Monday, November 25, 2013

25 Nov - Blogs I'm Following

The Quilt of Belonging in the museum's collect...The Quilt of Belonging in the museum's collections, the largest work of textile art made about Canada (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Canadian Museum of Civilization, Hull, Quebec,...Canadian Museum of Civilization, Hull, Quebec, Canada. The museum building was completed in 1989. It was designed by Canadian architect: Douglas Cardinal. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Gatineau, Québec: Canadian Museum of Civilizat...Gatineau, Québec: Canadian Museum of Civilization. Français: De soir, vue sur le Musée canadien des civilisations à Gatineau, Québec, Canada. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
11:23am MST

LIVE! AIM West Monday Nov 25, 2013

brendanorrell@gmail.com at CENSORED NEWS - 1 minute ago
Censored News will have live print coverage today from here in San Francisco. The session will be starting shortly. Photos on display here at the gathering from AIM history.

The Most Important Question Facing the American Economy

noreply@blogger.com (Roger Pielke, Jr.) at Roger Pielke Jr.'s Blog - 14 minutes ago
The WSJ today interviews Larry Summers who makes a case for why policy makers should be focusing more attention on growth policy rather than deficits: We've had 10 bipartisan budget processes. We've had zero bipartisan growth processes. We've had budget summits up the yin-yang. We've had no growth summits. We have gotten the idea that addressing the deficit is the defining challenge facing the country. . . . . . if you take the longest-run deficit and take the official forecasts, if we increase the growth rate by two-tenths of 1%, you solve the entire identified fiscal-gap problem... more »

JFK50: Lesser-noted Consequences Following President Kennedy's Death - High Altitude Auroral Research

Paul Coker at News Spike - 17 minutes ago
*Q. Mr. President, it has been the stated policy, as you said earlier, for this Government to restrict outer space for peaceful objectives only. * *Will not the proposed H-bomb explosion 500 miles up jeopardize this policy and objective?* *THE PRESIDENT. * *No, I don't think so. * *I don't think so. * *I know there's been disturbance about the Van Allen belt...* *but Van Allen says it's not going to affect the belt....* *May 9th, 1962* The term* "cosmic rays" *became taboo in serious scientific discourse - in spite of the fact that the cosmic rays and the enormous belts of n... more »

Mohawk Nation News 'This Ole House'

brendanorrell@gmail.com at CENSORED NEWS - 20 minutes ago
THIS OLE HOUSE  Mohawk Nation News MNN. Nov. 25, 2013. 80 members of the Cree Nation of the isolated Attawapiskat community on James Bay in northern Ontario have been suddenly flown out. The women, children, babies, elders and men have been placed in motel rooms in Kapuskasing. Nobody knows for how long. Their government-provided clapboard houses have burnt down. In the meantime the

Coming soon: CON revisionist history, with a dump of tarsands on the side.

noreply@blogger.com (deBeauxOs) at DAMMIT JANET! - 24 minutes ago
The stunning artifact above is featured in Vodou, a magnificent exhitionthat will close at the Canadian Museum of Civilization in Gatineau, on February 23, 2014. I have seen it twice and I hope to see it again and again before it leaves town. Ça vaut vraiment le déplacement. Here's one review. Entrance to the CMC is free on Thursdays after 5pm, and that includes Vodou. If CPC Harper government is dumbing down the Canadian Museum of Civilization, it might also turn its laser-like gaze to other cultural institutions that it can defile and degrade to please its political base. *... more »

Time to Roast #PeterPeeper

noreply@blogger.com (fern hill) at DAMMIT JANET! - 24 minutes ago
Remember this from February this year? The Conservative government has abandoned its controversial and much-maligned Internet surveillance bill, legislation it once claimed was crucial to stopping child pornographers. Less than a year ago support for Bill C-30, the so-called Protecting Children from Internet Predators Act, was presented to Canadians by the government as a binary choice. "He can either stand with us or stand with the child pornographers," Public Safety Minister Vic Toews scolded a Liberal critic in the House of Commons last February. The comment set off a public fi... more »

Are you for or against compliance?

Burcu Bayram at Duck of Minerva - 30 minutes ago
Last week, I finally had the opportunity to read Lisa Martin’s recent piece on compliance entitled Against Compliance. Prof. Martin meticulously evaluates the literature on compliance and concludes that compliance is the wrong dependent variable to uncover the causal effect of international law on state behavior. Martin’s review of compliance studies is comprehensive and her Continue reading

Caption Contest

jurassicpork at Welcome Back to Pottersville - 1 hour ago
Sometimes, captions just write themselves. Doesn't stop me from trying, though. But this caption should warm the cockles of any liberal heart sick to death of seeing bilge pumped out annually by right wing nut bags who still get put on our nation's bookshelves. Plus, there's something stomach-churning about an increasingly dirty-minded, sex-obsessed pedophile like Rush Limbaugh writing a children's book. Maybe he should've entitled it, "How I Spent My Summer on Hispaniola" and Palin could've named her holiday book, "A Child's Christmas and Wails." So, shame me. Show me wha... more »

Argentina: Humanoids at Pampa de Agnia, Chubut (1978)

Inexplicata (IHU) at Inexplicata-The Journal of Hispanic Ufology - 1 hour ago
*Source: Planeta UFODate: 11.25.2013* *Dr. Roberto Banchs: Humanoids at Pampa de Agnia, Chubut (1978)* Driving two F-100 pickup trucks, Alfredo Giannoni and Jorge Castillo were faced with the prospect of a 634 kilometer drive along National Route 25, linking the communities of Trelew and Esquel, communities located in the Province of Chubut. They had departed at 19:00 hours on 12 October 1978, driving at an average speed of 80 Kmh. Upon reaching the Las Chapas Wilderness, Castillo overtook his companion and remained at a close distance. Around 22:00, and some 10-15 Km after Las ... more »

THE KEY TO THE KINGDOM IS GRATEFULNESS / DONATION LETTER

Allen L Roland, Ph.D at Allen L Roland's Weblog - 1 hour ago
*Gratefulness opens the door of the heart and acknowledges our interconnectedness with others and our essential oneness with a **Unified Field of love and soul consciousness which exists beyond time and space and whose principle property is the urge to unite. Gratefulness is the path to our heart centered destiny: Allen L Roland* *"If there were no real propensity to unite, even at a prodigiously rudimentary level, indeed, in the molecule itself, it would be impossible for love to appear higher up in the 'hominized' or human form" **Teilhard de Chardin* *Love is ... more »

With half Honduran votes counted, two candidates claim victory

paul at Paying attention - 1 hour ago
Juan Orlando Hernandez (centre, white shirt) leads supporters in election night prayer It’s never a great thing when two candidates claim election victory and the ballot counting stalls just past the halfway point. That’s the situation in Honduras this morning, with National Party presidential candidate Juan Orlando Hernandez and Libre leader Xiomara Castro Zelaya claiming victory. (It does make you appreciate the custom in Canada of waiting for rivals to concede defeat.) When the TSE - the Honduran version of Elections Canada - quit counting at midnight, Orlando had 34 per cent of th... more »

Rushing into high-tech testing

skrashen at Schools Matter - 1 hour ago
Sent to the Buffalo News, Nov. 25. Buffalo educators are concerned about whether students are tech-savvy enough to take the new computerized tests, and whether districts will have up-to-date equipment. (Pencils out, keyboards in for future exams," Nov, 25). But only a few people are asking whether we should rushing into high-tech testing. Williamsville Superintendent Martzloff points out that the tests will be expensive. The cost of setting up online testing, replacement equipment regularly will indeed be enormous and will continue to escalate as new "progress" is made in techn... more »

Is the Affordable Care Act reducing healthcare costs?

