10:15pm MDST
A non-definitive list of Roger the Alien’s alter-egos:
*Dr. Jordan Edilstein *
*Professor Baxter*
*Krispy Kreme McDonald's *
*Kevin Bacon *
*Horse Renoir*
*Predator *
*Chilly*
*Cousin Phil*
*Parker Peters*
*Laura Vanderbooben *
*Luke Fondleberg *
*Scotch Bingington*
*Sholanda Dykes *
*Sidney Huffman*
*Mr. Mustachos *
*Warren Beanstalk*
Wild Bill: How to wreck the military...
*the libtards are doing a great job.*
O.A.S. Drug Review a "Game Changer"
The Organization of American States has issued a report on global drugs
policy that, some believe, could lead to the end of blanket prohibition.
*Publication of the Organisation of American States (OAS) review,
commissioned at last year's Cartagena Summit of the Americas attended by Barack
Obama, reflects growing dissatisfaction among Latin American countries with
the current global policy on illicit drugs. It spells out the effects of
the policy on many countries and examines what the global drugs trade will
look like if the status quo continues. It notes how rapidly countries'
uni... more »
random notes from ronda
We have seen many happy, well-cared-for dogs on this trip, dogs of all
shapes and sizes, all obviously loved. We have seen no street dogs. There
are some feral cats living in the Alhambra. That is always sad to see. But
the street dogs that have broken our hearts in Mexico and Peru and
elsewhere do not seem to be in Spain, at least not where we have been.
* * * *
On the drive from Barcelona to Granada, I realized that we brought no music
with us. We never even thought of it. I blipped through radio stations,
even though I knew it would be useless. Radio sounds exactly the same,
reg... more »
grenada to ronda / ronda
We changed our plans, then changed them again. Originally, we had pencilled
in a drive to the very southern tip of Spain, where on a clear day you can
see Morocco, and where there is a supposedly wonderfully intact set of
Roman ruins, Baelo Claudio.
From the start, I was skeptical that we could do this and still do
everything else on our wish-list. I think Allan had forgotten how
everything takes longer than you think it's going to, and how sleeping in a
different town every night can mean not seeing anything very well. In
Granada, it was time to firm up the flexible spots in our it... more »
"How It Really Is"
The Roman poet Juvenal asked, “Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?”
(“Who will guard the guards themselves?”) Still a good question...
- CP
“Wal-Mart Warns Of Economic Disaster… Are You Prepared?”
* “Wal-Mart Warns Of Economic Disaster… Are You Prepared?”*
by Phoenix Capital Research
“If you want to get a sense of what’s happening in the world, your best
bet is to ignore Government data and focus on corporate revenues. Why
revenues? Because earnings can be massaged any number of ways (depreciation
methods, laying off staff to cut costs, depletion of loan loss reserves for
banks, etc.). But you cannot fake actual money coming in the door.
With that in mind, I want to draw your attention to the recent drop in
corporate revenues at a number of corporations including Procto... more »
SETTING THE STAGE FOR ENDLESS WAR
A Pentagon official predicted Thursday the war against al-Qaeda and its
affiliates could last up to 20 more years. The comment came during a Senate
hearing revisiting the Authorization for Use of Military Force, or AUMF,
enacted by Congress days after the attacks on Sept. 11, 2001. At the
hearing, Pentagon officials claimed the AUMF gives the president power to
wage endless war anywhere in the world, including in Syria, Yemen and the
Congo. "This is the most astounding and most astoundingly disturbing
hearing that I’ve been to since I’ve been here," said Independent Sen.
Angus Kin... more »
"Life's Tough..."
“Life’s tough… it’s even tougher if you’re stupid.”
- John Wayne
CHANGING THE WAY WE THINK ABOUT WAR
*This drum belonged to long-time Maine VFP founding member Tom Sturtevant
who passed away in 2012. Our chapter is now named after Tom. When ever we
gather we always hold Tom close to our heart. In this photo his son-in-law
presents the drum to our chapter.*
- I attended the Maine Veterans for Peace war trauma symposium held
today in Portland. Dr. Paula Caplan was the keynote speaker. She is a
clinical and research psychologist currently serving as an Associate at
Harvard University's DuBois Institute. She has been working to change the
language we use to descri... more »
TV Watch: "Maron" revisited, following an absolutely terrific Episode 3
*Off-the-Marc: Episode 3* (view clip at link)
*Look who shows up at Marc's door!* *Says Marc: "The character in the show
is not exactly my father. My dad's name is Barry; the character in the show
is Larry. My father is more frightening than Judd Hirsch." However, Marc
assures us in "Off-the-Marc: Episode 3" (here's the link again) that all
the stories attributed here to "Larry" Maron, such as the incident when he
ran over Marc's ankle with his car, can be properly credited to Barry M.*
*by Ken*
I've made the point often enough: I'm suspicious when shows are said to
come together ... more »
Rudolf Steiner On Cultivating The Higher Organs
Below is an excerpt from Rudolf Steiner's book, *"Theosophy: An
Introduction to the Spiritual Processes in Human Life and in the
Cosmos."*1994. Anthroposophic Press: Hudson, New York. Pg. 96-99.
"Within our body, our eyes and ears develop as organs of perception, as
senses for bodily processes. Similarly, we can develop soul and
spiritual
organs of perception that will open up soul and spirit worlds to us. For
anyone who does not have such higher senses, these worlds are dark and
silent, just as the physical world is dark and silent to a being without
eyes and ears. However, we r... more »
Egyptian Music Video About The Betrayal of the Muslim Brotherhood
An excerpt from the article, *"Brotherhood loses the middle class,"* by
Azmi Ashour, published in Al-Ahram on December 5, 2012:
Anyone who watched the million-man marches in Tahrir and other Egyptian
cities on 23, 27 and 30 November (which is to say three huge mass protest
demonstrations in a single week) can easily observe the change in the
composition of the revolutionary crowds. The middle class, which is
generally more moderate and less activist than the revolutionary youth,
added their numbers to Tahrir and other major squares in the country. Their
anxieties as to where the Mus... more »
#Blended Learning is cheap learning, isn’t it? #edtech
This isn’t a reaction to anything in particular, but when I do happen to
glance at something about “Blended learning,” I always feel like advocates
want to get the same learning for half the price. Technology in this
instance means to replace certain more expensive teaching functions with
videos and other nonsense. When the private […]
Sanity Break: Photos of Taiwan from before the Boom
For those of you wanting a sanity break from the Phils/Taiwan stupidity,
BusinessInsider.com has a great collection of photos taken in 1980.
