Monday, December 23, 2013

23 Dec - Blogs I'm Following II

Morton-Rutledge StationMorton-Rutledge Station (Photo credit: Roadgeek Adam)
Español: Cerro MohanEspañol: Cerro Mohan (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
10:43pm MST

The Christmas Truce of 1914

Land Destroyer at Land Destroyer - 15 minutes ago
A moment of sanity amidst the infinite stupidity of war. In the end, we have more in common with the furthest flung foreign common man than the closest corporate-fascists that presume dominion over our lives. If only the British & Germans realized it was the greed of their own banking houses that had them in the trenches and not some irreconcilable difference amongst themselves... Knowledge is power, ignorance literally can mean death. When will we start being leaders in our homes, communities, counties, and provinces - driving our own destiny rather than being driven? ....

Time For A Joni Mitchell-Morrissey Story

DownWithTyranny at DownWithTyranny! - 42 minutes ago
Like Obama's, this was a tough year for Morrissey. When his band wasn't being food poisoned at gigs, he was in the hospital with serious health problems. He was forced to cancel so many concerts that he lost the ability to get tour insurance. On the other hand his book, *Autobiography* entered the British charts at #1 and sold more copies its first week than Keith Richards' did. The year started with Morrissey stepping into a political controversy, telling an interviewer he had toyed with the idea of voting for England's version of the Tea Party, UKIP. "I nearly voted for Ukip. I ... more »

Mistaken Gender: 5-Alpha Reductase Hermaphroditism and Biological Reductionism in Sexual Identity Reconsidered

Zoe Brain at A.E.Brain - 55 minutes ago
Another for the reference library. Also.. a bit too close to home, the way some were treated. Mistaken Gender: 5-Alpha Reductase Hermaphroditism and Biological Reductionism in Sexual Identity Reconsidered Gilbert Herdt, Academic Room 2012 Hermaphroditic infants are sex-assigned as *kwolu-aatmwol*, not as male. Those assigned as female are mistaken as normal females. Hermaphrodism is regarded as a sad and mysterious quirk. The *kwolu-aatmwol*, unless distinguished as a shaman or war leader, is quietly disparaged. Yet several *kwolu-aatmwol* are well known in local history, and one... more »

The Boy

Way Way Up at Fort McMurray Adventures - 1 hour ago
When he's not occupied by his fascination for trains or ride-on lawn mowers, charming the ladies with his deep blue eyes or playing the part of a GQ junior model, the boy just loves to relax of course. Merry Christmas, son. Daddy loves you.

Who is Watching the President...? - Part 3849

Paul Coker at News Spike - 1 hour ago
This is a good one. Bare in mind, the woman on the left is the Commander in Chief of the Arizona National Guard, commanding 5,206 troops and a total of 7,627 men at arms during this conversation. And none of them like him very much. They just had a liberal congresswoman shot in the head over there. *This is not safe.*

Expert evidence

James C Morton at Morton's Musings - 1 hour ago
Cinar Corporation v. Robinson 2013 SCC 73: [49] For expert evidence to be admitted at trial, it must (a) be relevant; (b) be necessary to assist the trier of fact; (c) not offend any exclusionary rule; and (d) involve a properly qualified expert (*R. v. Mohan*, [1994] 2 S.C.R. 9). These criteria apply to trials for copyright infringement, as they do in other intellectual property cases:*Masterpiece Inc. v. Alavida Lifestyles Inc.*, 2011 SCC 27, [2011] 2 S.C.R. 387, at para. 75. [50] The Cinar appellants argue that the second crit... more »

Agreement expert qualified to give opinion evidence does not add weight to expert's opinion

James C Morton at Morton's Musings - 2 hours ago
R. v. Strickland, 2013 NLCA 65: [18] The issue regarding expert evidence as argued on the appeal did not extend to all aspects of the test for admissibility of expert evidence as set out in *R. v. Mohan*, 1994 CanLII 80 (SCC), [1994] 2 S.C.R. 9 [1994] S.C.J. No. 36 ("*R. v. Mohan*"). *R. v. Mohan* requires the trial judge to consider four criteria: (i) relevance, (ii) necessity in assisting the trier of fact, (iii) the absence of an exclusionary rule, and (iv) a properly qualified expert. It was criterion (iv), whether Constable Emberley was a properly qualified expert, on... more »

Christmas 2013: Christmas and Civil Society

Nonoy Oplas at Government and Taxes - 2 hours ago
*Merry Christmas friends. Nice weather here, cloudy everyday, brief rain showers sometimes in the afternoon. Wish you nice vacation. Me, have articles to edit, and a PH economic review to submit before the year end. Am not complaining, I like writing. Cheers, and merry Christmas once again.* I posted that message in my fb wall yesterday, thanks to 80+ likes from friends, plus comments. My two girls complained yesterday why I could not join them and their mama in the malls, well I was stuck in the office. But no complains. J I left the office 7pm yesterday, dinner, then I drove the ... more »

I09 picks Upstream Color as top film of 2013

Steve at Thinking Aboot - 2 hours ago
My review is way better eh! However I09 is the leading Sci Fi site on the web and it gives me some satisfaction when their learned opinion agrees with mine. Upstream color was also my runner up for movie of the year. Certainly if I was choosing Sci Fi movie of the year it would be hands down, This year its going to be hard to beat Gravity. Its not a great sci fi movie but its a very well made movie that knows how to tug on the old emotions.

Gail Collins on Chris Christie's Internet gambling vision: "This cannot possibly be a step in the right direction"

KenInNY at DownWithTyranny! - 3 hours ago
*"Earlier this year, Governor Christie signed a bill legalizing Internet gambling in New Jersey. The idea was to help resuscitate the Atlantic City economy and raise a projected $150 million in tax revenue. Very few people believe the state will really make that much, but the number did help Christie to run for re-election waving what appeared to be a balanced budget."* *-- Gail Collins, in her NYT column* "Candy Crush and Mr. Christie" *by Ken* Gail Collins, it seems, has some forebodings about the sociopolitical vision of a certain governor of a state tucked between New York and... more »

Phil Robertson Returning To Duck Dynasty as A& E and Cracker Barrel quickly beat a retreat.... Whether you like the Show or Phil Robertson , a message to take away is that the threat of a serious protest directed to corporate interests ( and which the corporate interests deem serious ) , will cause folks to back up and back away ....Whether it's the " Endless War Policies " , NSA spying , Bankster plundering , excessive governmental inrusions such ObamaCare - Americans need to do more than whine - boycotts the corporate and political interests pushing thes policies and they will back away from them if the financial and political pain is substantial enough...