Greg Mankiw at Greg Mankiw's Blog - 2 hours ago
1. The case for "yes." 2. The case for "no."

Majorities

Jonathan Bernstein at A plain blog about politics - 2 hours ago
Ezra Klein writes last week (my emphasis): So the question here isn't so much about the change in power now as it is in the change in power over time. That change doesn't clearly favor Democrats or Republicans. Rather, *it favors majorities over minorities*. And a corrective on that front has been overdue for decades. The only thing worse than a Senate where the majority has the power to govern is one where it doesn't. I'm going to keep banging this one in, because it's terribly important. Removing the filibuster doesn't favor "majorities." It favors one particular majority. Not a ... more »

The Rebirth Of Al Qaeda In Iraq, An Interview With Jessica Lewis Of The Institute For The Study Of War

Joel Wing at MUSINGS ON IRAQ - 2 hours ago
Al Qaeda in Iraq has gone through a resurgence this year. It wasn’t long ago that the group was on the decline with much of its leadership arrested or killed, and many of its cells broken up. Now it is responsible for more and more mass casualty bombings, it has re-established its presence in the provinces, and is operating in Syria that has allowed it access to new funds, personnel, and material. To help explain the rebirth of Al Qaeda in Iraq is Jessica Lewis the research director at the Institute for the Study of War and author of several recent reports on the Islamist group. ... more »

Rick Perlstein starts to get it right!

bob somerby at the daily howler - 2 hours ago
*MONDAY, NOVEMBER 25, 2013* *The analysts start to cheer:* We did a little snarking last week about Rick Perlstein’s “name-calling” in a recent piece. Having snarked, let us offer half a cheer. That’s what the analysts started to do in response to one part of Perlstein’s report about the treatment of “Camelot” by the 60s-era press corps. Perlstein smacks the legendary Theodore White for his serial sycophancy, first toward President Kennedy, then toward President Nixon. At one point, he brought the analysts right out of their chairs. Is Rick Perlstein allowed to say this? Plainly, n... more »

LHO50: Private First Class Lee Harvey Oswald, United States Marine Corps.

Paul Coker at News Spike - 2 hours ago
*"A policeman hit me."* *November 23rd, 1963* Private First Class Lee Harvey Oswald, United States Marine Corps. *October 18, 1939 – November 24, 1963* *Semper Fi.* *From the Warren Commission photo appendix, caption reads: "Lee Harvey Oswald ironing diapers"* *NOTE: Not all of the following is true. But most of it is. Error correction and fact checking will be provided where relevant, but this is the most complete and accurate general account.* "Lee Harvey Oswald was born in New Orleans on 18th October, 1939. His father, Robert Oswald, died two months before his son was... more »

Small mercies

sue at Is the BBC biased? - 2 hours ago
Historic mistake Yesterday’s treatment of ‘The Deal’ by BBC News 24 wasn’t too bad yesterday. That is, taking into consideration that the deal brokered by Kerry and Mother Theresa Ashton is perceived as a life-changing stride towards World Peace and Apple Pie, at least there was a lengthy interview with Daniel Taub on BBC News 24, which granted him ample space to put Israel’s case. It’s true that despite Andrew Neil’s attempts to have Saudi Arabia added to the meagre list of party poopers, Israel is still seen, by the BBC at least, as the lone spoilsport. *“The western media con... more »

Rush Limbaugh, Liberal Trailblazer

Karen Garcia at Sardonicky - 2 hours ago
An economist from UMass-Amherst (that storied home of austerity debunking) posits that the latest right wing conspiracy theory may be having the serendipitous effect of giving Single Payer health care a much-needed shot of adrenaline. Writes Nancy Folbre in today's *New York Times* Economix blog: Rush Limbaugh’s take on the disastrous rollout of the Affordable Care Actcould, ironically, warm the hearts of those at the other end of the political spectrum. He contends that President Obama knew all along that the Affordable Care Act would crash and burn, but pushed it through so that t... more »

Privatized Custodial Services Bring Corporate Windfalls and Dirty Schools to Memphis

Jim Horn at Schools Matter - 2 hours ago
Since school fragmentation consolidation went into effect in Shelby County (Memphis) Schools, the lawyers in charge of SCS have been trying to save every dime they can to pay for the $212 million dollar donut hole created to pay for corporate welfare charter reform schools for the urban poor. Part of the savings came by way of relieving staff custodians of their jobs as the County accepted an offers from bottom-feeding outfit in Knoxville, GCA, to save money by privatizing cleaning services. In the process, those workers who re-applied for their jobs had union affiliation eliminate... more »

The mainstream media (the propaganda arm of a corrupt government) does not tell you things like this. People are homeless because the too-big-to-jail big banks stole their homes by mortgage fraud, middle-class American jobs have been off shored, and Republican idiots on Congress recenty caused the government to weaken the economy by furloughing most its employees.

David L Griscom at Cherchez la Verite - 3 hours ago
------------------------------ More Than 600,000 Americans Are Homeless On Any Given Night BY BRYCE COVERT ON NOVEMBER 22, 2013 at 9:03AM CREDIT: Wikimedia More than 600,000 Americans are homeless on a given night, according to the latest government data, which conducts a count on a specific night in January every year. Nearly a quarter are children and a third were living in unsheltered places like parks, cars, or abandoned buildings. The number of people who are chronically homeless, or who have been continuously homeless for more than one year or experienced... more »

ObamaCare news November 22 -24 , 2013 - Word of the Day - Delay ! As in : New delay: Deadline for ObamaCare enrollment moved back from December 15th to 23rd .... And : HHS delays 2015 enrollment to … just past the midterm elections ...... And how many people have actually ' enrolled " - well it true " enrollment involves following CMS guidelines which requirement payment of the first premium , the answer cannot be 106 ,000 . Since we have also heard the back end has not yet been built , is the correct answer ZERO ? Speaking of ZEROS , did HHS officials commit perjury or obstruction of Congress in their testimony before Congress ( CNN breaks story " Anonymous shopper " function was functional , despite testimony by Henry Chao to the contrary ) ..... Direct enrollment by insurance companies next desperate hail mary pass ? Any questions that Healthcare.gov won't be fixed anytime in the near term ? Florida , Texas and Ohio will take part in pilot hail mary pass program in the hope that something works right ! Will anyone mention to potential direct enrollees that if they go this route , forget getting a subsidy ?

