David Lammy MP speaking at 'Our Community Our Schools' conference (Photo credit: Alan Stanton)
Memorial from the ladies of Steubenville, Ohio, protesting Indian removal (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
English: The New York Times building in New York, NY across from the Port Authority. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
National Poverty Hearing 2006 at Westminster. A one-day National Poverty Hearing in Central Hall Westminster, held on Wednesday 6 December 2006, for up to 500 senior politicians, high-profile/influential policy makers and opinion formers in the media and public life and national and grassroots anti-poverty/civil society groups from across the United Kingdom. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
MP David Lammy (Photo credit: Wikipedia)The three faces of the New York Times!
*WEDNESDAY, MARCH 13, 2013*
*What hath Ryan’s plan wrought:* If you read today’s New York Times, you
may not know what to think.
What’s in Paul Ryan’s new budget plan? More specifically, what happens to
the marginal tax rate?
That’s a *very* basic question. If you read the news pages first, this is
what you were told:
PETERS AND WEISMAN (3/13/13): Republicans said their plan would balance the
budget in 10 years, a contention the White House said was impossible given
that *it would cut the top marginal income tax rate, which the wealthiest
Americans pay, to 25 percent from 39.6 pe... more »
A conscious decision not to participate in the proceedings bars consideration of a defence for the merits
Sunlife Assurance Company of Canada v. Premier Financial Group Incorporated
(Premier Financial), 2013 ONCA 151 is a good source for the principle that
someone who chooses to ignore a claim is barred from raising even a valid
substantial defence:
[1] The motion judge found that there was overwhelming evidence
that the appellants were personally served and that they decided to ignore
the process. There is ample evidence, including video recordings, to
support the finding. It is established that a conscious decision not to
participate in the proceedings bars consideration of... more »
Applying for Obamacare a bureaucratic nightmare...
*remember - we have a country full of poor sad disenfranchised people who
are too stupid or lazy to be able to apply for a photo ID in order to vote.
*
Someone tell me exactly how are they going to apply for "free" health
insurance?
Want to see the hot mess they've created?
Sure you do...
Here's the link.
I can't wait to hear the screams of outrage when all sorts of people who
used to enjoy private insurance are shuffled off into substandard Medicaid
coverage. Meanwhile, a family of four who earn up to 92K will probably
qualify for financial help.
* Read more: *
*Obamacar... more »
BBC News - MP David Lammy apologises for BBC Pope race 'innuendo' claim
'A Labour MP has apologised for claiming the BBC made a "silly innuendo
about the race" of the next Pontiff.
David Lammy was commenting on a BBC Twitter message, which asked "will
smoke be black or white?".
Mr Lammy, tweeting from the Commons chamber, said the BBC message was
"crass and unnecessary".
He later apologised after Twitter users pointed out the role played by
black and white smoke in announcing the election of a new Pope.'
More here http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-21764636
Is David Lammy really that ignorant?
Well you could take this into account, David Lammy... more »
12 Imágenes bonitas de animales diferentes
Por favor visite nuestra página oficial: www.fotofrontera.com
THE ORIGINAL SIN: Prejudgment and imagination!
*WEDNESDAY, MARCH 13, 2013*
*Part 3—Imagining Penn getting frisked:* Did Trenton Mays and Ma’lik
Richmond rape a 16-year-old girl in Steubenville, Ohio last summer?
For ourselves, we’d have to say that we don’t know. But many people already
*do* know. They live all over the world.
Mays and Richmond go on trial today, having pled not guilty. In this
morning’s New York Times, Goode and Schweber report the widespread
prejudgment which exists in this high-profile case:
GOODE AND SCHWEBER (3/13/13): The case first came to light through Twitter
posts and a photo on Instagram. And *the ... more »
Economist and white-collar criminologist Bill Black explains Obama's true intentions (not good) regarding the sequester and how MSNBC is loath to spell this out to its Democratic clientele.
------------------------------
* the**REALnews
Permalink*
March 12, 2013
*Austerity and the Death of Logic*
Bill Black: Both the GOP and the White House refuse to support a bill that
ends the sequester, it shows the real intention of the Obama administration
*Watch full multipart The Black Financial and Fraud Report*
More at The Real News
*Blogger's Note:* In this video Bill Black says that "Dean Baker has a
spectacular column that people should read that basically says [MSNBC's
support of Obama even th... more »
Double standards?
Take the *Nakbah* (catastrophe). To Palestinians today, it represents a
real-world catastrophe – the terrible, Holocaust-level tragedy that befell
their people in 1948 during the first Arab-Israeli war (for Israelis, the
“War of Independence”), during which about 3000 Palestinians were killed
and some half a million refugees fled. To others, it represents a
psychological catastrophe the horrifying *global* humiliation of seven Arab
armies defeated by a rag-tag army of the worst of the *dhimmi — *Jews, the
weaklings and cowards of 1400 years of Muslim tradition.
Compare with the cu... more »
Untitled
*The Sequester Is President Obama’s Fault*
Dean Baker
Truthout, March 4, 2013
*See article on original website*
Now that we are counting up the days of the sequester instead of counting
down, it would be a good time to cast blame. And my candidate is President
Obama.
I’m not blaming Obama for the reasons that Bob Woodward came up with in his
fantasyland. I am blaming President Obama and his administration for trying
to be cute and clever rather than telling the public the truth about the
economic crisis. The result is that the vast majority of the public, and
virtually all ... more »
USNWR Political Science Rankings
I performed a similar operation to Scatterplot, e.g., estimated the results
of the current poll by assuming equal weighting for both the 2013 and 2009
poll results (explanation). For the Departments that moved from ranked to
unranked in the 2013 rankings I assumed a 1.9–as it looks like 2.0 might be
the cutoff for ranking
Continue reading
Go Aggies!...
*I couldn't help noticing how attractive the students are. *
Since I lived in Houston for over 16 years, I consider myself half Texan.
Students at the Bush School of Government and Public Service surprised
President George H.W. Bush during a recent visit with a Flash Mob. The Bush
School is located at Texas A&M University in College Station, Texas.
Climategate 2013 is here: FOIA
Tom Nelson has already leaked the news so I will follow:
Mr. FOIA speaks: "It's time to tie up loose ends and dispel some of the
speculation surrounding the Climategate affair"
The page above became the "story of the day" at ClimateDepot.com (not to
mention Donna and Bishop Hill, Delingpole, WUWT) so I don't think it's a
secret anymore although some of us prefer a much more secretive,
confidential approach.
Yes, your humble correspondent was among a dozen of people in the world who
received the e-mail above directly from Mr FOIA – and yes, we have learned
it was one person who live... more »
Bill Whittle: The Virtual President on Voter Fraud...
*you know - the thing that democrats say doesn't exist.*
H/T Conservative Hideout
WHERE IS THE BEAUTY?
Where is the beauty in the city?
The rough roads are stained by oil.
Ugly buildings
made of steel and glass
have no heart.
Prisons they are, an artists
nightmare,
built to save the banks
and insurance companies
$$$ by taking the shape and character
of a box.
Office workers inside cubicles inside a big steel box.
A white collar prison.
The billboards and neon signs
light the dark sky
but bring no joy or mystery
to the night.
Stars are hidden from plain sight
by the nuclear glow of the city.
Imagine, North Korea is mocked
because they can see the stars at night.
Noise is ever present... more »
Iraq’s Failure To Diversify Its Economy
Iraq’s economy has huge potential, but also faces major pitfalls. The
country is rich in oil for example, but it only provides money. That
revenue needs to be used in a strategic plan to diversify the economy, so
that it can have sustainable growth. Otherwise Iraq can fall victim to the
resource curse where the economy goes up and down with the international
price of oil, while other industries are pushed out. That can also
undermine its developing democracy, because it breaks the social contract
between the public and the government since the latter does not need the
former with ... more »
Preston Manning Tells Conservatives That They MUST NOT Say What They Believe If They Want Canadians To Vote For Them!