Fred Walton at Catharsis Ours - 3 hours ago
- Phil Robertson Returning To Duck Dynasty - [image: The Alex Jones Channel][image: Alex Jones Show podcast][image: Prison Planet TV][image: Infowars.com Twitter][image: Alex Jones' Facebook][image: Infowars store] *Robert Rich* Microconservative.com December 23, 2013 It has now been revealed that Phil Robertson will be returning to Duck Dynasty on January 15. A&E said they have no plans to fire the star. Image: Phil Robertson (YouTube). It appears as though the war on Phil Robertson and his freedoms of free speech and religions aren’t quite so savage. Although *A&... more »

Wut We's Got's To Do

thwap at thwap's schoolyard - 3 hours ago
My point about the lack of a response to the TTC fare increase was that I, who have been told several times that my plans are too grandiose, am pointing out the sheer invisibility of the standard leftist response to problems. If I had my druthers, I'd be organizing a transit-users' strike, or an occupation of City Hall and Queen's Park, until said powers-that-be find the goddamned revenues from out of their tax-cuts for the rich or their general corruption funds, to pay for the existing service levels and to invest the billions more that are needed to restore the system to a state o... more »

Now why would Nick Clegg push that line?

Not a sheep at Not a sheep - 3 hours ago
It is reported that Nick Clegg has issued a warning that he won't accept any further curbs on immigration from the European Union. How ridiculous, until you remember that his EU pension is, at least, partly dependant on his not going against the EU's interests.

Whatever It Takes

Owen Gray at Northern Reflections - 4 hours ago
You would think that Stephen Harper's recent troubles might spur a little self examination. Not so. Jeffrey Simpson writes: Instead of rethinking, the Prime Minister has doubled down on his long-term strategy, which depends on polarizing the electorate and identifying and mobilizing the Conservative vote. He reshuffled his cabinet to add younger ministers of the same type as the more experienced ones: hard-edged communicators and sharp-elbowed partisans. He regrouped people in his office and at party headquarters who are unreserved loyalists. There are no even mildly discordant vo... more »

NOT SO HOLY LAND

Bruce K. Gagnon at Organizing Notes - 5 hours ago
Richard Falk, who is a professor Emeritus of international law at Princeton University, was appointed in 2008 to a six-year position as the UN’s special rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian territories. Falk is catching hell from the Obama administration and other Israeli allies. I say good for Richard Falk for just telling the truth about the current plight of the Palestinian people.

Conniving CONs . . .

Edstock at The Galloping Beaver - 6 hours ago
THE SENATE HOO-HA'S origins, as seen by my friend Scanner, who I believe has created an accurate account of how things came to be. I wish the RCMP every success, good luck and good weasel-hunting. I have written this before but in light of SJH's unequivocal answer to the question whether he was aware at the time of a plan to have the Conservative party reimburse Mike Duffy for his

Pope's Mass: Our souls should not have a 'do not disturb' sign

Saman Mohammadi at The Excavator - 6 hours ago
Video Title: Pope's Mass: Our souls should not have a 'do not disturb' sign. Source: romereports. Date Published: December 23. Description: December 23, 2013. In his daily morning Mass at the Vatican, Pope Francis talked about what it really means to prepare for Christmas. Amid all the parties and celebrations, he said, there must be room for God.

My kind of ice storm ,,,

James C Morton at Morton's Musings - 7 hours ago

The #ChristmasMyths #6: The Slaughter of the Innocents

Peter Cresswell at Not PC - 7 hours ago
*Part of a continuing series looking at the pagan origins of the Christmas Myths,* one day at a time. Today, the story and pagan origins of the story of King Herod’s slaughter of every child under two…* [image: File:0 Le Massacre des Innocents d'après P.P. Rubens - Musées royaux des beaux-arts de Belgique (2).JPG]*Massacre of the Innocents*, Peter Paul Rubens The story is familiar enough in the telling. The infant is put in danger by the ruler’s fear that the new baby will usurp his reign: A heavenly voice whispered to the foster father … and told him to fly with the child across... more »

Why The Inland Empire Congressional Race Is In The National Spotlight This Year

DownWithTyranny at DownWithTyranny! - 7 hours ago
If you're a Blue America member, you already saw the letter we sent out from Eloise Reyes, the progressive running to win the bluest seat in America held by a Republican, CA-31, the Inland Empire (San Bernardino, Uplands, Rancho Cucamonga, Redlands, Loma Linda, Colton). A typical DCCC misstep-- backing an empty suit who is too conservative for the district, Pete Aguilar-- cost the Democrats this D+5 district in 2012. Aguilar was beaten by *two* Republicans and because of him there was no Democrat on the general election ballot when Obama beat Romney 57-41%. Instead, the district ... more »

Is the real world?

Mike Philbin at PROGNOSIS II - 7 hours ago
...not one book ...not one painting.I don't think it's a coin toss between love or fear, I think it's a myth that we are. We never are, until the moment of our death, happy. Tonight, a dream?

Apocalyptic Planet

What Is Sustainable at What Is Sustainable - 8 hours ago
Craig Childs is a nature writer and globetrotting adventure hog. He’s been thinking a lot about apocalypse lately. It’s hard not to. The jungle drums are pounding out a growing stream of warnings — attention! — big trouble ahead. The Christian currents in our culture encourage us to perceive time as being something like a drag strip. At one end is the starting line (creation), and at the other end is the finish line (judgment day). We’re speeding closer and closer to the end, which some perceive to be the final Game Over for everything everywhere. Childs disagrees. “We are n... more »

Quiz: Radio 4 presenter anagrams

Craig at Is the BBC biased? - 8 hours ago
As every website seems to feel the need to do a Christmas quiz, here's one for you tonight. Can you unscramble the following anagrams of BBC Radio 4 presenters? 1. Dire media (5,4) 2. Hoard clerics (7,5) 3. Aha, me using jet! (5,8) 4. A rotund red swot (6,8) 5. I shun Islam? Ha! (6,6) The answers lie in the comments section below.