Catharsis Ours - 3 hours ago
Saturday.... http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2013-11-23/1-week-left-until-november-30-obama-scrambles-boost-obamacare-enrollment-propaganda- With 1 Week Left Until November 30 Obama Scrambles To Boost Obamacare Enrollment; Propaganda Enters Overdrive Mode [image: Tyler Durden's picture] Submitted by Tyler Durden on 11/23/2013 11:12 -0500 - Florida - Insurance Companies - Obama Administration - Obamacare - Ohio - Reuters - White House inShare With just a week to go until the Obama-promised "all clear" healthcare.gov date of November 30, the preside... more »

EU will throw €180 billion to the climate loo

Luboš Motl at The Reference Frame - 3 hours ago
Jo Nova has pointed out that the European Union plans to spend a staggering 20% of its budget for the years 2014-2020 for totally wasteful projects justified by nothing else than the climate pseudoscience. You should understand that the EU is just an international structure "above" the member states so its budget is a small fraction of the total budgets of the individual governments. But the figure 20% still translates to unbelievable €180 billion i.e. €30 billion a year. And be sure that the EU clowns would love to be "role models" for national governments in the whole world, anywa... more »

DREAM SCHOLARSHIPS MAJOR REVERSAL: WHERE DO WE GO FROM HERE?

Roberto Rodriguez at Dr Cintli - 3 hours ago
When the national Hispanic Scholarship Fund announces is decision to reverse its policy regarding DREAM students, that will have been half the battle in the realm of scholarship eligibility. For 37 years, DREAM students were not eligible to apply or receive HSF scholarships. During that time HSF has disbursed more than $400 million in scholarships to 1.5 million students. When the decision is announced, DREAM-DACA (Deferred Action Childhood Arrivals) students will become eligible for the HSF scholarships for this funding cycle. The HSF is the largest scholarship fund, foundation ... more »

Anishinaabe Terrance Nelson 'US and Iran sign deal'

brendanorrell@gmail.com at CENSORED NEWS - 3 hours ago
By Terrance Nelson Roseau River Anishinaabe Censored News Hey Dennis, Remember last year, October 6, 2012. The Winnipeg Sun had me on the front page pictured with Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad under the Caption, Dumb and Dumber. Dumb under President Ahmadinejad and Dumber under my picture.  You and I went to Tehran at a time when United States and Israel were threatening to

When is the Sun not a Sun?

Breaking The Silence at Removing The Shackles - 3 hours ago
Post by Halo Child. When is the Sun not a Sun?.... ..... When it's a Star! Apparently, two nights ago the Planetary alignment formed a 6 pointed star with our Sol in the centre. The next morning, that video was taken. I will also note here that the evening of the alignment a huge amount of people felt huge energetic movement/rushes/flashes at approximately 10pm UST Interesting, no? [image: Nikki Bordeau's photo.]

Why do some incidents get widely discussed?

bob somerby at the daily howler - 3 hours ago
*MONDAY, NOVEMBER 25, 2013* *The tragedy of Cheryl Mangum:* As you may have noticed, some topics and incidents get widely discussed by our press and pundit corps. Other topics and incidents may *not* get widely discussed. On Saturday, the New York Times gave 83 words to a very unfortunate incident involving a person who long ago seemed to need help. The Times ran copy from the AP. This was all the Times published, headline included: NEW YORK TIMES (11/23/13): *North Carolina: Woman in Duke Case Guilty in Killing* *The woman who falsely accused three Duke University lacrosse player... more »

FROM THE FIELDS TO NEGOTIATING TABLE

Bruce K. Gagnon at Organizing Notes - 4 hours ago
The film features Michael Peña in the title role of Cesar Chavez, the Mexican-American labor leader and co-founder of the United Farm Workers, who fought for workers’ rights and became an icon in the Latino community after his death.My first organizing job was working for the United Farm Workers (UFW) from 1978-1980. I was sent to the union headquarters in California for a month of training. Cesar Chavez took the four of us who were new staff into his office and told us stories about the founding of the union. (I almost beat him in ping pong one day but he made a huge comeback ... more »

Decades More War In Afghanistan? Billions More Stolen From U.S. Taxpayers?

DownWithTyranny at DownWithTyranny! - 4 hours ago
Apparently, President Obama didn't really mean "complete," at least not in the sense anyone ever uses that word, when he said the transition out of Afghanistan would be complete by the end of 2014. As Maddow reported-- in the video below-- the plan is to have "an enduring presence in Afghanistan even after the *war* is technically over." And that means U.S. troops, not to mention billions of taxpayer dollars sinking into that blackbox hellhole. With the help of Richard Engel, Maddow started getting the word out that there are plans to formalize an agreement to prolong some sort ... more »

Your moment of Zen

Libby Spencer at The Impolitic - 4 hours ago
The entire alphabet as found on butterfly wings. [Kjell Bloch Sanved photo via My modern Met and M. Hush]

Read Stuff, You Should

Jonathan Bernstein at A plain blog about politics - 4 hours ago
Happy Birthday to Tim Armstrong, 47. Plenty of good stuff for a holiday week: 1. Four pieces -- Greg Koger, Barbara Sinclair, Aaron Belkin, and Richard Arenberg -- on the post-nuclear Senate. 2. Another one, from David Mayhew. 3. And another from Sarah Binder. I suppose she's right that the Senate will never quite "become the House" -- something I'm guilty of saying. However, I do think the risk (or, if you like it, the promise) of it coming close enough is sufficient that it's only a misdemeanor, not a felony, to use it as a shorthand. 4. Mark Goldberg on the Iran deal. 5. Fr... more »

Time To Resign?

