Tuesday, March 05, 2013

5 March - Blogs I'm Following

The Hippodrome today, with the Walled Obelisk ...The Hippodrome today, with the Walled Obelisk in the foreground and Thutmose's Obelisk on the right. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
English: Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands in V...English: Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands in Vries Français : La reine Beatrix des Pays-Bas à Vries. Nederlands: Koningin Beatrix der Nederlanden in Vries (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Constantinople in 1493.Constantinople in 1493. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Basilica Cistern.Basilica Cistern. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
The Siege of Constantinople of 1453. The defen...The Siege of Constantinople of 1453. The defenders were armed with many spears, rocks and arrows. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Topographical map of Constantinople during the...Topographical map of Constantinople during the Byzantine period. Main map source: R. Janin, Constantinople Byzantine. Developpement urbain et repertoire topographique. Road network and some other details based on Dumbarton Oaks Papers 54; data on many churches, especially unidentified ones, taken from the University of New York's The Byzantine Churches of Istanbul project. Other published maps and accounts of the city have been used for corroboration. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)


2:28 pm MST

Important info about drones to help keep you safe...(video)

Adrienne at Adrienne's Corner - 25 minutes ago
*it's funny in a grim sort of way.* H/T Soopermexican via Dave in PB

Mohawk Nation News 'Bankers Bamboozle'

brendanorrell@gmail.com at CENSORED NEWS - 40 minutes ago
Bankers Bamboozle Posted on March 5, 2013 1 MNN. Mar. 5, 2013. International law provides that we are to be fully informed and consulted on anything that happens to our sovereignty, land, resources and funds. Canada has our ever growing Indian Trust Funds. These funds come from leases, rents and royalties from our land and resources. Canada put it into

In Istanbul (and Constantinople):The Rise & Fall of Society

Peter Cresswell at Not PC - 40 minutes ago
[image: 3] *Guest post by Chris Mayer of “**Capital and Crisis” * Istanbul, not Constantinople, as the song goes. In this history is an omen for any powerful state (read: the U.S.). A somewhat obscure essayist knew all about it back in 1959. His little book deserves wider circulation. Below, we'll take a look. Constantinople was once the seat of a vast, rich empire. As successor to Rome, under the name of Byzantium, it ruled over a land that stretched from the Caucasus to the Adriatic, from the Danube to the Sahara. The Dark Ages were only completely dark if you ignore the f... more »

Mohawk Nation News 'Bounty Hunters'

brendanorrell@gmail.com at CENSORED NEWS - 41 minutes ago
Bounty Hunters Posted on March 5, 2013 MNN. Mar. 2, 2013. US Senator Lindsay Graham admitted that 4,756 people were killed by armed unmanned US drones. Currently aimed at people in the Middle East, he said, “Sometimes you hit innocent civilians”. Collateral damage! Obama’s policy of assassinating Americans and designated “terrorists” abroad, without

Mohawk Nation News 'Falling Down'

brendanorrell@gmail.com at CENSORED NEWS - 42 minutes ago
Falling Down Posted on March 4, 2013 MNN. Mar. 5, 2013. Panic is setting in? Prime Minister Harper’s inner circle is cracking. Queen Beatrix and the Pope ‘resigned’, him over covering up the crimes of his priests. Queen Elizabeth suddenly comes down with vomiting and diarrhea and lands in the hospital. The hierarchy is collapsing in upon itself.

Shame! (RFK Remembered)

It's almost funny, isn't it, that anyone has the "gumption" to mention the name of Robert F. Kennedy at a time when social services are being annihilated in favor of nonstop war spending and ever greater tax breaks for the wealthy? Unless that someone is Robert Reich, who interned for him the year before he was assassinated. Contrast Bob's description of RFK with that of BHO (if you've got

Uninformed voters

Libby Spencer at The Impolitic - 1 hour ago
Much as I hate to amplify poll mania, this struck me as relevant to what's wrong with everything in media. In the initial days after the budget sequester went into effect, a majority (51%) of Americans say they don't know enough to judge whether the automatic cuts in the budget put in place last Friday are a good or a bad thing for the country. The remainder tilt toward negative evaluations of the sequestration's impact on the country, by 30% to 18%. Similarly, the majority of Americans don't yet have enough information to judge sequestration's impact on themselves personally, but ... more »

“How I meteored your Motherland”

Peter Cresswell at Not PC - 1 hour ago
A ten-ton meteor exploded over Russian’s heads with the force of an atomic bomb, and most Russians ever even noticed. There are so many more insane things going on down on the ground. *The Daily Show with Jon Stewart* Get More: Daily Show Full Episodes,Political Humor & Satire Blog,The Daily Show on Facebook Content is copyright PC.BlogSpot.Com © Please contact author for permission to republish: (organon at ihug.co.nz)

GOP continues quest to end USPS

Libby Spencer at The Impolitic - 1 hour ago
Our US Postal Service is going broke largely because they don't get to run their own business. All their decisions are subject to the whims of Congress. When Republicans mandated they have to fully fund 75 years worth of retirement benefits, that put them on the path to insolvency. Yet the Postmaster General struggles on, trying his best to overcome a $16 billion shortfall (70% of which stems from the onerous pre-funding of retirements) that grows bigger daily. Toward that end, he decided to end Saturday deliveries to save a couple of billion in costs. Nobody loved the idea, but as... more »

The Washington Post sings the praises of KIPP!

bob somerby at the daily howler - 1 hour ago
*TUESDAY, MARCH 5, 2013* *The Post tends to be quite selective:* A new, major study has examined the performance of the KIPP charter schools. At the Washington Post, Jay Mathews examined the study last week in this lengthy blog post. (The comments from his readers are also well worth reading.) On Saturday, the editors produced this editorial. At the Washington Post, the editors *love* the KIPP schools. As we read their editorial, we were struck, as we often are, by the highly selective way the Post covers public school issues. For ourselves, we aren’t critics of the KIPP schools; ... more »

Christy Clark's Stealth Government Exposed

The Mound of Sound at The Disaffected Lib - 2 hours ago
And I was hoping she'd survive long enough to run the B.C. Libs on the rocks in the May elections. Having thrown most of her closest advisers under a good many buses, B.C.'s unelected, unelectable and outgoing premier, Christy Clark, is now pretty much on her own. Even her caucus and cabinet are beginning to abandon her leaky ship. But scandal just keeps coming Crispy's way. Now it's the Information and Privacy Commissioner Elizabeth Denham's turn to savage premier Clark. Denham has released a scathing report accusing Clark and her minions of governing off the record to esc... more »

SANDY HOOK AND THE CIA

Anon at aangirfan - 2 hours ago
*1.* "Rabbi Praver was at the aftermath of the (Sandy Hook) tragedy early on to provide emotional support. "The Rabbi stoically revived painful memories of arriving at the fire station. "The station was surrounded by news teams, and within its walls were* the CIA*, police forces, and despairing parents..." *Newtown Visits for Project 20/20 Siyum* * * *Parker - The Jester. JUNG, STRAUSS, BATMAN* *2.* "Anderson Cooper (known by well researched individuals to be a *CIA*operative embedded in within the mainstream media) has seemingly been ordered by his masters to launch a massive... more »

Harry Targ : Human Sustainability and the Living Wage

thorne dreyer at The Rag Blog - 2 hours ago
Image from This Magazine The jobs/income problem: How do we sustain human life? Given the vision that animates the progressive majority and the need to build broad coalitions, rebuilding living wage campaigns could be an important part of its organizing future. By Harry Targ / The Rag Blog / March 5, 2013 In one way or another progressives are addressing fundamental questions basic to human

Breaking: The Howler and Shipp, together at last!

bob somerby at the daily howler - 2 hours ago
*TUESDAY, MARCH 5, 2013* *A long, thirteen-year campaign:* Here at THE DAILY HOWLER, we’ve been running E.R. Shipp for president ever since her ombudsman column for the Washington Post on Sunday, March 5, 2000. For our real-time reaction, just click this. Shipp’s column has only become more insightful as the years have rolled by. Well sir, this very evening, at 5 PM, we’ll be doing The Marc Steiner Showwith Shipp herself! At present, Shipp is serving as “Journalist in Residence” at Morgan State. Steiner’s show is heard on WEAA, Morgan’s blockbuster, powerhouse NPR affiliate. *Just ... more »

The BBC respond

Not a sheep at Not a sheep - 2 hours ago
The BBC's Leanne Buckle has responded to my most recent email but has ignored my pointing out of an error of fact 'Dear Audience Member Thank you for your further email to the Trust of 4 March 2013. Your response will be considered as a challenge to my decision that Trustees should not hear this appeal. Therefore, as was set out in my letter, your original appeal to the Trust, my response to it and your challenge letter will be put before Trustees at their April meeting. Trustees will have access to your previous correspondence with the BBC. If the Trustees agree with my decisi... more »

