English: Protests outside of the United Nations in New York City when Mahmoud Ahmadinejad addressed the governing body at the end of his first term as President of Iran. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
English: Protests outside of the United Nations in New York City when Mahmoud Ahmadinejad addressed the governing body at the end of his first term as President of Iran. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
NAAS The Probable Domincan Site (Photo credit: A (defunct) Project of Fergal Mac Eoinin)
Luttrells tower, Calshot (Photo credit: IMP1)Guest Post - Are Your Finances Being Fed on by Vampire Appliances?
All over the UK homeowners are waging a war against energy waste, investing
in insulation, LED light bulbs and doing everything they can to try and
eliminate the major causes of inflated household bills.
However, there is another enemy in the fight to save money that is hiding
in the corners of most rooms in the house, feeding on your electricity and
raising that energy bill - 'vampire' appliances.
What is 'Vampire' Power?
Known by a number of different names - including standby power, phantom
load and leaking electricity - 'vampire' power refers to the electrical
power that is cons... more »
George Stephanopoulos Thinks Iran is Enriching Weapons-Grade Uranium
Iran's
new foreign minister Mohammad Javad Zarif appeared on ABC's "This Week"
and addressed a number of the same questions every Iranian official is
asked again and again in interviews by the American media.
George Stephanopoulos, who effectively conducted the same interview with
former Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad three years in a row,
asked Zarif about possible concessions Iran is
Some Thoughts on Election Season
It's pretty hard to miss all the election signs around town the past few
days, a sure indication that we are now in the midst of a municipal
election campaign. I must admit I haven't really paid all that much
attention to politics at the local level though I know I probably should.
I've spent much of my life in small towns and cities just seem a lot more
complex with more competing issues. Throw in fact that we face a great
deal of infrastructure challenges here as the region continues to grow as
well as the fact that this is, well, Fort McMurray (land of opportunity if
you're lo... more »
No, non, nyet!
We can all find something to criticize in the way civilization is going.
"No, non, nyet," we say all day long, on blogs, forums, and social media.
But the Buddhist principle of "right saying" suggests another approach we
can try, more closely related to a saying I've often heard: "Is it *kind*?
Is it *true*? is it *necessary*? Then go ahead and say it."
In a tree-planting labor cooperative of which I was a member in the
1970s-80s, we had a practice (consciously borrowed from Marxism), used in
crew meetings or the twelve-crew General Meetings, of "Criticism/Self
Criticism."
In a ... more »
Is Montreal an Object Lesson for Canada?
Montreal's atrophied infrastructure should stand as an object lesson on
political responsibility for our federal government and every provincial
and municipal government from coast to coast to coast.
*To comprehend the root causes behind the extensive rot plaguing Montreal’s
infrastructure network — a circulatory system comprising 6,000 kilometres
of roads and 9,000 kilometres of water mains and sewage pipes — it is
useful to think of it as a car.*
*Spend minor amounts on oil changes and other preventive maintenance and
your vehicle will age gracefully, says Gabriel Assaf, profess... more »
Shelby County's Mayor, Mark Luttrell, Leading Public Effort to Privatize Head Start in Memphis
In 2010 State Democratic Chairman, Chip Forrester, said this about Shelby
County mayor, Mark Luttrell:
"He's a right-wing ideologue whose two planks are to build a bigger jail
[now #10 in the U.S.] and to out-source county jobs. He's attempting to
cozy up to Democrats, and he's not clear about his Republican pedigree.
There's a sense that Mark Luttrell is a moderate, somebody who stays in the
middle. That's not the case."
The bigger jail, Luttrell got as sheriff. A really big one. Forbes, in
fact, lists Shelby County Jail as #10 largestin the nation. Luttrell is
now leading ... more »
NETANYAHU AND IRAN: WHAT NEXT?
There is just one of two scenarios that can be deduced from Israeli Prime
Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s obsessive stance on Iran: he either genuinely
believes that Iran wants to build a nuclear weapon specifically to launch
at Israel or he has some ulterior motive for wanting the US to attack Iran.
An examination of the two scenarios makes it clear that of the two, the
second is far more plausible.
For decades Netanyahu, his political supporters in Israel and their neoconservative
supporters in the US and elsewhere around the world have insisted that Iran
has a nuclear weapons progr... more »
PENTAGON PROPAGANDA
The Department of Defense (Endless War) has turned its huge public affairs
program into an offensive propaganda campaign being run by the same
contractors that spy on the world through the intelligence agencies,
according to a DCBureau-National Security News Service (NSNS) investigation.
Military and foreign policy has been privatized in the US. The Pentagon's
#1 job is to serve as the primary resource extraction service for corporate
globalization. We've got to nationalize military production and convert it
to sustainable technology production. Wind turbines, rail systems, sola... more »
"A Look to the Heavens"
“Have you ever seen the Pleiades star cluster? Even if you have, you
probably have never seen it like this: all dusty. Perhaps the most famous
star cluster on the sky, the bright stars of the Pleiades can be seen
without binoculars from even the depths of a light-polluted city. With a
long exposure from a dark location, though, the dust cloud surrounding the
Pleiades star cluster becomes very evident. The below exposure took about
30 hours and covers a sky area several times the size of the full moon.
*Click image for larger size.*
Also known as the Seven Sisters and M45, the Pl... more »
"Promise Me..."
“Promise me you'll always remember: You're braver than you believe,
and stronger than you seem, and smarter than you think.”
- Christopher Robin to “Pooh”
Chet Raymo, "Life"
* "Life"*
by Chet Raymo
"ACCTCCTCTAATGTCA
ACCTCCCCTAATGTCA"
"The first string of letters above represents an actual sequence of amino
acids on human chromosome 10. The second string is the corresponding
sequence for an elephant. I copy the strings from a New Yorker article on
Neanderthals by Elizabeth Kolbert. She tosses them in more or less at
random just to show what a DNA sequence looks like. Still, they jump off
the page. Humans and elephants. A four-letter code.
Four molecules called neucleotides, arranged in pairs along a spiraling
ladder, the double-helix - adenine, th... more »
Rumi, "Never Alone..."
"On this earth as beyond this earth you never are alone,
But are in constant company of things and beings
That take a share in your life as you take a share in theirs.
As you seek them, so they seek you.
As you partake of them, so they partake of you."
- Rumi, “The Book of Mirdad”
Kahlil Gibran, “Children of Gods, Scions of Apes”
*“Children of Gods, Scions of Apes”*
* *by Kahlil Gibran
"All that you see was and is for your sake. The numerous books, uncanny
markings, and beautiful thoughts are the ghosts of souls who preceded you.
The speech they weave is a link between you and your human siblings. The
consequences that cause sorrow and rapture are the seeds that the past has
sown in the field of the soul, and by which the future shall profit.
My Soul gave me good counsel, teaching me to love what the people abhor and
to show good will toward the one they hate. It showed me that Love is a
property not... more »
Turkish Court Case regarding Syrian 'Jihadis' aka NATO/Israeli mercs procuring chemical weapons
Once one trudges through the heavy handed spin ,contained in numerous
paragraphs, to finally reach the actual subject of this Al Monitor article*,
dated September 30/13: Turkish Court Investigates Syrian Jihadist Use of
Chemicals* we all get to read about NATO/Israel's hired killers ability and
success at getting the ingredients to make a noxious, toxic chemical weapon.
