alcubierre while Dr (???) Harold White is being mentioned
as the most active researcher working on this ambitious project.
The proposed idea is simple: reduce the magnitude of the space-like
components of the metric tensor in front of the spaceship and increase it
behind the spaceshi... more »
PA minister: PA agreements modeled after Muhammad's Hudaybiyyah Peace Treaty
Can we trust the Palestinians re any peace treaty? More news that you won't
find reported on the anti-Israel BBC.
'On the eve of the renewed peace talks with Israel, PA Minister of
Religious Affairs Mahmoud Al-Habbash said in his Friday sermon that when PA
leaders signed agreements with Israel, they knew how to walk "the right
path, which leads to achievement, exactly like the Prophet [Muhammad] did
in the Treaty of Hudaybiyyah." Al-Habbash's sermon was delivered in the
presence of PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas and was broadcast on official
Palestinian Authority TV.
The Hudaybiyyah pe... more »
"Occupied Territories": What About Cyprus, Kashmir, Tibet?
The Gatestone Institute wonder why only the 'occupation of Palestinian
lands' is a matter for concern. What about Tibet, occupied by China,
Northern Cyprus occupied by Turkey and others?
Is the Palestinian issue only deemed so important because it allows attacks
on the world's only Jewish state?
F-theory on \(Spin(7)\) manifolds, icezones to beat firewalls
I want to mention three new hep-th preprints. One is on F-theory and two
are concerned with the black hole information puzzles.
Concerning the former, Federico Bonetti, Thomas W. Grimm, and Tom G. Pugh
of Munich wrote a paper called
Non-Supersymmetric F-Theory Compactifications on \(Spin(7)\) Manifolds.
There exist just a few interesting holonomy groups that manifolds
constructed of extra dimensions in string/M-theory may respect. Realistic
vacua of F-theory are usually thought of as \(SU(4)\approx Spin(6)\)
holonomy Calabi-Yau manifolds that preserve 1/8 of the original SUSY i.e.
... more »
THE PRINCE
*Royal baby. William told the media: "He's a big boy, he's quite heavy. We
are still working on a name so we will have that as soon as we can. It's
the first time we have seen him really so we are having a proper chance to
catch up." BBC News - William and Kate present baby prince*
William and Kate have a mentor called Sir David Manning.
Sir David Manning is on Kate and William's staff.
Manning was in New York on 9 11 and saw the fall of the Twin Towers.
Manning saw the smoke coming from the World Trade Center.
(New Statesman - NS Profile - David Manning)
*Sir David Manning, 'par... more »
Compare and contrast
It's a little odd how much energy the BBC are putting into furthering the
Lynton Crosby allegations when they just happily just took Tony 'pretty
straight guy' Blair's word that Bernie Ecclestone's £1 million donation to
the Labour party was in no way linked to tobacco advertising legislation.
Likewise this recent BBC coverage seems somewhat more frenzied than their
coverage of the accusations about Peter Mandelson's dealings with aluminium
mogul Oleg Deripaska, and his role in setting EU aluminium import policy.
In fact the number of Peter Mandelson stories that the BBC decided were... more »
UHC 16: Dialogue on UHC and Medicine Access, AIM July 25-26
The Department of Health (DOH), Philippine Health Insurance Corporation
(PHIC or PhilHealth), FDA and the AIM Dr. Stephen Zuellig Center for Asian
Business Transformation (AIM ZCABT) will hold a policy dialogue tomorrow
and on Friday, on “Universal Health Care and Access to Medicine” at the
Asian Institute of Management (AIM), Makati City.
I received the invite only today when the DOH National Center for
Pharmaceutical Access and Management (NCPAM) extended the invite to all
members of the DOH Advisory Council for the Implementation of RA 9502
(Cheaper Medicines Law of 2008). Thanks... more »
Palestinians killed by poison gas in a Palestinian refugee camp
A camp for Palestinian refugees has been bombed by chemical weapons and yet
the BBC don't seem interested; why? Are they so in thrall to the 'Jewish
lobby'that they won't cover such a story < /sarcasm>?
The answer is more prosaic, the Palestinian refugee camp is in Syria and
the Palestinians were killed by Syrian forces. So the BBC's interest is all
but nil, I cannot find a reference to this on the BBC Middle East news
yet. I think we all know that if a camp in Gaza had been attacked by
Israel and just one Palestinian had been killed then that would have been
headline news on the ... more »
Smallholders the solution
United Nations report offers *agroecology *and *smallholders *as the
solution to the developing food crisis. Reblogged from The Red Mullet. It's
nice to have the United Nations confirm what some of us have been saying
all along.
*Report submitted by the Special Rapporteur on the right to **food, Olivier
De Schutter*
"...[I]ncreasing food production to meet future needs, while necessary, is
not sufficient. It will not allow significant progress in combating hunger
and malnutrition if it is not combined with higher incomes and improved
livelihoods for the poorest – particularly smal... more »
THE OBAMA PLANTATION
For a response to President Obama’s comments on the acquittal of George
Zimmerman and racism in the United States, Democracy Now is joined by Dr.
Cornel West, professor at Union Theological Seminary and author of numerous
books.
Simon Critchley on Religion and Death
Simon Critchley is the author of, *"The Faith of the Faithless:
Experiments in Political Theology" *(2012).
Simon Critchley on Religion and Death. Source: Big Think. Date Published:
April 23, 2012. Description:
The philosopher talks about how suicide has become a taboo and how death
could be regarded differently.
New Subnational African Education and Infrastructure Dataset
Todd Smith, Anustubh Agnihotri, and I have put together a new resource of
subnational education and infrastructure access indicators for Africa,
released as part of the Climate Change and Africa Political Stability
(CCAPS) program at the University of Texas. This dataset provides data on
literacy rates, primary and secondary school attendance rates, access to
improved water
Continue reading
July 23, 1973
Nixon responds to the Ervin Committee's request for a handful of tapes:
--
I have considered your request that I permit the Committee to have access
to tapes of my private conversations with a number of my closest aides. I
have concluded that the principles stated in my letter to you of July 6th
preclude me from complying with that request, and I shall not do so. Indeed
the special nature of tape recordings of private conversations is such that
these principles apply with even greater force to tapes of private
Presidential conversations than to Presidential papers.
--
But that's n... more »
12 fotos de cascadas hermosas para coleccionar
*Ver más colecciones de imágenes*[image: Unirse a Banco de Imágenes en
Facebook] [image: Seguir a Banco de Imágenes en Twitter] [image:
Suscribirse a Banco de Imágenes por Rss] [image: Suscribirse a Banco de
Imágenes por correo]
Change The World Wednesday (#CTWW) - Use Counter-Top Appliances or Eat Raw
Welcome to Change The World Wednesday (#CTWW)!