Weekly Find: A Passion For Raw Chocolate

Casey at The Adventures of Limited Eating - 3 hours ago
*A Passion For Raw Chocolate by Amy Levin* A few months back I attended a raw chocolate making class. Not quite knowing what it was as it had been advertised as a dairy and sugar free chocolate making class. I left the two hour session feeling quite confused and unsatisfied. The chocolates I brought home from the class were falling apart, overly sweetened with Agave and oozing with oil. Very far from the typical crunchy, shiny chocolate that I was used to. After that class I thought never again will I attempt raw chocolate, it is too complicated and doesn’t come out very well, but ... more »

Elementary, Doctor Watson

The Mound of Sound at The Disaffected Lib - 3 hours ago
Gwynne Dyer explains the Chinese government's announcement of plans to introduce carbon taxes. The motivation is the most powerful of all, fear. Under the direction of the World Bank's top climate scientist, Sir Robert Watson, studies have been commissioned into how reaching 2 degrees Celsius of warming would impact agriculture in certain countries. Dyer's source inside the company contracted by the World Bank to perform the assessments said the future is mighty grim for China. *The director told me the amount of food his own country would lose, which was bad enough—and then m... more »

Which Politicians Need To Give Back The Bribes They Took From Adelson?

DownWithTyranny at DownWithTyranny! - 3 hours ago
The Adelsons injected tens of millions of dollars into the campaigns last year through secretive SuperPACs run by Rove, Koch brothers operatives, the Republican Jewish Coalition and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce (which is notorious for laundering illegal contributions from China and other countries into campaigns for right-wing politicians). They also gave $5 million to the Congressional Leadership PAC, which spent heavily to elect right-wing politicians and was best known for a campaign smearing Betty Sutton on behalf of *Jim Renacci* (R-OH). And the biggest amounts of cash the Ad... more »

Lamar W. Hankins : Pipeline Debate is Mired in Disinformation

thorne dreyer at The Rag Blog - 3 hours ago
Coming your way? Pieces of the pipeline. Image from National Radio Canada. Keystone XL Pipeline debate is mired in disinformation The Keystone XL Pipeline project has virtually nothing to do with American energy independence, but everything to do with enriching Canadian tar sands oil interests and the interests of refineries that are in the oil products exporting business. By Lamar W. Hankins

Wringing More Life Out of Canada's CF-18s

The Mound of Sound at The Disaffected Lib - 3 hours ago
The Harper government has decided to upgrade Canada's aging fleet of CF-18s to buy a little time while it tries to sort out its blunder over the F-35. *Sources said the changes in the eligible options make it easier for manufacturers to propose a “mixed fleet” of upgraded CF-18s and other fighter jets, or a later delivery of new jets as the CF-18s fly beyond their planned phase-out.* *The new proposal is the latest shift of position by the Harper government after last year’s highly critical report by Auditor-General on a planned sole-sourced purchase of 65 F-35 fighters.* It's now ... more »

TECHNO-UTOPIANISM SEMINAR REPORT

Bruce K. Gagnon at Organizing Notes - 3 hours ago
I have just returned from San Francisco where I attended a private seminar called *Techno-Utopianism: Killing the World* with about 30 leading environmentalists, scientists, economists, writers, and activists. I was asked to represent the Global Network and report on the latest space technology issues including drones, global strike systems, surveillance, and the like. It was quite an honor to be invited to attend this event and I learned a great deal from those assembled. The event was led by Jerry Mander (Int’l Forum on Globalization), Andrew Kimbrell (Int’l Center for Techno... more »

What George Carlin Knew

The Mound of Sound at The Disaffected Lib - 4 hours ago
George Carlin knew plenty when it came to lances and tigers and he made that plain in the opening of his final concert before he died in 2008.

The BBC change the image

Not a sheep at Not a sheep - 4 hours ago
Since I posted this piece I see that the BBC have changed the image on their piece from this to this Now why have they done that?

10 Tips for Starting Your Own Business

Lilith eZine at LILITH NEWS - 4 hours ago
If you hate your job and want to switch careers one excellent but daunting option is to start your own business. You might be crafting and selling a product. You might be offering a valuable service. You might simply be making food / catering. Regardless of what you do you want to be professional about it and if you quit your old job because you hated it then there are definitely some tips when it comes to building your own business... 1) Do what you love! You aren't going to enjoy this new role of being self-employed unless you really love what you are doing. After all, you hated... more »

Iran's Aerial Snake Oil

The Mound of Sound at The Disaffected Lib - 4 hours ago
A few weeks back I put up a survey of various nations that were getting into the stealth game with either aircraft or UAVs under development or actually in testing. One reader pointed out I had overlooked Iran's new stealth fighter. Overlooked, no; omitted, yes. The photos Iran released showed what was plainly a mockup of what somebody in Tehran thought a stealth warplane should look like. It was also pretty obvious when the had a pilot stuffed into the miniscule cockpit that it wasn't even a full scale model. Now, to refute critics, Iran has released a photo of their stealth f... more »

AFP - Brainwashing Citizens in ALEC Dogma

2old2care at Because I Can - 4 hours ago
Yeh - I know they are tea-partiers, but ..... But when you take into consideration that Koch Funded Americans for Prosperity is bussing people in for $50 which includes which includes a one-night stay with double occupancy (or $100.00 for single occupancy) at a Marriott hotel, bus transportation, lunch and snacks on the bus, one ticket for dinner 50 bucks - hell of a deal. to hear Koch funded propaganda including ALEC's Rich States, Poor States Brainwashing citizens - Americans for Prosperity in collusion with the American Legislative Exchange Council, spreading ques... more »

Crisis forgotten: Dow Jones sets a new all-time high

Luboš Motl at The Reference Frame - 4 hours ago
The Dow Jones Industrial Index is at 14,275 right now. It's the first day in the history when it's higher than the previous all-time closing high of 14,164.53 set on October 9th, 2007. The 2008 downturn was often being compared to the Great Depression. After all, if our grandfathers had the right to witness an intense depression, why should we be stripped of the same right? However, the cold hard data paint a very different story than the professionally overhyping modern media (and not only media) loved to suggest. If you bought the stocks weighted as the Dow Jones index when t... more »

You can do it...

Adrienne at Adrienne's Corner - 4 hours ago
*watch this. No, really. Watch this.* H/T Daily Timewaster via Lonely Libertarian

Postal Service Auditions

Jay Allbritton at Jay Allbritton - 4 hours ago
Tom Scharpling wrote and directed a pretty hilarious sketch for *Funny or Die* showing the process by which Sub-Pop records paired producer Jimmy Tamborello with with Ben Gibbard to form The Postal Service. It starts off a bit slow, but really picks up steam when the Sub-Pop guy fails to recognize Duff McKagan. Marc Maron shows up and Marons it up beautifully. I almost shot milk through my nose when I saw Weird Al's version of "We Will Become Silhouettes" and I don't drink milk. The Postal Service Auditions from Ben Gibbard

The Robama Doctrine

Jeffrey Stacey at Duck of Minerva - 5 hours ago
Mitt Romney is back in the news with more than a little schadenfreude, talking about how he would be better not only to deal with sequestration but also with Iran. Or so he claims. But had he become president, it would have been interesting to see the Romney Doctrine in action—a foreign policy lodestar distinctly Continue reading

Just When You Thought the Interwebs Were Safe

Daniel Nexon at Duck of Minerva - 5 hours ago
Someone comes along with a “Call Me Maybe” joke. A mashup of Nine Inch Nails‘ “Head Like a Hole” and the insidious zombie-song of last summer. The worst part? It works.

The Myopic Menace of Order

Storm at Schools Matter - 5 hours ago
White man got no dreaming, Him go 'nother way. White man, him go different. Him got road belong himself. I have never been able to discover any Aboriginal word for *time* as an abstract concept. And the sense of 'history' is wholly alien here.... ...The Dreaming conjures up the notion of a sacred, heroic time of the indefinitely remote past, such a time is also, in a sense, still part of the present. One cannot 'fix' The Dreaming in time: it was, and is, everywhen.... Clearly, The Dreaming is many things in one. Among them, a kind of narrative to things that once happened; a kind... more »

Red

Southern Man at Southern Man - 5 hours ago
Genre? Christian post-apocalypse hardcore grunge rock. Enjoy it!

