10:29pm MDST
TV Watch: "Army Wives" soldiers on, taking large changes in stride
*The old gang*: *Col. Joan and psychiatrist Roland Burton; now-Gen. Michael
and Claudia Joy Holden (back), Roxy and Trevor LeBlanc (front); Denise
Sherwood (back) and Pamela Moran (front)*
*by Ken*
It's been awhile since I've written about *Army Wives*, but it remains one
of the offerings on the TV schedule I look forward to most, and that's *with
* the considerable cast turnover last season and especially the newly begun
one, with the departures of, first, Pamela (Brigid Brannagh) and then Roxy
(Sally Pressman) and now, apparently, Roland (Sterling K. Brown), who is
shipping off t... more »
unpaid labour used to be called slavery. now it's an internship.
Image found at Youth and Work blogIn recent years, I've been very disturbed
by the proliferation of so-called unpaid internships, more properly called
unpaid labour, previously known as slavery.
A while back, I had a disturbing conversation with an unpaid editor at The
Mark. She was highly skilled, an excellent editor. I told her so, and asked
if she was being paid. Since The Mark does not pay its contributors, I was
wondering if they also got a free pass on staff.
The young woman vigorously defended her unpaid job, explaining, "I'm
learning the business as I go." To which I respo... more »
Somebody forgot the lessons of Darlie....
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The Profession That Left Gerald Conti
Gerald Gerald Conti’s retirement letterConti Letter
Who is Progress KY
Serious question. While it's entirely possible they're just the world's
most inept wannabe lefty anarchists, Progress KY feels more like a GOP
front group every passing day. I mean, first the lame attack ads on the
wife and then the lamebrain secret taping which they immediately bragged
about pulling off. They're like Jimmy O'Keefe on whiskey and quaaludes.
Odd how everything they've done so far has been such a big help to Mitch.
The leak seems to have backfired, helping to strengthen McConnell in the
state. Most of the focus has been on the FBI investigation into who bugged
McCon... more »
Pot, Aliens And Politicians... And The Unending Saga Of Florida GOP Gangster David Rivera
The self-described "bad girl" of Florida Republican politics, Ana Sol
Alliegro, says she just wants "to cut hair like Paul Mitchell and make
people feel good." So he's on the lam, hiding out from the FBI in the
picturesque town of Granada on the shore of Lake Nicaragua, under the name
Ana Solá and running a beauty parlour, Salon La Libertad, next to the Roman
Catholic bishop's house. From a prominent Cuban fascist family under
Batista, the violent, drug addicted Alliegro brags that "All my life, I
have fought for the GOP." Her bungled dirty tricks on behalf of
then-Congressman Da... more »
Sssh! We Love You!
Received from Julien Wells 4:42 PM
I just woke from a nap where I was playing in a first person shooter game
stealthily going around hunting each other in the jungle and some ruins.
However since I was so much better at this game, I would actually sneak
right up to them and tackle them and imobilize them, cover their mouth and
pin them with a threatening dagger. Then I would whisper "I love you" while
I looked into their eyes. Then I would get up and run off with their
weapons and get rid of their weapons.
Later I found someone else learning to do exactly what I did and we notic... more »
Corporation of London
My brother took this photo during the London Olympics. -AK
Drones=Terrorists
A very important reminder from Richard Becker of ANSWER today during
today's anti-drone rally in San Francisco that the first three people
killed by drones were three farmers collecting scrap metal. Why were they
killed? Because one of them was a "tall man" (judging from the perspective
of a drone camera) and the other two were "deferential to him" (again,
judging by looking through a drone camera), and hence based on this
"intelligence" they concluded it was Osama bin Laden and assassinated all
three by drone.
*All* victims of assassination by drone (drone terrorism, not drone
"w... more »
"Stringent pre-trial bail conditions” and sentencing
R. v. Peterkin, 2013 ONSC 2116 has a helpful summary of how pretrial bail
conditions are to impact of sentence:
[38] In *R. v. Downes* 2006 CanLII 3957 (ON CA), (2006), 79 O.R.
(3d) 321, the Court of Appeal for Ontario held that, where an accused is
the subject of "stringent pre-trial bail conditions" including time spent
effectively under "house arrest," this mitigating circumstance must be
taken into account and given some weight in the sentencing of the accused.
More specifically, Rosenberg J.A., delivering the judgment of the Court,
held that, in the circumstances,... more »
The Mitigator: John Paulson's A Maverick, A Visionary, A Legend! He Founds Firms To Not Make A Profit (And Pays No Taxes!) and The Truth About Obama's Social Security Cuts
Billionaire hedge-fund manager John Paulson, who last month considered a
move to Puerto Rico to lower his tax bill, is starting a fund to help
investors reduce the amount they owe to the U.S. government. Paulson’s $18
billion hedge-fund firm invited prospective clients to an April 24 event at
Paulson & Co.’s New York offices, where the 57-year-old founder will talk
about the Paulson
Paul LePage's Shocking Bully Politics In Maine
Maine deserves better
Paul LePage, Maine's accidental Tea Party governor-- he won with 218,065
votes, while progressive independent Eliot Cutler took 208,270 and Democrat
Libby Mitchell took 109,387-- was trying to decide whether or not to veto a
bill that would raise the minimum wage to $9/hour (from the current $7.50)
by 2016. And then all hell broke loose in LePage's crazy little world. The
local media is reporting that LePage has been pressuring state officials to
screw over Maine workers in any disputes that put them at odds with
businessmen. His contempt for working family's is... more »
All abortion is selective
From The New Yorker:
The abortion laws passed last week in North Dakota are troubling first and
foremost because they restrict women’s freedom to control their own bodies.