Chris Selley considers the portion of Preston Manning’s speech this past
weekend that dealt with “intemperate and ill considered remarks” by fellow
conservatives.
*He mentioned (though not by name) Wildrose candidate and evangelical
pastor Allan Hunsperger, whose “derogatory reference to homosexuals” was
“dredged up during the recent [Alberta] provincial election,” and “a
questionable comment by a prominent libertarian and a good friend of mine,
which seemed to imply that the freedom of an individual to view child
pornography had no serious consequences for others.” That would be ... more »
Two More Notes on Imaginary Numbers
Two more quick notes on the Ryan budget's tax numbers:
1. I said yesterday that what's real about the budget as a whole is that
it's an opening bid for further negotiations. That might be wrong. The
other possibility, as Ed Kilgore says, is that it's simply a gift to the
crazies in exchange for not blocking the debt limit increase last time
around -- and perhaps the next time, too. Could be!
2. The implausibility of the tax numbers is drawing a lot of attention. But
on second thought, I'm not sure that's fair, or at least necessary. This is
a budget, not a tax reform plan. As long ... more »
China plans first commercial trip through Arctic shortcut in 2013
[image: A study in the Proceedings of the National Academies of Science,
led by UCLA geographer Laurence Smith, looks at how the Arctic will change
under even modest levels of global warming. Through computer simulations,
the researchers found that open-water vessels will be able to, in theory,
cross the Northwest Passage and North Sea Route regularly in the summer by
2050 without icebreakers. And icebreaker ships may be able to ram right
through the North Pole. Graphic: Smith and Stephenson, 2013]
By Alister Doyle, Reuters Environment Correspondent, with additional
reporting by B... more »
Should Nonprofits Fear ALEC Legislators?
It might be more appropriate for nonprofits to consider
that there but for the grace of the legislature’s focus on 501(c)(5) labor
unions
go my 501(c)(3) public charity and I
SNIPS
From an article
In the Nonprofit Quarterly
*Why Non profits Should Care about “Paycheck Protection” Bills*
Written by –Rick Cohen
Created on Wednesday, 13 March 2013 13:39
March 12, 2013; Source: St. Louis Business Journal
The decision of the Missouri State Senate to pass “paycheck protection”
legislation should be seen as a little shot across the bow for nonprofits,
not just labor unions... more »
Rains or not, India is falling short on drinkable water
[image: Women bringing back water from a community tap in Cherrapunji, in
northeastern India. Photo: Kuni Takahashi / The New York Times]
By GARDINER HARRIS
12 March 2013
CHERRAPUNJI, India (The New York Times) – Almost no place on Earth gets
more rain than this small hill town. Nearly 40 feet falls every year — more
than 12 times what Seattle gets. Storms often drop more than a foot a day.
The monsoon is epic.
But during the dry season from November through March, many in this corner
of India struggle to find water. Some are forced to walk long distances to
fill jugs in springs... more »
Midweek Linkage
Casy Hogle reports on a World Peace Foundation panel on public-advocacy
campaigns, which featured the Laura Sey and Amanda Taub. Edward Hugh on the
decline of Portugal. The costs of the “eating local” movement: agriculture
in the “global south.” Daniel Martin Varisco: “life without honor.” Adam
Eluks: “a rack city on a hill: unsolicited advice
Continue reading
Koch's - Control the Media, Control the People
If you were to ask yourself why two billionaire fossil-fuel loving brothers
wanted to get into broadcast media
the most immediate answer would be
becausetheycan.
Unless you know
their name is Koch
and they are the movers and shakers
behind
Republican extremist groups
that evidently need more media time
to spread their pro-corporate, fascist agenda
From Daily Kos
Read it and weep:
*Koch Brothers interested in Tribune Co.'s newspapers and possibly its TV
stations*
We'll be just like China
*Control the Media - Control the Message*
*Control the Media - Control the People*
*
*
*
*
WotW: Achieve the Holy Grail of Inbox Zero
As you may have guessed from reading this blog and seeing the amazing
things my wife creates, she is very meticulous and perhaps borderline OCD.
Nowhere is her obsessive personality more prominent than in her email inbox.
She cannot rest until her inbox is completely empty. Everything has to be
read, sorted, filed, deleted, etc. This is all good, as long as you can
stay on top of it, which she's pretty talented at. For the rest of us mere
mortals, we quickly fall behind and getting to inbox zero feels nearly
impossible.
Enter Mailstrom, a brilliant solution from the genius minds ... more »
TV debate - Egyptian style
That Mahmoud Shaaban is at least honest about his views on women.
I wonder why the Western feminist lobby don't protest about such attitudes
which are so prevalent in the Islamic world, whereas they are happy to do
so about much more minor matters in the West?
Third Graders Face Retention in 13 States for Failing a Test
In 2000, Louisiana became the first state in the Nation to require
elementary school children (4th graders), to pass a test to move on to 5th
grade. Since then hundreds of thousands of poor children have learned
failure at an early age, with many of them now entering the "correctional"
system of Louisiana, which is a major employer in the state.
Research shows that failing a grade is as traumatic to 3rd graders as
losing a parent, but with the help of Jeb Bush's team and the lawyers from
ALEC, we now have this bare-knuckled legislation to mandate 3rd grade
retention in 13 states, ... more »
Grayson on the Ryan Budget Proposal
This is an excellent video - with excellent key points by Alan Grayson on
the Ryan budget proposal.
Excellent!
*From Crook and Liars.*
Amartya Sen
There is little room for the realities of economic life - faced by the
majority of the world’s people - within the scope of widely accepted and
conventional economic theory. There is a particular exception to this
general tendency and that is embodied in the theoretical framework of
Amartya Sen who has clearly brought human compassion into the realm of
economics.
Amartya Kumar Sen was born on November 3, 1933 and was the sole recipient
of the 1998 Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences for his work on welfare
economics. He is currently a Professor of Economics and Philosophy a... more »
Read Stuff, You Should
Happy Birthday to Will Clark, 49.
Good stuff:
1. Brendan Nyhan on Glenn Kessler's plan vs. talking point column.
2. What we don't know from Paul Ryan's budget, from Ezra Klein.
3. But Ryan does appear to be using honest growth estimates, Dylan Matthews
reports.
4. Adam Serwer profiles Thomas Perez, who will be the next Secretary of
Labor if he can survive a filibuster. My guess? I don't have one, other
than a cloture vote is virtually certain and I can't imagine he'll get much
more than 60 at best.
5. Senators who won't talk to reporters. Interesting, although I would have
liked ... more »
ConservaDem Stephen Lynch Poses As Someone Who Fights For Working Families
The ad above is a slick production trying to introduce Massachusetts' most
conservative Democratic congressman to voters statewide. Lynch is running
against longtime progressive Ed Markey-- who actually has a voting record
that shows he *does* fight for working families-- in the race for the
Senate seat that John Kerry gave up when he was appointed Secretary of
State. Kerry has endorsed Markey-- as has Massachusetts' other U.S.
Senator, Elizabeth Warren. (And so have Blue America, MoveOn and DFA.)
Obviously, Lynch's ad doesn't say anything about what a consistent fighter
he's bee... more »
Untitled
*Large barge fire continues to burn Wednesday *
Aldous Huxley letter to George Orwell
[image:
http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2012/03/07/article-2111440-068EE82C000005DC-166_226x364.jpg][image:
http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2012/03/07/article-2111440-0048F29B00000258-225_226x364.jpg]Different
visions? The covers of these editions of Orwell's 1984, left, and Huxley's
Brave New World, use similar imagery ALDOUS HUXLEY'S LETTER IN FULL...