Panda climbing

James C Morton at Morton's Musings - 5 hours ago

Video: Wealth Inequality in America

Jim at Desdemona Despair - 5 hours ago
20 November 2012 (politizane) – Infographics on the distribution of wealth in America, highlighting both the inequality and the difference between our perception of inequality and the actual numbers. The reality is often not what we think it is. Wealth Inequality in America Technorati Tags: North America,poverty,financial collapse,corruption

The one hundred and seventy ninth weekly "No shit Sherlock" award

Not a sheep at Not a sheep - 5 hours ago
This week's award is presented to Iain Duncan Smith as reported in The Telegraph for this: 'Mr Duncan Smith said it is too easy for migrants from the European Economic Area to pass a habitual residency test to prove they live in the UK and enable them to claim benefits. He said the Government has met with stiff opposition from Brussels as ministers attempt to make it harder for so-called benefits tourists to abuse the system in the UK. Ministers are currently exploring ways of limiting migrants’ access to social housing, healthcare and legal aid. Responding to an urgent question... more »

The ages at which they crashed and burned!

bob somerby at the daily howler - 5 hours ago
*TUESDAY, MARCH 5, 2013* *Young journos flew close to the sun:* Big Republican leaders don’t agree with Obama about the budget *because they don’t know what he's proposing!* Only a crackpot would say such a thing. Or an ambitious young journalist? Why *on earth* did Ezra Klein write that ridiculous column? We don’t know, and Chait and Krugman aren’t willing to say that he did. But as we pondered this ludicrous work from our latest ambitious young scribe, we checked the ages at which earlier versions of same crashed and burned. It pretty much started with Janet Cooke, who had to give... more »

Isn't Libya a nice place now!

Not a sheep at Not a sheep - 5 hours ago
Do you see the special attention paid to the Jewish soldier's grave stone? The scary thing is how many Muslims in Western countries would do the same if they thought that they could get away with it.

Still Cranky

Jonathan Bernstein at A plain blog about politics - 5 hours ago
From the department of We have a story to tell and we're going to fit any facts that happen to come along into that story: President Obama on Monday named two people to his cabinet who will be charged with making good on his threat to use the powers of the executive branch to tackle climate change and energy policy if Congress does not act quickly. [...] The appointments, which require Senate confirmation, send an unmistakable signal that the president intends to mount a multifaceted campaign in his second term to tackle climate change by using all the executive branch tools at his ... more »

Crushing Free Speech in Essex (with images, tweets) · avimayer · Storify

Not a sheep at Not a sheep - 6 hours ago
"From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free" would seem to be a rather blatant call for Israel's destruction. "I've made my position crystal clear. The Students' Union has a position, which reflects my own, that the state of Israel is a state which its very existance is a crime. ... "I'm proud to not give him the attempt to justify his states oppression. I'm sure the hundreds of students were too. Freedom of expression isn't applicable here." http://storify.com/avimayer/crushing-free-speech-in-essex In my day the University of Essex had a noticeable problem with anti Semi... more »

Problems Reforming Iraq’s State Owned Enterprises

Joel Wing at MUSINGS ON IRAQ - 6 hours ago
All to often, what the Iraqi government says, and what it does are two different things. A perfect example of that is Baghdad’s handling of the state owned enterprises (SOEs). While some changes have been brought about in the last few years, the majority of the almost 200 government run businesses are not only continuing to operate, but have been strengthened and protected by the authorities. The talk of reform has largely been ignored, because politicians use the SOEs to maintain employment, while officials want to maintain their hold on the economy. The stated goal of the Iraqi ... more »

Jew hatred amongst Turkish youth in Netherlands

Not a sheep at Not a sheep - 6 hours ago
'A video that appeared on Dutch TV recently shows a roundtable of adults and children discussing Jews. The children, who are Muslim Turks, praise Hitler and his genocidal inclinations. One of the boys says, “on the one hand I am satisfied with what Hitler did with the Jews…” while another responds that Hitler was justified in killing millions of Jews because “now millions of Palestinians are being killed.” The four young boys are joined in a roundtable by an older gentleman (identified as Mehmet Sahin, a researcher at Amsterdam’s Vrije Universiteit) who repeatedly challenges the... more »

With the Greatest Care and Love

John Carroll at Dying in Haiti - 6 hours ago
OSF-Saint Francis Medical Center (OSF-SFMC) is the largest medical center in Illinois south of Chicago. It used to be called St. Francis Hospital. OSF's bills are sent to patients from OSF HealthCare Patient and Accounts and Access Center from 7134 Solution Center in Chicago. After you read what your "total amount due" is there is a statement that says: "Thank you for choosing OSF HealthCare and OSF Saint Francis Medical Center as your health care provider where we serve persons with the greatest care and love. The balance on this statement is now your responsibility." When OSF-SFM... more »

IMITATIONS OF LIFE: Charlie Rose!

bob somerby at the daily howler - 6 hours ago
*TUESDAY, MARCH 5, 2013* *Part 1—A potted plant referees Krugman:* Last night, on his PBS show, Charlie Rose staged what we’d call an imitation of life. Earlier in the day, he had spent several hours hosting CBS This Morning. He pretended to deal with serious topics, also provided our fluff. Now, Rose was moderating an hour-long debate about the most important budget issues of the day. Given the subject matter, Rose had assembled a slightly odd couple for his debate. On the one hand, he had booked Paul Krugman, one of the world’s most highly-regarded economists. Debating Krugman... more »

Tomorrow's World, Today

Martyn Daniels at Brave New World - 6 hours ago
When we look at the big technology spend on R&D in the last financial year we see Samsung spent $10.5bn, Microsoft $9.8bn, Google's $6.8bn, Sony's $4.6bn and Apple's $3.4bn. A staggering total of some $35.1bn. So the obvious question is what is coming out of the spend and will it change our lives in the near future or is it still some way off making it to the market? If we look at the current projected innovation we see two potential systemic changes, one that still appears unclear and one that is clearly some way off. *Turning Pages* The Samsung Galaxy S IV is scheduled to be u... more »

The Angry Summer: Government report blames climate change for weather extremes in Australia

Jim at Desdemona Despair - 6 hours ago
[image: The Angry Summer: In 90 days, 123 weather records were broken throughout Australia. Climate change was a major driving force behind a string of extreme weather events that alternately scorched and soaked large sections of Australia 2012/2013, according to a report issued by the government's Climate Commission on 4 March 2013. Graphic: Climate Commission] By MATT SIEGEL 4 March 2013 SYDNEY, Australia (The New York Times) – Climate change was a major driving force behind a string of extreme weather events that alternately scorched and soaked large sections of Australia in ... more »

Too Many Chiefs in the Climate War

Harry Dale Huffman at The Earth and Man: Setting the Stage - 6 hours ago
The wuwt site has a post on "Categorical Thinking"--unfortunately, done in the service of the categorical thinking of lukewarmists in the climate debate (actually, political War)--and the following is my response: *It is as if, in a large classroom, one student has stood up here and made the above speech. In reality, he is just a student, and not a particularly good one, yet he talks like he is the professor, who has the answers required in the course. If it were not a classroom situation, everyone could spend time on his points, agreeing here and disagreeing there, but in the end h... more »

So many choices

Stranger in a Strange Land at Stranger in a Strange Land - 6 hours ago
Source of Poster: * ** http://www.facebook.com/pages/Living-with-Common-Sense/154468647938561* *Life is a series of choices we make that determine how we will spend our life energy and on what.* M.N. Hopkins

The New York Times kills its environmental blog to focus on horse racing and awards shows

Jim at Desdemona Despair - 6 hours ago
[image: Screenshot of the final post on the New York Times Green blog, 1 March 2013. The 65-odd other Times blogs that did not get the axe include: Five blogs on business and finance, four technology blogs, five blogs on culture and media, and six blogs on styles, travel, and leisure, including two on fashion. Photo: The New York Times] By Will Oremus 4 March 2013 (Slate) – In January, the *New York Times* dismantled its environmental desk but promised that its coverage wouldn’t suffer. “We can tell the story just as well without the infrastructure,” managing editor Dean Baquet to... more »

Billy Merkosak

James C Morton at Morton's Musings - 6 hours ago

Benjamin Fulford: Murder Attempt Against Queen Elizabeth II Foiled, Manhunt On For Former “Black Pope” Peter Hans Kolvenbach

Obi-Wan Kabuki at AMERICAN KABUKI - 6 hours ago
*Ben's speaks to the Chinese "mandate of heaven" being removed? Hmmmm.... curious that... :) Oh D. and H. are going to have a chuckle at that! Sorry...inside joke. There will be no substituting a European Slave System with a Chinese one... Its time for true freedom! -AK* * * *Murder Attempt Against Queen Elizabeth II Foiled, * *Manhunt On For Former “Black Pope” Peter Hans Kolvenbach* Benjamin Fulford March 5 2013 World news media have been widely reporting that Queen Elizabeth II has been hospitalized with “gastroenteritis” but MI5 sources are saying the Queen is not ill and t... more »

Tucson Muxeres Representing in LA

Roberto Rodriguez at Dr Cintli - 6 hours ago
Historic Presentation Anna Nieto Gomez and the Tucson women of MalinZine UCLA March 4 2013 Kickoff presentations for Semana de la Muxer.