Hard things to think Aboot

Steve at Thinking Aboot - 8 hours ago
Canadian Voters take note. http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2013-12-23/former-goldman-banker-head-cmhc-canadas-mortgage-monster If the wolf is not at the door, is it in your bedroom?

The Maned Wolf - a lesson in deductive dentition

George Henderson at The High-fat Hep C Diet - 8 hours ago
This is a South American canid, the Maned Wolf. [image: File:Maned Wolf 11, Beardsley Zoo, 2009-11-06.jpg] This "dog" is a true omnivore, not unlike homo sapiens. It supplements a diet of meat (frogs, fish, lizards and other small game) with fruit, tubers, and sugarcane. These supply up to 51% of its diet. It does not do well in captivity without vegetable foods, In the wild it is susceptible to infestation by the Giant Kidney Worm (*Dioctophyme renale)**, *a potentially lethal roundworm it is exposed to by eating fish. It prefers the fruit of the Wolf Apple (*Solanum lycocarpum*) o... more »

Juventud eterna, ya a la venta?

Abraham Ben Judea at Abraham says - 9 hours ago
Conjunto compuesto anti-edad para ensayos en humanos después de dar vuelta el reloj para ratones Profesor Nueva Gales del sur en Estados Unidos revierte los indicadores clave del envejecimiento para hacer two-year-old ratones aparecen seis meses de edad Investigadores australianos y estadounidenses esperan un compuesto anti-ageing podría ser probado en seres humanos tan pronto como el próximo año, tras un avance clave que vio el proceso de envejecimiento invertido en ratones. El estudio, que incluyó la Universidad de Harvard y la Universidad de NSW, descubrió una manera de rest... more »

The Infinite Monkey Cage

Craig at Is the BBC biased? - 10 hours ago
I do rather like Radio 4's *The Infinite Monkey Cage*. It's a robustly pro-science programme in the network's overwhelmingly arts-dominated schedule and almost every edition features *bona fide*scientists sharing their insights with the listening public. The results can often be fascinating and informative and the programme has covered a vast range of scientific fields over the course of its nine series. Today's edition, for example, featured immunologist Dr Sheena Cruickshank of Manchester University. She specialises in parasitic worms and shared something that I found very inter... more »

Death of a Gunsmith: Mikhail Kalashnikov 1919 - 2013

Steve at Thinking Aboot - 10 hours ago
What a legacy he has. Kalashnikov often expressed regret at the killing power he had unleashed. However he put the blame squarely on failed leadership not good design. Because of the perfection of the 1946 design who can say how many have been made, but well over 100 million for sure. Sixty eight years later it remains to be the gold standard in assault rifles. "The deadliest weapon in the world is an American Marine and his rifle" -General Black Jack Pershing 1918 It was not until 1962 that US Marines were issued a modern assault r... more »

Duty of disclosure and presiding Justice of the Peace in provincial regulatory matters

James C Morton at Morton's Musings - 10 hours ago
R. v. Ul-Rashid, 2013 ONCA 782 grants leave to the Court of Appeal to decide whether the Crown must ensure disclosure have been provided, regardless of request, and the presiding Justice must inquiry as to such delivery, for provincial regulatory matters. Additionally leave is granted to review the scope of assistance required of the presiding Justice for an unrepresented accused. Quaere, should not an unrepresented accused have some burden to investigate the nature of their rights before and during trial? The Court holds: [42] The applicant raises the issue of whether a... more »

Turkey: Halkbank - Role in Iran Gold Transactions Legal

Penny at Penny for your thoughts - 11 hours ago
*Ht anonymous commenter!* *UPDATED BELOW * Pertinent background: **Turkish PM Erdogan threatened/challenged by Fethullah Gulen?* **Turkey & Ukraine afflicted with EU/ private banking/business parasites* As usual I will highlight the interesting bits. * Halkbank Says Role in Iran Gold Legal After CEO Arrest* Turkiye Halk Bankasi AS (HALKB),* the state-run bank* that slumped 19 percent since a graft probe implicating four ministers erupted last week, said it has acted lawfully after police arrested its chief executive officer. *Payments made by the bank on behalf of companies ex... more »

And Some Songs, You Just Feel in Your Soul...

noreply@blogger.com (CoyotePrime) at Running 'Cause I Can't Fly - 11 hours ago
Gov't Mule, “Forevermore” -http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y3YFgSwmRww

This Time The Sex Predator Is A Democrat-- Well A Certain Type Of Democrat… Meet Dennis Gabryszak

DownWithTyranny at DownWithTyranny! - 11 hours ago
Gabryszak-- from the Republican wing of the Democratic Party Poor New York state Assemblyman Dennis Gabryszak. Not many people outside of Buffalo (and Albany) ever heard of him until he entangled himself in a sexual harassment scandal that's ending his political career. So now all they know about him is that the 62 year old Democrat from Cheetowaga is that he's married with 2 children and that he was hitting on young female staffers-- at least 5 so far-- to a point behind merely creepy. He brought one woman, in her 20s to a massage parlor within 2 weeks of hiring her and he had a hab... more »

Jingoist Rock

jurassicpork at Welcome Back to Pottersville - 11 hours ago
Jingoists, Jingoists, KKK hoods Jingoists swing their Jingoist bats Snowjobs, and blowing up Planned Parenthoods Now the Jingoist pointy hats. Jingoists, Jingoists, Jingoist tools Jingoists mansplain like Banshees in pain Dancing and prancing like racist fools As they’re put on the air. What a white time, it's the right time To lock your rights away Anytime is a swell time To hunt gays for us to slay. Giddy up, Robertson, embarrass your clan. You shouldn’t be sucking cock. Mix in some racism if you can Cracker Barrel’s keeping you in stock. (Dingbats, Dingbats, yeah, Dingbats, Dingbat... more »

THIS IS HOW WE ARE TRAINED

Bruce K. Gagnon at Organizing Notes - 12 hours ago
Trained into servility......it's the militarization of our culture. Can you say Israeli style? To learn more about the TSA push back go *here*