Not that it will be a real surprise to anyone who has read here for quite
some time now.
Why? Because, I had covered this incident in Turkey and additional arrests
made in Iraq!
*So, first the latest! Then it will ... more »
Proposal denied. But thanx for playing.....
So the US Corporation, I mean "government" is going to close down at
midnight tonight.
Are you really all that shocked?
The games that these "public servants" have been playing have been all
about their personal and party-line agenda's and nothing about budgets or
spending or cuts or even Obamacare. Since the beginning of this year, with
the whole ramped up Main Stream Media Circus over the next year budget...
with the drama queens pumping out the fear porn and their threats of what
will happen if suchinsuch doesn't happen by this day... I mean this day, no
actually two tuesdays f... more »
So let’s shut down the govt!
There’s one simple way for the US Government not to be shut down, but it’s
the one thing that’s never going to happen: for the US Government to stop
overspending and avoid going over the debt ceiling again.
But that’s just not going to happen, is it. Because both major US political
parties are infected with the overspending bacillus.
So, instead of actually stopping the overspending, which is what the
existence of a debt ceiling is actually designed to encourage, every form
of political flunky in town—like every conjuror offering a lesson in
misdirection—wants to talk about somet... more »
Call me a simpleton, but I love me some Mailbox!
I just resubscribed to The Mailbox Magazine. Prior to graduate school and
the whole intellectual thing, I used to love getting new issues. It always
seemed like I received something right after I taught it. Now, I’m NOT
liking all the Common Core alignment nonsense. And I know all of my former
higher education colleagues […]
"Amber..."
"Here we are, trapped in the amber of the moment. There is no why."
- Kurt Vonnegut
The Daily "Near You?"
Horton, Michigan, USA. Thanks for stopping by.
The Vatican Bank to shut all Foreign Embassy Accounts to halt money laundering - apparently in contrast to the US and Europe , Of course , the question is whether the Vatican is taking money laundering seriously , or is this just a tactic to divert attention from allegations from disgraced Prelate Nunzio Scarano ?
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2013-09-30/vatican-bank-shut-all-embassy-accounts-halt-money-laundering
Vatican Bank To Shut All Embassy Accounts To Halt Money Laundering
[image: Tyler Durden's picture]
Submitted by Tyler Durden on 09/30/2013 19:15 -0400
- Iran
- Iraq
- Italy
- Reuters
- Switzerland
inShare
Followng Pope Francis' demand that the Vatican Bank review its procedures, Reuters
reports that the bank is *likely to close all accounts held by foreign
embassies, following concerns about large cash deposits and withdrawals by
the missions of Iran, Ira... more »
"No Bragging Point..."
“It shouldn’t be a bragging point that “Oh, I don’t get involved in
politics,” as if that makes you somehow cleaner. No, that makes you
derelict of duty in a republic. Liars and panderers in government would
have a much harder time of it if so many people didn’t insist on their
right to remain ignorant and blindly agreeable.”
– Bill Maher
Rodney Dickens: Nothing good will result from the Reserve Bank’s lending restrictions”
Economist Rodney Dickens reckons nothing good will result from the Reserve
Bank’s lending restrictions that come into force today.
Having played a major part in fuelling the speculative bubble in the
housing market in the 2000s with low interest rates, the Reserve Bank’s
latest actions are partly driven by a desire not to repeat the same
mistake. Rather than resort to the tried-and-true remedy of hikes in the
Official Cash Rate (OCR), Governor Wheeler, like his predecessors, wants to
try a new experiment, with bank lending restrictions being the new toy this
time around. In the ... more »
Yanis Varoufakis - discusses what Merkel's third term means for Europe ! How o deal with Greece fully minding that Portugl and Ireland will be watching , with Spain and Italy lurking in the bailout wings for their dollop of euros to address still hidden insolvent banking systems ? And how long will the German people sign off on bailout bonanzas for the peripheral nations while facing ever rising taxes at home ? Yanis offers his modest proposal for ending the European crisis ( which naturally will be ignored )
http://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2013/09/yanis-varoufakis-what-merkels-third-term-means-for-europe.html
MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 30, 2013
Yanis Varoufakis: What Merkel’s Third Term Means for Europe
Yves here. Varoufakis gives a high-level overview of the political and
economic constraints on Merkel in dealing with the festering Eurocrisis.
While many of the political issues have received decent coverage in the
English language press, the nature and severity of Germany’s economic
challenges have gotten scant notice.
*By Yanis Varoufakis a professor of economics at the University of Athens.
Cro... more »
Untitled
*Domeland Security ~Library Chronicles*
Why Party Conferences Still Matter
I've been meaning to write an inconsequential reply to Labour MP turned
ex-blogger Tom Harris about party conferences. He writes in last week's *
Telegraph* about how party conference is "not for him" and that as a
phenomenon they're largely useless nowadays anyway.
He does make some useful points. Conference really is for the most
committed of political bods. Given the huge prices charged for visitors'
passes (delegates are funded by their constituency parties/associations),
you might say party conference is the province of them with more money than
sense. You can't disagree with h... more »
Government Shutdown: "Rebels Without a Clue"
* *
*"Rebels Without a Clue"*
By Paul Krugman
“This may be the way the world ends — not with a bang but with a temper
tantrum. O.K., a temporary government shutdown — which became almost
inevitable after Sunday’s House vote to provide government funding only on
unacceptable conditions — wouldn’t be the end of the world. But a U.S.
government default, which will happen unless Congress raises the debt
ceiling soon, might cause financial catastrophe. Unfortunately, many
Republicans either don’t understand this or don’t care.
Let’s talk first about the economics. After the governmen... more »
Elsewhere: Boehner, Cruz, more
Today's TAP column was about how John Boehner is far more secure in his job
than people seem to think.
Over the weekend at Salon, I argued that Ted Cruz didn't get closer to the
White House this week; it's one thing to annoy other Senators, but it's
another to lead your party off a cliff in a very visible way.
And at PP today, I pointed out again that if 25 or so sane Republicans
refuse to vote for the Cruzified CR, the fight would likely be over.
Later this afternoon, there was some reporting that exactly that might
happen -- in fact, that the latest CR (which has the Vitter Amen... more »
PAYING FOR YOUR OWN SURVEILLANCE
Due to fiscal crisis in the US the NSA would like you to help pay for your
own surveillance. Please buy these phones and help out the NSA.