Wondering how to live greener? You've come to the right place. Each week we
challenge ourselves to try a new task ... or "amp up" something we're
already doing. We raise our awareness, learn from each other and develop
Eco-friendly skills which will improve our lives and protect our planet.
Doing so together gives us power ... the power to Change The World!
If this is your first visit, please click HERE for information and a
complete list of all the challenges we've taken on so far.
This post contains great information and I encourage ... more »
Guarantee: The NSA Isn't The Only Outfit Spying On You
I picked up a thin volume that came in the mail the other day, lol...OMG!:
What Every Student Needs to Know About Online Reputation Management,
Digital Citizenship and Cyberbullying by Matt Ivester. I'm long past being
a student. In fact, I'm past being a professor as well. But, as someone who
spends a lot of my time online, I figured there would be some good lessons
in this book I could benefit from. I figured correctly. As Jennifer Aaker,
author and Stanford professor said, "We are at a critical point in
technological history-- where social media is beginning to have more impact ... more »
Untitled
*Historic suit seeks damages from 100 energy companies for Louisiana's
coastal erosion ~Jeff Adelson, New Orleans Advocate*
*Science to be key factor in lawsuit against oil and gas companies for
coastal loss ~Bob Marshall, The Lens*
Jean Trounstine : The Plight of California's Prisons
Cruel
and unusual: Overcrowded California prisons. Image from
TheBusySignal.com.
The plight of California's prisons:
Hunger strike, sterilization, and valley fever
While we complain of 100 degree heat and take solace in our
air-conditioned homes, prisoners across the country are suffering -- and
not just for their crimes.
By Jean Trounstine / The Rag Blog / July 24, 2013
It’s been two
The Realist Report with John Friend
On this edition of *The Realist Report*, we'll be joined yet again by
Clement Pulaski of *TrueSonsofAbraham.com* to discuss his essays *Aryans
Follow the Sun* and *Usury and the Corruption of American Society*.
Please visit *The Realist Report* on TalkeShoe to download this and past
episodes.
Does Copyright Stifle or Enable Creativity?
Now and again you find a talk on copyright on TED from Johanna Blakely that
makes you think and see things differently. Blakely challenges our values
and what creates innovation and also the definition of utility. You find
yourself asking if we are we approaching copyright in the right way for the
'creative' media industry sectors?
The question remains how the creator makes money in a world of plagiarism.
Perhaps its to do more with the democratization of fashion, recipes, jokes,
etc. This forces designers and creators to go that extra mile and taking
copying as a driver and not... more »
Weiner's weiner on display...
*again.*
And people would actually vote for a man who finds it necessary to take
pics of his penis?
What has this country become?
Henry Geiger - Moonshine And Sunlight (1984)
*Related: *
* Henry Geiger - Symbol And Myth (1974).*
*Henry Geiger - The Present And The Long View (1979)*.
*Wikipedia:*
Henry Geiger (1908?-15 February 1989) was the editor, publisher, and chief
writer of MANAS Journal which published from 1948-1988. Abraham Maslow
called him “the only small ‘p’ philosopher America has produced in this
century.”
*Wikipedia:*
MANAS was an eight-page philosophical weekly written, edited, and published
by Henry Geiger from 1948 until December 1988. Each issue typically
contained several short essays that reflected on the human condition,
exami... more »
Hedge Fund SAC to face criminal charges ? This follows civil charges against Steven Cohen by the SEC last week !
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2013-07-23/final-straw-sac-criminal-charges-be-filed-week
The Final Straw For SAC: Criminal Charges To Be Filed This Week
[image: Tyler Durden's picture]
Submitted by Tyler Durden on 07/23/2013 22:18 -0400
- Cohen
- Insider Trading
- SAC
- Securities and Exchange Commission
- Securities Fraud
- Steve Cohen
- Wall Street Journal
It would appear the camel's back of the career of Steve Cohen and his firm
SAC Capital has received its last straw. As the WSJ reports, Federal
prosecutors plan to bring criminal charges against ... more »
NC Republican Taliban Gone Wild: Kills Voter Awareness HS Program to Pre-Register Students
The Koch Brothers’ chief henchman in North Carolina is Art Pope, who led
the effort in Wake County to kill socioeconomic school integration a couple
of years back. Wake County awoke from its slumber and ousted the racist
school board members and the Broadie superintendent, and now things are
starting to get back to normal. Now […]
Scranton , Pa faces 117 percent property tax to balance budget .... and that's before the city police and firefighter union pension issues get sorted out....
http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com/2013/07/scranton-needs-117-property-tax-hike-to.html
Tuesday, July 23, 2013 11:25 AM
Scranton Needs 117% Property Tax Hike to Balance Budget; Simple Truth:
Scranton is Bankrupt
Those looking for the next city to go bankrupt should consider the
possibilities in Scranton.
The Pennsylvania Economy League projects Scranton could be looking at $18
million deficit, 117 percent tax hike in 2014.
Scranton taxpayers could face a 117 percent increase in taxes next year as
the city's finances continue to spiral out of control.
A new analysis by t... more »
What happens when you try the Prisoners Dilemma on actual prisoners?
[image: image]
So much of modern mainstream microeconomics is built on mathematical
reasoning based on the so-called Prisoner’s Dilemma.
But, as if to demonstrate the distance from the real world of the reasoning
of mainstream economics, no-one had ever tested the Prisoner’s Dilemma on
real prisoners.
And when two Hamburg researchers did, what they found confounded the
elegant mathematical reasoning relied on by economists.
Not only did the prisoners cooperate far more than the alleged economists’
models say they would, they cooperated far more than students, on whom, to
date, t... more »
The day Australia closed the door
Australians aren’t just failing at cricket. They’re also failing at acting
on that which they supposedly believe.
This week they begin rejecting refugees arriving in Australia by boat,
sending them instead to a concentration camp off Papua New Guinea.
This in the name of a country and people who sing, in their national
anthem:
“*For those who've come across the seas*. *We've boundless plains to share…”
*
Turns out that’s just empty words and flatulence.
[Hat tip Sandrine L.]
Content is copyright PC.BlogSpot.Com © Please contact author for permission
to republish: (organon at ihu... more »
The Detroit mess: "So now the deficit scolds have a new case to misinterpret" (Paul Krugman)
*-- Tim Eagan (click to enlarge)*
*"Detroit does seem to have had especially bad governance, but for the
most
part the city was just an innocent victim of market forces. What? Market
forces have victims? Of course they do."*
*-- Paul Krugman, in his NYT column yesterday,*
"Detroit, the New Greece"
*by Ken*
I suppose it would be going too far to suggest that the deficit hawks
are
giddy about the Detroit bankruptcy situation because of the opportunity
it
presents to stick it to working people -- or, better, still,
*retired*working people. Oh, I think they're pretty happy about this.
