Sunday, March 02, 2014

2 Mar - Blogs I'm Following

Location of Crimea (dark green) with respect t...Location of Crimea (dark green) with respect to Ukraine (light green) on a map of Europe. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
English: Sarych headland near Foros, Ukraine. ...English: Sarych headland near Foros, Ukraine. Українська: Ласпинская бухта и мыс Сарыч. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
2:58pm MST

It’s time to put a stake through the heart of the RMA–and time a politician finally said that.

Peter Cresswell at Not PC - 11 minutes ago
“When the productive have to ask permission from the unproductive in order to produce, then you may know that your culture is doomed.” - Ayn Rand It’s taken twenty years for a mainstream politician to finally say this: ACT wants to repeal the Resource Management Act, new leader Jamie Whyte told the party's annual conference in Auckland. Mr Whyte said if part of the next government, ACT would try to scrap the 826-page law, which he says infringes on New Zealander's ability to use their property… "People have tried to fix it, fix it, fix it - but it is inherently an ill-... more »

APOCALYPSE NOW / FUKUSHIMA

Allen L Roland, Ph.D at Allen L Roland's Weblog - 18 minutes ago
*As Harvey Wasserman expounds ~ Fukushima's missing melted cores and gushing radioactivity continues to fester in secret and speculation on the ultimate impact borders from relatively harmless to intensely apocalyptic. However, it is obvious to all that the impacts of these emissions on human and ecological health are unknown primarily because the nuclear industry has resolutely refused to study them: Allen L Roland* *As Wasserman explains ~ " **This "see no evil, pay no damages” mindset dates from the Bombing of Hiroshima to Fukushima to the disaster coming next … which could b... more »

Who does Admiral Lord West fancy? And who does he envy? Read on

Craig at Is the BBC biased? - 32 minutes ago
Tom Onwards and.......................... The paper review panel on today's *Broadcasting House *consisted of actor Tom Hollander (of the BBC's *Rev* fame), Lord West of Spithead (Labour) and Camilla Cavendish of *The Sunday Times* who, Paddy said [in his introduction], is "conducting a review for the Health Secretary in England, Jeremy Hunt, into healthcare assistance" - thus neatly suggesting where she might just possibly stand on the political spectrum [whilst, at the same time, including a clip of her - by way of introduction - praising the skills of NHS staff for good measure... more »

Doonesbury on Bankers

Obi-Wan Kabuki at AMERICAN KABUKI - 41 minutes ago

Crying in Crimera

Steve at Thinking Aboot - 55 minutes ago
The Ukraine Russia tempest has been brewing for centuries. Crimea is to Ukraine as Hong Kong is to China. In modern history its not really been part of Ukraine. The forces whipping up ethnic tensions in Ukraine have been mostly Western. Ukraine needs good goverment. Harper sending a partisan crew to give that message is exactly the problem. There are bigger forces at play in Ukraine than the desire of the populous to have decent democracy and credible governance. Harper represents the worst of both. It will take world class statesmen to save Ukraine from Itself, the Russians and... more »

The Crimean Jewish Republic. ?.

Craig at Is the BBC biased? - 1 hour ago
After that facetious post about John Simpson - and the two critical posts that preceded it - it's time to get back onto po-faced blogging territory as we continue our long and arduous journey through today's edition of *Broadcasting House *on Radio 4. Plus it's bouquet time too. It was more Ukraine to follow, with Paddy interviewing Ukrainian-born novelist Anna Shevchenko. Anna give Radio 4 listeners a potted history of Crimea, and a very interesting one it was too. Crimea has (she said) been the prize of ages, with the Greeks, the Romans, the Ottomans and the Russians seeking ... more »

THE TRUTH ABOUT SCOTLAND

Anon at aangirfan - 1 hour ago
Journalist *Iain Macwhirter* writes that: "There was confirmation last week that *an independent Scotland would not only be economically viable, but could have a highly successful and diverse economy with a healthier credit rating than the UK.*" *IScotland Would Be Oil Rich And Creditworthy Even Without The Banks* - 2 March 2014 Iain Macwhirter *According to Macwhirter:* *1.* "*Scotland is on the cusp of another oil boom*, according to a report from Sir Ian Wood, commissioned and endorsed by the UK Government. "It said there are still up to 24 billion barrels of recoverable oil... more »

Now! Lock-down die-in NO! Keystone XL at White House

brendanorrell@gmail.com at CENSORED NEWS - 2 hours ago
Censored News Sunday, March 2, 2014 Hundreds of students have locked themselves to the White House Fence in an act of civil disobedience, mass arrests underway. http://new.livestream.com/JamesFromTheInternet/events/2780094 or LIVE http://www.ustream.tv/rootsmedia Students die-in outside White House to say #NoKXL More than 350 students remain tied to the White House fence, Twitter report

COPTER CRASH; PRINCESS DIANA

Anon at aangirfan - 2 hours ago
*The funeral of David Traill.* On 29 November 2013, a police helicopter crashed into the Clutha pub in central Glasgow. The cause - two vital fuel switches were turned off during the flight. *Mystery of turned off fuel flow switches in Clutha helicopter* Why would an experienced pilot knowingly turn them off? The switches, which control the flow of fuel to the engines, are both supposed to be on throughout a flight. The switches which control the pumps are located in the cockpit ceiling to the rear of the pilot and can only be turned off manually. Why was autorotation - a form ... more »

THOU HYPOCRITE

Bruce K. Gagnon at Organizing Notes - 2 hours ago
BBC reports: John Kerry told US media Russia might "not even remain in the G8" and Russian President Vladimir Putin might "find himself with asset freezes". "You just don't in the 21st-Century behave in 19th-Century fashion by invading another country on completely trumped-up pretext," Mr Kerry told the CBS program Face the Nation. "Thou hypocrite, first cast out the beam out of thine own eye; and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote out of thy brother's eye." - Matthew 7:5 One might understand why I have such a hard time stomaching anything I hear from the corpor... more »

New Blogs Feb/March 2014

Phil at A Very Public Sociologist - 3 hours ago
It's time. Time for the new blogs. 1. A Left Leaning Look (Unaligned) (Twitter) 2. BAME Labour (Labour) (Twitter) 3. Classroom Truths (Labour/Education) (Twitter) 4. English Revolution! (Unaligned/Anarchist) (Twitter) 5. MarxistWorld.net (Socialist Party/CWI) 6. Merseyside Federation of Anti-Bedroom Tax Groups (Unaligned) 7. Natasha Millward (Labour) (Twitter) 8. Not Alone - Fighting 'Corrective' Rape (Unaligned/Feminist) (Twitter) 9. Organising My Thoughts (Unaligned) 10. WomanTheory (Unaligned/Feminist) (Twitter) Only a small number of new offerings for February/March - other things h... more »

If you're reading this it's not good news...

Not a sheep at Not a sheep - 3 hours ago
If you're reading this it's not good news...

The Conqueror of Crimea

Craig at Is the BBC biased? - 3 hours ago
Next, on *Broadcasting House,* it was back to Ukraine and the BBC's John Simpson. John is fondly remembered for leading the Charge of the Light Brigade into Kabul a few years ago whilst disguised as a Russian peasant girl, thus liberating the subjugated city from the oppressive Cossacks. As he did so, riding a donkey rather than a horse (as befits a humble BBC reporter), grateful Ukrainian girls laid palm leaves before him, and wept. By his own account today on *Broadcasting House, *John has donned his legendary frock again and is bravely attempting to make his way into Crimea o... more »

We're only making trains for Nigel

Craig at Is the BBC biased? - 3 hours ago
Next up on *Broadcasting House*, Paddy O'Connell mounted the 'Nigel Farage Express' following the UKIP leader's comments that, travelling on a train from London to Kent he found himself feeling awkward when he could hear no English being spoken. We heard from four people on that train, doubtless carefully selected for broadcast and just as carefully ordered in Paddy's report. The first man, whose name *wasn't* given [out of fear of expressing such views on BBC radio?], backed up Nigel Farage's point that, particularly at certain times of day, you do hear only East European accent... more »

Kauilapele's Blog: More on the Latest (3-1-14) Benjamin Fulford Posting… “Synchronicities” and “Who is ‘Grady Means’?”