Why you can’t take the "slam" out of "Islam"
[image: tvr's picture]*In recent weeks, followers of the so-called Religion
of Peace have slaughtered hundreds of innocents in Pakistan, in Kenya, and
in Nigeria. And that’s just in recent weeks--the litany of Islamist
slaughter just in the last half-century alone is a long one. Islam was
born with a sword, and has a history soaked in blood. This guest post by Terry
Verhoeven (right) explains why this is inevitable.*
Islam isn’t alone in its barbarism. Christendom has its own history of
barbarous totalitarianism, from which it has since largely recovered—so why
can't Islam have i... more »
MILITARY SPACE PLANE
Air Force mini-shuttle X-37B: The U.S. Air Force is preparing to
consolidate "mysterious mini-shuttle" operations at Kennedy Space Center or
Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. Analysts contend the military
space plane is part of the Pentagon's effort to develop the capability to
strike anywhere in the world with a conventional warhead in less than an
hour - known as Prompt Global Strike.The development of these new space
planes is one reason that the Obama administration and the Pentagon are
eager to reduce nuclear weapons stockpiles in Russia and China in the years
to c... more »
TIME FOR NEW SYSTEM
You might be surprised to learn that 42% of Americans believe that
capitalism isn't working out so well for us? According to a Brookings
Institution’s July survey, more than a quarter of Americans say capitalism
is working “not too well” while 16% say capitalism is working “not at all
well.” The key point is that there is no democracy in capitalism. The
people, the workers, have virtually no say in decision making at the
workplace nor in the halls of government. The economic system and the
political system are rigged and the public is getting tired of it. These
numbers show tha... more »
The most ignorant or deliberately offensive tweet ever?
wotsit4 (@wotsit4) tweeted at 0:31 PM on Mon, Sep 30, 2013:
@notasheepagoat were it not for zionists there'd be no Middle East problem
(https://twitter.com/wotsit4/status/384641697738932224)
That's is either someone with no knowledge of the thousand plus years of
enmity between Shia and Sunni, the other sectarian fighting amongst Muslims
in the Middle East or indeed any cognisance of the Middle East, OR it's
someone with a real problem with Israel and the desire to blame the Jews
for everything.
Either way not my sort of person.
Mainstream Media's Ongoing Misinformation Campaign on Iran
NBC
Nightly News anchor Brian Williams
As the United States and Iran carefully embark on a renewed push for
diplomacy, including direct contact between the presidents of each
country for the first time in 34 years, the mainstream media continues
to stymie any chance for an honest assessment of Iran's nuclear program,
engaging instead in the misinformation, misrepresentation and
misleading
Economics for Real People: ‘Productivity, Density and Auckland’s Urban Future’
*This week, the Auckland Uni Economics Group has another guest speaker for
you to enjoy (and question). Here’s the news…*
Hi everyone,
This Thursday, we are excited to be having Geoff Cooper, the Chief
Economist of The Auckland Council, come and speak to us.
[image: Auckland business confidence surges.]
*About the Event:
**Productivity, Density and Auckland’s Urban Future:*
At the turn of the 20th Century, just 40% of New Zealanders lived in
cities. Since then, nine in every ten New Zealanders have chosen to live in
an urban area. Despite the evolution of various technologies r... more »
Explaining The Political Factors Behind The Increasing Violence In Iraq, An Interview With Maria Fantappie, Iraq Researcher At The International Crisis Group
Violence in Iraq has escalated to the worse levels seen since 2008. The
insurgency is making a comeback, while the central government is repeating
many of the mistakes made by the United States after the 2003 invasion. The
cause of this crisis is a breakdown in the country’s politics. Members of
the Sunni community feel increasingly alienated from the government,
because their national leadership has failed, their local politicians are
ignored, Baghdad has focused the security forces upon their areas, and the
protest movement has not achieved any tangible results. To help explain ... more »
Government shutdown, Obamacare, from the combox, and various and other sundry thoughts...
*because I have a house to clean.*
I know all good blogger advice is to dole out your posts bit by bit (byte
by byte?) I don't know about you, but I don't have time for all that
nonsense. I have a house to clean.
So here it all is, in one big blob that you can peruse at your leisure.
*Government Shutdown*
No biggie. Can't go to a federal park? Go to a local park instead.
*Obamacare*
Tuesday is Oct. 1st. Does anyone really believe that the interwebs are
going to light up with all these poor uninsured people demanding their
health insurance? Here's what's really going to hap... more »
Could It Be An All-Night Ping Pong Party in Congress?
So far today, the Senate tabled the CR version that the House passed
Saturday night, and House Republicans are meeting and reportedly are going
to pass a third version of their anti-Obamacare CR.
Reporters are tweeting that Republicans are coming out of their meeting a
lot less enthusiastic than they were on Saturday. They surely know that
their new CR is DOA in the Senate; perhaps they intend to pass this one,
have it get sent back again, and then surrender. Perhaps they can't even
hold together for one more futile round.
But maybe not!
Which brings up one possibility.
Both sides... more »
Minimum wages laws explained in one flowchart
The argument for a so-called “living wage” is simply the same old argument
for legally enforced minimum wages, only this time on steroids. Which
means it makes even less economic sense. Despite that, New Labour have
decided it makes political sense since, presumably, few have the economic
argument at their fingertips—so here, to cut out and keep, is a handy flow
chart summarising the arguments for and against.
The author of the flowchart, Stephen Hicks, has much more here on each of
the steps.
Content is copyright PC.BlogSpot.Com © Please contact author for permission
to republis... more »
Backbone of the BBC
Here's the ever-inspired Clive James on the BBC's best-known silverback:
So successful are the vertebrates that one of them is making huge
television programmes at the age of 87. David Attenborough was back yet
again with *Rise of Animals: Triumph of the Vertebrates* (BBC Two). Every
vertebrate has a backbone: the device which best expresses “how you and I
came to be what we are”.
That statement might apply to Attenborough but I’m bound to say that the
spectacle of his undying energy left me with no backbone at all. Dissolved
by envy, I just lay there like a puddle of plankton whi... more »
Mike Pence’s Faith-Based Quest to Corporatize Preschool
By Doug Martin
Even though Indiana does not fund preschool and even failed to pass a law
for a preschool pilot program recently, Mike Pence has a newly-formed early
childhood learning advisory committee which doesn’t seem to be meant to
help the situation. In fact, the advisory committee reflects a free-market
biblical capitalism and should shock true Christians and parents alike. Instead
of funding full public early learning initiatives in Indiana, this
committee appears to be Pence’s faith-based quest to corporatize preschool
and hand out taxpayer money to Christian Right groups... more »
Why Poverty and Mass Incarceration Do Not Matter in the U.S. | the becoming radical
Why Poverty and Mass Incarceration Do Not Matter in the U.S. | the becoming
radical.
Some “Helpful” Advice
So, today in my email, I get this little “gem” – some “helpful” advice
from my BOCES Center for implementing the Math Modules. OH JOYOUS DAY!! I
am SO thankful that not only has NYSED told me exactly what to say, now my
BOCES Center is giving me step by step advice about implementing the […]
Don't Worry: It's Only a Chemically-Induced Coma
[image:
http://www.hollywoodrepublican.net/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/uncle_sam_in_hospital1.jpg]
(By *American Zen*'s Mike Flannigan, on loan from Ari Goldstein.)
Except, unfortunately, the chemical used in this case was alcohol.