SOLIDARITY GETS PERSONAL

Bruce K. Gagnon at Organizing Notes - 12 hours ago
I'm closely following the current developments from South Korea - maybe it should be renamed the "Corporate state of South Korea". This week's right-wing government "surprise" was to bust into the multi-storied headquarters of the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions (KCTU) on Dec. 22. The current fascist government in the corporate state of South Korea is cracking down hard these days on anyone that dares to peep their head into the clouds. Everyone is supposed to look down and bow directly to the corporate dominated consumer culture they are being shackled with. On previous ... more »

Making Teachers Better by Using Someone Else's Bogus Scores for Evaluation

Jim Horn at Schools Matter - 12 hours ago
Beyond the idiocy of using unreliable, invalid, and unfair test score gains to evaluate teachers, there is the insanity of claiming the evaluations are about improving teachers by using scores that are someone else's. Is there any other profession that allows such treatment of its members? Where is Randi and her bullhorn, where is doddering Dennis? From the NYTimes: . . . .Proponents of the reforms said the goal was not just to refine the grades, but also to improve teaching through more detailed and regular feedback. But some teachers said the process felt like a game of “gotcha.... more »

What goes around comes around

Capt. Fogg at The Impolitic - 13 hours ago
By Capt. Fogg So here's me looking at this guy in the hardware store selecting Christmas lights. He's got a little kid with him - shorts and tank top and skin covered top to bottom with graffiti like a subway car from the 60's. Looked like Bible quotes. *"What the fuck you looking at? You like my legs, huh?"* It's one of those "shoulda said" in retrospect moments, but I didn't say *"if you didn't want anyone to read it you should have tattooed it on your ass," *discretion being very much the better part of valor particularly for someone who's left his Colt .380 at home since t... more »

Phoenix Rising

Charles Barton at The Nuclear Green Revolution - 13 hours ago
*I originally wrote this post after attending a lecture by David LeBlanc at ORNL. I wanted to capture some of the excitement David created with his lecture. This reposting is dedicated to Rod Adams and the readers of his Blog, Atomic Insights.* I attended David LeBlanc's lecture at ORNL yesterday (May 18, 2010). Jess Gehin, our host, took the opportunity to do a set of show-and-tell presentations about molten-salt-related programs at ORNL. It is safe to say, from what I saw yesterday, that the phoenix is rising at ORNL. David's talk was exciting. David has been in contact with re... more »

Iraqi Women Before And After The 2003 Invasion, Interview With Prof Nadje Al-Ali Univ of London

Joel Wing at MUSINGS ON IRAQ - 13 hours ago
Professor Nadje Al-Ali is a professor of gender studies at SOAS, University of London. She has authored several books and articles on the history and present state of Iraqi women including *Iraqi Women: Untold Stories From 1948 to the Present *and *What Kind of Liberation?: Women and the Occupation of Iraq*, and was one of the editors of *We Are Iraqis: Aesthetics and Politics in a Time of War*. The Iraq War has given rise to a number of contradictory stories about women in Iraq. One is that Iraqi women were liberated and on the rise under Saddam, and then all that was reversed a... more »

Returns to Skills Around the World

Greg Mankiw at Greg Mankiw's Blog - 13 hours ago
From a new working paper: On average, a one-standard- deviation increase in numeracy skills is associated with an 18 percent wage increase among prime-age workers. But this masks considerable heterogeneity across countries. Eight countries, including all Nordic countries, have returns between 12 and 15 percent, while six are above 21 percent with the largest return being 28 percent in the United States. Estimates are remarkably robust to different earnings and skill measures, additional controls, and various subgroups. Intriguingly, returns to skills are systematically lower in coun... more »

FED up? Hundred years of manipulating the US dollar

        AMERICAN KABUKI at AMERICAN KABUKI - 13 hours ago
*Posted by D. * http://removingtheshackles.blogspot.com/2013/12/fed-up-hundred-years-of-manipulating-us.html *FED up? Hundred years of manipulating the US dollar* Ahhhhhhhh! Isn't that funny? I guess I'm not the only one with an intense desire to insure that people understand that the Federal Reserve Bank is not "Federal", it "reserves" nothing, and is nothing like a "bank". An excellent Main Stream Media article to really push that information home. "This explains why when in late 2002 Saddam Hussein decided he would do his UN-sanctions authorized “One Billion Dollars Iraqi O... more »

REPRESSION GROWS IN SOUTH KOREA

Bruce K. Gagnon at Organizing Notes - 14 hours ago
*Police break down the glass door at the Korean Confederation of Trade Union headquarters during a government raid of KCTU in Seoul on December 22.* *Umbrella trade union KCTU sets Dec. 28 for a general strike* By Jeon Jong-hwi, Im In-tack and Lee Jung-gook, staff reporters the Hankyoreh The Park Geun-hye administration, which has maintained an “uncommunicative and proud of it” approach on contentious social issues, is ramping up its use of force and rejecting dialogue. In the latest development, police stormed the offices of the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions (KCTU) on Dec. 2... more »

UFO UpDates Fades to Black

KRandle at A Different Perspective - 14 hours ago
I had noticed over the last few months that there were fewer posts to UFO UpDates than there had been in recent years. I’m not sure why there was a decline, but there is fallout from it. Errol Bruce-Knapp who ran the list for many, many years, has posted the following: Not, perhaps, the merriest Christmas news for some subscribers and readers to/of UFO UpDates, but the time has come... The world has moved on, apparently beyond the need of a centralised service such as this List - witness the dramatic drop in List-bound traffic of the last few years. So, the plan is to mothball the... more »

Egypt's Full Circle: Dark Days in Egypt

Penny at Penny for your thoughts - 14 hours ago
*Egypt has come full circle*- *Through a series of developments that lead back to the original source, position* . The NYT’s call it* “Dark Days in Egypt”* *I call it..... exactly as I had suspected * “Immediately after the psyop coup you may recall my comment “cue the civil war”. That is how I interpreted that event. An inevitable push towards chaos.* The whole meme for the coup was ‘well democracy just can’t work for those people”* I made reference to “white mans burden” and other of the usual western drivel” *Dark days???? My how the narrative has changed.* Last week*, Egypt... more »

We’re more than the Common Core

Angel Cintron Jr. at @ THE CHALK FACE - 14 hours ago
We wake up early, every morning, ready to teach, and we look forward to opening our classroom door. We quietly ponder which student we’ll reach, because we’re more than the Common Core. We spend countless hours planning lessons ahead, and we genuinely want our students to soar. We reflect on each school day before resting in […]

THE NEW JESUS

Bruce K. Gagnon at Organizing Notes - 14 hours ago
Jesus Rebranded from MarkFiore on Vimeo.