_______________________
[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!
Oil Companies Prove they are Stupid - No Business Acumen
One month ago
Gas prices in Minneapolis were
$3.42 a gallon
Today Minnesota gas prices are the highest in the United States
$4.39 a gallon
*Gas went up*
*97 cents a gallon*
*in one month*
Earlier this week Sen. Amy Klobuchar called on the Department of Energy to
take action.
“This spike in gas prices is hurting families, businesses and farmers
across Minnesota and disrupting commerce,” Klobuchar had said. “Scheduled
maintenance at refineries should not be allowed to cause such major
disruptions in supply.
That was a nice gesture.
Absolute waste of time - the oil companies don'... more »
'The Protocols' by Douglas Reed
*Extract from Reed's "The Controversy of Zion"*
*
*
*Chapter 27*
The “Protocols”
While Zionism thus took shape in the Eastern ghettoes during the last
century and at the start of this one emerged as a new force in
international affairs (when the British Government offered it Uganda), the
world-revolution, in those same Talmudic areas, prepared its third
“eruption.” The two forces moved forward together in synchronization (for
Zionism, as has been shown, used the threat of Communism in Europe to gain
the ear of European rulers for its territorial demand outsideEurope). It
was as i... more »
Saturday Stand Up--Pete Holmes
Last month old Petey Pants was down under and he did a set for Australian
TV.
Gaia Portal: High Energies Encompass the Planet at this Moment
High Energies Encompass the Planet at this Moment
by ÉirePort
High energies encompass the planet at this moment. High Energies of guided
movement, both within and without, proceed with all who are imbued with
Gaia service.
Striking movements occur within short time periods, but with ease. Such is
the nature of Gaia-guided and Gaia-coordinated motion.
Solar and Cosmic influxes harmonize with the current Gaia High Energies,
causing many, who have not experienced such, to resonate with clarity of
purpose.
Resonance is key to next steps. Following Inner Resonance brings Inner
Peace... more »
Friedrich Hölderlin - To Hope
Related:
*Friedrich Hölderlin - Love*.
*Friedrich Hölderlin - The Gods*.
*Friedrich Hölderlin - The Time of Socrates*.
*Friedrich Hölderlin - To the Sun-God*.
*Friedrich Hölderlin - Ganymede*.
*Friedrich Hölderlin - Vulcan*.
*Friedrich Hölderlin - The Blind Singer*.
*Friedrich Hölderlin - Sung Beneath the Alps*.
Source: *Selected Poems of Friedrich Hölderlin. Translated by Maxine
Chernoff and Paul Hoover.* 2008. Omnidawn Publishing: Richmond, California.
Pg*. *165.
Hope! Sweet industrious one
Who doesn't scorn the house of grief,
Serves happily, noble on... more »
Untitled
*Deborah "Big Red" Cotton: an appreciation ~Kevin Allman, Gambit *
*Second-lining’s silver lining: mainstream embrace of our cultural exotica ~C.W.Cannon,
The Lens*
I'll take self-serving traffic baiting for $1000 Alex
I love Alex Pareene. I wouldn't have thought him capable of writing such a
mean-spirited tirade against Media Matters for trying to break through the
knee jerk defense of AP going on among the big name stars of the media
insiders and inject some much needed perspective.
Let's review the facts one more time. The AP didn't break the second coming
of The Pentagon Papers with their story. They exposed an important
counter-terrorism operation based solely on leaked information which
ultimately led to to the outing of a CIA asset who had infiltrated an
active terrorist group. Jack Shafer... more »
On Stock Investing
Click here to read my column in Sunday's *NY Times*.
How Buck McKeon's Mormonism Played Right Into The Military Rape Epidemic Coverup
Last summer the cover-up of the epidemic of military rapes at Lackland--
engineered by House Armed Services Committee chairman Buck McKeon-- began
to unravel, due, primarily, to the tireless efforts by Protect Our
Defenders. POD battled McKeon's determination to cover up the scandal and
keep it out of the public view. At all times, he insisted on closed
briefings rather than the public hearings this kind of scandal demanded.
And who was McKeon's point person on the Committee, with his own peculiar
take on rape? Todd Akin, of course. It was two of Congress' most backward,
patriarc... more »
For no raisin
While we try to block the triumph of meat-headed provincial fascism in
Britain you never know we might not win and may have to flee for our lives.
Here are some names you could use for your fake passport, you never know,
they might work:
Dr Jordan Edilstein
Professor Baxter
Krispy Kreme McDonalds
Kevin Bacon
Horse Renoir
Predator
Chilly
Cousin Phil
Parker Peters
Laura Vanderbooben
Luke Fondleberg
Scotch Bingington
Sholanda Dykes
Mr Mustachos
Warren Beanstalk
Ricky Spanish
Conservatives on Crack
You know, I've said elsewhere that given the fact that US-American
right-wingers have embraced draft-dodging, adopted daughter banging, brood
of abandoned children spawning, intellectual and moral degenerate Ted
Nugent as one of their own, simply for his gun-loving, vegetarian-loving,
chickenhawk ways, ... it seems entirely plausible that Canadian
"conservatives" would stand by their boy Rob Ford even if the alleged crack
smoking video was released and played for them on a giant IMAX screen.
But just for the record (not like it matters given their hypocrisy and
stubborn loyalty to ... more »
The value of gold is being supressed by at lease 14 colluding traders of paper gold. Paul Craig Roberts: "This was an attack ordered by the Federal Reserve, which is why there is no investigation of the illegality." "[This] tells us that the Federal Reserve sees no way out of printing money in order to support the federal deficit and the insolvent banks. If the dollar came under attack and the Federal Reserve had to stop printing dollars, interest rates would rise. The bond and stock markets would collapse. The dollar would be abandoned as reserve currency. Washington would no longer be able to pay its bills and would lose its hegemony." "The dollar’s demise awaits the world’s decision how to get out of it. The Federal Reserve can print dollars with which to keep the bond and stock markets high, but the Federal Reserve cannot print foreign currencies with which to keep the dollar afloat."