Wrightwood. California.
21 October, 1949
Dear Mr. Orwell,
It was very kind of you to tell your publishers to send me a copy of your
book.
It arrived as I was in the midst of a piece of work that required much
reading and... more »
The AFL-CIO Doesn't Know - - That ALEC Does Knows
ALEC boasts that it has
2,000+ state legislators that support ALEC policy
96 members of the US Congress that support ALEC policy
ALEC DOES NOT BOAST ABOUT
the number of other state federal officials
who support ALEC policy
which could be a major issue for America.
*AFL-CIO Now*
* *
*Have You Heard of the TPP Yet? An Important Trade Agreement You Need to
Know *
*03/11/2013*
* *
*Celeste Drake*
(Lots of Snips from that article)
The U.S. government is currently working with 10 other countries to
negotiate the biggest trade and investment agreement (also known as a “free
trade agree... more »
Untitled
*Flood insurance rates could rise significantly*
*Lockheed Martin project will create new gas storage tanks, hundreds of jobs
*
*List of local St. Joseph altars* *LSU's 'Rising Water' offers honest
retrospective on a memory that still stings*
***
*
IMF as Valuable US Tool
[Excerpted] “The IMF has always been a valuable tool for advancing U.S.
national interests globally,” the committee wrote — perhaps
inadvertently
validating one of the arguments China, Brazil and others have made for
why
they need a greater say at the fund.”
[Majia here: The committee at issue is the Bretton Woods Committee.]
Cited in Schneider, H. (2013, March 5) White House Seeks New Money for
IMF
http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/white-house-seeks-new-money-for-imf/2013/03/05/95c0fcc4-85f1-11e2-98a3-b3db6b9ac586_story.html?wpisrc=nl_headlines
Majia here: The IMF i... more »
Getting Tired And Tiresome
Lawrence Martin wrote in yesterday's *Globe and Mail* that those who
predicted Justin Trudeau would be this decade's Kim Campbell may yet live
to eat crow:
When the poll numbers first came out last fall showing that Liberals led by
Mr. Trudeau would beat all comers, no one took the numbers seriously. It
was name recognition stuff. Voters weren’t paying attention. No big deal.
In the ensuing months came the same polls and the same understandably
dismissive reactions.
But now there’s been about half a year of it, and Mr. Trudeau has made some
mistakes and he hasn’t put forward inn... more »
PMQs predictions 13 March 2013
Ed Miliband will make:
one 'off the cuff' joke about Teresa May wanting to be the next
Conservative leader
one 'off the cuff' remark about the loyalty of Michael Gove
no apology for increasing debt, immigration and social inequality during
his time in government.
Update:
How did I do?
Sorry I forgot to predict Ed Miliband making a stupid joke first, stupid of
me.
Teresa May 'off the cuff' remark - Yes
Michael Gove - I think that was who Ed Miliband meant when he mentioned
'the Childrens Minister'
No apology - Of course
Osgoode Hall, Toronto in 1856
Note there are no "cow catcher" gates on the fence -- it is a myth that the
fence was put up to keep farm animals out
How exciting!
British Telecom have just written to me telling me that they've just rolled
out fibre optic technology and introduced BT Infinity on my home area, so I
can have speeds up to four times faster than the average speed of standard
UK broadband.
This is so exciting, well it would be were it not for the fact that I've
been on fibre broadband at this address for almost a year now.
British Telecom idiots.
Links -n- stuff
*In a pond near my house.*
Taiwan Thinktank, a pan-Green operation, came out with a poll on the
referendum on the fourth nuclear plant.
More than 60 percent of respondents said they would vote in a proposed
national referendum on the Fourth Nuclear Power Plant in New Taipei City’s
(新北市) Gongliao District (貢寮) and almost 70 percent of those polled
supported the suspension of construction and operations at the
controversial power plant, a survey released yesterday showed.
8-10% higher than the other polls. Reading this.....
People’s concerns about nuclear safety were so strong that... more »
The Apartheid State of Israel
Yes I am sick of the lies told about Israel.
Asda / HMV Is It Wise.Com?
Today we read that Asda, the UK arm of Walmart, is ‘considering’ a bid for
UK entertainment retail casualty HMV. Administrators Deloitte have already
almost halved the number of HMV stores leaving it with some 116 outlets and
the deal may be attractive given Walmart’s own position in the same market
in the US.
It is an interesting rumour given that their two biggest UK supermarket
rivals have clearly pinned their money on going after the growing online
media marketplace. It also comes on the back of the news that Argos is
reintroducing CDs and DVDs into selective stores. The CD an... more »
Dr Colin Ross - everything you ever wanted to know about Mind Control - but were too traumatised to ask
Conspiracy Culture presents 'The CIA and Military Mind Control' a two-hour
presentation by psychological clinician Dr. Colin Ross.
Dr. Ross talks about CIA Mind Control Experimentation by Psychiatrists,
declassified programs, disassociative identity disorder, double agent
children, the official mind control timeline and other controversial
material/accusations that literally beg the question, "How has this guy not
had an 'accident' already?"
Ross's Manchurian Candidate Prostitute Thesis at about 01:00:00 is properly
ingenious in the realm of Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo where *'tortu... more »
Coconut Oil Can Stop Dementia and Alzheimer's Disease
The immediate take home here is that age related cognitive decline is
directly related to the integrity of the brains energy system and that
coconut oil augments and certainly buys time. It also appears that part of
this loss is directly due to nutritional failure. We forget that we live
long lives and any chronic deficiency must be guarded against as a matter
of simple survival.
Our real problem has been their recognition in the first place. Now we
learn here just how unique the coconut happens to be. We need to identify
others obviously.
It turns out that the liver c... more »
German Village Achieves Energy Independence
This tales reminds us of what is possible at the all important community
level. Now imagine organizing society along these lines and internally
capitalizing it at this level with its own self managed banking apparatus.
This success took years to assemble but it was merely a case of leadership
understanding the direction his electors wished to go and actively
supporting them.
What this emphasizes though is that the core objective of effective
sustainability is plausible. And yes it all starts with energy and the
production of a surplus to support internal expansion and wea... more »
Giant Energy Waves Drive Weather Extremes
This is actually an important contribution and it will now be possible to
track these waves on an ongoing basis and link observations to the present
state. It also anchors long term predictive protocols allowing us to know
what can be generally expected weeks ahead. Even better, when it stalls,
preparations can be begun for the onset of extreme weather.
We have surely had an excellent demonstration of this phenomena over the
past several weeks. We not only had a rarity in the form of hurricane
Sandy, we have since been battered by extreme continental weather.
It would ... more »
Curiosity Confirms Hospitable Soils on Mars
I am not convinced yet that it is possible to locate hard evidence of life
here. Carbon based life likes to leave a mess of some sort somewhere and
we see no smoking gun as yet. Yet this is reassuring in one regard.
It is now plausible to cover a patch of Mars with a large greenhouse and
grow things in a controlled environment. A soil is possible.
Otherwise, we have to stay underground and be completely artificial in our
approach. Again we can do this and will have to in most places. Mars can
give us a break.