More insidiously, they criminalize *selective abortion*, which means that a
woman cannot choose to terminate a pregnancy because she knows the fetus
has a genetic abnormality, or to select for other characteristics, such as
gender. The very use of the world “selective” here indicates how right the
pro-choice movement has been to emphasize “choice.” All abortion is
selective, and whether a woman has selected not to... more »
Interesting morning...
*and last night runs a close second.*
First off, Disqus decided I didn't exist. Finally got that fixed. Then
suddenly this morning pictures weren't showing up in my reader. I rebooted
and Adobe said I had to download a new version. Fine. I did that. Still
no pics. I checked Adobe and they said everything was hunky-dory.
Hmmmmm. Within a few minutes Adobe was saying, "Hey, dope - you need the
new version. " Well, okay, let's try again. Then it's screeches out,
"CLOSE FIREFOX", and called me a "dope" - again. Finally undoped myself
long enough to cure the ills.
Then I g... more »
J Young - classical sculptures with a modern twist - adult content
J YOUNG, I know very little about her other than she looks oriental from
the one image on her *'under construction'* biography page, and her
'classical sculptures with a modern twist' are only two feet tall, but look
at the workmanship. Look at the care and attention to detail, the love that
went into these mini-masterpieces of the sculptural art.
I like that it's a woman creating this kind of female-dominant expression,
I like the fact that she's harking back to the ancient ways in her liberal
depiction of the female form, I like the mix of media but most of all I
like the way J ... more »
Making guns mandatory in Missouri
Crackpot cons have such a bizarre definition of freedom. It's not enough
for these guys to demand the right to wave their firearms in your face at
every turn, this Missouri Republican lawmaker introduces stealth
legislation to make it mandatory for every business owner to allow guns
into their establishments. The bill provides:
1. Any private business that displays signage which prohibits public
invitees, business visitors, and employees from carrying a concealed weapon
on the premises owned or occupied by such private business shall be liable
for any injury or damages incurred b... more »
Miscellany for the weekend.
Some tales that demonstrate the BBC’s confused approach to Jews and Israel.
They didn’t make much of Yom Hashoah, but a few new holocaust stories have
appeared on the BBC, so perhaps this is their way of commemorating.
There was Dorit Oliver-Wolff on Saturday Live, and Anne Frank's stepsister Eva
Schloss on the website talking to Stephen Sackur about her war-time
experiences.
But heartrending/heartwarming holocaust stories are nothing new for the
BBC. It’s the Jews that defend themselves the BBC is less keen on.
Another Donnison Tweet leads us to Lyse Doucet’s interview with Dan... more »
Complex, real, and pseudoreal representations
I decided to extract the comments about "structure maps" to a special blog
entry and add lots of details.
Everyone knows what a group is. A group \(G\) is a set of elements –
operations – that may be composed ("multiplied" – most typically, we
imagine products of matrices; the word "addition" and the sign \({+}\) is
only appropriate for commuting, Abelian groups) so that the operation is
associative,\[
(ab)c = a(bc),
\] that includes the unit element \(1\) obeying \(1a=a1=a\) for each \(a\in
G\) and the inverse for each element.
Groups may be finite – a finite number of elements s... more »
'Any Questions'? Yes, why is this programme so flipping infuriating?
I'm confused. (Are you surprised?)
I've been listening to yesterday's *Any Question*s on Radio 4 (repeated
today). It's not something I usually do these days, despite the fact that
in my younger years (when the late, likeable John Timpson was its
presenter) I was a bit of a devotee of the programme. Then, in 1987, came
Jonathan Dimbleby. (Was it really as long ago as 1987?). My enthusiasm
waned, sharply. I dipped into *Any Questions* occasionally thereafter,
always retreating swiftly with the intention never to listen again, given
what I felt to be the programme's blatant left-win... more »
Saturday Play - David O'Doherty
Irish comedian David O'Doherty has a fun teaser up on YouTube for his album
*We Are Not The Champions*. The full album is available on Bandcamp. For
even more David O'Doherty you can check out his mammoth podcast appearance
on Pete Holmes's show *You Made it Weird*.
EPA Dramatically Increases Allowable Levels of Radiation During Accidents and Attacks
On April 10, Bobby1 ran an excellent analysis of the EPA's new guidelines
for radiation contamination: EPA now allowing 27,000 times the previous
limit of iodine-131 in drinking water.
I recommend reading his analysis of this move and the response by PEER. I'm
posting another link on this decision by the EPA.