Cyclops: One-Eyed Aliens in Laguna Blanca, Argentina (1969)

Inexplicata (IHU) at Inexplicata-The Journal of Hispanic Ufology - 14 hours ago
*Date: 22 December 2013Source: Planeta UFO, Visión Ovni and ORBITA CERO* *Cyclops: One-Eyed Aliens In Laguna Blanca, Argentina (1969)* *By Dr. Roberto Banchs* On Thursday, October 9, 1969, the area of Laguna Blanca to the east of the Province of Chaco (Argentina) was the stage for a unique incident, witnessed by a former police officer and farmer. Broadly disseminated through the Saporiti news agency (1), the item notes that a strange machine was seen resting on a tree, crewed by three unusual creatures of short stature, long blond hair and with a single eye. The journalistic in... more »

Untitled

New Orleans Ladder at New Orleans Ladder - 14 hours ago
*Pull the Plug ~The Angry Who Dat*

On The 100th Anniversary Of The Federal Reserve Here Are 100 Reasons To Shut It Down Forever

Mark Daniels at Global Political Awakening - 15 hours ago
[image: Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...] Michael Snyder December 23rd, 1913 is a date which will live in infamy. That was the day when the Federal Reserve Act was pushed through Congress. Many members of Congress were absent that day, and the general public was distracted with holiday preparations. Now we have reached the 100th anniversary of the Federal Reserve, and most Americans still don't know what it actually is or how it functions. But understanding the Federal Reserve is absolutely critical, because the Fed is at the very heart of our economic problems. ... more »

Untitled

New Orleans Ladder at New Orleans Ladder - 15 hours ago
*Our Views: Building on water ~N.O. Advocate* *TARNADO!!! Official predicts La. beaches will be under assault for 100 years ~Bob Marshall* *BP, Chevron Accused Of Illegally Dumping Toxic Radioactive Drilling Waste Into Louisiana Water ~Emily Atkin, Climate Progress* *Church hopes to restore 160-year old bell tower ~Carolyn Scofield, WVUE*

Battle Over Health Care Reform Rages On In California-- And Today Is The Deadline For CoveredCa Sign Ups

DownWithTyranny at DownWithTyranny! - 15 hours ago
Over the weekend, Lee Rogers, a nationally known surgeon and the former spokesperson for the National Diabetes Association, sent out a notice to his Simi Valley, Santa Clarita, Antelope Valley neighbors that today (Monday) is the deadline to enroll in Covered California for insurance in 2014 under the Affordable Care Act. "As a doctor," he wrote "I have a strong interest in making sure everyone gets affordable health insurance. I recently spoke at a Covered California symposium where I answered questions and concerns. I also put to rest some of the rumors that have been going arou... more »

Bond market strangeness December 23 , 2013 ..... US and China in focus !

Fred Walton at Catharsis Ours - 16 hours ago
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2013-12-23/china-folds-un-tapers-repo-rates-remain-elevated China Folds, "Un-Tapers"; But Repo Rates Remain Elevated [image: Tyler Durden's picture] Submitted by Tyler Durden on 12/23/2013 21:09 -0500 - China - Reverse Repo inShare *For the first time in 3 weeks, the PBOC un-tapered* and added CNY 29 billion liquidity (via reverse repo). Despite the Chinese governments denial of any liquidity crisis, the decision to "fold" reflects a clear indication that, as Monex strategist Eimear Daly notes, "*China's attempting to incrementally liber... more »

Elf's Lament: Don't Forget The Underpaid Workers This Holiday Season

Donna Ballman at Screw You Guys, I'm Going Home - 16 hours ago
If you're like me, you're probably doing some last minute holiday shopping. While you're loading up on gifts at one of those mega-stores open 24 hours or on holidays, remember that more than 1 in 10 Americans who work full time are still poor. You're probably handing your credit card to someone who lives below the poverty line. About 1 in 4 private sector jobs pays below $10/hour. I'm on vacation, so rather than make my argument I'll let someone else do it for me. You can even listen to my favorite pro-employee Christmas song, Elf's Lament (about the travails of Santa's workers), e... more »

This Is the Common Core You Support?

plthomasedd at @ THE CHALK FACE - 16 hours ago
You have plenty of Urban Legend and baseless conspiracy theories swirling around the Common Core, and none of that really serves anyone well. But you also have evidence (and from what I can tell, that doesn’t carry much weight). So for all those who support the Common Core, and tend to ignore the evidence-based arguments […]

We’re going out to clean the pasture spring!

bob somerby at the daily howler - 16 hours ago
*MONDAY, DECEMBER 23, 2013* *Christmas lands on the 25th:* The analysts tell us that Christmas lands on the 25th this year. For that reason, we’re going out to clean the pasture spring! We don’t expect to post again until Saturday. We leave you the post directly below, concerning test scores in D.C. and the desire to say they don’t count.