A... more »
" The Entire Western World is Detroit " opines Bill Holter......As Detroit awaits its bail in and hopes for an Obama bailout , let's follow the Cyprus situation ( first bail in ) and bail in on the way Spain ! Greece items of the day - more Troika tantrums at non actions from Greece !
(courtesy Bill Holter/Miles Franklin)
The entire Western world is "Detroit"
As you must know by now, Detroit is bankrupt and must
restructure...somehow. They once were the manufacturing capital of the
United States and the largest concentrated manufacturer in the world. They
now have over 28% unemployment (actually much higher), and cannot afford to
pay for even basic services and much of the city is "bombed out" as in
destroyed. There are calls for all sorts of remedies such as private
equity rebuilding and public (federal) bailouts. ALL of this misses the
point...
The p... more »
Dead Secretaries Society
Two case studies: Compare and Contrast
*Subject One:* Congressman Gary Condit (D, CA)
Personal Background:
Democratic Congressman from California, Chair of the House Intelligence
Committee
Dead Secretary:
Chandra Levy, suspected Mossad Asset inside the Federal Bureau of Prisons
Date of Death / Disappearance:
May 1st, 2001
(Last day of Beltane)
(4 months prior to 9/11)
(4 months subsequent to First Innaugural of the Unelected,
Court-appointed President George W. Bush)
Background to Death:
"In Sex, Power & Murder, every detail of Chandra Levy's tempestuous affair
with Congr... more »
BC Government States No LNG Plants Online Until 2021, Two Election Cycles Away!
Yesterday I explained how Rich Coleman is full of shit about the Japanese
market for LNG from British Columbia, I also pointed out as did others how
the BC Liberal`s claims of(before the election) that B.C. LNG would
eliminate British Columbia`s debt, pay for bridge tolls, pay off crown
debts at BC Hydro, BC Ferries, eliminate sales tax and also add$hundreds of
billions of dollars into a prosperity fund for future generations, ...Those
pre-election BC Liberal claims went from those outlandish claims to how
LNG revenue over 30 years "*would help eliminate the debt*"...
And today ... more »
SEC charges Texas Man with running Bitcoin denominated ponzi scheme - actually , it you look back to when the story first broke ( and the ponzi schemer ran away ) , the value opined to be lost was 5 million...... As of today , the value lost was about 48 million million ( using a price of 94.5 ) ..... looking back to the prior high of around 230 , you looking at lost alleged value of at least 110 million ! Be careful out here folks ! Mt Gox info from their website for your consideration....Changes to their deposit procedures and also their statement on their July 4 , 2013 resumption of withdrawals and improved banking ( just who are their new banking partners - why not just say whom ) ...... backlog talk is a concern and why does it take so long to process deposits ?
http://www.infowars.com/sec-charges-texas-man-with-running-bitcoin-denominated-ponzi-scheme/
SEC Charges Texas Man With Running Bitcoin-Denominated Ponzi Scheme
- [image: The Alex Jones Channel][image: Alex Jones Show podcast][image:
Prison Planet TV][image: Infowars.com Twitter][image: Alex Jones'
Facebook][image: Infowars store]
*zerohedge.com*
July 23, 2013
That didn’t take long.
*From the SEC:*
The Securities and Exchange Commission today charged a Texas man and his
company with defrauding investors in a Ponzi scheme involving Bitcoin, a
virtual currency traded on onl... more »
A LAKE IN MAINE
Sebago Tar Sands Demonstration from Regis Tremblay on Vimeo.
On Saturday, July 20, 2013, 350 Maine conducted a wonderful "teach-in" at
Sebago Lake to inform the public about the dangers of fossil fuels, and
specifically Tar-sands. The Canadians want to reverse the flow of the
Portland to Montreal pipeline to move filthy, dirty Tar-sands oil down
through Maine, 500 feet from Sebago Lake, to Portland to be shipped to
China and other places. 200 people took part in the festivities and street
(lake) theater.
350.org founder, Bill McKibben spoke to the crowd and took part in the
activ... more »
Today Detroit, tomorrow the world
[image: image]
If you discount the life-giving value of continuing economic growth and
progress, then check out what happens in a city that has abandoned both.
It teeters on the brink of bankruptcy. Members of the City Council have
simply stopped showing up for work. Whole blocks are seemingly abandoned.
Emergency calls to 9-1-1 take, on average, almost an hour for help to
arrive. Police solve – this is apparently true – 8.7% of crimes. 8.7%! The
only reason the sky-high crime rate isn’t higher is, apparently, a shortage
of available innocent victims.
And look at this description... more »
From Nor-man Gold-man Today
[image: Justice for You]
American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) Posted on Monday, July 22, 2013
We need to get the word out about this. Will you help?
http://www.alecexposed.org/wiki/ALEC_Exposed
When a Railroad Goes Deadbeat
You guessed it, we're talking Montreal, Maine & Atlantic, the railroad
company that incinerated the luckless villagers of Lac Megantic, Quebec.
MM&A has stopped paying contractors working on the clean-up of the disaster
causing the town to demand $4-million within 48-hours to pay the
contractors MM&A itself hired.
MM&A chairman and jester, Special Ed Burkhardt isn't taking calls. I'm
guessing he's not planning on leaving his sanctuary in the States to put in
another appearance in Quebec anytime soon either.
Untitled
*Algiers Point Business Owners, Commuters Fight for Ferries in Council ~Tyler
William Black, NOLA DEFENDER *
Massachusetts Voters Didn't Replace Scott Brown With Elizabeth Warren Because They Wanted Her To Sit Still And Listen To Her Elders
The Senate wound up with 11 freshmen after the 2012 elections, 6 graduates
from the House 4 from state government and one-- Elizabeth Warren-- direct
from outside the grubby, hidebound realm of electoral politics:
*•* Jeff Flake (R-AZ)
*•* Chris Murphy (D-CT)
*•* Mazie Hirono (D-HI)
*•* Joe Donnelly (D-IN)
*•* Angus King (I-ME)
*•* Elizabeth Warren (D-MA)
*•* Deb Fischer (R-NE)
*•* Martin Heinrich (D-NM)
*•* Ted Cruz (R-TX)
*•* Tim Kaine (D-VA)
*•* Tammy Baldwin (D-WI)
The plutocrats who put Ted Cruz in office have a very long list of
nihilistic expectations attached to their boy--... more »
Say It Ain't So: The EU Designates Hezbollah As A Terrorist Organization
*The EU is a joke.*
On Monday, the European Union designated Hezbollah, a Lebanese resistance
movement and political party, as a terrorist organization.
Secretary of State John Kerry *said in a statement* in response to the
decision: "This designation will have a significant impact on Hezbollah’s
ability to operate freely in Europe by enabling European law enforcement
agencies to crack down on Hezbollah’s fundraising, logistical activity, and
terrorist plotting on European soil."