EPA Relaxes Public Health Guidelines For Radiological Attacks, Accidents
April 8, 2013 By Douglas P. Guarino Global Security Newswire
http://www.nti.org/gsn/article/epa-relaxes-public-health-guidelines-radiological-attacks-accidents/
Pesticides, Herbicides and Radionuclides Killing Our Ecosystem
We are living in a MASS EXTINCTION EVENT
(see Has the Earth’s sixth mass extinction already arrived?
http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v471/n7336/full/nature09678.html)
Majia here: Some of the biggest culprits in causing this mass extinction
are heavy metals, radionuclides, and the complex chemicals used as pesticides,
herbicides, and fungicides.
The tragedy is that NOTHING IS BEING DONE to stop this madness of
escalating extinction. The energy and chemical companies that produce en
mass these toxins are ALLOWED to continue poisoning the eco-system even
after research establish... more »
April is the Cruelest Month, redux
*"Jesus fucking Christ, when does it ever end with this guy?"*
I've held off as long as I could from making either a private or
serious public appeal for help. But our rent is due in another 17 days and
other bills, as always, follow. We're getting a very slight break as I'd
paid off the last of my yearly auto insurance premiums early and don't have
to worry about renewing until June 24th. With spring here, I've turned off
my gas heat, although it's still cold in the morning here in central
Massachusetts. Thank goodness the car's running well so there are no
repairs on the h... more »
Bill Whittle: Kim Jong-un - third generation crazy...
*you don't negotiate with tyrants. *
We're going to pay for this arrogance.
What Mattered This Week?
It appears that Sri Srinivasan is probably going to be confirmed to the DC
Circuit, or at least he made it through a hearing without any real sign of
trouble. That matters. If it turns out that Barack Obama is about to
appoint people for the other three DC Circuit spots, that would matter too,
but it hasn't happened yet, so I guess a rumor of it isn't quite all that.
Also, the Senate did confirm one appeal court judge. All of that matters.
I'm not yet convinced that beating the filibuster on the motion to proceed
to the gun bill matters.
That's what I have. What do you think mattere... more »
Women caught in conservative TRAP in Virginia
Conservative Virginia lawmakers vote for stealth rules to shut down women's
access to reproductive health services.
The vote stems from legislation that cleared the legislature two years ago
and has been slowly making its way through implementation.
The General Assembly voted in 2011 to impose stricter building codes on
clinics, calling for costly physical renovations, such as wider hallways
and doorways, expanded parking and entrance awnings. Supporters said the
changes ensure the safety of women undergoing abortions at the clinics.
Opponents said the measure was a veiled attemp... more »
MILITARY BUDGET IS KILLING THE COUNTRY
- I went to Brunswick this morning to join with local activists to hand
out literature about the federal budget at the post office. They had a
good bunch of folks there so I went along Main Street and handed out our
*Fair Budget for All....Why Not?* flyers to every shop keeper in the
downtown area. Then I walked over to the mill where the weekend flea
market and farmers market are happening. There the people were coming and
going in droves and I handed out about 300 flyers in an hour.
- While at the mill I had some nice conversations with several of th... more »
Chained CPI... Is Suddenly An Orphan
America doesn't have a spending problem; America has a problem with its
elites forgetting who they work for
The angry uproar over the Obama-Boehner proposal to lower Social Security
payments through Chained CPI has both parties backing away from it as fast
as they can.
Republicans, including House of Representatives Speaker John Boehner of
Ohio, said Obama's offering-- made Wednesday in his budget plan for the
2014 fiscal year-- did not go far enough to cut spending.
Many Democrats thought it went too far, with House Minority Leader Nancy
Pelosi of California saying that it should ... more »
Jonathan Winters - thanks for the laughs
Jonathan Harshman Winters III (November 11, 1925 – April 11, 2013) was an
American comedian, actor and artist.
Beginning in 1960, Winters recorded many classic comedy albums for the
Verve Records label. He also had comedy albums released every decade for
over 50 years, receiving 11 Grammy Award for Best Comedy Album nominations
during his career, and winning the Grammy Award for Best Spoken Comedy
Album for Crank(y) Calls in 1996.
Winters has also appeared in hundreds of television show episodes/series
and films combined, including eccentric characters on The Steve Allen Show,
Th... more »
World View Conversations with Rodney Martin
*A Conversation with Dr. David Duke*
In this premiere broadcast of *World View Conversations* on the American
Nationalist Network, World View Foundations Director and ANA Co-Founder
Rodney Martin and Dr. David Duke, a man considered the "Dean of our
Movement", will have a wide ranging conversation on Dr. Duke's research,
especially as it relates to Jewish supremacy, corruption, and nepotism in
the halls of higher education in the United States. Rodney Martin and Dr.
Duke will also discuss effective strategies necessary for making "Our Case"
to our people.
Please visit Dr. Duke's ... more »
One Lucky Guy
You're a surgeon. A father to five young kids. This is not how you
should be spending your free time.
Kansas’s self-destruct button: A bill to outlaw sustainability
[image: A Vortex 2 rotating supercell severe thunderstorm near Dodge City,
Kansas. Photo: Ryan McGinnis]
By Tom Randall
9 April 2013
(Bloomberg) – Kansas, I love your sense of humor.