------------------------------
*Washington Signals Dollar Deep Concerns — Paul Craig Roberts*
------------------------------
May 18, 2013 | Original Here Go
here to sign up to receive email notice of this news letter
Over the past month there has been a statistically improbable concurrence
of events that can only be explained as a conspiracy to protect the dollar
from the Federal Reserve’s policy of Quantitative Easing (QE).
Quantitative Easing is the term given to the Federal Reserve’s policy of
printing 1,000 billion new dollars ... more »
What Mattered This Week?
Barack Obama's Gallup approval rating is back to 51% today, which is back
up to the upper part of the range it's been in for the last couple of
months. I'm ready to say that the feeding frenzy of this week didn't matter.
There's some sign that the AP warrants may turn out to really matter in
policy. I'm going to go ahead and guess it will, so I'll say that that one
matters.
Disagree? Have something else? What do you think mattered this week?
Athabasca Bitumen and the Koch Bros' Gift to Windsor, Ontario
This might be why Alberta isn't too crazy about refining Athabasca bitumen
on site and why British Columbia should reject the proposal to refine it in
Kitimat.
"This" is a 3-storey high, city block sized pile of bitumen coke steadily
growing ever larger across the Detroit River from Windsor's waterfront
Assumption Park. The stuff belongs to Koch Carbon, one of David and
Charlie's operations of course. In terms of emissions, even Alberta won't
touch it. That's why Koch Carbon looks to peddle the stuff overseas.
How does all this garbage get from Athabasca to Detroit? You guess... more »
UPDATE: NY 3rd Graders Under Investigation
According the local paper in Albany, New York, the teacher of the students
has been put on administrative leave and the investigation continues.
http://www.timesunion.com/local/article/School-s-exams-under-scrutiny-4527051.php
If the Test Security Unit decide that cheating took place, the teacher
could be charged with a misdemeanor. Let me repeat that: a misdemeanor. I
want to know more. The state […]
Rebuilding the New Jersey coastline, but at what cost? – ‘Do you really want to throw good money after bad?’
[image: An aerial view of beachfront homes in Mantoloking, New Jersey.
Photo: Richard Perry / The New York Times]
By JENNY ANDERSON
18 May 2013
(The New York Times) – When a handful of retired homeowners from Osborn
Island in New Jersey gathered last month to discuss post-Hurricane Sandy
rebuilding and environmental protection, L. Stanton Hales Jr., a
conservationist, could not have been clearer about the risks they faced.
“I said, look people, you built on a marsh island, it’s oxidizing under
your feet — it’s shrinking — and that exacerbates the sea level rise,” said
Dr. Hales... more »
Satire: “Obama Denies Role In Government”
* “Obama Denies Role In Government”*
by Andy Borowitz
WASHINGTON (The Borowitz Report)— “President Obama used his weekly radio
address on Saturday to reassure the American people that he has “played no
role whatsoever” in the U.S. government over the past four years. “Right
now, many of you are angry at the government, and no one is angrier than I
am,” he said. “Quite frankly, I am glad that I have had no involvement in
such an organization.”
The President’s outrage only increased, he said, when he “recently became
aware of a part of that government called the Department of Just... more »
It's just your dirty mind...
You should be ashamed of yourself!
*Thanks to * VixxyLix / Victoria for the image.
Republicans Led By John Kline (R-MN) Voted Down Elizabeth Warren's Plan To Lower Student Interest Rates
After watching him as a freshman senator, I never believed Obama would
be a
vehicle for Hope and Change. I voted for him in 2008 anyway. I couldn't
force myself to do it again last November. Elizabeth Warren, on the
other
hand, is someone who I have actually bought into right from the start. I
donated to her campaign and helped promote her cause. This week, her
first
proposed legislation has made me-- and thousands of others across the
country who backed her-- proud. The Bank on Students Loan Fairness
Actwould lower student loan interest rates for one year from 3.4% to
0.75% --
th... more »
Graph of the Day: Insured catastrophe losses, 1970-2012
[image: Insured catastrophe losses, 1970-2012. Nine disasters triggered
insured losses of USD 1 billion or more in 2012. For the first time since
2008, a hurricane – Sandy – was the costliest event with insured losses of
USD 35 billion. Graphic: Swiss Re]
ZURICH, 27 March 2013 (Swiss Re) – Natural catastrophes and man-made
disasters cost society about USD 186 billion in 2012. Most of the losses
were due to Hurricane Sandy, which devastated the northeastern coast of the
US. The storm also affected the Caribbean and Canada, making it the largest
North Atlantic hurricane on record i... more »
During the 2011 Federal Election Senator Wallin Defended Her Conservative Party Campaign Fundraising Activities. Here's What She Said ...
[image: Progressive Bloggers]
*The following email was sent by Senator Pam Wallin to Postmedia News on
April 15, 2011:*
*I am in Saskatchewan supporting our MP’s who are seeking re-election. The
NDP opposes the existence of the Senate so any comments or criticism they
might have must be looked at in that light. They would not likely support
or agree with anything we do as they deny our constitutional role as an
integral party of our parliamentary system. *
*Pamela*
*Pure Conservative snark. When questioned (gently) by the MSM, she used the
usual Conservative tactic and attacked ... more »
Blame it on the inane
As if there weren't enough pseudoscandals to go around, our very useful
media eagerly embraced the most inane fauxtroversy since flag pins with
Umbrellapalooza. This loser was initially pitched by Griftzilla of the
Great White North, Sarah Palin who spewed out some word salad on Facebook.
No, I didn't read it, but here's the quote making the rounds:
Mr. President, when it rains it pours, but most Americans hold their own
umbrellas.
You mean like this, Princess Dimwit? [via]
Meanwhile, I saw WaPo's Karen Tumulty saying this was a very important
story, because bad optics! Swear ... more »
A black 3-story pile of Canada oil waste is rising over Detroit – ‘The dirtiest residue from the dirtiest oil on earth’
[image: image]
By IAN AUSTEN
17 May 2013
WINDSOR, Ontario (The New York Times) – Assumption Park gives residents of
this city lovely views of the Ambassador Bridge and the Detroit skyline.