This is just a silly statement by Kerry and an even sillier decision by the
EU. Hezbollah has not ... more »
What are the “Big Issues” of International Politics, and How Should Journals Address Them?
A common complaint among international-relations scholars is that our
journals don’t sufficiently engage with big, new, and pressing issues of
world politics. Those that do, on the other hand, often get criticized for
a lack of rigor. I’ve made this complaint before, in the context of the
financial crisis, and Kate Weaver offered some thoughts
Continue reading
Musical Interlude: Liquid Mind, "Teach Me to Whisper"
Liquid Mind, "Teach Me to Whisper"
- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3L0iCAIOJXQ
"A Look to the Heavens"
Big, beautiful spiral galaxy NGC 1055 is a dominant member of a small
galaxy group a mere 60 million light-years away toward the intimidating
constellation Cetus. Seen edge-on, the island universe spans about 100,000
light-years, similar in size to our own Milky Way.
* Click image for larger size.*
Colorful, spiky stars in this cosmic portrait of NGC 1055 are in the
foreground, well within the Milky Way. But along with a smattering of more
distant background galaxies, the deep image also reveals a curious
box-shaped inner halo extending far above and below this galaxy's dusty
pl... more »
The Poet: William Butler Yeats, "The Second Coming"
*"The Second Coming"*
*․ *
"Turning and turning in the widening gyre
The falcon cannot hear the falconer;
Things fall apart; the center cannot hold;
Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,
The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere
The ceremony of innocence is drowned;
The best lack all conviction, while the worst
Are full of passionate intensity.
Surely some revelation is at hand;
Surely the Second Coming is at hand.
The Second Coming! Hardly are those words out
When a vast image out of Spiritus Mundi
Troubles my sight: somewhere in sands of the desert
A shape with lion body and t... more »
So the world’s most highly paid beneficiaries had a baby [update 2]
Yes, William Windsor and his wife are mong the world’s most highly paid
beneficiaries.
So why is the whole world going nuts about two beneficiaries popping out a
sprog?
*UPDATE 1*: “In a just world, this innocent child would be going up for
adoption, since its family would have been imprisoned for crimes against
humanity.” – Hamilton Nolan
*UPDATE 2*: Non-monarchist Robert Tracinski suggests we could do a lot
worse than the House of Windsor…
One of the reasons I don't begrudge the House of Windsor any of their
wealth or fame is that they didn't win it, historically, through brut... more »
"A Meter Is Running..."
"...the monstrous thing is not that men have created roses out of this
dung heap, but that, for some reason or other, they should want roses. For
some reason or other man looks for the miracle, and to accomplish it he
will wade through blood. He will debauch himself with ideas, he will reduce
himself to a shadow if for only one second of his life he can close his
eyes to the hideousness of reality. Everything is endured- disgrace,
humiliation, poverty, war, crime, ennui- in the belief that overnight
something will occur, a miracle, which will render life tolerable. And all
the w... more »
"A Grindstone..."
"Life is a grindstone.
Whether it grinds us down or polishes us up depends on us."
- L. Thomas Holdcraft
Chet Raymo
"Soul"
by Chet Raymo
"There is a moment early in Stefan Zweig's The Post Office Girl when the
eponymous heroine has a moment of illumination: "In this instant, shaken to
her very depths, this ecstatic human being has a first inkling that the
soul is made of stuff so mysteriously elastic that a single event can make
it big enough to contain the infinite." Two interesting thoughts here.
First, that the soul is elastic. This is a rather different notion of the
human soul than the one I was raised with. We were taught that the soul -
the essential self - is created fully formed at t... more »
"Free Will"
*"Free Will"*
"In the beginning, love was created and it was good.
Yet, as it is with all things, love is a choice.
In the now, a bond is created, and it is good.
Yet, as it is with all things, a bond is a choice.
In each tomorrow, the future will be created, and it can be good.
Yet, as it is with all things, the future is a choice.
As the love of yesterday binds the present into a touch towards every
tomorrow,
Do not vow to renew your choices on your first, your fifth, or your
fiftieth anniversary,
Rather, from this moment go forth vowing.
Go forth vowing to choose gently, cele... more »
Seven years for shooting at police in Kimmirut
R v Utye 2013 NUCJ 14:
1.
[1] On July 28, 2012, the early morning peace and tranquility of
Kimmirut was shattered by the sound of gunfire. Two members of the RCMP and
a youth were inside the police detachment when the attack began. A hail of
bullets penetrated the detachment building and the marked police vehicle
parked outside.
What is malicious re-assignment? by Michelle Gunderson. proud member of the Chicago Teachers’Union
It is a conversation educators dread. An administrator calls you for a
“chat”. “By the way,” they say, “Instead of teaching 8th grade next year,
it best suits our needs for you to teach kindergarten.” Every educator
knows what this means. While the teacher in the scenario still has a job
and is teaching a […]
The Daily "Near You?"
Shreveport, Louisiana, USA. Thanks for stopping by.
"A New 'Drake' Equation for Potential of Life"
"A New 'Drake' Equation for Potential of Life"
by Nancy Atkinson
"The famed Drake equation estimates the number of technologically advanced
civilizations that might exist in our Galaxy. But is there a way to
mathematically quantify a habitat’s potential for hosting life? “At
present, there is no easy way of directly comparing the suitability of
different environments as a habitat for life" said Dr. Axel Hagermann, who
proposed a method to find a "habitability index" at the European Planetary
Science Congress. "The classical definition of a habitable environment,"
said Hagermann, "i... more »
Lamar W. Hankins : Texas Sen. Donna Campbell's Dishonesty on Abortion
Texas
Sen. Donna Campbell, R-New Braunfels, speaks to an anti-abortion group
outside the state capitol in Austin, Monday, July 1, 2013. Photo by Eric
Gay / AP.
Extremism trumps libertarian views:
Donna Campbell’s dishonesty on abortion
Campbell allows her extremist views opposing the constitutional right of
a woman to seek an abortion to interfere with a physician’s normal
practice of
"The Web Gallery of Art"
"The Web Gallery of Art"
"The Web Gallery of Art is a virtual museum and searchable database of
European painting and sculpture of the Gothic, Renaissance, Baroque,
Neoclassicism, Romanticism and Realism periods (1100-1850), currently
containing over 22,600 reproductions. It was started in 1996 as a topical
site of the Renaissance art, originated in the Italian city-states of the
14th century and spread to other countries in the 15th and 16th centuries.
Intending to present Renaissance art as comprehensively as possible, the
scope of the collection was later extended to show it... more »
Black Elk, "The Sacred Pipe"
"The Sun, the Light of the world.
I hear him coming.
I see his face as he comes.