Untitled

New Orleans Ladder at New Orleans Ladder - 7 hours ago
Make BP pay to restore Gulf ~David Yarnold

Warming climate could mean bigger blizzards, less snow – ‘The seasonal cycle is changing, and less of it accumulating’

Jim at Desdemona Despair - 7 hours ago
[image: The 'Keeper of the Plains' statue is blanketed with snow in Wichita, Kansas, on 25 February 2013. Photo: Wichita Eagle / MCT / Landov CNN] By Matt Smith and Brandon Miller, CNN 26 February 2013 (CNN) – OK, go ahead and get the "Where's my global warming?" jokes out of your system. With the U.S. Midwest trudging through its second blizzard in a week, we understand. But while it may seem contradictory at first, scientists say bigger blizzards fit the pattern they expect to see from a changing climate. The immediate meteorological cause of the back-to-back snowstorms is a ... more »

Twice-Baked Mediterranean Couscous

Debra Hawkins at Housewife Eclectic - 7 hours ago
We love couscous in this house and we are always looking for a new way to prepare it. This twice-baked couscous is full of bold flavors and is perfect with a pinch of salt. You will need: 1 cup of couscous 1 cup water or broth 3 tablespoons olive oil 1 clove garlic, minced Half of a red bell pepper, diced 1 cup of cherry tomatoes, quartered Sprinkle of balsamic vinegar 1 teaspoon basil 1/4 cup of Parmesan cheese Bring 1 cup of water or broth to a boil. Add the couscous and boil again. Remove the pot from the heat and cover. Allow the couscous to sit for five minutes and then fluff. ... more »

Why The Grayson-Takano Letter Is So Important

DownWithTyranny at DownWithTyranny! - 7 hours ago
Yesterday, Obama announced that his next Office of Management and Budget director, a cabinet level position, would be Sylvia Mathews Burwell, president of the Wal-Mart Foundation. He said he expects her to help the country find a "way forward" as the Cantor-Ryan sequestration plan—$85 billion in across-the-board spending cuts-- kicks in. "Eventually," he said, "a lot of people are going to feel some pain." And if anyone knows how to spread around a lot of pain, it's a WalMart executive. Keep in mind only around a third of the country backs the Republican position on sequester (ac... more »

Jesús Gonzáles sings, are you listening?

address-withheld@my.opera.com.invalid (Dr. John v. Kampen) at - 7 hours ago
Link: http://youtu.be/dFIIsKPctGU - for those confused: this is live TV, somewhere between a payed social network (mind the price to talk to the artist) and a chat (see the later notification bar on screen), be amazed as I always am about this. By itself a quite interesting communications concept! There are 2 things about this singer that struck me. First: Jesús Gonzales is the shooting star in the Andalucian music scene and admired by many women. Some months ago he won the "Golden Cup Contest" by the important Andalucian "CanalSur" tv-station. Second: he appears to me a terrific c... more »

Read Stuff, You Should

Jonathan Bernstein at A plain blog about politics - 7 hours ago
Happy Birthday to Kevin Connally, 39. Yeah, I watched, and enjoyed, Entourage. I think I've seen all the episodes by now (I didn't watch in order)...I didn't think it was great, but for whatever reason it rarely annoyed me. Good stuff: 1. Chait, in all his glory. 2. Ed Kilgore on liberal vs. conservative definitions of spending cuts. Whether you agree with Kilgore or not, it's important to understand the debate if you want to translate what everyone is saying. 3. Conor Friedersdorf on what reporters should be worried about (and asking about) from the Obama Administration. 4. Pol... more »

Diet Milk with Aspartame, No Label Required, Really? by Anne Gordon, R.N.

Stranger in a Strange Land at Stranger in a Strange Land - 7 hours ago
Aspartame in MilkDiet Milk with Aspartame, No Label Required, Really? by Anne Gordon, R.N. Green Med Information, 4 March 2013 The dairy industry has lost market share due to perceived healthier drinks such as 'rice', 'soy' or 'almond' milk, etc. So they hatched an idea. Why not create 'diet' milk products, adding aspartame, and selling it to children as a 'healthy' diet drink. That's right. Putting *aspartame* in milk to 'reduce' caloric intake, for healthier, less obese children. Tasty flavored milk could be created to win back some of the market share, and since many want to red... more »

Oh dear -- more chaos at work!!!!!

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

SWP Pre-Conference Bulletin: Stop the Witch-hunt!

Phil at A Very Public Sociologist - 8 hours ago
*An extract from the SWP's **pre-conference bulletin**. If only the "comrades" below showed as much concern for the survivor of alleged rape and sexual assault. * *Stop the witch-hunt* Over the last several months there has been a campaign against a leading member of our party. This campaign has been carried out by a minority of comrades and shocked and appalled the majority of us. Although the campaign has been carried out by a minority it has done serious damage to the party as a whole, forcing us to focus on internal matters to the detriment of building the fight against austeri... more »

One unsavoury witness can confirm the testimony of another

James C Morton at Morton's Musings - 8 hours ago
*R. v. Brown*, 2013 ONCA 128 holds that one unsavoury witness can confirm the testimony of another. Put otherwise, two *Vetrovec* witnesses can confirm each other: [12] We disagree. As expressed by this court in *R. v. Drabinsky*, 2011 ONCA 582, 107 O.R. (3d) 595 at para. 140: There is, however, no prohibition against the evidence of one *Vetrovec* witness confirming the evidence of another *Vetrovec* witness.... The question is not whether the witness is him or herself a *Vetrovec* witness, but whether the evidence of each witness is sufficiently independent of the evidence o... more »

Too Old Or Too Rigid?

Owen Gray at Northern Reflections - 8 hours ago
The Pope's retirement led Gautam Makunda to write that it's dangerous to allow the old too close to power: Power itself has profound, and usually toxic, effects on those who have it. CEOs are so pampered that comparing them to babies is surprisingly illuminating. What is true for a CEO is, in this case, even more true for the men and women who lead nations and can literally have power over life and death. Over time this authority is likely to have profound effects on most people’s personalities. It would be remarkable indeed for any person treated with deference and pampering for... more »

Alessandro Volta: an anniversary

Luboš Motl at The Reference Frame - 9 hours ago
Alessandro Giuseppe Antonio Anastasio Volta was born to a somewhat poor family in Como, Duchy of Milan, in 1745. He died aged 82 on March 5th, 1827, i.e. 186 years ago, in the same city that already belonged to Lombardy-Venetia. Before he reached the age of 30, he became a physics professor in Como. A year later, he popularized electrophorus ("electricity bearer" from Greek: capacitive generator producing electrostatic charge by electrostatic induction) due to Swede Johan Carl Wilcke so intensely that we often attribute its discovery to Volta himself. A few years later, in the l... more »

What Happens If the Billionaires Boys Club Takes Over Los Angeles Schools?

John Thompson at Schools Matter - 9 hours ago
Educators have grown increasingly concerned that the "Billionaires Boys Club's" plan for test-driven "reform" of schools is more than misguided. Basically, it advocates "disruptive innovation" to destroy the "status quo" and so that schools can overcome the legacies of poverty. So many of their theories are so silly that many teachers worry that their real plan is to privatize schools. On one hand, I respect the careful scholarship of Sarah Reckhow, who has documented the edu-philanthropists' strategy of "convergence" or their coordination of funding. She worries about the consequen... more »

Free Planet? - so, where to begin? - what's our destination?

Mike Philbin at FREE PLANET - 9 hours ago
we're already there. Except we're not - nor are we ever likely to be, at this rate. And why is that? It's dead simple; you are stuck in a loop. What like Science Fiction, replaying the same scene over and over again for someone's entertainment? Yes, except it's real, and there's no audience. *I'M LAUGHING AT YOU NOW*, imagine me holding my ribs because it hurts so much. It's really painful. It's just so funny, I can't even stop myself from laughing out loud, like a lunatic, in a public place. "Argh......" that was painful, but in a good way - a cathartic way. I've come to rea... more »

Amanda Palmer - 'The Art of Asking'

Not a sheep at Not a sheep - 9 hours ago
I've posted some Amanda Palmer music videos before, she obviously has great musical and performance talent. From this video she also clearly has a keen mind, a consistent set of values and a future. I'm not sure that I have much in common politically with Amanda Palmer but I think I'd like her as a person. 'Amanda Palmer commands attention. The singer-songwriter-blogger-provocateur, known for pushing boundaries in both her art and her lifestyle, made international headlines this year when she raised nearly $1.2 million via Kickstarter (she’d asked for $100k) from nearly 25,0... more »

Global Warming Burns up Taichung

Michael Turton at The View from Taiwan - 9 hours ago
Taken at the New Wu Er Train Station at the HSR. _______________________ [Taiwan] Don't miss the comments below! And check out my blog and its sidebars for events, links to previous posts and picture posts, and scores of links to other Taiwan blogs and forums! Delenda est, baby.