Perhaps nothing more indelibly delineates the sheer moral turpitude of
the right wing than doing a Google search using only the keywords
"Congress" and "booze" and coming up with nearly two and a half million
hits. Yet now our federal legislative body and alcohol are forever
inextricably entwined as if they should be. And even as the Republic... more »
“6th-Grader Terrorizes Students With Horrific Drawing”
* *
*“6th-Grader Terrorizes Students With Horrific Drawing”*
by Prr Lzkdrqxcwm
“A sixth-grader from Deer Trail, Colorado has been suspended for drawing an
inappropriate picture. The drawing did not include any gun, but showed a
checkpoint backed up by a SWAT team carrying flower pots while an unarmed
drone hovered above. The suspended girl, whose name is kept secret at the
request of her family, said she “just wanted to draw something about social
justice, the environment, and the glory of government.”
An editorial in the British newspaper The Guardian virulently attacked the
sch... more »
Untitled
*Levee authority, Corps of Engineers in standoff over ownership of
hurricane protection system ~Bob Marshall, The Lens*
Psychology: “The Bystander Effect”
* *
*“The Bystander Effect”*
by smartknowledgeu
“In the 1960s, Columbia University researchers, John Darley and Bibb
Latané, conducted a now famous study of a phenomenon that they coined “the
Bystander Effect” in which they sought to prove that people made their most
important decisions by observing social cues of their peers and would not
dissent from these cues if the majority of their peers conformed to a
uniform “norm”. To test their thesis, Darley and Latané falsely informed
subjects, the “marks”, that they were being recruited to take part in a
study about the many problem... more »
Has bogus “he said-she said” reporting led to the impending shutdown?
*MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 30, 2013*
*Salon tries to offer examples:* Has bogus “he said-she said” reporting led
to the (impending) government shutdown?
That’s what it says in the headline to a new piece at Salon. The piece,
which strikes us as very weak, is reprinted from BillMoyers.com.
The piece is lousy work. It’s the kind of work in which liberals copy Fox
News techniques while lacking the skill of Fox News.
Without any question, the coming shutdown is idiocy in action. That said,
should “Beltway reporters” be blamed? This is the way Joshua Holland begins
his piece:
HOLLAND (9/30/13... more »
If Our Premiers Only Had the Courage of Our First Nations
Murray Dobbins weighs in on our prime minister's obvious contempt for
democracy.
*Investment is always portrayed as a good thing, period. It creates jobs,
increases tax revenues, grows the economy. But the conditions under which
investment takes place can quickly cancel out many of those benefits. Just
look at any Third World country and the other side of the coin: starvation
wages, terrible working conditions, horrendous pollution, environmental
destruction and political corruption.*
*Since signing the pattern agreement NAFTA, Canada has signed 24 of these
deals, mostly with small... more »
The Story of the Jews (Part 5)
The BBC Two continuity announcer introducing last night's final episode of
Simon Schama's *The Story of the Jews* described it as "a very personal
journey".
The four earlier episodes were always prefaced by the word "personal", but
this was the first time the phrase "*very* personal" had been used. Why?
Well, perhaps because this was the episode the BBC most wanted to keep
itself at arm's length from and the use of the words "very personal" made
it very clear that 'THIS IS SIMON SCHAMA'S VIEW, NOT THE BBC'S!!'
Sadly, a personal take on the history of the modern state of Israel was... more »
Quite a good line from George Osborne re Ed Miliband
"If you want to know the consequences of an Ed Miliband premiership, just
look at the plan of the man who knows him best.
His brother - David Miliband:
1. leave Parliament
2. leave politics
3. leave the country
4. dedicate your life to 'International Rescue'
David and Ed Miliband, the greatest sibling rivalry since the Bible - Cain
and not very Abel."
South Korea Pulls Lockheed's Fat Out of The Fire, But What Does It Truly Say?
Some last-minute arm twisting persuaded the South Korea government to
overturn the decision to buy modified Boeing F-15 Stealth Eagles in favour
of Lockheed's overdue, overpriced and under-performing F-35. But it's the
backstory that's really fascinating.
One would have thought that Seoul would have proclaimed that the threat of
the irrational North Koreans demanded nothing less than Lockheed's stealthy
light attack bomber would do. You might have expected that but the South
Korean government chose to put the spotlight on another, more serious
threat - Japan.
*"The air force, wh... more »
Catch of the Day
An excellent one from Philip Klein, who argues that conservatives are now
overcompensating for being too easy on Bush-era Republicans by being
unrealistically harsh towards Obama-era Republicans:
Republicans can prevent the passage of gun control, as they have. But when
it comes to the current debate, many conservatives have been arguing that
if Republicans cannot get Obama to wipe out or seriously undermine the
signature legislative accomplishment of his presidency, the only reason is
that Republicans lack sufficient courage. And that's a completely absurd
expectation.
Read, as th... more »
Photos Joni Tucker: Long Walk 4: Indigenous Sovereignty in Wichita Kansas
.
.
Photo by Joni Taylor Tucker, thank you!
Photo 1: September 29, 2013: Longest Walk 4: Circle Gathering for Rally
at the "Keeper of the Plains." Michael Lane discusses Indigenous
Sovereignty with supporters.
Photo 2: Longest Walk 4 Supporter Kent Rowe of Wichita State University
and the Sierra Club, Wichita Kansas Chapter, passionately speaking about
the
“Most young Canadians I talk to are going to spend most of their lives out of the country.”
Dear former Liberal comrades, there's your problem.
You're so profoundly skewed that you anointed a guy like Count Michael
Ignatieff your leader. A guy who travels in circles where '*most young
Canadians*' are going to spend '*most of their lives*' out of the country.
Of course this is the same jackass who put Stephen Harper "*on probation*."
Remember that? I'll bet you wish you didn't.
Most young Canadians I talk to are either trying to find a job or just
hoping they can hang on to the job they've got.
Game of Chicken and the US Government Shutdown: What Game Theory Can Tell Us About Likely Outcomes
As I’m sure all astute Duck readers are aware, today marks a critical day
in the US House and Senate – if no deal is struck today on a spending bill,
the US government will shut down at one minute after midnight on Tuesday
morning. The issue at the heart of the controversy: a series
Continue reading
Where sentence to be imposed exceeds range suggested opportunity for further submissions appropriate
R. v. Stewart, 2013 ONCA 579:
[4] As to sentence, in our view, the trial judge made several
errors in principle. She exceeded the sentence sought by the Crown by a
substantial amount, over two years, without giving the parties an
opportunity to make submissions as to why the range suggested by counsel
was inappropriate and failed to provide reasons for such a significant
departure from the suggested range. Further, the sentence was manifestly
excessive.
The Busy Girl's Guide to Makeup and $200 Sephora Giftcard Giveaway
We have the most fabulous giveaway today. McKenzie from Girl Loves Glam's
makeup book is finally here. It is called The Busy Girl's Guide to Makeup.
McKenzie is about twenty kinds of fabulous, so I knew I needed to get my
hands on her book soon! I am so excited to be able to be part of a giveaway
that will not only give you the chance to win the new book, but $200 to
Sephora!