He makes the beings on earth happy
And they rejoice.
O, Wakan Tanka, I offer to You this world of Light."
- Black Elk, "The Sacred Pipe"
"The Magicians Sheep"
* *
* "The Magicians Sheep"*
by G.I. Gurdjieff
"There is an Eastern tale that speaks about a very rich magician who had a
great many sheep. But at the same time this magician was very mean. He did
not want to hire shepherds, nor did he want to erect a fence about the
pasture where the sheep were grazing. The sheep consequently often wandered
into the forest, fell into ravines and so on, and above all, they ran away,
for they knew that the magician wanted their flesh and their skins, and
this they did not like.
At last the magician found a remedy. He hypnotized his sheep and sugge... more »
Paulo Coelho, “Forget This Idea of Seeking Happiness”
*“Forget This Idea of Seeking Happiness”*
by Paulo Coelho
“Countries where income is under US$ 10,000 a year are countries where the
majority of the population is unhappy. However, it was discovered that from
that figure upwards, monetary difference is not all that important. A
scientific study conducted on the 400 richest persons in the United States
shows that they are only slightly happier than those who earn US$ 20,000.
The logical consequence: of course, poverty is something unacceptable, but
the old saying that “money does not bring happiness” is being proved in
laboratori... more »
Tiwesdæg: the Left-hand of Linkage
Just a handful of things today…. Michael Krepon: “inferred vs. demonstrable
deterrence.” Election fraud, the 1862 election, and the outcome of the
Civil War. Matt Fay likes the new Lieber and Press article on nuclear
terrorism. “Prisoner’s Dilemma” is a metaphor, but I suppose it was only a
matter of time before someone tried it
Continue reading
About Those Israel Academic Study Trips…
Editor’s Note: This is a guest post by Kavita Khory, Professor of Political
Science at Mount Holyoke College. Last spring the Combined Jewish
Philanthropies (CJP) of Boston invited me to participate in a weeklong
study tour to Israel. Designed for scholars of international relations,
political science, and public policy, the purpose of the educational tour
was
Continue reading
The Plastic at the end of the world
By Capt. Fogg
It's impossible to sum up American culture these days. It's a farrago of
barbarian freak chic, phony Euro faddism, retro-futurism and gross
slob-snobbery. That's only a sample, of course. There are more
sub-cultures, cults of style and lack thereof than I care to or can
enumerate, but when a plain old cup of plain old coffee becomes an
"Americano" even in the heart of America -- when Wendy's serves "Tuscan"
hamburgers, when anything from dogfood to doughnuts, not made entirely by
robots is "Artisinal" (and perhaps Tuscan as well) I might have to stop
using the word... more »
HOLDING THE BABY
*Just like that.*
We can now see the large baby.
Lady Colin Campbell claims that a French cook gave birth to the Queen's
mother.
Prince Albert Victor had sex with boy prostitutes, allegedly, and had an
affair with a shopgirl who gave him a child, allegedly.
Robert Brown claims to be the illegitimate son of Princess Margaret.
King Edward VIII married Wallis Simpson who, reportedly, was a man.
*http://www.mirror.co.uk/*
*
*There had been speculation that Kate Middleton was going to have twins.
*Jacintha Saldanha*, who was one of Kate's nurses in the Royal Marsden,
died in myst... more »
Israeli/Palestinian Peace Talks Dead On Arrival (Just As I Have Always Said!)
I have said in countless articles before that the entire Israel/Palestinian
"Peace Process" is nothing more than a sham and a total fraud. The facts
are simple... Israel absolutely does not want peace with the Palestinians,
ever.... They want territory, and they want the Palestinians OUT of
Palestine, period!
I want to present the following article that comes from the Activist Post
website, at www.activistpost.com, by author Stephen Lendman. It is
entitled: "Israeli/Palestinian Peace Talks Dead On Arrival", and it backs
up everything that I have said many times that the entire Pea... more »
'... it's a black boy'
The strangest reaction to the news of the birth of 'the Royal Baby... Most
odd!
The Carefully Engineered Ascendancy of Public Stupidity
Maybe people who had survived the Great Depression and World War II were a
little more wary, spent a little more time looking over their shoulders.
The postwar years gave rise to a period of insight and enlightenment that
was abruptly arrested in the late 70's, early 80's with the arrival on the
world scene of leaders like Reagan and Thatcher. According to professor
and renowned culture critic, Henry Giroux, they and their minions ushered
in what has become the era of public stupidity.
Here are a few excerpts from Giroux's timely warning. I hope they will
pique your interest en... more »
No Use Suing Over Spilled Wine, Eh?
This one's going to pull at your heartstrings. It concerns an overlooked
group of victims of Hurricane Sandy who may have suffered enormous losses
into the hundreds of thousands or even millions of dollars from the
deluge. Can you feel the pity welling up yet?
Who are these people? They're super-rich folks, the type who have really
valuable wine collections so precious that they entrusted their treasured
vintages to a special wine cellar for safekeeping.
*For the New York high-flyers who entrusted their vintage wines to a
high-tech Manhattan storage cellar, 24-hour security and... more »
Nerissa and Katherine
*John Herbert Bowes-Lyon death notice from the Times, 11 Feb. 1930, page
17. The text reads:*
*
*
*"MR. JOHN BOWES-LYON. The Duke and Duchess of York were present at the
funeral at St. Paul's, Walden, yesterday, of the Hon. John Herbert
Bowes-Lyon. The service, which was conducted by the Rev. H. S. C.
Whitehouse (the vicar), was of the simplest character.*
*
*
*"The chief mourners word the Hon. Mrs. John. Bowes-Lyon (widow), the Earl
and Countess of Strathmore (parents), Lord and Lady Glamis (brother and
sister-in-law), the Duke and Duchess of York (brother-in-law and sister),
t... more »
Brunette Wings
Its quiet here this morning, and cooler. The birds are not calling to
each other, but chirping amongst themselves. A hawk soars overhead while
the cicadas are silent. In the distance there are storm clouds. All seems
not waiting so much as watching… what is coming is gonna be wild.
The preparations have been made. There’s not much to say to each other
now, we are down to the doing. By all reports we are feeling isolated yet
no longer confused; we know who we are and what we came to do. What burns
through us now is a knowing. The truth of who you are has spoken. Whis... more »
Cliche amnesty
Perhaps we need a cliche amnesty for "organic" and "bureaucratic", which
have come to mean stuff-happening-that-I-like and
stuff-happening-that-I-don't-like. Organic is a really bad metaphor for
socialist politics. Organic (in this context) signifies ineluctable
development. Organic development under capitalism is the expanded
reproduction of capital. Socialist organisations are not organic; they do
not develop according to progressively unfolding laws but according to a
well-judged collective will.