Fourth Nuke Referendum Round Up

Michael Turton at The View from Taiwan - 9 hours ago
*In Taiwan even the dogs dress like betel nut girls.* The DPP says it will work to get the referendum law changed for the upcoming referendum on the Fourth Nuclear Plant (also here). The DPP's strategy: DPP Legislator Pan Men-an (潘孟安) said the DPP caucus would likely adopt a strategy that urges voters to treat the referendum as a vote of no confidence in President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) to mobilize local communities. We had a referendum on Ma; it was call the 2012 Presidential election. Let's do something revolutionary and treat this as a referendum on the nuclear power plant. Speaki... more »

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New Orleans Ladder at New Orleans Ladder - 9 hours ago
*History of problems lead up to boil water advisory* *Sinkhole case draws Erin Brockovich * *Gulf fish-counting method needs scrutiny, lawmakers say* *Loyola Jazz Festival!* *Wednesdays At The Square starts tomorrow!*

Do the BBC think we're stupid or are idiotic attempts at political correctness just second nature to them?

Not a sheep at Not a sheep - 11 hours ago
The latest BBC report on forced marriage includes this picture at the top of the report Interesting image, here's some statistics from The Number 10 website from June 2012: Forced Marriage Unit Statistics *January to May 2012* - 594 cases where the FMU has given advice or support related to a possible forced marriage. - 14% of calls involved victims bellow (sic) 15 years old, 31% involved victims aged 16-17, 35% involved victims aged 18-21, 12% involved victims aged 22-25, 5% involved victims aged 26-30, 2% involved victims aged 31-40, 1% involved victims aged 41... more »

Help Frankies Pie Bar Owners: event

Michael Turton at The View from Taiwan - 11 hours ago
A dear friend writes on Facebook: Frank and his partner, Patrick are extremely kind and caring men, so how could something terrible happen to them? Well, it's because it could happen to any of us. In November 2012, Frank and Patrick took a very well deserved vacation to Thailand for a few days. These men work so hard at their 2 restaurants and they looked forward to and enjoyed their holiday. They returned to Taipei and resumed their busy lives at the restaurants. Little did they know what was about to occur. They did what we all do, and used their Taiwan ATM cards in Thailand... more »

FTV in K-town Again

Michael Turton at The View from Taiwan - 11 hours ago
This weekend I had an extraordinary respite from politics as a guest on FTV's Time for Taiwan down in Kaohsiung. Saw some of the most amazing martial arts action. Follow the Read More for more pics and action! Our first stop was the Songjiang Battle Array performers of Shih Chien University outside Kaohsiung. Here our cameraman James films some of the action. Shih Chien university's Songjian Battle Array team is famous, competing all over Asia and winning prizes. The kids' enthusiasm and skill was amazing. It was a privilege to work with them. They taught me some Songjiang move... more »

GAIA PORTAL: Strengthening of Intuitive Gaia Points is Occurring

Obi-Wan Kabuki at AMERICAN KABUKI - 12 hours ago
* * * * *Strengthening of Intuitive Gaia Points is Occurring* by ÉirePort Strengthening of all intuitive Gaia points comes from individualized interaction of Hue-mans with such points. At this moment, a freeing of restriction upon Hue-man Light Worker ground crew is in process, and will complete in "short" order. Intuitive Gaia points are centers of Light introduction into and from Inner Earth. These may be found solely by Hue-man intuitive connection. Those non-attuned will see nothing. Hue-mans with attunement find them readily. Such intuitive Gaia points are continuously in mot... more »

Labour tweet that gives game away

Not a sheep at Not a sheep - 13 hours ago
2 weeks to save the #NHS (& this time we mean it): Mon 18th March set for Lords debate & vote on s75 regs. Lab tabled 'fatal' motion. -- Andy Burnham (@andyburnhammp) 'this time we mean it' - so previously Labour were lying? In any case when will Andy Burnham and rest of Labour ex Ministers accept any responsibility for NHS deaths at Mid Staffs and others?And when will the Labour supporting BBC actually quiz Andy Burnham, Alan Johnson and others as they would if this was a failure under a Conservative government.

Tom Tomorrow Wins the Herblock Prize

Batocchio at Vagabond Scholar - 13 hours ago
Congratulations to Tom Tomorrow (Dan Perkins) for winning the Herblock Prize for editorial cartooning for his weekly strip, This Modern World. You can read his cartoons at Daily Kos, and he briefly discusses the award on his blog here and here. Here's part of the announcement: The prize is awarded annually by The Herb Block Foundation for “distinguished examples of editorial cartooning

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New Orleans Ladder at New Orleans Ladder - 13 hours ago
Jindal’s Moon Shot: An Astronomical Disaster ~Cenlamar

Changing Labor and Community

arclein at Terra Forming Terra - 13 hours ago
I do expect that somehow or the other, that the eleven million estimated illegal immigrants will be brought on side as effectively landed immigrants. Perhaps we will also have a viable solution for this chronic problem. More likely, the USA contraction and improvements in Mexico if that is possible will end the problem. In the event this huge group of people as well as their cohort of already established citizens are certain to influence politics as they just have in the past round of elections. The total failure of Romney to hold the Latino vote ended his chances at t... more »

Enterprise Without Bosses

arclein at Terra Forming Terra - 13 hours ago
One thing that I want my readers to understand is that the future is evolving right before our eyes because nothing is been lost anymore. That is the greatest gift of modernism. This article needs to be taken to heart and applied everywhere. We have all been brought up accepting hierarchical structures as the way to get things done and have accepted greats gobs of natural inefficiency in the process. It simply becomes too hard to effect profitable changes or worse, to alter unprofitable decisions. Thus most retreat to protecting their pay check while the young and naive ... more »

Self Driving Car System to Hit $100

arclein at Terra Forming Terra - 13 hours ago
This is technology that can be delivered now while we wait for GPS linked systems able to go anywhere new. It is a huge advance on cruise control and takes advantage of fact that most of our driving is repetitive. It can be implemented now on the same basis of cruise control in which the driver remains engaged. I would expect to seed it show up quickly from a first adopter who will drive competition to follow. The customer really wants to get into his car and tell it to go to work or to the mall or home. This is doubly true for rush hour commutes. It may take some tim... more »

European Farming Immigrated

arclein at Terra Forming Terra - 13 hours ago
It is easy to construct a picture repeated over and over again in which a well equipped pioneer team sets out in several boats and moves out into new country. They establish a new community and prosper. Most important, their population expands sharply as compared to local hunters. Soon enough, the local hunters inter marry and importantly, the local hunters with their farm wives are ideal to lead a new expedition into new country. Thus a process of natural absorption drives the leading edge of the natural expansion. The intermarriage ensures local support and after two... more »

Two polls show how, and maybe why, Alberta’s Tory coalition is crumbling

David Climenhaga at Alberta Diary - 13 hours ago
Weakened but still standing: The mighty Tory edifice. Don’t panic. This is a metaphor! Below: Alberta Premier Alison Redford. It’s interesting to juxtapose the results of two new polls on related but different topics that were released yesterday – a Think HQ poll of Alberta voter intentions and an Environics poll of Albertans attitudes about ... more »

Press Release: Keshe Foundations Gift To Mankind

Stranger in a Strange Land at Stranger in a Strange Land - 13 hours ago
KESHE FOUNDATION’S UNPARALLELED GIFT TO MANKIND: Signing of the world peace treaty and World peace conference Food Freedom News, 2 March 2013 The following is a message from: *THE KESHE FOUNDATION* *Please Share and Post As Widely As You Possibly Can, Asking Others to Do the Same* *Dr. Keshe’s lecture on the new technology already rendering the US’s most advanced weapons, worthless* *SIGNING OF THE WORLD PEACE TREATY AND WORLD PEACE CONFERENCE* The Keshe Foundation made a promise that it would release a request and information on its forum …. about the next step in the relea... more »