[image: The Busy Girl's Guide to Makeup book]
Mckenzie says:
Doing your makeup doesn't have to be scary, time consuming, or a total
chore anymore. This book is full of great tips and tutorials to help you
... more »
Department of the Army Memorandum 05 Nov 2001: Collecting Information on U.S. Persons
Department of the Army
Office of the Deputy Chief of Staff for Intelligence
Washington, DC 20310-1001
05 Nov 2001
DAMI-CDC (25-30q)
MEMORANDUM FOR SEE DISTRIBUTION
SUBJECT: Collecting Information on U.S. Persons
1. The 11 September 2001 terrorist attack on America presented the United
States and the U.S. Army with unprecedented challenges. Both our nation and
our Army are responding vigorously to these challenges and will ultimately
be victorious over international terrorism. Achieving this victory will not
be easy, however. Our adversary is not a clearly defined nation-state with
fix... more »
Censored News: 24 Hours to Raise Funds to Cover Peltier Tribunal!
Censored News has 24 hours to raise $600 to cover Peltier Tribunal
UPDATE: Thanks so much to NAIS, LPDOC Chapter -Flanders, Belgium for
providing funding for coverage.
By Brenda Norrell
Censored News
The Peltier Tribunal
MALL SUSPECT RELEASED.
*British citizen, and possible MI6 agent, Sharif Ahmed Abdirizak, who
arrested as he tried to flee from Kenya to Britain. http://www.dailymail.*
*
**Sharif Ahmed Abdirizak, who was suspected of being involved in the mall
attack in Kenya, has been released without charge.*
British citizen Sharif Ahmed Abdirizak was arrested by the Kenyan
authorities as he tried to fly out of Kenya after the Westgate attack.
According to the Kenyan authorities, he was carrying maps of the mall on
his laptop.
*http://www.dailymail.*
"The arrest has been downplayed by Britain, with High Commissioner in... more »
Harper government legalizing marijuana farms
That is something coming from the conservative government – especially
Harper regime.
*The Conservative government is launching a $1.3-billion free market in *
*medical marijuana this Tuesday, eventually providing an expected 450,000 *
*Canadians with quality weed. (Pawel Dwulit/Canadian Press)*
Read CBC story here.
Monday Linkage
Gunmen killed scores of students in their sleep at Yobe State College of
Agriculture in Nigeria early Sunday morning. via Adam Jones on FB, it is
interesting to note this massacre was reportedly sex-selective, with only
young males targeted – what Jones has referred to elsewhere as
‘gendercidal‘. The NYTimes’ Sunday expose on accidental guns
Continue reading
Somehow, Salon saw Cruz getting schooled!
*MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 30, 2013*
*This is what actually happened:* In this morning’s column, Paul Krugman
says our current situation is “crazy.” It’s hard to deny that it is.
Consider what’s happening as we look ahead to a shutdown, then perhaps to a
debt limit debacle. As he closes his column, Krugman outlines the situation—a
situation that’s even crazier than he explains in this passage:
KRUGMAN (9/30/13): *So how does this end? The votes to fund the government
and raise the debt ceiling are there, and always have been:* every Democrat
in the House would vote for the necessary measure... more »
Talkin' Détente with Scott Horton
Capping
off a surprising and historic week in Iran-U.S. relations, this weekend
I spoke with Scott Horton of AntiWar Radio and the aptly-named Scott
Horton Show to discuss the potential for real diplomacy and possible
rapprochement between the two nations after 34 years.
In addition to covering the strikingly rapid progress toward a mutually
beneficial nuclear deal, Scott and I talked about why
The Insecurity of the Security State
The good folks of the Surveillance State are terrified that we are not
afraid enough of the bogeyman. They worry that we're not
comfortable with our roles as domestic targets of our own government. So,
instead of scaling back the surveillance, the spooks are simply ramping up
both the fear and the guilt. They are striving mightily to wipe the
Snowden egg off their faces even as they cravenly try to hide their faces.
Therefore, it's no big surprise that, having slunk and lurked on the dark
side for so many decades, they are N.S.A. (Not So Adept) at filling this
tall public relations ... more »
Shutdown Notes
Bullet-point style, looking ahead...
* The government shuts down if Congress doesn't act today. There is still,
however, plenty of time if everyone cooperates to do a short-term
extension, whether it's a one-day, one-week, or any other length.
* The House can do that easily if Republicans want it. In the Senate, it
could be blocked by one Senate...however, it would make little sense for
any Senator to do so (which doesn't mean that Cruz or Lee won't, but I
don't think they would).
* If Republicans (or, for that matter, Democrats, although the latter seems
extremely unlikely to me) ... more »
Communication breakdown, drives them insane
I'm on a long overdue visit with my mom so outsourcing the daylight
posting. Must reads of the moment:
Brilliant post on the wingnut bloggers reaction to the impending government
shutdown and possibly the best hed in the history of the internets by
Edroso at his big media gig on the Village Voice.
Clearest review of this current crackpot con brain meltdown and analysis of why
the GOP would be taking this apparently suicidal stand that I've seen yet
by Peter Weber at The Week. Peter is one of the few mainstream journalists
I've seen mention *all* the GOP hostage demands, in particu... more »
INVISIBLE CHILDREN: Black kids disappeared!
*MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 30, 2013*
*Part 1—Three different worlds:* “Three different worlds/We live in three
different worlds...”
If Jerry Vale or Don Rondo were active today, they’d have to rewrite their
classic hit song.
Back in 1956, Rondo had a fairly large hit with the claim that we live in *
two* different worlds. Today, Amanda Ripley’s ballyhooed book, The Smartest
Kids in the World, helps us spot at least three.
Ripley’s book is often extremely weak; often, it seems a bit scam-ridden.
That said, the book is often quite interesting as it explores educational
cultures around the wo... more »
Tablet Update and Windows 8 Review
All
three of Southern Man's regular readers may recall that back in JuneThe
Dean presented Southern Man with a shiny new Microsoft
Surface Pro running Windows 8 RT and he has bee playing with it ever
since.
So he will break his review into three chunks: the hardware itself, the
Windows 8 Metro interface, and Windows 8 proper, with comparisons to
Southern Man's now three-year-old first-generation iPad.
Disclosure: Southern Man wrote his first program in BASIC using a
teletype
on a PDP-8 (Girl Programmer is chortling as she reads this). He owned
the
second TRS-80 sold in Southern City... more »
Untitled
*2nd phase of BP trial looks at responsibility for delay ~Michelle
Kunzelman, AP*
*Farm To (Preschool) Table: Abeona House Gets Healthy Food To Little Kids~Laine Kaplan-Levenson, WWNO
*
Long Walk 4 Wichita Kansas 'Fight the Tarsands'
.
.
Thanks to Western Shoshone Long Walker Bad Bear Sampson for sharing
these photos with Censored News! Wichita, Kansas on Sunday!
Joni Taylor Tucker writes to Censored News:
September 29, 2013: Longest Walk 4: Circle Gathering for Rally at the
"Keeper of the Plains." Michael Lane discussed Indigenous Sovereignty
with supporters. Longest Walk 4
OSF: Time Gives Perspective
OSF, Time Gives Perspective... http://t.co/GNnIakgbb1
— John A. Carroll (@haitianhearts) September 29, 2013
Italian political crisis takes a turn as PDL Senators may bolt party unless Berlusconi backs off ... stay tuned !
http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com/2013/09/berlusconi-faces-party-revolt-collapse.html
Monday, September 30, 2013 12:48 PM
Berlusconi Faces Party Revolt; Collapse of Italian Government Hangs in
Balance; Rush For Votes is On
Late last week, former prime minister Silvio Berlusconi ordered five
ministers to resign from Italy's government. They did, and as a result,
current prime minister Enrico Letta's coalition government is on the verge
of collapse.