Rosie
She was born into an Irish American family at her parents' home in
Brookline, Massachusetts, and named *Rose Marie Kennedy* after her mother,
but was commonly called *Rosemary. *
To her family, she was known as
*Rosie.*
*The Kennedy Family at Hyannis Port, 4th September 1931. *
L-R: Robert Kennedy, John F. Kennedy, Eunice Kennedy, Jean Kennedy (on lap
of) Joseph P. Kennedy Sr., Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy (behind) Patricia
Kennedy, Kathleen Kennedy, Joseph P. Kennedy Jr. (behind)* Rosemary
Kennedy. *
Edward Kennedy was not born yet.
Dog in foreground is "Buddy".
Rose sent Rosema... more »
We keep returning to this editorial!
*TUESDAY, JULY 23, 2013*
*It still doesn’t seem to make sense:* Thanks to Kevin Drum’s work on the
topic, we often wonder if the nation’s improved test scores are in part a
reflection of lead abatement.
Lead has been removed from the air. Lead paint has been removed from walls.
This improvement in the environment would tend to make children smarter.
On the other hand: When we read the New York Times, we sometimes wonder if
some unknown environmental factor is making our ruling elites much dumber.
By now, we’ve returned, several times, to this July 15 editorial, “Trayvon
Martin’s L... more »
Tom Hayden : Trayvon Martin and the Super-Predator Myth
Photo
by Joshua Trujillo / AP Images / SeattlePI.com
The super-predator myth:
Trayvon died for our sins
The evidence of a violently divided America can be understood in the
failure of the criminal justice system, where rationality and
objectivity are supposed to prevail
By Tom Hayden / The Rag Blog / July 23, 2013
For Trayvon Martin and his family I feel a sadness that will not lift.
Mechanical characters mass-produced by Disney, cyborgs at Harvard
Apologies to TRF readers – I was too busy these days: traveling, swimming,
walking, and more. Here's a recreational blog entry. In the following
video, you may see some cute mechanical puppets displaying some highly
realistic motion:
In fact, Disney Research has a whole infrastructure to mass-produce toys of
various kinds.
If that's too mundane and old-fashioned a piece of technology for you,
let's try something else.
Nature Materials just published a paper
Macroporous nanowire nanoelectronic scaffolds for synthetic tissues
by a Harvard-HMS-MIT collaboration. They develop ... more »
The #commoncore is the #royalbaby of #edreform…
That is, born of tremendous hype to parents of outrageous privilege whose
credentials as human beings are that they were themselves born of privilege
and so on for completely arbitrary and manufactured reasons, generally
without merit, yet painfully, painfully average in almost every way. We
plebes, we add meaning to it all, behave as if […]
Your survey once again used incorrectly, we told you so. @rweingarten @AFTunion #teach13
In discussions on the Common Core, regardless of the available critiques, I
always seem to get this idea that there is overwhelming and strong support
for the CCSS from ALL teachers. You read that, ALL TEACHERS! To wit:
@thechalkface AFT: 75% of teachers support CCSS but say haven’t had enough
time 2 understand & put […]
Season of drought
It is so dry now, my desiccated friend
spits in the bowl of his pipe before applying
flame to its bitter balm, for some kind of balance.
We tread on rustling mulch to study rustling leaves,
folded in desperate prayer, of what will surely be,
still, next year, an orchard and a kitchen garden
if -- large if -- the well does not run dry.
Everywhere flit wasps, sipping at beetles'
abdomens, having small aphids for dessert.
The birds have capped their singing, panting in
small shade. "Ninety, ninety, ninety-three and ninety,
ninety-seven today, and ninety yet
for all the week ahead, with thi... more »
ALEC Board Member - Moffitt (NC) Stealing City Water System
I saw this - this morning and really could not grasp what I had read.
*In our part of the state, legislators associated with the
pro-privatization, pro-corporatization group ALEC (the American Legislative
Exchange Council) took the shocking step of having the state seize
Asheville’s award-winning public water system without compensation. Locals
fear this is the first step in privatizing one of the purest watersheds in
the country.*
*State legislation that intentionally and with malice, STEALS a cities
water system.*
So I went looking for more* and found this*
An informational s... more »
Dan Shen Root – Natural Chinese Medicine for Cancer, Diabetes, Heart Attacks, and GMO Damage by Christina Sarich
Source: http://www.salviatruth.com/
Dan Shen Root – Natural Chinese Medicine for Cancer, Diabetes, Heart
Attacks, and GMO Damage
by Christina Sarich
Natural Society, 23 July 2013
The oldest written reference to Dan Shen has been uncovered in *Shen Nun
Ben Cao* (*The Divine Husbandman’s Classic of the Materia Medica*), dated
at about 200 CE.
Dan Shen root, otherwise known as Salvia miltiorrhiza bunge, (and sometimes
referred to as Red Sage or Chinese Sage) is an incredible super food or
herb used traditionally in Chinese medicine for numerous ailments includingthe improvement ... more »
Capital Income Taxation
Alan Viard offers his perspective on this key debate.
Untitled
*City orders boil water advisory for Carrollton area where water main break
floods streets ~New Orleans Advocate*
*Arial photographs of Gas Cloud over rig blowout in Gulf Coast ~On Wings of
Care *
The Feral Hogs of High Finance
The *Toronto Star's* Richard Gwyn chronicles how the masters of high
finance have fallen low.
*Today the status of the professions of banking and of financial management
is nearer to that long occupied — most times quite unfairly so, in fact —
by used car dealers.*
**
*A couple of weeks ago, a senior member of the august U.S. Federal Reserve
Bank used the phrase “feral hogs” to describe the actions of some in the
banking industry.*
**
*According to a retired Goldman Sachs vice-president, the managers of this
financial company refer to their own clients as “muppets,” while the
co... more »
Iraq’s Shiite Militias Trying To Impose Religious Beliefs On Baghdad Again
Besides the daily regimen of bombings and shootings Iraq has also witnessed
a number of attacks upon clubs, bars, cafes, liquor stores, and women since
2003. This year is no different with reports emerging of a number of
closures, beatings, and drive by shootings of various businesses in
Baghdad. While no one has been named, it is widely believed that Shiite
militias are responsible. Several politicians have come out in support of
these operations, claiming that they are enforcing the public’s morals and
restrictions during Ramadan. The government on the other hand has issued a
nu... more »
Fascism And Contemporary Canada. Locating The Canadian Conservative Government Led By Stephen Harper. Part One.
Written by rmathew@telus.net
The fact is surprising and alarming. A phrase that would have been
impossible to speak in Canada before the Stephen Harper-led Conservative
entry into Canadian politics is now almost an accepted expression.