DUNBLANE SHOOTINGS - PEDOPHILE RING

Anon at aangirfan - 13 hours ago
*Dunblane Primary School. '16 children from this class were shot dead.'* The official story is that, on 13 March 1996, a mad loner called Thomas Hamilton shot dead 16 children at a primary school in Dunblane in Scotland. *The Dunblane Primary School* The unofficial story is that Thomas Hamilton was supplying pornography, and possibly young boys, to top people including policemen and politicians; and Thomas Hamilton may have been murdered, to shut him up. It has been suggested that Thomas Hamilton was a brainwashed patsy and that the real shooters were working for the security serv... more »

Amen

A.Decker at GlobaLove Think Tank - 13 hours ago
"If all the beasts were gone, men would die from a great loneliness of spirit, for whatever happens to the beasts also happens to the man. All things are connected. Whatever befalls the Earth befalls the sons of the Earth.” ― Chief Seattle

Resistance on Both Sides of the River

Elias at Stop The Tennessee Pipeline! - 14 hours ago
[image: occupy the pipeline NJ] *The resistance in Milford, PA was joined today by a group of land defenders in northern New Jersey! * Early in the morning on March 4th seven activists from Ringwood, NJ occupied the mile and a half of intact forest in the pipeline right of way, set up a banner and declared that patch of forest the “Last Stand.” By 7:30 AM tree cutting crews arrived, and left after seeing the activist encampment. The community members left the forest after dark, and no trees were felled today. Ruth Adams, a retired teacher and librarian from West Milford, NJ has... more »

Kenya: Can Technology Safeguard Elections?

Adrienne LeBas at Duck of Minerva - 14 hours ago
Polls in Kenya closed 16 hours ago, but votes continue to be counted. Those familiar with Kenya and with the electoral crisis of 2007-2008 will know to distrust provisional results. In December 2007, challenger Raila Odinga seemed substantially ahead during much of the early voting, only to see that lead evaporate as returns came in from more Continue reading

Wealth Inequality in America - shockingly brilliant video

Mike Philbin at FREE PLANET - 14 hours ago
I don't like the implied "you gotta work work work," to have a fulfilling (American Dream) lifestyle, and while this following video is starkly informative SOCIALISM (in fact any of the ISMs; communism, deism, militarism, comsumerism) isn't the answer to 'ideal wealth distribution'. I'd love to see a Global Version of the following US-centric video. in fact there is no such thing as 'ideal wealth distribution' as it implies IT'S YOURS, and it's not. First of all, Economy is a game. It's a piece of imaginary string. You pull one side toward you, you contact the other side for some... more »

Your moment of Zen

Libby Spencer at The Impolitic - 15 hours ago
They say Magic lives here.

The Realist Report with John Friend

John Friend at John Friend's Blog - 16 hours ago
On *this edition* of the Realist Report, we'll be joined by Mark Elsis of * 911Timeline.net* and *RudolfHess.net* to discuss 9/11 and *the fraudulent "Global War on Terror"*, Mark's recent essay *Deputy Fuhrer Rudolf Hess: A Courageous Hero For Peace*, and his research into *the alleged Jewish "Holocaust" of WWII*. Call will be taken throughout the conversation. You can download the entire program *here*, or subscribe to Truth Militia Radio via iTunes *here*. Thanks for listening everyone!

ANNUAL IRAN HATE FEST (A.K.A. AS THE AIPAC CONFERENCE) RATCHETS UP THE WARMONGERING

Last weekend’s American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) policy conference saw US vice-President Joe Biden threaten Iran with military action if sanctions and diplomacy didn’t work in preventing Iran from developing a nuclear weapon. He told his audience: *If, God forbid, the need to act occurs, it is critically important for the whole world to know we did everything in our power, we did everything that reasonably could have been expected to avoid any confrontation.* Of course it is ‘critically important’; how else could the West con the world into accepting an attack against... more »

The Senate = A Ball Of Shit .. er .. I mean Abolish It.

leftdog at Buckdog - 17 hours ago
*The New Democrats have long advocated abolishing the corrupt, unelected, undemocratic Canadian Senate.* * * *It's at the top of their agenda everyday in Question Period and, on Wednesday, leader Thomas Mulcair called on the RCMP to look into the spending controversies.* * **Well now, her majesty's loyal opposition have launched a new websitecalled the 'Senate Hall of Shame. As you might imagine, it features the five senators that have been in the news of late: Patrick Brazeau, Mike Duffy, Mac Harb, Pamela Wallin and Irving Gerstein.* * **[ Related: Senator Pamela Wallin audited for ov... more »

Microsoft unveils self-sketching whiteboard model

Megaan at Current news updates, World current news - 17 hours ago
*Microsoft is functioning on an interactive whiteboard which aims to interpret users' sketches to complete the diagrams they were drawing.* The firm will unveil the model as part of Techfest - an annual occasion where its researchers reveal some of the projects they are working on. The project is one of several large-screen technologies under progress by Microsoft which it believes will become more common both at work and home in the future. The digital picture is designed to help workers make sense of big data - the growing amount of information available from sensors and othe... more »

Ron Jacobs : Bob Dylan's Biography of American Racism

thorne dreyer at The Rag Blog - 17 hours ago
Bob Dylan visits Rubin "Hurricane" Carter in prison, 1975. Image from Tumblr. Bob Dylan’s biography of American racism “Sometimes I think this whole world / is one big prison yard / Some of us are prisoners / and some of us are guards.” -- Bob Dylan, "George Jackson" By Ron Jacobs / The Rag Blog / March 4, 2013 When people think of Bob Dylan, it's unlikely very many consider him a

VOICES FROM GANGJEONG

Bruce K. Gagnon at Organizing Notes - 17 hours ago
Regis Tremblay writes: First in the series is Fr. Mun Jeong Hyeon, the iconic 74 yr old priest who has been beaten, hospitalized and jailed for protesting the construction of the base. Fr. Mun is known as a “street father” because of his support for victims of human rights violations inflicted by state power. Ordained in 1966, he organized the Catholic Priests’ Association for Justice in 1974 and opposed the dictatorship when the military carried out extrajudicial killings.

Checking on the world’s biggest dead mall – South China Mall still a ‘ghost town’ – ‘For all intents and purposes you just took the money and poured it down a black hole’

Jim at Desdemona Despair - 17 hours ago
[image: Two men walking through the empty South China Mall mall in a space planned for restaurants. Photo: CNN] [Desdemona was fascinated by this story in 2010; apparently, the prospects of the South China Mall haven’t improved since then.] By Johan Nylander 3 March 2013 Dongguan, China (CNN) – They built it, but the shoppers didn't come. New South China Mall in Guangdong Province opened in 2005. With 5 million square feet of shopping area, the mall can accommodate 2,350 stores, making it the largest shopping center in the world in terms of leasable space -- more than twice the s... more »

Melting Arctic sea ice will allow ice-strengthened vessels to sail directly over the pole by 2050

Jim at Desdemona Despair - 18 hours ago
[image: Projected Arctic shipping routes, as global warming melts sea ice. Melting sea ice will allow ice-strengthened vessels to sail directly over the pole by 2050, and normal ships to take the 'northern sea route'. Graph: guardian.co.uk] By John Vidal 4 March 2013 (guardian.co.uk) – Ships should be able to sail directly over the north pole by the middle of this century, considerably reducing the costs of trade between Europe and China but posing new economic, strategic and environmental challenges for governments, according to scientists. The dramatic reduction in the thickn... more »

little monkeys

Oberon at GlobaLove Think Tank - 18 hours ago

UK must adapt for weather extremes, says Environment Agency – ‘The extremes of weather that we saw last year highlight the urgent need to plan for a changing climate’

Jim at Desdemona Despair - 19 hours ago
[image: New figures from the UK Environment Agency show that one in every five days saw flooding in 2012, but one in four days saw drought. Some river levels fluctuated between their highest and lowest levels within the space of four months. Photo: PA] By Roger Harrabin, Environment analyst 3 March 2013 (BBC) – Britain must become more resilient to both drought and flooding, Environment Agency chairman Chris Smith has said. New figures from the agency show that one in every five days saw flooding in 2012, but one in four days saw drought. Rivers such as the Tyne, Ouse, and Tone f... more »

The administration is wrong again in thinking it has the upper hand in the politics of the sequester

KenInNY at DownWithTyranny! - 19 hours ago
*Just 'cause the Republicans have as usual landed squarely on the shamefully wrong side of an issue doesn't mean there will be any more price to pay over the sequester than there usually is.* *by Ken* No American president, I think, would dare kick off his tenure with the kind of gloomy, foreboding address that Sunday Classics listeners have heard the last two weeks from Tsar Boris Godunov on the occasion of his coronation. The lesson of candidate Walter Mondale speaking honestly about the likely need for tax increases has been learned by all political high rollers. So it was har... more »