The year of living propagandistically!

bob somerby at the daily howler - 16 hours ago
*MONDAY, DECEMBER 23, 2013* *Strauss pulls a Rhee at the Post:* In many ways, this has been the year of living propagandistically. It has been the year when liberal entities followed Fox and Rush and Sean down a wormhole of bogus claims and propagandistic misrepresentations. This has been especially true when it comes to public schools. Consider this recent post by the Washington Post’s Valerie Strauss. Strauss became an education reporter at the Post in 1994. Since 2009, she has been writing The Answer Sheet, an education blog. In her recent post, Strauss discusses, or pretends to... more »

Foreign affairs

sue at Is the BBC biased? - 16 hours ago
The BBC is reporting more and more Muslim-related news, so they must be aware that something’s up. Al Qaeda is flourishing in Iraq, Prince Charles has noticed that Muslim extremists are persecuting Christians in the Middle East (who knew he was so observant) Marks and Sparks has made some impracticable concessions to “Muslims” and Anjem Choudary has been “given a platform” on the Today programme. Remember the ‘yes/no” game? You know, someone asked a load of quick-fire questions and if the contestant said ‘yes’ or ‘no’ a gong banged and the contestant had his head chopped off. Not r... more »

The 100 Year History of the Federal Reserve Bank and who it serves (hint: NOT US)

David L Griscom at Cherchez la Verite - 17 hours ago
------------------------------ 100 Years Is Enough: Time to Make the Fed a Public Utility Posted on December 22, 2013 by Ellen Brown December 23rd, 2013, marks the 100th anniversary of the Federal Reserve, warranting a review of its performance. Has it achieved the purposes for which it was designed? The answer depends on whose purposes we are talking about. For the banks, the Fed has served quite well. For the laboring masses whose populist movement prompted it, not much has changed in a century. *Thwarting Populist Demands* The Federal Reserve Act was passed in 1913 in respo... more »

World's BIGGEST Blog - Day 1

Roobin at THROUGH THE SCARY DOOR - 17 hours ago
It's BIGGER on the inside.

Merry Christmas & A Happy 2014 From Me To All Of You

Stranger in a Strange Land at Stranger in a Strange Land - 18 hours ago
*Wishing all a lovely holiday season.* *My kindest & warmest regards,* *Mike*

Your moment of Zen

Libby Spencer at The Impolitic - 18 hours ago
Beautiful Maze at Longleat, England

Local Council By-Election Results 2013

Phil at A Very Public Sociologist - 19 hours ago
Party Number of candidates Total vote % Average/ contest +/- Seats Conservative 330 139,982 26.4% 424 -28 Labour 294 171,427 32.3% 583 +25 LibDem 230 62,413 11.8% 271 -2 UKIP 225 75,873 14.3% 337 +12 SNP* 15 14,507 2.7% 967 -4 Plaid Cymru** 9 2,320 0.4% 258 0 Green 114 17,174 3.2% 151 -1 BNP 20 1,343 0.3% 67 0 TUSC 33 2,040 0.4% 62 0 Independ... more »

FED up? Hundred years of manipulating the US dollar

Breaking The Silence at Removing The Shackles - 20 hours ago
Ahhhhhhhh! Isn't that funny? I guess I'm not the only one with an intense desire to insure that people understand that the Federal Reserve Bank is not "Federal", it "reserves" nothing, and is nothing like a "bank". An excellent Main Stream Media article to really push that information home. *"This explains why when in late 2002 Saddam Hussein decided he would do his UN-sanctions authorized “One Billion Dollars Iraqi Oil for Food” trade with the West in euros instead of dollars, he was quickly visited by the Fed’s military branch in March 2003. * * Or take Muammar Kaddafi who in ... more »

I bet you they won't play this song on the radio

Not a sheep at Not a sheep - 20 hours ago
Monty Python's wonderful 'I bet you they won't play this song on the radio'

LAND OF CHILD ABUSING CLERGY, POLITICIANS AND POLICE

Anon at aangirfan - 21 hours ago
*The Woodlands Boys Home* In September 2013, it was reported that a pedophile ring, which included Christian clergy, sexually abused boys at the Woodlands Boys Home, in Newcastle, New South Wales, Australia. The home was run by the church. http://www.smh.com.au/nsw/paedophile-ring-used-boys-home * Woodlands Boys Home* According to one witness: ''These men just came, got the boys, used them, and put them back.'' According to another witness: ''These men changed from week to week, suggesting a larger, organised ring. ''We are aware of a group of men who did come to the home in t... more »

Thailand: Third Mass Mobilization Floods Bangkok's Streets

Land Destroyer at Land Destroyer - 23 hours ago
*December 23, 2013* (Tony Cartalucci) - For the third time in the past two months, hundreds of thousands of peaceful protesters took to the streets from early morning until late night, paralyzing Thailand's capital of Bangkok throughout the day. Major roads were turned into walking streets as tens of thousands of protesters assembled at each of over 10 stages throughout the city's major intersections. \ *Images: (Top to bottom) Ratchaprasong, Taksin Bridge, Silom, Asoke, & Victory Monument. These are images of just some of the separate protest sites and marches organized acros... more »

Tom Hayden : Progressive Dems See Opening for New Politics

thorne dreyer at The Rag Blog - 23 hours ago
Elizabeth Warren and the populists say 'No way!' to 'Third Way.' Conditions ripe for a new politics: An opening for progressive Democrats The Democratic progressive base is making clear that Hillary Clinton must make an adjustment from her hawkish centrism towards the new populism. By Tom Hayden / The Rag Blog / December 23, 2013 The sight of progressive Democrats shaming and exposing the

Jack A. Smith : Climate Change Confab Brings Too Little Too Late

thorne dreyer at The Rag Blog - 1 day ago
Climate change activists in Warsaw, Friday, November 22, 2013, portray, from right, French President Francois Hollande, Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, President Obama, and German Chancellor Angela Merkel. Photo by Czarek Sokolowski, / AP. Climate Change meeting in Warsaw brings too little too late 
Given the number of drastic reports about climate change... the accomplishments at COP19

Lamar W. Hankins : Opportunist Narvaiz Takes On Doggett Again in Gerrymandered 35th

thorne dreyer at The Rag Blog - 1 day ago
Congressional candidate Susan Narvaiz and friend. Image from Facebook. Unsolicited advice, Dept.: A Narvaiz strategy to defeat Doggett Narvaiz is a political chameleon who says what she needs to say and does what she needs to do to protect herself from political accountability. By Lamar W. Hankins / The Rag Blog / December 23, 2013 SAN MARCOS, Texas -- Three years ago, when Susan Narvaiz

Is Marriage Equality Here To Stay... In Utah?