It seems like every time the Sunflower State pops up in my news feed, it’s
for something like this: House Bill No. 2366, a proposed law that would
make it illegal to use “public funds to promote or implement sustainable
development.”
Kansas, the place where I spent my formative years skipping school to go
fishing in farm ponds, is populated with thoughtful stewards of the
nation’s breadbasket. It ... more »
Jeremy Grantham, environmental philanthropist: ‘We’re trying to buy time for the world to wake up’
[image: Environmental philanthropist Jeremy Grantham: 'Anyone who says
government can’t do this, or can’t do that, I say a pox on you'. During a
Keystone XL pipeline protest, he said, 'What we are trying to do is buy
time. Buy time for the world to wake up.' Photo: Martin Godwin / Guardian]
You've probably never heard of him, and for years Jeremy Grantham liked it
that way. But now the man who made billions by predicting every recent
financial crisis is speaking out.
By Leo Hickman
12 April 2013
(The Guardian) – One icy morning in February, a train pulled into
Washington DC. I... more »
EPA delays climate rule for new power plants
[image: National mortality effects from existing U.S. coal power plants,
2010. Graphic: Clean Air Task Force]
By Juliet Eilperin
12 April 2013
(Washington Post) – You might have been wondering whether the Obama
administration was going to impose the first-ever greenhouse gas limits on
new power plants, since the deadline is April 13.
We reported nearly a month ago that the Environmental Protection Agency was
likely to delay the rule to bolster their legal case for imposing the new
carbon restrictions.
On Friday, EPA spokeswoman Alisha Johnson confirmed that the agency would
n... more »
Arctic nearly free of summer sea ice during first half of 21st century: NOAA study
[image: The amount of Arctic summer sea ice, at center in white, on 16
September 2012 compared with the average from 1979 to 2000 average for the
day, shown with the yellow line. A NOAA study suggests there could be no
summer ice at all as early as 2020. Graphic: Associated Press]
12 April 2013 (NOAA) – For scientists studying summer sea ice in the
Arctic, it’s not a question of “if” there will be nearly ice-free summers,
but “when.” And two scientists say that “when” is sooner than many thought
— before 2050 and possibly within the next decade or two.
James Overland of NOAA’s Pac... more »
Saturday Morning Linkage
The above video includes Sean Kay speaking about US-European relations and
international security. Kelsey Davenport: “How to Read the North Korean
Nuclear Missile Threat.” Scott Harold and Lowell Schwartz: “A Russia-China
Alliance Brewing?” More Sino-Russian cooperation on alcohol production
would be awesome! The National Security Archive has a nice roundup of their
materials concerning discussions between Thatcher and Gorbachev.
Continue reading
As Much As The Right Wing Wants Us To Love Margaret Thatcher ... 'Ding Dong The Witch Is Dead' Song Goes To The Top Of The British Music Charts ...UPDATE Liverpool Stadium Cheers Her Death
Following her death on April 8, the bitter row over Margaret Thatcher’s
legacy continues – with a campaign to get the song “Ding Dong! The Witch is
Dead”, from the movie *The Wizard of Oz, *to number 1 on the U.K. music
charts.
The former Prime Minister, whose time in office was marked by battles with
workers’ unions and the privatization of key industries, continues to be a
divisive figure in Britain. On the day of her death a number of street
parties were held throughout the U.K., some of which turned violent.
Encouraged by an anti-Thatcher Facebook campaign, people are now
dow... more »
Australia to tackle Japan on whaling at UN world court
[image: A whale tied to the side of Japanese Research vessel Yushin Maru
No. 2 is dragged through the ocean in Mackenzie Bay, Antarctica, in this
picture provided by Sea Shepherd Australia and taken 15 February 2013.
Anti-whaling activists unsuccessfully tried to intervene in the transfer of
the whale from a Japanese whaling vessel to another for more than nine
hours. Photo: Sea Shepherd Australia]
THE HAGUE, 12 April 2013 (AFP) – Australia is to fire the opening salvoes
in a legal battle before the United Nations' highest court in June aimed at
stopping Japan's whaling research p... more »
Soccer/Football coaches needed
_______________________
[Taiwan] Don't miss the comments below! And check out my blog and its
sidebars for events, links to previous posts and picture posts, and scores
of links to other Taiwan blogs and forums!
Direct from the Cherry-Pick Hall of Fame!
*SATURDAY, APRIL 13, 2013*
*One more example of The Way We Are:* Will the Smithsonian ever open a wing
called The Cherry-Pick Hall of Fame?
Probably not! But if the museum ever does open that wing, we now have an
op-ed piece which could be the featured exhibit.
We refer to this op-ed column in today’s New York Times. Adding to
Baltimore’s recent shame, the piece was written by Jal Mehta, a 36-year-old
meritocrat who came up right here in this city.
Or rather, a bit outside it.
Mehta is the perfect contemporary meritocrat. Here in Baltimore, he
graduated from the Park School, whe... more »
Sexism and the Dead Thatcher Celebrations
Is this necessary?