Obi-Wan Kabuki at AMERICAN KABUKI - 3 hours ago
*I'm reblogging KP's recent post on the events in Ukraine... -AK* http://kauilapele.wordpress.com/2014/03/01/more-on-the-latest-3-1-14-benjamin-fulford-posting-synchronicities-and-who-is-grady-means/ *More on the Latest (3-1-14) Benjamin Fulford Posting… “Synchronicities” and “Who is ‘Grady Means’?”* Posted on 2014/03/01 by kauilapele boa_federal_reserve_logos_NOT_1I’ll say straight out… this latest Benjamin posting hit VERY strongly. It felt like the beginning of something… something quite significant. So I felt strongly moved to post what has been running through my mind (presuma... more »

Money for sex, sex for money.

noreply@blogger.com (deBeauxOs) at DAMMIT JANET! - 3 hours ago
Time for a little self-disclosure. Women, has a man ever offered you money to have sex with him? It happened to me, twice. About 10 years ago I was heading home after working late. My Sandy Hill neighbourhood features some dilapidated buildings offering single rooms for rent for students and other transients. There's also some city-sponsored and transition housing. Two men schlepping a 24 walked past me, one of them trying to engage me in conversation, for the purpose of checking out whether I'd like to "party" with them. When I expressed my lack of interest in them or their ... more »

Go West, Young Paddy

Craig at Is the BBC biased? - 3 hours ago
I thought Paddy O'Connell's first guest on *Broadcasting House* today, Lord West, spoke a good deal of sense about the growing crisis in Ukraine, saying that some people - and William Hague and Barack Obama were the two people he called out by name - are making "silly" statements about it, and that Obama's latest intervention is precisely the wrong kind of intervention, inflaming the situation rather than calming it down. My concerns lie (as ever) with Paddy (as this is a blog about BBC bias). Paddy introduced him first as "the former head of the Navy, Lord West" and then with t... more »

Doonesbury compares Bankster Life in the U.S. vs. Iceland

KenInNY at DownWithTyranny! - 3 hours ago
*DOONESBURY* [*Click to enlarge*] *by Ken* Although the first thing that popped out of me in today's Sunday *Doonebury*strip was interviewer Mark's white hair, I suppose that's a parochial response, which called to mind the recent series in which our old companion Joanie Caucus came out of retirement to join the staff of Sen. Elizabeth Warren (of whose campaign she had been a zealous supporter), only to find herself feeling like a dinosaur amid the toddlerish other staffers. (We really should take a look at that whole series one of these days.) Meanwhile, in the course of rummagin... more »

Ben Fulford: Russian Forces Engage US troops in Ukraine (Unverified)

Obi-Wan Kabuki at AMERICAN KABUKI - 4 hours ago
*Posted by Ben Fulford, unverified at this point... I think the cabal wants a distraction at this point so I am not sure how much energy I want to pay into tracking this all... -AK* http://benjaminfulford.net/ Posted by Benjamin Fulford March 1, 2014 March 1, 2014, 11:30 A.M. Japan Standard Time Special news alert: About three hours ago Russian special forces engaged US ground troops in the Ukraine, according to Russian government and gnostic illuminati sources. This move was in response to the imminent bankruptcy of the Federal Reserve Board.

China filling the void left by an increasing impoverished West ? From Zero Hedge -- While the developed world is focusing on the rapidly deteriorating developments in the Crimean, China, which has kept a very low profile on the Ukraine situation aside from the token diplomatic statement, is taking advantage of this latest distraction to do what it does best: quietly take over the global periphery while nobody is looking ....... Focus on China increasing business , economic and security ties with Africa

Fred Walton at Catharsis Ours - 4 hours ago
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2014-03-02/meanwhile-china-quietly-takes-over-zimbabwe Meanwhile, China Quietly Takes Over Zimbabwe [image: Tyler Durden's picture] Submitted by Tyler Durden on 03/02/2014 10:54 -0500 - Australia - China - India - Japan - None - Ukraine - Yen - Yuan inShare4 While the developed world is focusing on the rapidly deteriorating developments in the Crimean, China, which has kept a very low profile on the Ukraine situation aside from the token diplomatic statement, is taking advantage of this latest distraction to do w... more »

Nuclear weapons wouldn’t have fixed what was wrong with Ukraine

PM at Duck of Minerva - 4 hours ago
Tyler Cowen discovers John Mearsheimer’s seminal 1993 Foreign Affairs article “The Case for a Ukrainian Nuclear Deterrent”. Since I know I won’t be alone in teaching this piece the next time I put together an Intro to IR reading list, let’s take a moment to see whether, as Cowen wrote earlier, “the expected rate of Continue reading

Is the Obama administration right in pushing for a trade deal?

Greg Mankiw at Greg Mankiw's Blog - 4 hours ago
1. Paul Krugman says no. 2. *The Economist* says yes.

Nothing will come of nothing, Lear said!

bob somerby at the daily howler - 5 hours ago
*SUNDAY, MARCH 2, 2014* *British monarch was right all along:* “Nothing will come of nothing. Speak again.” That’s what King Lear said to his daughter, the one who wasn’t willing to fawn about how much she loved him. Centuries later, a different father-and-daughter team were locked in conversation. In a book review in today’s New York Times, Robin Marantz Henig describes what that father said: HENIG (3/2/14): Father-daughter memoirs have an inherent appeal, especially when the father and daughter are on an almost preposterous quest. There’s such a quest in “Trespassing on Einstein... more »

New Movie: Son of God

LeDaro at LeDaro - 5 hours ago
A new trend in Hollywood? Could be given the popularity of the movie Son of God, a bible-themed movie about the life of Jesus. Mega-churches are helping to spread the word and there is a strong demand it seems. What other bible-themed movies could be coming? What is Hollywood trying to do, make everyone religious, or are they just in it for money?

Spiderwebs Visible on TEPCO Cam Resemble Electricity

Majia's Blog - 5 hours ago
Suspicious Observers, Youtubers who analyze space weather and other interesting phenomena, captured electricity in an experiment they conducted. The Youtube clip can be seen here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vRy6DPx-5Fc&feature=c4-overview&list=UUTiL1q9YbrVam5nP2xzFTWQ I was struck by the resemblance to the 'spiderweb' phenomena seen on the TEPCO cam: <img alt="" src="data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAjwAAAGcCAIAAABSme2+AAAgAElEQVR4nOy9d3hU5533PajPaHrvvWqaCqqoIlRAAiRACFEESEIF9TrqBRACDBgbsJ3YjoMTO65J1k+y2WTXSfbd3TfPJk+uvLubze6zm2x2U3bjbrDpNrx//DRHZ845MzrTVPD5XvfFNRpOu... more »

Northerntruthseeker Rant For Sunday, March 2, 2014

Northerntruthseeker at Northerntruthseeker - 5 hours ago
Yes, it is Sunday again, and therefore time again for my weekly rant.... So much has been happening around the world this last week that I may not be able to get everything into this article, but I will try my best.... First, I want to let everyone know that Whitewraithe and myself are indeed going to go ahead with a project that we have discussed over the last while, and that is to try to get a new audio show off the ground.... We decided to call the new show "Turbulent Times" because yes, we are indeed in very turbulent times. The name stuck and we decided to run with it... We di... more »

The Stall

Jim Horn at Schools Matter - 5 hours ago

PREPARING FOR WAR WITH RUSSIA

Bruce K. Gagnon at Organizing Notes - 6 hours ago
I've been writing for many years about US-NATO efforts to militarily surround Russia. The oil-i-garchy wants to get ahold of the natural gas (the world's largest supply) that sits on Russian territory. It also wants full control of the Arctic region now that climate change will make it possible to drill for oil there. Russia has a huge northern coastal border with the Arctic and thus stands in the way of western oil control. Already the war drums are sounding after Russia moved more troops into Crimea to protect its Navy base and the large pro-Russian population in the region. ... more »

Palling Around with Neo-Nazis

Donn Marten at Carrying a Flag - 6 hours ago
Senator McCain with neo-Nazi buddy Oleh Tyahnybok During today's Sunday morning state-corporate media slimefest where anti-Putin hysteria will be the topic du jour there will likely be no questions whatsoever asked as to why the U.S. has backed neo-Nazis in what was obviously a western orchestrated coup against the democratically elected leader of Ukraine. One of the ‘guests’ will probably be the fiendish Arizona Senator John McCain, a crazed warmonger and longtime Russia hater who is foaming at the mouth for another opportunity to send American military men and women into harm’... more »

Gold and Silver Report March 1 , 2014 - Ed Steer's Saturday missive -- Data , News and Views to ponder -- great link to articles on or touching on the precious metals ..... additional noteworthy missives from Koos Jansen and Bill Holter to consider !