Owen Gray at Northern Reflections - 4 hours ago
Over the weekend, Tom Walkom wrote that, if Stephen Harper were as smart as his enablers claim he is, he would declare victory and resign. Harper has achieved much of what he set out to do: First, he is a political success. He managed to knit two parties at daggers drawn, Reform and the old Progressive Conservatives, into a coherent machine. He won three elections with that machine. He made his Conservative Party competitive again in the crucial ridings around Toronto — while holding onto the West and (briefly) making major inroads into Quebec. He has successfully refocused the... more »

Untitled

New Orleans Ladder at New Orleans Ladder - 4 hours ago
*Whodat Nation represents in Ratlanta ~Jack Cavanaugh, Rant Sports* New Orleans Saints: Who Dat Nation Represents In Atlanta Falcons’ Territory Read more at http://www.rantsports.com/nfl/2013/11/24/new-orleans-saints-who-dat-nation-represents-in-atlanta-falcons-territory/?FyU5iva6UZHy72cd.99 New Orleans Saints: Who Dat Nation Represents In Atlanta Falcons’ Territory Read more at http://www.rantsports.com/nfl/2013/11/24/new-orleans-saints-who-dat-nation-represents-in-atlanta-falcons-territory/?FyU5iva6UZHy72cd.99 New Orleans Saints: Who Dat Nation Represents In Atlanta Falcons’ Territory R... more »

Europe Watch November 25 , 2013 Greece ( and Italy as well ) are puppies begging for treats from their Troikan and EU masters ...... latest absurdity from France - dissent squashed as France deploys Stasi type tactics against Founder of Website " Hollande Resignation " , who is arrested by thirty policemen and has his car impounded - for the high crime of .....insulting the President ?

Fred Walton at Catharsis Ours - 4 hours ago
France..... Sunday, November 24, 2013 2:50 PM Founder of French Website "Hollande Resignation" Arrested, Car Impounded for "Insulting the President" On charges of "*insulting the president*", thirty policemen arrested the founder of the French website "http://hollande-démission.fr/" last week and impounded his car according to a translation from Les Observateurs. The website owner and four passengers were detained for 16 hours. " *Démission*" means resignation. Here is a translated excerpt from the "*hollande-démission*" site that got the website owner arrested. You get the feel... more »

Guilty plea major mitigating factor on sentence even in murder

James C Morton at Morton's Musings - 4 hours ago
*R. v. Alariaq,* 2013 NUCJ 27 makes very clear the importance of a guilty plea in mitigation on sentencing: [16] In determining the appropriate period of parole ineligibility, the Criminal Code tells me to consider the character of the offender, the nature of the offence, and the circumstances surrounding its commission, which in this case are horrendous. [17] It is hard to imagine a more pointless death than that of Karl Qinnuayuaq, whose only fault apparently was being part of the family that offered assistance to Mathewsie Alariaq when he had nowhere else to live. ... more »

Snowy Day

James C Morton at Morton's Musings - 5 hours ago

Syria updates November 25 , 2013 - US finally sends aid to Syrian FSA Rebels - which is promptly seized by Al Qaeda Rebels and to rub salt in the wound , FSA Commanders captured by Al Qaeda and currently awaiting trial by Al Qaeda ... Updates on the fighting around Damascus - Rebels take large losses ...Alleged Syria peace conference set for January 22 , 2014 - based on the position of Al Qaeda regarding these talks , if it even occurs , nothing will happen notable !

Fred Walton at Catharsis Ours - 5 hours ago
Al-Qaeda Seizes US Aid Warehouse From Syrian RebelsUS Aid Finally Reached Syria, Almost Immediately Was Seized by Jason Ditz, November 24, 2013 Print This | Share This The Obama Administration’s plans to provide arms and other equipment to secular Syrian rebels took a lot of planning, but finally began in earnest in recent days, as massive amounts of goods bound for the Free Syrian Army (FSA) started crossing the border from Reyhanli, Turkey into a warehouse in Atmeh, in northern Syria. The plan was controversial, with a lot of fear that the goods would eventually start falling into... more »

Syrian Peace Talks to Begin on January 22/2014

Penny at Penny for your thoughts - 5 hours ago
This is the third date set for the Geneva Peace talks... First was in November. Second was supposed to be next month. Now we have a January 22/2014 date. *NYT's* The Syrian government and opposition will hold their first negotiations in Geneva on Jan. 22, a spokesman for United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said on Monday after a meeting among American, Russian and U.N. officials. *“We will go to Geneva with a mission of hope,” *the spokesman, Martin Nesirky, said in a statement. He added that the aim of the conference would be the creation of a transitional government bas... more »

Motao goes to Alishan

Michael Turton at The View from Taiwan - 5 hours ago
*The Motao. Pure fun on wheels.* Swamped with work I did the only sane thing and ignored it to spend two lovely days biking over Alishan and nearby mountains. The Bike Gods rewarded my faith with prime weather. Even better, a friend who is introducing a new bike and motorcycle camera called the Motao to the market here sent me a free one to test on the trip. What fun I had! As you will see. Motao's Taiwan retailer is www.hands.com.tw -- Tailung Hands. They have 11 stores in Taiwan from K-town to Taipei. You can find them in Breeze and Sogo. Unless I tell you a pic is from the Motao... more »

OUTSCORING FINLAND: On the TIMSS!

bob somerby at the daily howler - 5 hours ago
*MONDAY, NOVEMBER 25, 2013* *Part 1—When the gong show started:* It all began in December 2001. Early that month, the OECD released the first test scores from the Program for International Student Assessment (PISA), the brainchild it had devised to measure “critical thinking.” On that somewhat unconventional measure, Finland scored at the top of the world, producing mild consternation. From that day to this, journalists from various countries have taken the free trip to Finland to attempt to figure out how the Finns do it. (Or perhaps just to *pretend* to try to figure it out.) U... more »

Open Your Eyes - A Poem by A.M. Veller

Stranger in a Strange Land at Stranger in a Strange Land - 5 hours ago
*YOUR WORLD IS AN ILLUSION* *From the day you were born you have been CONDITIONED.* *Your schools taught you to be quiet, neutral, and dumb.* *Your media DESENSITIZED you to the suffering of your fellow human beings, and the sytem slowly ISOLATED you until it somehow felt normal to feel ALONE on a planet with 8 BILLION other people on it.* *You worked hard for the FUTURE with the rewards always just around the next corner or just up the next step.* *EVERYTHING WAS FOR TOMORROW BUT TOMORROW * *NEVER CAME, and you realized too late that you never lived at all.* *Something was mi... more »

Untitled

New Orleans Ladder at New Orleans Ladder - 5 hours ago
*Cultural economy run amuck ~Library Chronicles* *Amid rejuvenation, some city neighborhoods struggle with blight, abandonment ~Jaquetta White, New Orleans Advocate* *Crackdown on Frenchmen Street flusters businesses ~Casey Ferrand, WDSU* *Hogs damaging levees in Jefferson Parish ~AP* *Oil Spill Judge 'Deeply Disappointed' in BP ~Paul M. Barrett, Business Week* *Rigs-to-Reefs Builds Needed Habitat for Gulf Seafood ~Gulf Seafood Institute* *Louisiana Shrimp Cornbread*

Sleepwalkers of the World, Wake Up and Take Over

hygiecrat at hygiecracy - 5 hours ago
originally published on CounterPunch As ever more work’s combined with ever more stress – among other results – people sleep less and less. And, as various spectacular pseudo-events dominate the public’s reputedly shrinking attention span (a phenomenon indistinct from the shrinking span of the reputedly public itself), it should come as little surprise that the Center for Disease Control’s nearly year-old finding that sleep deprivation has reached epidemic proportions has failed to generate significant public outcry. To be sure, no small degree of irony inheres in the fact that th... more »

An ExPat Academic Thanksgiving

Brandon Valeriano at Duck of Minerva - 6 hours ago
It is time for an academic Thanksgiving (at least it is for me, flew home early because it was Reading Week in the UK), that time of year when we give thanks for when our ancestral academic Deans fed us when we were hungry. Something like that…cornucopia with grants, laptops, and travel funds. Who knows Continue reading

Doctor Who - The Day of the Doctor (post 1)

Not a sheep at Not a sheep - 6 hours ago
I watched this Doctor Who special episode yesterday and enjoyed many parts of it but found others to be overblown and maybe a little silly! One line especially jarred with me, "Never give-up, never surrender" - that's from the wonderful sci-fi film Galaxy Quest (the wrong franchise)...