Our first expedition to Mars should pack a large bubble ... more »
Minuscule Canadian Taxpayers Federation in running for ‘Turfy Award’
Former Canadian Taxpayers Federation Alberta Director Scott Hennig, now the
group’s Communications VP, in a nice AstroTurf-coloured sweater at last
weekend’s Ottawa conference of the Manning Centre for Undermining
Democracy. Below: CTF President Troy Lanigan; CTF member … rrrrrrr …
supporter, Riley Climenhaga; CTF Operations VP Shannon Morrison. When it
comes time to hand out ... more »
Pirate Bay for 3D printing Physibles
*The company that developed 3D printed gun parts has announced plans to
launch a new firm, devoted to copyright-free blueprints for a range of 3D
printable substance. *Defcad, as the firm will be known, has previously
been dubbed the Pirate Bay of 3D printing. According to its founders the
site will become a "search engine for 3D printing. But its breaking of
copyright is likely to face legal challenges.
The firm is the idea of Cody Wilson, law student and self-styled
crypto-anarchist. Last year he set up Defense Distributed, a plan aiming to
print gun parts. The project provok... more »
What up Stephen Harper?
I couldn`t have said it better..
Request to my fellow bloggers and concerned citizens, spread it around, its
got a good beat!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rz0GDSrkw-Q
The Straight Goods
Cheers Eyes Wide Open
Time for Weingarten to Go
*Too bad it took Randi Weingarten 10 years to "get arrested" when the
writing was on the blackboard with the obviously insane, destructive and
impossible goals of NCLB calling for 100% proficiency by 2014. The noose
around the teachers' necks has been getting tighter and tighter and now the
ones in the most vulnerable communities are gasping for air and about to
expire. The stories form Philadelphia, Chicago, Seattle and New York about
what's happening to these communities barely made news at all. Does anyone
even care that the head of the AFT was arrested?*
* The public schools, t... more »
March 12, 1973
The president makes a statement:
--
DURING my press conference Of January 31, 1973, I stated that I would issue
a statement outlining my views on executive privilege.
The doctrine of executive privilege is well established. It was first
invoked by President Washington, and it has been recognized and utilized by
our Presidents for almost 200 years since that time. The doctrine is rooted
in the Constitution, which vests "the Executive Power" solely in the
President, and it is designed to protect communications within the
executive branch in a variety of circumstances in time of both ... more »
Change The World Wednesday (#CTWW)
Welcome to Change The World Wednesday (#CTWW)! 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.
There's a lot of great information in this post and I encourage you to read
through it ... however, if you don't have the time right now, you might
find the following quick links helpful:
- The #CTWW Gang
- The Honor Society
- My Final Thoughts on Our Last Challenge
- This Week's Challenge
Last week we took a look at our trash bin and challenged ourselves to find
alternate uses for the stuff we ty... more »
Tom Wolf-- A Progressive Alternative To Tom Corbett And Allyson Schwartz
No one in their right mind could possibly want to see Tom Corbett reelected
governor of Pennsylvania. And polls indicate that voters are more than
ready for a change. But does "a change" mean replacing a corporate shill
like Tom Corbett with a corporate shill like Allyson Schwartz? As we saw
the other day, many Democrats would prefer a more progressive candidate
than Schwartz, who, until a couple weeks ago, was a vice chairman of the
corrupt, Wall Street-tainted New Dems. Earlier today PPP released a new
poll showing that any of the top Democratic contenders could beat Corbett.
To... more »
Quantitative easing in a nutshell
Just in case you haven’t seen it for a while …
Content is copyright PC.BlogSpot.Com © Please contact author for permission
to republish: (organon at ihug.co.nz)
The Book of Mormon
I knew nothing about this show going in, except that two people I knew saw
it and loved it.
The Book of Mormon.
FREAKING hilarious. Best production I have seen in ages, pretty much loved
every second.
I saw it at the Fisher Theatre in Detroit with my season tickets, and I
read online that every show has sold out for it's 10 day appearance. I am
sure you can get tickets on Ticketmaster, through the Fisher ticket
exchange, eBay or Stubhub.
If you like musicals and comedy and are not easily offended, SEE THIS SHOW.
The Daily "Near You?"
Cliff, New Mexico, USA. Thanks for stopping by.
"The Scariest Climate Change Graph Just Got Scarier"
*"The Scariest Climate Change Graph Just Got Scarier"*
By Tim McDonnell|
"Back in 1999, Penn State University climate scientist Michael Mann
released the climate change movement's most potent symbol: The "hockey
stick," a line graph of global temperature over the last 1,500 years that
shows an unmistakable, massive uptick in the 20th century, when humans
began to dump large amounts of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. It's
among the most compelling bits of proof out there that human beings are
behind global warming, and as such has become a target on Mann's back for
climat... more »
Montanans Need to say NO!!!! to ALEC
Last week I saw this
*Conservative group fundraiser draws ire of Montana Democrats*
* *
*March 06, 2013 2:15 pm • Associated Press*
HELENA — A conservative think tank is drawing the ire of some Democrats for
using a state building for a membership drive.
The American Legislative Exchange Council has helped draft model
legislation used by Republican lawmakers.
The group was at the state Capitol on Wednesday seeking new members. It
offers a two-year membership for $100.
Republican supporters say the group plays an important role in helping
draft ideas that support "limited governm... more »
John Friend on Rense Radio w/ Jeff Rense
I was a guest on the Jeff Rense Program on *Rense* Radio last night
following my conversation with John Kaminski. Jeff and I discussed my
article *Was Hitler a Zionist Stooge?* and other aspects of WWII and
American history. You can download the program *here*.
Who the hell starts their day at 10:30 am?...
*really!*
I'm usually up by 5 am.
Via *White House Dossier:*
Obama's schedule.
Wednesday, March 13, 2013
*10:30 am ||* Receives the Presidential Daily Briefing
*1:30 pm ||* Meets with the House Republican Conference; United States
Capitol
*3:05 pm ||* Meets with Secretary of State Kerry
*3:40 pm ||* Meets with CEOs to discuss cybersecurity; Situation Room
*4:05 pm ||* Meets with business leaders on immigration reform; Eisenhower
Executive Office Building
*4:30 pm ||* Meets with Treasury Secretary Lew
*6:30 pm ||* Delivers remarks at Organizing for Action dinner
And could someone p... more »
Sushi...now with chopsticks
I was well into my teenage years before I felt comfortable wielding a pair
of chopsticks and a young adult before I required a taste for sushi. Not
so for the boy.
Of course its okay to cheat every now and then when good food is involved.
Bob Woodward and me
I was a new stay at home mom when the Senate Watergate Committee convened.
I watched untold hours of those hearings on the teevee. They were broadcast
live on the networks, pre-empting regular programming. There were reams of
newspaper reports. Actual convictions ensued. Sure there was a lot of
theater, but it felt like a functioning government. And none of it would
have happened without Woodward and Bernstein and a major metro newspaper
willing to support their investigative work. Hard to believe, seeing what
has become of it in the present day, that newspaper was the Washington
Po... more »
Pyongyang be buggered, we’re all going to get wet!
Comforting to know that American military monitoring of threats from North
Korea and China is in the competent hands of General Bran Flake:
America's top military officer in charge of monitoring hostile actions by
North Korea, escalating tensions between China and Japan, and a spike in
computer attacks traced to China provides an unexpected answer when asked
what is the biggest long-term security threat in the Pacific region:
climate change.
“The ice is melting and sea is getting higher…”
Yes, strap on your snorkels and head ye for the hills, for lo, the threat
of seawater ri... more »
The term: 'Political Correctness'
There’s said to be an annual contest at Griffith University, Queensland,
calling for the most appropriate definition of a contemporary term.
The term this year: 'Political Correctness'
The winning student wrote:
Political correctness is a doctrine fostered by a delusional, illogical
minority and rapidly promoted by mainstream media, holding forth the
proposition that it is entirely possible to pick up a piece of shit by the
clean end.