Catharsis Ours - 6 hours ago
http://www.caseyresearch.com/gsd/edition/rising-gold-imports-in-january-scupper-hopes-india-will-lift-import-restric ¤ YESTERDAY IN GOLD & SILVER The gold price chopped around the $1,330 price mark until the Comex open on Friday in New York---and at that point gold began to get sold down, with the low coming minutes after the 1:30 p.m. Comex close. From that low, gold rallied a bit, but wasn't allowed to get back to its Thursday close. The CME recorded the high and low ticks as $1,333.60 and $1,319.30 in the April contract. Gold closed in New York at $1,328.60 spot, down $3.20 on th... more »

Thoughts on Ukraine...

Boris at The Galloping Beaver - 6 hours ago
So Ukraine had internal political disagreement connected to whether it wanted to join the EU or Eastasian Union. It's former leader sided with the latter, the public in the western Ukraine largely said no, there were riots and killing, then Russian invaded because it saw opportunity. The key in all of this are Russia's intentions. Do they want to seize Crimea as they have, or is this an attempt

Medicine: "The Mystery of Sudden Cardiac Arrest"

noreply@blogger.com (CoyotePrime) at Running 'Cause I Can't Fly - 7 hours ago
*"The Mystery of Sudden Cardiac Arrest"* by Forbes "When cardiologist Sumeet Chugh was a medical resident in Minneapolis in 1992, a beautiful 19-year-old woman was rushed into the emergency room after collapsing while dancing. Her heart had suddenly stopped. Chugh and his colleagues worked for almost an hour but couldn't save her. An autopsy found nothing. The only clue was her mother, who had also died abruptly at a young age. "It was devastating to me," says Chugh, now associate director of the Cedars-Sinai Heart Institute in Los Angeles. He dedicated his career to solving the big... more »

The Left & a Reality to Terrible to Think About

thwap at thwap's schoolyard - 7 hours ago
What else could those 20-30 anti-harper activists chanting in the freezing cold outside the Toronto Convention Centre a few weeks ago, have been thinking? "Our power is in the streets!" they shouted out as they agreed to reject working with the slimy politicians and vowed to defeat harper on their own. I might have thought that the three cops standing nearby were amused by this except that I'm pretty sure they weren't even listening. It must be the case that such activist types are aware of their own lack of consequence and the inevitability of the horrible policies coming there way... more »

Musical Interlude: 2002, “Return to Freedom”

noreply@blogger.com (CoyotePrime) at Running 'Cause I Can't Fly - 7 hours ago
2002, “Return to Freedom” - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zYVHVHniU80

Analogies Aplenty: Ukraine is ….

Steve Saideman at Duck of Minerva - 7 hours ago
Lots of folks are speculating about what Ukraine/Crimea/Russia is like, including not Abkhazia. Right now, the analogies that come to mind for me are: coups d’etat and poker. Coup? Yes, because in a coup, the anti-incumbents (for want of a better term), move first, trying to create facts on the ground that are hard to Continue reading

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New Orleans Ladder at New Orleans Ladder - 7 hours ago
*James Gill: Oil & Gas Industry spokesman doesn’t worry about the facts ~N.O. Advocate* *House Republicans post revised flood insurance bill that instructs FEMA to 'strive' to keep premiums at 1% of total coverage ~Mark Schleifstein* *~Hat Tweet~**GulfSails ‏@GulfSails FEMA approved the money to rebuild a year ago. This is a massive @MayorLandrieu & @susanguidry fail for our economy.* *The Jimmy Situation ~Saints Win * *Bacchus 47 Hugh Laurie relishes his time in New Orleans ~Bill Capo, Shreveport Times* *Endymion wows crowds along parade route ~Meg Gatto,WVUE* *Area Mardi Gras ... more »

SUNDAY SONG

Bruce K. Gagnon at Organizing Notes - 7 hours ago

Under The Bus

Owen Gray at Northern Reflections - 7 hours ago
Andrew Coyne writes that there is a distinct difference between conservatives and Conservatives. That difference was on display at this weekend's Manning Conference: The Conservative party is supposed to be conservative. If the Manning conference has gotten more overtly partisan over the years, it may be because the party has gotten less overtly anything, other than unpleasant. Or rather, the leadership has. But looking at the contrast between this ostensibly non-partisan convention and its partisan predecessor, the thought occurs: this is the real Conservative convention. It is a... more »

Ron Johnson (R-WI)-- One Of The Koch Brothers' Favorite Senators

DownWithTyranny at DownWithTyranny! - 7 hours ago
I hope you saw Grayson's epic take down of the Koched up Keystone Pipeline project yesterday. (If you missed it… take a look here.) A few days ago, Harry Reid was even clearer about these two fascists who have wormed their way into control of the imbecile teabaggers: "It's too bad that they're trying to buy America, and it's time that the American people spoke out against this terrible dishonesty of these two brothers who are about as un-American as anyone I can imagine," Reid said on the Senate floor. Reid's right of course, and one of the Koch brothers' political tentacles, Amer... more »

Are GMOs Making You & Your Kids Sick?

Stranger in a Strange Land at Stranger in a Strange Land - 8 hours ago
Are GMOs making you or your family sick? This determined mother figured out what was ailing her kids including herself. Now they are on the mend and GMO free! WATCH: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KOFy0wEN6RY #GMOs #GMOhealthrisks #GMOFreeCanada *Source:* *GMO Free Canada*

Conquest by other means, Ukraine edition

Stacie Goddard at Duck of Minerva - 8 hours ago
Over at the Monkey Cage, Henry Farrell suggests that President Obama is using the OSCE to give Putin an exit strategy. Farrell writes: Obama’s “phone call with Putin on Saturday suggests that the United States wants to invoke the old-style OSCE. It notes that Russia’s armed intervention is inconsistent with Russia’s commitments under the Helsinki Continue reading

On Obituaries and Everybody Dying

Batocchio at Vagabond Scholar - 8 hours ago
(Old Man in Armchair, by a follower of Rembrandt. National Gallery, London.) There's been a rash of deaths in the performing arts these past few months, and it seems like all I'm writing these days are obituaries. I hope to get to other (long-simmering) pieces eventually. Still, if there's a time to take note of someone's life and career, their passing is it (in our culture and most others

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jonjayray at Food &Health Skeptic - 9 hours ago
*The Obesity Rate for Children Has Not Plummeted -- Despite what the New York Times tells you* *I saw the research report concerned a couple of days ago and found it so straightforward that I was going to reproduce the abstract here without comment. So I was quite amazed that the NYT claimed that the research said the opposite of what it actually said. Even supermarket tabloids tend to be better than that. I was pleased therefore to see that Razib Khan has torn into the NYT over their sensationalism. Razib's comments below are followed by the journal abstract -- JR* Common ... more »

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JR at GREENIE WATCH - 9 hours ago
*Putting an end to the EPA’s ‘secret science’* American taxpayers foot the bill for the Environmental Protection Agency’s costly regulations, and they have a right to see the underlying science. EPA bureaucrats routinely hide this public information, insolently foreshadowing President Obama’s recently outed code of ethics, “I can do anything I want.” As Rep. Lamar Smith (R-Texas) bluntly forced the issue, “Virtually every regulation proposed by the Obama Administration has been justified by nontransparent data and unverifiable claims.” “Nontransparent data and unverifiable claims?... more »

“10 Biggest Right-Wing Idiots This Week (Not Even Including Arizona Homophobes)”

noreply@blogger.com (CoyotePrime) at Running 'Cause I Can't Fly - 9 hours ago
*“10 Biggest Right-Wing Idiots This Week* * (Not Even Including Arizona Homophobes)”* By Janet Allon "Putting aside all of the nutjob reactions to the veto of Arizona’s crazy anti-gay law, some of which were chronicled here, right wingers were still plenty busy mouthing off this week. *1. Pat Buchanan: 'Repeal all civil rights laws, segregate gays.' *Poor Patty was feeling a bit ignored of late, so he kicked off the week with a doozy of a column melodramatically titled “How Freedom Dies.” Springboarding from the kerfuffle around all the exciting anti-gay legislation, the conservati... more »