Is playing for the England cricket team that stressful?

Not a sheep at Not a sheep - 6 hours ago
Then opening batsman Marcus Trescothick left the 2005-06 tour of India and the 2006-07 Ashes tour of Australia with a stress-related condition. Now Jonathan Trott has left the current Ashes tour of Australia because of a long-standing stress-related condition. Now I understand stress-related illness, boy do I understand it... And I don't want to minimise its seriousness but could Jonathan Trott's condition possibly be the first case of *Mitchell Johnsonitis*? Of course there might be a non-cricketing explanation as to why Jonathan Trott is depressed... Jonathan Trott supports Totten... more »

The Dance of Life

Obi-Wan Kabuki at AMERICAN KABUKI - 8 hours ago
Thanks to Ed, for forwarding this link... Dance of Life by Clement Farah

Reduce Footprints Is On Hiatus!

Small Footprints at Reduce Footprints - 9 hours ago
[image: Reduce Footprints is on hiatus.]

GOVERNMENT DEATH SQUAD REVEALED

Anon at aangirfan - 9 hours ago
*Boston attack carried out by agents of the government?* According to the BBC, innocent UK civilians were murdered by a UK military death squad. Undercover soldiers killed unarmed civilians - BBC News - 21 November 2013/ British Army's secret 'terror unit' Military Reaction Force shot dead innocent civilians - Belfast Telegraph‎ Share this page - Email - Print - Share - Facebook - Twitter Ex-members of the UK's *Military Reaction Force* (MRF) have told the BBC that they carried out a series of drive-by shootings of civilians. *Sandy Hook attack carried out ... more »

Banks 'destroying small firms': Cable report accuses RBS and Lloyds of 'unscrupulous' practices. Probe claims RBS and Lloyds have deliberately caused small firms to fail.

Obi-Wan Kabuki at AMERICAN KABUKI - 10 hours ago
*What's unstated here is how much of this is going on in banks that are not state backed/owned... -Bill* Banks 'destroying small firms': Cable report accuses RBS and Lloyds of 'unscrupulous' practices *Probe claims RBS and Lloyds have deliberately caused small firms to fail. **RBS, 80 per cent owned by taxpayer, referred to financial watchdogs. **Bank claims it tried to help the businesses, 'but can't save all of them'* http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2512791/Banks-ruin-firms-just-make-killing-RBS-Lloyds-branded-unscrupulous-profiteers.html By RUPERT STEINER PUBLISHED: 17:26... more »

Fred Kavli: 1927-2013

Luboš Motl at The Reference Frame - 11 hours ago
On Thursday November 21nd, Fred Kavli (86†) died in Santa Barbara after a surgery of a rare cancer that sucks bile from the liver. He was a famous sponsor of science institutes and science jobs. Kavli was born in a small Norwegian village in 1927. During the Nazi occupation of Norway, he was 14 and and together with his brother, he began to build his bifuel corporation (well, wood pellet fuel for cars). He found his father's 13 years in San Francisco inspiring, so he wanted to move to California. With no sponsor, his visa application was rejected. He first moved to Montreal, Can... more »

Christy Clark`s Newest LNG Investor, The Deforester

Grant G at The Straight Goods - 12 hours ago
Indonesia billionaire proposes small-scale LNG export plant in B.C. [image: Printer-friendly version] Latest Oil and Gas News: March 11, 2013 *- Controversial Indonesian billionaire Sukanto Tanoto has purchased an industrial site in Squamish, B.C., 30 miles north of Vancouver, for the purposes of exporting LNG. The self-educated entrepreneur has been criticized for environmental practices elsewhere in his $12 billion industrial empire, raising questions about his B.C. venture. Environmental watchers say Tanoto's logging company has a checkered record in cutting down Indonesia's r... more »

Freedom Flame Awards, More Photos

Nonoy Oplas at Government and Taxes - 12 hours ago
It was a big day indeed, and a big night, November 10, 2013, at the beautiful San Diego Gardens, Intramuros, Manila. This is in an open area between Pamantasan ng Maynila and Manila Hotel. See my earlier story of the awards with photos. There were many guests that night. The big event of the FNF was the 20th anniversary of the Council of Asian Liberals and Democrats (CALD), Nov. 9-11 held at Manila Hotel. CALD is the organization of politicians affiliated with either a Liberal Party or Democratic Party in Asian countries. CALD is one of the two big projects of FNF in Asia, along ... more »

Heather Mizeur (D-MD) Is Helping Make Marijuana Legalization Part Of The Progressive Agenda

DownWithTyranny at DownWithTyranny! - 13 hours ago
Back during the summer, I wrote about a Democratic candidate for governor, Heather Mizeur. If she wins, Heather would be the first woman governor of Maryland and the first openly gay governor in the country. But as she says, she’s not running to make history, she’s running to make a difference. And over the past several weeks, her campaign has lived up to the progressive dream we knew her candidacy would be. In Maryland, the gubernatorial candidates pick their lieutenant governor before the primary, and Heather wasn’t afraid to make a bold choice-- she now has a progressive chang... more »

JFK50: Why I Have Absolutely No Intention of Paying My License Fee

Spike EP at News Spike - 13 hours ago
JFK50: Why I Have Absolutely No Intention of Paying My License Fee from Spike EP on Vimeo. If it's not important, then why are they still lying about it...?