DownWithTyranny at DownWithTyranny! - 1 day ago
As soon as I had heard there was something big brewing in Utah,the first person to come to mind for an inside scoop was Ryan Combe, a progressive Democrat who ran for Congress last year. He said the day had been "shaping up to be one of the most shocking days in Utah’s political history when around 2pm a ruling from U.S. District Judge Robert Shelby made certain it would go down as the biggest day in politics that this state has ever seen." I asked him to expand on what was going on there from his own perspective and he sent me this: I had been glued to my computer all day as I ... more »

Steve Horn : Keystone XL's Houston 'Fork in the Road'

thorne dreyer at The Rag Blog - 1 day ago
Houston's refinery row. Image from Gulf Restoration Network / DaSmogBlog. Keystone XL fork in the road: TransCanada's Houston Lateral Pipeline Houston's LyondellBasell refinery is retooling itself for the looming feast of tar sands crude and fracked oil bounty that awaits the Houston Lateral's completion. By Steve Horn / DeSmogBlog / December 23, 2013 Only Barack Obama knows the fate of the

Lo sentimos mucho....We are very sorry

Abraham Ben Judea at Abraham says - 1 day ago
ABOUT the missing photos... SOBRE las fotos ausentes Las fotos seran re-puestas...lo mas rapido possible... The photos will be reposted as soon as possible... Google is to Blame for uploading the photos posted here to our Cell phones La culpa la tiene Google por SUBIR las fotos puestas aqui directamente a los celulares Seed Newsvine

Gold and silver news , data ( GLD ETF sees 5.4 tons of gold added by an authorized participant - first time in many months - whom and why now , some may be wondering ) and views - December 21 , 2013 - Ed Steer's Saturday Report - with the gold and precious metal data and news updates always provided by Ed - Articles linked include Doug Noland's Friday missive and many additional thought provoking items to ponder this weekend !

Catharsis Ours - 1 day ago
http://www.caseyresearch.com/gsd/edition/lawrence-williams-the-taper-china-and-gold-where-is-this-leading-us ¤ YESTERDAY IN GOLD & SILVER There was a bit of a rally in gold during early trading in the Far East on their Friday, but by early afternoon it had petered out. The gold price didn't do much after that until the London p.m. gold fix. That rally took the gold price back above the $1,200 spot price mark. At that point, either the rally got capped, or the buyer disappeared. Gold traded flat for the remainder of the Friday session in New York. The CME recorded the low and high... more »

i hate christmas 2013: christmas in the public library

laura k at wmtc - 1 day ago
My annual I Hate Christmas post is a mixed bag this year. Last year, I found Christmas less awful than usual, thanks to the absence of both commercial TV and my law-firm job. Those changes are permanent (at least I hope they are!), so I may never need to hide from Christmas quite as much, ever again. On the other hand, Christmas at the public library is a grand opportunity for alienation. The decorations, the displays of children's Christmas books, the Christmas-themed storytimes... and everyone thinks it's all hunky-dory, as long as we stick to Santa and ignore Jesus. No crosses a... more »

Musical Interlude: Moody Blues, "King and Queen"

noreply@blogger.com (CoyotePrime) at Running 'Cause I Can't Fly - 1 day ago
Moody Blues, "King and Queen"

Musical Interlude: The Moody Blues, "King and Queen"

noreply@blogger.com (CoyotePrime) at Running 'Cause I Can't Fly - 1 day ago
The Moody Blues, "King and Queen" -http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wLD6nPQvlZg

The Importance of Common Core for Nationally-pervasive Ed Reform

deutsch29 at @ THE CHALK FACE - 1 day ago
A great error made by those combating corporate reform is in viewing the reforms as separate and distinct one from another. I have noticed as much in discussions about the Common Core State Standards (CCSS). However, the “standards” were not intended to “stand” without the entire spectrum of reforms. In fact, the power of a […]

Bitcoin news December 21 , 2013 - BTC China CEO Attempts To Calm The Bitcoin Market After RMB Deposit Shutdown .......... Going forward , one question for Bitcoin will be how do emerging countries and markets view Bitcoin - Jana survey reveals the thinking in 9 emerging markets ......Alleged Top Moderators Of Silk Road 2 Forums Arrested In Ireland, U.S. In International Sweep ...... Additional news items of note for Bitcoin !

Catharsis Ours - 1 day ago
Taxing Bitcoin...... How Will the IRS Tax Bitcoin? *online.wsj.com / Laura Saunders / Dec. 20, 2013 7:10 p.m. ET* Despite a recent plunge, bitcoin has had a banner year. Now comes the hard part—figuring out the taxes on it. For the uninitiated, bitcoin is the most prominent of several “virtual currencies”—money that exists only online and isn’t backed by any government. Released in 2009 by an unknown person or group going by the name Satoshi Nakamoto, bitcoin is maintained by a decentralized network of computers, called “miners,” that process and verify transactions. As of Friday af... more »

Need a last-minute Christmas gift suggestion?

KenInNY at DownWithTyranny! - 1 day ago
*by Noah* OK, Chanukah came a little early this year, but for those of you who feel that special joy of giving a gift for Christmas, here be this year’s prime suggestions. Special note: I am assuming that you have already graced all of your friends with last year's Jesus Grilled Cheese-maker or Jesus Toaster. If not, the Father, Son, and Holy Toast can easily be theirs, but here are some other great gift ideas! *1. The Bathe & Brew* What do you like to do first thing when you get up each glorious day? I mean *after* that. For me, it’s take some pills, do some exercises and sit i... more »

Attention the Future your TV has arrived.