Language is not meaningless - even the federal Conservative cabinet’s
Orwellian mask-language has meaning … paid attention to. “Democracy” in the
mouths of Stephen Harper and John Baird and James Moore means increasing
environmental irresponsibility, increasing government by private
corporations, and the total disregard of Canadian wishes, on ... more »
Don't Minnesota Voters Deserve A Choice? Joe Perske Is NOT A Choice... In Fact, He's Anti-Choice
Hard to imagine, but MN-06 is likely to wind up with someone WORSE than
Bachmann!
Drowning in scandal and extremism-- and facing a rematch with Jim Graves,
the Democrat who nearly beat her last year-- Bachmann was
uncharacteristically wise to announce her retirement from Congress. The
Republicans are finding some other lunatic-- probably right-wing lobbyist
Tom Emmer-- to represent Minnesota's 6th CD. Although the DCCC ignored
Graves last year, they were as stunned by his success as Bachmann was and
they promised to help him next year. Not counting outside money, Bachmann
spent $11,... more »
This is How We Look to the Neighbours
Here's a fascinating photograph showing how Earth appears from Saturn.
The image was taken by NASA's Cassini spacecraft.
We're that blue dot just below the bottom ring. We are indeed the "pale
blue dot" mentioned by Carl Sagan in 1990. Here's another, black and
white, of Earth and our moon taken by Cassini.
These photographs were made possible when Saturn briefly shaded Cassini
from the sun's rays.
War against Iran, Iraq and Syria?
Anonymous left a Pipelinestan piece from* Pepe Escobar @ AT:*
Thanks, it works very well with the pieces I already had set aside for
today's post.
So......here we go
Picture Iraqi Oil Minister Abdelkarim al-Luaybi, Syrian Oil Minister Sufian
Allaw, and the current Iranian caretaker Oil Minister Mohammad Aliabadi
getting together in the port of Assalouyeh, southern Iran, to* ** to sign a memorandum
of understanding for the construction of the Iran-Iraq-Syria gas pipeline,
no less. *
Pipelinestan is one of the fundamental reasons *(but,not the only reason)*for the proxy war in Syri... more »
The Economy: "Goodbye, Motor City"
* *
*"Goodbye, Motor City"*
by Bill Bonner
"Yesterday, US stocks went nowhere. But gold? It shot up $43 per ounce. If
you’ve been following these diaries, you know why. Gold is not the only
money. But it’s the only kind the works in our extended economy. Today, we
approach the same story from a different angle. It is the story of what
happens next – when the growing power of zombies meets declining available
resources.
Motor City has been flattened. Now it’s being scrapped. The largest
municipal bankruptcy in history. Detroit was once one of the richest, and
most dynamic, cities... more »
What are children being told?
*TUESDAY, JULY 23, 2013*
*About the Zimmerman verdict:* What are children being told about the
killing of Trayvon Martin? About the Zimmerman verdict?
On the morning after the verdict, Benjamin Jealous raised this question. He
spoke with Candy Crowley as part of an error-riddled State of the Union
program.
All the hacks stated their favorite fake facts. Jealous was deeply
concerned:
JEALOUS (7/14/13): We should listen for our young people and search with
them when they ask how is it that young Trayvon Martin could be killed by
George Zimmerman and George Zimmerman gets no time wh... more »
Kids Craft: Painted Canvas Shoes
It seems like the longer the summer goes on, the more bored my daughter
gets. We are both looking forward to school and activities it brings with
it. I have been trying to have a craft for my daughter to do every day, to
keep her busy.
A day a few weeks ago, my daughter slipped on her canvas shoes, the shoes
were pretty dingy looking and I light bulb went off. I grabbed a garbage
sack (to paint on), some foam brushes and my box of acrylic paint. We sat
outside in the shade and painted her shoes together.
You will need:
Canvas Shoes, they can be new or old
acrylic paint
foam brushe... more »
“The Joys of Living”
* *
*“The Joys of Living”*
by Jeffrey Tucker
"What are you complaining about all the time?” people sometimes ask me.
“I’m just about as free as I want to be.” Here’s the problem. How can we
really know what we want if we’ve never had it before? The less free we
are, the less we know what freedom feels like and how it shapes who we are.
The more dependent on government we become, the less we crave independence.
This is why it is important to find literature that takes us out of our
present moment and introduces us to different ways of thinking. We have to
imagine a different ideal... more »
Where's the Outrage?
Let's see what I can do with this article by Richard Eskow entitled "Where
the Hell Is the Outrage?" on Common Dreams.
From the first breaths of life to the last, our lives are being stolen out
from under us. From infant care and early education to Social Security and
Medicare, the dominant economic ideology is demanding more lifelong
sacrifices from the vulnerable to appease the gods of wealth.
Well, harper already kiboshed the long-overdue national daycare program
that Paul ("Mr. Dithers") Martin coughed up to try to preserve his
government after decades of austerity. Our schools ... more »
“The Joys of Living”; Free Downloads of Orison Swett Marden
* *
*“The Joys of Living”*
by Orison Swett Marden
“Resolve every morning that you will get the most out of that day, not of
some day in the future, when you are better off, when you have a family,
when your children are grown up, when you have overcome your difficulties.
You never will overcome them all. You will never be able to eliminate all
the things which annoy, trouble, and cause friction in your life. You will
never get rid of all the little enemies of your happiness, the hundred and
one little annoyances, but you can make the most of things as they are.
The reason why ou... more »
Untitled
*A New Start ~Moosedenied **~ Welcome back to the most wonderful time of
the year, bitches! Hope you're ready to put pretty much everything else on
the back burner for the next six months. By all accounts, the Saints have
had themselves one hell of a positive offseason. For example, they're one
of a dwindling handful of NFL teams who managed to make it through the last
six months without any of their players murdering anyone. So we've got that
going for us. High five? Gotta love that high-character locker room! Word
on the street is that (so far) even John Jenkins has been obtaining ... more »
Did Stephen Harper Tell Premier Brad Wall To Tone Down Any Talk About Abolishing The Senate?
[image: Progressive Bloggers]* *
*We have a bit of a political mystery in Saskatchewan today. *
*Recently, Saskatchewan Premier Brad Wall stated very clearly that he had
changed his mind on the Canadian Senate. Rather than trying to 'fix' the
unelected, undemocratic institution, Wall said that he now favoured
abolition. In fact, Wall quickly arranged for a referendum of members of
his Saskatchewan Party to reverse their existing policy on Senate reform.*
*
**What was interesting during Wall's 'abolition' pronouncements, was the
fact that Prime Minister Stephen Harper had no comment... more »
C'mon, Reporters, Really????? (Yet Again)
Another one? This time (and it was yesterday; just caught it now),
Huffington Post gives us a story about how Mike Lee, the Tea Partying Utah
Senator, is threatening that Republicans will shut the government down in
order to defund the Affordable Care Act.