Tlakatl: What it Means to be Human: A brief Synopsis

Roberto Rodriguez at Dr Cintli - 14 hours ago
Opening --> *Tlakatl: What it Means to be Human* *All-Day Student/Community Symposium* *A brief Synopsis* *Nov 19, 2013* Whatever I write here is but a glimpse of what happened on Tues Nov 19 at the “Tlakatl: What it Means to be Human” symposium at the University of Arizona. Many photographs were taken and much was videotaped… and this here too is but a brief synopsis that will give you a feel for this event, but it does not approximate conveying the historic nature of the gathering. (Videotape of much of the symposium will be released as soon as all the permissions are gathered.... more »

Common Core, Aligned Curriculum, and Other NGA/Duncan-decided Issues

deutsch29 at @ THE CHALK FACE - 15 hours ago
In this post, I would like to offer information on the beginnings of the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) and its interconnectedness with other so-called reforms. I refer to three documents (all linked below) from June 2008, June 2009, and June 2010. My initial purpose in examining these documents was to ascertain the admitted connection […]

JFK50: The New US Ambassador to Japan

Paul Coker at News Spike - 16 hours ago

Massachusetts Halts Common Core - Damaging to Students

Judy Rabin at Schools Matter - 16 hours ago
Hold on there - wait. There is still intellectual curiosity and common sense in Massachusetts. There are now 15 states pushing back on the Common Core and PARCC. From Brittany Corons,The Foundry For one thing, as Sandra Stotsky—one of the leaders of Massachusetts’s 1993 education reform movement who resigned from the Common Core review committee—argued, the diminished emphasis on literature would actually be damaging to students. Stotsky, now professor of education reform *emerita *at the University of Arkansas, says: [Common Core’s] misplaced stress on informational texts reflects... more »

Right-wingers on the filibuster -- it's the old Ralph Kramden con: "Heads I win, tails you lose"

KenInNY at DownWithTyranny! - 16 hours ago
*"If a Senate majority demonstrates it can make such a change once, there are no rules which binds a majority, and all future majorities will feel free to exercise the same power, not just on judges and executive appointments but on legislation."* *-- Sen. Carl Levin (D-MI)* *"You will no doubt come to regret this, and you may regret it a lot sooner than you think."* *-- Sen. "Miss Mitch" McConnell (R-KY)* *by Ken* You do see the difference between what Senator Levin and Miss Mitch are saying, don't you? Senator Levin is talking about the real prospect of a "tyranny of the major... more »

WE AIN'T GETTING OUT OF AFGHANISTAN

Bruce K. Gagnon at Organizing Notes - 16 hours ago
ABC’s *World News with Diane Sawyer* revealed a new report from John Sopko, the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR), which claims the United States has paid more than $150 million to Afghan companies that may have helped finance terror attacks on U.S. soldiers and assets in Afghanistan. In a related story from *The Washington Post* about the new Afghanistan permanent basing agreement now being negotiated with the Obama administration: "The United States can maintain up to nine bases, and American troops and support contractors will be able to enter Af... more »

CONSEQUENCES OF THE US PIVOT TO ASIA-PACIFIC

Bruce K. Gagnon at Organizing Notes - 16 hours ago
US Plans to Expand War Games in Ecologically Rich Mariana Islands by Zoe Loftus-Farren Naval training exercises threaten local communities and environmentThe United States military assumed control the Mariana Islands during World War II and has been waging war on the environment there ever since. Recent proposals to expand the range for Navy training exercises in this archipelago in the northwestern Pacific Ocean represent the latest frontier in this battle, and could be devastating to local communities as well as wildlife. By many accounts, military trainings have already had a t... more »

A song for the (barely) defeated

Peter Cresswell at Not PC - 17 hours ago
Here’s John Lennon on this morning’s result: Content is copyright PC.BlogSpot.Com © Please contact author for permission to republish: (organon at ihug.co.nz)

Lange - Drifting Away

Phil at A Very Public Sociologist - 17 hours ago
Every lecturer I've ever known has told their students *not* to leave their work to the last minute. And yet, without exception, every lecturer I've ever known leaves it to the last possible moment to churn out their papers and their lectures. Who then am I to go against this inglorious grain? It does mean there will be no proper blogging tonight. So here, have a ditty.

DOING HOWARD ZINN

Bruce K. Gagnon at Organizing Notes - 17 hours ago
Matt Damon reads the words of historian and activist Howard Zinn...."We need a declaration of inter-dependence."

The Carlyle Connection (Documentary)

noreply@blogger.com (Mark Daniels) at Global Political Awakening - 18 hours ago
[image: Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...] A revealing documentary about the international world of private equity banking. The Carlyle Group, one of the largest investment banks in the world, is based in Washington and has accumulated its capital mainly by investments in the defence industry. On their list of employees are people like Lou Gerstner (former chairman of IBM), George Bush Sr., James Baker III, John Major (former British Prime Minister) and Fidel Ramos (former Prime Minister of the Philippines). The Carlyle Group invests in areas that are closely tied ... more »

Blossom Goodchild - November 21, 2013

Obi-Wan Kabuki at AMERICAN KABUKI - 18 hours ago
*Heather said that Blossom almost let the entire cat out of the bag today...read on if you want a glimpse of what is coming... -AK* Blossom Goodchild - November 21, 2013 What ho chaps! Back again! I have been RIDICULOUSLY tired these last few weeks ... anything to do with what's going on, or is it just 'normal life'? *We would send cheering greetings back to you* *and as always **it is exciting and endearing to be within your company once again. The tiredness you are experiencing ... and indeed many ... is far more than the average day to day exhaustion! The energies that ARE to e... more »

Fraudsters

Peter Cresswell at Not PC - 19 hours ago
Fraudsters can be very convincing, and very charming. Allan Titford was not at all charming, but he did convince a lot of people he was genuine in saying he’d been wronged by the Government and the Waitangi Tribunal. Turns out however, on the judgement of the courts, that much of what he said was made up—that he himself was responsible for the arsons he clamed had been committed by local Maori, Te Roroa—that their campaign to drive him off his land by violence and intimidation, in which he claimed the government and police colluded, was fiction and not fact. Or, in the judgemen... more »

Pepe Escobar- Follow the Money: How lobby interests are spinning Iran nuclear deal

Penny at Penny for your thoughts - 19 hours ago
There is a video available at the link. I can't embed it unfortunately. Do take the six minutes to watch it Pepe rightly calls the beginning of the "spin war" and assumes the spin war will continue for the next six months.... I agree He also states that Iran has no interest in breaking the deal. None. Therefore, they won't. Reference is made back to the news of clandestine meetings, mentioned in the previous post. *....P5+1 make a deal with Iran. Israel steams. Clandestine Meetings* *Anyway........ here is Pepe from RT* Iran’s nuclear deal with the P5+1 group of world powers in Genev... more »

Iran-- Good Deal?