Lately they’ve been treated to another sight: a three-story pile of
petroleum coke covering an entire city block on the other side of the
Detroit River.
Detroit’s ever-growing black mountain is the unloved, unwanted and long
overlooked byproduct of Canada’s oil sands boom.
And no one knows quite what to do about it, except Koch Carbon, which owns
it.
The company is controlled by Charles a... more »
Ignosce mihi, listener, quia peccavi
*Biased BBC**'*s David Preiser has been patiently and painstakingly laying
out the latest scandals to self-inflict the Obama White House for many
months now. His readers tend to be forewarned about most major U.S. stories
which don't initially seem to interest American-based BBC reporters (for
whatever reason). His readers are also rarely surprised when these stories
finally break and take the world by storm.
Those scandals - which may also have been registering on the BBC's radar
for quite some time, though the BBC seems not to have noticed them out of
the corner of their (biase... more »
Canada government increases advertising spend on tar sands from $9 million to $16.5 million
[image: Aerial view of Athabasca tar sands upgrader in winter. Photo: Garth
Lenz]
By Suzanne Goldenberg
16 May 2013
(The Guardian) – The Canadian government has nearly doubled its advertising
spending to promote the Alberta tar sands in an aggressive new lobbying
push ahead of Thursday's visit to New York by the prime minister, Stephen
Harper.
The Harper government has increased its advertising spending on the Alberta
tar sands to $16.5m from $9m a year ago.
The Canadian Press news agency, which first reported on the increase in
advertising spending by the Department of Natural... more »
Decline of Arctic foxes linked to mercury exposure
[image: Sampling localities and health condition of Mednyi Island arctic
foxes. aLocalities from which samples were derived are shown by black dots
in panel A. The number of samples taken at each Mednyi Island location site
vary by dot size as indicated. A refers to the Commander Island and B
Iceland which are then shown relative to their circumpolar location. Panel
B shows an image representing two Mednyi Island foxes demonstrating
different health status. The fox on the left (red ear tag) is underweight
with poor coat condition and the fox on the right (blue ear tag) presents
go... more »
Mayor Stupid, the Star, and another question | #TOpoli
Mr. Ford, your accusation of a vendetta is, to use your word, ridiculous.
Toronto is entitled to straight answers to straight questions, and here are
a few being asked in your city right now over this holiday weekend:
- Do you understand why this damning videotape requires a proper and
thoughtful explanation?
- Have you ever smoked crack cocaine?
- How well do you know the men in the photograph that appeared on
Friday’s front page? Did you know the man who was subsequently shot dead?
- Did you refer to Justin Trudeau by a homosexual slur?
- Did you refer to you... more »
A Balanced Approach to Sadism
Now that studies show that government austerity policies are actually killing
people, and that record poverty is immiserating one in five American
families, most of whom qualify for government nutrition assistance, what do
you think Congressional Democrats will do about it?
For starters, they'll likely cut more than $20 billion from the food stamp
program (SNAP, or Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program.) This is on
top of the $4 billion cut already approved by the Senate. And wow, did
Democrats save the day or what, since Tea Party sweetheart Rand Paul
had wanted to just scrap t... more »
Study finds use of dispersants can increase oil penetration into sandy marine sediments
[image: Aerial spraying of chemical dispersants in the Gulf. Photo:
seanetters.wordpress.com]
By Keith Bromery
16 May 2013
(FSU) – A Florida State University researcher working as part of the Gulf
of Mexico Research Initiative (GoMRI) investigated the effects of
dispersants on the movement of crude oil through water-saturated marine
sand and found that dispersants potentially facilitate penetration of oil
components into the seabed, where oxygen concentrations may affect the
degradation of the oil.
Experiments using sand-filled columns ranging from 10 to 50 centimeters in
lengt... more »
Exporting Liquified Natural Gas
Mufson, S. (May 17, 2013) Energy Department approves expanded LNG
exports.
The Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/energy-department-approves-expanded-lng-exports/2013/05/17/3bd3ff04-bf21-11e2-97d4-a479289a31f9_story.html?wpisrc=nl_headlines
[Excerpted]
Producers of natural gas and supporters of free trade have
urged the Obama administration to approve LNG export facilities. But
environmentalists fear that it will provide incentives for a new wave of
drilling in places such as Pennsylvania. [end]
Majia here: The fracking frenzy which is depleting and conta... more »
Agriculture under assault as climate heats up – ‘We are in the midst of dramatic assault on the security of the food supply’
[image: A soggy, rain-soaked cornfield sits unplanted in Farmingdale,
Illinois, 13 May 2013, after weeks of constant rain kept central
Illinois
farmers from seeding their ground. After a drought, now rain is the
problem, and the soggy fields means Midwest farmers have little time to
decide what to plant this year. Photo: Seth Perlman / AP]
By Bill Briggs
16 May 2013
(NBC News) – American eaters, let’s talk about the birds and the bees:
The
U.S. food supply – from chickens injected with arsenic to dying bee
colonies– is under unprecedented siege from a blitz of man-made hazards,
mea... more »
Is the Senate Independent Auditor Independent?
The giant accounting firm, Deloitte, was retained to conduct a forensic
audit of the expenses claimed by specific senators. In three cases there
were questions of whether the individuals were in fact entitled to the
extra housing allowance the senate provides to members not from Ottawa and
environs.
And then, because her travel expenses seemed out of line, they also looked
into the spending/reiumbursement of senator Pam Wallin of Wadena,
Saskatchewan.
Something happened yesterday that raises new questions - this time
concerning the auditor, Deloitte, in its audit of Pam Wallin.... more »
Bringing Out the Long Knives
May 18, 2013 Trying to keep up with the plethora of “scandals” and
“investigations” carried out in Congress this week, I wondered if this had
been what life was like in the Roman Empire as, passing its peak, overreach
… Continue reading →
Dateline Europe
*Dateline London *continues down its familiar path, unfortunately.
Today's discussion opened with the question of Britain's membership of the
EU and the Conservatives. As Gavin Esler framed the question in his
introductory remarks:
Britain in or out of Europe? Is the Euro-debate helping or hurting the
Conservatives?