Content is copyright PC.BlogSpot.Com © Please contact author for permission
to republish: (organon at ihug.co.nz)
ECONOMICS FOR REAL PEOPLE: Broken Window Fallacy
Here’s the update for this Thursday’s econ session from our friends at the
Auckland Uni Economics Group:
*Hi all,
This week we’ll be talking about the most prevalent fallacy in economics,
which (when committed) leads to the biggest economic errors, and (when
spotted) starts you thinking like a real economist.
We’re talking about what is seen and what is not seen—most popularly known
as The Broken Window Fallacy.
Date: Thursday, March 14
Time: 6pm-7pm
Location: Case Room 3, Level Zero, Auckland University Business
School, Grafton Rd, Auckland
As always, all... more »
ALEC - It Really Sucks to be Finally Exposed
It sucks even more to be their PR firm.
While I was doing my research tonight (very productive, BTW – three new
articles coming up) I kept finding things that made me so, so sad for ALEC
(not so much).
*And this information was only in the last 24 hours.*
*And this information was on only the first ten pages of search results.*
*Just the snips from the Google results. *
ALEC Exposed in Iowa: How Corporate Influence Subverts Our Democratic
Process
The American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) - known by its critics as
a "corporate bill mill"
As Alberta Premier Alison Redford t... more »
Airshow...
...never
ceases to live up to his callsign. "Not my fault" he says over his
department's inability to find a replacement for DHC Buffalo SAR
aeroplanes. As department head, it is his fault, and the faults of any
other ministers of public works and industry involved.
It really is embarrassing that these people are still in power.
The doctrine of privity of contract is of considerably diminished force in Canada as a continuing principle of contract law
Brown v. Belleville (City), 2013 ONCA 148 holds:
[79] It is important to note at the outset that the doctrine of
privity of contract is of considerably diminished force in Canada as a
continuing principle of contract law. It has been subject to a wealth of
repeated academic and judicial criticism, leading to frequent calls for law
reform in Canada and elsewhere. See for example, *London Drugs*, at pp.
418-26; *Fraser River Pile & Dredge Ltd. v. Can-Dive Services Ltd.*, [1999]
3 S.C.R. 108, at para. 26; McCamus, at pp. 296-301. Indeed, several
Commonwealth jurisdictions have... more »
Paul Ryan's plan for social Darwinism
Everybody is talking about Paul Ryan's new budget which is pretty much like
his old budget, only with more granny starving. I'd sum it up as further
slash the taxes on the wealthy, raise taxes on everyone else and pretty
much destroy any government program that might possibly increase the life
span of the poors, olds and disabled. The man who spent pretty much his
whole life dining on the taxpayers' dollar apparently thinks the government
is spending entirely too much money keeping these "takers" alive. In his
world they don't need so many poors anymore to do the menial work. Hell, w... more »
Once again, a solid Senate majority isn't enough to confirm a judge. Plus, George Will tells Watergate tall tales
*Really, you think that, just because Caitlin Halligan has a solid Senate
majority wanting to vote to confirm her nomination to the DC Circuit Court,
she should be confirmed? Where have you been?*
*"I don't think any reasonable person would find anything about Caitlin
Halligan that would constitute 'extraordinary circumstances. The idea that
a position that you took as a public official on behalf of your client
amounts to an extraordinary circumstance was pretty astonishing."*
*-- White House counsel Kathryn Ruemmler,
to *The New Yorker*'s Jeffrey Toobin*
*by Ken*
Nevertheless, bec... more »
More on the Last Day
I am discovering all too well the limitations of typing with an Ipad and
cannot easily correct my grammatical and formatting errors. So, please
forgive them.
I want to address the discontinuities I mentioned.
First, no effort was made by the facilitators to summarize, synthesize,
compare or contrast any of the speakers contributions. The work of
sense-making was left entirely to the audience.
I believe this was an oversight and added to the disconnects.
The most pressing discontinuity stemmed from disconnects in:
1. The empirical findings of animal/human mutations and diseases do... more »
Last Day of Fukushima Conference
As an academic I've been to many many conferences, big and small.
I have mixed feelings about the Fukushima Symposium based on my previous
conference expectations.
What was great about the conference was the wide array of amazing speakers
Helen Caldicott was able to assemble.
My favorite speaker was Timothy Mousseau, whose work on birds and insects
in the Chernobyl zone is amazing and very heroic, given he has increased
his personal risks going back many times into contaminated zones to collect
animals, none of which he hurts and all of which he returns.
I spoke briefly with him d... more »
ALEC Ag-Gag Bill - A Blunder, PR Failure
Steven Maviglio
California Cattlemen's Introduction of "Ag-Gag" Bill May be Legislative and
PR Blunder of the Year
March 12, 2013 @ 11:01 AM
[image: Cow]You would think that the beef industry would have its hands
full dealing with news reports about the infusion of a distant relative of
Mr. Ed in IKEA meatballs and in other "beef" products. But no.
Here in California, the California Cattlemen's Association has embarked on
what is likely to go down as the biggest PR blunder of the 2013 legislative
session. It is sponsoring a bill that would essentially stop individuals
from exposing... more »
NEOCONS, ZIONISTS AND M.S.M. IGNORE PALESTINIAN CHILDREN KILLED BY ISRAELIS
The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights has recently released
a preliminary report which has stated that a Palestinian child initially
thought to have been killed by Israeli bombing of the Gaza Strip was
actually killed by an errant rocket that had been launched by Palestinian
fighters.
Despite due reverence to the death of a child, neoconservatives and
Zionists could barely disguise their joy at being handed a propaganda coup
enabling them to demean their enemies. Jonathan Tobin writing at the
neoconservative *Commentary* magazine certainly couldn’t let the
opportuni... more »
Modern air combat - the Sukhoi 27 explained
address-withheld@my.opera.com.invalid (Dr. John v. Kampen) at - 16 hours ago
Link: http://youtu.be/ccTJrxVqw9g
The world is changing and so are strategic requirements. For the one party
a drone is the optimum aerial weapon system (in particular when the economy
is declining), for the other advanced fighters and fighter-bombers (when
you have a vast country to protect). I admire the designs from Sukhoi and
its SU27 family. Why? That is pretty well explained and shown in this
movie...
John
Deplorable
Haiti: Deplorable Conditions for Cholera Patients@msf_usa shar.es/epBwG via
@sharethis
— John A. Carroll (@haitianhearts) March 12, 2013
Threats, Libel, Calls for FDA & Government Action – and a Petition to the Governor: Research Ethics Morass at the University of Minnesota Psychiatry Continues
The sad and disgraceful story about the appalling unwillingness of the
University of Minnesota to in any way investigate closer what several
pieces of evidence suggest may very well be a major research ethics scandal
in its psychiatry department continues. The scandal involves drug trials
connected to several major Pharma companies, such as Astra-Zeneca, but for
once it is not them who appear to be doing the bad deed – it is the
university itself.
Former reports on this by myself are here, and here. The reporting of
University of Minnesota bioethicist Carl Elliott is assembled here ... more »
Ron Delisle passes
Those who knew Ron Delisle at Queen's will be saddened to hear that he
passed away this morning at Kingston General Hospital. Canada has lost a
great academic and a decent human being.
Those evil Tories
'The wages of ordinary full-time workers barely grew during this period and
were negative for the lowest earners... Even workers in the top half saw
their wages grow only slowly. It was only the very richest – those in the
top 5% - who experienced growth of more than 1% a year. This pattern of
wage growth among individuals contributed to a growing polarisation in
household incomes.'
Those evil Tories, only the top 5% experiencing growth on their incomes,
the rich looking after the rich...
Just one problem the above is taken from The Resolution Foundation's Report'Squeezed Britai... more »
Comparing Imaginary Numbers
How do you go about comparing imaginary numbers?