DownWithTyranny at DownWithTyranny! - 20 hours ago
A few weeks ago Zbigniew Brzezinski, responding to another anti-Iran *NY Times* editorial, mused to his Twitter followers, "Do our Middle East "allies" really have our best interests at heart when they clamor for us to go to war for them?" Those allies are are Israel, Saudi Arabia and it's Gulf satellites and Turkey, all with their own national interests and obviously the answer to the question is "no." When Israel, for example, judged its own national interests at stake in the summer of 1967, it bombed and torpedoed the USS Liberty in international waters, killing 34 Americans an... more »

POLICE STATE: COPS USE PHYSICIANS TO PROBE A SUSPECT'S RECTUM

urupiper at Yesterday 's Lies - 20 hours ago
By NWV News Writer Jim Kouri November 10, 2013 In arguably the most bizarre and disturbing case in U.S. history involving a routine traffic stop by a police officer, a New Mexico man was subjected to an illegal search that would make the President of the United States wince if it had occurred at the Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, military detention center to a terrorist who killed innocent Americans. "This case is the strangest example of police abuse to come down the pike in my lifetime as a police officer," said former NYPD detective Iris Aquino. "What I see in this horror story is an out-... more »

Where to Begin on Frank Bruni's Stupidity and Ignorance

Judy Rabin at Schools Matter - 20 hours ago
Every time I see another stupid, clueless and poorly written NYT editorial on education, or having anything to do with education, I am saddened by the lack of journalistic integrity that was and should be a part of one of the nation's leading newspapers. Frank Bruni really outdid himself today with this pile of garbage, titled "Are Kids Too Coddled" in his defense of Arne Duncan's same stupid and ignorant comments about the Common Core and white suburban moms. First, Bruni talks about shirts kids wear after a Bar or Bat Mitzvah in a rich suburb of Boston. It's the same in all Jewish... more »

He knows nothing ...

Dave at The Galloping Beaver - 20 hours ago
Over to Cathie's with you. She picked up on the thought I was having this morning. The late John Banner's character, Hauptfeldwebel Hans Georg Schultz, became synonymous with seeing nothing and knowing nothing in the TV sitcom Hogan's Heroes. As Cathie points out: We're supposed to believe that not only did Harper know nothing about Wright's $90,000 cheque to Duffy, he also knew nothing about

Sing a Song of Synchronicity

Obi-Wan Kabuki at AMERICAN KABUKI - 20 hours ago
*Sing a Song of Synchronicity* November 23, 2013 Posted by D. at Removing the Shackles Today we're going to do things a bit differently than I usually do. Many times I post an article and I post my comments on the article first, followed by the message that inspired my comments. Today I am going to post the article first and then follow it with my comments. I will add my own highlights to the article as well to direct attention to some of the points that really jumped out for me- that isn't' to say that other things won't have greater meaning to other people, lol- and some of m... more »

Janet Yellen, Bubble Blowing, and a Coming Economic Nightmare

Peter Cresswell at Not PC - 20 hours ago
*Guest post by Joseph Salerno* On Monday last week, former US Federal Reserve official Andrew Huszar publicly apologized to the American public for his seminal role in executing the Quantitative Easing (QE) programme, a programme he characterises as “the greatest backdoor Wall Street bailout of all time,” and “the largest financial-markets intervention by any government in world history.” While this is a momentous admission from an insider (Mr. Huszar is also a former Wall Street banker), perhaps Mr. Huszar’s most revealing statement concerned the results of QE’s “relentlessly p... more »

Sunday Question for Liberals

Jonathan Bernstein at A plain blog about politics - 20 hours ago
Same question, pushing on my Saturday Salon column, in which I argued that the filibuster can still be saved. I say if Republicans offered a deal which would preserve some possibility of blocking judicial nominations, but gave up at least some of the filibuster on legislation, Democrats should go for it. If Republicans did suggest such a deal, should Democrats accept it?

John Baird is unhappy about the Iran nuclear deal and very skeptical

LeDaro at LeDaro - 21 hours ago
John Baird is not happy with the Iran nuclear deal. The deal with Iran is signed by six nations which are the United States, France, Germany, Britain, Russia and China -and Iran. I believe it is a foot in the door for future negotiations and stopping nuclear proliferation in the Middle East. I don’t understand Baird’s point of view. Baird’s view is: *He said that because of previous Iranian leaders had made hostile comments toward Israel, “we're deeply skeptical of the deal and the work that's brought us to this stage.”* Read more here.

Why Mitch McConnell really hates Obamacare

Libby Spencer at The Impolitic - 21 hours ago
The propaganda doesn't sell as well once the people start signing up in droves for Obamacare. Like in Kentucky: But in a state where the rollout has gone smoothly, and in a county that is one of the poorest and unhealthiest in the country, Courtney Lively has been busy signing people up: cashiers from the IGA grocery, clerks from the dollar store, workers from the lock factory, call-center agents, laid-off coal miners, KFC cooks, Chinese green-card holders in town to teach Appalachian students. Not only that, but the rubes are discovering the GOPers have been lying to them. Alt... more »

Fr. Barron comments on C. S. Lewis

Saman Mohammadi at The Excavator - 21 hours ago
Video Title: Fr. Barron comments on C. S. Lewis. Source: Fr. Robert Barron. Date Published: November 20, 2013. Description: Another part of a video series from Wordonfire.org. Father Barron will be commenting on subjects from modern day culture. For more visit http://www.wordonfire.org

Untitled

New Orleans Ladder at New Orleans Ladder - 21 hours ago
*On The Come --or-- A Guide to Hating the 2013 Saints ~SaintsWin*

Talkin' the Newly-Inked Interim Nuclear Deal with Scott Horton

Nima Shirazi at Wide Asleep in America - 21 hours ago
In the wake of the historic agreement just signed in Geneva over the Iranian nuclear program, I had the pleasure of speaking with Scott Horton of AntiWar Radio and the aptly-named Scott Horton Show about what the contours of the interim deal, what it means, and what might follow. In our half-hour chat, Scott and I also discuss the predictable hysterical reactions of Israeli politicians,

INSIDE-JOB: MUMBAI

Anon at aangirfan - 21 hours ago
*Adrian Levy, right, who describe the mastermind of the Mumbai Terrorist attack as a CIA asset.* There is growing evidence that the 'terrorist' attack on Mumbai in 2008 was the work of the security services of India, the USA and others. The main planner of the Mumbai Attack was the American called David Headley. *David Headley in Mumbai* *Adrian Levy and Cathy Scott Clark, British investigative journalists and authors of 'The Siege', remind us of the following:* *1.* David Headley's wife, Faiza, warned the American Embassy that David Headley was planning a terrorist attack in Mum... more »

alan watts

Oberon at GlobaLove Think Tank - 21 hours ago

Sunday Question for Conservatives

Jonathan Bernstein at A plain blog about politics - 21 hours ago
I'm going to push on my Saturday Salon column, in which I argued that the filibuster can still be saved. I say Republicans could still get a deal which would preserve some possibility of blocking judicial nominations, but give up at least some of the filibuster on legislation. If such a deal is possible, should they go for it?