Mr Berlusconi, leader of the centre-right Forza Italia party, said the
resignations were a response to the government’s de... more »
MaWangMess: Wang wins another round
*Jes' restin'.*
AFP reports on Ma taking another blow:
Taiwan's parliamentary speaker scored another victory in the battle for his
job Monday after the high court upheld a ruling against his party's
decision to expel him over claims of influence-peddling.
Earlier this month, the Taipei district court granted Wang Jin-pyng's
request for a provisional injunction against the Kuomintang (KMT) party,
allowing him to hold his party membership and therefore continue as speaker.
The party, led by President Ma Ying-jeou, appealed the ruling, but the
appeal was thrown out by the high court... more »
Read Stuff, You Should
Happy Birthday to Carlos Guillen, 38.
Good stuff for what should be a very newsy week:
1. Sarah Binder looks at the House Republican conference.
2. Amy Fried on why Democrats aren't going to agree to delay the ACA.
3. Granted, this is all speculative, but I think that Molly Ball has the
better of the argument about the effect of a shutdown (if it happens) on
the next round of bargaining and brinksmanship.
4. Sarah Kliff reports on WH efforts to lower expectations on October ACA
sign-ups.
5. And probably worth bookmarking the September Kaiser survey, giving the
state of public o... more »
Why did the al-Shabaab Islamist terrorists separate Muslims from non-Muslims before killing the non-Muslims?
David Wood of Answering Muslims has his theory as to why whilst Western
leaders and the media assure us that the recent terrorist attack at a
Westgate Mall in Nairobi, Kenya has nothing to do with Islam, and that the
terrorist group al-Shabaab is violating the commands of Allah and Muhammad,
opening the Koran shows us otherwise. He also believes it's clear that
Islamic history has been repeating itself for fourteen centuries.
Dear Commander Dress-Up : Whiskey Tango Foxtrot
First you claw back veterans' benefits and AG lawyers try to have their
class-action lawsuit about it thrown out of court for not being "the
appropriate way for veterans to express their concerns", then you want them
to sign a form promising not to complain about it in public .
We have a social contract with the Canadian Forces to care for them after
they have risked life, limb, and mind for us. Doesn't matter if we think
the wars and policing actions our government sent them off to were crap -
that's the fucking contract. They have the right to fair benefits under
that contract a... more »
US Government shutdown loom after standoff between house and Senate continues regarding delaying Obamacare ! Even though the house passed its continuing spending resolution ( CR ) Saturday , the Senate will not even meet until 2pm today - Dc as devolved into a game of chicken at this point and the question seems to be how long this game will continue ?
While the Shutdown circus continues , notice what doesn't stop !
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2013-09-30/government-may-shut-down-these-18-october-pomos-will-proceed-come-hell-or-selective-
The Government May Shut Down, But These 18 October POMOs Will Proceed Come
Hell Or Selective Default
[image: Tyler Durden's picture]
Submitted by Tyler Durden on 09/30/2013 15:15 -0400
- Ben Bernanke
- Capital Markets
- default
- Federal Reserve
- POMO
- POMO
inShare
As pointed out earlier, the Federal Reserve does not depend on
Congressional appropriations, and wi... more »
Shutdown
Lessons from the great government shutdown of 1995-1996
By Glenn Kessler
*"There's a very good possibility that government will shut down. I know
the Democrats have their talking points lined up. They'll blame us for
everything. What will we do?"
--Rep. Allen West (R-Fla.), Feb. 22, 2011*
"Clinton's trump card was the veto. Under the Constitution, Congress must
muster a two-thirds majority to overcome a presidential veto. So Gingrich
had loudly proclaimed that he had a tool to confront the veto: the
government shutdown.
*"He can run the parts of the government that are left, or h... more »
Why did she choose me?
This email came to me on gmail and was not picked up as spam, maybe it's
genuine?
Assalam Alaikum...I am Mrs Aidah Abdul Basir!!
Robinson.Brian
15:00 (21 hours ago)
to
I am Mrs Aidah Abdul Basir, a Muslim woman.I have picked you for an
inheritance.I am aware that this is certainly not a conventional way of
approach to establish a relationship of trust and confidence, but you will
realize the need for my action.Please contact me on my private email for
more details: abdulbasir006@outlook.com<
mailto:abdulbasir006@outlook.com>
LEGAL DISCLAIMER
The information transmitted is intende... more »
Revolution And The Corporate State
Chris Hedges has no illusions about the power of the corporate state:
The state, to protect itself, lies. Politicians, corporations, the public
relations industry, the entertainment industry and our ridiculous
television pundits speak as if we can continue to build a society based on
limitless growth, profligate consumption and fossil fuel. They feed the
collective mania for hope at the expense of truth. Their public vision is
self-delusional, a form of collective psychosis. The corporate state,
meanwhile, is preparing privately for the world it knows is actually
coming. It is ce... more »
Stolen Antiquites for sale in Israel and likely America
ht to karin for this article. And yes, I was steaming! This is a subject I
have talked on more then once. The sale of priceless stolen artifacts. The
effect on the countries having their history stolen and the wider loss to
humanity as a whole. I am surely not the only person who understands how
disgraceful these thefts are?
As I have mentioned previously most of these stolen items end up in the
hands and homes of the moneyed classes.
Shall I say it is not a surprise to see priceless ancient Egyptian
artifacts being sold in Jerusalem?
*Shameful. Truly, shameful*
On Monday, the Mi... more »
German patriotism is apparently verbotten
The re-elected German Chancellor Angela Merkel is unwilling to wave the
German flag, would she have preferred the flag of the EU?
Taichung AmCham Walkathon
The website
_______________________
[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!
And another attack by followers of the 'religion of peace'
This time in Nigeria where Islamist terrorists (or as the BBC describe
them, gunmen) have attacked a college in north-eastern Nigeria, killing up
to 50 students.The students were shot dead as they slept in their dormitory
at the College of Agriculture in Yobe state.
The BBC tell me that:
'North-eastern Nigeria is under a state of emergency amid an Islamist
insurgency by the Boko Haram group.
Boko Haram is fighting to overthrow Nigeria's government to create an
Islamic state, and has launched a number of attacks on schools.'
I tell the BBC, stop pussy footing around, call terrorists... more »
BABY P'S MOTHER TO BE RELEASED?
*Baby P - Peter Connelly*
In 2007, in London, a toddler called* Peter Connelly* was tortured to death.
Baby Peter reportedly has links to a very powerful pedophile ring, and to
Satanism.
The police, social services and medical profession appeared to be
protecting the child torturers. Baby P
*Peter Connelly's mother Tracey Connelly (Tracey Cox), who was 'jailed
indefinitely', but who may soon be released from prison. *dailymail.
Peter was tortured to death by his mother's boyfriend *Steven Barker* and
by Barker's paedophile brother* Jason Owen (*born* Jason Barker)*.