Kevin Drum says:
The fiscal cliff deal increased top marginal rates from 36 percent to 39.6
percent. Ryan's plan is based on reducing top rates to 25 percent. In other
words, not only does he want to get rid of the 39.6 percent rate, he wants
to make it even lower than it was before the fiscal cliff deal. He doesn't
accept the fiscal cliff increases at all.
Right? What am I missing here?
While Suzy Khimm reads the same budget and concludes:
Buried in Rep. Paul Ryan’s new budget is one surprising detail: He wants to
raise more revenu... more »
Untitled
*Does stunning collapse of River Birch case portend uglier revelations
ahead?*
A Sea of Lies
Yesterday, the first lone bee was gathering pollen from the crocus peeking
out of the litter of leaves. As any gardener would know looking at the
size of the bee compared to the flower, every year this violet harbinger of
spring emerges smaller and more pale. Although the bulbs should divide and
spread, as time goes on there are, like the daffodils, fewer and fewer
along the long drive that leads through the woods to Wit's End, and less
and less along the banks of the Cold Brook where they were planted by the
former owner, long before I moved here, when first daughter had yet bare... more »
Salon goes belly (and spread keister) up!
*TUESDAY, MARCH 12, 2013*
*The death of American journalism:* The horror of modern American
journalism is on display wherever you look.
Examples:
In the next few weeks, citizens will look on as the “press corps” pretends
to examine the new Ryan budget plan. (To watch Drum fight with the opening
rounds of the nonsense, just click this.)
At Slate, Tanner Colby takes a punishing look at the way Bob Woodward was
doing business as early as the 1980s. Was this great man *always* a fraud?
To examine that question, click here.
Last night, O’Reilly’s recent wave of lunacy continued apace o... more »
INSIDE THE MAN
As the creative powerhouse behind hugely influential band The Kinks, Ray
Davies was responsible for writing some of the best-loved songs of the 60s,
including pop classics You Really Got Me, Tired of Waiting For You,
Dedicated Follower of Fashion, Sunny Afternoon and Waterloo Sunset. Alan
Yentob meets Davies, a unique talent who describes with rare candor his
troubled relationship with fame and the vicissitudes of his career.
Preparing for dryness
*Another repost while Risa recovers from the flu she picked up in Calif. :)
*
Last year at this time, the cold rains returned in March, and for a
rainy-day project, Risa built a solar food dehydrator from scraps. It did a
fair job of the drying that was asked of it, and there was enough work for
two dehydrators, so this year, as it's raining again, she's making another
as much like the old one as possible, and again from scraps. First, measure
your Craigslist window and then construct a box to fit. This box is made
from 3/8" plywood and 2X2" leftovers, about 35X47X6", assembled with... more »
Slaves To Debt... And To Death
Did you love Bryan Ferry's song Slave to Love? Me too. You can watch it at
the link-- but not at the embed above. That one's much scaried; it's about
the essence of the banking industry-- making us all slaves to debt, if not
as individuals, then as citizens of countries. And the way they do it is,
as President Eisenhower warned us in 1961, through the octopus-like
Military-Industrial Complex. The video clip is worth watching.
This week 8 Members of Congress concerned about this kind of thing more
than many of their colleagues-- Barbara Lee (D-CA), Raúl Grijalva (D-AZ),
Keith Elli... more »
The Mythical Liberal Order: A Reply and Response
Naazneen Barma, one of the authors of the “Mythical Liberal Order,”
responded to my post of last week with a reply to my critique. With her
permission, I’m posting her message here and my response. Readers, we’d
love for you to weigh in with your views. Naazneen had this to say about my
original post: I’d
Continue reading
"Dogs Are Able To Visually Recognize Their Own Species"
*"Dogs Are Able To Visually Recognize Their Own Species"*
by Lee Rannals
"New research reported in the journal "Animal Cognition" claims that dogs
are able to pick out faces of other dogs on a computer screen, and can
group them into a category of their own. Dr. Dominique Autier-Dérian, who
led the research along with colleagues, performed the first study to test
dogs’ ability to discriminate between species and form a “dog” category in
spite of the variability within the dog species. Previous research has
shown that in some species, individuals are able to recognize more easi... more »
Persistent lying about housing land supply
*[image: _hugh-pavletich-sml]Guest poster Hugh Pavletich asks why people
such as Mayor Len Brown of Auckland are persistently lying about housing
issues, and points out however you want to measure the amount of
immediately available building land, the only true measure of scarcity or
abundance is price.*
Supplying affordable new homes today is a very formulaic business indeed –
and has been since Bill and Alfred Levitt created the modern production
housing construction industry soon after World War 2.
This was a remarkable entrepreneurial feat, as the Levitts and many others
had ... more »
Christy Clark`s LNG Superpower Dreams Turn Nightmare
More bad news for British Columbia`s LNG superpower dreams..
(Thanks to the Disaffected Lib for pointing this out)
http://the-mound-of-sound.blogspot.ca/2013/03/iran-pipeline-to-pakistan-next-stop.html
Iran has completed a natural gas pipeline, come Monday construction of the
pipeline takes another step, Pakistan has agreed to start construction of
the pipeline in their country, this is expected to take 2 years, Iran has
huge deposits of natural gas ...
This project has been delayed because the USA has been threatening
Pakistan, threatening to cut off monies to Pakistan if it has an... more »
The Economy: "Staring Armageddon In The Face But Hiding It With Official Lies"
*"Staring Armageddon In The Face But *
*Hiding It With Official Lies"*
– Paul Craig Roberts
"According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the US economy created
236,000 new jobs in February. If you believe that, I have a bridge in
Brooklyn that I’ll let you have at a good price. Where are these alleged
jobs? The BLS says 48,000 were created in construction. That is possible, considering
that revenue-starved real estate developers are misreading the housing
situation. Then there are 23,700 new jobs in retail trade, which is hard to
believe considering the absence of consumer ... more »
Gwich'in Steering Committee Open House March 13, 2013
inShare
Click to view this email in a browser
OPEN HOUSE!Co-hosted by the
Satire: "Ryan Budget Plan Gets Endorsement From Ayn Rand"
*"Ryan Budget Plan Gets Endorsement From Ayn Rand"*
by Andy Borowitz
WASHINGTON (The Borowitz Report)— "Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wisconsin) was
jubilant today after his newly unveiled budget plan picked up a key
endorsement from the novelist Ayn Rand. It was a rare public utterance for
the late Ms. Rand, who has been damned to eternal torment in Satan’s lake
of fire since 1982. “This is a budget I wish I had written,” said Ms. Rand,
pausing to scream as white-hot flames licked her face. “Paul Ryan is a
great man and I look forward to meeting him someday.”
Rep. Ryan acknowledged Ms... more »
Cabañas sobre el agua turquesa
[image: Cabañas sobre el agua turquesa]
*Nota:* Click aquí para ver más *imágenes de cabañas*
Por favor visite nuestra página oficial: www.fotofrontera.com
Dibujos de mujeres bonitas
[image: Dibujos de mujeres bonitas]
*Nota:* Click aquí para ver más *imágenes de mujeres*
Por favor visite nuestra página oficial: www.fotofrontera.com
Muñequitos de carton en un paisaje de otoño
[image: Muñequitos de carton en un paisaje de otoño]
*Nota:* Click aquí para ver más *imágenes de muñecos*
Por favor visite nuestra página oficial: www.fotofrontera.com
Gatito escondido en el sombrero
[image: Gatito escondido en el sombrero]
*Nota:* Click aquí para ver más *imágenes de gatitos*
Por favor visite nuestra página oficial: www.fotofrontera.com
Estrellas y caracoles de mar en la arena
[image: Estrellas y caracoles de mar en la arena]
*Nota:* Click aquí para ver más *imágenes de estrellas*
Por favor visite nuestra página oficial: www.fotofrontera.com
Campo de flores de diferentes tipos
[image: Campo de flores de diferentes tipos]
*Nota:* Click aquí para ver más *imágenes de campos de flores*
Por favor visite nuestra página oficial: www.fotofrontera.com
Our Movement Must Be a Safe Space for Women
Support this initiative by Cath Elliott and Marshajane Thompson and sign
the statement below here.