Muslims, more Muslims, apps, gay rights, confession, pancakes and religious education

Craig at Is the BBC biased? - 9 hours ago
Right, that's the bacon and eggs taken care of. Now down to *Sunday, *and the pancakes*.* This week's *Sunday* added two 'breaking news' features to its self-declared running order. The first dealt with the brutal mass stabbing at a railway station in south western *China *which has left at least 33 dead and over 130 injured. With depressing inevitability, it's looks as if Muslim terrorists are the perpetrators of this savagery and the Chinese are beginning to describe the attack as their 9/11. Shelagh Fogarty talked to the BBC's Beijing correspondent Celia Hatton about it and,... more »

Harold Ramis (1944–2014)

Batocchio at Vagabond Scholar - 11 hours ago
Harold Ramis has died at the age of 69. He directed two films dear to me, Groundhog Day and Ghostbusters, and had a hand in many others I enjoyed. By all accounts, he was a selfless collaborator, and this is amply on display in Ghostbusters, which Ramis acted in and cowrote with Dan Aykroyd. Ramis plays Egon Spengler, the no-nonsense brains of the outfit, meaning he delivers some great

Gross vs Strassler: Gross is right

Luboš Motl at The Reference Frame - 12 hours ago
I was told about Matt Strassler's 50-minute talk at JoeFest (click for different formats of the video/audio/slides) and his verbal exchange with David Gross that begins around 35:00. Matt's talk is pretty nice, touching technical things like the Myers effect, pomerons etc. but also reviewing his work with Joe Polchinski and giving Joe some homework exercises all the time. Matt said various things about the effective field theory's and/or string theory's inability to solve the hierarchy problem even with the anthropic bias taken into account. He would be distinguishing the existence ... more »

"Into the Valley of Death..."

Paul Coker at News Spike - 12 hours ago
"Into the Valley of Death, rode the 600.... NATO to the left of them, Mujahid to the right of them; Here I am - Stuck in the Middle with Pu'. The Union and Russia The Russian-British rivalry was of course the central antagonism of European history after the Napoleonic era, and the Russian attitude towards London coincided with the traditional American resentment against the former colonial power. Benjamin Platt Thomas’s older study shows that the US-Russian convergence became decisive during the Crimean War; while Britain, France and the Ottoman Empire attacked Russia, the Unite... more »

Sid Caesar (1922–2014)

Batocchio at Vagabond Scholar - 14 hours ago
(The NY Times' neat photo compilation.) The great Sid Caesar has died. I mainly knew him from countless viewings of the compilation film, 10 From Your Show of Shows, a great showcase for his immensely talented comedy troupe. I later caught additional sketches (all excellent), and learned about his dream team of writers, including Mel Brooks, Woody Allen, Neil Simon, and Larry Gelbart. (Carl

Former Duck Gets Riled Up by Ukraine Coverage

Josh Busby at Duck of Minerva - 15 hours ago
For some smart commentary on what’s going down in the Ukraine and how (not) to cover it, I point you to former Duck Dan Nexon on his personal blog. Dan knows a thing or two about the region having served in the Russia/Ukraine/Eurasia regional office in the Office of the Secretary Defense as a CFR Continue reading

"The Jewish State"

Paul Coker at News Spike - 15 hours ago
It's VERY interesting that Truman crosses out "Jewish State" and writes in, in his own hand "State of Israel". Because Israel is not, never has been, and is not intended to be a Jewish State. It's a secular republic proclaimed by some Jews.

Reporters and Foreign Affairs Analysis: Ukraine Edition

Daniel Nexon at Duck of Minerva - 16 hours ago
This is a guest post by former Duck of Minerva blogger Dan Nexon. It is cross-posted at his personal blog, Hylaean Flow. One of the ongoing rationales for The Monkey Cage is that journalists do a poor job of covering US electoral politics. They focus on personality and style. They downplay the role of fundamentals, such as economic forces and Continue reading

Oscar Preview: American Hustle-- An Incidental Indictment Of Our Political Elites

DownWithTyranny at DownWithTyranny! - 16 hours ago
I don't go to many movies, especially not movies that wind up nominated for Oscars. This year I saw The Wolf of Wall Street and complained ever since that the movie whitewashed the real life story about how the antihero, Jordan Belfort, bribed New York's crooked Senator Al D'Amato and the Republican Party. Last night a friend wanted to "do something." I suggested Lucha VaVoom, street mixed martial arts or one of the dollar-a-dance joints downtown. That all scared my friend-- he's from the East Coast-- so we went to see *American Hustle*, the dramatization of the Abscam sting in th... more »

Structure of jury charge

James C Morton at Morton's Musings - 17 hours ago
R. v. Feng, 2014 BCCA 71: [56] While the structure of a jury charge is a discretionary matter for the trial judge and therefore is entitled to deference, it must give the jury the necessary tools to properly decide the issues before them. In this case, where the jury had to consider three potential verdicts and two defences, considerable care had to be taken in ensuring they understood the proper sequence to their deliberations. [57] In *R. v. Almarales, *2008 ONCA 692 (CanLII), 2008 ONCA 692, 244 O.A.C. 127, Mr. Justice Watt, writing for the Court, observed that "som... more »

Northerntruthseeker And Pragmatic Witness Collaborating On New Internet Show… "Turbulent Times"

Northerntruthseeker at Northerntruthseeker - 17 hours ago
I am pleased to announce that in cooperation with my friend, Whitewraithe, who writes the Pragmatic Witness blogsite at www.whitewraithe.wordpress.com, that we are starting our own weekly talk show to discuss matters that concern us and all of our readers…. The show will be called "Turbulent Times", and it is a collaboration that her and I have talked about and planned for years…Only now are we able to finally get it off the ground…. Our first show will hopefully, depending on the success of Wraithe's dental surgery on Monday, be later this week. The subject of that first show will... more »

Five Links On The Crisis In Ukraine And Crimea

Saman Mohammadi at The Excavator - 17 hours ago
*Photo Source: Darko Vojinovic/AP*. Five Links On The Crisis In Ukraine And Crimea: The Centre for Global Studies Strategy XXI - *Gas Subtexts of Crimea Crisis* . Dr. Paul Craig Roberts - *Democracy Murdered By Protest: Ukraine Falls To Intrigue and Violence*. RT - *Calls in Kiev to ‘regain nuclear status in six months.’ * Michael Shrimpton - *The West Attacks Ukraine*. Deutsche Welle - *'Crimea secession likely': Ukraine expert*.

Apartheid Israeli company receives US border mega contract

brendanorrell@gmail.com at CENSORED NEWS - 17 hours ago
US spy tower on Tohono O'odham land near Sells, Arizona. One of the wasted $1 billion in spy towers that the US said didn't work. Israeli spies will now be on Tohono O'odham land as a result of US border contract By Brenda Norrell Censored News French translation Christine Prat March 1, 2014 TUCSON -- In a shocking development, Homeland Security has given the $145 million border

CSOs and State 18: Civil Society as Lobbyists for More Government? Cigarette Warning Bill

Nonoy Oplas at Government and Taxes - 18 hours ago
There are moves again to have a new law, mandating and forcing tobacco manufacturers to put warning signs in their cigarette packs like "Smoking Kills". While I believe that tobacco use is harmful for one's body, while I have no affection for tobacco companies, I do not believe that we need a new law on this. Notice that in many things in health care and other sectors, people keep asking for new laws, or amending old laws to make the regulations and restrictions more strict. The more that people ask from government, the latter will give more than what they need. like more pork bar... more »

Viewing Jasper Mountain book blog

risa bear at A Way to Live - 18 hours ago
Here is the header for a new book blog, Viewing Jasper Mountain. It's the book divided into post-sized bits, and they will appear once a week over the next few months. This one joins Starvation Ridge, 100 poems, iron buddhas, and Buddhism and Permaculture as book blogs already associated with the books from Stony Run Press. *Viewing Jasper Mountain* (Kindle link) is a homesteading/gardening journal with twelve chapters, one for each month, and gives the reader a glimpse of homesteading thinking and doing in the fast-receding 1990s. If you like the blog, do consider buying the book... more »

Cultural Scenario for Rich People Believing That Poor People Deserve Their Starvation Diet (Sadism?) How To Keep The Workers Running Scared and Working Cheap (More Education = More Underemployment?)