When the panel was introduced I doubt I would have been alone in expecting
to see someone of a Eurosceptic, right-wing persuasion as one of the
programme's guests. Alas, it wasn't to be. Alongside the American liberal
Michael Goldfarb, Mina al Oraibi of the Saudi-bac... more »
Michelle Rhee Is … Tiger Woods!
Who’d a guessed it? Michelle Rhee is not Tiger Mom. She’s TIGER WOODS!: “My
answer: I keep my eye on the ball.” —- Handy-dandy take-home quiz to share!
High-Stakes, “No Excuses” Quiz of the Day Complete the following: Michelle
Rhee is Tiger (a) Mom (b) Milk (c) Lily (d) Woods ANSWER KEY Filed under:
PAUL THOMAS: […]
granada
The previous night, when we finally found the hotel, I asked about tickets
to the Alhambra. We had read in the guidebook that only a certain number of
tickets are issued for every entrance time, and going up there without
tickets is not advised. As it turns out, every hotel in town has a certain
number of tickets they can sell to guests. The hotel's computer showed how
many tickets were available for each hour. We purposely booked late in the
day, both to avoid massive crowds and to give ourselves a break. Our friend
at the desk also gave us detailed instructions on how to collect ou... more »
BULLROAR OVER BENGHAZI: Still going!
*SATURDAY, MAY 18, 2013*
*And looking ahead to next week:* Below, we’ll offer three major takeaways
from this past week of bullroar concerning Benghazi.
At the risk of repetition, our first takeaway will be this:
*Your press corps simply cannt reed reel gudd:* Eight days ago, ABC News
released twelve versions of the now-famous “talking points” concerning
Benghazi. To read that report, just click here.
Among the discoveries: In its first proposed version of this white paper,
the CIA had included this paragraph: “Initial press reporting linked the
attack to Ansar al-Sharia. The group... more »
Avoidable risk in West, Texas
Every facility is perfectly safe until something goes bang. That
unfortunate day is a simple function of probability and time. My real point
is that you can truly measure the risk and you can license containment for
starters.
Better yet you can charge a surcharge on critical chemicals based on its
containment history and include imports to impose our standards overseas.
Everything in the Texas blast was safe provided a proper blast berm was in
place. You can not stop accidents, but you can certainly mitigate their
effects rather well. We have been doing this with gun powd... more »
Increasing Average Human Intelligence
This is a powerful thesis. It is also a powerful endorsement of our core
agenda for this blog. That this agenda is as critical as I could imagine
comes as a surprise.
What we are reaching for is a universal human lifeway that produces
healthy fully nurtured human beings. That this also resolves long standing
mental dysfunctions is now obvious. It adds to the wow factor.
The bottom line is that we can create a completely healthy civilization
using my approach to terraforming Terra that is weighted to increasing
human intelligence and capability.
*Consciousness an... more »
Fabled Lost City Discovered in Honduras
Another major city has been found and it is noteworthy that the real scope
of these civilizations is becoming progressively accepted. I have put out a
conjecture that the plausible population of precontact Americas approached
100 million. This item shows us that the amazon could be 20 millions.
Now I also do not think that it actually reached 100 million but do think
that the lower bound is also much higher than 20 million.
The only thing capable of decimating this population long before serious
contact would be a disease like the bird flu. We have generally blamed
human ... more »
Interstellar Hydrogen Clouds Confirmed
I have expected to find many additional proto galaxies that just have not
fully coalesced as yet. It appears we are now developing the ability to
find them. Other explanations are been suggested, but the process of
coalescence is sufficient to produce plenty of new galaxies on a continuing
basis.
It also confirms that intergalactic matter is conforming to the idea of an
homogenous initial state if this all holds up.
At least we now know that massive amounts of hydrogen is out there in
interstellar space.
*Mysterious hydrogen clouds detected in space, puzzling scient... more »
Untitled
*Four remain hospitalized following Mother's Day shooting ~WVUE*
*New Orleans parade shooting: Arrests show city's reworked approach to
policing ~Patrik Jonsson, Christian Science Monitor*
*Arrests in New Orleans parade shootings cheered ~Kevin McGill*
*N.O. Council OKs demolition at Iberville housing project ~Danny Monteverde*
*Millions of taxpayer dollars spent to move homes that are now decaying ~WWL
*
*River watch continues along Atchafalaya, Mississippi*
*The Louisiana Coast: Last Call — The Master Plan ~Bob Marshall*
Corruption Endemic
Norris, F. (2013, May 17) A Troubling Survey on Corruption. The New York
Times,
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/18/business/economy/a-troubling-survey-on-global-corruption.html?nl=todaysheadlines&emc=edit_th_20130518&_r=0
[Excerpted]
A new survey of corporate officials and employees in 36
countries — in Europe, Africa and the Middle East, as well as India —
indicates that there is plenty of corruption that needs investigating.
Over all, 20 percent of the respondents said they knew of incidents at
their own companies within the previous year that could be construed as
cooking the bo... more »
War on Terror - Sibel Edmonds reveals US ties to Al Qaeda Chiefs , spiked articles , oficial cover ups / treason , Al Qaeda - Enemy or Asset ( in light of Libya and Syria , this is probably a rhetorical question now.. ) Gladio B - and a vast conspiracy of criminal activities ? In light of Sibel Edmonds revelations , when does the premise behind the forever War on Terror get questioned ?
http://www.infowars.com/why-was-a-sunday-times-report-on-us-government-ties-to-al-qaeda-chief-spiked/
Why was a Sunday Times report on US government ties to al-Qaeda chief
spiked?