I'm no stranger to hating Thatcher, but come on. Since when was it the done
thing to malign the enemies of working people in this way?
In mitigation, there are those who might argue the passion her death has
stirred up is to blame for the sexist "exuberance". But that doesn't make
it any more acceptable. Had Thatcher been black (she wouldn't have been
prime minister, but allow me this), damning her to hell in colourfully
racialised terms would have raised a chorus of condemnation from those who
took to the streets or raised a glass. Unfortunately, sadly, sexi... more »
The Gospel of Judas with Mary Sparrowdancer
This is a novel perspective on Jesus and Judas. The second part is also
compelling and has been out there.
We now want to check out the tenth moon of Jupiter to see where that takes
us.
The work is interpretive and speculative. The received knowledge is part
of a book that is now possibly out of print. It is all interesting and
conforms to a number of conjectures I have also made regarding ancient
religious sensibility.
It is a good and thoughtful read.
*The Gospel Of Judas, *
*Barbelo & Long-Kept Secrets*
*By Mary Sparrowdancer*
*Copyright 2006 - All... more »
Power Behind Primordial Soup?
This is actually rather promising. It may not be the whole story but it
may well be a key building block. In fact it looks like it may even be
possible to now induce some of the likely steps and slowly work our way
forward. Still a long ways of, but it is certainly a start.
I have dug around this problem enough to understand that it has to be
naturally self starting. This is starting to look right.
Yet it is also sufficiently intractable that gains will be measured in
decades.
*Power behind primordial soup discovered*
*
by Staff Writers*
*
Leeds UK (SPX) Apr ... more »
China's Naval Threat
Strangely, I consider war as historically practiced to be profoundly
obsolete. Unfortunately that does not stop building out deterrence and then
rationalizing the whole exercise. If China were to collectively lose its
mind then they will still face the nasty problem that their population base
looks like a giant bull's eye and is impossible to protect from a globally
distributed attack. The same holds true generally and war is now all about
wealth destruction and not about the assemblage of wealth.
The USA Civil War destroyed the accumulated wealth of a slave owning
society... more »
Sleep Disorders and Demons
Here we get more insight into the dream state and its behavior. The best
take home here is to become mindful during such an episode.
Better still, try to gain data.
It is startling to have a childlike image pop into a demon of all things.
Where in fact does this image come from? It is not part of the natural
pantheon nor is it really something the individual believes in.
Yet we have it represented all over through the centuries. Why not a dog?
Or anything else for that matter. This has no proper aspect in nature, yet
here we have an individual reporting it.
... more »
Cook up
It might look as though I spend my sad life trawling through Twitter, but I
promise I don’t.
I do however spend (too much) time scouring other websites and blogs, and I
get this irresistible urge to regurgitate things, but with a twist.
“Yes chef; with a tweest.”
I was sorry to see that Jon Donnison has been nominated for an award. No,
he hasn’t been awarded the honour of cooking for the banquet, but for
‘radio Journalism of the Year’. Obliquely, it *is* for a kind of cookery,
namely cooking up yet more animus towards Israel as if we hadn’t enough of
that already.
I’m beginning ... more »
Untitled
*Corps addressing another levee seepage issue, this time on lakefront levee*
*Tax committee members oppose Jindal’s anything-goes approach to unfunded
cuts ~Tyler Bridges, The Lens*
*Robert’s Fresh Market takes control of former Schwegmann’s site*
*Laumeier exhibit explores the shared history of St. Louis, New Orleans*
Your moment of Zen
Leshan Giant Buddha Scenic Area, China. [photo via Old Moss Woman]
Wall Street Was Right About Elizabeth Warren-- She's Holding Their Feet To The Fire
Wall Street financed the Republican campaign against Elizabeth Warren's run
for the Senate. After she won (54-46%), Wall Street went bonkers when there
was talk she might be put on the Senate Banking Committee. Wall Street has
spent billions (literally-- with a "b") making "friends: on Capitol Hill,
lobbying and giving legalistic bribes to Members of Congress (and not just
to Republicans, not by a long shot). Just since 1990 the
finance/insurance/real estate sector has given powerful Democratic senator
Chuck Schumer $18,946,291. Do you think they have some pull with him? In
her m... more »
Caleb Jones (MO - ALEC) Competing for NRA Scholarship to ALEC Annual Meeting
*Missouri Bill Seeks To Coerce Business Owners Into Allowing Guns On Their
Property *
A bill introduced by Missouri state Rep. Caleb Jones (R) would subject
business owners who post “no guns” signs to potentially costly lawsuits,
while immunizing businesses that allow guns from suits resulting from those
guns:
1. Any private business that displays signage which prohibits public
invitees, business visitors, and employees from carrying a concealed weapon
on the premises owned or occupied by such private business shall be liable
for any injury or damages incurred by such public i... more »
Boycott the Royal Bank ... and Amanda Lang - Part 4
"Information technology workers displaced in Canada are being replaced not
by cheap Indian workers but by better ones."