*Jason Owe... more »
"Fukushima Could Be 15,000x Worse Than Hiroshima With Removal Of Fuel Rods"
*"Fukushima Could Be 15,000x Worse Than*
* Hiroshima With Removal Of Fuel Rods"*
by Christina Sarich
"A Yale Professor is compelling the world to wake up from its nuclear
slumber and face some cold-hard facts, “All of humanity will be threatened
for thousands of years” if the Fukushima Unit 4 pool can’t be kept cool.
Your worries about eating cesium-contaminated fish from the Pacific Ocean
are grounded in fact, but this is a world-wide disaster of the most epic
proportions just waiting to happen. If nothing else, it points to the
necessity of nuclear-free power to fuel the plan... more »
Sovereign Wealth Fund from Malampaya Gas
A friend based in Tokyo, Jules, sent me his random thoughts to create a
Sovereign Wealth Fund out of government royalties from the Malampaya
Natural Gas in offshore Palawan. Here are Jules' random thoughts:
*
**1. Have a 15 years moratorium on spending anything from the fund from
the start of lunch, to discourage current officials in government from
messing with it.*
*
**2. Let the fund be managed by Professionals in the investment business.*
*
**3. Have it earmarked solely for the "future:"*
*a. spending for young children (0-12 years) for primary health care and
education. and
b... more »
Abolish Income Tax 9: Tax Revolt Against Government Corruption
The on-going pork barrel and government corruption scandal is radicalizing
more and more middle class and average taxpayers. Some individuals are
getting bolder and explicitly announcing that they will stop paying taxes.
Like this story by Sandy Allan Beltran who owns a book shop. She posted
this nearly a month ago and look, her story has been shared more than 400x,
wow.
See her story below. The other posters I just added, not part of her
original fb posting.
*My shop The READING ROOM has been religiously paying taxes since we opened
it in 2007. Every month I pay my accountant a ... more »
Cuisinart 9-Cup Food Processor Giveaway
Welcome to the Cuisinart Prep 9 Food Processor Giveaway
hosted by Viva Veltoro and Thrifty Nifty Mommy,
sponsored by BuyDig.com
BuyDig.com is an online retailer of consumer electronics based out of
Edison, New Jersey. They've been on the scene since 1990, but as
technology has evolved so has BuyDig.com. BuyDig sells a wide variety of
products, including: digital cameras, lenses, external hard drives and
accessories, camcorders, MP3 players, home theater components including
LCD, LED and plasma televisions, Blu-Ray & DVD players, GPS navigators,
computers, tablets, DJ equi... more »
“7 Prime Examples of Right-Wing Lunacy This Week"
* *
*“7 Prime Examples of Right-Wing Lunacy This Week*:
*From the Mean-Spirited to the Asinine” *
By Janet Allon
*1. Ken Blackwell: Cutting Food Stamps, Oh So Christian:* Obviously, the
adjective “Christian” has gone through a lot of permutations since Jesus
died. Now, apparently Christian means purposely not helping people who are
down-and-out. That’s the interpretation that Family Research Council fellow
Ken Blackwell was going with when he said this week that “nothing is more
Christian” than the massive ($40 billion) cuts to food stamps passed last
week by House Republicans. ... more »
David Coleman Runs The Voodoo Psychometrics Down (and Hopes We’re All Zombies)
A late August HuffPo article by Joy Resmovitz entitled, “David Coleman,
Common Core Writer, Gears Up For SAT Rewrite,” has been making the rounds
on many of the Facebook groups I follow that focus on high-stakes testing,
the Common Core Standards, and other issues of concern to teachers,
parents, administrators, students, and other educational stakeholders. […]
Musical Interlude: 2002, “Where the Stars and Moon Play”
2002, “Where the Stars and Moon Play”
- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DWa26yCRIlI&html5=1
"A Lot Of Things Great..."
“There's a lot of things great about life. But I think tomorrow is the
most important thing. Comes in to us at midnight very clean, ya know. It's
perfect when it arrives and it puts itself in our hands. It hopes we've
learned something from yesterday.”
- John Wayne
Family Night at Ringling Bros
Our little family at a blast at Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey
Circus this past week. Usually my husband isn't very interested in shows,
so we usually take Grandma, but this time he was actually excited to come
with us. There was so much to see and the show honestly kept my
4-year-old's attention most of the time.
Our favorites parts were the juggling and balancing acts. My little one
spent the whole night hoping to see somebody juggle and was completely
thrilled when they juggled with fire. She was really impressed by all of
the "incredibly balance-y people," and she is s... more »
September 29, 1973
Nixon's handling of the tapes during this period is astonishing -- if,
perhaps, understandable given the predicament he was in. His custody of
this evidence (already subpoenaed, with the court fight continuing) was
personal. Haldeman still had access during part of this time; now, on
September 29, he, the tapes covered by the court case, and Rose Mary Woods
(his longtime and loyal secretary) went to Camp David so she could start,
with little assistance, preparing partial transcripts.
They then discover -- apparently, they didn't realize it until that weekend
-- that two of the nine ... more »
Meet & Greet Monday (#MtaGt) - Grist
Welcome
to Meet & Greet Monday, a regular series designed to grow our
green
community.
[image: A link-up for green blogs on Reduce Footprints Blog]
Banner by Art Ist
Grab our banner for your site:
*The
rules:*
1. Use the link-up tool below to share your green-living blog or
collection
of environment... more »
*The
rules:*
1. Use the link-up tool below to share your green-living blog or
collection
of environment... more » Perfect Vision
- Had a recheck appointment at the eye doctor. My vision is 20/20 in
both eyes! Yay. So glad I took the plunge and got the eye surgery. I was
nervous for years about it, and am so glad I did it now.
- Had dinner on Thursday at Fish Bones in Greektown to celebrate my BFF
from law school and her husband moving back to MI! Welcome home Julia.
Also got to see Julie, Jessica and Nancy. Food was awesome, company was
better.
- Vito got sick again this week. He was really lethargic and would not
even eat a treat (which for Vito is unheard of) so Kurt to... more »
"A Look to the Heavens"
“The dust sculptures of the Eagle Nebula are evaporating. As powerful
starlight whittles away these cool cosmic mountains, the statuesque pillars
that remain might be imagined as mythical beasts. Pictured above is one of
several striking dust pillars of the Eagle Nebula that might be described
as a gigantic alien fairy. This fairy, however, is ten light years tall and
spews radiation much hotter than common fire.
* Click image for larger size.*
The greater Eagle Nebula, M16, is actually a giant evaporating shell of
gas and dust inside of which is a growing cavity filled with a... more »
“Stupid” #commoncore Comments debunked: @WiStateJournal
Last week Wisconsin governor Scott Walker agreed that the common core might
not be the best standards in the Milky Way Galaxy. So he decided to allow
for hearings and public comment. This of course fired up the common core
supporters that already had “common core or die” tattooed across their hind
quarters. Shrieking and […]
Protests Spread Against Huffman Among Tennessee School Administrators
In the most recent outbreak of protests against Kevin Huffman's
mis-leaderership of Tennessee schools,
The Marshall County Board of Education has formally endorsed a letter
recently submitted to Gov. Bill Haslam and the General Assembly that
expresses discontent with the current leadership in the Department of
Education.