- [image: The Alex Jones Channel][image: Alex Jones Show podcast][image:
Prison Planet TV][image: Infowars.com Twitter][image: Alex Jones'
Facebook][image: Infowars store]
*Nafeez Mosaddeq Ahmed*
Cease Fire
May 18, 2013
A whistleblower has revealed extraordinary information on the U.S.
government’s support for international terrorist networks and organised
crime. The government has denied the al... more »
TBS Cam of Daiichi Still Obscured, Tepco Cam Screen Shot Below
Majia's Blog - 15 hours ago
I will be away from my computer all day today and will not be able to
check
cams
<img alt=""
src="data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAASQAAADQCAIAAAAh74sAAAAgAElEQVR4nIy7aZMcR5IliC8rszI73UUAeWfG4bd7ePhhl6qamUcmiIsgLoIkABIEifsGEifBs1A8ClVsVvd0i8xMdUm1yEjLrozs/oHtIvIA+AN2ftR+MI/IBMDuHhMVICLSw0979p4+1djxP//n//cv//L/Pnv209ras/X19Y2N9WfPnm1ubqyvr6+vr62trz179tPGxvrz55tra8/W1p6tr6+5txsb62tra3/5y7+sr69vbrZ/3dhYf/Hiufv6i59fbD7f3Hy+uba+9mzt2cbmRvtiY319fW1t7dnm5sZPP/1lfX1t8/nmixcv1jc21tbX1tbX1zc2nr947mJjc+PZs5/W1tc2Njc2NjfWN9Y3n2+++PmF+9PG5ub6xrr73O30p59+2tzcXFtb29jY2NzcWF9f29zcWN9Yf/bsp8... more »
US Bond market in focus as the Debt Ceiling returns ( drop dead date September 2 ) , rising bond yields putting the lie to the quaint notion that the deficit isn't rising at its usual and customary rate ? Goldman says no tapering by the Fed just yet ....
http://market-ticker.org/akcs-www?blog=Market-Ticker&page=2
To The Media: Stop Sucking Obama On The Debt
This is completely out of hand. The media continues to cite the so-called
"expectation" that Treasury will run "only" a $600-odd billion deficit this
year, and they cite this as source:
This shows ~$488 billion in operational deficits from October 1st to April
30th.
There's a problem with this number however -- *it does not reflect reality*.
*In other words it is a bald and intentional lie.*
This reflects the truth:
What is that? It's simply a reproduction of the Debt To The... more »
I'm So Tired...........
Reblogged from An Antique Teacher: I'm not just tired..........I AM
EXHAUSTED! It's observation time for me and that means aligning a lesson to
the Common BORE Standards, completing all the required paperwork, preparing
the lesson, and using a prep period for my Pre-Observation Conference. Let
me make this very clear: I am NOT opposed to […]
Arizona Republican Jim Kolbe Is Getting Gay-Married Today
Kolbe and Foley
Former eleven-term Congressman Jim Kolbe (R-AZ) has been "living in sin"
with his Panamanian lover, Hector Alfonso, for eight years. Today they will
legally wed at the Cosmos Club in DC. (It's still illegal for same sex
couples to marry in Arizona, although recent polling shows 55% of Arizonans
support marriage equality.) Kolbe is the first gay congressman who voted
for DOMA in 1996 to get married. Back then, Kolbe was a closeted mainstream
conservative-- one of many in the House Republican caucus who, for one
reason or another-- felt they had to vote against the inte... more »
A Culture Of Entitlement
Following the news that Pamela Wallin has resigned from the Conservative
caucus, Andrew Coyne takes a hard look at the Mike Duffy fiasco:
So Duffy’s behaviour is not the issue. The issue is the culture that
enabled it. The Tories may find it expedient to disown him now, but it
wasn’t five minutes ago they were cheering him to the rafters, inviting him
to campaign in their ridings and defending him in public, long after his
misconduct was known. Expelling him from caucus at this late date changes
nothing. The time to discipline him was when when he was first caught out,
not after e... more »
Ed Steer's Gold and Silver Morning Report - May 15 , 2013
Catharsis Ours - 15 hours ago
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2013-05-15/producer-prices-plunge-empire-fed-slides-first-negative-print-january
( Deflation signs anyone ? PM selloff could worsen off this report.... )
Producer Prices Plunge, Empire Fed Slides To First Negative Print Since
January
[image: Tyler Durden's picture]
Submitted by Tyler Durden on 05/15/2013 08:48 -0400
- BLS
- Bureau of Labor Statistics
- E-Trade
- Empire State Manufacturing
One of these days we might just get a positive economic print, of the kind
that the meandering Tepper was saying is visible everywhere now. Just ... more »
Ways to discover matrix string theory
*...more precisely screwing string theory...*
The 5,250+ TRF blog entries discuss various topics, mostly scientific ones,
including minor advances. However, there isn't any text on this website
that would talk about matrix string theory (inpendently found 2 months laterby a herald
who inaugurated the new Dutch king and an ex-co-author of mine along with
two twins).
If you search for the closest topic, you will find one article about Matrix
theory published a year ago and a supplement about membranes in Matrix
theory that was added a week later.
But now we want to talk about m... more »
DEMI AND NIRVANA; CHILD ABUSE RING
* *
*Demi*
*
*The world-centre of child sexual abuse would appear to be Holland.
Countries such as Thailand have often copied Holland.
*The following is from:* *Mr. Ben van den Brink*:
*According to Ben van den Brink:*
*1.* In 2009, Ben discovers that his two daughters, Demi and Nirvana, are
being abused by Ype Minkema, his wife's father.
Ben's wife is Leonie Minkema.
The girls, Demi and Nirvana, are also being abused by members of the child
abuse ring to which Ype belongs.
Leonie tells Ben that she has been abused by her father, Ype, and others.
*Schoorl - alleged site of child... more »
Testing Support for TFA and KIPP: Whose Children Matter?
Testing Support for TFA and KIPP: Whose Children Matter? During the first
years of the Obama administration, Secretary Arne Duncan has risen to the
forefront of public debates about education reform, paralleling the growing
public nature of that debate that includes the entrepreneur reformers such
as Bill Gates and Geoffrey Canada along with a harbinger […]
President is right to veto Martin Putna's professorship
What is the most intensely discussed event in the Czech news these days?
Czech president Miloš Zeman decided to reject the recommendation of an
academic council at the Charles University and not to name Dr Martin C.
Putna as a full professor. The title "professor" is supposed to be somewhat
more special in Czechia because the people with this proper title are named
by the president of the country personally. In some sense, they're more
analogous to the holders of the National Medal of Science. Like the
amnesty, pardons, and members of the constitutional courts, the ability to
influe... more »
Today
Some initial impressions of this morning's *Today *programme, with John
Humphrys and Justin Webb...