So says CBC's Amanda Lang, senior business correspondent for CBC News and* *good
cop to Kevin O'Leary's bad cop on the Lang and O'Leary Exchange, in
yesterday's Globe and Mail.
She wonders if Canadians have returned to 1990 or perhaps to "campaign
trail rhetoric in America" - so aghast is she that people are angry about
the Royal Bank in-and-outsourcing of Canadian jobs to iGATE in India.
In her rousing paeon to globalization and "the natural forces of
capit... more »
The Lessons RBC Should Teach Us
It's my bet that, when historians look back at this decade, they will point
to the temporary workers debacle as the incident which hastened Stephen
Harper's exit. They will note that what happened last week crystallized
something for Canadians -- the realization that Stephen Harper wasn't
working for them.
Not that temporary workers don't have their advantages. But last week
clarified who, exactly, were the advantaged. Michael Harris writes that the
government program is:
certainly a good thing for multinational corporations, a term Prime
Minister Harper often confuses with the... more »
Seemingly Unconnected Facts about a certain Chen Wei-ting
The Taipei Times had a great moment in its piece on a student charged with
violating the Social Order Maintenance Act for reporting about a kidnapping
attempt:
Chen, the administrator of the Facebook page “I live in Hsinchu City”
(我住新竹市), posted a message on March 28 warning that a man had allegedly
tried to kidnap a child in Hsinchu County, but the child’s family spotted
him and he ran off.
“The next day, I got a phone call from the neighborhood’s management
committee, asking me where I got the information. I said a Facebook user
passed the information to the ‘I live in Hsinchu Ci... more »
Explosive Device Found on HSR?
*Local puppies on the prowl. Locals sometimes warn us, owners of two black
dogs, that black dogs have the sweetest flesh and thus, we should be
careful lest they are kidnapped for a local dog meat restaurant.*
CNN reported last night:
The Taiwan High Speed Rail Corp. train stopped at Hsinchu City after
someone found the explosives in two pieces of luggage shortly after 9 a.m.,
according to police.
Police said the luggage was emitting white smoke, and people nearby could
smell gas. The setup included 5 liters of gasoline and an activated timer
device to trigger them, police said.
... more »
Warlords
Montreal Simon's post alerted me to the fact that 2014 is going to mark 100
years since the First World War. This is as good a time as any, then, for
me to say that Tim Cook's book *Warlords: Borden, Mackenzie King* *and
Canada's World Wars* is a good book.
The part about Borden and the First World War does a great job of showing
how that conflict really put Canada through the wringer. Not only did it
pit English against French, but also rural against urban and workers
against employers, like never before. Reading it, I felt like I was reading
about recent Canadian politics whil... more »
The Staggering Costs of Taiwan's Psuedoscience Stupidity
*Bamboo farm outside Taichung.*
My man Greg McCann, who works on tiger and forest preservation in SE Asia,
alerted me to this piece on Mongabay about this study on trade in Tokay
geckos, accounting for millions of deaths:
The study found that a spike in tokay gecko demand due to rumors that it
could cure HIV/AIDS was relatively short-lived, lasting from 2009 and early
2011. Nonetheless geckos are still traded in large numbers, with
over-collection impacting wild populations across much of the reptile's
range, especially in Thailand and Java.
The study notes that *Taiwan has declar... more »
Why is Cameron letting Labour, which last won 29% of the vote, gain 77% of the appointments? The Tory Diary
http://conservativehome.blogs.com/thetorydiary/2013/04/why-is-cameron-letting-labour-which-last-won-29-of-the-vote-gain-77-of-the-appointments.html
My
theory is that Conservative party doesn't realise that this is a war, a
war that socialism is winning.
6 Foods and Herbs for Arthritis and Other Inflammatory Pain
6 Foods and Herbs for Arthritis and Other Inflammatory Pain
by Paul Fassa
Natural Society, 13 April 2013
We’ve been conditioned to accept pharmaceutical prescriptions from doctors
or to buy over-the-counter (OTC) pharmaceuticals for pain relief. Some
prescriptions can be addictive and all of them have unhealthy, and
sometimes dangerous side effects. Many of these drugs are taken to treat
some type of inflammatory-related pain, especially that stemming from
arthritis. But there are plenty of foods and herbs that can be taken or
used to relieve this arthritic, inflammatory-relate... more »
Meet the Man Called ‘Crazy’ By Doctors Who Cured His Own Colon Cancer by Anthony Gucciardi
by Anthony Gucciardi
Natural Society, 12 April 2013
Telling your mainstream medical doctor that you’d like to forfeit
chemotherapy and instead adopt an organic lifestyle full of juicing and raw
nutrition to treat your own cancer could lead him or her to label you as
‘insane’, but it could also save your life. In the case of one man with
stage 3 colon cancer given a 60% chance to live for a maximum of five more
years under chemotherapy, he decided to forfeit chemo and venture into a
natural health lifestyle only to be more than satisfied 9 years later.
At 26 years of age, Chri... more »
mmm bacon
Don't tell my rabbi, but I love bacon... Even vegetarians love bacon, even
if they deny it!