We the undersigned labour movement activists stand in solidarity with all
women opposing all forms of male violence against women. We recognise that
male violence against women is endemic in society, and that our movement is
obviously and unfortunately not exempt.
We believe that our trade union and labour movement has the potential to
transform society for the better. Therefore we have a particular
responsibility to confront and challenge male violence against women within
our movem... more »
Camellos en el desierto caluroso
[image: Camellos en el desierto caluroso]
*Nota:* Click aquí para ver más *imágenes de camellos*
Por favor visite nuestra página oficial: www.fotofrontera.com
Ave exótica del paraíso
[image: Ave exótica del paraíso]
*Nota:* Click aquí para ver más *imágenes de aves*
Por favor visite nuestra página oficial: www.fotofrontera.com
Aurora boreal y un bello paisaje
[image: Aurora boreal y un bello paisaje]
*Nota:* Click aquí para ver más *imágenes de auroras boreales*
Por favor visite nuestra página oficial: www.fotofrontera.com
Arbol de color amarillo en la orilla de la isla
[image: Arbol de color amarillo en la orilla de la isla]
*Nota:* Click aquí para ver más *imágenes de arboles*
Por favor visite nuestra página oficial: www.fotofrontera.com
"The Kabuki Theatre of Demopublicans, Part II"
*"The Kabuki Theatre of Demopublicans, Part II"*
A conversation with Doug Casey
by The Gold Report
*"The Gold Report:* In the conversation titled On 2013, you say 2013 will
be ugly, but merely a warm-up for 2014. Yet the economic trends appear to
be positive: the end of quantitative easing by year-end, increased domestic
oil and gas production resulting in inexpensive energy for decades to come,
more manufacturing jobs, and less unemployment. Is this slow-growing
economic recovery masking the effects of the deficit and unfunded
liabilities, thus allowing politicians to kick t... more »
Maarten Horst Interviews Brian Kelly on the OPPT March 7, 2013
*Here's an interview Brian did with Maarten Horst from*
* ET First Contact Radio on March 7, 2013*
*
*
**
*
*
Had such a blast doing this interview with Maarten. Covered some
information I hadn't been given clearance yet to discuss on other shows. I
think folks will find it VERY interesting ;)
Enjoy!
~ Brain
Cincinnati poll worker charged with voting half dozen times in November | Fox News
Now you know why the US Democrats were so against voter registration
legislation. How many more similar examples have yet to come to light?
'She admitted voting twice in the presidential election last November, and
now, Obama supporter Melowese Richardson has been indicted for allegedly
voting at least six times. She also is charged with illegal voting in 2008
and 2011.
The 58-year-old veteran Cincinnati poll worker, indicted Monday, faces
eight counts of voter fraud. Two others, one of whom is a nun, have been
charged separately.
Richardson had admitted on camera to a local TV st... more »
Iran Pipeline to Pakistan. Next stop, China?
Despite pressure from the United States, Pakistan has reached an agreement
for the construction of a pipeline to import natural gas from Iran.
Perhaps not entirely coincidentally, the gas pipeline appears to be routed
right past Gwadar, the Pakistani southern port, control of which has
recently passed to China.
Just sayin'
It's Still Fossil Fuel
The Japanese have successfully tapped seabed methane clathrates, also known
as "flammable ice." Deposits of compressed and frozen methane are fairly
common in northern waters. British Columbia has looked at exploiting them.
*The gas field is about 50km away from Japan's main island, in the Nankai
Trough.*
* **Researchers say it could provide an alternative energy source for Japan
which imports all its energy needs.*
*Offshore deposits present a potentially enormous source of methane but
also some environmental concern, because the underwater geology containing
them is unstable ... more »
Underestimating China
The Chinese keep taking the West by surprise with their technological
advancement. We're pretty sure a fair bit of their knowledge is purloined
via the internet. Some, probably, but not all.
And, speaking of the internet, it seems China is poised to rock the world
with a "next generation" internet that is expected to be a world-beater.
Just as our conventional internet is nearing it's 4.3-billion full
capacity, China is deploying a system that is supposedly 80,000 trillion
trillion times larger.
Shhh. Don't Tell Harper
With his authoritarian bent, this might just appeal to Sideshow Steve.
And, of course, when thinking of Ruler Harper who doesn't think of Albania?
*Wired.com* has a neat item about former Albanian strongman Enver Hoxa and
his obsession with bunker-building. During the Communist dictator's
40-year rule, he covered his country with 750,000 concrete bunkers. That's
one for every four Albanians.
Being concrete, they're still pretty much intact to this day.* *The
article has a gallery of 22-photos. Here are a few.
Photos by David Galjaard from his book, *Concresco.*
Post-Commun... more »
It's Official
*"I'd love to be able to do my job, gentlemen, but Goldman Sachs is holding
my testicles hostage."*
* * Eric Holder's more worthless than Erik Erikson will prove to be for
Fox "News."
In an amazing round of testimony (or should we spell it "testimoney"?)
before the US Senate, Attorney General Eric Holder admitted to Chuck
Grassley that Wall Street banks are indeed too big to jail. This is what
he'd actually said to Grassley:
I am concerned that the size of some of these institutions becomes so large
that it does become difficult for us to prosecute them when we are hit with... more »
No, Not "Everyone" Fell For The Bush-Cheney Call To War In Iraq
National Memo kicked off the week reminding us that not *everyone* fell for
the Bush-Cheney war propaganda and not everyone went along with their rush
to war in Iraq. There were, in fact, millions of people who protested and,
in terms of insiders, National Memo spotlights people who criticized the
invasion risking their careers and reputations to do so. They focus on
Tyler Drumheller, head of CIA operations in Europe, the Knight Ridder
Newspaper chain, Al Gore, blue chip journalists Dana Milbank, Walter
Pincus, and Maureen Dowd, Jimmy Carter, Joe Wilson and Valerie Plame, Carne
R... more »
Enhanced credit for pre conviction custody may properly include ineligibility for remission and parole while in remand custody
R. v. Summers, 2013 ONCA 147 holds enhanced credit for pre conviction
custody may properly include consideration of ineligibility for remission
and parole while in remand custody:
[8] As I see it, however, s. 719(3.1) of the Code allows a
sentencing judge to credit pre-sentence custody at a ratio up to, but not
exceeding, 1.5:1 for each day spent in pre-sentence custody where, on
consideration of all relevant circumstances, such credit is necessary to
achieve a fair and just sanction in accordance with the statutory scheme
for sentencing and punishment set out in the Cod... more »
ISA 2013 Blogging Reception
The good people at SAGE just sent this image along. It’s a mockup of one
side of the reception postcards that will be handed out at ISA 2013. I will
be running repeated reminders of the reception from now until the
conference. It will be from 7.30-8.30pm on 4 April in Yosemite A.
Unfortunately, only
Continue reading
Well, That's That Then.
In an upset, Falkland Islanders have voted overwhelmingly in favour of flipping
the bird to Argentina.
*Despite near zero temperatures and flurries of snow and rain, the turnout
was 92% from an electorate of 1,650. All but three people voted yes to the
question posed on the ballots: "Do you wish the Falkland Islands to retain
their current political status as an overseas territory of the United
Kingdom?" *
Those pesky Argies were not impressed.
In Papal News
Let the Conclave begin!