It’s Social Calvinism, a worldview that does not just see money as a reward for virtuous behavior, but as evidence of virtue itself. The 1 percent consider themselves an Economic Elect, whose wealth is a byproduct of self-discipline, intelligence, thriftiness and tolerance for risk. As inequality increases, so does the winners’ conviction that they are more equal than everyone else.

Game on in Ukraine

KenInNY at DownWithTyranny! - 19 hours ago
*Guards take their places in front of government buildings in Crimea, over the opposition of ethnic Ukrainians.* *SIMFEROPOL, Ukraine -- Russian armed forces effectively seized control of Ukraine’s Crimean Peninsula on Saturday, as President Vladimir V. Putin had the Russian Parliament grant him broad authority to use military force in Ukraine in response to deepening instability there.Russian troops stripped of identifying insignia and military vehicles bearing the black license plates of Russia’s Black Sea force swarmed the major thoroughfares of Crimea and occupied major gover... more »

Ron Jacobs : Moorcock’s ‘Pyat Quartet’ is story of a twentieth century knave

Thorne Dreyer at The Rag Blog - 20 hours ago
This epic work unfolds in a litany of prejudice, arrogance, and wrongheadedness, all told in a manner that is delightful to read. By Ron Jacobs | The Rag Blog | March 1, 2014 [Pyat Quartet by Michael Moorcock (2012-13: PM … finish reading Ron Jacobs : Moorcock’s ‘Pyat Quartet’ is story of a twentieth century knave

Crimea- Terror prevented, communications cut off, protest, gas cuts and more

Penny at Penny for your thoughts - 20 hours ago
So, today was a busy day. But I would steal myself away to the computer and search for the latest news when I could. I also took the time to visit Saker's early this a.m. So, I am going to start at the Vineyard... as I finish up my Cabernet Franc from dinner Saker had some interesting news about a car bomb being stopped in the Crimea Saker also mentioned that mostly all communications had mysteriously been cut off to the residents of Crimea -A car with 400kg of TNT-equivalent explosives was intercepted a a checkpoint yesterday in Crimea. There is no word on the diver or possible p... more »

Ronald Deibert on the World After Snowden: Towards Distributed Security in Cyberspace

Saman Mohammadi at The Excavator - 20 hours ago
Video Title: Ronald Deibert on the World After Snowden: Towards Distributed Security in Cyberspace. Source: BerkmanCenter. Date Published: October 17, 2013. Description: In this talk Ron Deibert -- Professor of Political Science, and Director of the Canada Centre for Global Security Studies and the Citizen Lab at the Munk School of Global Affairs, University of Toronto -- puts the revelations of NSA wiretapping in a broader context, emphasizing the political economy of the cyber security industrial complex and its unintended consequences in a world of Big Data, along with an alter... more »

Saudis putting out their word that if Iran gets nukes , they will get nukes - which probably means the Saudis already possess them , whether literally or " on standby orders " ! Considering the ongoing Ukraine situation which the Saudis ( like the rest of the world ) are carefully watching to see whether the US or Russia wins this round of geopolitical chess , that might change any timing for said " stand by orders " of nukes !

Fred Walton at Catharsis Ours - 20 hours ago
Saudi Arabia: besieged and fearful by Immanuel Wallerstein @ajam March 1, 2014 Now that the Kingdom's special relationship with the US has soured, to whom will it turn for support? Topics: International Saudi Arabia Religion, Spirituality & Ethics [image: King Abdullah] Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah (R) and his brother Prince Salman arrive in Mecca to attend the funeral of Saudi Crown Prince Nayef June 17, 2012.Saudi Press Agency/Reuters/Landov The Saudi regime has long been considered a pillar of political stability in the Middle East, a country that commanded respect and prudence from... more »

What did the BBC do for me this week?

Craig at Is the BBC biased? - 21 hours ago
So, following through on the spirit of the previous post, what did the BBC do for me this past week? Well, it gave me an episode of *Nature *on Radio 4, *Bewitched by Dragonflies*, which made me want to sit by the semi-stagnant waters at the end of the falling stair of locks at the end of the sadly-blocked-off segment of Lancaster Canal (over the road from the Longlands Hotel at Tewitfield, near Carnforth, should you fancy a visit) in order to re-watch the dragonflies I saw there - so large and so in-yer-face yet so beautiful. (I also saw an owl there, for good measure, in broad d... more »

The Storm is Now

theozarker at The Conflicted Doomer - 22 hours ago
March 1, 2014 The weatherman told us we’d have a small storm, yesterday – some freezing rain, possibly snow. As it was, we had a little rain as the system moved through. We didn’t even get that, at this end … Continue reading →

Will The Democratic Party Save America From The Predators? Just Kidding

DownWithTyranny at DownWithTyranny! - 23 hours ago
This morning we took a sad little look at how the Democrats are fiddling while the world burns in an orgy of sociopathic fossil fuel profiteering. Today RJ Eskow, in a brilliant piece for *Nation of Change*, his take on the Bill Moyers-Adolph Reed conversation about the demise of the American left that we looked at Thursday. Eskow pointed to why the Democratic Party is not going to come to anyone's rescue any time soon. The relationship between the left and the Democratic Party is central to Reed’s argument, which might be summarized as follows: 1. The Democratic Party has shifte... more »

Positive feedback?

Craig at Is the BBC biased? - 1 day ago
All that enthusiast pro-BBC feedback which *Feedback *is so keen to report really shouldn't come as a surprise. (Does it to you?) It's only the fact that I tend to spend a lot of time writing about BBC bias and reading blogs where the sheer awfulness of the BBC pretty much seems to go without saying - and where the BBC's redeeming features only rarely get a mention and, even when they do, only grudgingly and heavily accompanied by caveats - that....if you're still following this long, Henry James-like sentence...it still *does* come as a bit of a shock to hear viewers and listeners... more »

A Re-run of Munich. If we're lucky...

Zoe Brain at A.E.Brain - 1 day ago
See also Munich Agreement The Munich Agreement was a settlement permitting Nazi Germany's annexation of portions of Czechoslovakia along the country's borders mainly inhabited by German speakers, for which a new territorial designation "Sudetenland" was coined. The agreement was negotiated at a conference held in Munich, Germany, among the major powers of Europe, without the presence of Czechoslovakia. Today, it is widely regarded as a failed act of appeasement toward Germany. The agreement was signed in the early hours of 30 September 1938 (but dated 29 September). If the EU get... more »

The (Very Sane) Reason Why Russia Seized Two Airports In Crimea

Saman Mohammadi at The Excavator - 1 day ago
*Photo Source: AFP/Viktor Drachev*. An excerpt from, *"The Crimean Anti-Coup Move"* by 'b' of Moon of Alabama, March 1, 2014: *An alleged attempt by coup forces to seize the interior ministry of the Crimea tonight was repelled. In Kiev anti-Russian Tatars call for more trouble*: Meanwhile, Tatar lawmaker Mustafa Dzhemilev of Batkivshchyna has asked acting President Oleksandr Turchynov to deploy the entire Ukrainian army to Crimea. “I spoke with Turchynov that all of our military might should be deployed to Crimea. There are no threats in other oblasts yet. Call a state of emerg... more »

Niall Ferguson's Alternate Great War

Phil at A Very Public Sociologist - 1 day ago
This last week has seen two interesting programmes about the First World War broadcast. On Tuesday we had conservative journalist and historian Max Hastings making the case for Britain's entry into the conflict in *The Necessary War* and Niall Ferguson fielding the argument against in *The Pity of War* last night. Both are well worth watching. As we approach the centenary of the 20th century's calamitous pivot, the struggle to impose dominant, commonsensical frame on the conflict and the part played by Britain is sure to intensify. Which, in a way, is why the BBC's choice to booken... more »

JEJU PROTEST UPDATE

Bruce K. Gagnon at Organizing Notes - 1 day ago
Episode #5 The Spirit of Gangjeong from Regis Tremblay on Vimeo.