The Awful State of US Punditry on the North Korea Crisis: Bill Richardson called Kim Il Sung ‘Kim Yun Sum,’ or something like that, on CNN Yesterday
I know what you’re thinking, I’m being a show-off area specialist, Asian
language names can be hard for anglophones (and vice versa), and who cares
about KIS anyway, because this crisis is about Kim Jong Un? All of that is
true of course, especially the first one, but come on… Richardson isn’t
just any old
Continue reading
The Most Persuasive Arguments for Legalizing Drugs
A retired U.S. police captain makes an utterly compelling case for
abandoning the war on drugs.
SYRIA: NEOCONS NOW UTTERLY CONFUSED AND DIVIDED OVER WHOM TO BACK
When the rebels began their revolution the neocons backed them and called
for the US to support the rebels just as happened in Libya. But from the
very start of the revolution it was destined to turn into a civil war – a
war that would attract foreign fighters, including jihadists and other
assorted Islamic fighters. They came with their years of fighting
experience and weapons scored from earlier ‘Spring Revolutions’ across
North Africa as well as from Iraq and elsewhere. They also came with
financial support from various Middle East nations including Saudi Arabia
and Qatar. As a ... more »
THE REAL JESUS?
www.smc-mb.net
The early Christians had various theories about Jesus.
Jesus did not become 'officially' divine until 325 AD.
This was when the Council of Nicaea, set up by the Roman emperor
Constantine, decided that Jesus, like many Roman Emperors, was divine.
Most scholars agree that Jesus did actually exist.
"Amy-Jill Levine states that ... 'there is a consensus of sorts on the
basic outline of Jesus' life' in that most scholars agree that Jesus was
baptized by John the Baptist, debated Jewish authorities on the subject of
God, performed some healings, gathered followers...."... more »
Business 360 6: Peace and Prosperity in Asia
* This is the article that I sent to B360 in Kathmandu late last month, for
their April 2013 issue.
---------
*Peace and Prosperity in Asia*
Asia is in a unique position in the world today in both economic and
political parameters. Economically, three of the four biggest economies in
the world by purchasing power parity (PPP) valuation of GDP are in Asia –
China, India and Japan, ranked 2nd, 3rd and 4th, respectively in 2012.
South Korea and Indonesia also ranked 12th and 15th in GDP size.
Among the fastest growing economies in the world are also in Asia, the five
countries mention... more »
Roger Ebert (1942–2013)
It's
hard to adjust to a world without Roger Ebert, not because he was the
most famous American film critic, but because he was amazingly prolific,
ubiquitous, a talented and smooth writer, reflective and honest, and
thus quite insightful. He had an extremely deep love of film, from the
moviegoing experience to the moviemaking process to the medium itself,
appreciating all its strengths,
GERMANY REJECTED THATCHER/REAGAN MODEL
*German children, in 1951, encounter Dwight Eisenhower and Vernon Walters*.
www.stripes.com
*Lead letter in the Financial Times:*
"Thatcher’s foes predicted that her policies would decimate the middle
class.
"They have been vindicated.
"A great deal of the economic prosperity of the Thatcher years was really
more because of the North Sea oil bonanza, rather than the Iron Lady’s
policies.
"Outside of the US, few nations have ever embraced Thatcher’s
slash-and-burn methods...
*"Germany, for example, still has some of the most powerful unions in the
world, as well as a heavily ... more »
Key to Peace in Korea - Remove US Presence
*April 14, 2013 *(AltThaiNews-Tony Cartalucci) - On March 26, 2010, the
ROKS Cheonan is hit by what appears to be a German-made torpedo, sinks
while claiming the lives of 46 South Korean sailors. The world, America at
the lead, was quick to point its finger at North Korea before South Korea
itself ruled them out as a suspect. North Korea adamantly insisted it was
not behind the attack, and despite their paranoid and isolated posture,
little beyond insanity could serve as a motive.
Despite evidence adding up otherwise, to no one's surprise a joint
"international" investigation by t... more »
April 12, 1973
I'll start the day, for a little context, with Tom Wicker's NYT op-ed.
Wicker was very much an establishment columnist -- a liberal, and no friend
of Nixon, to be sure, but still, reading him gives some of the context of
what people were thinking at the time:
--
For by now it is clear that these Nixon men are not merely trying to cover
up whatever responsibility they may have for the Watergate affair. They are
the same men who have gone to unprecedented lengths to seize the power of
the purse from Congress, who are conducting unauthorized war in Cambodia in
contradiction of the Pr... more »
Sunday Classics preview: A haunting little piece that tells us less than we would think about its composer's roots
*Max Bruch (1838-1920)*
*by Ken*
You might think that the haunting brief Adagio (8:53 in the
Piatigorsky-Ormandy recording, 9:56 in the Starker-Dorati) we're hearing
tonight, based on one of the most solemn of Hebrew chants, is a product of
its composer's deeply felt heritage. But as Paul Affelder explained in his
note for the Starker-Dorati-Mercury recording, this is far from the case.
It is a sort of musical compliment to Max Bruch's long devotion to folk
music that what is considered one of his most representative works should
have sprung from an alien tradition. Along with his... more »
Media culpa: Margaret Wente and quotes: Who said that?