Rebranding-- Republicans And The LGBT Community

DownWithTyranny at DownWithTyranny! - 19 hours ago
Will Lindsey be at CPAC to talk about Benghazi & cruise for college studs? So far the GOP rebranding effort has fallen flat on its face. Their war on women seems as endless as it is pointless and, although 87 Republicans, most of whom hail from competitive non-Confederate districts, voted with Democrats *for* the Violence Against Women Act, most congressional Republicans-- including virtually all of the party leaders-- still support violence against women. Their war against immigrants in general and Latinos in particular is one hot mess with conflicting messages clogging up the airwa... more »

New York Times publishes blatant "Holocaust" propaganda

John Friend at John Friend's Blog - 19 hours ago
On Friday, March 1st, the *New York Times*, in a "News Analysis" titled *The Holocaust Just Got More Shocking* written by Eric Lichtblau, published a blatant piece of propaganda in an effort to further perpetuate and pound into the consciousness of the gullible public the myth of the "Jewish Holocaust" at the hands of Adolf Hitler's National Socialist Germany during World War II. Serious scholars have *thoroughly debunked virtually every aspect of the official "Holocaust" narrative*, which has been manufactured and reinforced by dishonest organized Jewish groups and fraudulent "Holo... more »

Why Christy Clark Didn`t Survive Ethnicgate

Grant G at The Straight Goods - 19 hours ago
The face of temporary unity is a display for the ages, agreement and resolve, passivity and pride bundled, scripted and put out for public consumption, will this latest Government fare pass smoothly or does indigestion rear its ugly head and leave voters running for the Tums.. An investigation upon itself, conducted by a *powerless to compel testimony *head of the civil service, Mr. Dyble although competent of the task at hand in theory, his legislative and judicial powers preclude him from conducting such an investigation, Christy Clark by appointing him to a task for which he i... more »

Consumption Junction

Libby Spencer at The Impolitic - 19 hours ago
Finally got around to watching this video from MoJo that everyone is talking about. I can see why it's going viral. Best illustration of the sadistic inequity in wealth distribution I've seen yet. Worth six minutes of your time. [Full size version] If the one-percenters were actually doing honest work for the money, it would be justifiable. But they're not. They make their money by cheating the system. Thing is, they own everything, so no one with the power to stop them is willing to call them out. The appointed and elected watchers look the other way, for a pittance of the sp... more »

Heartland Says: Stop Picking on ALEC!!!!!

2old2care at Because I Can - 20 hours ago
It had been so long since I had seen anything of/by/for ALEC in the media that I had begun to think that the new Edelman PR strategy for the American Legislative Exchange Council was RUN!!!!! HIDE!!!!! But – today the Heartland came out with an article about how ALEC is being picked on. Bravo for Heartland! ALEC is being picked on. Where the truth of it is – that Heartland and ALEC’s anti-renewable energy legislation, The Electricity Freedom Act, is being flushed down the toilet and I think Heartland is just as pissed about THEIR legislation getting trashed – as they are about def... more »

A History Of Mossad Black Ops And False Flags

Northerntruthseeker at Northerntruthseeker - 20 hours ago
The criminal Jewish interest group, AIPAC, is right now doing their annual conference in the middle of their slave nation, the United States' seat of power in Washington DC, with the usual line up of US Government Congress-critters and so called Senators, grovelling to their Jewish masters... It is always a sickening spectacle to behold... To help celebrate the annual AIPAC meeting in my own way... I want to present a most interesting article, that comes in the form of a long list from the website: www.whale.to. It is entitled: "List of Mossad Black Ops And False Flags" and definit... more »

Muhammad Ali Recites His Poem "The Truth"

Saman Mohammadi at The Excavator - 20 hours ago
Muhammad Ali Recites His Poem "The Truth." Source: YouTube channel NewLifeChannel.

OPPT Live WebTV Interview on thatchannel.com

Obi-Wan Kabuki at AMERICAN KABUKI - 20 hours ago
[image: Hugh Reilly, http://thatchannel.com] *OPPT LIVE Web TV Event* *Desmond Grundy* http://desmondgrundy.com/music/ *Tuesday March 5, 2013 on or around 1pm EST http://www.thatchannel.com* Desmond Grundy will be interviewed live by Hugh Reilly about the One People's Public Trust The YouTube archive will be made available for viewing shortly thereafter http://www.youtube.com/user/thatchanneltv?feature=watch Spread the word.

Questioning a census taker

Peter Cresswell at Not PC - 21 hours ago
The gloriously monickered Census-Taker-in-Chief Carol Slappendel tells you why you should fill out your census instead of filing it in the Osama (Bin Liner). Let’s see if any hold water: *It will bring about sweeping changes to our lives.* “Changes” effected not by our own wishes, but by the wishes of planners and politicians. Not buying that one. *Some schools will change decile ratings, meaning more or less funding from the Government.* The flawed ranking of schools based on parents’ incomes should be abandoned, not encouraged. *We need your answers so planners can plan.* Fi... more »

My Name is Chellis...

What Is Sustainable at What Is Sustainable - 21 hours ago
Chellis Glendinning grew up in a wealthy and respectable family in Cleveland. Her father was a caring doctor and a brutal child abuser. She and her brother were raped, beaten, and tortured. Her pain was swept under the carpet by the magic of dissociation — a portion of her personality split off and became unconscious. Memories of her traumatic childhood were forgotten for 40 years. Amnesia allowed her to function in the world. She earned a PhD and became a psychotherapist. One day, in a therapy session, her childhood traumas suddenly began to return to consciousness. Chellis ... more »

Elswhere: Budget, Newt, Flaps

Jonathan Bernstein at A plain blog about politics - 21 hours ago
I'm not cranky any more, but I am disappointed I couldn't get a real argument going over Apes sequels earlier today in comments. So far. But even though I was easily distracted by attempts to get that going, I did write some other stuff. Over at PP, I wrote about Plain Blog fave Tom P. Baxter (sorry; that's Newt for latecomers) and the conservative information loop. Oh - over the weekend my Salon column argued that dust-ups of the Chuck Hagel sort don't harm presidents, and so they -- and Obama in particular -- should be willing to take more risks. At least certain types of risks. ... more »

in which my library career moves forward

laura k at wmtc - 22 hours ago
Page no more! I'm not a librarian yet, but I've managed to get out of the page level. I've landed a part-time position as a circulation clerk, doing circ and customer service at the front desk in a branch about 20 minutes from home. I'm thrilled. My hourly pay rate just doubled, and it will be a huge relief to my middle-aged back and knees. Another reason this is very important is it guarantees I will not be a page again. If I get a librarian position that is temporary, such as covering a maternity leave (a not-uncommon way to break in to the professional level), when that job end... more »

SYRIA: NEOCONS FINALLY REALISE THEY’RE BACKING THEIR ENEMIES

Neoconservatives were – and still are – so full of loathing and hatred of Syria’s President Bashir al-Assad that they were willing to pretend that al-Assad’s enemies were the neocons friends. As a result, neoconservatives from the very beginning of the uprising in Syria backed the rebels in the hope that the US and their allies would be able to control the outcome of the civil war that has raged in Syria for nigh on two years and resulted in the deaths of tens of thousands and millions of lives disrupted. Now, somewhat belatedly, neoconservatives have finally woken up to themselves ... more »

Author Interview with Nick Stephenson

jurassicpork at Welcome Back to Pottersville - 22 hours ago
(*I tried cross-posting this at my book blog where it really belongs but apparently Blogger's wonderful new template with which they'd saddled us last year gets cranky and enables metadata encoded in Word files from which several of my posts originate. It doesn't happen so much with this template but my other blog uses a different template that apparently forces you to type directly on the editing page to avoid that formatting bullshit. So here it'll have to remain, unless you like having to highlight white text so you can read it against a white background. -JP*) Ever since I... more »

Australian Islamist Musa Cerantonio Glorifies Jihad, Supports Jabhat Al-Nusra in Syria

Saman Mohammadi at The Excavator - 22 hours ago
The U.S. State Department should hire this clown. He'd fit right in. Australian Islamist Musa Cerantonio Glorifies Jihad, Supports Jabhat Al-Nusra in Syria. Source: MEMRI TV.