I'm listening to* Today *all the way through this morning. They are leading
with the harsh criticism of Michael Gove by a "moderate" teaching union
(the word used by BBC reporter Luke Walton), just as the BBC News website
is leading with the story. Is this evidence of bias? Let's just check the
ITV News website. No, it's their second story, so they think it's a big
deal too. That said, the Sky News website is paying no attention to the
story and the *Daily Mail *doesn't think it's ... more »
May 17, 1973
Sorry, I ducked out and took a little break after all the craziness of
March and April. But back to it now.
What's been happening?
In early May, the "Kissinger taps" were back -- it turned out that Daniel
Ellsberg had in fact been recorded, despite all previous denials. That was,
finally, the last straw for Judge Byrne: he dismissed all charges against
Ellsberg.
Vernon Walters, it turns out, wrote a series of memos about the White House
approach to the CIA in the early days of the cover-up; now the prosecutors
are preparing to interview him. The White House has the memos, which
c... more »
Some Light Reading For Saturday [Plus Breakdown on The Situation In Syria]
* *
*Breakdown on The Situation In Syria:*
The Obama administration is supplying weapons and money to Al-Qaeda
terrorists in Syria in order to create chaos, destroy its economy, disrupt
the regional peace, keep the central state occupied with security problems
for years to come, and, finally, to be able to present invented excuses to
the world to justify the invasion of another Middle Eastern nation.
Assad is no butcher. He is simply defending his country from an empire gone
mad and thousands of Jihadist terrorists who can't tell their head from
their ass.
If you're looking fo... more »
It’s official: thanks to Stephen Hawking’s Israel boycott, anti-Semitism is no more – Howard Jacobson | Engage - the anti-racist campaign against antisemitism
' Why is Israel alone of all offending countries to be boycotted?
Perhaps
because it's that offending country which also just happens to be
Jewish?'
More here
http://engageonline.wordpress.com/2013/05/18/its-official-thanks-to-stephen-hawkings-israel-boycott-anti-semitism-is-no-more-howard-jacobson/
Friday Baseball Post
It wasn't enough to do a whole cranky blogging thing about, but the NYT
Sunday Review thing of people doing a column hooked to their new book --
which has made for quite a few very useless Sunday Review items -- seems to
have leaked over onto the sports pages. In this case, this past Sunday, Tom
Clavin, who has a book coming out on the DiMaggio brothers, was given the
opportunity to argue for Dom DiMaggio as a HOFer. It's full of the cherry
picking you expect from this sort of thing:
During his 10 full seasons, he totaled 1,679 base hits, more than any other
major leaguer in that ti... more »
Did We Think … We Canadians?
Did We Think … We Canadians?
*Written by Robin Mathews*
Did we think, Canadians, we’d be permitted Canada without fighting for
it
day by day, hour by hour – as if we were unlike people all over the rest
of
the world? Did we think we could live in, possess, own, develop, and
share
the country fairly ... more »
Senate's Internal Economy Board Removed Damning Findings From Sen. Duffy’s Audit Report Before It Was Tabled In The Senate
**
*The Conservative Senate Crisis continues unabated ....*
*
* *"The Senate’s internal economy committee sanitized the original audit of
Sen. Mike Duffy’s expenses to remove damning findings, documents obtained
by CTV News show.*
*** A confidential report obtained by CTV’s Ottawa Bureau Chief Robert Fife
shows the original version of Duffy’s audit found that the senator broke
the Senate’s “very clear” and “unambiguous” residency rules."*
*CTV News*
Sunday Classics (double) preview: Enter the bird-catcher; exit Sir Colin Davis
*Colin Davis (1927-2013) at home*
*by Ken*
As I must have mentioned, one of my core LPs in the early
getting-to-know-music stage was a budget Seraphim issue of a disc of Mozart
overtures conducted by Colin Davis early in his career. There were fine
performances of all these indispensable pieces, and my recollection is that
I played that LP *a lot*.
The subject of my complicated feelings about Sir Colin, who died on April
15 at 85, as a conductor has come up occasionally in these posts, and I'm
afraid I'm going to need to rehash it in order to memorialize him properly,
though I'm ... more »
Mayor Ford will survive the crack scandal
The most recent scandal to touch Toronto's mayor, Rob Ford, involves
allegations he smokes crack cocaine. Now, the allegations come second hand
in the Toronto Star, and while the Star is a very legitimate newspaper it
is also famously feuding with Mayor Ford. Some Toronto Star reporters saw a
video tape and based on what they saw concluded Mayor Ford was smoking
crack. Maybe they misunderstood, were intentionally misled or were just
mistaken in what they saw.
It is possible the allegations against Mayor Ford are false or perhaps
dated (none of the apparent current references suppos... more »
This Shows That There Is Hope Yet For Our Future: 15 Year Old California Student Gets High Mark For Report On Very Controversial Subject!
I have long been troubled by the total ignorance of the general public
today to the real truths about our past, and the dangers that our world
faces today. It is so alarming that few people are aware of the frauds of
our history, and the dangers we face today by the Jewish criminal elite
that is out for total world domination and our enslavement. It comes down
to this... There are fewer and fewer critical thinkers around today. The
youth of today are being indoctrinated through the public education system
into being nothing more than robotic zombies for the evil Jewish controlle... more »
European wrap - 500 billion NPL bombastic situation..... Hollande asks ECB to go all in japanese style ..... How long before the French see billboards along roadsides featuring Sarkozy saying " Miss me yet ? "
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2013-05-17/europes-eur-500-billion-ticking-npltime-bomb
*
Home
Europe's EUR 500 Billion Ticking NPLTime Bomb
[image: Tyler Durden's picture]
Submitted by Tyler Durden on 05/17/2013 20:14 -0400
- European Central Bank
- Germany
- Greece
- Ireland
- Italy
- Monetary Policy
- non-performing loans
- Portugal
- Unemployment
Europe's non-performing loan problem is such an issue that there is
increasing bluster that the ECB may take this garbage on to its balance
sheet since policymakers realize that bad debts and non-pe... more »
House of Snakes: US Natural Resources Committee targets Indian lands
Ola
Cassadore Davis
By Brenda Norrell
Photo: Ola Cassadore Davis spent her life defending Apache sacred lands.
Photo by Sandra Rambler.
Censored News
The US House's Natural Resources Committee plans extensive seizures of
lands and resources to benefit private corporations and the US military.