Wait, what's that? There's already a snag? Frontrunner Papal would-be,
Cardinal Angelo Scola's diocese has just been raided by Italy's anti-mafia
cop squad.
*Anti-mafia detectives swooped on homes, offices, clinics and hospitals in
Lombardy, the region around Milan, and elsewhere. A statement said the dawn
raids were part of an investigation into "corruption linked to tenders by,
and supplies to, hospitals".*
*Healthcare in Lombardy is the principal responsibility of the regional
administration, which for the past 18 years has been run by Roberto
Formigo... more »
Mr. O was still explaining his outburst last night!
*TUESDAY, MARCH 12, 2013*
*The poodle which didn’t bark:* Last Tuesday night, Bill O’Reilly melted
down on his semi-eponymous cable news program.
Over and over, he called Alan Colmes a liar, although he began to apologize
for the name-calling before the segment was over. The following night, he
devoted his opening segment to the fracas, though he kept spreading
disinformation about Obama’s budget proposals, the matter which had been in
question. See THE DAILY HOWLER, 3/8/13.
Those segments aired last Tuesday and Wednesday. But how strange! Last
night, O’Reilly was *still* trying to... more »
THE ORIGINAL SIN: Why was Whitaker frisked!
*TUESDAY, MARCH 12, 2013*
*Part 2—The heartfelt belief that we know:* Why was Forest Whitaker
stopped, then frisked, outside a New York deli last month?
To tell you the truth, we don’t know. Everyone agrees that Whitaker did
absolutely nothing wrong—that he was *mistakenly* suspected of shoplifting.
But why was Whitaker suspected? To tell you the truth, we don’t know. There
has been little reporting about the incident. As far as we know, the name
of the deli employee in question hasn’t even been reported; neither has his
age or his race or ethnicity.
There has been no reporting a... more »
Manila the Miners' Canary of Climate Change
The Philippines are now being thought of as the "miners' canary" of climate
change. The archipelagic state has reeled under the impacts of sea level
rise and typhoons of increasing frequency and intensity. But the capital, Manila,
is the worst of all and now faces permanent flooding because residents have
compounded sea level rise and storm surges with subsidence caused by
draining their aquifers.
*In an interview with GMA News Online, Dr. Kelvin S. Rodolfo, Professor
Emeritus at the University of Illinois at Chicago, explained that the
over-pumping of groundwater is the main ca... more »
Wing's Presentation on Epidemiology
Steve Wing
He begins by addressing the limitations of the Hiroshima lifetime study,
which include :
1. The study began 5 years after the bombing
2. Studies of cancer began in 1958
3. Fallout was not addressed because the people studied were primarily
subject to gamma and neutron radiation from the initial blasts rather than
fallout, which impacted populations located further away
4. No research addressed subjects exposure to ingested and inhaled
radioisotopes
5. No research addressed birth defects and miscarriages
He also addressed a vareity of other issues that impacted statist... more »
Tuesday Morning Linkage Club
Henry Farrell reflects on political economy, game theory, and methodology
[Crooked Timber] ICYMI: Voeten links to Fukuyama on new measures of
governance (ungated) [The Monkey Cage, Governance] Fukuyama seeks a measure
of the actual quality of governance, regardless of regime type. For my
part, I’ll note that I’ve discovered “political scientists measure
democracy using quantitative
Continue reading
Iraq 10 Years Later (1): How Culpable is Academic International Relations?
I’ve been thinking a lot about the war this month. I’ll be teaching it in
the next few weeks at school because of the decade anniversary (March 20).
My quick sense is that any defensible theory behind the war was simply
buried by an execution so awful, disorganized, mismanaged, and incompetent
that it invalidated the whole
Continue reading
After the party, the CVAC's
When we realize our value we will be valuable. When we realize our value
we will be valuable. When we realize our value we will be valuable. We
are not valuable until we say so.
Why do you have low self esteem? Who told you to hate yourself? You were
programmed to comply and made to be obedient. When you realize your value
you will become valuable.
You do not realize your value and so you do not see yourself as valuable.
What makes one piece of paper more valuable than another? One rock more
valuable than another? An agreement – words like “In God We Trust” or “... more »
A Minor Defense of Ryan and the Republicans
Since I took it to Paul Ryan and the Republicans in fairly strong language
yesterday, and I suspect I'll not wind up saying nice things about Ryan's
budget, I'll back up a bit and say one thing in their defense.
Ryan is taking a fair amount of heat from some liberals because the budget
matches the Romney/Ryan campaign plan and because the ticket that ran on
that platform lost. For example, Jared Bernstein: "OK…but the thing is, we
had a national election on this preference set, and it lost."
I suppose there's nothing wrong with this as a talking point, but really:
what else do you e... more »
Their BIG Joke On You Explained: Laundered Drug Money Mainly A Hedge By the Banks?
It's just a favor (almost) that anyone from that level even speaks to us
(US) anymore. Have you started to feel that way also? I think we are lucky
to have an inside man like Bob Reich. Former labor secretary Robert Reich
says, “The idea that most Americans have been living beyond their means is
pure fantasy perpetrated by a small minority at the top whose means have
gone through the
The Good Ol’ Cold War
In the aftermath of a long war, a new degree of suspicion ensues between
two powerful countries that were nominally on the same side…one rattles its
sabre, threatening small countries on its borders…the other shores up
relations with the very same countries… a tit-for-tat arms race begins,
waged with the advantages of recent technological advances…espionage
Continue reading
Beyond Critical Thinking -- a book review by author Jeff Schmidt
Beyond
Critical Thinking
Review of Denis Rancourt's Hierarchy and Free Expression in the Fight
Against Racism
By Jeff Schmidt
Author of Disciplined Minds
jeffschmidt@alumni.uci.edu
To understand Denis Rancourt and his book, Hierarchy and Free Expression
in the Fight Against Racism, you have to know the difference between
critical thinking and independent thinking.
Critical thinking is
Iraq Finally Passes 2013 Budget But With Protests
At the beginning of March 2013, Iraq’s parliament finally passed the annual
budget. Voting on it had been delayed for months, mainly because of
disputes between the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) and the central
government over the former’s oil policy. The argument was not resolved by
the time the vote took place, which led to complaints by the Kurdish
Coalition. In terms of the actual budget, it is the largest in Iraqi
history. It also has the biggest outlay for investment, but many of the
country’s ministries have proven incapable of spending all their money. The
budget is ... more »
Chief of U.S. Pacific forces calls climate change biggest worry – ‘You could have millions of people displaced, and security will start to crumble pretty quickly’
[image: Admiral Samuel J. Locklear III met privately with security and
foreign policy specialists at Harvard and Tufts universities on 7-8 March
2013. He said the biggest long-term security threat in the Pacific region
is climate change. Photo: Jay Directo / AFP / Getty Images]By Bryan Bender
9 March 2013
CAMBRIDGE (Boston Globe) – America’s top military officer in charge of
monitoring hostile actions by North Korea, escalating tensions between
China and Japan, and a spike in computer attacks traced to China provides
an unexpected answer when asked what is the biggest long-term sec... more »
Learning about Hippies in Louisiana's Voucher Schools
*Beka Books is owned by Arlin and Beka Horton, who both graduated from Bob
Jones "University" in 1951. The company, which now has an extensive
product line of semi-literate ultra-fundamentalist teaching materials, made
headlines a couple of years ago by changing the Christian unfriendly "Slave
Trade" to the "Atlantic Triangular Trade." How offensive an unwholesome to
talk about slavery in a Christian environment. From Political Research
Associates:*
On May 21, Texas School Board member Cynthia Dunbar opened the board’s
meeting with an invocation: “Whether we look to the first cha... more »
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