The eight-member school board approved the single page resolution Tuesday
at a meeting, stressing the need for various student programs, frustrations
with mandated programs and concerns of not being heard by Commissioner of
Education Kevin Huffman.
“We want Marshall... more »
Required viewing for all #edtech enthusiasts
Seriously. Minimize screen time, especially for the youngest. It’s a sad
habit. Tagged: edtech, louis ck, screen time, technology
(This Town Reveals How the Village People Are Staunchly Behind US Slide) Sy Hersh Says We Lie About Everything - Including Bin Laden's Death - and Everybody Knows (And Names Names): You Can Now Call Us Fishface (If We Don't Stop Using Neonicotinoids) Again
I'm deep into Bob Shacochis' (National Book Award winner) first novel in 20
years The Woman Who Lost Her Soul (and it's a fine work with Pulitzer (or
National Book Award or something grand) written all through it), but I have
to confess a bad habit of not being able to resist the quick look elsewhere
when other new books cross my path (mainly because of my obsessive library
visits). The new
Banned Books Week 2013
Alas,
I was too busy this year to put up a proper post for Banned Books Week,
but head over to the official site for a bevy of links and lists.
(Every year they use several banners, and I'd rank the one above as one
of my all-time favorites.)
If you wrote a post celebrating the occasion, feel free to link it in
the comments.
(My archive in this category is here.)
Satire: “Boehner Advises Americans to Delay Getting Cancer for a Year”
* *
*“Boehner Advises Americans to Delay Getting Cancer for a Year”*
by Andy Borowitz
WASHINGTON (The Borowitz Report)— “In a special Sunday radio address, House
Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) delivered a health tip to the American
people, advising them to delay getting cancer for a year. “We’re involved
in a high-stakes fight over our freedom from centralized government control
of our lives,” said Mr. Boehner, speaking on behalf of his House
colleagues. “You can do your part by delaying getting cancer.” He added
that heart disease, emphysema, and diabetes were among a laundry list... more »
Sunday Question for Liberals
The same obvious question I used for conservatives: how do you see the
government funding/debt limit showdowns going from here?
Sunday Question for Conservatives
I guess I'll go with the obvious question: how do you see the government
funding/debt limit showdowns to go from here?
I am I
I had a message that I wanted to pass on today. I sat at the keyboard
several times and it just didn't.... flow. I've learned that when it
doesn't flow, there is always a reason and to just put it away. 32 minutes
ago Lucas sent me the link to his latest article and I then knew that the
flow was waiting for his article.
My message is quite short tonight and comes from several conversations I've
had with some of the most amazing people that I have the privilege to call
my "family".
I AM ..... *I*
I AM
HE IS
SHE IS
WE ARE
THEY ARE
..... *ONE*
I am *I*.
*I *is *ONE*
*ON... more »
Quote of the Day: Culture vs Multiculturalism
*Today’s quote, an observation on the birth of the Multicultural movement,
comes from a 2012 obituary of Australian Roger Sandall, the author of book *The
Culture Cult*.*
Roger [Sandall] … was the first scholar to realise the implications of the
fundamental difference between American and English notions of culture that
had by [merged by the late seventies].
The English version derived from the poet and essayist Matthew Arnold’s
account in *Culture and Anarchy*(1875), which defined culture as *“the best
which has been thought and said in the world”* and which hoped that by
ed... more »
what i'm reading: man's search for meaning by viktor frankl
I've just finished reading *Man's Search for Meaning*, a classic written by
Dr. Viktor E. Frankl in 1959, republished with various forewords and
epilogues in 1984, 1992, and 2006. It's a book I had long wanted to read
but had forgotten about, until I saw it on the Mississauga Library System's
"Raves and Faves" display, adult nonfiction division.
Frankl, who died in 1997, was a neurologist, a psychiatrist, and a
therapist. He was also a Holocaust survivor whose entire family perished in
the Nazi death camps. The original German title of *Man's Search for Meaning
* is translated into ... more »
Welcome to the Future
*So, POTUS calls him on the phone - PoI (@HassanRouhani) ReTweets it.*
*Front Row, first from left.*
*On Wise Men in White Who Wear Beards*
I quote The Enemy:
"In Greco-Roman antiquity the beard was
*"seen as the defining characteristic of the philosopher; philosophers had
to have beards, and anyone with a beard was assumed to be a philosopher."*
While one may be tempted to think that Socrates and Plato sported*"philosopher's beards"
*, such is not the case. Shaving was not widespread in Athens during fifth
& fourth-century BCE and so they would not be distinguished from the
ge... more »
Elon Musk Lifts Canada Into Space
Elon Musk's SpaceX has successfully placed Canada's Cassiope research
satellite into orbit.
Cassiope rode into space atop a modified Falcon rocket.
*Sunday's launch was also the first time the rocket had flown with a
payload fairing. *
* *
*This 13m-tall clamshell covering is necessary to protect satellites from
the aerodynamic forces encountered during an ascent.*
* *
*Sunday's outing was the first SpaceX mission to use Vandenberg. Until now,
all Falcon launches have gone out of Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in
Florida.*
*The MDA Corporation, which built the Cassiope satellit... more »
Saudis upset with US - for not just committing to the Saudis war scheme with Syria and Iran.... but also by betraying the Saudis geopolitical pipeline dreams ! Don't be shocked by a false flag to be engineered by these very same Saudis - who find that playing nice with the US has got them nothing ... so that just means they may decide to just put something in motion !
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2013-09-29/saudi-arabia-outraged-obamas-peace-overtures-syria-iran
Saudi Arabia "Outraged" At Obama's Peace Overtures With Syria, Iran
[image: Tyler Durden's picture]
Submitted by Tyler Durden on 09/29/2013 15:25 -0400
- Crude
- Crude Oil
- Iran
- Iraq
- Israel
- Kuwait
- Middle East
- None
- Obama Administration
- Saudi Arabia
- SWIFT
- Vladimir Putin
inShare
Back in August, just after the false flag chemical weapon attack in Syria, we
showed that despite all the posturing by the Obama administr... more »
Iran/Kenya/Somalia "I Can't Believe It's Not a Pax Americana...?!"
*
**"Of course, conservatives absolutely lost their minds. Predictably, the
reaction has been bitterly partisan, completely ignoring the fact that this
is the most significant and tellingly positive development in our Middle
Eastern foreign affairs in decades. Instead, they are angry that President
Obama is talking on the phone to Iran, but not to his own Congress.*
*
* *The quintuplet of derpitude known as The Five on Fox “News” was just as
appalled and “flabbergasted” as you’d expect them to be. Eric Bolling, who
is always good for a clueless, pedantic and histrionic sound bye or t... more »
Northerntruthseeker Rant For Sunday, September 29th, 2013
Sunday... And time again for my usual weekly rant....
First and foremost, I have received some very unusual comments the last few
days, especially about my post and my calling out the fact that the Kenyan
"massacre" is a complete scam and hoax... There has been the usual
"anonymous" trolls that have come out calling me every name under the sun
and a few other superlatives... I do NOT put up comments at this site that
contain any types of slurs or insults, and usually I have pegged the many
Anonymous trolls for the true JIDF scum they really are, and do not post
their comments period... more »
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