Steve at Thinking Aboot - 1 day ago
Now thats a TV! LG 4K 105 inch Cinematic aspect display. H/T Canada Hi Fi

Turkey & Ukraine afflicted with EU/ private banking/business parasites

Penny at Penny for your thoughts - 1 day ago
*Found some interesting articles...* *As usual I will highlight the interesting bits.* *Turkey is afflicted with the same bloodsucker trying to latch itself onto the Ukraine.* *The parasitic EU wants to drain all life from both nations.* *THE EU NEEDS TURKEY* * But, does Turkey need or want the EU? Does the Ukraine really want or need to be part of the EU?* *We have some interesting parallels here-* ISTANBUL —* The Turks are increasingly hubristic, and not just in the Middle East. Having seen their total G.D.P. more than double in the past decade, many Turks do not feel that they n... more »

Summer Reading

Peter Cresswell at Not PC - 1 day ago
A few of you were distraught* that I hadn't yet posted my bookstack of holiday reading this year. So here it is, all ready for me to realise I'm going to need a bigger bag. * *Distraught,* adjective, di-ˈstrawt, from the Latin *distractus *meaning somewhere between mildly curious and hardly caring. [image: Posted with Blogsy]Posted with Blogsy Content is copyright PC.BlogSpot.Com © Please contact author for permission to republish: (organon at ihug.co.nz)

The source of true friendship

Steve at Thinking Aboot - 1 day ago
H/T to Oldpharte and Globallove Think Tank

Chariots of the Gods new revelations

Steve at Thinking Aboot - 1 day ago
Any question this depicts spacecraft? These are Mayan disks found 8o years ago. I am not totally sold on extra terrestrial. Another plausible explanation is that earth has had one or more cycles where technology surpassed our own. Thus destroying that civilization so thoroughly we only have a few artifacts remaining. H/T to American Kabuki and oldephartte(in training)

Christmas less Christian, says survey

Peter Cresswell at Not PC - 1 day ago
Gus Van Horn spotted some more interesting polling data coming out of the States, summarised by him as "Half of Americans Have Ceased Injecting Faith into Christmas": [O]nly a little more than half [of Americans] actually regard the [Christmas] holiday primarily as a religious celebration. More than one-third say it's more a cultural holiday, a new poll from Pew Research's Religion & Public Life Policy found. This is great news from undeniably the most religious western country, and hopefully a growing cultural trend. As Gus says This calls to mind Leonard Peikoff's classic essay... more »

Fair warning!

Roobin at THROUGH THE SCARY DOOR - 1 day ago
For the next week, starting tomorrow, once again, Through the Scary door will be the world's BIGGEST blog. The odds are fairly good that this guy will make an appearance.

Is There Such A Thing As Too Extreme On The Right-- Or Does It Always Have To End In An Orgy Of Blood?

DownWithTyranny at DownWithTyranny! - 1 day ago
If you want to find out which Senate Republicans have the most reactionary and extreme right voting records, you can access that information at ProgressivePunch. You just scroll down past the most conservative Democrats-- like Joe Donnelly, Joe Manchin, Mark Warner and Mark Pryor-- and past then garden variety conservative Republicans who are getting primaries by teabaggers, like Susan Collins, Lamar Alexander, Thad Cochran and Lindsey Graham, and you get to a land of make-believe. Past right-wing sociopaths like Ron Johnson, Richard Burr, Marco Rubio, Richard Shelby, you find the... more »

PASTOR BUM-SEX AND OIL

Anon at aangirfan - 1 day ago
*American pastor Rick Warren embraces a young man. American pastor Rick Warren has close ties to the "kill the gays" bill supporter pastor Martin Ssempa.* An American called *Caleb Lee Brundidge* admits to having a history of being GAY. *nytimes.com*. One might assume that he may still be GAY. One might speculate that Caleb Brundidge is paid by the CIA to promote a policy of 'divide and rule' in Uganda, which has oil wealth. Caleb Brundidge is one of the American evangelical Christians who went to Uganda to back the homophobes who want gay people to be executed. In March 2009,... more »

The Poet: William Butler Yeats, "The Second Coming"

noreply@blogger.com (CoyotePrime) at Running 'Cause I Can't Fly - 1 day ago
*"The Second Coming"* *․ * "Turning and turning in the widening gyre The falcon cannot hear the falconer; Things fall apart; the center cannot hold; Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world, The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere The ceremony of innocence is drowned; The best lack all conviction, while the worst Are full of passionate intensity. Surely some revelation is at hand; Surely the Second Coming is at hand. The Second Coming! Hardly are those words out When a vast image out of Spiritus Mundi Troubles my sight: somewhere in sands of the desert A shape with lion body and the... more »

The Axiom of the Abandoned: “I Am the Union”

Kris Nielsen at @ THE CHALK FACE - 1 day ago
I am pro-union. Teachers need strong representation and advocacy. But it’s broken right now. Just when I thought that the speeches and editorials from Dennis Van Roekel and Randi Weingarten were showing a turn-around back to reality, and just when I thought those two were going to start fighting for public education and their members, […]

"What Can We Know?"

noreply@blogger.com (CoyotePrime) at Running 'Cause I Can't Fly - 1 day ago
"What can we know? What are we all? Poor silly half-brained things peering out at the infinite, with the aspirations of angels and the instincts of beasts." - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

We Have A Moral Obligation To Fix US Inequality, Orwell Triumphs Regretted As Gov't Lies and Warrantless Wiretapping Continues, and More Cass Sunstein Legerdemain For the Unseeing Masses (Or Will It Ricochet)? Bankers Now Sitting In Barber Chair (Waiting for Trim?) Just A Quick Haircut As BoA Foreclosure Scams Revealed (Rape Victims Names Now A Commodity)

Robert Reich has a Christmas message for US. Ninety-five percent of economic gains since 2009 have gone to the 1 percent. We have a moral obligation to fix this. It’s the season to show concern for the less fortunate among us. We should also be concerned about the widening gap between the most fortunate and everyone else. the biggest lottery of all is what family we’re born into. Our life

NSA backlash hits US tech as foreign countries balk at doing businesses due to concerns of NSA spying aided by Big Tech complicity .....

Fred Walton at Catharsis Ours - 1 day ago
http://www.juancole.com/2013/12/encryption-companies-install.html NSA bribed Encryption Companies to Install Back Doors: Was the Law Broken? Did Obama Know? (By Juan Cole) Reuters gets the scoop: the National Security Agency gave internet security firm RSA some $10 million to use an NSA encryption formula in its BSafe software. RSA is now a subsidiary of the EMC corporation, and they have urged customers not to use BSafe since the revelations by Edward Snowden made clear that the NSA’s formula in fact allowed the agency access to all the information supposedly encrypted with it. T... more »

Nevando en Navidad

José Luis Ávila Herrera at FOTOFRONTERA - 1 day ago
[image: Imagenes Gratis para Navidad y Año Nuevo 2014]Click aquí o sobre la imagen para ver toda la colec
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