Down in the story, it is revealed that Lee speaks for a group of a dozen or
so Republican Senators. That's not very many! But what the story doesn't
tell you is even more important: Mike Lee isn't going to vote for the
continuing resolution no matter what. He, and the others in his camp,
aren't going to be in any negotiations over... more »
UNWRA fund Camp Jihad
In one part, campers are encouraged to chant:
"With God's help and our own strength we will wage war. And with education
and jihad we will return!"
At another point, a camp instructor brands Jews as "wolves."
Ah the peace loving, Israel & Jew hating Palestinians and their similarly
minded United Nations supporters.
*Thanks to Jihad Watch for the spot.*
Israeli/Palestinian Peace Talks: Dead on Arrival
[image: Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...]
Dees Illustration Stephen Lendman
So-called peace talks are fake. They're a sham. They've always been this
way. Decades of talks were stillborn from inception. This time's no
different.
Chances for a just peace are ZERO. Palestinians have no say. Believing
otherwise defies reality.
Israel deplores peace. So does Washington. They're jointly running things.
Both nations are longstanding imperial partners. They prioritize violence
and instability. Peace defeats their agenda.
They don't negotiate. They demand. It bears repeat... more »
SERVANTS TO CRUMP: Alvarez hears a second shot!
*TUESDAY, JULY 23, 2013*
*Part 2—Truly heinous conduct:* Trayvon Martin was shot and killed in
Sanford, Florida on Sunday evening, February 26.
The Orlando Sentinel is the local big-city daily. Except for a brief crime
report on February 28, the Sentinel began to cover the case on March 9.
In that initial news report, the Sentinel reported that Tracy Martin had
called for George Zimmerman’s arrest at a news conference in Orlando. Later
in her report, Rene Stutzman described the state of the investigation and
noted some points of agreement:
STUTZMAN (3/9/12): Police are still inves... more »
US Justice Department Official: Executive Branch Holds No Accountability to Courts Over Drone Strikes
[image: Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...]
image source Paul Lawrance
Judge Rosemary M. Collyer of the United States District Court challenged
the Obama administration’s claim that courts have no power over targeted
drone killings of American citizens overseas last week during a hearing
where the government requested to dismiss a lawsuit filed by relatives of
three Americans killed in two drone strikes in Yemen.
On Friday Judge Collyer asked Deputy Assistant Attorney General Brain
Hauck, “Are you saying that a US citizen targeted by the United States in a
foreign c... more »
Time (part 2)
Last night I posted some video of Steve Cram's 1500m world record run from
1985.
I know that I could post any number of Seb Coe or Steve Ovett runs over the
same distance or the Mile but instead here's a little remembered race over
two miles between Steve Ovett and Henry Rono from 1978...
What a great run but it's scary how old this tape looks...
Multiple Chemical Sensitivity: Victims of a Toxic Civilization
[image: Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...]
Daisy Luther
Sometimes even worse than having a mysterious illness is the fact that no
one in the medical profession believes that you have this illness. Or,
still worse than that, they don’t believe that the illness even exists.
Imagine being desperately ill and having your doctor tell you that it’s all
in your head. Imagine being so incredibly ill that you are wasting away in
front of your family’s eyes, and having your physician prescribe you
psychiatric medications. Imagine that in your search for answers, you spend
eve... more »
Federal Services Data hub: mysterious, centralized database will contain tons of your private data
[image: Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...]
Madison Ruppert
While many news outlets are discussing the exposure of the National
Security Agency’s surveillance programs, far fewer are discussing the
“Federal Data Services Hub,” a database created by the Affordable Care Act.
The hub will allow access to one of the largest centralized collections of
personal data in American history, perhaps even dwarfing the Next
Generation Identification program and its predecessor, Secure Communities.
Stephen Parente, finance professor t the University of Minnesota, and Paul
Howard, d... more »
The Obama Family Goes on a Much-Needed Vacation…Again
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Kimberly Paxton
The Obama family needs a vacation. After all, it’s been almost a month
since they returned from the $100 million taxpayer-funded African safari.
(Yep, that’s right – ONE HUNDRED MILLION DOLLARS.)
Since then, the President has been busy trying to browbeat other countries
into turning over Ed Snowden and spending a great deal of time involving
himself in the case of George Zimmerman and Trayvon Martin. It’s hard work
being the driving force behind an assault on privacy while also maintaining
a position as the R... more »
Untitled
*Sheriff Gusman keeps jail plans under wraps ~John Simerman, New Orleans
Advocate*
*Trouble in the Garden District ~Robert Morris, Gambit*
*Entergy offers to greatly increase utility rates ~Mark Ballard*
*NOPD manpower down while homicide solve rate going up ~WVUE*
*The Lens honored for website, charter schools coverage, investigative
reporting*
*Le bijou sur le Bayou Teche*
The brown pelican became Louisiana’s state bird in 1966---but where were
the pelicans? The Cornell Lab of Ornithology’s website tells us that
pelicans nearly disappeared from North American between the late ... more »
Humanity is the worst obstacle to it's own higher learning.......
*The context for this saying is the conforming oppression of society upon
the unique individual.*
*
**"Humanity is the worst obstacle to it's own higher learning. More then
anything else that might be cited (such as language skills or imaginative
facilities) this is what makes our species unique. We are encouraged by
society to serve and perpetuate the given order, not the higher order of
evolutional striving"*
*John Lash*
*Thoughts?*
Runaway Train
A facebook conversation reminded me of the cartoon video "Runaway", which I
first posted three years ago. I was surprised when I looked on youtube and
saw that despite winning many awards it has received only fewer than 15,000
views, because I think it is one of the most marvelous animations I have
ever seen (right up there with Steve Cutts’ masterpiece “Man“ which has
received over 4 million). It's especially sad because it took the
filmmaker, Cordell Barker, eight *years *to complete the hand-drawn
animation...to say nothing of the excellent score that illuminates it,
written by ... more »
Get Your Common Corporate Test for Just $29.95, or Wait for the Fire Sale
One of the two ginormous Common Corp consortia, PARCC, finally priced their
product line yesterday. The $29.95 per student does not include costs for
professional development, diagnostic tests, formative tests, interim tests,
speaking and listening tests (required), or any of the necessary technology
infrastructure costs for installation, training, security, and repairs
resulting from unplanned breakdowns, […]
Edu-Terrorists - An ALEC Policy Item?
BURNING books - would never be accepted by our society.
So the conservative movement appears to have hatched a new way of "burning
books" - remove the books from circulation.
Three things that I want to bring to your attention before we start this
entry.
1.
ALEC is an organization of ultra-conservative right wing extremists.
ALEC is an extremist organization – they are NOT centrists or moderates.
2.
Many ALEC members are on the Board of Regents of universities across the
United States.
3.
Being exposed to alternate views of thinking is a way of refining your
thought process.
Peopl... more »
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