Media culpa: Margaret Wente and quotes: Who said that?:
'via Blog this'
Carol Wainio providing more quality control for the Globe. And God love
her, because the brain trust on Front Street obviously won't do it.
*Related posts:*
- Carol Wainio and a couple more Wente-isms: Nothing to see here
- Wente, the Gelber, and the Globe: more quality control from Carol
Wainio
- Media culpa: The Globe and Mail: Driving home a point about plagiarism
This Blog Features Only The Very Best Economists That Money CAN'T Buy. These include Republicans as well as Democrats. Their common denominators are deep understanding of macro economics and intellectual honesty.
------------------------------
* the**REALnews
Permalink*
***Obama's "Cat Food" Social Security Reform*
Michael Hudson: Obama's "bargain" on social security reform will push more
retirees into poverty in exchange for a minor increase in high end income
tax - a class that receives most revenue from capital gains - April 11, 13
More at The Real News
*Bio*
Michael Hudson is a Distinguished Research Professor of Economics at the
University of Missouri, Kansas City. His two newest books are “The Bubble
and ... more »
Congratulations, Raj
My Harvard colleague Raj Chetty has won the John Bates Clark Medal.
Even DUMMIES & IDIOTS Are Catching On To FAKE TERRORISM & THE RADIO NEWS BRIEFS & The False Left/Right Paradigm
Here we go again! Our FAKE government, FAKE news, FAKE liberals
(Democrats), & FAKE conservatives (Republicans) are at it again! With more
FAKE terrorism, FAKE news, & FAKE left/right "fighting".
They rolled out our discredited FAKE "terrorist" Adam Gadahn for GUN
CONTROL. I've mentioned and posted many videos of FAKE Jewish "terrorist"
Adam Gadahn on the blog here over many years. By rolling him out for
ANYTHING, it is a insult to our intelligence. It's ARROGANCE to think we're
this stupid.
I've posted this video about FAKE media "terrorist" Adam Gadahn over the
years, oh, about ... more »
Christy Clark, Canada`s Newest Federal Conservative
Sweet justice, karma, incompetence, missed opportunity, misguided, advisers
from a Conservative hell-hole, whichever line you like, my smile beams from
ear to ear..
What a great NDP fiscal plan, what timing, small tax hikes on big
corporations(overdue), and the one demographic that still supports the
corrupt BC liberals is the well-to-do rich fat cats, they will see an
income tax increase.... Broadening the base of the carbon tax to include
big oil and gas flaring LNG companies is fantastic too, we get ripped off
at the pump no matter what the barrel price, if the barrel price rise... more »
Graph of the Day: Bitcoin market capitalization, May 2012 - April 2013
[image: Bitcoin market capitalization, May 2012–April 2013. Graphic:
http://blockchain.info]
By Felix Salmon
3 April 2013
(Medium) – A few days ago, the value of all the bitcoins in the world blew
past $1 billion for the first time ever. That’s an impressive achievement,
for a purely virtual currency backed by no central bank or other authority.
It’s also temporary: we’re in the middle of a bitcoin bubble right now, and
it’s only a matter of time before the bubble bursts.
There are a couple of reasons why the bubble is sure to burst. The first is
just that it’s a bubble, and any... more »
Acid reflux provides a defence to Over 80
*R. v. Coffey*, 2013 ONCJ 178 holds:
*[32] *I find that I accept Mr. Coffey's evidence that he
was actually experiencing acid reflux symptoms during the breath tests. I
found his evidence credible and he was unshaken in cross-examination.
Having come to this conclusion, I find that it has been established that
there was a real possibility that some alcohol may have been in Mr.
Coffey's oral cavity when the tests were taken. There was therefore a real
potential for false readings from the instrument.
Here's a link:
http://www.canlii.ca/en/on/oncj/doc/2013/2013... more »
MARGARET THATCHER: GREAT STATESWOMAN OR WARMONGERING NEO-FASCIST?
In life, Margaret Thatcher succeeded in dividing a nation, and it seems in
death, decades after leaving politics, she divides a nation yet again.
Some say that the fact that she is so divisive is what makes her great.
That may be so, but is that really accolade? Being ‘great’ because one is
divisive is hardly a plus. As for being called a ‘stateswoman’, I think
not. Great statesman/women bring their peoples together; not polarise them
as Thatcher did. Great statespeople don’t drag their country into knee-jerk
wars overseas and nor do they abuse the working classes and the
impoverish... more »
Some straight people really are grasping that LGBT people really are entitled to basic human rights like hospital visitations -- but lots of them aren't
*Research Medical Center's behavior would have been revolting and
unacceptable even if there weren't any applicable law, but in fact there is.
*
*by Ken*
I suppose you could look at it the other way: that it represents progress
of a sort when racists and bigots get crazy when you call them racists and
bigots. Once upon a time they wouldn't have given a damn.
Same deal now with anti-LGBT bigots. Where once they would have been proud
to be called that, now more and more of them bristle at the notion that
they're hate-mongers. They're just deeply immersed in their faith, they
insist.... more »
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