Bitcoin Updates March 1 , 2014 - MT GOX outed as an inside ? Crowd Detectives and Falkvinge opine YES......... Butterfly Lab mystery covered by blogger Payton Peterson - did they fly away Friday night or are folks just in a freak out first get full answers later mode ? What is Buttercoin planning to launch and where ??? With the death of a very young Autumn Radtke ( dead at 28 , former CEO of First Meta Exchange ) , keep all who may have lost forunes by way of Mt Gox or other criminal schemes or gross negligence in your prayers - and be vigilant

Catharsis Ours - 1 day ago
Caveat Emptor...... State of Massachusetts Planning to Release ‘Consumer Advisory’ on Bitcoin Eric Calouro | March 1, 2014 | 0 Comments [image: Massachusetts Flag]For the past several months, we’ve seen no lack of governments around the world issue warnings related to bitcoin and other digital currency. The movement is seemingly spreading to individual U.S. states. The State of Hawaii independently released their own bitcoin-related warning, noting that any organization transmitting bitcoin without proper money-transmitting licensing was doing so unlawfully. Here in Massachusetts... more »

Mohawk Nation News 'Last Queen, Last Pope'

brendanorrell@gmail.com at CENSORED NEWS - 1 day ago
LAST QUEEN, LAST POPE Posted on February 28, 2014 MNN. Feb. 28, 2014. Soon the British monarch, her family, and her minions, as per the Magna Carta, will be removed by the people of England. When that happens, all her corporate assets – Canada, US, Australia and New Zealand – will revert to the true owners. The “Crown” based in the Vatican and all their banking tentacles throughout

Fate of the Earth

LeDaro at LeDaro - 1 day ago
Is it possible that the Planet Earth can become a totally barren planet in the not too distant future? In particular if the CO2 emissions and pollution continue at the current or accelerated rate?

Bob Feldman : A People’s History of Egypt, Part 18, 1962-1976

Thorne Dreyer at The Rag Blog - 1 day ago
Nasser establishes a national party then moves to isolate Communists; his successor, Anwar Sadat, aligns Egypt with the West. By Bob Feldman | The Rag Blog | March 1, 2014 [With all the dramatic activity in Egypt, Bob Feldman's Rag … finish reading Bob Feldman : A People’s History of Egypt, Part 18, 1962-1976

WHAT LINKS MICHAEL JACKSON, JIMMY SAVILE AND MR X?

Anon at aangirfan - 1 day ago
*Michael Jackson, David Blaine, Paul Boateng and Yuri Geller.* What links Michael Jackson, Jimmy Savile and Mr X? *UK Foreign Secretary William Hague and Sir Jimmy Savile.* According to an article in the *Daily Mail*, the UK's *National Council for Civil Liberties (NCCL)* has links to the opposition Labour Party and to the *Paedophile Information Exchange (PIE)*. In 1976, a Press release from the NCCL proposed that the official age of consent should by lowered to 14 and be dropped to ten in cases where 'the consent of the child' could 'be proved'. *Geller with former UK prime mi... more »

Connecticut Patriot Group Fights Back Against Confiscation Order: ‘We Are Armed… And Are Familiar With the Finer Points of Marksmanship’

urupiper at Yesterday 's Lies - 1 day ago
[image: SHTF Plan - When The Shit Hits the Fan, Don't Say We Didn't Warn You - Preparedness, Planning, News, and Commentary] Mac Slavo February 28th, 2014 [image: Patriots-Fight-Back] The war on liberty is coming to a head in Connecticut, where tens of thousands of gun owners have refused to comply with their state government’s gun registration laws. Officials have literally ordered those who failed to meet the registration deadline to surrender their firearms or face arrest. The State of Connecticut is now demanding that gun owners across the state turn in all newly-banned, unre... more »

Another BBC-bias-bashing blog!

Craig at Is the BBC biased? - 1 day ago
I almost feel as if I'm spamming my own blog today, but here's another post...which, to prevent burying Sue beneath twenty foot of snow, I'll place underneath her latest post (through the magic of *Google Blogger*). It's just to register another hat-tip to Alan at* Biased BBC* for spotting the return of a BBC monitoring blog I thought had vanished years ago - former BBC editor David Keighley's *Newswatch*. Well, it's back and it looks to be doing sterling work again. The cottage industry of BBC bias related blogs continues to swell. As Mr Burns might put it, 'Excellent!' It need... more »

LATEST GUEST

Bruce K. Gagnon at Organizing Notes - 1 day ago
The latest edition of *This Issue* features Lisa Savage from CodePink Maine discussing US drone policy and the need to cut military spending. Lisa is a high school teacher and lives in Solon, Maine.

Five Most Popular Posts for February

Phil at A Very Public Sociologist - 1 day ago
The five most popular posts of the month were: 1. In Defence of White Dee 2. Obituary: Stuart Hall 3. Why UKIP Will Not Die 4. Identity Politics and Intersectionality 5. The Desperation of the Right So, White Dee pips Stuart Hall for this month's crown. Does that suggest anything about the state of contemporary Britain? Don't ask me, I'm a sociologist. It's always gratifying to see a couple of posts from the last week make the grade too. There is a large appetite for all things intersectional. Therefore it would not be sporting if I wasn't to also share Intersectionality and Postm... more »

THE GRAND CHESSBOARD

Bruce K. Gagnon at Organizing Notes - 1 day ago
As Russia moved additional military forces into the Crimea the New York Times reports this morning: On Saturday morning, the pro-Russia prime minister of Crimea, Sergei Aksyonov, declared that he had sole control over the military and the police in the disputed peninsula and appealed to Mr. Putin for Russian help in safeguarding the region. He also said a public referendum on independence would be held on March 30. The Kremlin has denied any attempt to seize Crimea, where it maintains important military installations, including the headquarters of its Black Sea Fleet. But the Kre... more »

Consistency arguments in theoretical physics

Luboš Motl at The Reference Frame - 1 day ago
*Originally written with a different audience in mind* Arguments involving the internal consistency of a theory or a system of ideas have assumed increased prominence in modern mathematical and theoretical physics as well as in other branches of human thought that were or are being inspired by physics. It is possible to underestimate these arguments; and it is possible to overestimate them as well. And indeed, numerous thinkers err in both ways. The goals of this essay are to explain the basic logic and assumptions behind these arguments, to present several examples, to show that th... more »

Begging the Question...Is the BBC biased?

Craig at Is the BBC biased? - 1 day ago
Alan at *Biased BBC* observes that the BBC, throughout the day, has been emphasising on all its news bulletins [in that word-for-word way the BBC goes in for when reporting such stories] that Moazzam Begg, the former *Guardian*/BBC-friendly Guantanamo detainee who just has been charged with 'terror offences' relating to Syria, "was never charged with any offence" before: Why emphasise that? Why is that relevant to this? Surely of more relevance is that the US thought he was guilty of exactly the same offences he has been charged with now. He admitted attending terrorist training... more »

life can be so cruel

Oberon at GlobaLove Think Tank - 1 day ago
pan's labyrinth

Spider-Web Phenomenon

Majia's Blog at Majia's Blog - 1 day ago

Reacting to Ukraine/Crimea

Steve Saideman at Duck of Minerva - 1 day ago
Yesterday, I suggested that there is little the US/NATO could do about the Russian intervention in Ukraine. That still is very much true. Obama’s statement referred to costs–that this would cost Russia and it will (trade, the G8 summit, etc). But that is not a redline or a serious effort at deterrence–just a statement Continue reading

Naoto Kan directly responsible for Fukushima meltdowns?

Engineer-Poet at The Ergosphere - 1 day ago
This was posted at Hiroshima Syndrome, but because the blog format does not allow permalinks to specific content I'm going to quote the entire March 1 2014 entry below.  Do not skim, read every word. March 1, 2014 Naoto Kan’s crime against Japan This past week, a court panel in Tokyo rejected a criminal suit against former PM Naoto Kan concerning his actions during the first week of the

Saving The Planet From Tawdry Profiteers-- Or Just More Politics As Usual?