No nukes for Iran

Libby Spencer at The Impolitic - 21 hours ago
By now you've heard about the Iran nuclear arms agreement with the US and five other countries. If not, the basic terms are Iran agrees to curtail its nuke enrichment programs in return for an easing of the crippling international sanctions they've been living under for what seems like forever. Seems like a pretty good deal to me. It offers some relief to the Iranian people who suffer the most under sanctions and the beautiful country of Iran doesn't get bombed into glass ashtrays. Of course, all the people who thought bombing Iraq was the most brilliant idea ever, namely neo-cons ... more »

Tim and I are off again today, so here’s our studio interview with Dr. Jed Hopkins

Shaun Johnson at @ THE CHALK FACE - 22 hours ago
We’re taking some time off after recording a bunch of studio shows. For your listening pleasure, here’s a studio show from July 2013 with one of Slekar’s colleagues, Dr. Jed Hopkins. We get into some insightful international comparisons. Tagged: at the chalk face, education talk, jed hopkins, shaun johnson, tim slekar

moon rocket

Oberon at GlobaLove Think Tank - 22 hours ago
moon rising

50 years ago today - zapruder

Oberon at GlobaLove Think Tank - 22 hours ago
An official investigation by the House Select Committee on Assassinations (HSCA), conducted from 1976 to 1979, concluded that Oswald shot President Kennedy as a result of a probable conspiracy. This conclusion of a likely conspiracy contrasts with the earlier conclusion by the Warren Commission that the President was assassinated by a lone gunman. In the ensuing four decades since the assassination, theories have been proposed or published that detail organized conspiracies to kill the President. These theories implicate, among others, Cuban President Fidel Castro, the anti-Castr... more »

Hermosa colección de 20 imágenes surtidas

José Luis Ávila Herrera at FOTOFRONTERA - 22 hours ago

Dystopia Will Not Attack Us, It Will Slowly Consume Us

Mark Daniels at Global Political Awakening - 22 hours ago
[image: Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...] Enter your email address to subscribe to our newsletter: Delivered by FeedBurner Be the Change! Share this using the tools below.

China flexes muscles - expands air defense map to include Diaoyu islands ..... US vows to defend Japan if the air zone dispute sparks a crisis ....

Fred Walton at Catharsis Ours - 22 hours ago
http://hotair.com/archives/2013/11/24/china-expands-their-air-defense-map-to-include-diaoyu-islands/ China expands their air defense map to include Diaoyu Islands POSTED AT 2:01 PM ON NOVEMBER 24, 2013 BY JAZZ SHAW China has made yet another move which is ratcheting up the tension in that part of the world and is catching the attention of the United States Department of Defense. But instead of causing additional conflict with the US, this one is aggravating old problems with their neighbors in Japan. It involves some tiny spots of land in the middle of the ocean which I recently ... more »

Just ask the axis

Libby Spencer at The Impolitic - 22 hours ago
I've been meaning to post this for a while. I'm told it won't be available for free forever. If you're a fan of the 60s music scene or the man, this PBS Jimi Hendrix documentary is well worth a couple hours of your time. Note: At some point it stopped and said that the end of the excerpt but I just clicked through the popups and it started up again where it left off. [photo via The Guardian]

And The PMO Keeps Grinding Out The Lies .. Half Truths And Fabrications ...

leftdog at Buckdog - 23 hours ago
What a load of crap is coming from the Prime Minister's Office ... you Conservatives are out of your minds!! *PM didn't know staff asked Conservative Party to pay Duffy's expenses: spokesperson* *Prime Minister Stephen Harper had no idea his staff had asked the Conservative Party to pay Sen. Mike Duffy’s ineligible expenses, his spokesperson said Sunday.**In an interview with CTV’s Question Period, Harper’s director of communications, Jason MacDonald, also said Harper didn’t know PMO staff wanted a Senate report into Duffy’s expenses sanitized, or that the party’s chief fundraiser... more »

MILITARIZATION OF THE BORDERS

Bruce K. Gagnon at Organizing Notes - 23 hours ago
As our government calls for massive amounts of spending on the border corporations are lining their pockets through contracts, waste and money splurge that is costing you and making us all less safe. Less safe - not only is it eroding our rights and liberties but it is creating a military battlefield and a constitution free zone. Furthermore it has led to over five thousand migrant deaths and the human cost continues to rise. All this because corporate execs want to line their pockets even more with lucrative contracts, excused through absurd technology we don't need and doesn't w... more »

Stephen Harper and his "rogue representatives"

Alison at Creekside - 1 day ago
Sept 4, 2008 : *Harper says alleged Cadman bribe 'preposterous'* "Prime Minister Stephen Harper has told a court that an alleged offer to the late MP Chuck Cadman of a $1-million life insurance policy in exchange for his vote in the Commons in 2005 is “preposterous” and that only “rogue representatives” of the Conservative party could have done such a thing. Harper says he authorized party officials Doug Finley and Tom Flanagan to meet with Cadman May 19 to assure him that if he rejoined the Conservative caucus he would automatically secure the party nomination in his B.C. riding... more »

Sunday Classics: Is the slightest of them perhaps the mightiest of Brahms's piano quartets?

KenInNY at DownWithTyranny! - 1 day ago
*Pianist Menahem Pressler, violinist Salvatore Accardo, violist Antonine Tamestit, and cellist Gautier Capuçon play the gorgeous third-movement Andante of Brahms's C minor Piano Quartet, at the 2008 Verbier Festival.* *by Ken* As I wrote when I brought up the subject of the third of Brahms's three piano quartets, and wound up presenting only his Second Cello Sonata, the performance of the C minor Quartet I heard in Ian Hobson's New York Brahms piano series, with violinist Andrés Cárdenes, violist Csaba Erdélyi, and cellist Ko Isawaki, finally pushed the piece over the top for me. ... more »

Teach Campaign Star RIFed Last Year Just Before Tenure

Jim Horn at Schools Matter - 1 day ago
Alexandria Hollet is one of the young, female white teachers chosen by Microsoft-TFA to provide 40 second testimonials on teaching for Arne Duncan's new campaign to attract the vulnerable and uninformed into what was once a profession. With corporate ed policies in place to demean, abuse, blame, punish, and fire teachers for another generation of failed testing accountability practices, there is a huge push on by CoreEd to recruit another generation of young delusional innocents who can be turned into reliable prison guards for children of the urban poor. Alexandria's 38-second c... more »

Northerntruthseeker Rant For Sunday, November 24th, 2013

Northerntruthseeker at Northerntruthseeker - 1 day ago
Sunday again.... And again it is time for me to spew my guts on some thought provoking issues... First, I am really pissed off by the unwarranted censorship shown recently by the criminals behind Youtube... Which I really have begun to call "Jewtube", in yanking videos from their lists on the false grounds of "violation of the Youtube agreement" or due to the laughable claims of "copyright infringement".... These are such false charges and have turned Youtube into a joke..... Every single video or audio found in Youtube can be put into those catagories, but the criminals behind that... more »

Bill Whittle: The Hammer of Reality...(video)

Adrienne at Adrienne's Corner - 1 day ago
*a must see.*
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