Putting the ‘Living Wage’ to Death

Peter Cresswell at Not PC - 22 hours ago
*Guest post by Peter Osborne** * In his article titled ‘Bringing the Living Wage to Life,’ Gordon Campbell of Scoop fame shows how bereft New Zealand is of good, insightful journalism. Along with most other NZ journalists (and alleged economists), he ignores causality completely. In saying that “we” should introduce a “living wage” simply because people need it, he ignores the causal connection between production and consumption (that we can only consume what has first been produced). He ignores the causal *dis*connection between production and need (not an ocean of tears nor a... more »

Cognitive child abuse in the maths classroom

Peter Cresswell at Not PC - 23 hours ago
Leighton Smith has been talking about this on his show, this morning: [image: image]New Zealand's foremost mathematician has spoken out against the way maths is taught in schools, saying children need to know basic arithmetic before they try to start problem solving. Sir Vaughan Jones, winner of the Fields Medal - the maths equivalent of the Nobel Prize - told the *Weekend Herald* that children had to do "lots and lots of exercises" to build up familiarity and confidence before they moved on to more advanced concepts. His comments follow those of Education Minister Hekia P... more »

The Friends of Terrorism Aim To Use Syria As Springboard For Regional Chaos

Saman Mohammadi at The Excavator - 23 hours ago
An excerpt from the article, *"Russia: The Friends of Syria Group supports Terrorism,"* by Ria Novosti: A resolution adopted by the Friends of Syria Group in Rome on Thursday encourages extremists there to seize power by force, Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman Alexander Lukashevich said on Friday. US, EU and Arab officials who met in Rome on Thursday pledged more assistance to the Syrian opposition fighting against President Bashar al-Assad’s regime, recognizing the National Coalition as the sole legitimate representative of the Syrian people. “There is a general understanding w... more »

The Real News: Egyptian Debt Threatens Tahrir Square's Promise of Freedom

Saman Mohammadi at The Excavator - 23 hours ago
The IMF, World Bank, and NGOs are anti-human, anti-freedom, and anti-justice. Wherever they dominate and hold influence over the government, from Haiti to Egypt, people suffer and societies collapse. And the common link that connects these criminal international organizations together is the morally bankrupt, bankster-owned, and terrorism-supporting U.S. government. Egyptian Debt Threatens Tahrir Square's Promise of Freedom. Source: The Real News.

Catapulting the propaganda in reruns

Penny at Penny for your thoughts - 23 hours ago
*Syria: * Syrian civil war spills into Iraq as 42 Assad troops killed in ambush * **Where have I seen this image previously?* *Iraq* American Marines help to pull the statue of Saddam down in Iraq in a propaganda picture that was staged for the world How many special ops from NATO were present and helping in Syria? How much compliant NATO media was on hand in Syria, ready to take the picture? Was Hill & Knowlton involved? *PR always sells a war* It is so obvious. So why do the masses keep falling for it?

Californians Cry Foul Over Buck McKeon’s Sequestration Tears

DownWithTyranny at DownWithTyranny! - 23 hours ago
On February 28, Rep. Buck McKeon’s op-ed appeared in the *L.A. Times*containing his characteristic fear-mongering about sequestration’s effect on the Pentagon. While no one sensible agrees that sequestration is a reasonable way to govern, Buck McKeon takes his opposition to cutting the bloated wartime budget to the level of hysteria. McKeon has been President Obama’s chief critic on all things military-related. Whatever Obama’s position is, McKeon aggressively takes the opposite. In his op-ed, he places sequestration solely at the feet of the president. The president is forcing ... more »

Citizen Land Defense in Milford, PA

Elias at Stop The Tennessee Pipeline! - 1 day ago
While action planning continues, local residents are holding a vigil over the remaining trees along Cummins Hill Road and have organized teams to continue this work. At the entrance to Delaware State Park residents used their vehicles to prevent workers from entering until police arrived and made them disperse.

Corporate boom spells workers' doom

Libby Spencer at The Impolitic - 1 day ago
Yet another article on how mega-corporations are eating our economy right out from under us. Corporate share of the national income gains are at a decade's long high, while the workers' share is at a decades' long low. The split hasn't been this pronounced in 50 years. And nothing is going to change until our overlords decide to do something about persistent under and un-employment. Unfortunately for the working class, they have no incentive to do so. The sequester is going to make it even worse but Wall Street isn't worried. But although experts estimate that sequestration could ... more »

John Friend on Inside the Eye - Live! w/ the Fetch

John Friend at John Friend's Blog - 1 day ago
I was a guest on Dennis Fetcho's radio program *Inside the Eye - Live!* on the *Oracle Broadcasting Network *this afternoon. The Fetch and I discussed *my views on Christianity generally*, and Christian Identity specifically, and the need to engage in a civil, rational dialogue about religion, history, and other important matters. You can download the entire two hour radio program *here*.

Israel Apartheid Week

Not a sheep at Not a sheep - 1 day ago
All over the 'civilised' Western World universities have been holding 'Israel Apartheid Week'. Here's the link to the LSE's week. For some facts rather than prejudice, take a read of this Jewish Refugees article. Here's a longish extract: 'Not only is the Israel Apartheid campaign a monumental lie of gobsmacking * chutzpah*, but the boot is on the Arab foot. You only have to witness the way that Arab host countries treat their Palestinians, who are denied citizenship. And not only Palestinians - Kuwait has 300,000 *Bedoun* residents denied citizenship and the right to vote. Thousands... more »

More Fashion Tips from Cops

noreply@blogger.com (fern hill) at DAMMIT JANET! - 1 day ago
You think they'd learn. From the same police department whose fashion tips inspired the international movement, Slut Walk, now fashion tips for pedestrians who don't want to get hit by a fucking car. Toronto police kicked off a weeklong pedestrian safety campaign called “Do The Bright Thing!” on Monday morning at Union station. Officers will talk to people at the subway station concourse all week, encouraging pedestrians to wear bright-coloured or reflective clothing when possible. Making a grocery list, I tweeted. Going out for a walk. Strapping flashlights & reflectors all over ... more »

Monday Cranky Blogging 3 (and Catch of the Day)

Jonathan Bernstein at A plain blog about politics - 1 day ago
Yes, everyone is right: Bill Keller's op-ed blaming Barack Obama for sequestration because, well, dammit, he's suppose to be leading, is awful. And kudos (and the Catch) to Greg Sargent for pointing out that Keller somehow or another just absolutely is missing Obama's actual position. Perhaps some of the problem is that Republicans are more unified in their spin on this than are Democrats; a lot of liberals don't like Obama's position (because, after all, he's open to cuts in Social Security and Medicare) and so they aren't really thrilled about "defending" that White House position... more »

Secret Tesla machine, Who can built it again?

Abraham Ben Judea at Abraham says - 1 day ago
About two decades ago a document came across my desk, a ripped out page from Scientific American magazine. It said, "75 years ago Mr. Tesla demonstrated the power of harmonic oscillation by splitting a large steel I-beam in half using nothing but vibrations." On a separate occasion when working for an Aero-space co a coworker of ours mentiioned that his grandfather used to work with Tesla. He even showed an old photograph of Mr.Tesla...What was interesting at least for this author was the mention of an advanced version of the apparatus seen below. He described it as the size of a ci... more »

Jordan from Scrubs was also in Seinfeld!

Not a sheep at Not a sheep - 1 day ago
I was watching an old Seinfeld episode and there was a very young Jordan from Scrubs. Christa Miller was in Seinfeld more than once it appears 1993-1995 Here she is in Seinfeld And here she is in Scrubs

China’s property bubble

Peter Cresswell at Not PC - 1 day ago
It should have been history’s greatest example of a successful exit from years of totalitarian rule. Instead, it might prove to be history's greatest property bubble, ahead of what could well prove to be history’s largest property crash. This *60 Minutes *report on China’s Ghost Cities tells most of the story, and demonstrates what malinvestment looks like, but gives little of the cause and foreshadows only a little of the potential fallout when the bubble bursts. The main cause the clip ignores is the Chinese government’s role in encouraging these projects and their money printi... more »

Puente sobre el río y árboles en otoño

José Luis Ávila Herrera at FotoFrontera - 1 day ago
[image: Puentes sobre el río y árboles en otoño] *Nota:* Click aquí para ver más *imágenes de puentes* Por favor visite nuestra página oficial: www.fotofrontera.com

Perros salvajes mirando su próxima víctima

José Luis Ávila Herrera at FotoFrontera - 1 day ago
[image: Perros salvajes mirando su proxima victima] *Nota:* Click aquí para ver más *imágenes de perros* Por favor visite nuestra página oficial: www.fotofrontera.com

Pajaritos en las ramas secas de los árboles

José Luis Ávila Herrera at FotoFrontera - 1 day ago
[image: Pajaritos en las ramas secas de los árboles] *Nota:* Click aquí para ver más *imágenes de pajaros* Por favor visite nuestra página oficial: www.fotofrontera.com
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