DownWithTyranny at DownWithTyranny! - 1 day ago
I would like to see environmental safety true believers like Paul Clements (D-MI) and Marianne Willimson (I-CA) take on Fred Upton and the rest of the self-satisfied elites in Washington who haven't gotten the urgency of Climate Change into their skulls yet-- and probably never will. I got very nervous this week after seeing 4 fundraising requests from an outfit I had never heard of, Environmental Majority. They appeared to be trying to raise money to defeat House Energy and Commerce Committee chairman, Fred Upton, a vulnerable Michigan Republican totally under the protection of D... more »

Musings On Iraq In The News

Joel Wing at MUSINGS ON IRAQ - 1 day ago
I was cited in this article by Dan Murphy on Sadr's retirement "Muqtada al-Sadr doesn't appear to have quit Iraq politics" in the Christian Science Monitor

Oscar exclusive: The Three Faces of (union head) Paul!

bob somerby at the daily howler - 1 day ago
*SATURDAY, MARCH 1, 2014* *Nunziato rejiggered again:* Inexorably, your Daily Howler keeps banging out those results! This morning, we can exclusively report that a review in Sunday’s New York Times will lodge a masterful complaint: It will say that a new book of popular science is too hard to understand—that “a physics naïf will be totally befuddled” by its “endlessly dense sentence[s].” Never mind how we know that! You’re going to read this exclusive report nowhere else! We had hoped to elaborate on that review this morning. Our interest in the historical record takes us somewh... more »

Untitled

New Orleans Ladder at New Orleans Ladder - 1 day ago
*Citizens for 1 Greater New Orleans opposes legislation to weaken flood protection authority ~Ruthie Frierson*

Why the Crimea is the Third Rail of International Politics

Brandon Valeriano at Duck of Minerva - 1 day ago
*this is a guest post by Konstantinos Travlos, currently a Visiting Assistant at Georgia Southern, who writes on international conflict and history. The arguments presented below are based on past research. Russian policy towards Ukraine is partly driven by short term political reasons such as protecting an investment in the form of Yanukovych, the Russian view of Continue reading

The Realist Report Spring 2014 fundraiser

John Friend at John Friend's Blog - 1 day ago
Regular listeners to *The Realist Report* will have heard the announcement I made on *a recent program* with Tom in Connecticut that I will be conducting a Spring 2014 fundraiser for the radio program and website. I gave a general overview of the fundraiser during the program with Tom, but I'd like to take a moment and explain it in more detail here. I have always been reluctant and, quite frankly, uncomfortable requesting donations for my radio programs, blogging and other forms of activism. When I have brought the topic up, I've always encouraged those of you who appreciate, enjo... more »

Want to know what Obama was doing while Russia was marching into Ukraine?...

Adrienne at Adrienne's Corner - 1 day ago
*sure you do.* The man-boy, after scaring the crap out of Putin, was at the White House Student Film Festival taking selfies with Bill Nye and Neal Tyson DeDegrass. No really! Mr. Nye could hardly wait to post it on his Facebook page. While Russia is marching into the Ukraine, these educated beyond their intelligence elitists are grinning it up and taking selfies like a bunch of teenage girls. They even look like teenage girls. Fools! We could use some adults in DC.

I sing the body mechanical

Capt. Fogg at The Impolitic - 1 day ago
by Captain Fogg "America's love affair with the automobile" used to be the most noticeably overused cliche in the the American idiom and indeed, starting with the 20th century few things transformed private life and personal liberty like the automobile. Few things contributed so much to economic growth From the end of WWII and through the 1960's everything was about cars. If you're one of the dwindling part of the population who remembers first hand, I don't have to explain. You'll remember the car culture and you'll remember how it made the USA run. Our youth was about the free... more »

Thought (for the day)

sue at Is the BBC biased? - 1 day ago
After the two world wars, at the time when many people were acclimatised to friends and family being slain right left and centre, the importance of our emotional and psychological ‘rights’ paled into insignificance. Heaven help the young woman who found herself pregnant out of wedlock. It was almost as sinful to utter the word bastard as to be one. What life-long trauma for everyone involved, all for the sake of respectability. Right up until the 1950s children were still being caned in schools and in some places beaten with something called the tawse, for misdemeanours ranging fr... more »

John Holdren's Epic Fail

noreply@blogger.com (Roger Pielke, Jr.) at Roger Pielke Jr.'s Blog - 1 day ago
Last week in a Congressional hearing, John Holdren, the president's science advisor, characterized me as being outside the "scientific mainstream" with respect to my views on extreme events and climate change. Specifically, Holdren was responding directly to views that I provided in Senate testimony that I gave last July (and here in PDF). To accuse an academic of holding views that lie outside the scientific mainstream is the sort of delegitimizing talk that is of course common on blogs in the climate wars. But it is rare for political appointee in any capacity -- the president's ... more »

Fresh Water Reservoirs Contaminated in Japan Up to 390,000 Becquerels per kilogram in Soil

Majia's Blog at Majia's Blog - 1 day ago
*Japanese Government declares its not responsible for decontaminating reservoirs in residential areas not classified as evacuation zones:* Health risk or not? Cesium levels high in hundreds of Fukushima reservoirs. SHINICHI FUJIWARA February 25, 2014 http://ajw.asahi.com/article/0311disaster/fukushima/AJ201402250071 [excerpted] A joint survey by the prefectural government and a branch office of the farm ministry found that the levels exceed 8,000 becquerels per kilogram of soil in 576 reservoirs. In 14 of those cases, the level tops 100,000 becquerels. The central government say... more »

Feedback

Craig at Is the BBC biased? - 1 day ago
The BBC, as a public service broadcaster, is understandably keen *to be seen* to listen to license-fee-payers' concerns about its output...until serious challenges to its claims to impartiality come along - when it rolls up, hedge-hog-like, into a very prickly ball (as I know all too well). Still, starting with BBC One's *Points of View *(begun as long ago as 1961), the corporation has provided various (usually short) programmes that give voice to viewers' and listeners' opinions of the BBC. Some of us call them 'fig leafs'. *Points of View *has been a much-loved 50+-year running ... more »

@thechalkface is going mainstream, our official press release #NPEConference

Shaun Johnson at @ THE CHALK FACE - 1 day ago
We’re in Austin, TX for the first Network for Public Education conference with an actual radio crew as we find our way towards a mainstream and syndicated radio presence, in particular to topics in education. Here’s a link to our official press release from syndication. If you have a moment, consider helping us by forwarding […]

Russia upper house debates deploying troops to Ukraine

Mark Daniels at Global Political Awakening - 1 day ago
[image: Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...] *Putin requests parliament approval to use Russian troops in Ukraine* (via AFP) Russian President Vladimir Putin on Saturday submitted a request to the upper house of parliament asking approval for the use of Russian troops in Ukraine, the Kremlin said. "In connection with the extraordinary situation in Ukraine and the threat to… Enter your email address to subscribe to our newsletter: Delivered by FeedBurner Be the Change! Share this using the tools below.

Russian Parliament approves use of armed forces in Ukraine

LeDaro at LeDaro - 1 day ago
Ukraine situation has taken a turn for the worst. What next? Read more here *Update: *

Remember when the libtards laughed at Romney and Palin?...

Adrienne at Adrienne's Corner - 1 day ago
*here's a reminder.* From Palin's Facebook page: Yes, I could see this one from Alaska. I'm usually not one to Told-Ya-So, but I did, despite my accurate prediction being derided as “an extremely far-fetched scenario” by the “high-brow” Foreign Policy magazine. Here’s what this “stupid” “insipid woman” predicted back in 2008: "After the Russian Army invaded the nation of Georgia, Senator Obama's reaction was one of indecision and moral equivalence, the kind of response that would only encourage Russia's Putin to invade Ukraine next. *This is from Nov., 2013 *

Obama 'deeply concerned' by Russian military moves in Ukraine

Mark Daniels at Global Political Awakening - 1 day ago
[image: Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...] *Obama 'deeply concerned' by Russian military moves in Ukraine* (via AFP) President Barack Obama said Friday he was deeply concerned about reports of Russian military activity in Ukraine, while a US military official said Moscow had sent several hundreds troops into Crimea. Obama made a hurriedly scheduled statement at the… Enter your email address to subscribe to our newsletter: Delivered by FeedBurner Be the Change! Share this using the tools below.