First on the list of this US House of Snakes is a land exchange opposed
by San Carlos Apaches,
Wallin Walks Cap'n Harper's Plank
Earlier today, Harper-appointed senator Pam Wallin purported to "recuse"
herself from the Conservative caucus pending the outcome of a forensic
audit into her expenses.
Nice try, Pam. According to *CTV, *Pam actually did the "PMO Perp Walk."
She didn't so much leave as she was shown the door after Harper's big guns
got a gander at the preliminary audit report.
Nice of the "independent" auditors to give Harper the heads up, no?
"*...a source told CTV’s Ottawa Bureau Chief Robert Fife that the audit has
already raised serious questions about Wallin’s spending, which involves
hun... more »
Next step in computers
I want rwo, Yo quiero dos
Seed Newsvine
Justice Stevens's grandkids may not care, but he has some things to get off his chest
*by Ken*
Admittedly, as subject categories go, the category "Most Charming
Utterance
Uttered by the Late New York Yankees Owner George Steinbrenner" doesn't
promise to be especially broad or arresting. That said, the most
charming
utterance I'm aware of The Boss uttering was in a respone to a question
about the cartoonish version of himself incorporated as a
*Seinfeld*recurring caricature during the period when, improbably and
often
disastrously, George Costanza worked for the Yankees.
The caricature was actually surprisingly gentle, but still, George had
ample reason to be resent... more »
Friedrich Hölderlin - Sung Beneath the Alps
Related:
*Friedrich Hölderlin - Love*.
*Friedrich Hölderlin - The Gods*.
*Friedrich Hölderlin - The Time of Socrates*.
*Friedrich Hölderlin - To the Sun-God*.
*Friedrich Hölderlin - Ganymede*.
*Friedrich Hölderlin - Vulcan*.
*Friedrich Hölderlin - The Blind Singer*.
Source: *Selected Poems of Friedrich Hölderlin. Translated by Maxine
Chernoff and Paul Hoover.* 2008. Omnidawn Publishing: Richmond, California.
Pg*. *141-43.
*Friedrich Hölderlin - Sung Beneath the Alps*
Holy innocence, that men and gods
Love the most! either inside the house
Or out of doors, you sit at th... more »
Friday Nerd Blogging: Ultimate Mashup
This weekend marks the debut of the next Star Trek movie: So Dark, Oh So
Dark 2. To mark the occasion: Two years to go!
Grasping at strawmen - Updated
There's no doubt the IRS was ham-handed in its handling of the tax-exempt
applications after Citizen United. I've yet to see that they did anything
against the law. Which is a problem to be sure. It suggests maybe we should
be agitating to change the damn laws. Not that that's going to happen.
Instead we have everyone looking to grind their own axe against the sharp
edge of this pseudoscandal. That of course includes the "Obama has failed
me" crowd of the left. Garance jumps in with this damning bit of evidence.
On noes, there was no surge in applications in 2010. Quick fire more
pe... more »
Mining 20: Miscellaneous Comments on Mining
Below are several comments I got in my various exchanges in facebook on the
subject, made last week.
-------------
*Froi Vincenton*: IMHO, irresponsible mining exists in the Philippines
because of several institutional factors. When I say 'institutional
factors' I'm referring to government regulations and restrictions. The
following are some institutional factors that encourage irresponsible
mining:
1. The institutional/constitutional prohibition on ownership of mining
lands. History has it that private property ownership promotes responsible
business and proprietorial activities. ... more »
Untitled
*Who does the Mississippi really belong to? ~Bob Marshall*
Everything Is Rigged, Everything Corrupted (Thank You, Matt!)
Since we know how little the U.S. agencies do now to protect the U.S.
consumer interest (being administered by those who benefit from the
opposite), I thought it might be enlightening to research what other
countries are doing. And it is. I read Matt Taibbi. Religiously. Thank Matt
every day. By the way, the comments to Taibbi's essay are worth the
admission price alone! Everything Is
Elsewhere: Campaign Finance, Leaks, More
I don't think I've done one of these all week...I was waiting for some
columns to go live, but I guess I'll go ahead now with at least one of them
up.
So: at TAP today, I make the case for floors, not ceilings, and strong
disclosure. I used to think it had the added virtue of being a good
compromise between the Democratic and Republican positions, but that's
before Republicans flipped on disclosure (they're now mostly against). Not
that it was ever all that likely to ever happen anyway.
The best thing I wrote all week, I think, is one at PP on the topic of
leaks -- saying that pres... more »
“The IRS Is Seeing Everything You Do Online”
* *
*“The IRS Is Seeing Everything You Do Online”*
By Michael Kling
“The IRS may be watching your online activities — including what you post
on social media sites, what you sell online, even what you write in emails
and text messages. Some tax experts and civil liberties groups are
disturbed by what they call the agency's secretive practices. Taxpayers
know little about how it uses big data and "robo-audits." "It's well-known
in the tax community, but not many people outside of it are aware of this
big expansion of data and computer use," Edward Zelinsky, a tax expert at
Cardozo... more »
HELD FOR ELEVEN YEARS WITHOUT BEING CHARGED
May 16 marks a dark milestone in the history of the world's most maligned
prison - 100 days of a mass hunger strike at Guantanamo Bay. Out of 166
inmates - 130 are on strike according to prisoners, while the military only
admits to 102. At least a third of them are being force fed - a procedure
recognized by various medical organizations as painful enough to constitute
torture. And by all accounts - there's no end in sight to the protest.
The last few minutes of the video feature Lt. Col. Barry Wingard (Judge
Advocate General US Air Force) who comes down hard on Obama for continuin... more »
For no raisin
Related articles
After the AUMF(cato.org)
Democracy Now!: Video: Pentagon Accused of 'Rewriting Constitution' to Wage Endless War in Senate Hearing(huffingtonpost.com)
Pentagon Officials Claim Entire World is a Battlefield(zen-haven.com)
"Astoundingly Disturbing": Obama Administration Claims Power to Wage Endless War Across the Globe(dandelionsalad.wordpress.com)
This Is Congress's Chance to Rein In the War on Terror(theatlantic.com)
"Al-Qaeda" Is Anybody the President Chooses To Call Al-Qaeda(therearenosunglasses.wordpress.com)
Congress Revisits 2001 AUMF Law(drudge.com)
Posts