Untitled

New Orleans Ladder at New Orleans Ladder - 1 day ago
*We’ve Got That Fire ~Mark Folse* *~MARDI GRAS PARADES, SATURDAY, MARCH 1* *KREWE OF IRIS: 11 a.m., Uptown New Orleans. * *KREWE OF TUCKS: noon, Uptown New Orleans. * *KREWE OF ENDYMION: 4:45 p.m., Mid-City New Orleans. * *KREWE OF ISIS: 6:30 p.m., Metarie. * *KREWE OF NOMTOC: 10:45 a.m., Westbank, New Orleans. * *BALDWIN MARDI GRAS PARADE: 11 a.m., Baldwin.* *KREWE OF SPANISH TOWN: noon, downtown Baton Rouge. * *KREWE OF SALT BAYOU: 2 p.m., Slidell* *CHILDREN’S PARADE: 12:30 p.m., Lafayette.* *KREWE OF BONAPARTE: 6:30 p.m., Lafayette.. * *CYPREMORT POINT MARDI GRAS PARADE: 1 p.m., Morga... more »

Obamacare Updates March 1 , 2014 - Apparently the " Law " is whatever the " King " says it is on any given day ----- Are ObamaCare’s “Retroactive Advance Payments” for Buying Private Policies in States with Failed Exchanges Even Legal ? Pressure rises as ObamaCare nears enrollment deadline ........ Memo to Reid: Cancellation pain in ObamaCare increasing ........

Fred Walton at Catharsis Ours - 1 day ago
Are ObamaCare’s “Retroactive Advance Payments” for Buying Private Policies in States with Failed Exchanges Even Legal?Posted on March 1, 2014 by Lambert Strether *By Lambert Strether of Corrente.* Here’s a summary of the administration “fix” in question, otherwise known as a “rule change.” From CNBC: Major tech problems at several state Obamacare enrollment websites are so bad that the federal government Thursday said it would give some people who in frustration bought health insurance outside those websites the tax subsidies that otherwise would be unavailable to them. While the ... more »

Will The Beltway Democratic Party Become Just Like The Mississippi Democratic Party?

DownWithTyranny at DownWithTyranny! - 1 day ago
Two of the most reactionary and bigoted Democrats to have served in Congress in modern times were Mississippi Blue Dogs Gene Taylor and Travis Childers. Both amassed voting records that would make any right-wing, hate-filled yahoo delighted. Yesterday each announced his far-fetched plan to get back into Congress. Taylor, who represented Mississippi's Gulf Coast between 1989 and 2011, finally admitted what I've been saying for over a decade: he's nothing but a Republican. He'll be primarying Steve Palazzo, the GOP incumbent who beat him in 2010, 52-47%. The qualifying deadline was ... more »

Why Aren't Acknowledgements Acknowledged in Academic Citation Indeces and Metrics?

noreply@blogger.com (Christian Munthe) at Philosophical Comment - 1 day ago
*Note: a crucial amendment to the original post has been made in the last paragraph. The tip from Daniela Cutas making this possible is hereby acknowledged!* Today, as many times before I received a so-called "alarm" from Google Scholar in my email inbox. This notified me of a new research publication in the GS index related to myself, but this time it was none of my own work that had appeared online and neither one in which some of my work was cited, which are otherwise the typical contents of these "alarms". It was, instead, a new article by Neil Levy in *Biology & Philosophy*, ca... more »

He chortled in his joy

Craig at Is the BBC biased? - 1 day ago
The Jabberingwocky Sometimes good things happen when you least expect then, and life really is like a box of chocolates. I'd seen a tweet from *Conservative.Home*'s Alex Deane yesterday listing who he was going to be on today's *Dateline London *will him today and it included the dreaded Twitter name '@abdelbariatwan'. *Alex Deane* ‏@ajcdeane Feb 28 I'll be on #BBCDateline tomorrow at 1130 with @gavinesler, @abdelbariatwan, Nazenin Ansari of Iran’s Kayhan & Die Welt's Thomas Kielinger So I tuned in today, expecting to see *Dateline'*s favourite guest (that hate-filled, Saddam-adm... more »

Washington Orchestrated Protests Are Destabilizing Ukraine (US Spent $5 Billion To Destabilize The Country)

urupiper at Yesterday 's Lies - 1 day ago
*(there is always a need to remember that 99% of anything being spewed on the Mainstream Media is LIES . . . the NeoCons are still in charge . . . also please consider the possibility that the TV is there to make, and keep, YOU dumb, while deceptively making you believe that you are educated . . .that you know all you need to know, lol) * Paul Craig RobertsInstitute for Political Economy February 12, 2014Paul Craig Roberts The protests in the western Ukraine are organized by the CIA, the US State Department, and by Washington- and EU-financed Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs)... more »

Me And Thee

Owen Gray at Northern Reflections - 1 day ago
This week, the Canadian Taxpayers Federation handed out its Golden Pig Awards for profligate public spending. And -- world of wonders -- Jason Kenney's ministry, Employment and Social Development Canada, copped a pig. How was that possible? After all, Michael Harris writes, Stephen Harper has a long and distinguished record of railing against pigs at the public trough: Don’t they know how much Steve hates pigs in public life? Back in 1997, when he was president of the National Citizen’s Coalition, Steve outed lots of pigs during the election campaign of that year. In fact, he ac... more »

Mendacious Meddler Obama Warns Putin Not to Meddle in Ukraine

Donn Marten at Carrying a Flag - 1 day ago
Those groaning, creaking and popping noises that were barely audible during Barack Obama’s hastily announced Friday afternoon White House statement was the sound of an empire of lies on the verge of collapsing under the weight of its own bullshit. The President of the most exceptional, god-kissed, special nation in the history of the planet warned the reviled Russian leader Vladimir Putin not to dare to intervene in Ukraine after a joint US-EU instigated coup d’etat that effectively ousted democratically elected Viktor Yanukovych. While Obama’s lies are dutifully and unquestiona... more »

Global protest Updates February 27 , 2014 - Venezuela -- Arrests in Venezuela protest deaths , Chief prosecutor says five more domestic intelligence agents were related to deaths of two Caracas protesters ( 24-year-old university student Bassil Da Costa and government supporter Juan Montoya . ) ..... Thailand -- Thai PM hears negligence charges , Charges of negligence from the anti-graft commission could lead to impeachment for Yingluck Shinawatra

Catharsis Ours - 1 day ago
http://america.aljazeera.com/articles/2014/2/27/5-domestic-intelligenceagentsarrestedinvenezuela.html Arrests in Venezuela protest deaths February 27, 2014 2:19AM ET Chief prosecutor says five more domestic intelligence agents were related to deaths of two Caracas protesters Topics: Venezuela Protests Venezuela International <div class="adaptiveImage section" style="box-sizing: border-box; clear: both; color: #3f4245; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 1.667em;

War Watch March 1 , 2014 -Ukraine situation getting extremely hot today --- Ukraine Acting President Calls Emergency Meeting Of Security Chiefs; Russia Threatens To Cut Off The Gas / Pro-Russian Protesters Storm Kharkiv City Administration Building; Klitschko Calls For General Mobilization / Putin Asks For, And Is Granted Permission By Parliament To Use Military In Ukraine ! Syria War vs Rebels and Rebels internal War by and between themselves roll on...... Iran update - IAEA: We Didn’t Shelve Any Iran Report ....... Russia seeks new bases , China plots a new strategy for Asia.......

Catharsis Ours - 1 day ago
Al-Qaeda Faction Live-Tweets Amputation in AleppoAccused Thief Has Hand Chopped Off With Sword by Jason Ditz, February 28, 2014 Print This | Share This Al-Qaeda in Iraq (AQI), the largest rebel faction in Syria, has had its Twitter account suspended today after live-tweeting the forced amputation of the hand of an accused thief in Aleppo Province. AQI, which was disavowed by al-Qaeda earlier this month for being too brutal, tweeted several photos leading up to the amputation and one of the aftermath, along with captions saying the amputation was done to “cleanse his sins.” AQI con... more »

Untitled

JR at GREENIE WATCH - 1 day ago
*Virginia Congressman warns EPA regs could cause brownouts* “There is the possibility of some brownouts.” That was U.S. Rep. Morgan Griffith’s (R-Va.) take on the impact of recent Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) regulations against coal burning power plants in a brief conversation with Americans for Limited Government on February 27. Rep. Griffith said in his district alone based in southwestern rural Virginia, Appalachian Power Co. was closing two coal-burning power plants, only one of which would be replaced by a natural gas facility. But with a big downside — it would n... more »

1946 Archive Film Proves Despotism Has Taken over America

urupiper at Yesterday 's Lies - 1 day ago
[image: TRUTHstreammedia] TRUTHstreammedia The Declaration of Independence boldly states: "When a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security." Thomas Jefferson, writing on behalf of the independent-minded colonists in 1776, backed up the Declaration's conclusion with numerous examples of British tyranny, stating: "To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world." ... more »
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